As I have stated in previous reviews, The Rifter is a sourcebook series that is published quarterly by Palladium Books. The general idea behind the series is to follow a theme in each that spans throughout all the games that the company produces. In most cases, this theme fails to be able to encompass the entire range of the RPGs, but for the first time in the now 4-year-old life of this series, one has been found. No matter what era of technology you are talking about, the gothic theme always seems to be able to raise its ugly head!
In this Issue:
Of course, there are the standard items that seem to be showing up in every issue. Kevin opens with a small talk about how he spent his summer vacation. Makes the guy sound like a school kid writing his first essay of the year for English class, but it is kind of fun to see the human side of the company.
Then there is the upcoming releases update, but if you are just now getting this issue, you can skip this part. It is about the new stuff for the end of 1998. There is another installment of the Knights of the Dinner Table, The Siege Against Tolkeen and Hammer of the Forge.
Now for the fun stuff:
First, we get an update to the recently released Western Empire book for Palladium Fantasy. Bill Coffin managed to get the stuff that was left out of his ground-breaking debut for the company published in this issue. Mostly Hook, Line and Sinker ideas, but valuable to have around.
Then Bill talks to all GMs out in the world about how to go about creating epic campaigns for the Fantasy game. Highly useful information to any fantasy GM no matter what game he runs.
Then the full swing of Halloween begins! Randi Cartier and Kevin put their heads together to create some truly frightful undead critters for use in the Fantasy game. These monsters are easily converted to the Nightbane series of books (look for my posts on this great horror game in the upcoming months). That is followed by a full blown Nightbane section that looks at werebeasts for the modern age. These critters can be used for the new Heroes Unlimited game as well. Tribe of the Moon is part one of two Nightbane articles regarding the WereBeast Social structure. Not to worry, you will find the second half in the next issue of The Rifter.
I'm sure that most of you recall my post on Rifts Sourcebook One where I talked about the entity known as A.R.C.H.I.E. Three. Well, the next part of this issue is about that same insane computer, picking up where the Rifts books last spoke of him/her/it. Last, but not least, is a section from first time contributor David Ransom about the horrific Gene Splicers of the Rifts game.
Some things of great interest about this issue:
This is the first time ever that The Rifter has contained so much "official" rules and source material. This alone makes the issue a must for almost any Palladium Games player. Also, the serial series "The Siege Against Tolkeen" is (for the first time) removed from the series of World Books for Rifts as the "official" storyline. The primary reason for this is that the books are being produced faster than the author of the story itself has been able to submit his tale. Kevin now tells the gamers that are demanding RPG versions of the story that they will not have to wait until the end of the story to get it. A good thing, too, because the serial didn't end until Issue 10 (April 2000) and Book 1 of 5 was release June of 2000. To wait for the entire story before beginning the work would have delayed the RPG books until January 2000 to even get started!
The bottom line:
This is a must for all RPGs players and even more than that to those who delve deeply into the Palladium Books series of games. You can't go wrong with getting a copy of this issue.
Recommended:
