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[Let's Read] Rifts: Let's Read Something Else

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  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    Orca wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Thank goodness that's now considered child abuse and we can get your step-mother sent to jail.

    The worst part of it is I have *never* been invited to a coven.

    Did I just not worship the right demons? Should I have been making sacrifices to the Splugorth? Did the loss of that one book forever alter my destiny?

    Dude, splyncryth is perfectly capable of doing his own sacrifices.

    Now rounding up new and interesting slaves on the other hand...

  • ArdentArdent Down UpsideRegistered User regular
    Orca wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Thank goodness that's now considered child abuse and we can get your step-mother sent to jail.

    The worst part of it is I have *never* been invited to a coven.

    Did I just not worship the right demons? Should I have been making sacrifices to the Splugorth? Did the loss of that one book forever alter my destiny?
    Wrong coven is definitely the correct answer.

    Steam ID | Origin ID: ArdentX | Uplay ID: theardent | Battle.net: Ardent#11476
  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Orca wrote: »
    Ardent wrote: »
    Thank goodness that's now considered child abuse and we can get your step-mother sent to jail.

    The worst part of it is I have *never* been invited to a coven.

    Did I just not worship the right demons? Should I have been making sacrifices to the Splugorth? Did the loss of that one book forever alter my destiny?

    Dude, splyncryth is perfectly capable of doing his own sacrifices.

    Now rounding up new and interesting slaves on the other hand...

    If I had only had the Rifts: Atlantis book to know that... :(

  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited May 2016
    I'm now contemplating how I'd run a N&S game using the Night's Black Agents version of gumshoe. It wouldn't really take much. Switching around some investigative abilities and adding a bunch of martial arts cherries and cyber gear.

    I think Sense Danger is probably becoming Chi.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    Kinda funny all the talk about Ninjas and super spies could make for a really hilarious not serious Archer homage campaign that could be pretty epic.

  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2016
    Eh, like most things Palladium, the setting can be fun but I wouldn't wish the mechanics on most people I actively disliked.

    That said, an Archer themed Shadowrun game could be fun.

    Forar on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Like I said, this is a version of the system I could see myself running again at some point. No MDC or magic, everyone is human, available superpowers are pretty limited. Under those conditions, Palladium combat isn't so bad.

    But if you've got another system you already know to run it in instead, there isn't really a great reason to inflict this on yourself either.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • AmiguAmigu Registered User regular
    So until just now I thought that they were converting Rifts to Apocalypse World not Savage Worlds. Which got me thinking... Wouldn't that be a great system to convert it to? Because it's narrative based the broken powers don't really matter. Instead you can just draw on all of the fluff and put in a few tweaks that emphasise escalating the story to ludicrous extremes...

    BitD PbP Character Volstrom
    QEz1Jw1.png
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    I have played around with a PbtA version in the past. Now that I have a Worlds superhero game that I love, I've kind of decided that I'd just use that the next time I wanted to run such a thing. Capes games lend themselves to Rifts rather nicely.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    I hope this isn't considered a derail, but this may be one of the last few places I can post these pictures and know it will be appreciated.

    I'm 40 now (wow!) and grew up on D&D and Paladium. After becoming obsessed with Robotech and TMNT, I switched almost completely to Palladium systems, although I still wish I had my original D&D books (Basic D&D, not Advanced mind you). I got my best friend involved and we played the hell out of Robotech and Palladium Fantasy RPG in our teenage years. In our 20s, we met a mutual friend who was big into RPGs when he was younger and we started a brand me Palladium Fantasy campaign. Ah the memories...

    My complete collection
    6liccby3dqt5.jpg

    TMNT and N&S
    n58vwin1d8w4.jpg

    Oddly enough, I never cared for Rifts
    sp5r8uq9vrnp.jpg

    Most of these books are in rough shape, because they were lovingly used!
    1mnt1tzgtrws.jpg

    I actually own two copies of most of these books!
    4lq4j75o0uyh.jpg

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
    Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
    Steam ID
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  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    You can always tell what the favorite Palladium books are.

    The lamination starts peeling back from the corners on the ones you use.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Also: I must have run my friends through the RDF Accelerated Training Program a dozen times in middle school.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    I think Robotech was the only Palladium system that had MDC that I cared about. SDC/HP were logical and easy to go along with. MDC made sense but was crazy devastating in a not fun sort of way. The original Palladium RPG didn't have SDC so my friend and I added it in as a house rule. We weren't too far off the mark when they did add it back in.

    TMNT was crazy in how strong you could pump up your physical stats. PS, PP, PE, SDC through the roof. A lot of that got condensed in future books for the better. Being stat-nuts, we almost always took those skills that could min/max our stat lines. Naturally being teenagers, our campaigns were more action and stuff instead of, ya' know, common-sense run-of-mill situational stuff. That changed once we got older and stopped handing out XP and treasure like we were Monty Hall.

    I'm sure most RPG players went through that phase though. ;)

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
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  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    MNC Dover wrote: »
    I think Robotech was the only Palladium system that had MDC that I cared about. SDC/HP were logical and easy to go along with. MDC made sense but was crazy devastating in a not fun sort of way. The original Palladium RPG didn't have SDC so my friend and I added it in as a house rule. We weren't too far off the mark when they did add it back in.

    TMNT was crazy in how strong you could pump up your physical stats. PS, PP, PE, SDC through the roof. A lot of that got condensed in future books for the better. Being stat-nuts, we almost always took those skills that could min/max our stat lines. Naturally being teenagers, our campaigns were more action and stuff instead of, ya' know, common-sense run-of-mill situational stuff. That changed once we got older and stopped handing out XP and treasure like we were Monty Hall.

    I'm sure most RPG players went through that phase though. ;)

    And some never get over it...!

  • ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    MNC Dover wrote: »
    I think Robotech was the only Palladium system that had MDC that I cared about. SDC/HP were logical and easy to go along with. MDC made sense but was crazy devastating in a not fun sort of way. The original Palladium RPG didn't have SDC so my friend and I added it in as a house rule. We weren't too far off the mark when they did add it back in.

    TMNT was crazy in how strong you could pump up your physical stats. PS, PP, PE, SDC through the roof. A lot of that got condensed in future books for the better. Being stat-nuts, we almost always took those skills that could min/max our stat lines. Naturally being teenagers, our campaigns were more action and stuff instead of, ya' know, common-sense run-of-mill situational stuff. That changed once we got older and stopped handing out XP and treasure like we were Monty Hall.

    I'm sure most RPG players went through that phase though. ;)
    Apologies if it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but TMNT was hilarious in that the titular characters are illegal under the book's own rules.

    Turtles start with 95 "Bio-E Points" (character build points under other systems).
    Full use of hands cost 10
    Full bipedal costs 10
    Full speech ability costs 10
    Ability to hold breath costs 5
    The "Half-Shell" of theme song fame costs a whopping 45

    That leaves 15 points to grow from a tiny 1lb turtle to... a 20lb turtle, standing approximately 2ft tall.

    Heck, even their height/weight doesn't match the tables! They're listed as 4'6"-5' tall and 150-155lbs. Unfortunately, for turtles (which are classed as "short" animals) the minimum mutation size that can achieve that height is Size Level 12 (48+2d6 inches)... which is also listed as weighing 250+6d10 pounds!

  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    Archangle wrote: »
    MNC Dover wrote: »
    I think Robotech was the only Palladium system that had MDC that I cared about. SDC/HP were logical and easy to go along with. MDC made sense but was crazy devastating in a not fun sort of way. The original Palladium RPG didn't have SDC so my friend and I added it in as a house rule. We weren't too far off the mark when they did add it back in.

    TMNT was crazy in how strong you could pump up your physical stats. PS, PP, PE, SDC through the roof. A lot of that got condensed in future books for the better. Being stat-nuts, we almost always took those skills that could min/max our stat lines. Naturally being teenagers, our campaigns were more action and stuff instead of, ya' know, common-sense run-of-mill situational stuff. That changed once we got older and stopped handing out XP and treasure like we were Monty Hall.

    I'm sure most RPG players went through that phase though. ;)
    Apologies if it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but TMNT was hilarious in that the titular characters are illegal under the book's own rules.

    Turtles start with 95 "Bio-E Points" (character build points under other systems).
    Full use of hands cost 10
    Full bipedal costs 10
    Full speech ability costs 10
    Ability to hold breath costs 5
    The "Half-Shell" of theme song fame costs a whopping 45

    That leaves 15 points to grow from a tiny 1lb turtle to... a 20lb turtle, standing approximately 2ft tall.

    Heck, even their height/weight doesn't match the tables! They're listed as 4'6"-5' tall and 150-155lbs. Unfortunately, for turtles (which are classed as "short" animals) the minimum mutation size that can achieve that height is Size Level 12 (48+2d6 inches)... which is also listed as weighing 250+6d10 pounds!

    Yeah I always thought that was a bit silly. But they're the heroes and reason for the book so I guess they get special treatment. :)

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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  • mysticjuicermysticjuicer [he/him] I'm a muscle wizard and I cast P U N C HRegistered User regular
    Something doesn't add up in a Palladium book? Bah gawd! :razz:

    Ah well, the fact that they were completely nuts was part of the appeal. Their best stuff was just so full of content it blew high school era mysticjuicer's hair back. "Wha? I can be a wizard or a cyborg? ...or a cyber-wizard? ...or a JEDI KNIGHT?! ...or a DOG?!??! ...OR A MECH?!?!?! ...AND THERE'S VAMPIRES!!!!!!!!!!" Damned if I don't still think about how much fun it would be to run something using the setting as inspiration. I mean, obviously in a system that isn't held together by spit and hope, but... that setting tho.

    narwhal wrote:
    Why am I Terran?
    My YouTube Channel! Featuring silly little Guilty Gear Strive videos and other stuff!
  • ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    Something doesn't add up in a Palladium book? Bah gawd! :razz:

    Ah well, the fact that they were completely nuts was part of the appeal. Their best stuff was just so full of content it blew high school era mysticjuicer's hair back. "Wha? I can be a wizard or a cyborg? ...or a cyber-wizard? ...or a JEDI KNIGHT?! ...or a DOG?!??! ...OR A MECH?!?!?! ...AND THERE'S VAMPIRES!!!!!!!!!!" Damned if I don't still think about how much fun it would be to run something using the setting as inspiration. I mean, obviously in a system that isn't held together by spit and hope, but... that setting tho.
    To be honest, I get the idea behind Siembieda's "It's up to the GM to balance the game".

    Just look at other popular media - especially comics! Batman has spent years honing his Goddamn Batman-ning skills, but is completely outclassed in a straight-up fight by people like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash. Mostly he sticks to his Crime Lord adventures in Gotham, but he still joins in on those whacky Justice League adventures where he could become a smear on the pavement against the array of planet-destroying threats they regularly face - and it mostly works out! During the big "Omniversal Threat" events, the various writers at Marvel and DC regularly find things for the non-nigh-indestructible characters to do. The whole "class balance" concept doesn't really exist in media outside of multiplayer games (both tabletop and electronic), so why not invent a game that can have Superman (born powerful), Oracle (grew up around the greatest detectives), Batman (trains like a mofo his adult life), and Fire (recently acquired powers after an incident) on the same team?

    That last part is what I think Siembieda was trying to reflect in his classes, but failed miserably.

    RCC - "Born this way"
    PCC - "Grew up this way"
    OCC - "Trained this way" / "Recently became this way"

    Which makes sense, why NOT have an Dog, who grew up in Psyscape, trained as a Wizard, then had an encounter with the Lord of the Deep and escaped in a Triax X-710 "Flying Glitter Boy"? It's the same principle as "What if Batman had received the Green Lantern ring?" - equal parts speculation and awesome, and standard practice in Rifts where it's implicitly (if not explicitly) unapproved in other game systems.

  • mysticjuicermysticjuicer [he/him] I'm a muscle wizard and I cast P U N C HRegistered User regular
    I don't even disagree. I think the odds of someone picking a Vagabond in a game about high powered combat is pretty low, assuming the group they're playing with aren't completely dysfunctional. And having all sorts of levels of combat prowess in the corebook, for instance, means that you have a whole bunch of options to explore in terms of the scope and style of a game you're going to run! That's rad!

    ...the system - from combat to skills - is only coherent at the surface level though. God, I still don't know what the rules for a called shot are, to this day! They weren't, if I recall correctly, even in the combat section! I think it's in the mechs/vehicles area, where all of a sudden in the description of this one battle mech it says "antennae - called shot at -6 - if this is destroyed the mech can no longer make use of its sensors" or something? And magical attacks worked on a different 'attacks per turn' value as movement and shooting/melee? Rifts. Rifts plz. Stahp!

    narwhal wrote:
    Why am I Terran?
    My YouTube Channel! Featuring silly little Guilty Gear Strive videos and other stuff!
  • skyknytskyknyt Registered User, ClubPA regular
    I love how Siembieda, when confronted on the insanity of balance between technology and magic with the scenario: a child with a laser rifle sees a mage 5000 feet away and can kill the mage in a single attack, responded:
    "Well my first question is why the child wants to fight the mage? The mage can turn invisible and approach the child to discover the reason for the fight."

    Tycho wrote:
    [skyknyt's writing] is like come kind of code that, when comprehended, unfolds into madness in the mind of the reader.
    PSN: skyknyt, Steam: skyknyt, Blizz: skyknyt#1160
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Called shots are aimed shots (no bursts) made at a -4 penalty (unless otherwise specified by the target) to hit a specific part of a big thing like a robot or certain monsters. It was the only way to get damage through on anything but the main body unless your GM ruled that explosives caught all the bits individually. Called shots might require two attacks, I think I remember something about that.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Rifts really feels like a game that was utterly crippled by the ideas about RPGs at the time of it was created.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    Actually, I think the to hit number on called shots was 12. Not a penalty.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • skyknytskyknyt Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Rifts really feels like a game that was utterly crippled by being a D&D homebrew.

    That's about right yeah.

    Tycho wrote:
    [skyknyt's writing] is like come kind of code that, when comprehended, unfolds into madness in the mind of the reader.
    PSN: skyknyt, Steam: skyknyt, Blizz: skyknyt#1160
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    The Palladium system was honestly fairly innovative for an AD&D clone, but that's exactly what it is. Armor Class Rating, d20 rolls to hit, hitpoints (albeit like 4 flavors of them), leveled spellcasting (the levels of which were basically meaningless), percentile skills, etc. It's all but a setting for 2E AD&D.

    But then they also added active defenses, spell points, hugely broadened the skills system and made alignment less of a nuisance.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • AssuranAssuran Is swinging on the Spiral Registered User regular
    RE: Alignments

    I'd still rather be in a party with an Aberrant aligned player than an Anarchist player. Anarchist was essentially the chaotic neutral characters of the setting with all the baggage that went with it.

  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    One of my local places has a bunch of the new Robotech sourcebooks.

    Other than being a Palladium joint, they look pretty swank. A fair amount of reused art, but also some brand new stuff that is very cool.

    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • mysticjuicermysticjuicer [he/him] I'm a muscle wizard and I cast P U N C HRegistered User regular
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    Actually, I think the to hit number on called shots was 12. Not a penalty.

    :rotate:

    narwhal wrote:
    Why am I Terran?
    My YouTube Channel! Featuring silly little Guilty Gear Strive videos and other stuff!
  • ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    edited August 2016
    Shooting rules are on p40 of the Vanilla rule book, p361 of Ultimate. Of course, they are completely different between editions.

    Vanilla: Ranged combat is 5+ to hit on d20 for Regular Shot, 12+ for Called Shot (with the caveat that a Called Shot that "misses" from 5-11 still hits the target, just in the chest instead of the called location) .

    You can perform a Called Shot either Aimed or Burst - the rules for Aimed and Burst are in the Skills section under Weapon Proficiency (p34). An Aimed Shot (single pull of trigger) will give you +3 if you have the WP (+4 for revolvers for the usual "no reason at all"), a Burst Shot (hold down trigger for automatic weapons) will give you +1. Called Shots are only listed as relevant for Vehicle/Power Armor/Robot combat (presumably as these are the only cases where it matters where you are hit when even the smallest energy pistol can destroy a regular vehicle in a single shot).

    Ultimate: Ranged combat is 8+ to hit on d20 for Regular Shot, but Called and Aimed shots are different.

    An Aimed shot is no longer just a single pull of the trigger, it's spending time to aim and gives +2 at the cost of an extra attack. A Called Shot has no modifier, but comes at the cost of an extra attack - this can be stacked with aiming for an Aimed Called Shot for +2 and a total cost of 3 attacks. Called Shots can no longer be Burst, and can only be made if you have the Weapon Proficiency for that gun. The Ultimate Edition realizes that there are some contexts where hitting an object smaller than the cockpit of a giant robot may be useful, and offers the advice that "a bull's-eye or any small target is difficult to shoot, and even with an Aimed and/or Called Shot, the shooter suffers a penalty of -3 or -4 to strike (sometimes more depending on the target)".

    For both editions, Called Shots are the only time you will hit your target anywhere but the chest (to quote: "I avoid random hit location tables because I feel the randomness is too flukey and unrealistic").

    ETA: The rules for Burst firing made Aimed firing essentially obsolete, unless you didn't have access to an automatic weapon (or were lucky enough to be sitting in a Glitter Boy). A Vanilla Coalition Rifle does 2d6 MDC per shot compared with 50 MDC for Vanilla Dead Boy Light Armor - which meant basically several combat rounds of shooting to kill anyone in even the lightest of MDC armor. Far more efficient to use 2 attacks to empty a clip into your opponent for 10x damage, then spend 1 attack to reload (which EVERYONE has enough attacks to do at level 1).

    Archangle on
  • ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    edited August 2016
    Incidentally, the reduction of ranged combat into "empty entire clips into your opponent, reload" was one of the things that made Mystic Knights (Federation of Magic book) or their counterparts Order of the White Rose (Madhaven book) practically mandatory.

    Not only are the Knights ridiculously good in the first place (+attack from combat training, psionics, magic, immunity to energy, ability to block enemy casters from drawing on Ley Line energy - including during eclipses), but they are almost the only class that had the upgrade of the standard caster ability of channeling Ley Line energy, and using it to power conventional equipment - including recharging e-clips. A Knight on your team near a Ley Line basically meant you had unlimited ammunition, so feel free to just go full-auto on your weapons all the time.

    As per usual, Knights had their fluff that made no sense - in this case, they had an entire Code about how pragmatic they were:
    • Patience is a virtue -- think before you act.
    • Loyalty and word of honor have their merits and will lead you employment and opportunity.
    • Dead enemies tell no tales, nor come back to haunt you, except in your dreams.
    • etc.
    And yet the first thing any player Knight would do is ditch most of the starting gear, including the Mystic Knight armor. Honestly, most players do this as there's a couple of sets of clearly superior, freely available armor while the rest are garbage - from the Main Rule Book, Gladiator is full environmental with 70MDC, -5% skill penalty for 50k credits, Juicer is non-environmental with 45MDC, -5% skill penalty for 28k credits, and the terrible Huntsman is 40MDC, -10% penalty for 20k.

    However, Mystic Knight also included in their starting equipment "a magic sword" - do you mean the Battle Fury Blade which doubles attacks per round, gives opponents a -5 penalty to defense, creates a protective force field, hits like a Mac Truck, and worth 15million credits? Hey, it's noted as "a favorite of Mystic Knights"...

    Archangle on
  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited August 2016
    Yeah, Rifts is just full of bullshit like that.

    "Weapon of choice" and variations thereof require GM oversight, clear guidelines, or the willingness to have a meteor land on any character or item that gets out of line.

    'What? It said Vehicle of Choice, why can't I have a walking mobile fortress that's the size of a skyscraper and costs the GDP of most nations?'

    Of course, there are certainly groups and settings where being a Werewolf Demigod Cosmo Knight is totally viable, but I often found that Rifts suffered from the Superman problem; at a certain point the scales have to become absurd to actually challenge the group, especially one that's creative with their abilities/powers/gear. Eventually it just became easier to have... I guess "middle" powered groups? Some combat badassery, some magic, some psionics, but we began leaving the really high powered stuff behind, if nothing else because challenging those characters was difficult, and combat already took up most of a session as it was.

    Forar on
    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited August 2016
    "a magic sword" clearly refers to that katana that summons MD hurricanes.

    Edit: Or the one that ignores armor and deals mega-damage.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    When I was GMing, my stipulation regarding items, powers or race was that you needed to be able to explain it to me in a logical manner in order for me to greenlight it; I was ok with players doing something munchkiny as long as I felt that it made for a good story.

    So yeah: If you want you can totally have that IR-4000 dragon bot since your headhunter gets to start with a vehicle of choice, but I'm going to need a hell of an explanation for how a character in north america came into possession of one of these considering most people would have never even heard of Japan, let alone aquire one of the 40 that have been manufactured for the defense of the Ichto nation.

  • ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    Yeah, I think starter choices needs a leeetle bit of common sense. If an item is not listed as particularly scarce, and it's a reasonable size, then sure - why not? Especially if it's listed in the same rule book and has some comments linking the character and items in the fluff (Coalition gear for Coalition characters etc.) If a character would have reasonable access to a skill - sure, they can learn it.

    Personally, I'm a little more leery of cross-faction choices, doubly so if it's noted in the fluff as rare. For example, Quebec are pretty fierce about defending their new Glitter Boys and wont even share them with the CS - no, you didn't just happen to wander across a pilot taking a comfort stop and stole their armor. No, you didn't walk through a rift, find yourself in China and learn Touch Master Kung Fu. You tripped and fell and a Dominator Rifle accidentally fell into your pocket? Get the hell out of here... Not from a munchkin/power perspective (which can always be mitigated), but just the fact it doesn't make any sense.
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    "a magic sword" clearly refers to that katana that summons MD hurricanes.

    Edit: Or the one that ignores armor and deals mega-damage.
    That could either be the Naginata Whirlwind, or the Daisho of the Storm.

    The Naginata whirlwinds didn't do damage - they allowed the bearer to fly and deflected arrows and thrown projectiles. Pretty rubbish honestly. The Daisho had 3 abilities, each usable once per round - Rain (-4 penalty to opponent), Lightning (4d6 MD), and Wind (knock down anything lighter than 2 tons). The last one was the OP power. Both are extremely rare, from "a few dozen" for the Naginata to just 10 for the Daisho (the whereabouts of 3 are known).

    The Ghostly Katana of Soul Slaying has only 4, of which 2 are in possession of vampires (and if you're going after vampires, a simple Biomancer Spear is probably better anyway).

  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    Coalition gear was something that I generally didn't have problems with players getting there hands on when it came to small arms; any time a squad got ganked I figured their guns would be the first thing looted and a mercenary company between jobs would have little reason not to raid an isolated coalition outpost and that would cover salvaged bots/power armor to a lesser extent as well.

    Generally speaking however, I found that really exotic weaponry wasn't all that great though; Naruni plasma weapons hit like a truck, but they also required specialized ammo that you couldn't just go out and buy (especially after the CS thwomped them as a lead up to the Tolkien siege) and as awesome as the USA G10 is, damage on those things is a bitch to repair.

    Now that having been said, if you can give me a really cool story about how your character killed his master and stole his prozed sword before fleeing through a portal in Splynn, I'd be OK with you starting with an impaler rune sword.

  • ArchangleArchangle Registered User regular
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Naruni plasma weapons hit like a truck, but they also required specialized ammo that you couldn't just go out and buy (especially after the CS thwomped them as a lead up to the Tolkien siege)
    If I remember rightly (in the Mercenaries book I think), this was by design. Essentially they used the Drug Dealer business model - get them hooked on being able to pewpew blow things up, charge them out the ass (or blackmail them into performing tasks) to sustain the high.

  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    Archangle wrote: »
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Naruni plasma weapons hit like a truck, but they also required specialized ammo that you couldn't just go out and buy (especially after the CS thwomped them as a lead up to the Tolkien siege)
    If I remember rightly (in the Mercenaries book I think), this was by design. Essentially they used the Drug Dealer business model - get them hooked on being able to pewpew blow things up, charge them out the ass (or blackmail them into performing tasks) to sustain the high.

    Yup.

  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Coalition gear was something that I generally didn't have problems with players getting there hands on when it came to small arms; any time a squad got ganked I figured their guns would be the first thing looted and a mercenary company between jobs would have little reason not to raid an isolated coalition outpost and that would cover salvaged bots/power armor to a lesser extent as well.

    Generally speaking however, I found that really exotic weaponry wasn't all that great though; Naruni plasma weapons hit like a truck, but they also required specialized ammo that you couldn't just go out and buy (especially after the CS thwomped them as a lead up to the Tolkien siege) and as awesome as the USA G10 is, damage on those things is a bitch to repair.

    Now that having been said, if you can give me a really cool story about how your character killed his master and stole his prozed sword before fleeing through a portal in Splynn, I'd be OK with you starting with an impaler rune sword.

    One nice thing in rifts to is attritional damage eventually wrecks even the most OP weapons/armor so let players enjoy their fun stuff for a while it all gets broken soon enough or repairs start getting so expensive it winds up being an albatross around that players neck as they desperately try to keep their super toy working.

  • GaddezGaddez Registered User regular
    edited August 2016
    kaid wrote: »
    Gaddez wrote: »
    Coalition gear was something that I generally didn't have problems with players getting there hands on when it came to small arms; any time a squad got ganked I figured their guns would be the first thing looted and a mercenary company between jobs would have little reason not to raid an isolated coalition outpost and that would cover salvaged bots/power armor to a lesser extent as well.

    Generally speaking however, I found that really exotic weaponry wasn't all that great though; Naruni plasma weapons hit like a truck, but they also required specialized ammo that you couldn't just go out and buy (especially after the CS thwomped them as a lead up to the Tolkien siege) and as awesome as the USA G10 is, damage on those things is a bitch to repair.

    Now that having been said, if you can give me a really cool story about how your character killed his master and stole his prozed sword before fleeing through a portal in Splynn, I'd be OK with you starting with an impaler rune sword.

    One nice thing in rifts to is attritional damage eventually wrecks even the most OP weapons/armor so let players enjoy their fun stuff for a while it all gets broken soon enough or repairs start getting so expensive it winds up being an albatross around that players neck as they desperately try to keep their super toy working.

    It also makes it so that players realize that a party needs to have characters who fulfill roles other then "killmanzgud"; an operator is worth more then a 100 LRMs when you need to salvage armor off a fallen UAR-1 to keep your party's Titan in fighting condition.

    And hey: the JA-12 is a black market energy rifle with great range, an underslung grenade launcher, a good scope, laser targetting, a near bottomless ammo capacity and the option of either a decent single shot or a fearsome burst of laser shots that can be replaced any time you are near a decent sized trading post. To me, that makes it way better then the Naruni plasma cartridge machine gun thing.

    Gaddez on
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    Looks like my various Palladium book collection post brought this thread back to life. When being resurrected, posters will develop an insanity from the trauma of having to post again. Please roll on the random insanity chart to see what you got (have Geth roll twice):

    RANDOM INSANITY TABLE
    1-19 Affective Disorders
    20-45 Neurosis
    46-65 Phobia
    66-85 Obsession
    86-00 Psychosis

    AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
    1-19 Frightened by loud noises to the point of cowering and wetting
    self.
    20-35 Disgusted by anything sticky, and will go to any length to
    avoid touching it.
    36-54 Obsessed with cleanliness, and must clean up any area he/she
    is at for more than a few minutes.
    55-75 Outraged by acts of violence, becoming violent himself; 72%
    chance of going berserk and attacking the perpetrator of the
    violent act without regard for self. Bonuses: +1 to strike,
    + 2 to damage.
    76-88 Hates music and musicians, and will try to destroy or stop the
    source of those terrible noises.
    89-00 Intimidated by spoken language; cannot speak meaningful sentences,
    and must use sign language or written communication.

    NEUROSIS
    1-18 Fear of the Dark (spent much time locked in closets) to the
    point of gibbering and total collapse while in the dark.
    19-34 Fear of Animals (chewed on by the family pet while a nipper)
    to the point of running away when confronted by small, furry
    things.
    35-49 Cannot tell the Truth; compulsive liar, even if of a good
    alignment.
    50-64 Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Acute paranoia toward all
    supernatural entities, those of alien heritage and even humans
    born off the Earth. ("They're out to get ya! They could be
    anybody!! even . . . you!?!").
    65-85 Fear of Heights (Uncle Goober used to dangle the character,
    by one foot, out of windows) to the point of being frozen above
    the second story; character is fine as long as ground is not
    visible.
    86-00 Fear of Success (Mom always said you weren't any good):
    Character will sabotage self at critical moments. The following
    minuses apply during critical, or high pressure moments (battle,
    danger, watched by others, etc.): - 15% to all skills, - 3 to
    hit, dodge, parry and damage.

    PHOBIAS
    1-3 Undead
    4-6 Reptiles
    7-9 Scientists
    10-12 Mutants
    13-15 Snakes
    16-19 Ghosts
    20-22 Confining Enclosures
    23-26 Skeletons
    27-29 Darkness
    30-32 Graveyards/Burial Mounds
    33-35 Abandoned Old Houses/Buildings
    36-39 Giant Creatures/Monsters
    40-44 Basements/Cellars
    45-48 Corpses
    49-51 Users of Magic
    52-54 Spiders
    55-57 Tombs
    58-61 Cats
    62-64 Heights
    65-67 Dogs
    68-70 Contamination
    71-73 Psychic Strangers
    74-77 Insects
    78-80 Flying
    81-84 Bats/Bat-Like Things
    85-87 Water
    88-90 Computers
    91-93 Psychic Healing
    94-96 Open Spaces
    97-00 Supernatural Entities

    OBSESSIONS
    Focus of the Obsession
    1-50 Love/Desire
    51-00 Hate/Destroy

    Obsessions
    1 -5 Timeliness (either a fanatic about being punctual or always late).
    6-12 High technology (either loves to acquire/use or loathes it).
    13-20 Women (or men, if a woman character)
    21-27 Wealth
    28-35 Secrecy (either prizes his secrecy above all else, or abhors even
    the thought of keeping secrets).
    36-43 Specific individual.
    44-50 Specific object/item or animal.
    51-55 Appearance (fashion plate or slob).
    56-63 Danger (either loves the thrill of danger, which usually means
    throwing caution to the wind, the more deadly the better; or,
    despises danger, overly cautious, worry wart, jumpy).
    64-70 Food (covets only the finest foods and drink, or would, just as
    readily, eat worms and stale food as anything else; a slob).
    71-78 Alcohol (either a heavy drinker with a keen taste for the finest
    liquor, or a fanatical, anti-alcohol prude).
    79-86 Gambling (will bet it all, or an anti-gambling fanatic).
    87-92 Solitude (either loves quiet and being alone to the point of
    growing irrationally angry and frustrated if continually bothered
    or interrupted; or can't stand the thought of being left alone
    for even short periods of time).
    93-00 Crime-busting: Loves it if a hero; obsessed with stomping out
    crime and evil everywhere. If a villain "crime lord". Loves the
    thrill of being a criminal mastermind.

    PSYCHOSIS
    1-15 Hysterical Blindness when under pressure, 1-89% likelihood
    of happening — roll for each situation.
    16-28 Paranoid type; everyone is out to get you/trusts no one.
    29-49 Manic depressive; alternate severe depression one week (suicidal,
    nobody loves you — -5% on all skills) with manic
    episodes the next week (everything is great and I'm the best
    that there ever was! — +5% on all skills). 30% chance of
    alcoholism.
    50-73 Schizophrenia; you are passive and easily frightened; jumpy.
    You hear voices telling you that all the angels are dead; worry
    about what angels are. 50% chance of alcoholism or drug addiction.
    74-85 Mindless aggression; roll percentile:
    1-94 Semi-functional : When frustrated, angry, or upset,
    there is a 72% likelihood of going berserk and lashing
    out at anyone/everyone around until killed or confined;
    will take 3-18 minutes of confinement to regain
    composure.
    95-00 Non-functional/homicidal: Continually going berserk
    until confined or killed; have one lucid day a week
    and try to talk your way out of confinement.
    86-00 Become a psychiatrist and try to cure everyone around (they're
    all sick, even if only you have the perspicacity to tell); be sure
    to demand stiff fees.

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
    Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
    Steam ID
    Twitch Page
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