OSR Review & Commentary on The Rifter® #21 From Palladium Books For All Palladium Rpg Games

 "The Rifter is a vehicle to numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It is a tool for Game Masters and players alike. A place to showcase new talent and exchange ideas for the entire Palladium Megaverse. Every issue, unique and informative." 

Rifter Issue number 21 is packed with news and coming attractions as well as exicting material for Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited and Rifts.

• A giant, 40 page adventure fot eh Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game, 2nd Ed., plus Hook, Line & Sinker adventures.
• Heroes Unlimited Motherframe: Apowerful type of psionic augmentarion and the agents who use it.
• P.P.E. Channeling for all Palladium game settings.
• Rifts: Strange and unusual familiars found on Rifts Earth.
• Rifts: The form and function of Techn-Wizardry.
• Rifts: Hammer of the Forge (fiction) - cliffhanger ending.
• News, what's coming from Palladium, and more." 

The Rifter issue #21 is one of those tricky little sourcebook/housezines from Palladium Games  and because its the Rifter its definitely Palladium games rpg line of books. This includes the inhouse fiction Hammer of the Forge cliff hanger. But is the Rifter still even relevant at this point?! Rifter Issue number 21 starts with 'From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda' & as an editiorial it really gives the perspective of Palladlum Games in 2003. Including why Palladium didn't dive into the D20 glut of that year. 

Kevin Siembieda has mangaded to dodge, pick himself as well as his company off the ground a multiplicity of times. Let the chips fall where they may on that issue. The article on 'P.P.E. Channeling' by Apollo Okamura Jason Richards n all of the Palladium rpg systems is interesting & has its place within campaigns. P.P.E. is a quick & solid article.  The Motherframe by Joseph Larsen  Brendan Smith  is whole cloth other matter for the Info. Junkie R.C.C. and its about psionice aumentation technologies through A.I. and its heady stuff for Heroes Unlimited and other Palladium Rpg's. Familiars of Rifts Earth by C. N. Constantin &  Apollo Okamura is a solid addition for the Rifts magic users & for Chaos Earth rpg mages. The detail here adds depth to PC familars. But the price for such a familiar is pretty high.

Techno Wizardry Form & Function By   Brian Manning &  Shawn Therrien is another essential article for Rifts especially Rifts Wild West or any of the West of the Mississippi Rifts America campaign setting information.

Hammer of the Forge is inhouse Rift's Phaseworld fiction by  James Cannon  & Apollo Okamura, honest to God I have no idea if this is cannon at this point. But it was a fun read through.  The real star of the Rifter issue #21 has got to be "The Long Forgotten Quest" By Kent Burles & Andrew Rusling 'The Long Forgotten Quest' is an amazing adventure a tour & adventuring tear across the Paladium Fantasy continent. If I was running an old school Palladium Fantasy rpg campaign this is the adventure I'd deal with. There are several factors here that allow the tricks, traps, etc. to be very deadly so pay attention to those before running the 'The Long Forgotten Quest'.  And finally we get a glimpse into the Palladium Fantasy series. Rifter issue #21 came out in '03 and its a solid alternative to other fantasy & Sci fi rpg zines of the time. Because the industry was changing very rapidly and those changes are reflected here. D20 was on its way out & yet Palladium Games kept their own identity through it all.  The Rifter® #21 From Palladium Books For All Palladium Rpg Games Is Available Here

Rifts Cyber Knight for Cepheus Atom & Barbaric!

 Heroes of living the on one knows where or when the cyber knights came from but these cybernetically enhanced warriors scour the wilderness & wasteland in a never ending search for peace, justice, & the right to be free. This makes the cyber knight perfect for  Cepheus Atom & Barbaric!

The cyber knight is able to sense what any weapon is used against them. They may also telepathically talk with any creature within line of sight. With a thought the cyber knight  can create a psi sword capable of doing 2d6+1 damage to any creature if they fail their knowledge of 8+ throw. The cyberknight also often has relic armor & weaponry this may include a cyber steed as well. 
It is rumored that some cyber knights are able to conceal themselves from photographic & other security devices with a knowledge throw of 6+ for  1d6 minutes. There are cyberknight chapter houses all over the wastelands across uncounted worlds. 

Rifts: Techno Wizard for Cepheus Atom & Barbaric!

 Techno-Wizard is somewhat of an amalgamation of an alchemist, a spell caster, and an operator.  They are magic users who have learned to combine technology and magic. Techno Wizard PC classes are perfect for  Cepheus Atom & Barbaric!

Techno Wizards can sense sense magical potential within twenty feet of relics & artifacts. These wizard inventers have an innate need create magical devices. Techno wizard  can use scrolls and cast spells, they focus on the creation of magical devices. With a Techno Wizardry  throw of +8 the techno wizard can create a technological device that uses magic as its basis & energy source. 

Rifts Manhunter rpg As Stars Without Number resource

Scored two items today in the local Thrift Store. The Rifts Manhunter is in nice shape  and the HG Wells War In the Air is great as well. But what concerns me is Rifts Manhunter. I've had the game book in the past and ordered it from an add in Dragon way back in 1994.
The add described the following: 

Rifts Manhunter is a dimension book that brings the Manhunter universe in contact with the Rifts universe. The 200-page book includes information on the Manhunters, their history and their models. The book also includes: 

- 20 new O.C.C.s including the Widowmakers, Cannibals, Smokers, Choirboys, Drivejocks, Bloodletters and Chrome Warriors 

- 11 new alien races, such as the Aglians, Kirn and the Ulars. 

- Information on the colonies, organizations and corporations in the Manhunter universe. 

- New weapons, equipment, vehicles and body armor.

The problem was that the game book was well broken in several places. The book setting is basically the new Battle Star Galactic meets the Federation with a weird background. Described as this: 

"The Manthunter RPG by Myrmidon Press was basically an RPG about bounty hunters in a lawless, dystopian sci-fi setting where known space is divided up between a pragmatic and bureaucratic federation of intelligent space faring races, a militant empire headed by a fairly typical example of the "honorable warrior race" sci-fi cliche, and a loose confederacy of corrupt and Machiavellian human colonies that refused to join up with the main federation when it formed a few centuries back. The Manhunters themselves are a robot army that went rogue and refused to stand down after the end of a war they were created for, and have since fled into unexplored space to build up their numbers so the can continue their mission to contain the human race"
The book clocks in at 178 pages and was originally its own game with some pretty nifty ideas in it.
 

 There were originally three editions of the game. The whole game has this weird quasi 70s grindhouse feel to the setting. " Multi-racial science fiction in a setting that covers a broad range of tech levels. The ATPDS (Aglio-Terran Planetary Defense System) attempts to make it's way in a universe of competing alien powers and vicious robots called Manhunters who seek to eradicate life." vibe echoes throughout the book. So it could reasonable be used for a Stars Without Numbers game with very little modification. The robots are really nasty. The "classes" could be used whole sale and the game these days isn't well known at all. 


Ten Reasons To Use Rifts Manhunter As A Stars Without Numbers Resource 

1. Each of the 
   1. 20 new O.C.C.s including the Widowmakers, Cannibals, Smokers, Choirboys, Drivejocks, Bloodletters and Chrome Warriors could all be used as inspiration for the three core classes for SWN 
2. 1. The game book is an antique but the setting is not and could be made to work as an alternative to the SWN campaign or as an add on 
3. 1. The book fits the SWN concepts better then it does Rifts by a long shot and the various alien races fit in neatly and with little fuss 
4. 1. The various weapons, mecha, ships, Manhunters are simple swap outs with the stats built right into SWN 
5. 1. The organizations, corporations and little background NPCs are a nice fit into the already existing SWN world. 
6. 1. There are several settings within the book including planets, a burned out Earth, and a nasty alien world that make excellent starting ground for a party of PC adventurers 
7. 1. The Manhunters are terminator style nasties always lurking in the background but the real treat of the system is the bounty hunting theme that threads its way through the book. There's lots of potential adventuring right there. 
8. 1. The book has a definite grey feel to its morality that you just don't get with many Rifts books. The PCs are the good or bad guys their just guys trying to get by. If this sounds a bit like Firefly then your doing it right 
9. 1. There's magic which is easily turned into psychic powers in the game book and plenty of backup
10. 1. The book has the coming of the planar rips errm rifts as an excuse to collide this setting with your favorite space opera. 

       1. 1. 

 The book is relatively cheap on Amazon and ebay going for 2.00 or less. Thanks To Green Skeleton Gaming Guild for the idea on this one.