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What do you mean by mostly useless by the books conclusion?

Eashamahel wrote:What do you mean by mostly useless by the books conclusion?

"If you are not running that book's adventure then it is mostly useless." Is what I think he means....or close to it. But since most Rifts games take place in NA, all the wouldbooks not of NA could be said to be useless to some point.

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:

Eashamahel wrote:What do you mean by mostly useless by the books conclusion?

"If you are not running that book's adventure then it is mostly useless." Is what I think he means....or close to it. But since most Rifts games take place in NA, all the wouldbooks not of NA could be said to be useless to some point.

Plus the only connection it had to NA at all was that it was part of The Great Metaplot Attempt That Went Nowhere And Never Got Mentioned Again (aka the prophecy from the Mechanoids sourcebook).

It got mentioned again with the Xiticic being the new devouring horde.


Daniel Stoker

Eashamahel wrote:What do you mean by mostly useless by the books conclusion?

The Four horseman are defeated by the books conclusion with the death of one of them, Famine I believe.

Ah. So, do you mean it's basically implied that the Horsemen will not succeed in their attempt to destroy the world?

Daniel Stoker wrote:It got mentioned again with the Xiticic being the new devouring horde.


Daniel Stoker

But the prophecy storyline in the Mechanoids sourcebook only existed in the first place to help build the Mechanoids up as a major threat in their own right and serve as a launching point for Mechanoid-related campaigns so they wouldn't seem like just another pack of random wandering monsters. That's one hell of a retcon.

Eashamahel wrote:Ah. So, do you mean it's basically implied that the Horsemen will not succeed in their attempt to destroy the world?

It's basically implied that every attempt to destroy the world fails, no matter who's trying it. It seems like every other book has an alien intelligence or an invading horde or whatever who's on the brink of destroying/conquering/eating/corrupting/whatevering the whole of Rifts Earth, but whatever the baddy is up to never gets mentioned again even though you'd think his bid for world domination/destruction/whatever would've had far reaching effects across most of the setting.

Rallan wrote:

Eashamahel wrote:Ah. So, do you mean it's basically implied that the Horsemen will not succeed in their attempt to destroy the world?

It's basically implied that every attempt to destroy the world fails, no matter who's trying it. It seems like every other book has an alien intelligence or an invading horde or whatever who's on the brink of destroying/conquering/eating/corrupting/whatevering the whole of Rifts Earth, but whatever the baddy is up to never gets mentioned again even though you'd think his bid for world domination/destruction/whatever would've had far reaching effects across most of the setting.

To be fair of course they're going to assume it failed, if it succeeded you obviously couldn't write any new books now could you? An individual campaign may fail and see the world destroyed but the writers have to assume that somehow if the PC don't happen to be there to stop the threat someone else does.

Rallan wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:It got mentioned again with the Xiticic being the new devouring horde.


Daniel Stoker

But the prophecy storyline in the Mechanoids sourcebook only existed in the first place to help build the Mechanoids up as a major threat in their own right and serve as a launching point for Mechanoid-related campaigns so they wouldn't seem like just another pack of random wandering monsters. That's one hell of a retcon.

I think i has to do with property licences, same with the change in dragons in RUE.
If somebody has the movie rights to make a Rifts movie, and somebody else decides to buy the rightst to make a Mechanoids movie, I think that Kev wants it clear that the Mechanoids aren't an important part of the Rifts setting, so he can sell seperate movie rights for them.
I'm pretty sure that I'm basing this on something that somebody told me, but I might just be imagining it.

Killer Cyborg wrote:

Rallan wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:It got mentioned again with the Xiticic being the new devouring horde.


Daniel Stoker

But the prophecy storyline in the Mechanoids sourcebook only existed in the first place to help build the Mechanoids up as a major threat in their own right and serve as a launching point for Mechanoid-related campaigns so they wouldn't seem like just another pack of random wandering monsters. That's one hell of a retcon.

I think i has to do with property licences, same with the change in dragons in RUE.
If somebody has the movie rights to make a Rifts movie, and somebody else decides to buy the rightst to make a Mechanoids movie, I think that Kev wants it clear that the Mechanoids aren't an important part of the Rifts setting, so he can sell seperate movie rights for them.
I'm pretty sure that I'm basing this on something that somebody told me, but I might just be imagining it.

No you are right, it has to do with intellectual property.

If they resist their inclination to advance the time line, then they can safely define as many potentially world devouring/conquering/destroying/whatever forces as they want. In fact, playing one such force against another can make for one heck of a campaign.

Sure, there can only be one at the end, but you can start with as many as you want and leave it up to the GMs and players to advance the story line as they see fit.

--flatline

flatline wrote:If they resist their inclination to advance the time line, then they can safely define as many potentially world devouring/conquering/destroying/whatever forces as they want. In fact, playing one such force against another can make for one heck of a campaign.

Sure, there can only be one at the end, but you can start with as many as you want and leave it up to the GMs and players to advance the story line as they see fit.

--flatline

100% agreed.

Killer Cyborg wrote:

Rallan wrote:

Daniel Stoker wrote:It got mentioned again with the Xiticic being the new devouring horde.


Daniel Stoker

But the prophecy storyline in the Mechanoids sourcebook only existed in the first place to help build the Mechanoids up as a major threat in their own right and serve as a launching point for Mechanoid-related campaigns so they wouldn't seem like just another pack of random wandering monsters. That's one hell of a retcon.

I think i has to do with property licences, same with the change in dragons in RUE.
If somebody has the movie rights to make a Rifts movie, and somebody else decides to buy the rightst to make a Mechanoids movie, I think that Kev wants it clear that the Mechanoids aren't an important part of the Rifts setting, so he can sell seperate movie rights for them.
I'm pretty sure that I'm basing this on something that somebody told me, but I might just be imagining it.

Would be nice if he could actually sell a second license, so that all of that didn't just turn into a decade or two of wasted potential development.

Killer Cyborg wrote:I think i has to do with property licences, same with the change in dragons in RUE.

Sorry to derail, but I remember that there were different types of dragons in R:UE rulebok, why is that about property license?

Eashamahel wrote:

Killer Cyborg wrote:I think i has to do with property licences, same with the change in dragons in RUE.

Sorry to derail, but I remember that there were different types of dragons in R:UE rulebok, why is that about property license?

The dragons from the RMB are originally from PFRPG.

Oh, okay, so it's not that someone else created them or anything, but that they are from Palladium Fantasy and not uniquely Rifts.

Least favorite? Dinosaur swamp.

That said, there is stuff in there that I find invaluable and game saving in the book.

But, I find it hard to believe that North Georgia, the very foothills of the Appalachians suffered from enough flooding to decimate populations. Seismic activities? I believe that. There are three faultlines in Georgia. In fact the tectonic upheaval and fire raging seems to click with what was written in Chaos Earth. Georgia is no stranger to flooding, and as such the people here know how to conduct themselves with it. Earthquakes? Not so much. While we have 3 faults, the last scheduled quake didn't happen 300 years ago, so we're overdue; which, will make the coming of the rifts fairly spectacular! I also have very different ideas about how rural society would have acted, having lived there, but, that is the magic behind the game. While I have issues with the book, there is stuff in it that I can tailor to my campaign settings that make it work for me and my gamers.

So, while it is my least favorite, it sees alot of use. "Come to Elijah! We're havin' Tritop Steaks an' Raptor Ribs over at Paw's! Junior's bringin' the shine, and June's bringin' the girls over ta sing! Gonna be plenty, an' then we're gonna go out an' turn back some o'them dawg boys in that wierd black armor!"

Rifts Sourcebook Two: The Mechanoids.

It was swapped around my group as a gag birthday present. No one wanted it. We tried, about three times, to run a game about stopping the Mechanoid invasion, and each time the players threw up their hands. The Mechanoids just had no interesting personality (in our opinion). I'm sure if I took a crack at them again nowadays, I could make them into something fierce that has nothing to do with their stats, but they fell flat in our group.

Runners up?

Rifts World Book Three: England: Just awful. The celtic gods were done poorly, and I think it was Dagda got one of Kevin's less talented drawings. It did have Millenium Trees though. I was very dissapointed with the treatment of the Arthurian mythos (why couldn't King Arthur be a CYBERKNIGHT!?!?).

Rifts World Book Four: Africa: A mess. We had some fun fighting the Horsemen, and I liked the Phoenix Empire, but it's not a good book. The Necromancer O.C.C. is the reason to buy this book (or skip it and get Rifts Book of Magic).

Siege on Tolkeen Series: Just dumb. This would have been one book worth getting (despite the serious criticisms I have of the strategies and concepts presented), but to go over several books felt silly to me. Cash grab.

arthurfallz wrote:Rifts Sourcebook Two: The Mechanoids.

It was swapped around my group as a gag birthday present. No one wanted it. We tried, about three times, to run a game about stopping the Mechanoid invasion, and each time the players threw up their hands. The Mechanoids just had no interesting personality (in our opinion). I'm sure if I took a crack at them again nowadays, I could make them into something fierce that has nothing to do with their stats, but they fell flat in our group.

Watch Dr. Who.
Especially the more recent series...the Daleks? Yep, that's the Mechies to a "T"
OR read the Fred Saberhagen 'Berserker' books (if you can find any still in print that is; poor guy died last year and the publishers are being greedy [censored]s and NOT letting his stuff get re-printed). Play 'em like a combo of both and you'll have the guys actually be FUN to GM.
Basicly the mechanoids are direct rip-offs of both concepts tossed together and given psionics.

DhAkael wrote:

arthurfallz wrote:Rifts Sourcebook Two: The Mechanoids.

It was swapped around my group as a gag birthday present. No one wanted it. We tried, about three times, to run a game about stopping the Mechanoid invasion, and each time the players threw up their hands. The Mechanoids just had no interesting personality (in our opinion). I'm sure if I took a crack at them again nowadays, I could make them into something fierce that has nothing to do with their stats, but they fell flat in our group.

Watch Dr. Who.
Especially the more recent series...the Daleks? Yep, that's the Mechies to a "T"
OR read the Fred Saberhagen 'Berserker' books (if you can find any still in print that is; poor guy died last year and the publishers are being greedy [censored]s and NOT letting his stuff get re-printed). Play 'em like a combo of both and you'll have the guys actually be FUN to GM.
Basicly the mechanoids are direct rip-offs of both concepts tossed together and given psionics.

There actually are Berskerkers in the mega-verse, although they're unnamed the alien cyborg in Robot Control is from an alternate Earth where it notes that they're battling a foe even worse than the Mechanoids as it seeks to destroy all organic life. Would be interesting seeing two such scourges coming up against each other, since even if they were non-humanoid the Mechanoids would still have to fight them because they'd still seek to destroy the Mechanoids since they're partially organic.

Nightmask wrote:

DhAkael wrote:

arthurfallz wrote:Rifts Sourcebook Two: The Mechanoids.

It was swapped around my group as a gag birthday present. No one wanted it. We tried, about three times, to run a game about stopping the Mechanoid invasion, and each time the players threw up their hands. The Mechanoids just had no interesting personality (in our opinion). I'm sure if I took a crack at them again nowadays, I could make them into something fierce that has nothing to do with their stats, but they fell flat in our group.

Watch Dr. Who.
Especially the more recent series...the Daleks? Yep, that's the Mechies to a "T"
OR read the Fred Saberhagen 'Berserker' books (if you can find any still in print that is; poor guy died last year and the publishers are being greedy [censored]s and NOT letting his stuff get re-printed). Play 'em like a combo of both and you'll have the guys actually be FUN to GM.
Basicly the mechanoids are direct rip-offs of both concepts tossed together and given psionics.

There actually are Berskerkers in the mega-verse, although they're unnamed the alien cyborg in Robot Control is from an alternate Earth where it notes that they're battling a foe even worse than the Mechanoids as it seeks to destroy all organic life. Would be interesting seeing two such scourges coming up against each other, since even if they were non-humanoid the Mechanoids would still have to fight them because they'd still seek to destroy the Mechanoids since they're partially organic.

Yep.
*hands over bag* "...popcorn?"

My least favorite book is probably Triax 2. Too many juice box stains and crayon scribbles.