tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14058473083180524782024-03-19T05:30:55.992-07:00Rifter ReviewThis is a blog dedicated to the Rifter; Your Guide to the Megaverse magazine that is produced by Palladium BooksNathan Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176689860022731081noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1405847308318052478.post-32346211683686707662015-01-15T15:18:00.000-08:002015-01-15T15:23:03.652-08:00Rifter 4
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It was a wonder and a joy when
Palladium Books created a 'horror' issue in the wonderful month of
October. 1998 was coming to a close and like clockwork, Palladium
Books was releasing a magazine on time and with colorful impacting
content. Rifts: Warlords of Russia and Rifts: Australia had not come
out yet but was being advertised. Also along this time was Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles and more strangeness was advertised (but never
released because of a low pre-order numbers). A book that would later
be released as After The Bomb by dearly missed Erick Wujcik. It’s
hard to believe that Palladium has changed so much yet stayed the
same.
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In this edition we got to touch on all
of our horror games and show the dark side of all our games. I
recalled prior to the release Chief Editor Wayne Smith wanted the
most halloween'ish articles that we could write and when it came time
to deliver, he did.
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When you think of the works of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Coffin">Bill Coffin</a> it is a wonder that we know the name so well. We have had his
work since 1998. That's right, almost a whole 15 years and though you
may have a difference of opinion on the man you cannot deny that he
has contributed quite a bit to our RPG lives with a savoir faire to
it that can be added to the great talent that has gone in and out of
Palladium's doors. Then again that's for another day...</div>
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In September of 1998 Bill was published
with the Western Empire and a bit of his writing excellence was cut
from the book and here was the avenue that the 'Gods of Palladium'
saw fit to add Bills work and I am glad that he did.</div>
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Through a series of HLS's Bill
introduced a lot of great ideas that were cut from the book outlining
some great adventures that I hope that everyone have taken some time
to read. Bill focused on the very material he had been working on in
his 'new' book (keep in mind it has been a couple of years now)
Western Empire and the great material cut was worth the wait in the
Rifter.
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The next article is also by Bill called
Long, Strange Trips: Writing Epic Campaigns for Palladium Fantasy. In
this article he shows how a simple adventure that could have been
planned for a night could span into something bigger than itself.
Starting with something small and letting it grow to epic
proportions. He used Lord of the Rings as an example. I know that for
myself I have run into moments where I expected a simple adventure
and it turned into a several months long adventure with all its
twists and turns all because I had the right players for the
adventure.
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Now during the next article by Randi
Cartier had material turned dark (as the Halloween edition magazine
should) with an article called Death is Not Always Final and if you
read it, its also listed as official rules for Palladium Fantasy RPG,
2<sup>nd</sup> Ed. In it was a whole slew of baddies that were
perfect for all your favorite horror games Palladium makes. Seriously
some creepy stuff was created and it was worth the ink.</div>
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Because Nightbane is a horror
(suspense) RPG there was an article by Steven Trustrum (you remember
him from previous Rifters) called The Tribes of the Moon. Steven
wanted to recreate a series werebeasts that were truly Nightbane and
he certainly did. The article is so big that it is cut in two bits
for two great Rifter articles (the second piece is in Rifter 6). One
of the things that caught my eye about these beings was Steven kept
them from being Supernatural all the time and basically said if they
got close to someone or something with supernatural element that
their attacks became supernatural. I thought that was fantastic and a
clear element of Nightbane.</div>
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In his article he has new OCC's, skills
and he split the werebeasts in tribes instead of factions (perhaps
too many for my taste). There is so much flavor there that I was sure
that this article was going to be a Nightbane book. Alas that didn’t
(or hasn't) happened but who knows.</div>
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A.R.C.H.I.E. Three vs. the World was
the next article by Mark Sumimoto (again from previous Rifters). This
'official' Rifts RPG material further expands the world of Archie the
living robot brain from Rifts Source Book One. Archie has himself
involved in the politics and production of the world through his own
front company Titan Industries. Great article with new enemies who
are as smart as the Mechanoids (see<a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/805-Rifts-Sourcebook-2-The-Mechanoids.html"> Rifts Source Book Two</a>) or the
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=manhunters+rifts+palladium+books&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amanhunters+rifts+palladium+books">Manhunters</a> (a RPG book created by <a href="http://palladiumbooks.com/">Palladium Books</a> and <a href="http://myrmidonbooks.com/">Mymidon Press</a>
discontinued though a great read if you have a copy (check
<a href="http://amazon.com/">Amazon.com</a>)). This is a great article of robots, power armor, guns
and great villains. There is something every GM can use.
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The Evolved by David Ransom was next.
Here a creature is created for our use and entertainment that could
make a great hero (for players) or a great villain or henchman for
GM's. It had five stages of evolution and man was it fun to read how
it just got nastier and nastier.
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Siege on Tolkeen and Hammer of the
Forge was the last two stories continuing a saga of great literature
that I would love to see in a independent book someday concluded the
magazine and man it was worth it.</div>
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Nathan Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176689860022731081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1405847308318052478.post-31778352034747250712015-01-04T22:19:00.000-08:002015-01-04T22:19:07.860-08:00Insight on the ReviewI realize that I have not done Rift 4 (yet) but I really want some feed back. Do you want some deeper grind on individual articles in the various great Rifters or are you enjoying the current format where the whole individual Rifter is discussed?Nathan Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176689860022731081noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1405847308318052478.post-872879944874727422014-10-21T20:28:00.001-07:002014-10-21T20:29:11.979-07:00Rifter 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I know that some of the excitement has worn off from<span class="msoDel"><del cite="mailto:Zyanite%20VP" datetime="2014-10-20T23:28"> </del></span><span class="msoIns"><ins cite="mailto:Zyanite%20VP" datetime="2014-10-20T23:28">th</ins></span>is<span class="msoIns"><ins cite="mailto:Zyanite%20VP" datetime="2014-10-20T23:28"> </ins></span>review
and mainly that is my fault for not writing more frequently so I apologize. I
have been dreading writing this review because I fear that I will not give Chi
the awesome review it deserves. But I am going to put that aside and going to
make it happen. </div>
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The magazine begins with a great review of game mastering by
Apollo Okamura who points out the various points of a story and how we can use
it in a RPG setting. So many parts of a great story are discussed and he really
dissects how to make sure that the game turns out great.</div>
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After Apollo’s article comes one from Randi Cartier. In this
article they created a barrage of little things that could really add to your
campaign or adventure; monsters, jewelry, weapons and herbs; fantastic stuff.</div>
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Now we are going to discuss the thing that got my goose;
martial arts and chi. The magazine went through a series of articles written by
Wayne Smith, William Muench, Lee Casebolt and Andrew Smith. Each guy had so
much information on great forms of kung fu and karate across the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wayne started with an article about the
integration of martial arts in every setting. He showed us that it could be
used in Rifts and other games. William took it to<a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/730-Nightbane-Role-Playing-Game.html"> Nightbane</a> so that we could
not just be a bunch of supernatural creatures but there could be some human
heroes who could hold their own without a gun. What was missing was the
supernatural nature of martial arts but any good GM could rectify it with some
notes from <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/500-Heroes-Unlimited-RPG-2nd-edition.html">Heroes Unlimited</a>. Again, who could not enjoy some change with some
serious Bishoudo or Chi-Kung; fun stuff; what I liked about his article was
that there was a use for particular weapons with your martial art and it sent
me back to a time when I was playing Teenage Mutants Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness (also known as TMNT) and thought <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hey, I could really go for some serious martial arts</i>. Now this
article came out after Mystic China with all the expectations that I wanted for
TMNT (now replaced with <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/503-After-the-Bomb-RPG.html">After the Bomb</a>). </div>
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Now while the first half was about martial arts (mainly) the
second half (or at least a large chunk) was the article by Wayne Breaux Jr.,
all about the Xiticix, a creature that I could not pronounce then nor now. I
read what Wayne wrote and though I didn’t do a lot of Rifts at the time I
really wanted to and this article just increased the desire. Instead of just
being a picture or brief description this article gave a full description that
I thought could not be filled more. I was wrong when Xiticix would be fleshed
out in a world book (<a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/838-Rifts-World-Book-23-The-Xiticix-Invasion.html">23</a>). This introduction article covered queens, workers,
warriors, nannies etc.</div>
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Following that article was the Spatial Mage by Steve
Trustrum (I didn’t realize it but this guy was a real regular in the early
years). This character was like a super ley line walker (not that the ley line
walker needed help). That being said there was a bunch of cool new series of
spells. Perhaps there was some influence by <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/807-Rifts-World-Book-3-England.html">Rifts: England</a> (see temporal wizard
on page 66 - 71). </div>
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After that great article was the article on the Amoeboids by
Rodney Stott (again another regular) who created a world that was composed of
gelatinous creatures with their own government, technology and maps. Scott had
O.C.C.s , vehicles and whole cities in a brief description. A f<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>un
world that could make for a great visit; perhaps this was inspiration to Splicers
RPG that would come out 15 years later. Who knows?</div>
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Siege on Tolkien and Hammer of the Forge were the capstone
for this great magazine. Who knew that there would be some much pack in such a
small package? The next post will be sooner. Again I apologize. </div>
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Nathan Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176689860022731081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1405847308318052478.post-75256003192895291382014-09-24T19:17:00.001-07:002014-09-24T19:54:10.078-07:00Rifter 2<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am still geeking out from my
initial article that I wrote some weeks ago. I am still attempting to find a
way to portray the Rifter with the best light and really encourage fans of
Rifter Magazine to get a copy of every Rifter available. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/61106/The-Rifter-2?cPath=5191" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rifter 2</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> did everything just as as Rifter 1 did in my opinion.
When it was released I was blown away by the great art and articles that we as
fans and Palladium staff would produce. We started with some rumors and such
but I feel the real meat started with Erick Wujcik’s article called <i>Thinking Big</i>. For years I had been doing
small adventures, little one night shows but Erick had big plans and he wanted
to insure that fans would catch the vision he had. In his article he mentions
that he accidently thought too big for his campaign with a dungeon called “KiddieDungeon”.
He had caught an idea that blossomed into some great suggestions for gamers
everywhere. He had us think not just about something like Coalition occupied
territory but the whole Rifts world and what our one pebble could do in the
Rifts world pond. A friend of mine has a campaign that reflects just that, a
world impact on a group of adventurers. Erick gave us ideas that we will
never forget.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this Rifter, I don’t know how he
did it but Kevin got Jolly R. Blackburn to give us stories that we could all
relate to with his Knights of the Dinner Table. Eight magazines his genius
graced us and I really wished that it was more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Palladium news that came next
I have forgotten how young Palladium was in that we didn't have </span><a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/832-Rifts-World-Book-17-Warlords-of-Russia.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rifts: Warlords of Russia</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (that’s a great world book) with it came hints of
future books like</span><a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/833-Rifts-World-Book-18-Mystic-Russia.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Rifts: Mystic
Russia</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and a sneak peek of this newly
created book. Again I was geeking out when it came out. I found out later in an
interview that the book wasn't even supposed to be an idea but when a
manuscript came to Kevin's desk the wheels started turning and we got two great
books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Kevin, who doesn’t do a lot of
articles in the magazine, had a real good article called <i>The Rifts Connection</i> where he showed the various game lines that
were produced by Palladium Books and how they were they tied to the world of
Rifts. I know that dominated their sales so it would make sense that this
article would come out. Kevin wanted to show a parallel that tied all the
worlds that we played in together. Rifts: Conversion was already out so we knew
what the stats looked like but I think that this article ironed out some of the
loose ends as to why such people like Lazlo had influence on the world that by
itself seemed to have no ties. I’m just surprised that there is not more
influence of Heroes Unlimited (than again there was an advertisement of Skraypers
in the same magazine).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I'm not sure that is was put in for space but there is an
article by William Muench about Imps but it was a creature that could be used
in almost any setting so I am glad it was included. Here was some fantastic creatures that could slip into society and leave a message or assassinate people etc without really getting caught. They were both the magic creature and the insider at the same time. Love those changlings!</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Palladium
Pirates</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> by Shawn Merrow was next. Fantastic
piece as it went over the concept that there are good pirates, the various
codes of honor and a few NPC’s that we could use in our </span><a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/455-PFRPG-Book-3-Adventures-on-the-High-Seas.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Palladium: Adventures on
the High Seas</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. There were also Hook, Line and
Sinkers that we all could have for use and really enrich our game play. It’s
funny how I used the combination of this article and an article in <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/61122/The-Rifter-13?cPath=5191" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rifter 13</span></a> together to
create an adventure that carried for several nights about the Cards of Fate and
in the end it turned out that the chasing pirates were the guardians of the box
and they were attempting to keep it out of other people’s hands. Fun adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wayne Breaux a frequent artist in the
various books that we enjoy from Palladium wrote an article called <i>Hacking, Cyberjacking and Supernatural Data
Theft Across the Megaverse</i>. I know that it’s a long title but the content
was so rich I had to read it over and over. I still read it occasionally
(mainly because I am attempting to capture the spirit of the article in a
net-source book that I am scratching out). In it Wayne explored the rich
tapestry that is cyberspace and what kind of crimes, discoveries, and all around
mischief that players and villains could get themselves into. What magnified
its influence was he didn’t just stick to Rifts or Heroes Unlimited but went
into nearly every world that had technology and how this could spand over
perhaps worlds or dimensions. He touched on magic, psionics, superpowers and
even talents (of the Nightbane). He gave a great base that everyone could work
with rules, penalties and bonuses; pages and pages of what I consider gold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next article I thought was
awesome but incomplete because I would come into the picture in <a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/61116/The-Rifter-17?cPath=5191" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rifter 17</span></a> to add to
the ‘magic’ of the world of the Blood Shaman. This article by Steven Trustrum
talked about the world of </span><a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/809-Rifts-Dimension-Book-1-Wormwood.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wormwood</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (Palladium Books’ first world book) I was intrigued by
the idea that a world that had no rifts on the surface (I know that they are
underground) that would, like </span><a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/834-Rifts-World-Book-19-Australia.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rifts: Australia</span></a><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">,</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> create
an alternate means of magic. Steven’s article gave us a full fleshed out O.C.C.
and some serious magic. I thought that the spells were deliciously horrific;
quite a visual spectacle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When Rifts came out we didn't fully
understand the Techno-Wizard but we loved what they could do. Mark Sumimoto and
Jayson Richards both had do fill that void and what came of it was a beautiful
conglomeration of the two melding into one. Jason and Mark had figured out a
way to make something convoluted into something concrete so that GMs everywhere
could ask their players to do the math and not go crazy on creating tons of
weapons and armor for their team without recourse. The amount of time, energy
and components were nailed down by these two geniuses and they even gave some
great examples of their weapons (some that would make it into the book Rifts:
Federation of Magic). There was a subculture and a history that was created
that really made the character fun to play (not that it wasn't before). With
new O.C.C.s, weapons and armor we could dive right back into the world of
cyberknights and dragons and really do some more discovery. One of my favorite
creations was by Mark called the Ice sword (page 93).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, like I said in Rifter 1,
there were two stories that carried from Rifter to Rifter and Siege Against
Tolkeen continued as did The Hammer of the Forge. As a side note I really
enjoyed the stories because like an old beat around the table we could imagine
the stories and the O.C.C’s that we played had a place to come to life. I have
really loved the stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I feel that between the first two
Rifters I would say that as a fan of the Rifter and Palladium Books this
magazine has really encouraged us fans all to really push the envelope. We have
gamed and imagined the endless possibility; some of us even have put it to
script and sent it to Palladium Books for publishing. Great stuff, I hope that
we continue the tradition. </span></div>
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Nathan Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176689860022731081noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1405847308318052478.post-21363468738618007082014-09-06T08:19:00.000-07:002014-09-24T19:22:12.476-07:00Rifter 1<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTn_McnYAfQ7j3UqPBZ3hTiydAzZiV1R5EMZR3HOcf5Fb0UFbe8Ue7dwpkQg4BaoTcbKrISx3bw39KvfyveqVnaXv8ANNFulu3nAq07ql7QJRpqXBZbF_lq103Is999U5K7iH8NHyh9ZJ/s1600/Rifter1+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLTn_McnYAfQ7j3UqPBZ3hTiydAzZiV1R5EMZR3HOcf5Fb0UFbe8Ue7dwpkQg4BaoTcbKrISx3bw39KvfyveqVnaXv8ANNFulu3nAq07ql7QJRpqXBZbF_lq103Is999U5K7iH8NHyh9ZJ/s1600/Rifter1+Image.jpg" height="320" width="244" /></a></div>
<a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/images/2627/60703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: red;">Authors note: Before I start this review I want to say that it’s
a bit intimidating writing about something that was so inspirational on all my
work that I have ever done in the Rifter or online. To all the writers of the
Rifter past and present, thank you.</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/61105/The-Rifter-1">Rifter 1</a> came out in the spring of 1998. In that year I had
just met the woman who would agree to be my wife of over sixteen years and to see it was so awe inspiring
that I was set to be in this magazine. It had so much talent pouring out of it
but you all know that so let’s get to the beef.</div>
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In the first article was Rifts City rules by Eric J. Lind
a.k.a. Tungsten Avenger. At the time I recall we didn't even have rules for
what Chi-Town looked like nor any of the burbs. The possibility of creating
towns controlled by the Coalition was fascinating as I really didn't know now
they defined their boarders. At the time I thought the Coalition was an all
consuming parasite that was just pushing the limit. The <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/301-Rifts-Novel-Sonic-Boom.html">War on Tolkien</a> was yet
to come in novel form (published in 1999, written by Adam Chilson) as well as
<a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/839-Rifts-Coalition-Wars-1-Sedition.html">RPG format</a> (Coalition Wars; published in October of 2001). But I digress, This first article had
everything that was embedded in the spirit of Rifts and what we knew of it. The
article covered everything from the past of the town, racism, to the available resources
and technology of the town/city. I admit that I built at least six towns before
my wife told me to stop geeking out. </div>
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Those that have a copy of <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/885-Rifts-World-Book-Lemuria.html">Lemuria </a>(written by Greg Diaczyk)
The new Roman Republic written by Rodney Stott was a big add to the world of
Rifts covering a place that had never been really discussed which was deep
south Europe. Some years later Bill Coffin would write <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/471-Wolfen-Empire-Adventure-Sourcebook.html">Wolfen Empires</a> (a
rewrite of a classic of Adventures of the Northern Wilderness and More
Adventures of the Northern Wilderness written by Kevin himself). The adventure
showed a new format of empire that I am sure followed a Roman-esk format and
was quite enticing because it involved creatures that we all had thanks to the
Rifts Converson book or various Palladium Fantasy books. The incorporation of
technology and magic was a nice blend. I am sure that if where it ever
revisited that it would have to show their relation to the empires mentioned in
the book <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/815-Rifts-World-Book-7-Underseas.html">Rifts Underseas</a>. I really could see a new Europe book about France,
Italy and such. What was nice is that they had new O.C.C.’s, armor, weapons and
robots. Magic was briefly mentioned in passing but we had so much to pull from
that we could fill in the blanks.</div>
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Next was the Knights of Kamnos witch I thought initially was
just a story for Phase World but it turned out that it had a bit of new bits
for our adventurous mind with a new O.C.C. and armaments and equipment. </div>
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The real surprise was James M.G. Cannon Hammer of the Forge
a novel that was put into the Rifter like a periodical that you had to get the
next Rifter just to see what happened next (still hope that they make it a
novel). This story would carry on for 50+ Rifters. </div>
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Like I said, we had a real taste for the war on Tolkien
because the next story after was the Siege Against Tolkien by David Haendler; a
fine short story that carried in the second Rifter. </div>
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Heroes Unlimited had to be mentioned of course and at the
time we had only Heroes Unlimited first edition and by the looks of this Rifter
we were hungry for more. With over twenty powers by several authors we
unknowingly saw a preview of the next version of <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/500-Heroes-Unlimited-RPG-2nd-edition.html">Heroes Unlimited</a>. Great powers
were in the magazine with some powers that would not be in the new edition but
man they were really thinking. One particular power Alter Physical Structure:
Putty was actually put in a <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/521-Powers-Unlimited-One.html">Powers Unlimited</a> later because.. well.. it was left
out of the great book of Heroes Unlimited. Aaron Oliver a.k.a. DreamFox and
Steve Trustrum were big contributors of this article though I don’t think that
there was another article that was compiled like this one as far as I can
remember. </div>
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In 1995, C.J. Carella wrote my absolute favorite dark <a href="https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/730-Nightbane-Role-Playing-Game.html">roleplaying game</a> and it was not forgotten in the Rifter. Again Aaron Oliver a.k.a.
DreamFox added more viewing pleasure with new Morphus Tables that were wild and
zany. I mean for heaven sakes he had armadillo tables for the Nightbane. I
admit that the tables that C.J. had made were diverse but the Rifter showed us
that we could make a ton of tables of our own and sure enough we would in the
following Rifters of the first one. </div>
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The one thing that still catches my eye was the following
article y William R. Muench about the new faction called the Inlustris. Here the
author showed us all that there were more factions and fighters in the war on
the Nightlords. He had history, R/O/P.C.C.s, characters, and with Aaron Oliver
a.k.a. DreamFox and Shawn Merrow, new adventures called Hook Line Sinkers. Now
we had new ways to stimulate our ideas in a short quick way that other G.M.’s could
share without stifling the creativity that each group created. Holy Cow, GENIUS.</div>
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The last article was for Beyond the Supernatural creating in
my opinion O/P/R.C.C.’s that we could use in a number of avenues. The new
classes were darker and created a new way of looking at your psychics and
introduced a way of thinking of how we fought the unknown. Again this was a
culmination article which has not been seen much since but I liked this
magazine.</div>
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So this is the first Rifter Review of the first Rifter. We
had comics, creativity and a I had to say that it took a while to put out the
fire of excitement but the fire kept going with Rifter Two. Awesome!!!</div>
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(To be continued with Rifter Two…)<br />
<br />
Cover art by <a href="http://dictionary.sensagent.com/Kevin%20Long%20(artist)/en-en/">Kevin Long</a></div>
Nathan Binghamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176689860022731081noreply@blogger.com2