review: Ultimate Rifts

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

part 1: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1168

[The Jade Knight]

you’ll notice that the book has been reorganized according to the modern RPG philosophy of “setting first, rules last.”

WFRP 2nd edition kept, like WFRP 1st edition, the reverse of this.  Rules first, setting last (other than a brief introduction at the beginning).  Riddle of Steel also reverses this order, so I was unaware this was a modern trend.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I was too.... doesnt seem like that much of a trend...
maybe its a D20 thing.

But the real question is how is the new rifts better than the old rifts.

Is the new setting better or worse with the 15 year update... and have they fixed some of the power creep?

[Fellfrosch]

The primary improvements are in part 2, with the character classes. As for the setting, it hasn't changed, and by keeping the original equipment lists this book ironically reverses the power creep in many ways.

[Spriggan]

I don't see why they'd change the setting, though they did update is slightly with some info from all the other books.  Another note on power creep, since there are so many RIFTS books (most of which are at different levels in creep) it's practically impossible to get rid of it without making all those books obsolete.  In a way it's better that Palladium didn't change that with this book since it would have cause more problems then helped.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I just remember the horror that was Triax and the NGR for man portable Multi-MDC weapons.

Player - "OOOOH! I can shoot a guy for 1d6X10 points of MDC... this is gonna come in handy in a bar fight!"

GM : "GROAN"

[Spriggan]

Psh, Triax is wuss compaired to the new stuff.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

my point exactly... I knew people who just wouldnt play any main book characters because they could play something awesomely powerful. Stupid Naruni.

[Spriggan]

One could make that same argument with D20 and all it's books, though there isn't as much power creep in those.  While I don't like power creep as much as the next person raising the power level of the main book wouldn't be a good reason since you'd probably tick off many of the core RIFTS players many of who just tailor the Power Level to where they want it.  The thing that attracts people to RIFTS isn't the balance of the game but the setting and the fact you can do/be practically anything you want.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I agree, heck the last time I played rifts I was 16 and back then I loved the idea of stomping monsters. The world has lots of flavors though.

[Fellfrosch]

I think you underestimate the depth of Rifts by passing it off as "stomping monsters." I really don't think that the presence of powerful weapons prohibits non-combat roleplaying.

I should point out, as you will see in the next article, that there is one case in Ultimate Rifts where they upgraded the power level of a character class: the Cyber-Knights. This was a very necessary change, in my opinion, as the class wasn't even up to par with the other core book classes, let alone stuff from later books. I think they handled it really well, but since we're talking about power creep I figured I should mention it in the spirit of completeness.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Fell, you misread what I said. When I was 16 thats all I wanted to do. I obviously dont anymore. I dont think I ever said that stomping monsters is all the game has going for it.
I was trying to say that I liked the worlds flavor.

It is an easy game to munchkin though.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I will say that I really liked the original rifts though it had solid art, decent production values and a nice story. with some unusual character classes. I didnt like Palladiums system after a few fights, but I didnt hate it either.


Which begs me to ask,... what was the best Rifts Supplement. I liked Triax because it had that cool comic and some neat ideas that made it a little more compelling than say The Coalition. But I also thought that Phase World was pretty cool too and Underseas had some cool ideas.

[Fellfrosch]

It certainly is easy to munchkin, I'll grant you that. Sorry for misreading your comment.

Triax was cool, but I probably like its companion book, mindwerks, even more. If I had to pick a personal favorite, it would be...Underseas, Warlords of Russia, or Wormwood. I really loved Wormwood, and I wish they'd done more with it.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

part II: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1169

I know it sounds petty, but I can't help but think "isn't that abbreviation a little forced?" I mean. They even use the term "class" in the name. Just call it a class already.