What are some of your House Rules that go against Canon?

[Blackwater Sniper]

Even though Rifts is one of the most malleable RPGs I've heard of, we all modify the game to fit our needs once in a while. Whether it's to allow an alignment shift outside the zone, bumping character creation stats, RCC/OCC combinations that are questionable, or whatever flavors the game to your advantage.

[Killer Cyborg]

The C-12 is a selective fire laser rifle that can be set to a 2d6 MD single shot, or a 1d6x10 MD 5-shot pulse.

You can choose your character's race before you choose their class.

You can take actions in combat that don't require rolling a d20.

Technowizards can still convert tech to run off PPE, as per the RUE rules

Attacks that take 2+ actions can typically be performed in the time of a single attack; the extra actions are taken off the tail end.

RUE Cyber-Knights only.

I ignore the GI Joe rule for armor.

GBs only get 100 rounds of ammo, not 1k.

Skills can go over 100%, but they only have a 98% chance of success maximum; the extra percentage points are there to soak up penalties.

Detect Ambush can detect ambushes, counter Prowl, and other stuff that's actually useful.

[Fenris2020]

Supernatural and Robotic Strength characters still add their punch damage to melee weapon damage.
No GI Joe rule for armor.
Glitter-Boys don't get 1000 rounds; they get 100 in the drum and another 80 in the belt feed. The spare drum holds 40, not 400.
Siege on Tolkeen works out very differently, and the CS won but took some MAJOR hits... Holmes and Co died either due to Xiticix or lack of resupply.
Psi-Stalkers don't get natural MDC.
True daisho do MD damage to tech (I always considered that exclusion to be unintentional anyway).
Cyber-Knight variants from the SoT book instead of the one in RUE.
Fallen Cosmo-Knights use the Phase Mystic XP Table, since they don't have one listed...
No Laser Bow.

[Killer Cyborg]

No Laser Bow.

Good call!

In fact, I mostly ignore Spirit West.

[Fenris2020]

No Laser Bow.

Good call!

In fact, I mostly ignore Spirit West.

It's no worse than most of the other world books, but the laser bow is... something that should have been left on the cutting-room floor.

[Emerald MoonSilver]

Perhaps I'm just being dense today, but what the heck is the Gi joe rule for armor that you are talking about????

[Fenris2020]

Perhaps I'm just being dense today, but what the heck is the Gi joe rule for armor that you are talking about????

The one where if you get hit for 40 MDC and your armor has 1 MDC left, you don't take damage.
It's supposed to only work once, but I've heard of people trying to take advantage of it...

[Mack]

Buddy of mine had a modified attribute roll that I liked:

When creating a character, roll 4D6 (instead of 3D6) and drop the lowest die. However, if the score was 16+ then you had to use the dropped die instead of rolling another 1D6. It raised the average attribute by about 2 points, and you were more likely to get an exceptional attribute, but you sacrificed ever getting a really high number.

[Blackwater Sniper]

The Apok always confounded our group back in the day.

According to the book you basically have a new character if changing from one OCC to Apok during a mid-PC crisis.

We had people who wanted to play an Apok on Rifts Earth, but couldn't because the main aspect of the OCC, the mask, is a symbiote which would die within hours if taken off of Wormwood.

We changed it so the former OCC skills/abilities were frozen and the Mask would remain alive on MDC/PPE-rich worlds or would have to feed off of the host until back on Wormwood or Rifts-like world.

[Fenris2020]

The Apok always confounded our group back in the day.

According to the book you basically have a new character if changing from one OCC to Apok during a mid-PC crisis.

We had people who wanted to play an Apok on Rifts Earth, but couldn't because the main aspect of the OCC, the mask, is a symbiote which would die within hours if taken off of Wormwood.

We changed it so the former OCC skills/abilities were frozen and the Mask would remain alive on MDC/PPE-rich worlds or would have to feed off of the host until back on Wormwood or Rifts-like world.

The mask specifically doesn't die when brought to Rifts Earth.

[Blackwater Sniper]

The mask specifically doesn't die when brought to Rifts Earth.

The Mask is a symbiotic organism created by the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 57)

Symbiotes die within 1D6 hours of being removed from the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 45, 91)

Unless I missed the exception somewhere.

[Fenris2020]

The mask specifically doesn't die when brought to Rifts Earth.

The Mask is a symbiotic organism created by the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 57)

Symbiotes die within 1D6 hours of being removed from the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 45, 91)

Unless I missed the exception somewhere.

First, it's indestructible.
None of the others are.
I'll look for the reference, I have read it in this collection of Rifts books.

[Rifter11]

For generating attributes: Roll an extra die of whatever type the race normally gets. Drop the lowest result. If they get a 16 or higher they get bonus dice as normal.

Everyone gets their native language at 98% (but not literacy) and basic math at 98%. If their class comes with native language then they get a bonus language instead. If it comes with Basic Math they get Advanced Math in addition (with whatever bonus they would have gotten for basic). If it comes with both math skills they still get the above but the bonus for Advanced Math is doubled..

Of course they don't have to take either of those if it doesn't fit for role-playing purposes.

[Blackwater Sniper]

First, it's indestructible.
None of the others are.
I'll look for the reference, I have read it in this collection of Rifts books.

I know it's indestructible and only becomes "inert" once the Host is removed from Wormwood, but we didn't take that as indestructible off Wormwood.

We had some debate as to whether, if directly targeted, could save the PC from piercing damage and only suffer the blunt damage from the impact.

[Curbludgeon]

Question 18 is about the Apok's mask, but general consensus about that FAQ suggests taking it with a grain of salt. There's a custom ritual lost in the Siege on Tolkeen which keeps Wormwood symbiotes alive via PPE vampirism, described in Chi-town Burbs 2:Firetown and the Tolkeen crisis pp 27-9. The Q&A in Rifter 19 states that symbiotes coming from the transplanted Wormwood city found in SA2's Southern Federation become dormant when away from the region, and presumably don't instead disintegrate.

RUE pg 372: "World Books are not absolutely necessary nor are they canon written in stone."

Putting aside questions of just how much here that could be argued to invalidate, the very notion of canonicity speaks to an all-too-common issue. In certain game communities appeals to "canon" are more often than not less about coming to a mutual understanding of setting than an attempt to browbeat. We've all seen posters who seemingly can't help themselves from using that word repeatedly, under the apparent hope it lends legitimacy to their opinions. I've found it to be a pretty handy litmus; attempts to shut down discussion through purported insight into authorial intent becomes pretty obvious once this red flag is noticed, and when someone uses that word multiple times in a post a good first assumption is that they're trying to sell you something. This is often accompanied with sentences like "If you want to do that as a house rule it's fine," as if the writer has deigned to grant permission with which they've been self-empowered. It's tedious, and gross, and counterproductive.

That said, there are setting conceits I don't cotton to. Just about all the cultural stereotypes are so cringeworthy that getting new players interested in Rifts over other fantasy kitchen sinks is a hard sell. As an example I reserve noble savage tropes for Mars, as part of a home setting mapping trends from different decades of 20th Century science fiction across orbital space. Related to that is keeping lunar and orbital communities from interacting with those on Earth via a dimensional barrier similar to those in the Yucatan or surrounding China, instead of with killsats and counter orbital debris fields. By having that dimensional barrier extend down to the Ekman layer in the troposphere it makes investing in hypersonic flight more trouble than it's likely worth, helping to keep regional groups isolated and supporting the use of colorful vehicles like hover trains and TW biplanes.

I also don't give a hoot about how experience is handled. The chart of things which earn experience is decent, but the individual *CC charts are frankly insulting page filler. What information they legitimately impart can be detailed well enough in plain language. Dragons take considerably longer to level than Vagabonds, Yaganar and Songjuicers tragically gain levels increasingly quickly, characters tend to plateau, that's all fine. Acting as if some formula was systematically applied to each character class adds another layer of pretense to a game of make believe, but without tangible benefit.

[Axelmania]

You can choose your character's race before you choose their class.

Is race selection even a part of the usual process? I think you were assumed human in RMB unless you took an RCC.

You can take actions in combat that don't require rolling a d20.

I think you can already do that, like spending an action to activate a psi power.

Technowizards can still convert tech to run off PPE, as per the RUE rules

Where did they get prevented from doing that?

Attacks that take 2+ actions can typically be performed in the time of a single attack; the extra actions are taken off the tail end.

Kind of assumed that power punches worked that way originally until RUE said the 2nd

RUE Cyber-Knights only.

Like none of the RMB/SOT which are weaker? What harm would their presence do?

Plus I like the idea that some might lack the TW-enhanced cyber-armor, we even have that one NPC with NONE.

I ignore the GI Joe rule for armor.

Any partial semblance of it?

I was actually thinking if your armor got destroyed EXACTLY that there might even be some shrapnel damage.

Detect Ambush can detect ambushes, counter Prowl, and other stuff that's actually useful.

Prowl sneaking up on you seems fair, but sneaking AWAY (or hiding without intent to attack) seems like it shouldn't help.

[Axelmania]

We changed it so the former OCC skills/abilities were frozen

I like the idea of the memories at least being clouded, like maybe some skill penalties. You are after all getting remade inside a life force vat.

and the Mask would remain alive on MDC/PPE-rich worlds or would have to feed off of the host until back on Wormwood or Rifts-like world.

How much feeding off the host?

The mask specifically doesn't die when brought to Rifts Earth.

That's never specified.

The Mask is a symbiotic organism created by the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 57) Symbiotes die within 1D6 hours of being removed from the planet. (Wormwood, pg. 45, 91) Unless I missed the exception somewhere.

First, it's indestructible. None of the others are. I'll look for the reference, I have read it in this collection of Rifts books.

Indestructible doesn't mean immortal. There's more ways to die than being destroyed.
At best you have a symbiote's indestructible corpse.
Whether corpses retain the properties they had while alive is also arguable: SDC creatures can eat the MDC flesh of creatures like Fury Beetles I seem to recall, which means once they die they cease to be MDC, so a deceased indestructible being might also become a destructible corpse.
Plus indestructibility is arguably a "power" of the symbiote and they no longer provide powers when off-planet. So even if it had been less than an hour (too short for the symbiote to just auto-die) it might actually be possible to destroy a mask via damage, but the problem there is we don't know how much MDC the mask ought to have unless it's the standard 40 MDC.

Question 18 is about the Apok's mask, but general consensus about that FAQ suggests taking it with a grain of salt.

The answer seems to lack understanding of Wormwood anyway: ANY symbiote can survive away from wormwood... we just don't know how long. "die within 1d hours" isn't exactly clear: even if you roll a 1 (within 60 minutes) you don't know if that means they survive 1 second or 59 minutes.

I'm thinking what might be cool is house-ruling something like "symbiotes suffer 1D6 MDC per minute off Wormwood" and if you want to have it last a particularly long time you will have to feed it PPE (1 ppe heals 1 MDC if I recall).

The Apok has a decent PPE base so he might be able to stave off it's death a bit longer than most others. I could also see maybe giving it something higher like 200 MDC instead of the usual 40 MDC.

There's a custom ritual lost in the Siege on Tolkeen which keeps Wormwood symbiotes alive via PPE vampirism, described in Chi-town Burbs 2:Firetown and the Tolkeen crisis pp 27-9.

If I were to apply this in concert with the above house rule, basically the ritual would need to be a more efficient PPE investment than just healing damage for it to be alluring.

I vageuly recall a non-canon shifter spell in one of the Rifters for merging symbiotes that would help, might've even specifically called out Wormwood ones. If it existed I expect Salome would have it, given the regular trips she takes off Wormwood to the Demon Goblin home planet.

It's a lot easier than my idea that she creates a bridge of living wormwood into her other-dimensional layer to technically stay in contact, though you might still need that explanation given how she uses the summoning orb from an other-dimensional layer during the comic, and the orb only works in contact with wormwood, so there MUST be a portion of wormwood in her lair, whether that's on the Demon Goblin homeworld or some kind of pocket dimension.

The Q&A in Rifter 19 states that symbiotes coming from the transplanted Wormwood city found in SA2's Southern Federation become dormant when away from the region, and presumably don't instead disintegrate.

I wouldn't presume that. Power dormancy is a standard effect of going off-planet and goes hand-in-hand with the expected death.

We know that the city is somehow less strong than wormwood itself (takes 1D4 hours for powers to return instead of instantly) so it would be weird if somehow it provided a stronger anchor to keep proximal symbiotes from dying than the planet itself did.

"more than fifty miles or 48 hours" I assume means you could spend 49 hours merely a foot away from the city and your symbiote goes dormant (and begins the 1d6 hour death count) or when you go 50miles 1 inch that count begins instantly.

One thing I'd like to see as a house rule is something a little less either/or where distance/duration of separation work in a synergy to determine when powers deactivate.

IE maybe if you're 49 miles away it should take a bit less than 48 hours for the powers to vanish.

[drewkitty ~..~]

It is not technically counter to the canon rules...more affirming them. Even thou others claim that their twisting of the texts is the canon.

The (psi)Gizmoteer RCC in SA2 is only a RCC for the Stonemen race of the same book. That is if I would allow them in the fist place, because of their broken Psi device creation rules.

I've written two psi-builder texts better than that FISH. One sort of based off the RUE TW text and the other taking ideas from the Psi-Mechanic and crystal mage. The 1st was a bit more complicated than the RUE TW rules (a fair amount of number crunching) and the 2nd had less text than the FISH in SA2 and it works, with an involved GM.
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No Laser Bow.

As it stand in the book, I agree.
Now if the "laser bow" was really a "laser rifle' in a bow casing. Doing Laser rifle damage......Then it wouldn't 'be stupid'. (see the battle of Edu in the best SW movie, for a not stupid blaster bow)

No Wilks Laser Blades. (*rolleyes* too many stupid arguments with he ignorant.)

No. -10 to dodge modern weapons. (why... is lazy)

CS vs. Tolkeen war....didn't happen.

the scorpion mecha doesn't exist, (the CS doesn't have the tech to make it work. Even thou the Triax and moon Colonies do.)

TWs...to make tech run off of PPE....the tech has to just run off of PPE. Otherwise it's making a magic item out of tech parts. (an explanation: a laser rifle that is converted to run off of PPE will still be a laser rifle. Not a spell throwing staff made out of rifle parts.)

You have to choose the race of your char before choosing they class. Because you have to roll their stats before seeing if they can meet the attribute restrictions.

PCCs are PCCs. None of the stupid mislabeling stupidness that has gone on in nearly all the Rifts Books. Unless they loose their powers they will always be the PCC that they are. And no ""changing class"" to a PCC. Unless I, as the GM of the game, give the char powers.

Skills can go over 100%, but they only have a 98% chance of success maximum; the extra percentage points are there to soak up penalties.

Agrees
Example: Literacy: Runes: 88+1—98 (113)

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Concept correction in OP:

Spoiler:

There are no RCC/OCC combos. Each Char only gets one character class @ level one.
Not saying that a player can't selectively choose a race and class to min-max things. Thou, if the race's powers are links to the RCC then a char of that race without that race's RCC...they don't get the racial powers ether. Like they had to choose something other than the norm because they didn't have the pre-requisites for that RCC.
They all have to pass GM okaying them.

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Apok.....not in my games. So arguments are moot with me.
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HU & TMNT
Add 18 Bio-E points to char creation.
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Immortals: Get one skill, spell or MA power every 50 years of being alive. Must meet the environmental prerequisite for whatever they choose.
environmental prerequisite: a immortal can't pick a high tech skill when they are in non-tech environmental. If there was a Roman Immortal, they couldn't pick computer programing till computers are invented.

[Curbludgeon]

"Power dormancy is a standard effect of going off-planet and goes hand-in-hand with the expected death."

Gosh, Axlemania, I don't think that's necessarily the case. WB1 pg 91 doesn't say symbiotes go dormant when away from Wormwood, it says "they offer no mystic or psionic powers and die within ID6 hours. The organisms shrivel up, fall off and turn into dust. After about six hours even stones and crystals created by Wormwood begin to crumble and disintegrate into powder." I'd argue the description in Rifter 19 is meant to be fundamentally different. In that symbiotes from the Southern Federation are still on the same planet and dimension as the transplanted section of Wormwood, it's potentially when that connection is disrupted that what might otherwise be dormancy accelerates to dying/disintegration. I do like the notion of PPE short-term maintenance, particularly since Wormwood doesn't have ley lines which can be generally accessed, so that off-planet symbiote users might arguably be able to keep grafts alive while on a line. I also liked the "optional" Rifter article which made this less of an issue, so make of that what you will.

[!REAPER!]

I am not sure if ALL of these go against canon but they are some of my house rules.

1) I ignore the flavor text for classes that aren't Coalition not ever using Magic / Techno Wizard items. That never made sense to me.
2) I use the lift / carry weights from Heroes Unlimited 2 on a case by case basis. For example one of my players White Tiger Shock Borg from Russia. I didn't like the idea that he couldn't fireman carry an ally to safety should he need to.
3) Mental Endurance bonus to save vs Insanity also applies against Horror Factor.
4) Robot Combat Elite is reserved mainly for the Power Armor / Bot jockeys. Basic for certain other classes.

I have more but I will have to return when I am not so tired.

[Blue_Lion]

Vehicle armor can attach ammo sources to vehicle weapons.
Anti air weapons ignore movement penalties for targets on radar.
Traix and CS ground vehicles have missile defense systems.
Mechanical engineer can not work on power plants.
X mechanic skill is 50%+5% per level. (but not bio-ware mechanic.)-other wise why would any one take them, instead of mechanical engineer.
How flares/chaff works for aircraft.
Weapon systems is a WP for using weapons mounted on vehicles.


If I rework stock gear with my creation rules so the stats may change.
(I often have home brewed gear in my games.)
(players can often build new tech gear if they have the right skills)

[drewkitty ~..~]

Yep, the Armorers should already be able to mount/modify vehicle weapons payloads.
Yep, I would omit the 'target is moving' penalties for (non-missile) radar controlled anti-aircraft weapons.
AA missiles would omit all movement penalties from the strike roll.
Mechanic....*nods in agreemeant*

[Emerald MoonSilver]

With a lot of time on our hands thanks to this "lovely" virus going around our little group has been doing some major changes to the canon rifts settings.
A few examples include:

Coalition states are now a literate society but information is heavily restricted in a fashion similar to modern day dictatorships such as china and north korea.
Mechanoids do not exist. Killer cyborgs are so 1980's after all
Vampires are not immobilized by a wooded stake, they are vaporized, including master vampires.
Master psychics, including dog boys, are immune to vampire mind control, due to the sheer amount of mental discipline that master psychics have.
Mutants in orbit was tossed out and is being redone from the ground up. No more killer bugs on mars, and artificial gravity was invented for the space stations and the moon before the rifts erupted.
A modified new California alliance that I and others wrote are teh new good guy power in the U.S. that is equal in strength to the coalition, with the NGR working with both powers.
Northern Gun is becoming more allied with the coalition, with irritates a lot of Northern Gun citizens....(Possible civil war or break up in the future???)
Wilks is now supported by the California Alliance and is working on a whole new set of goodies..

More is in the works but that will due for now

[Axelmania]

No Wilks Laser Blades. (*rolleyes* too many stupid arguments with he ignorant.)

regarding the whole 'doubles back on itself' problem, what would you think about a sort of melee weapon that feeds back in on itself to terminate the laser but keeps a stream between two physical points?

like if you look at the bows used to play violins/fiddles but with laser beam instead of horse hair

Or heck, that could actually be the new "laser bow", not a bow that shoots lasers but with a laser in place of what you pluck and you wield it sort of like a hacksaw

[drewkitty ~..~]

It's a freezing laser rod, just with a range finder set to a foot to know when to turn on. Not a blade.

Replace freezing with your favorite descriptive adverb.

[PSI-Lence]

No R:UE changes
No Alignments

[Blue_Lion]

No Wilks Laser Blades. (*rolleyes* too many stupid arguments with he ignorant.)

regarding the whole 'doubles back on itself' problem, what would you think about a sort of melee weapon that feeds back in on itself to terminate the laser but keeps a stream between two physical points?

like if you look at the bows used to play violins/fiddles but with laser beam instead of horse hair

Or heck, that could actually be the new "laser bow", not a bow that shoots lasers but with a laser in place of what you pluck and you wield it sort of like a hacksaw

Oh the cheese cutter from shadow run.

[ShadowLogan]

The to Hit Requirement (4 or less in melee, 7 or less in ranged) is a straight die roll before any modifiers.

No Cyber Knight Zen Combat.

Natural 1s (any D20 roll or Skill Check of 100) are not just an automatic fail, they are a Spectacular Fail (ex. on a 2-4 strike roll you miss, but on a natural 1 the weapon breaks or the weapon jams or the ammo container falls out, etc).

[hup7]

Probably the main:

Living creatures have HP, even if MDC. Their HP are extra MDC if you like. It means MDC creatures can still suffer HP from certain effects.

Non-living creatures; Demons, Devils, Elementals, Undead, Essences, and others, do not. Note Vampires have MDC not HP. It's just naming thing but can be handy when dealing with certain abilities.

"No alignment" - this I agree with but maybe less restrictive alignments. I do have good and evil, but less structured. And only really for things like spells and rune weapons.

[Killer Cyborg]

I've found that "No Alignment" tends to result in every character's alignment being "whatever random mood the player happens to be in on this particular day."
Which is fine for one-off adventures, but leads to some pretty inconsistent behavior in campaigns.

How do you No Alignment guys deal with this?
Or does that only happen at my table?

[hup7]

I've found that "No Alignment" tends to result in every character's alignment being "whatever random mood the player happens to be in on this particular day."
Which is fine for one-off adventures, but leads to some pretty inconsistent behavior in campaigns.

How do you No Alignment guys deal with this?
Or does that only happen at my table?

Depends on what you mean by inconsistent. I would more say characters evolve. They might start out a bit selfish but then they tend to grow towards good or evil. Choosing either to help those in need or profit from them. I have rarely got players chop n change, the behaviour unless due to some external effect; insanity being a factor but sometimes others including powerful rune weapons. I did have one character start out a normal ley line walker and decide the path to power was a greater familiar ... followed by heading down the path to more evil goaded on by their familiar and a pact followed ... but that was a definite path chosen by the player.

But I will say our group has been playing together (with additions and subtractions) since 1985, so now we discuss as a group what general "alignment" we want to go with; having one member of the party choosing to be evil while the rest don't can cause major upsets. Which is kind of why I wouldn't say "no alignment" just less rigid boundaries. Perhaps to say characters DO have motivations and history and secrets - but choosing a single narrow alignment ... "principled characters will ALWAYS do x" nah, circumstances will always have an influence.

And to answer "does it only happen at your table" - No I have had this sort of thing at conventions even in one-shots where the player says one thing, then acts another way. But I cannot remember it happening in my group in the last 10 years or so. But I can remember a few times players have had to say "sorry folks but my character WOULD do this" even though they know it might not help the rest of the group.

I remember my first robotech character was Principled in some points on the list and Unprincipled on others.

[Kraynic]

I could be way off base here, but I think a lot of people have an issue with alignments based on the strange baggage strung along from the D&D alignment system. And I can't say I blame people, since it is kind of a mess. I like the Palladium alignment system, but I see it as pretty flexible, while I know some people treat them as a very specific description of the actions/attitudes of someone with that alignment that shouldn't be deviated from. There are no mechanical problems with your alignment shifting over time either, so a character can very easily drift from one to another as life and circumstances change views on life, the universe, and everything. I like players having one on the sheet just because I have an idea what they are shooting for with their character. I do try to make plain that I don't expect the alignment to dictate every action of a character. Pretty much every one alive has something that sets them off... some trigger that brings out something that isn't their normal behavior. I figure rpg characters should be free to be that way as well.

One thing I have changed about alignments though, is that I classify Unprincipled as good. That leaves 3 "good" alignments and 3 "evil" alignments with anarchist hanging out in the middle. Obviously this affects every ability that triggers from (or detects in some way) good or evil.

[Shamrock 'Slinger]

Alignments have always been a sticky point in some cases for games I've run or been in. The alignments from D&D are nice but maybe not always the best in describing what they mean, and the ones from Rifts have always felt rigid and boxy in some ways.

A few years ago, I was introduced to the concept of alignment as an X Y axis with the positive Y as good and negative as evil, the left X axis as chaotic, right as lawful. Or something a kin to that as it was years ago and I have unfortuantely misplaced much of my old DMing notes and things. I might be able to find the reddit thread it came from.
It was supposed to reflect the changes to a character's alignment based on actions committed. It's a neat idea, but it in essence only keeps track of what possible alignment a character might be instead of prescribing one.

I really don't like using alignments a lot but often just stick to a description of what my character is like and what his morals (or lack of) might be in the world. So, it's much in line with Hup on how certain circumstances and scenarios will influence how a character might act to something. If it's part of the roleplay or character, it would make sense if an action was out of alignment.

[Shamrock 'Slinger]

Natural 1s (any D20 roll or Skill Check of 100) are not just an automatic fail, they are a Spectacular Fail (ex. on a 2-4 strike roll you miss, but on a natural 1 the weapon breaks or the weapon jams or the ammo container falls out, etc).

I used to like doing this, but have decided to move away from critical failures as a house rule. While it foils against the crit success and awesomeness that it is to get a natural 20, making the natural 1 have something go awfully awry seems like a punishment if it hampers the next roll. A GM I played with made a failure chart and it was everything from weapon failure to you miss and hit a friendly. I didn't get a lot of natural 1s but it was really demoralizing to have my failure make my character out to be careless with weapon handling or situationally blind by hitting a friendly in combat. No one is perfect and dice rolls someway reflect that when they are not successful or a roleplay did not go the right way.

Gun jams or ammo accidentally ejecting out is a plausibility to happen and I can understand putting that in a description for why a character did not hit a target. Could be an explosion nearby that knocks you off target, or anything. However, it only affects that particular roll and doesn't set up a character for an additional challenge in the next roll.

[Killer Cyborg]

You can choose your character's race before you choose their class.

Is race selection even a part of the usual process? I think you were assumed human in RMB unless you took an RCC.

You're mostly assumed to be human, in that the FIRST STEP you're supposed to take when rolling up a character is to roll 3d6 for each attribute.
But at Step 5, you get the opportunity to "Pick an OCC & Skills."
RCCs are mentioned there--though you are never directly told you can choose one.
But even limited strictly to OCCs, you can choose from a handful of nonhuman OCCs like Psi-Stalker, Mind Melter, Dog Boy, Burster, etc.
And in Step 8 (the final step of character creation), you can roll for Family Origin, and depending on what you roll with these optional tables, you could end up being a D-Bee, Psychic, Nonhuman Mutant, Psi-Stalker, Simvan, etc.

But I supposed I could sum up and say that I do character creation as I believe it was intended, NOT as it's written.

You can take actions in combat that don't require rolling a d20.

I think you can already do that, like spending an action to activate a psi power.

Only if you're activating a power that requires you to make a strike roll.
Step 1 of the Combat Rules is Determine Initiative.
Step 2 is Attacker Rolls to Strike: The next step is for the first attacker to roll a twenty-sided die.
According the the rules, that's always what happens after initiative is determined.
In the Combat Sequence section, we're told Step 5 is "The character who was under attack follows steps 2-4."
Which makes initiative kind of pointless after the first attack, but whatever.

So really, I guess it would be more accurate to say "I run combat as I believe it was intended, NOT as it's actually written."

Technowizards can still convert tech to run off PPE, as per the RUE rules

Where did they get prevented from doing that?

RUE replaces the RMB, and the TW OCC description in RUE doesn't ever grant them that power.
The RMB is Rifts 1.0, and in Rifts 2.0 (RUE) the class has been altered to not include that power.

Attacks that take 2+ actions can typically be performed in the time of a single attack; the extra actions are taken off the tail end.

Kind of assumed that power punches worked that way originally until RUE said the 2nd

That was my original take as well.

RUE Cyber-Knights only.

Like none of the RMB/SOT which are weaker? What harm would their presence do?

Sorry!
My bad.
RMB Cyber-Knights Only

I ignore the GI Joe rule for armor.

Any partial semblance of it?

I was actually thinking if your armor got destroyed EXACTLY that there might even be some shrapnel damage.

Back when my group first started playing Rifts, what to do in that kind of situation went unaddressed.
There was some indication that Mega-Damage had a certain amount of blow-through. Like at one point we're told somewhere (CB1?) that if a target has 149 SDC or less, and is hit by 1 MD, it's destroyed; just round fractions down. (This was reversed in CB1r, IIRC)
But since that's talking about SDC blowthrough, and there's no mention of blowthrough for MDC targets, that would only apply to SDC armor.

And frankly it was VERY cool when characters happened to get their armor blown off their body exactly! Quite fun and exciting.
I prefer that to having the person insta-killed when their armor is gone, or having them insta-saved when their armor is destroyed.
Like flipping a coin and having it land on the edge.

Detect Ambush can detect ambushes, counter Prowl, and other stuff that's actually useful.

Prowl sneaking up on you seems fair, but sneaking AWAY (or hiding without intent to attack) seems like it shouldn't help.

Sneaking away wouldn't technically be an ambush, but when somebody has the skills to spot camouflaged and/or otherwise stealthy people sneaking toward them, the skill realistically applies when they're sneaking away as well.

[Curbludgeon]

I drop the Y and call them Devils.

[Library Ogre]

Pretty much anything used directly against you gets a save; most things used indirectly against you get some sort of defense.

(For example, if someone uses Telekinesis to pick up you, you get a save to avoid it. If they use TK to throw a table at you, you get to dodge)

[Library Ogre]

Also: Actions are a currency. You spend them when you need them, or at a rate of 1 per pass, whichever is better for you.

[Mlp7029]

Apply the Planetary Magic Environment factor from Aliens Unlimited of x2 to all aspects of Magic except range and duration. Those go up 2 categories per the Though the Glass Darkly spell mod tables.
Use the HU melee damage rules so add Supernatural Punch damage to melee attacks
PPE Talismans are mass produced by TW factories in all major magical cities.
PPE Talisman holds 150 PPE because a Talisman can hold three spells that need 50 PPE each
Glitter Boy ammo drum holds 100 rounds.
UAR-1 is the Unmanned Assault Robot while the UAR-1 from RUE is the IAR-1
Gatling rail guns fire 200 rounds per burst for 3D4x10 or 3D6x10 depending on size.
Robot mounted lasers are generally burst fire capable
CR-1 fires Heavy Hitter Short Range missiles

Skills can go over 100%, but they only have a 98% chance of success maximum; the extra percentage points are there to soak up penalties. Techno-Wizards can still convert tech to run off PPE, as per the RUE rules

I too use this house rule although I think it is actually canon

[Kagashi]

I've found that "No Alignment" tends to result in every character's alignment being "whatever random mood the player happens to be in on this particular day."
Which is fine for one-off adventures, but leads to some pretty inconsistent behavior in campaigns.

How do you No Alignment guys deal with this?
Or does that only happen at my table?

Ive experienced that as well. I think insanities are a better method to roleplay around though. When I do no alignments, but make the players roll an insanity, they play to the insanity and it keeps the character focused. The only other time alignment comes into play is when they decide to pick up a rune weapon.

[Kagashi]

Its been a while since I've actually ran a campaign, but from what I can remember:

-No GI Joe Rule.
-No -10 to dodge gunfire rule.
-No - to hit moving targets (the dodge is the moving target. So even if a character wants to move from one place to another, I have them roll a dodge)
-Bots are defined as having a reinforced pilots compartment when comparing it to power armors
-Exo Skeletons run off of batteries rather than a nuclear or magic power source (to include protoculture and other similar sources)
-Bots have double MDC
-Tanks and APCs have triple MDC
-Bots, power armor, and tanks do double damage
-Permanently spending PPE or ISP allows the character to use the psychic power or magic spell indefinitely (like a super power in HU2). Some spells require additional PPE to change the effect of the spell, the permanent spending applies only to the base cost of the spell and the extra cost would have to come off of the regular pool of PPE.
-Attacks per melee: I've done two different ways of doing this.
-- 1) all characters, regardless of character class, race, level, or H2H, have 5 attacks per melee. Any APM the rule book says you would have is translated to initiative bonus.
-- 2) I place all the APM on a time based chart and the character is dedicated to that action for the duration. I loath how the rules state the 8 APM guy gets 4 free, un dodgeable attacks at the end. Id rather spread it out. This approach only works in a play by email or play by post environment as it gets cumbersome on tabletop.
- plus 2 APM for all pre-RUE NPCs

[Library Ogre]

So, a mechanic I borrowed from Hackmaster for opposed rolls.

Opposed rolls for skills or attributes are d20 or d100 + the relevant skill or attribute.

So, if I'm tracking you and you're counter-tracking, I roll d% + Tracking and you roll d% + Tracking and whoever rolls highest wins. If you're an expert tracker (90%) and I'm a novice (30%), I can still win... but it requires you to roll poorly, and me to roll really well.

The various strength types throw this a bit, but you might try using different dice... like, my normal PS is d20 + PS, but a Supernatural or Robotic PS is d100 + PS... if we are wrestle, I'm probably going to lose.

[Prince Artemis]

The main one we had was 1 mdc = 20 sdc, not 100. That did make it possible to damage mdc stuff with sdc weapons, but they had to do over 20 damage in a hit to do so (so 19 on 1 hit and 4 on another still does nothing).

I also created a luck rule. Players can call for it whenever they want, and gm's can impose it where appropriate. You roll a d20. 1-7 is good luck, with 1 being the worst good luck, 7 being the best. 8-12 means whatever was going to happen, happens. 13-20 is bad luck, with 13 being the worst bad luck and 20 being the best bad luck (yes, this does mean that the odds are actually stacked in bad lucks favor by 1, but that's the risk of rolling it). It could be used in clutch situations to try and get out of a jam, but could just as easily bury you in a worse one. Regardless, it tended to be cinematic as hell whenever its used regardless.

[Kagashi]

Oh yeah...

RUE Cyber Knights. 1) they dont make sense. In RMB, they were fine as is. Other augmented OCCs had some sort of downside for their power (RPA pilots needed a power armor to have extra attacks, Crazies lost their sanity, Juicers had limited lifespan, cyborgs lost their humanity...) In RUE, they became badass for no cost. Just because. Here have living cyber armor and auto dodge.

2) they became awesome in the wrong direction. Their whole deal was dealing with supernatural evil...but in SoT they suddenly were anti-tech. What?!

So in short, I use RUE cyber knights...but I offer my players a track...anti tech (As written) or anti supernatural with the following modifications:

Under Zen Combat, their powers work against magic, rather than tech. So, negates bonus from magic weapon or construct, +3 init against attacks from Magic Weapons, magic constructs (including TW vehicles, and other magic piloted things like those Federation of Magic piloted golem things), and +6 against magical animated things (Mummies, Zombies, Animated Dead, Golems). +4 auto dodge against supernatural beings. Ect...

[MadGreenSon]

2) they became awesome in the wrong direction. Their whole deal was dealing with supernatural evil...but in SoT they suddenly were anti-tech. What?!

The only explanation I've ever managed to come up with was some kind of underhanded thing that a power relying on tech alone is innately evil to an even greater extent than hell itself and thus must be opposed by the Cyber Knights more than any supernatural force?

Seems unlikely, but maybe Lord Coake has gone nutty?

[Killer Cyborg]

2) they became awesome in the wrong direction. Their whole deal was dealing with supernatural evil...but in SoT they suddenly were anti-tech. What?!

The only explanation I've ever managed to come up with was some kind of underhanded thing that a power relying on tech alone is innately evil to an even greater extent than hell itself and thus must be opposed by the Cyber Knights more than any supernatural force?

Seems unlikely, but maybe Lord Coake has gone nutty?

After SoT came out, I went back and reread the RMB description of the Cyberknight carefully.
Here is the first bit of introductory flavor text for the class:
Nobody knows exactly where they came from or why, but about 80 years ago the cyber-knights emerged. Some believe the cyber-knights came into being to oppose the ever growing and corrupt Coalition. Others say they came to fight the hordes of supernatural beings that terrorize the land. The truth is that they are the champions of all who are oppressed, weak, and innocent, whether they be threatened by the Coalition or a monster from a rift.

The IDEA that they were there to fight the CS is the second sentence of the description, as is the idea that they were specifically there to fight the supernatural.
Then both ideas are nixed, and we're told the TRUTH, which is that they're not picky about which evil they face; they're not specialists against any particular kind.

So while you guys are technically wrong--their whole deal was NOT dealing with supernatural evil--the SoT and RUE CKs having anti-tech powers still doesn't make any sense, because it's a specialist power for people who are described as not seeking any particular specialty kind of evil to fight against.

Generally, I skip the anti-tech powers because they're poorly described, seemingly random, confusingly vague about where they come from (are they psychic? supernatural? or what?), AND because the powers run directly counter to the introduction to the class.
NOT to mention the powers weren't introduced in any metaplot.
Coake didn't come forward with a speech, telling all the knights there was a big prophesy that they needed to focus on the CS, and/or that he'd learned new special techniques he needed to teach everybody.
No, they were just retconned into always having these powers, so apparently all the CKs we'd played for what... like a decade or something(?)... either didn't have these powers, OR they "had them" but never used them?
It all pretty well stinks.
Bah Humbug.

[MadGreenSon]

2) they became awesome in the wrong direction. Their whole deal was dealing with supernatural evil...but in SoT they suddenly were anti-tech. What?!

The only explanation I've ever managed to come up with was some kind of underhanded thing that a power relying on tech alone is innately evil to an even greater extent than hell itself and thus must be opposed by the Cyber Knights more than any supernatural force?

Seems unlikely, but maybe Lord Coake has gone nutty?

After SoT came out, I went back and reread the RMB description of the Cyberknight carefully.
Here is the first bit of introductory flavor text for the class:
Nobody knows exactly where they came from or why, but about 80 years ago the cyber-knights emerged. Some believe the cyber-knights came into being to oppose the ever growing and corrupt Coalition. Others say they came to fight the hordes of supernatural beings that terrorize the land. The truth is that they are the champions of all who are oppressed, weak, and innocent, whether they be threatened by the Coalition or a monster from a rift.

The IDEA that they were there to fight the CS is the second sentence of the description, as is the idea that they were specifically there to fight the supernatural.
Then both ideas are nixed, and we're told the TRUTH, which is that they're not picky about which evil they face; they're not specialists against any particular kind.

So while you guys are technically wrong--their whole deal was NOT dealing with supernatural evil--the SoT and RUE CKs having anti-tech powers still doesn't make any sense, because it's a specialist power for people who are described as not seeking any particular specialty kind of evil to fight against.

Generally, I skip the anti-tech powers because they're poorly described, seemingly random, confusingly vague about where they come from (are they psychic? supernatural? or what?), AND because the powers run directly counter to the introduction to the class.
NOT to mention the powers weren't introduced in any metaplot.
Coake didn't come forward with a speech, telling all the knights there was a big prophesy that they needed to focus on the CS, and/or that he'd learned new special techniques he needed to teach everybody.
No, they were just retconned into always having these powers, so apparently all the CKs we'd played for what... like a decade or something(?)... either didn't have these powers, OR they "had them" but never used them?
It all pretty well stinks.
Bah Humbug.

Truthfully, I'm not opposed to the Cyber Knights having some kind of special unique tricks that make them extra tough, but having them be specifically focused on fighting tech just seems... weird.

Feels almost like their special power is a... plot hole? It was an awfully convenient thing for them to have when a big breakaway group decided to fight alongside Tolkeen against the CS...

[HarleeKnight]

We had people who wanted to play an Apok on Rifts Earth, but couldn't because the main aspect of the OCC, the mask, is a symbiote which would die within hours if taken off of Wormwood.

Can you please tell me where in the book it states this? It caused a big thing when I said this but could not prove where I had read it. I freaking kept looking trying to find it but could not.

[drewkitty ~..~]

We had people who wanted to play an Apok on Rifts Earth, but couldn't because the main aspect of the OCC, the mask, is a symbiote which would die within hours if taken off of Wormwood.

Can you please tell me where in the book it states this? It caused a big thing when I said this but could not prove where I had read it. I freaking kept looking trying to find it but could not.

He Can't. Because of all the WW stuff the Apok Mask is the only WW item that doesn't 'die' when take out of WW. This is because it is not 'alive', and more an enchanted object.
If I'm remembering the where right, this is found in the original RCB1.

[Prysus]

We had people who wanted to play an Apok on Rifts Earth, but couldn't because the main aspect of the OCC, the mask, is a symbiote which would die within hours if taken off of Wormwood.

Can you please tell me where in the book it states this? It caused a big thing when I said this but could not prove where I had read it. I freaking kept looking trying to find it but could not.

Greetings and Salutations. So, I'd gather that this statement is based upon the following sections of the book ...

The symbiotes, crystals, stones and other living things created by Wormwood ... [snip] ... the planet that keeps them alive and gives them their powers. When removedd from the planet, they die within 1D6 hours. Symbiotic organisms shrivel up and fall off, stones and crystals turn to dust and parasites curl up, die and then turn to dust.

... only the apok wears the demon masks of Wormwood, a living symbiotic organism created by the living planet ...

So page 45 tells us that symbiotes symbiotes "created by Wormwood" die within 1D6 hours. Page 57 tells us that the masks are a "living symbiotic organism created by the living planet." So it's more of a 2+2=4 rather than any explicit statement related to the Apok mask directly.

He Can't. Because of all the WW stuff the Apok Mask is the only WW item that doesn't 'die' when take out of WW. This is because it is not 'alive', and more an enchanted object.
If I'm remembering the where right, this is found in the original RCB1.

Well, I provided a quote stating the Apok masks are "living" and the quote that living symbiotes (which the Apok mask) die within 1D6 hours. As a result, I will say I can provide a quote. Now, this is Palladium, and there may be a different quote that contradicts (or one can argue clarifies) that statement, but that would need an actual quote. You've stated others are incapable of proof, but did not provide any yourself. Do you have an actual citation (and simply telling me or others to search every book is not a citation or proof).

Also, the original Rifts Conversion Book (One) was released in 1991. Wormwood I believe was released in 1993. As such, I'm not going to waste my time looking for a reference in a book to another book that wasn't even released yet (as that seems highly unlikely). Farewell and safe journeys to all.