As the deluge of The Rifter reviews continues from me, (I promise I'll be caught up within the next two weeks), this particular issue is a gas. There are many cool things here, and it is most likely still at a store somewhere. As of this minute, issues #13 and lower are out of print and can only be found at hobby shops that have not sold out. One of the interesting events of this issue was the announcement of a 10,000 run, NEVER to be reprinted, April's Fool Issue called The Rifter 9 1/2. If you were a subscriber, as I am, then you got it for FREE, otherwise you have to find it at the hobby stores. This is going to be a hard one to locate, people and I wish I could review it here at Epinions. It was too much fun!
Disclaimer Time: The Rifter is a sourcebook periodical that is published four times a year by Palladium Books. The series was created to give Palladium an outlet to print new ideas before making them actual rules, but that has long since changed. Currently, (since about Issue #3) the things that make it to print in The Rifter are real, usable rules and some never appear elsewhere, making owning every copy of the series highly valuable. Since this is unlike any other periodical, it helpful to write on the contents of each issue as if it were a separate entity rather than a part of a long running series.
In every game, a person will find someone who is able to do magical things using non-magical devices. After all, were one of us to time travel back to the Dark Ages of England, a simple disposable lighter would be "magic" to the people of that era. Thus Palladium Books creates a new class called the Tinkerer. While this class is actually created for the Fantasy game, it can be used in any game. Knowledge is power!
And what's this? More fantasy material right after! Wow, the Fantasy players will truly love this issue. A long thorn in my side, the changeling race, has got some new material at last. I love these guys, although I almost never allow my players to pick them as a race. They DO make excellent villains since they can shape change into almost any humanoid form. This issue introduces a new type of "super changeling" that is able to change into almost anything! Wow, I can see my next Fantasy game heating up already.
After that, the issue jumps over to the Heros Unlimited game to discuss an all new super power category in great detail. I believe that these rules were reprinted in one of the later rules books, but they aren't in any of the four I own. If you are into Heros Unlimited, this will be something to get.
Then we take a walk on the dark side of gaming by getting two new features of Beyond the Supernatural and one for Nightbane. The BTS features are two complete adventures (we don't see that very often) while the Nightbane feature gives a new faction for the game. This takes a look at how the modern day militia (basically the National Guard and other semi-military groups) would respond and react to the Nightlords and their followers. I really like it because it gives my players a new place to start during character generation.
Then comes the second half of the Arzno stuff that started in #9. This time there is an extensive listing of all new Techo-Wizard items, hardware to be used for the fight against the Vampire Kingdoms, an all new class and even a dozen or so adventure ideas. Naturally, this is all for the Rifts setting but the ideas are easily twisted into other uses. I like twisting things around and my player group hates that part of me at times.
The last bit of gaming stuff is also for the Rifts game, but I found it highly interesting. It is an in depth discussion of how gaming in space would happen. How would combat be resolved in 0G? What spells would work? What do such and such mean when talking about space events? Look no further! It's all right here. The most common terms are all defined for you, how things should work in a space environment and even almost 50 spells designed for use in outer space!
Of course, the final installment of Siege Against Tolkeen and yet another chapter of the incredible Phase World adventure, The Hammer of the Forge. Gee, I am so wanting that to get done so I can go back and read it all at once.
Fear not about not finding this great issue right now. Currently, it has only been out of print for 9 months, although there is no stock left at Palladium Books. The Rifter generally makes a 100,000 run per issue plus reprints for the next 5 years, so the likelihood of this still being at a store or available to order from a warehouse is pretty good. But don't sit on your hands or you will miss your chance.
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