A list of BTS material in the Rifter

[mrloucifer]

Due to a few recent replies discussed in some of the topics and a request or two sent to me asking for this info, I thought this topic that would be useful on the BTS forum. As a collector of the Rifter since issue #1 I’ve always tried to keep tabs on the various articles written for specific games over the years, and with my exclusive running of BTS since its release back in 2005 I’ve pulled and kept the Rifter issues with BTS material aside for reference.

Rifter books with BTS material are as follows;
(Note: until stated otherwise, the following issues all used BTS1 rules, but are all easily adaptable to BTS2)

#1 - The Bard OCC, the Cursed Psychic PCC, the Priest OCC, the Pseudo-Psychic PCC and the Transcendent PCC.

#2 - The Imp, Supernatural Rumormonger and the Traditional Hacker (part of the “Hacking, Cyberjacking & supernatural Data Theft across the Megaverse” submission

#4 & 5 – The “Tribes of the Moon” are all about were beasts in the Nightbane world, but are adaptable to BTS. Coincidentally I have used them as well as the Vampires from the Nightbane book and they work well with little adjustment, although the Nightbane storylines mentioned are obviously not to be used here.

#8 - The Charonis and the Laughing Man

#10 - Trouble in the Midwest and Dark Consequences adventures scenarios

#13 - the Lucky Charms and Superstitions optional rules, the Cursed PCC (designed for Nightbane but easily adaptable), the Arcane Archeologist OCC, the Occultist OCC, the Cryptozoologist OCC, Living Numbers and Curses and the Fayfield Inn adventure scenario

#17 - Last Street scenario setting

#20 - A Last Street Adventure (this is use in conjunction with the Last Street setting from Rifter #17)

#25 - “Guns for Hire” –optional rules, skills for modern day military characters. Its was designed for Ninjas and Superspies, but I’ve used this info as reference material for ex military characters (along with the Spook Squad OCC’s from Nightbane World book one “Between the Shadows”.)

#28 - The Soul Tree, a supernatural creature

(Note: from here on all submissions use BTS2 rules)
#32 - The Squatter adventure scenario and the Gormaglut, a Supernatural monster

#34 - The Skin Thief, a Supernatural creature

#36 - Nain Rouge, the Red Dwarf (supernatural being), the Hoarse Whisperer (supernatural creature) and The Dark Brotherhood adventure scenario

#39 - La Llorona and La Mort Venus, two supernatural creatures

#40 - The Devil Muse, a supernatural creature

#44 - The Scaring Crow, a new supernatural creature

#45 - The Court of the Tarot, an elitist group that's a rival to the altruistic Lazlo Agency. This issue also includes alternative zombies and demons that were part of the original "Dead Reign" setting (which itself was originally planned to be a BTS sourcebook).

#46 - The Scurry Scree and the Scurry Talus, they are both equivelents of supernatural "watchdogs" to their summoners and masters.

#47 - "The N.O.R.A.D. Duology" offers BTS-2 stats for five new supernatural creatures presented throughout in the adventure (pg. 83) while "The Chain Letter" offers us a new spirit to deal with (pg.87)

#51 - "Mundane Doesn't Mean Boring!" This was written for all game systems, but favors BTS-2 heavily. Highlights include Anthropologist/ Archaeologist & Forensic Criminalistics in greater detail, New Occupations, New Skills, GM tips, Using skepticism & debunking in investigations, Making a BTS-2 team, skill modifiers, contested skills and new Armor and trauma notes.

#53 - "The Lucky Psychic" offers a new P.C.C. who's specialties include altering his luck and others around him.

#56 - "The Tainted Martyr" P.C.C is a truly unique and tortured hero for the world of Beyond the Supernatural. Includes background and information, their origins, and introduction adventures.

#57 - "The Beyond the Supernatural Creature Feature" is a listing of five new supernatural beings, including the Grave Larva (a Minor Supernatural creature), The Brawling Joe (Demonic Servant & Lesser Being), The Kroguar (Supernatural Predator), The Hafoot (Prankster & Minor supernatural being), and the Geode Golem (Demonic Servant and Lesser Demon). Each one provides unique features and aspects that adds new intrigue and adventure opportunity to BTS.

#60 - "Trust and Intimidation: A Way of Life": This article adds some much needed rules and methods for characters with a High Mental Affinity. Also includes "Strange Things in the Bootheel", which is a short story that came from the Lazlo Society Board.

#61 - "Charm and Impress: The Key to Success": This article adds some much needed rules and methods for characters with a high Physical Beauty.

#62 - "Climbing, Expanded": This is an article written by a 20 year palladium veteran who's taken up Rock Climbing as a hobby. And in the process of learning to climb (rock walls and mountains), he's come to realize that there is a LOT more to it than anyone would realize. To that end, he's created an expansion to the climbing skill, including a good look at the grading system of climbing, the tools used (both old and new), climbing aids, protection, skill penalties, and turning the climbing skill into a Secondary Skill level and a Professional skill level (which includes bonuses) and % bonuses from the Athletics or Aerobics skills. I see this as useful information for making an entire scene or two out of climbing places and locations in a BTS adventure.

#63 - "The Handy Dandy Random Adventure Generator". This is the published, printed version of "Gallahan's" favored topic on this forum. The artwork by C. Walton is a nice touch.

#64 - "Gleaners": While it wasn't advertised, there is a new OFFICIAL supernatural predator for BTS available in this book, called the Gleaner. They appear on Devil's Night (the night before Halloween) captures prey (which includes children, lots of them)while it builds enough energy to exit the planet on All Saint's Day (the day after Halloween)taking all of its captured prey with it. This only gives the player characters 1-3 days to find and deal with it before its captured prey disappears forever.
There is also several new character occupations for Dead Reign following the Gleaners, but as the professions work the same with BTS characters, they can be used with little change.

#65 - "Hollow Road": This is an Beyond the Supernatural adventure written by Anthony Uyl (with Steven Dawes guest writing and content editing). The group will visit a small town, investigate rumors and stories, and deal with multiple evils, including the "Soul Merchant" and his dreaded "Soul Hounds".

#68 - "Brulyx?": This is a giant Beyond the Supernatural adventure, centered around a clandestine cult, a cemetery, an underground lair, traps, a zombie apocalypse, and of course zombies! Uses the zombies from the "Dead Reign" book as well as "Another World of Zombies" article from Rifter #45.

#71 and #72 - "Yokai of Japan": This article presnets a host of Monsters from Japan for BTS (but works for any modern day setting). Includes the Funa-yurei, Hanadaka-tengu, Kappa, Karasu-tengu, Kitsune, Neko-mata, Nue, Nure-onna, Oni, and Tanuki.

#79 - "Flashing Blades of Horror": Do not sell history short. There are epic events, battles and mysteries throughout history that would make amazing RPG campaigns. Create adventures that are, in effect, parts of our unknown history. Hendrik Härterich shows you how with a wonderful set of guidelines, rules and ideas for using characters from just about any modern RPG to create settings and adventures from Earth’s past. Suitable for use with any Palladium RPG.

#83 - "Operation Minotaur" by Hendrik Härterich. “Think Indiana Jones meets The Dirty Dozen on a horror trip and you are in the right frame of mind to GM this adventure. Follow me back to the war-torn 1940s with an evil greater than many supernatural enemies, dark secrets and a mystery worthy of a tall tale”. Operation Minotaur was conceived as a 4-6 hour gaming one-shot for the Palladium Open House 2012 and designed to showcase one of the many options of how to play Beyond the Supernatural (“BTS”). Contrary to the far more frequent mystery or detective type BTS game, this adventure offers an action packed and epic fight of good versus evil against the historical backdrop of World War II.
That being said, Hendrik -the writer of Operation Minotaur, an honored house guest, and a dear friend of the Host- took the time to design some very nice looking handouts to give to the players during the adventure. Due to space constraints the handouts were printed only in a small version. However, by the good graces of the people of Palladium Books, all the handouts are now available for download in the House of BTS, in their “full version”! Click here to get them!

#84 - There are two BTS related articles in this issue! The first is "All Quiet on the Western... What?" An Adventure for Beyond the Supernatural™ by Kyle Osterberg.
The second article is "The Dimma", a short story and new monster for Beyond the Supernatural™ by Steven Dawes.

Note: For those who have access to “The Magic of Palladium Book” Time Capsule (or have the original article for you old school players), on Page 12 there is a great BTS1 article; a “Freddy Krueger” supplement and his BTS creature type, "The Nightmare" that I encourage you to consider using in your game. Like the other BTS1 items, its easily convertible to BTS2 settings.

Note: I encourage anyone else who uses other submissions in the Rifter for their BTS game to post the details below.

[GreenGhost]

Due to a few recent replies discussed in some of the topics and a request or two sent to me asking for this info, I thought this topic that would be useful on the BTS forum. As a collector of the Rifter since issue #1 I’ve always tried to keep tabs on the various articles written for specific games over the years, and with my exclusive running of BTS since its release back in 2005 I’ve pulled and kept the Rifter issues with BTS material aside for reference.

Rifter books with BTS material are as follows;
(Note: until stated otherwise, the following issues all used BTS1 rules, but are all easily adaptable to BTS2)

#1- The Bard OCC, the Cursed Psychic PCC, the Priest OCC, the Pseudo-Psychic PCC and the Transcendent PCC.

#2- The Imp, Supernatural Rumormonger and the Traditional Hacker (part of the “Hacking, Cyberjacking & supernatural Data Theft across the Megaverse” submission

#4 & 5 – The “Tribes of the Moon” are all about were beasts in the Nightbane world, but are adaptable to BTS. Coincidentally I have used them as well as the Vampires from the Nightbane book and they work well with little adjustment, although the Nightbane storylines mentioned are obviously not to be used here.

#8- The Charonis and the Laughing Man

#10- Trouble in the Midwest and Dark Consequences adventures scenarios

#13- the Lucky Charms and Superstitions optional rules, the Cursed PCC (designed for Nightbane but easily adaptable), the Arcane Archeologist OCC, the Occultist OCC, the Cryptozoologist OCC, Living Numbers and Curses and the Fayfield Inn adventure scenario

#17- Last Street scenario setting

#20- A Last Street Adventure (this is use in conjunction with the Last Street setting from Rifter #17)

#25- “Guns for Hire” –optional rules, skills for modern day military characters. Its was designed for Ninjas and Superspies, but I’ve used this info as reference material for ex military characters (along with the Spook Squad OCC’s from Nightbane World book one “Between the Shadows”.)

#28- The Soul Tree, a supernatural creature

(Note: from here on all submissions use BTS2 rules)
#32- The Squatter adventure scenario and the Gormaglut, a Supernatural monster

#34- The Skin Thief, a Supernatural creature

#36- Nain Rouge, the Red Dwarf (supernatural being), the Hoarse Whisperer (supernatural creature) and The Dark Brotherhood adventure scenario

#39- La Llorona and La Mort Venus, two supernatural creatures

#40- The Devil Muse, a supernatural creature

#44- This book is late so as of now I don’t know if others are included, but Wayne told me that my submission The Brawling Joe will be in Rifter #44, and another submission of mine, The Scaring Crow will be in Rifter #45

Note: For those who have access to “The Magic of Palladium Book” Time Capsule (or have the original article for you old school players), on Page 12 there is a great BTS1 article on “Freddy Krueger” supplement and his BTS creature type, The Nightmare that I encourage you to consider using in your game. Like the other BTS1 items, its easily convertible to BTS2 settings.

If anyone asks I’ll be happy to reply to how I converted the BTS1 submissions above into BTS2 rules.

I also encourage anyone else who uses other submissions in the Rifter for their BTS game to post the details below.

Nice! I'm a proud collector of all the Rifters (except for the #0 Download) and this will really come in handy! Thanks Man!

[mrloucifer]

My last post stated "#44- This book is late so as of now I don’t know if others are included, but Wayne told me that my submission The Brawling Joe will be in Rifter #44, and another submission of mine, The Scaring Crow will be in Rifter #45"

Well, Palladium just released their detials on #44 and it looks like the scaring crow and the Brawling Joe are trading places, so look for the Scaring Crow in the weeks ahead (the P.R. said it will be out by Thanksgiving).

So The Brawling Joe will be out in January and other horrid things from my festering mind might show up as well... in fact I ams submiting something tomorrow morning, pending a last play test with my Sunday group in a few hours and a final edit based on notes from said game.

[mrloucifer]

I'm curious as to how the Dark Consequences adventure and the Living Numbers and Curses material and Fayfield Inn Adventure were converted into BTS2, since the OP stated that all of the material was converted to BTS2 rules.

First off, not to sound dense, what is the OP? And where did they state this material was all BTS2?

If your interested I could share what I personally did for updating the materials.

[palladiumjunkie]

OP = Original Poster

-Chris

[mrloucifer]

So now I'd like to see how the material was updated to BTS2, that's all.

Ill see what I can do for you... I aim to please after all.

Of course my opinions and design of updating the older material to BTS2 rules may come out entirely different than what the what the contributors would do. Then again, making it your own is one of the best parts of role playing games

BTW, thanx all for explaining OP. I'm still kind of a newb to forums.

[Vidynn]

No if someone would just cut and paste these we could have a SOURCE BOOK for BTS at last!

seconded! that would be great. in print or as downloadable netbook!

[mrloucifer]

No if someone would just cut and paste these we could have a SOURCE BOOK for BTS at last!

seconded! that would be great. in print or as downloadable netbook!

A downloadable book would be pretty swank

[tmikesecrist3]

I love the old bts game, but my favrat class was not in the main book, when I thumed throw it I was vary dissaponted to see vary little on magic, or monsters and my favoite class was also gone... the arcanist/mage.... by fare my favroite of the men of magic in any book.... the quistion I have is there realy any point in buying the new edition intell the publish beyoned arcanem and the monster book? I has been a long time but did thay use the the new occ skills/occ related/scendary skills, or did that keep the random education table, and skill porgrams?

[Sir Neil]

The new skill system is the sexiest yet. It's similar to O.C.C./O.C.C. Related/Secondary, based off your actual occupation, instead of your P.C.C.

They cut out the arcanist (which was my favorite, too) and they kick psychic sensitives right in the third eye, but the ghost hunter and psychic medium are really snazzy new classes, and the genius/natural and physical psychic got juiced up.

[tmikesecrist3]

what ever happend to if its not borken dont fix it... granted it needed up dateding to incorperat the rules changes.... but I liked the old education tables for n&ss, hu, tmnt, and bts. thow the arcanest did not use it realy.... thow I can understand it for rifts and pf as stills are not realy learned in a class room like thay are now.... it seemed that the old education set up fit better with our modern world.

[Sir Neil]

The old system had a lot of unnecessary work. To make an M.D., you had to roll high on the education, pick the right skill programs, and make sure you had the prerequisites.

In the new system, you just pick M.D. as your occupation, and you get all the skills they need. Characters aren't burdened with a lot of skills they took just to fill out a skill program. It's the best part of BTS 2.

[tmikesecrist3]

had not thought about it that way you may have a point........ thow as a gm, I had a tendency to let the players pick what education level was aporpeat for there idea for a caracter. now I had to here the idea and agree that it was aporpeat, some times that ment the player got a lower education level than thay wanted, but some times in ment that got a higher one. there was one pc I had that wantend to play a dr. jones type, but only wanted to give hem a masters..... dont ask we why he wanted hem to be a unavrisaty profeser. which means a little more work for the gm. but it is often worth it

[gaby]

Were ther any BtS,s npc in Rifter 43?

[mrloucifer]

Were ther any BtS,s npc in Rifter 43?

No, there was a N & SS character or two, but thats the closest your getting there.

Its funny you mention that though, I sent a mesg to Wayne asking if they are doing another swimsuit issue next year, cause if they do I intend to send in two BTS hotties, one a physical Psychic, the other a Dar'ota (succubus). They are favorite NPC's of mine.

[mrloucifer]

With the release of Rifter #45, the Court of the Tarot can be added to the list.

[Sir Neil]

I intend to send in two BTS hotties, one a physical Psychic.... They are favorite NPC's of mine.

Mine too. Are you going to give us her stats?

[mrloucifer]

I intend to send in two BTS hotties, one a physical Psychic.... They are favorite NPC's of mine.

Mine too. Are you going to give us her stats?

Their stats are a curvy 36-24-36

[mrloucifer]

I am adding this note to move it back to the top of the list as parties are asking for it.

[mrloucifer]

The beasts from Rifter #46 have been added.

[Lord Z]

Ahh! Evil yard gnomes!

[mrloucifer]

The latest update took a bit longer than normal, but I was late in getting my copy of the latest Rifter. But its up to date now, enjoy!

NOTE: As Lord Z pointed out, the "Cargo Cult" was not designed with BTS in mind, but it can be converted fairly easily. In fact Lord Z has posted notes about the conversions in one of his topics. Check it out already!

[mrloucifer]

Just added #51 to the list. The material is an unexpectedly good source of various material and info. Check it out!

[gaby]

I hope they do another swimsuit with a few BtS,s Npc,s.

Maybe palladiumbooks can show some Art from the Rifters?

[Lord Z]

Goqua in a speedo!

[Robroy]

Great idea. Maybe the mods can sticky this thread so it is always at the top.

If someone had the time similer lists would be great in the other groups

[Lord Z]

I have seen several recent articles which were not designed for BtS but work well with it. I don't think they should be included in this list, but I think they deserve mention. Here is what comes to mind for me.

Issue #52: Cannibal Magic (maybe, I haven't read it yet)
Issue #49: Nightbane Vampires
Issue #48: Expanded Horror Factor Rules
Issue #47: New Magic Classes for Heroes Unlimited
Issue #46: Supernatural of Hawaii
Issue #44: Telekenesis and Ectoplasm

[jaymz]

Tis thread viewtopic.php?f=4&t=77496 also has an extensive overall list for all Rifters as welas a breakdown by setting.

[mrloucifer]

I just got "Rifts World Book 29: Madhaven" as one of the Palladium Christmas Suprise package items, and it includes some notes on BTS2 that I wasnt aware of.

There's a section titled "Ghosts of Madhaven" (starting on page 109) which feature several new ghost/entity beings, with BTS2 conversion notes on page 124. New being include the following;
-Gluttonous Ghost
-Beautiful Ghost
-Harmful Ghost
-Madness Ghost
-Conglomerate Entity
-Contagion Entity
-Rotting Entity

[Lord Z]

The upcoming January issue of Rifter should feature another exciting psychic class by our own prolific Mr. Loucifer.

Concerning Madhaven, I was not much impressed by most of the ghosts featured therein. They all blurred the lines between entities, physical monsters, and actual dead folks. I did, nonetheless, lke the Madness Ghost. It is a monster with its own schtich. The Madness Ghost also can cast magic spells which tosses some variety into the typical entity hunt.

[mrloucifer]

The upcoming January issue of Rifter should feature another exciting psychic class by our own prolific Mr. Loucifer.

You flatter me Lord Z! That being said, The Rifter #53 does indeed hold my newest additon "The Lucky Psychic", which offers a new P.C.C. who skills include altering the luck of those around him and himself.

Note: I noticed last night while going over the book that I didn’t add in notes about the experience tables, but that’s an easy fix. Depending on the mindset of the Lucky Psychic, the more intellectual/ brainy types use The Genius P.C.C. table while the more action/physical oriented types use the Physical Psychic P.C.C. table.

[mrloucifer]

Concerning Madhaven, I was not much impressed by most of the ghosts featured therein. They all blurred the lines between entities, physical monsters, and actual dead folks. I did, nonetheless, I like the Madness Ghost. It is a monster with its own schtich. The Madness Ghost also can cast magic spells which tosses some variety into the typical entity hunt.

They make decent "entity" level etherial beings for use in your BTS game. That being said, I dont see them as "ghosts" either. The "human spirit" will be far superior (and potentially much more dangerous) when I'm done with them.

[mrloucifer]

This was posted in the latest murmur this morning;
The Rifter® #56
– ships October, 2011

The Rifter® is your doorway to unlimited imagination and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It offers new heroes, powers, weapons, magic and adventure for your games. It presents new villains, monsters and dangers to battle, and new ideas to consider.
The Rifter® #56:

This issue is still a work in progress. This is what we know so far.

Rifts® in space. The orbital communities and weirdness, by O.J. Pinckert.
Beyond the Supernatural: Tainted Martyr P.C.C. by Steven Dawes.
Palladium Fantasy RPG®: Source material.
News and coming attractions.
Fiction and more.
And MORE yet to be determined.
Cover by Irvin Jackson.
$11.95 retail – 96 pages – Cat. No. 156. October release.

So I guess I can post about it here officially now. If all goes well (they accept all 40 pages of material that I sent), this one will have a little of everything, including;
-A new P.C.C.
-Info on a new society called "The Fraternity"
-adventure ideas
-4 new supernatural creatures to deal with.

Here's hoping all of it gets included.

[mrloucifer]

Rifter # 57 is coming this month, and the details concerning its contents included this note :

Beyond the Supernatural™ – monsters and supernatural threats.

[jedi078]

Oddly I was going to start a thread asking the very question: 'list of BTS material in the Rifter.'

Anyhow this thread is a great resource.

[tmikesecrist3]

still should be stickied

[mrloucifer]

still should be stickied

agreed

[jaymz]

still should be stickied

agreed

Sens a PM to NMI asking him to do so and you may get your wish

[Lord Z]

Mr L, can we expect those 'monsters and supernatural threats' in #57 to be those critters who were cut from your Tainted Martyr article?

[mrloucifer]

Mr L, can we expect those 'monsters and supernatural threats' in #57 to be those critters who were cut from your Tainted Martyr article?

You can expect them to be, but only cause its true!

[Lord Z]

The Rifter #57 is basically a monster book with twenty-five new critters. Twenty of them are intended for Palladium Fantasy. The other five are the masterful work of Mr. Lucifer: Geode Golems, Hafoots, Grave Larva, Brawling Joes, & Kroguars.

[Holister]

Speaking of monster books. Any idea when "Tome Grotesque" is coming out?

If they plan to scrap "Tome Grotesque" maybe Palladium should put together a Monster Compendium like they did with their magic for "Rift Book of Magic". Of course it would be way too large for one book, so make it into a series of four books. Then maybe they could put out limited edition numbered hardbound copies.

On that note they should do the same for their psionics for one "Psionics Guide" and all their skills for a "Book of Skills". Again, they could also release limited edition hardcover editions.

Just ideas man, just ideas.

[Lord Z]

The news on the sourcebooks is the same as the last five years -- no news.

As for a monster compendium, I am neutral about that idea. On one hand, it would be a series of books that would not be too difficult to piece together because it uses all recycled material except for maybe some new cover art. Not all of the monsters fit well in all of the settings. For example, a dinosaur could fit well into Splicers as one of the weird creatures found in the Preserves, but a Poltergeist entity would not because no one in Splicers would have any way to fight it. There is a living planet in the Three Galaxies which works fine for Phase World or Robotech or even Aliens Unlimited, but it would be totally inappropriate and maybe impossible to reach for Beyond the Supernatural.

[mrloucifer]

The other five are the masterful work of Mr. Lucifer: Geode Golems, Hafoots, Grave Larva, Brawling Joes, & Kroguars.

Thank you for the vote of confidence sir!

[Holister]

I just think if Palladium had single resource books like "The Book of Magic" GMs would not need to pull dozens of books to find what they are looking for. A Monster Compendium would be one stop shopping for all your monster needs. Heck, it worked for D&D for decades.

I also think that a skill compendium, and psionics compendium would also be great resource books that would compliment the "The Book of Magic" very nicely.

[Lord Z]

Should we ask NMI to sticky this thread?

[tmikesecrist3]

I think I would like to see conversion notes for monsters to bts. I think some of the CE monsters might work not sure though

[Holister]

Any monster could work, if done correctly.

I had a campaign where a mad scientist genetically reengineered a dragon that the party had to stop.

I also had a camapign that had Xiticx invade a top secret government complex due to an experimental portal device the military was tampering with. The party had to go in and stop them and shut down the device before the Xiticx escaped into the outside the world.

I even had a campaign involving a magic sword & armor but it was protected by a fire elemental.

So any monster in theory can be used, as long as the story goes well.

[Lord Z]

If the monster already has standard damage stats (and most do), then there isn't much conversion that needs to be done. Just add a Threat Multiplier (which is usually obvious if you compare the new monster to known monsters) and a Discorporation Effect. The Chaos Earth monsters already have weaknesses if I am correct.

[mrloucifer]

Should we ask NMI to sticky this thread?

I will send him a request to do so, but for the sake of this thread's purpose I imagine he'll ask us to cut the chatting to a minimum.

My reason behind this thread was to provide some better details about the BTS related materials found in the Rifter, otherwise there's already a resource that lists the BTS items available. I can see chatting about things that would make good rifter submissions or talking about the materials that already exist in the Rifter, but bringing up ideas of compendiums of monsters and other types of books are best left on other threads.