World Books 33 & 34

[Razorwing]

Recently I've managed to acquire WB 31 (Triax 2) and 32 (Lemuria) and I am in the process of getting Megaverse in Flames (takes time for my FGS to get books in)... when I noticed it is considered World Book 35.

I can't seem to find any information on World Books 33 or 34... what areas they will be describing or anything (my search-fu has become very weak lately). Is there any information on these books that I may have missed... or am I just spinning my wheels?

[The Beast]

They're the two Northern Gun books.

[SummerRider]

https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/887-Rifts-World-Book-Northern-Gun-One.html

Rifts® Northern Gun™ One is the biggest 'tech' filled World Book Palladium has ever produced. In addition to world information, background and O.C.C.s for the Northern Gun corporation and Ishpeming, there are 27 robots, 70+ weapons and all kinds of dynamic information and gaming resources. Courtesy of the largest arms dealer and independent manufacturer on the continent: Northern Gun™.

https://palladium-store.com/1001/product/888-Rifts-World-Book-Northern-Gun-Two.html

This book is huge and filled with page after page of new, exciting source material. More than 80 pages are dedicated to NG power armor, plus there are section on hovercycles, body armor, robot drones, amphibious vehicles, combat vehicles, ground vehicles, and other gear, plus gladiators of the Robodome and more. Including some hints about things to come and NG’s relationship with the Coalition States.

[mercedogre]

both really good, the artwork IMO moving toward a "HALO" look and feel as far as the armors and PAs go. Not complaining about it, just an observation.

[Nox Equites]

both really good, the artwork IMO moving toward a "HALO" look and feel as far as the armors and PAs go. Not complaining about it, just an observation.

Well they have expanded far past the "functional gear for practical people" into "you want it? we got it".

[spatulaodoom]

I'd call much of the robots heavily influenced by Battletech art.

[Pepsi Jedi]

*Shakes head* No more so than any bipedal robot is going to look 'influenced' by another.

Having a wolf's head on one, and some line of battle tech a decade ago having animal heads on theirs, doesn't make them 'heavily influenced'.

[filo_clarke]

I'd call much of the robots heavily influenced by Battletech art.

Weird, I used to consider much of the Battletech art "heavily influenced" by Robotech. The lawsuit seemed to confirm my suspicion.

[spatulaodoom]

Actually FASA did purchase the rights to use that art. The lawsuit was by a different company more than a decade later over whether the company they licensed it from actually had the right to licence it out.
FASA dealt in good faith the entire time, and settled out of court. Since that licensing incident FASA has done all their art in house.
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Unseen

[Bill]

I didn't care for either of them. They're mostly equipment catalogs and the gun-porn aspect of Rifts is my least favorite element.

[Pepsi Jedi]

I didn't care for either of them. They're mostly equipment catalogs and the gun-porn aspect of Rifts is my least favorite element.

Do you actually have the books Bill? Because that's not actually a fair representation of them. The first one goes more than 100 pages in setting and fluff before it gets to the gear. More than most world books even attempt.

That said, and it does need be said again, NG 1 has over 100 pages of setting and fluff BEFORE it gets to the gear, Northern Gun is the main manufacturer in Rifts Earth North America. It manufactures 'everything'. From sandwich bags to walking tanks. They're THE big manufacturer on that side of the planet and has been the go to company in rifts for 25 years. To write books on them that did not have a large 'gun/bot/powerarmor' catalog would be absurd. That's what they're known best for. If you left that out it'd be silly. Of course they have a ton of gear in the NG books NG is a nation that's built up around producing... gear. For mercs, for countries, for the CS, for everyone. It's so intrical that in the Megaverse in flames book. ALL nations roll to protect NG. Because if NG falls, they ALL FALL. NG produces the weapons and gear that give the other nations a chance to fight.

I've thousands and thousands of dollars worth of RPGs. Literally, and in general I don't like 'Weapons catalogs' either. Especially in systems (Yes like rifts) that seems to have MOAR GUNZ in every book. But NG is an arms manufacturer and a nation built up around doing so and outfitting mercs and other nations with weapons, armor, bots, vehicles, etc. In this case it -fits- and they took soooo long to get these two world books to us, that the fanbase waited 25 years to get them. Of course they're going to have a ton of gear, as that's what NG Is.

There's more than that there though. Alot of fluff and details on the UP are found with in. Heck, they have Rifts first fast food franchise. There's a few points that made me blink but few and far between for a rifts book. They're actually quite good books.

(I personally have a problem with the artificial 'weakening' of NG gear vs other gear on the planet due to 'they're 5 or 10 years behind the CS' logic, making their gear a bit weaker than the stuff in WB11, which was out what 18 years ago real time? So I tend to ignore that and bump them a bit to put them where they should be, and the page on life spans is radically different and 'wrong' as pertaining to the information we received years ago with much more detail from LS. That said a couple of flaws dont' make them horrible books. I rather like them. They're some of my faves of the line.)

[Tor]

I am disappointed NG or others have not reverse-engineered Naruni's force field tech so we can enjoy force fields guilt-free. At least having them built into power armor is potentially less conspicuous than carrying around one of their pistols.

I guess one has to resort to the inferior force-fields used in the Triax Ulti-Max

[Razorwing]

I'm just wondering how I missed these two books on the catalogue page. It might help if the books were put in their proper numerical order (35 does not come right after 30).

[The Beast]

I'm just wondering how I missed these two books on the catalogue page. It might help if the books were put in their proper numerical order (35 does not come right after 30).

My guess is Palladium's listing them by catalog number instead of book order number.

[Bill]

I admit that I skimmed them. I admit that the heavy gun-porn discouraged me from giving them much more attention.

[Nox Equites]

I am disappointed NG or others have not reverse-engineered Naruni's force field tech so we can enjoy force fields guilt-free. At least having them built into power armor is potentially less conspicuous than carrying around one of their pistols.

I guess one has to resort to the inferior force-fields used in the Triax Ulti-Max

Palladium is discounting the ingenuity of human beings. Once you know it can be done and have a few examples you have a drastically shortened development time. Unless the design requires radically different physics, like Phase Tech, or requires rare elements, it can be done. How long they takes depends on dramatic convenience.

Naruni have various groups making their plasma cartridges in PW so the knowledge is not truly rare. NG might not chose to sell directly recreated alien tech, but you know they will gleefully steal ideas to improve their products.

[Pepsi Jedi]

They actually go into that in the NG book. They indeed do 'gleefully steal ideas to improve thier products" they have special people trained to do so.

That said there -is- something to be said about Naruni's force field technology being truely alien. (in both senses of the word) and if it was just 'that easy' then any one could do it.

[Q99]

I am disappointed NG or others have not reverse-engineered Naruni's force field tech so we can enjoy force fields guilt-free. At least having them built into power armor is potentially less conspicuous than carrying around one of their pistols.

I guess one has to resort to the inferior force-fields used in the Triax Ulti-Max

Palladium is discounting the ingenuity of human beings. Once you know it can be done and have a few examples you have a drastically shortened development time. Unless the design requires radically different physics, like Phase Tech, or requires rare elements, it can be done. How long they takes depends on dramatic convenience.

Naruni have various groups making their plasma cartridges in PW so the knowledge is not truly rare. NG might not chose to sell directly recreated alien tech, but you know they will gleefully steal ideas to improve their products.

Naruni stuff is so advanced that it'll take a heck of awhile even with examples.

Phase World powers take a few decades to do so. Triad may do so if they take a long time. NG is a decade behind the older CS stuff, learning to do force fields is beyond them for the foreseeable.