What do you love/hate about Arzno?

[Jason Richards]

In my constant effort to better myself as a writer, now that the book has been out for a while, what do you like/dislike about it? I don't mean the material so much as the presentation. Things like:

_____ was too cheezy.
You spent too much time talking about _____.
I wish that you had spent more time on _____.
If you were to write it again, how about telling us about _____.
The way you did _____ was too difficult to understand.

Etc.

Any input would be helpful. Thanks, guys.

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

I liked the concept of the vamps using tech, but the follow through left something to be desired. What did Xavier get gone with, a suit of deadboy and a pistol? Come on, if they are going to do it at all, why not go all the way. I want to see the master leap the walls of Arzno in a bloody glitter-boy killer decked out with the heads of fallen vampire hunters adorning it's many spikes. In our current campaign we're doing such things and making Xavier a bigger menace than is depicted in the book. As written, those vamps have next to no chance vs. the Techno-god society of Arzno, so again the story is intriguing and all the area info is spot on, except for that one river . But again, the follow through leaves something to be desired for me.

[Jason Richards]

I liked the concept of the vamps using tech, but the follow through left something to be desired. What did Xavier get gone with, a suit of deadboy and a pistol? Come on, if they are going to do it at all, why not go all the way. I want to see the master leap the walls of Arzno in a bloody glitter-boy killer decked out with the heads of fallen vampire hunters adorning it's many spikes. In our current campaign we're doing such things and making Xavier a bigger menace than is depicted in the book. As written, those vamps have next to no chance vs. the Techno-god society of Arzno, so again the story is intriguing and all the area info is spot on, except for that one river . But again, the follow through leaves something to be desired for me.

More munchkin villains. Gotcha.

Let me know how your campaign goes. I had always envisioned Xavier as more a puppetmaster than a combatant type, so I'd be very curious to hear how it turns out in your version.

[Dustin Fireblade]

So far i like your overall product. I am only about 50% through the book, but good so far.

If i have one gripe is that Arzno is too magic equipped. I mean it uses too much magic equipment. I find it hard to believe that they can find that many mages and psychics to operate that much techno wizard equipment. I give the impression that Arzno is nothing but mages.

Still love the book

The city rests on/near a huge magic area in the Grand Canyon, so that could be a small reason for so many mage's.

[londonbaz]

I found the Techo Wizard Vehicles really cool - nicely transferred/improved from the Rifter.

As a bit of a True Atlantean fan, I would have liked a bit more bumf on what the other "several dozen True Atlanteans" were up to in Arzno.

I really liked the expanded city guide - something that more WBs should follow. I found the maps and such very useful in visualising the city and getting a feel for its character. Its nice to have a WB every now and again that is mainly setting and not just pages of OOCs (though I LOVE OOC books as well - I just like a balance)

My least favourite section was the vampire one, but thats just because I am way too much a child of VtM games long before I encountered Rifts to ever really embrace Vamps in any other game system. Not your fault, its all mine

I also hate to say it that, while it was very good, I felt that the cover painting would have been a great B&W plate inside the book, and I would have liked to see something a tad grittier as a cover for a WB dealing with vampire espionage and cold war.

Overall I really liked it, but then again I loved the original Rifter material too.

[sHaka]

I'm a big fan of Arzno. My current, infrequent campain operates out of Kingsdale but i'm looking to come up with a decent reason for relocating!

The first thing that pleased me was the "Fluff" to "Toys" ratio - I think you got it just right. Too many Rifts books are merely catalogues of tech. While I enjoy a good firefight as the next punter, I always want to know more about the Rifts cultures, not merely the hardware they produce. I also appreciated the fact that the tech you have listed is well balanced on the MDC and weapons front. My players have all cooed over the TW vehicles and I don't have to worry about game balance if they look to acquire or start with any - One new character is an Air warlock frontiersman that pilots a TW sandstorm hover craft and it really works!

The Arzno section is brilliant, detailed with plenty of story ideas. My only gripe is that I'd like more maps, but I appreciate space is an issue.

Really, I found it hard to fault Arzno. Sure some sections might not see any use - not sure if i'll introduce the Blackswords into the mix yet - but I enjoyed reading all of it.

The cover, as most have said, is not a classic but it is growing on me.

Basically keep up the good work!

[cyber-yukongil v2.5]

I liked the concept of the vamps using tech, but the follow through left something to be desired. What did Xavier get gone with, a suit of deadboy and a pistol? Come on, if they are going to do it at all, why not go all the way. I want to see the master leap the walls of Arzno in a bloody glitter-boy killer decked out with the heads of fallen vampire hunters adorning it's many spikes. In our current campaign we're doing such things and making Xavier a bigger menace than is depicted in the book. As written, those vamps have next to no chance vs. the Techno-god society of Arzno, so again the story is intriguing and all the area info is spot on, except for that one river . But again, the follow through leaves something to be desired for me.

More munchkin villains. Gotcha.

Let me know how your campaign goes. I had always envisioned Xavier as more a puppetmaster than a combatant type, so I'd be very curious to hear how it turns out in your version.

it's not so much munchkin as using what's already available. But if all that was available was a laser pistol and one suit of armor, so be it. .

In our Arzno scenario, we have it were the coalition has several wilderness posts out in the west which Xavier has taken over, by mindcontrolling or turning command staff and then acquires more gear and soldiers by filling in their monthly reports back to the CS with reports of moderate losses due to d-bee forces and raiders, and then turning those as they get there. So he is currently pulling lots of strings in building an army capable of handling the badness that is Arzno. He already led the bulk of the mercenary army of Arzno out to Bisbee, after feeding us false info, that it was their base of operations, once they were out, the main force attacked Arzno and shortly thereafter fell to the vamps. Now we are on a long road to vengenance.

[rat_bastard]

I would like your next worldbook to be offical material instead of a rifter compalation, that way I won't have to make a case for every little thing I want from the book.


actually, I Like the weird little details and would like to see some more. And I gotta say I was underwelmed with mad macheaveli.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I haven't got the book as of yet. (( Hopefully for christmas!))

But I WILL Say, it's refreshing to see an artist and author asking for what would make his work better.

That's good stuff man.

[Jason Richards]

I would like your next worldbook to be offical material instead of a rifter compalation, that way I won't have to make a case for every little thing I want from the book.


actually, I Like the weird little details and would like to see some more. And I gotta say I was underwelmed with mad macheaveli.

MM was basically my tribute to the greatest gamer resource in the history of the Internet, the RPG Think Tank. The original Think Tank concept was to have the machine actually produce plans from which devices could be built, but the numbers worked out such that it would only be successful 1 in several hundred attempts.

Did you like the passing mention of it in the book, then the expansion in the Rifter? Was that a cool bonus thing, or no?

[Jason Richards]

I haven't got the book as of yet. (( Hopefully for christmas!))

But I WILL Say, it's refreshing to see an artist and author asking for what would make his work better.

That's good stuff man.

Ha, I'm an artist like Sinsapaugh is a hardcore rapper... a wanna-be only.

[rat_bastard]

actually, I am annoyed with the latest stream of "Buy this book and a rifter for a complete book!" BS Palladium has been handing out, the rifter is suposed to be the medium for our Crazy assed ideas, not part two of the latest books.

Sorry dude, I know time they be tuff, but it had to be said.

[Jason Richards]

actually, I am annoyed with the latest stream of "Buy this book and a rifter for a complete book!" BS Palladium has been handing out, the rifter is suposed to be the medium for our Crazy assed ideas, not part two of the latest books.

Sorry dude, I know time they be tuff, but it had to be said.

I certainly don't think that MM was in any way necessary for a complete book. It wasn't even written until after the book was at the printer, in fact.

I get what you're saying, but just wanted to clear up that it was written exclusively for the Rifter as a supplement, not as part of the book.

[Vinny]

Haven't finished reading it. I've been busy the the NEXUS Navigator.

[Daniel Stoker]

I liked the book, but it just could have used more biting off the heads of kittens to make it perfect.


Daniel Stoker

[Jason Richards]

I liked the book, but it just could have used more biting off the heads of kittens to make it perfect.


Daniel Stoker

And puppies! muahahahahaha

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

What don't I like about the book?

The disturbing lack of flubber...

~ Professor Frink

[rat_bastard]

I just thought of somthing, in Arzno you continue the line of TW weapons and equipment without really giving us any real mundane anti-vamp stuff. I would have liked an overveiw of silver bullets designed to lodge in a human like body like talon bullets
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_point_bullet )
or other things of that varity. Magic is all well and good but there are plenty of high tech ways to hurt vamps, and it seems like you did not really go into them.

[NovenTheHero]

I loved the book. It was nice to see different implementations of TW Armor and Vehicles. Really inspired me to if I were to make a mage or a phychic....to want to take some cool TW body armor from there. Great book....havent seen one like it in a while.

[Jeffrey W.]

The presentation in the Arzno book was much improved compared to that of many other of Palladium's Books.

"Notable Places Around Arizona", page 9, came across as watered down and dissapointing, because the reader is not given anything new that hasn't already been printed in numerous other books. Other Palladium books will always include one or more new paragraphs of information, or teasers, just to offer a reason to re-read the "old stuff" again.

With the exception of the Fort Tombstone Vampire Lair map, page 121, the other maps, although to scale, appear as glaringly white paper. The world appears flat and empty, and much opportunity to expand upon the world of Rifts was missed out on.

Information presentation went well in the Arzno section, but page 112 in the vampire section seemed to go off roughly, as if you had much information to present, but were uncertain where to begin. Population breakdowns for the vampire kingdom do not match the following pages of text very well. (Consequently, this happened for the Psi-Stalker populations in the Arzno section)

As the vampire section continues, it gets better. Probably would have been more logical to explain the vampire society first, and then go into the details of population, locations, etc.

Perhaps the Blood Cult section could have been expanded upon more, but if that's all the ideas that you had on it, then you were right to stop where you did.

The Black Market and Area 51 should have had more impact in the worldbook, as should Bisbee and even Fort Apache. Your presented ideas about why those areas did not influence the worldbook came across to me as "I'm too tired to write about these elements".

The printed material suggested that little research was done concerning the American Southwest before the worldbook was written, but that abundant Rifts gaming research had been done on Techno-wizardry, vampirism, etc.

Arzno would have been perhaps the very best Rifts sourcebook ever if it were published as one, but when elevated to worldbook status, fell short in the above mentioned areas.

Jeffrey W.

Note: for anybody who has not yet purchased Rifts Arzno Worldbook 28, buy one today. It truly is worth your money. Just don't expect the same quality from either of the Official Arzno material articles in Rifter 34. They were more of teasers that sold that Rifter book, but failed to enhance the Arzno worldbook in any way.

[Jason Richards]

Regarding the maps, findar, did you not see the overall map on p. 39? It shows where the "blow-up" locations are. That might clear things up.

[grandmaster z0b]

I liked the book, here's my critisisms;

Waste monkeys, not bad but took up space that could have been better used, didn't like the pic either. I did like the thumper though.

I would have liked to see Arzno itself not so decked out in Techno Wiz, make it more of a mundane town with a couple of smaller factories, then it would be more vulnerable to the vampire threat. I also felt you got stuck in the trap of getting too attached to the place your writing so wrote it up with all this cool stuff, too much cool stuff. I felt it would have been more interesting if they were a struggling town in a hostile environment rather than the new TW metropolis. For example I found it hard to imagine how the vamps would ever take that complex with the pyramids where they make the a lot of the TW gear (can't remember the name now). Sometimes you have to sacrifice some of your coolest ideas for the sake of the big picture. Also I would have liked a few ideas on how to get the players involved in the bigger picture, and some direction on how they would tackle the threat.

I did like the fact you put in details about local trade and trade routes though, very much missing from almost all other Rifts books.

[cmbtbiker]

I liked the book and it was on my list of to do campaigns. Don't know when I will be playing or running again so i am in a holding pattern.

I would like to echo some the sentiment here by saying that I wish the city was more of a blend of magic, techno-wizardry and technology. THe techwiz stuff was cool but a little much. So far that I have seen there has not been a city that has really blended all three to any real effect. This to me is very needed.

Good job though overall.

[TechnoGothic]

DO not have the book. Do not plan on buying the book actually. WHY ??

I HATE Palladium Styled Vampires with a Passion. I honestly do not know why anyone wanted to waste more time/energy on PB Vamps. A Quick Blurp and a few notes to what they are up is fine.

PB Vamps will Stay in Mexico in my games.

Everytime near the border should have Sprinklers set up outside their door to spray people anyways.

Yepp he is smoking from that Water sprayer in from of the Saloon. We got ourselves another Vamp in town, get the water guns...