What's Your Favorite Rifts Book?

SmilingJack · Unread post by **SmilingJack** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:47 am

For any palladium gamer, one of the great joys of role playing is getting that new book which covers your your favorite region, a topic you've been dying to see palladium develop into a book, or a book you always wanted but never had the chance to grab

With that being said.....

What is your favorite Rifts Book and Why?

SmilingJack · Unread post by **SmilingJack** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:11 am

SmilingJack wrote:For any palladium gamer, one of the great joys of role playing is getting that new book which covers your your favorite region, a topic you've been dying to see palladium develop into a book, or a book you always wanted but never had the chance to grab

With that being said.....

What is your favorite Rifts Book and Why?

Outside of the Rifts Ultimate Edition, which honestly Is the holy grail of role playing to me,

I don't think any book can compare to the Coalition War Campaign. ever since I first started playing Rifts, I have been absolutely fascinated with the coalition. While some May despise their xenophobic and discriminatory stance, (in my opinion with humans being in a constant state of peril and the survival of our species very much in question in the Rifts world , a unified front to save humanity is a necessity, unfortunately its either kill or be killed, we have to survive and the coalition in north america is humanity's best chance)

One thing no one can deny is that their armaments and mecha Kick so much ass it's not even funny.

I've read and paged through most of the Rifts books, in the only 1 that I absolutely had to have was the coalition war campaign. I remember the first time I read the book literally salivating over the range of Samas Mechs, especially the super samas and the smiling jack from which I took my screenname from. Also the actual firearms like the hellfire plasma cannon and the hellfire mecha just blew me away.

I also really loved not only the older coalition design but the new revamped armor design. I just thought the new death's head motif looked so slick and sophisticated , while still being intimidating

The overall story concept was so significant that it setup a6 book Arc. so not only is the book absolutely awesome, its also very significant in terms of the actual history of Rifts Earth.

honestly it's 1 book that I could not put down, and could read deep into the night.

if I lost my collection of palladium books tomorrow, the coalition war campaign would be the first book I would go out and get.

I just love the range of weapons, huge carrier vehicles, character bios. This book took the concept of the coalition and expanded on it taking it to a completely new level, and adding tremendous depth to the concept of the coalition

Overall just a great book that adds so much to any coalition adventure you may run

This is my favorite Rifts book ever produced

CyCo · Unread post by **CyCo** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 4:59 am

Guess.

8p

keir451 · Unread post by **keir451** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:14 am

The Original Rifts RPG, it had ALL the info I needed to start the game; OCCs, skills, monetary conversions as well as a guide to rolling up bandit NPCs as well as your basic CS soldier. To me the Ultimate Edition falls short of what it COULD have been as much of the info that was in the original RPG was left out.

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:22 am

In order:

RUE
Mercenaries
Psyscape
Fed of magic
Merctown

Those five books allow me the most variety and ability to run almost any game involving all three categories of tech, Psionics and Magic. Merctown is included as an excellent neutral location for any and all adventures/campaigns to start from.

drewkitty ~..~ · Mon Apr 01, 2013 12:19 pm

Rifts japan nuff said

Witchcraft · Unread post by **Witchcraft** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:46 pm

I absolutely love Wormwood.

Grell · Unread post by **Grell** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:49 pm

Dimension Book 11: Dyval.

The Dark Elf · Unread post by **The Dark Elf** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:17 pm

Underseas currently. It was an instant catalyst for adventure possibilities with every page. I would get excited and my mind would wander off into hooks and plots. And they were adventures that I had nowhere near begun to think of until I read it.
Lemuria did it proud as a follow up with the same sort of variety and endless possibilities too. GJ! :ok:

flatline · Unread post by **flatline** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 4:38 pm

Witchcraft wrote:I absolutely love Wormwood.

As incomplete as it is, Wormwood is far and away my favorite book. So much so that every new Rifts book I get is, in my mind, a Wormwood sourcebook.

Even Splicers, which is a fine book and setting by itself, mostly gets me excited because I think I can use almost all of that material to "reboot" the wormwood setting if I ever get my butt in gear.

--flatline

Athos · Unread post by **Athos** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 5:06 pm

Atlantis
Mercenaries
Wormwood

in no particular order

Blastaar · Unread post by **Blastaar** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:40 pm

New West
Triax 2

and the upcoming northern guns

Neo · Unread post by **Neo** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 6:48 pm

New West with a Vampires chaser.

jaymz · Unread post by **jaymz** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:16 pm

Neo wrote:New West with a Vampires chaser.

So Arzo?

dragonfett · Unread post by **dragonfett** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:39 pm

It's a tie between the RUE for the Techno Wizard Item Creation Rules (had a lot of GM's flat out shoot down my TW suggestions before I had those rules from the RUE) and the Federation of Magic.

Zamion138 · Unread post by **Zamion138** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:07 pm

Juicer uprising, mercs, wormwood, dragons and gods

MaxxSterling · Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:55 pm

Phaseworld 1 & 2... essentially my only reason for playing the game.

Dunia · Unread post by **Dunia** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:04 am

Shemarrian Nation
Lemuria
Black Market
RUE

SmilingJack · Unread post by **SmilingJack** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:09 am

MaxxSterling wrote:Phaseworld 1 & 2... essentially my only reason for playing the game.

it's funny that you mention this, I was at my mom's place today, go through the garage, and I found My dimension book 2: phase world, I simply forgot how amazing this book was, it's so deep an offer so many options, also the naruni repo bots to me are more frightening than glitter boys

honestly after reading this book today, I want to geT all the books related to the 3 galaxies

although the coalition wAr campaign is my all time favorite, thE phase world books rank right up there

Subjugator · Unread post by **Subjugator** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 12:32 am

RMB and Vampire Kingdoms.

The Baron of chaos · Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:37 pm

Guilty Pleasure: Rifts New west(because come on is Rifts New West ****damnit!)
Serious Pleasure: Rifts Source book 1 (doing an cobra commander impression: AAAAARRRCHHIIIEEEEEE!)
Utility Tool: Rifts Bionics Sourcebook(because I love cyborgs

)

Eashamahel · Unread post by **Eashamahel** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:19 am

keir451 wrote:The Original Rifts RPG, it had ALL the info I needed to start the game; OCCs, skills, monetary conversions as well as a guide to rolling up bandit NPCs as well as your basic CS soldier. To me the Ultimate Edition falls short of what it COULD have been as much of the info that was in the original RPG was left out.

I am right here with you 100%. Rifts to me is perfectly encapsulated in the original rule book. Everything I have ever needed has come from it, and it is just Rifts, just completely Rifts, from the overview of the history and the world, to the explanation of magic, to the Giant Robots, crazy monsters, equipment listings, just all of it. It has the exact character of what Rifts is for me, and every book that comes afterwards I still judge by it.

Whether a book is about Magic, D-Bees, Gear, where in the world it takes place, power level, number of place descriptions/NPC's or world events, the most important thing I think for many people, or at least for me, is the character of each book, more than the mechanics of it, and that rulebook has the perfect character.

After that, the original Sourcebook is probably my favourite. The first Conversion Book is great as well, but i honestly only need about 1/3 of it, so although it has something for everything, I don't rank it too high.

My favourite world books would have to be Lone Star, because I saw it and loved it as a kid, Coalition War Campaign, just because I got it for Christmas and have a huge emotional attachment to it, Psyscape, because I loved Psychics more than anything else when I first got into the game and was super excited for it, and Vampire Kingdoms, because the Vampires really captivated me as a kid.

Of my closest friends, favourite books are Underseas, Canada, the first Sourcebook, Triax and Wormwood.

I also think it's awesome that so many people have such a variety of books as their favourite, really shows the diversity and the strength of the game.

ffranceschi · Unread post by **ffranceschi** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:29 pm

It is very difficult to list just one so I will list three:

1) Free Quebec.
2) The Federation of Magic.
3) Lemuria.

It is easier to list the ones I don't like...

Levi · Unread post by **Levi** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:22 pm

There are many that I really like and it depends on if I am playing or GMing, and where the game is set. But I would probably go with Source Book 1 because it really captured the original gritty feel of Rifts. Some of the later books sort catch it. But in general the dark, gritty, and dangerous feel of Rifts has faded with each book. It's too bad really.

Razzinold · Unread post by **Razzinold** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:59 pm

CyCo wrote:Guess.

8p

Is it Rifts: Dimension Book #JA-307020: Tron City ?

The books I use/read over and over the most are, in no particular order,

RMB - the one that started it all for me

Coalition War Campaign & Triax/NGR - third/fourth books I ever owned (got them for my birthday way back in the day) I really like these two books both for OCCs and vehicles/guns/equipment

New West - because lets face it, who doesn't want to be as bad a$$ as Clint Eastwood's 'man with no name' ?

Then I'd say Juicer Uprising and the Merc series.

However, being the nerd that I am, I love all my Rifts books but these are usually my main 'go to' books when starting up a campaign.

The Jack · Unread post by **The Jack** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:36 pm

It is very difficult to pick a favorite. There is a class, race, piece of gear or storyline that I like a great deal in almost every Rifts book. Aside from the main book, I get the most mileage as both a GM and a player from these three:
-Psyscape
-England
-Mercenaries

Jay05 · Unread post by **Jay05** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:29 pm

Man, that's tough, so to shorten the list, everything CJ wrote or contributed to in the case of Underseas for Rifts/Dimensions because I love them, and each added imo indispensably to the Megaverse as a whole. After those in no order Atlantis, for the world info, the Splugorth as a great antagonist, the True Atlanteans, Tattoo magic. Then New West, Spirit West, Lone Star and Arzno for fleshing out most of the west of the continent and adding great classes gear etc. Vampire Kingdoms for everything about it (Yes I like Rifts Vamps as they are. Waiting for Vamp sourcebook to get the update.) I have a few dozen others but those are absolute faves.

CyCo · Unread post by **CyCo** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:05 am

Razzinold wrote:
CyCo wrote:Guess.

8p

Is it Rifts: Dimension Book #JA-307020: Tron City ?

The books I use/read over and over the most are, in no particular order,

RMB - the one that started it all for me

Coalition War Campaign & Triax/NGR - third/fourth books I ever owned (got them for my birthday way back in the day) I really like these two books both for OCCs and vehicles/guns/equipment

New West - because lets face it, who doesn't want to be as bad a$$ as Clint Eastwood's 'man with no name' ?

Then I'd say Juicer Uprising and the Merc series.

However, being the nerd that I am, I love all my Rifts books but these are usually my main 'go to' books when starting up a campaign.

I had been waiting for someone to make a comment. lol

Obviously Rifts Australia. In part due to being an Aussie, but also because one of my mates wrote it.

The Dark Elf · Unread post by **The Dark Elf** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:21 am

CyCo wrote:Obviously Rifts Australia. In part due to being an Aussie, but also because one of my mates wrote it.

Whens writing the next 2??

Eclipse · Unread post by **Eclipse** » Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:56 am

Enquiring minds want to know, well, Australian minds like mine and Corsarius

CyCo · Unread post by **CyCo** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:07 am

Ben doesn't have anything to do with PB. Search the forums and you'll find that someone else, not even an Aussie, is apparently writing the next books for Oz, if they even get done. Even if approached by PB, which he hasn't been, he'd probably turn them down. He's a pretty busy lad these days.

Snow Hawk · Unread post by **Snow Hawk** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:36 am

Canada! The Canada book has inspired me to write so much on the Tundra Rangers that they could have there own book like the CS war campaign

Icefalcon · Unread post by **Icefalcon** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:11 pm

To date, my favorite would have to be Triax 2.

Snake Eyes · Unread post by **Snake Eyes** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:32 pm

Right now for me its Vampire Kingdoms (Revised), only because next week i'm running a anti-vampire team to clear out a small town of vampires........also the fact that one of the players thinks he knows everything about vampires and how to defeat them (with lasers, AP mini-missiles, etc), boy won't he be surprised when he shoots a vampire :twisted:

Razzinold · Unread post by **Razzinold** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:44 pm

CyCo wrote:
Razzinold wrote:
CyCo wrote:Guess.

8p

Is it Rifts: Dimension Book #JA-307020: Tron City ?

The books I use/read over and over the most are, in no particular order,

RMB - the one that started it all for me

Coalition War Campaign & Triax/NGR - third/fourth books I ever owned (got them for my birthday way back in the day) I really like these two books both for OCCs and vehicles/guns/equipment

New West - because lets face it, who doesn't want to be as bad a$$ as Clint Eastwood's 'man with no name' ?

Then I'd say Juicer Uprising and the Merc series.

However, being the nerd that I am, I love all my Rifts books but these are usually my main 'go to' books when starting up a campaign.

I had been waiting for someone to make a comment. lol

Obviously Rifts Australia. In part due to being an Aussie, but also because one of my mates wrote it.

I know, I saw it under the Tron poster, I was just being a smart@$$, lol
Did you catch my little oddball joke ? The full name of the program was TRON-JA-307020 on Flynn's personal server.

I liked the Australia book as well, it's too hard to limit my favourites to just 1 or 2 books.

kaid · Unread post by **kaid** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 3:39 pm

I think the book that really took me by surprise by how much I liked it and how good it is was warlords of russia. I am not sure what I was expecting of it but it really is an amazing and interesting setting that is very different flavor than most of rifts earth and very russian.

I love the shock trooper borgs which are some seriously bad ass borgs. If I ever was going to be turned into a full borg I want to be something like one of the shock troopers. If I am giving up a bunch of my humanity to be a borg then I want to be the biggest nastiest thing walking around.

velkymx · Unread post by **velkymx** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:35 pm

Vampire Kingdoms for it's great game changing elements and amazing job in doing vampires. Rifts Japan for it's breathtaking graphics.

Eclipse · Unread post by **Eclipse** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 3:39 am

I'd have to say my favourite Rifts book was Atlantis. When it came out it really was bizarre, very creative. The illustrations of these creatures blew me away.

CyCo · Unread post by **CyCo** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:43 am

Razzinold wrote:
CyCo wrote:
Razzinold wrote:
CyCo wrote:Guess.

8p

Is it Rifts: Dimension Book #JA-307020: Tron City ?

The books I use/read over and over the most are, in no particular order,

RMB - the one that started it all for me

Coalition War Campaign & Triax/NGR - third/fourth books I ever owned (got them for my birthday way back in the day) I really like these two books both for OCCs and vehicles/guns/equipment

New West - because lets face it, who doesn't want to be as bad a$$ as Clint Eastwood's 'man with no name' ?

Then I'd say Juicer Uprising and the Merc series.

However, being the nerd that I am, I love all my Rifts books but these are usually my main 'go to' books when starting up a campaign.

I had been waiting for someone to make a comment. lol

Obviously Rifts Australia. In part due to being an Aussie, but also because one of my mates wrote it.

I know, I saw it under the Tron poster, I was just being a smart@$$, lol
Did you catch my little oddball joke ? The full name of the program was TRON-JA-307020 on Flynn's personal server.

I liked the Australia book as well, it's too hard to limit my favourites to just 1 or 2 books.

I didn't quite get it to be honest, but I did think it was either code or something like that from Tron. lol