Palladium Books has long been at the forefront of the Role Playing Game business, being one of the few small, privately owned and operated gaming companies still in operation. One of the biggest reasons behind this success is that they have a quarterly sourcebook series they call The Rifter. The Rifter is the only role playing aid of its kind. It contains official source material that often can never be found anywhere else and almost all of the material is written by gamers for gamers. Many of Palladium's current regular staff started out by getting published in The Rifter. The Rifter #14 is no different than the rest, in that it contains stuff for many of Palladium's games, past and present.

Perhaps one of the greatest minds in the RPG world was the man who helped to create Palladium Books with his many adventure games, the late, great Erick Wujcik. Erick died this past winter after a long battle with cancer and The Rifter #43 was dedicated to this man of vision. This particular issue (14) marked the return of Erick to the regular staff at Palladium after many years of doing his own works. When Palladium Books released the rights to produce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness Role Playing Game (created by Erick Wujcik with original art from Eastman and Laird), Erick came back to revise the game into the current format, After the Bomb.

So what's in this issue?

One of the great things about Palladium Books has always been the player support. I have often had a question about something in one of their games and a quick email or phone call (in the pre-Rifter days) to the company would get me an answer with very little delay. This issue starts off with a questions and answers article from Rodney Stott and Shawn Merrow concerning the Heroes Unlimited game series.

Also is the last edition of the Rifts Lone Star Comic Strip, written and drawn by Ramon Perez, now a regular artist at the company. This eight part strip had a large following and Palladium Books has considered reprinting it as a Graphic Novel at some future date..

A prelude to the Heroes Unlimited Imperial Space Sourcebook (a title that has yet to see the light of day) is next. This may very well be the only time this information will EVER see print, so if you can find a copy of this issue and like hero games, get it. The Atorian Empire is a great addition to your Heroes Unlimited game and the rarity of the setting makes this a fantastic place to get those little surprises that your players love (or hate) you for.

One of Erick's other popular games, Ninjas and Superspies gets some additional support with a new adventure that takes place in the years of 1945 to 1954 in the Indochina region. This is packed full of new items, skills and adversaries for the game. Considering the popularity of this game (it is almost always sold out), I have always wondered why no other full source books were published for it.

Then we get to join new writer Sonny Rice as he heads Beneath the Surface of the Palladium Fantasy Role Playing world. This is a fine example of the great works contributed by fellow gamers to the Rifter series. It includes official new skills, directions on handling underground adventures and a host of new monsters for the Fantasy game system.

Two additions to the Rifts game appear in this issue, one is a setting in a strange town that fades in and out of the world and the other is source material for one of the many black market power armor companies named Horlock Robots. Each has several new items and the power armor section contains complete stats for four new types of battle suits, each with its own special abilities. This is some good stuff.

The issue is wrapped up with a short story of horror set in the Nightbane game and yet another chapter of the Phase World novel, Hammer of the Forge. Also a small, and at the time sad, announcement was made by the company. After 16 years of publishing the RoboTech game system, Palladium Books has let go of the license. They were not given the freedom they needed to make it a truly great game system and the owners of the series kept giving them new stuff that was not functional for the game system. After a couple of years of fending them off, it was time to let go and return the rights to the parent company. Thankfully, this is not as sad of a happening as it could have been. Palladium now has the license back with the full rights to do the game system as THEY think it should be done and RoboTech: The Shadow Chronicles has been launched along with at least three other titles and the entirety of the old game is being reworked as we speak into the new, better functioning game system.

By the way, this issue can still be bought directly from Palladium Books at their web site. Can't beat THAT with a stick!

Recommended: Yes