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Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Alien Rope Burn posted:

Really the core issue is that Siembieda wanted to have a ground slog like World War I, but with the technological and magical advancement in the setting, both sides are reduced to holding the idiot ball. What's more, it's all really railroaded, and there's no acknowledgement that the PCs could change the outcome of the war, and all of the adventures just being sideline battles and whatnot. I remember one particular part where there's an adventure where there's race between the two sides to control a killer satellite! Man, that'd be an exciting, thrilling turn in the course of the war that the PCs could influence, right? Well, no. It's a red herring. The adventure goes so far as to say:


:v:
Wait. It tells you that killsats existing and being operational would distort the hell out of your campaign, so don't include them.

In an adventure about groups trying to get control over an operational killsat.

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Nostalgia4ColdWar
May 7, 2007

Good people deserve good things.

Till someone lets the winter in and the dying begins, because Old Dark Places attract Old Dark Things.
...

Nostalgia4ColdWar fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Mar 31, 2017

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



You know the Yellowstone supervolcano is an actual thing, right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera

Nostalgia4ColdWar
May 7, 2007

Good people deserve good things.

Till someone lets the winter in and the dying begins, because Old Dark Places attract Old Dark Things.
...

Nostalgia4ColdWar fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Mar 31, 2017

turn it up TURN ME ON
Mar 19, 2012

In the Grim Darkness of the Future, there is only war.

...and delicious ice cream.
So, does anyone know of a good resource to get RIFTS books from that isn't :filez:? I'd like to pick up some of the books, but have limited cash to do it.

Also, there's Rifts that opened in the sky, under water... has any Rift opened up in the middle of an inactive supervolcano? Like, releasing enough energy to make it go boom?

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

Zereth posted:

Wait. It tells you that killsats existing and being operational would distort the hell out of your campaign, so don't include them.

In an adventure about groups trying to get control over an operational killsat.

There's like a quiet paranoia that runs through a lot of the writing on the Rifts books where if the PCs will be given any sizeable power or allowed to defeat any of the major villains, the setting will be wrecked, so it tries to nip that in the bud whenever possible. The general assumption is that PCs will be wandering murderhobos and the idea that characters might shape the world significantly often isn't really taken into account, despite it being a big post-apocalyptic blank slate.

One thing that's been running through my head since mentioning this is how much more interesting a Tolkeen win (or even just a pyrrhic victory or mutual loss) would be. A Coalition victory really just reinforces the status quo of the setting - the Coalition is weakened to where they were originally before the "War Machine" geared up, and Tolkeen was never of major consequence in the first place. If Chi-Town had been destroyed or devastated, that would given cause for the Coalition to be more divided, and give them the grey moral qualities Siembieda was seeking for the faction in the first place. If the Proseks were dead or broken, the faction loses a lot of its direct Nazi parallels. The subtext would still be there, but the actual idolization of Hitler would be thankfully cut. And when Coalition troops showed up in an adventure, it would be less clear what their intentions or reactions might be, which could lead to more interesting interactions.

50 Foot Ant posted:

Did anyone notice the change to the "Disaster of the Week" theme the Great Cataclysm had? It went from world wide natural disasters and the Rifts tearing things up to the most outrageous claim.

I admit I haven't paid close attention to the revisionist material that's been cropping up in recent books, but what I did see in the Revised Sourcebook and the Revised Vampire Kingdoms just struck me as spitting in their own soup. Overexplaining the apocalypse is usually a bad idea in general, and the extra information just adds confusion and plot holes (like why the Earth isn't in an outright ice age from aforementioned super-eruption).

SquadronROE posted:

So, does anyone know of a good resource to get RIFTS books from that isn't :filez:? I'd like to pick up some of the books, but have limited cash to do it.

When I was shoring up my Rifts collection for F&F writeups, I used hpbmarketplace.com. You can get a lot of the early books super-cheap (not caring about the condition helps), and if you can find multiple books from the same seller, the shipping costs are notably lower than amazon.com. One of the big issues, though, when searching, is that there's basically no standard for how those books are titled and filed, so you'll find the same book under like two to four different names sometimes.

If you're looking for PDFs, rpgnow as a selection of them, and they're about half off normal retail price.

turn it up TURN ME ON
Mar 19, 2012

In the Grim Darkness of the Future, there is only war.

...and delicious ice cream.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

When I was shoring up my Rifts collection for F&F writeups, I used hpbmarketplace.com. You can get a lot of the early books super-cheap (not caring about the condition helps), and if you can find multiple books from the same seller, the shipping costs are notably lower than amazon.com. One of the big issues, though, when searching, is that there's basically no standard for how those books are titled and filed, so you'll find the same book under like two to four different names sometimes.

If you're looking for PDFs, rpgnow as a selection of them, and they're about half off normal retail price.

Perfect. I'm hoping for PDFs since I've got zero shelf space. I do want a good copy of the main book though, preferably in hardback. What's the latest version there, the Ultimate edition?

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



50 Foot Ant posted:

Oh, yeah. I've known that for years.

The thing was the way Rifts changed after they did all those "We're all going to DIE!" TV specials. When asked specifically about NORAD, KS stated that it was destroyed by the Yellowstone Supervolcano.

It's like 12 hours away from Yellowstone, in a non-volcanic region, embedded inside a mountain.

I understand that the Yellowstone Super Volcano would be severely damaging, but the extent that he ruled it was just outrageous. It apparently vaporized the entire mid-West, dumped over a hundred feet of ash on America, and the rest.

I like the old version of the Great Cataclysm better. :(

Of course, this could have to do with KS's very loose grasp on distance and geography.

Case in point, Sourcebook One lists settlements as being hundreds or thousands of miles apart. So there's, like... um... eight settlements in all of North America?

I just really disliked the Super Volcano thing.
Oh, I see. I hadn't looked at a map to check where NORAD was in relation.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

There's like a quiet paranoia that runs through a lot of the writing on the Rifts books where if the PCs will be given any sizeable power or allowed to defeat any of the major villains, the setting will be wrecked, so it tries to nip that in the bud whenever possible. The general assumption is that PCs will be wandering murderhobos and the idea that characters might shape the world significantly often isn't really taken into account, despite it being a big post-apocalyptic blank slate.
... It's... it's a post-apocalyptic setting. It is already wrecked. That's the point of a post-apocalyptic setting. The only way the PCs could really "destroy" it is by rebuilding civilization. :psyduck:

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

There's like a quiet paranoia that runs through a lot of the writing on the Rifts books where if the PCs will be given any sizeable power or allowed to defeat any of the major villains, the setting will be wrecked, so it tries to nip that in the bud whenever possible. The general assumption is that PCs will be wandering murderhobos and the idea that characters might shape the world significantly often isn't really taken into account, despite it being a big post-apocalyptic blank slate.

Well yeah, if your party actually makes anything new happen, then Simbieda has to drive over to your house, write a new foreword explaining how all the changes were his idea, and staple it into your book. He doesn't have time for that!

This is exactly what I remember when I first read the Africa book. There's these four horsemen of the apocalypse, and they start in different parts of Africa and if they reach each other they become a giant death monster that will destroy the world. So you're supposed to kill them before they reach each other, and there's rules for how much less deathy the death monster is per missing horseman. But even the least horseman is like gently caress-you powerful with insane stats, tens of thousands of MDC and ridiculous regeneration rates, insane weapons that would instantly vaporize any non-Cosmoknight party you tried to put together. I remember thinking "well, thanks for putting all that in, I guess so we know that either Africa has a hard time limit or that we should just pretend you didn't write any of that?"

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

SquadronROE posted:

Perfect. I'm hoping for PDFs since I've got zero shelf space. I do want a good copy of the main book though, preferably in hardback. What's the latest version there, the Ultimate edition?

That would be it. It's got a lot of issues but it is genuinely more coherent than the original printing, which as my F&F details, is an amazing mess in retrospect.

The original is super-cheap, though, if you're just looking for a physical copy. You can often find it for like $1 + shipping.

Zereth posted:

... It's... it's a post-apocalyptic setting. It is already wrecked. That's the point of a post-apocalyptic setting. The only way the PCs could really "destroy" it is by rebuilding civilization. :psyduck:

To be fair, it's kind of "post-post-apocalypse", where you do have plenty of actual nations, like the Coalition, Atlantis, the New German Republic, the Empire of the Sun, the Phoenix Empire, etc. There are actually a ton of successful communities out there (the more evil, the more successful, generally).

PlaneGuy
Mar 28, 2001

g e r m a n
e n g i n e e r i n g

Yam Slacker

50 Foot Ant posted:

#2: Lasers are SILENT! Yeah, that big 1.21 GW laser fired from a mech that's 20 feet tall? Totally silent. Same with a rifle that will blow up the Chrysler Building. Why? Because light is silent. Again, I wrote an article refuting it, calling attention to atmospheric attenuation as well as thermal expansion of ambient atmosphere with the "thermal collapse" effect, basically saying you'd get a thunderclap of various degrees. Once again... "LASERS ARE SILENT BECAUSE OF... SHUT UP!"

oooooooooooo what do lasers actually sound like?

SavageMessiah
Jan 28, 2009

Emotionally drained and spookified

Toilet Rascal
I remember one of the books ranting that lasers are silent and using turning on a flashlight as an example. No crack or loud discharge of energy there right? Exactly the same. :smuggo:

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

PlaneGuy posted:

oooooooooooo what do lasers actually sound like?

So far the real ones don't make any noise beyond their power source or any mechanical servos aiming them. They also don't generate a visible beam. Of course those are lasers used to shoot down missiles and mortar shells by tracking their trajectories and warping/ignting them while they fly, so a gun that shoots a hole in a guy with a solid read beam of light might follow different rules.

CroatianAlzheimers
Jun 15, 2009

I can't remember why I'm mad at you...


You guys realize that Kevin's grasp of technology, not just modern technology but any technology, is pretty much informed by comics, movies, and the Discovery Channel, right? When I was there the man didn't know how to attach files to emails. Wayne had to do it for him. I had to drag him out of his office one day to the parking lot to where I'd parked my 30 year old motorcycle so I could show him my battery to prove that no, Kevin, motorcycles don't have 6-volt charging systems and haven't since the 60s. He grudgingly admitted that yes, maybe some modern bikes may have 12-volt systems. This to a guy who restores old bikes as a hobby.

He's like functionally illiterate when it comes to technology. Alex isn't much better, since I think he believes that we have a lot of technology around from those, "Secret Weapons of WWII" books he likes so much.

SavageMessiah
Jan 28, 2009

Emotionally drained and spookified

Toilet Rascal
Yeah and his grasp of the usefulness of military hardware is... dubious. Half the stuff that Golden Age Weaponsmiths digs up and retrofits would be museum pieces NOW, much less in 100 years. The canonical KS tank is the vietnam era M48. It comes up all over palladium stuff and I honestly think its just because he had a picture of one lying around that he could reuse.

On the other hand I approve of the notion of incredibly ancient POS MBTs being refitted with building destroying murderlasers!

CroatianAlzheimers
Jun 15, 2009

I can't remember why I'm mad at you...


It's even simpler than "had a picture lying around". It's, "These are the tanks that were in the Sergeant Rock comics I read as a kid. I bet they still use them!"

Other things Kevin had never heard of/couldn't understand: Carbines, logistics, motorcycles other than dirtbikes, harleys, or sport bikes, power/weight ratio, and many, many other things I can't remember off the top of my head. Those dudes are stuck in the late 70s, early 80s which, honestly, is more a "SE Michigan" problem and less a "Palladium Books" problem.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

PlaneGuy posted:

oooooooooooo what do lasers actually sound like?

Most you'll see these days are silent, largely because they're effectively not much different than a lighter or a blowtorch. And, technically, a laser is going to be silent no matter what - it's the air it travels through that can make the noise! If you want to actually shoot somebody with a laser in the course of a combat action, you'll need something so powerful that it'll cause the air to superheat and "break down", forming momentary plasma. (That's a really, really gross oversimplification of the science involved.) You get a sound effect like a little series of cracks, like so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HHJhpStza0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT5uQBpwvVk

Something powerful enough to demolish buildings in an instant would involve a lot more sound and much faster "bursts". Of course, the net effect IRL is that laser weapons that powerful would also lose their energy fast. In general you don't want lasers to make that "crack", because that means they're losing energy in the air, but it has some potential applications. Of course, most modern lasers make a loud hum just on account of the power source and machinery used to fire them, as well.

CroatianAlzheimers posted:

It's even simpler than "had a picture lying around". It's, "These are the tanks that were in the Sergeant Rock comics I read as a kid. I bet they still use them!"

Look, he bought Recon. That's not something you buy just to publish a few times and call it a day; you can use that art forever.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

SavageMessiah posted:

Yeah and his grasp of the usefulness of military hardware is... dubious. Half the stuff that Golden Age Weaponsmiths digs up and retrofits would be museum pieces NOW, much less in 100 years. The canonical KS tank is the vietnam era M48. It comes up all over palladium stuff and I honestly think its just because he had a picture of one lying around that he could reuse.

On the other hand I approve of the notion of incredibly ancient POS MBTs being refitted with building destroying murderlasers!

He also has rules for TK P-51s. There are currently 84 flying P-51s. Most aren't actually flying, they're just "flyable". I assume the Rifts would not be friendly to them. But sure, every TK wizard can just grab one from the store. And if we're talking museum pieces then why the hell do we need the rules for P-51s, they'd be P-51 shaped statues before the wizard started with them.

Of course we're talking about the guy who fills page after page of his professional for-sale books with pictures of tubes that have handles on them and fanciful gun names.

Nostalgia4ColdWar
May 7, 2007

Good people deserve good things.

Till someone lets the winter in and the dying begins, because Old Dark Places attract Old Dark Things.
...

Nostalgia4ColdWar fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Mar 31, 2017

turn it up TURN ME ON
Mar 19, 2012

In the Grim Darkness of the Future, there is only war.

...and delicious ice cream.
That's a lot of :words: but man, does it sound like it would be fun to play in that world.

SavageMessiah
Jan 28, 2009

Emotionally drained and spookified

Toilet Rascal

50 Foot Ant posted:

The idea that the CS would shun magic is interesting in theory but let's face it, when your back is against the wall you grab at everything. And going straight by the book for attitudes and tech creep will just make everything somehow 'meh' instead of the kickass thing it should be.

For what it's worth one of the books actually brings up a secret cabal of coalition magic users left over from before the CS and the Federation of Magic had their little falling-out.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
It's not just my thread anymore, you're welcome to post as much as you like.

I ain't takin' the rap for this on my own, after all.

Talen_Soti
Mar 30, 2010
Is it just me or did anyone else need almost an hour to roll up a character?

My group averaged about 1.5 hours to build a character, from stats to skills to equipment.

Nostalgia4ColdWar
May 7, 2007

Good people deserve good things.

Till someone lets the winter in and the dying begins, because Old Dark Places attract Old Dark Things.
...

Nostalgia4ColdWar fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Mar 31, 2017

Talen_Soti
Mar 30, 2010
Believe me I know about not letting players have access to some of the more "unusual" OCCs (cj carellas books come to mind). Right now, I'm currently planning a post Tolkien war campaign just using the new main book and adventure book.

BTW, is anyone here from the web ring /mailing list? I ask because I am curious. One of my handles was RifterDan and one of my ideas involved a company called hellfire industries. I was hoping that mAybe somebody saved some of the mailing list.

Talen_Soti fucked around with this message at 03:32 on May 17, 2013

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

SavageMessiah posted:

For what it's worth one of the books actually brings up a secret cabal of coalition magic users left over from before the CS and the Federation of Magic had their little falling-out.

Yeah, the Vanguard - which is honestly one of the better additions to the Coalition, since it gives a means through which the Coalition can counter basic magical sabotage.

Talen_Soti posted:

Is it just me or did anyone else need almost an hour to roll up a character?

My group averaged about 1.5 hours to build a character, from stats to skills to equipment.

It's a pain because it's not even all that complex - but because the skill organization is so terrible. Just the fact that it doesn't include the basic skill percentages with the character class or on a single table means you waste a lot of time flipping back and forth to obtain your starting skill values. It's probably the single worst aspect of character creation and it has never been fixed, even though there are trivial solutions to it. Making my latest Heroes Unlimited character took ages on account of starting with 30-40 skills, and waffling back and forth on which ones to take to begin with.

Talen_Soti posted:

Believe me I know about not letting players have access to some of the more "unusual" OCCs (cj carellas books come to mind).

Really, I think the issue is not having unusual or powerful PCs; after all, the corebook has wild variations. You can have a glitter boy and borg in the same group as a cyber-doc and Coalition grunt. Really, I think the thing is to define what kind of group and region you're dealing with, and just try and make sure people have enough of a focus to stave off choice paralysis. Dialing it back to the core and sourcebook still gives you the ridiculous robot R.C.C., after all.

The last game I ran took place in South America, and some people played some of CJ's "infamous" classes, but something like an anti-monster is actually weaker than a glitter boy (the big advantage it has is regeneration), and I let the weaker class being played have a riding monster and extra weapons and armor and that sort of thing. You can't sweat balance too much if you're playing anything close to RAW, you just have to make sure you and your players are on the same page about what sort of game you're running. If you're running a New German Republic military unit, you might not have a place for somebody to play the Killer Whale O.C.C. (which, for the uninitiated, is a literal killer whale as a character).

Ultimately, I think part of Rifts' appeal is being able to pick a character from a neverending list of weird poo poo no other game would ever contemplate, so I think it's more fun if you're more inclusive, and I'd rather get more use out of my shelf of books. Certainly, not every game needs to be as odd as having a cosmo knight, a nightbane, a zembahk wonder worm, and a flooper, of course, but for some folks, that's what Rifts is all about!
just kidding, nobody would play a flooper

turn it up TURN ME ON
Mar 19, 2012

In the Grim Darkness of the Future, there is only war.

...and delicious ice cream.
Does Rifts play well with a PBEM or PBP system? I know for a fact I can't get enough people around me interested in this, but I'd still love to play around with the universe.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

SquadronROE posted:

Does Rifts play well with a PBEM or PBP system? I know for a fact I can't get enough people around me interested in this, but I'd still love to play around with the universe.

It'd be a little trickier to play in PbP that D&D because it has actively rolled defenses and more resources to track (each player has attacks per round as a resource for example, and can expend them for certain active defenses, so that's a new track). Each round of combat would take way longer.

However, I think it would work as well in PbP as it does anywhere else. Which is to say the whole game is a congealed mass of confusing bullshit and crazy-man ravings wrapped around an incredibly cool setting. It would play like annoying balls but you'd still have a blast.

Or just bug me for my sweet-rear end D10 conversion. I bet it's :filez: though, now that I think about it, even if it's a fan work.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!
I didn't post any conversions in the OP mainly just not to draw Palladium's attention to them (conversions posted second-hand to rpg.net have gotten people cease and desist letters, or letters to their webhosters), but I'm absolutely fine with people posting them voluntarily. If it's the d10 conversion I'm familiar with, I wouldn't see it as a big issue as far as SA policy goes, but you could double-check with Winson to be sure if you're concerned.

I don't know if Palladium is paying attention here, but I'd operate under the assumption they are if you're worried about that sort of thing.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

I doubt it is the one you are familiar with, as far as I'm aware there are six people that have read it, heh.

ToyotaThong
Oct 29, 2011
Ah, this thread has been a fun read. Its brought back so many fond memories. As I type this, I smile and look at the shelves of Palladium books. Every book published till just a few years ago, even a copy of Rifts: Manhunter.

I agree with the common sentiments here: the game system is wonky and archaic; it is absolutely open to abuse; it is quite unrealistic; it holds a special place in my heart.

I do have stories. Everything from a 5 year Robotech campaign to running a game for actual gangbangers.

Dr. Clockwork
Sep 9, 2011

I'LL PUT MY SCIENCE IN ALL OF YOU!

ToyotaThong posted:

Ah, this thread has been a fun read. Its brought back so many fond memories. As I type this, I smile and look at the shelves of Palladium books. Every book published till just a few years ago, even a copy of Rifts: Manhunter.

I agree with the common sentiments here: the game system is wonky and archaic; it is absolutely open to abuse; it is quite unrealistic; it holds a special place in my heart.

I do have stories. Everything from a 5 year Robotech campaign to running a game for actual gangbangers.

It goes without saying that you should share these stories!

CroatianAlzheimers
Jun 15, 2009

I can't remember why I'm mad at you...


ToyotaThong posted:

Ah, this thread has been a fun read. Its brought back so many fond memories. As I type this, I smile and look at the shelves of Palladium books. Every book published till just a few years ago, even a copy of Rifts: Manhunter.

I agree with the common sentiments here: the game system is wonky and archaic; it is absolutely open to abuse; it is quite unrealistic; it holds a special place in my heart.

I do have stories. Everything from a 5 year Robotech campaign to running a game for actual gangbangers.

:justpost:

Seriously, son. Tell your stories and I'll share more about working there, along with my story of planting a neural cutout and a cortex bomb in a fellow player's cyborg character with the GM's blessing.

theironjef
Aug 11, 2009

The archmage of unexpected stinks.

My personal favorite campaign, though it was a short one, was playing Coalition soldiers lost in a magicked-up sort of dark gothic forest. Neuron Beasts and Witchlings in the shadows, attacks from raiders, terrified settlers fleeing Dybbuk packs, soldiers being picked off one by one as the beasts of the woods isolated the weak... It was awesome. I think we called it Violin Company.

Dr. Tough
Oct 22, 2007

Oh man, I was actually just thinking of running a Rifts game for my gaming group some time and had dug out my old core book. Rifts was actually the first non-AD&D RPG that I played way back in high school in about 2000. My friend Steve ran the campaign. It was like nothing that the rest of us had ever seen. I was playing a child genius that was one of those psychics and also wizards at the same time, my friend Larry was playing a dude from MechWarrior, etc.. Good times. My character got blown up by a plasma missile, my sister lost her character sheet, my next character killed my friend Kevin's headhunter on the bridge of his own ship. The PC deaths piled up into a mountain. Steve ran whatever source book he happened to bring that day and just let us do whatever the hell we wanted to. I remember we were stuck in the Three Galaxies and needed to get on a ship but had no money. So because we were in high school and were functionally retarded, instead of just sneaking on board we told Steve that we were going to prostitute out characters for an entire year. He was like "okay". And then we went to Rifts Australia.

Even back in high school I could tell that the Palladium rules system... left something to be desired. Like the skill system is complete disaster where no matter how complex or simple a task is you still have the same probability of successfully completing it. You have to roll for everything and so you might want to play a bangin' sexy, lady Coalition soldier with that cool armor with the plume on the helmet, but you end up with a short, pot bellied, schemer with six brothers or some poo poo. It really is a relic from the 1980's that through some accident of nature survived to the present day. I feel like Rifts should be exhibited in some Victorian grotesquery.

SavageMessiah
Jan 28, 2009

Emotionally drained and spookified

Toilet Rascal

Dr. Tough posted:

accident of nature survived to the present day.

The coelocanth of elfgames.

Alien Rope Burn
Dec 5, 2004

I wanna be a saikyo HERO!

SquadronROE posted:

Does Rifts play well with a PBEM or PBP system? I know for a fact I can't get enough people around me interested in this, but I'd still love to play around with the universe.

Belatedly, Rifts just doesn't play well; the combat just plain involves a lot of rolling and action-tracking, which is sluggish enough in person, but ends up being positively glacial if run as written on a PbP.

I'd say whatever your favorite system that can do magic, psionics, and robots should suffice.

theironjef posted:

I doubt it is the one you are familiar with, as far as I'm aware there are six people that have read it, heh.

I'd love to see it! Sadly, it doesn't look like I can PM you for anything private.

SavageMessiah posted:

The coelocanth of elfgames.

I'd say the coelacanth would be something like Tunnels & Trolls; Palladium is like the cockroach - ugly and ancient, yet somehow capable of surviving disasters you would never expect something like it to survive. It'd be pretty admirable, but then you remember it's still a cockroach. It just keeps going on and on, much like this metaphor.

Speaking of which, Robotech RPG Tactics just finished with over $1.4 million in the bank. Of course, it's clear that it's mostly a Ninja Division design, with Palladium Books only really seeming to contribute IP and art. The game seemed pretty plain to me from the video demos, but the minis look nice, hopefully it works out for all the parties involved.

Oh, and it brought Kevin Long to mind, since we get to see them dredging up his art again. It turns out he has a dated gallery page (added to the OP), though it has blank pages for the "about" and "contact" sections, sadly. Hopefully he's still doing videogame work out there somewhere.

ToyotaThong
Oct 29, 2011
ToyotaThong's stories Day 1.

I started my journey on December 11th 1986. It was my birthday. My mom had taken me to the local comic shop to buy some Robotech/Macross models. There on the shelf I saw it, Robotech The Roleplaying Game. I had tried Red Box D&D the year earlier, and was thus quite stoked to see the most bad-assed thing on TV was in a game. Without saying the book went home with me that day.

A few weeks later a few of my Robotech watching buddies were rolling up characters. There was a Veritech pilot, Destroid pilot, a Zentraedi military specialist, and a field scientist. Off we went, helping to reconstruct a world devastated by the First Robotech War. Bandits were beaten, Zentraedi were zapped, Anti-Unification rebels were unified with the dirt, settlements were saved, and civilization was seeded. All said, it was a glorious time to be in the RDF.

As a side note. This entire campaign happened over the phone. Three-way calling and friends being at each other's houses allowed for this somewhat unusual gaming style.

Time would roll on, like time does. Soon The REF would leave on it's mission across the cosmos. One of the characters decided to leave on the expedition (the player decided to quit), one would stay in the RDF on Earth, the other two decided to join The Armies of the Southern Cross (Hover Tanks and Tactical Corps). That war played out in almost real time. In the end The Robotech Masters were defeated, but the ASC was depleted, leaving my players with many open options. They went the warlord route, carving their very own feudal kingdom and army in Australia. Rallying survivors, and fighting all who opposed them. They had learned the truth of what was to come, and they prepared.

We have now reached about three and a half years or so of real time. I am now down to one player, Jason (the VHT pilot). The game is now more about leadership and resource management in a small community/army. Really not even rolling dice that much, just lots of problem solving, negotiations, and what would later be called "doomsday prepping".

After quite a while, the Invid finally arrived. They devastated the surviving feudal kingdoms, the E.B.S.I.S., and any other communities. Quietly Jason bided his time, trying to keep his army and kingdom together. It lasted two months game time before suffering a cataclysmic assault by the Invid. He barely escaped on a shuttle loaded with supplies and a few support personnel. The days of administration were officially over, it was time to get back to the personal struggles of a protracted guerilla war.

After landing in South America, he watched the first and second REF counter-invasions fail. Jason would learn the objectives of the Resistance, and would eventually join them. Along the way he would encounter legendary fighters such as Scott Bernard and Rook, although such alliances were only temporary. Jason and his trust hover tank fought all the way north. All the way to a place called Reflex Point. There he was to fight in the final battle of the Third Robotech War.

During the battle such stress was placed on the Regis, she changed, finding killing to be quite abhorrent. She would not allow herself to smite down a lowly human in a battered hover tank, but he must be stopped from firing upon her. The answer was clear, stasis bubble. Maybe in a couple hundred years, this micronian, this human may see the errors of his way. In a flash, it was over.

I will finish this tale tomorrow.

Nostalgia4ColdWar
May 7, 2007

Good people deserve good things.

Till someone lets the winter in and the dying begins, because Old Dark Places attract Old Dark Things.
...

Nostalgia4ColdWar fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Mar 31, 2017

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ToyotaThong
Oct 29, 2011
ToyotaThong Stories Day 2

When we last left our story, my sole player was trapped in a stasis bubble. Flash forward 400 or so years. The bubble has worn off. Luckily, an archaeology team from the Sentinels were at the site doing research. After interviews, Jason asked if there was any way he could get back to his own time. A perytonian mage could cast a one way time travel spell, but it would be very risky. He took that chance, and arrived a few months after the second Invid invasion. The campaign would last a few more months after that. Eventually to fade into history. I was running Twilight:2000 for my ROTC buddies. In an epilogue to the Robotech campaign, Jason's character did appear as an NPC in a later Rifts campaign.

The Rifts Chronicles

I had seen Rifts at my local game stores, but not really paid much attention to it. After all I had Robotech and Twilight:2000. One of my friends bought it, and ran a campaign. I played a Coalition "deserter" with an Enforcer, Lenny played a Line Walker, Ashley was a headhunter, Jack was a full conversion cyborg, and Jeff was an operator. We had many great adventures traveling the North American continent. All the while I was reporting back to Chi-Town my observations.

After a few months time, Joe, our GM, had grown tired of running Rifts. He asked me to end the campaign with a bang. Most of the party was from Lazlo and wanted to return home for some R&R. HQ wanted me to "liquidate assets" and return home. To accomplish this task I was to be joined by a squad of SAMAS, and do the deed. I announced the squad was coming in, and my companions arrayed in battle formation. I broke into our frequency with the following message.
"I'm so very sorry friends. Either they kill you or we all die here. You've changed me, and for that I will never forget you. Thank you, and I'm so very sorry."
With that I unloaded with every weapon at my disposal. They died in a hail of rail gun fire and burning plasma. The look of shock on their faces was quickly replaced with "WHAT THE gently caress............That was Awesome!!!!"
Mission accomplished. Miniature games and live action Car Wars would fill that gaming slot. Soon I was buying my own collection of Rifts books, and would eventually run some too. But that is a story for another time.

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