Any Rifter contributors know...?

[Warwolf]

Hey all!

I was just curious if anyone knew (those who have already been picked up for the Rifter especially) about submitting serialized content for the Rifter.

Basically I have a short story that is nearly done being written (Rifts setting). Along with that I have two new playable races, a new O.C.C. and a new, complete school of magic. Plus the character sheets/histories for all of the story's main characters and, soon, a pretty in-depth break-down of the main town of the story. I know it will all be great material for the Rifter but here's the rub... All told, it is already well over 80 pages of material.

Now I am well aware of the 2:1 page conversion they talk about (even if it makes no damn sense at all to me) but even so, it is more than a single issue of the Rifter has pages to fill. So, do any of you know if Wayne will accept a submission that is not quite done yet, knowing that it is going to have to be serialized across multiple issues? I only ask because the story keeps taking me on some unexpected twists and, as a result, is getting to be a little longer than originally intended, but still looks to be very good, but at the same time, there is already plenty to print (like, for the rest of this year and the next two years to come at this rate).

Any thoughts? I know I ask weird questions here but gorammit I'm a weird guy!

I would have to advise that you finish the submission before sending it in as the first section may be printable but the second installment not (which would leave them in a bit of a bind if they had already printed the first part or parts). That said, they can and will serialize material in the Rifter if it is good enough. However, it is a bit easier to get material accepted if it is for a single issue as it's less space intensive and gives more people a shot to see their stuff in print. The more space it will take up, the harder it will be to get Palladium to commit, I imagine (expecially with Hammer of the Forge already being included in every issue).

And we're all a little (or a lot) weird here, so you're in good company.

[Ted Smythe]

I had a story serialized in Rifters #34 and #35. I sent it in as one work and then Wayne divided it in half. Originally, it was 49 type-written, single-spaced pages at 12-point font. In the Rifter, it ended up being 27 pages with illustrations.

My recommendation would be to finish everything before you send it in and then divide the races, OCCs, etc. into a separate article. Half of getting things published in the Rifter is whether or not it fits--both in terms of submission size and content. Include a short letter to Wayne explaining how it all fits together as well as how each item can be used separately.

Good luck with it and please let us know when we expect to see it in print.

[Shawn Merrow]

Although I'm still unsure how the whole reduction in page count thing happens, especially when adding art.

The Rifter uses 10 point font with double columns so if your original work is 12 point with single column the page count will be less.