Quote from: Brad on July 03, 2024, 07:38:04 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on July 03, 2024, 03:25:38 PMWhat do you mean by a "fantasy story" here? Do you mean a Tolkien-esque world? Perhaps that's why you play D&D, but don't assume that's why I play it (when I did play it). You probably shouldn't assume that others are looking for that either, as it seems that many players do play it for the joy of being able to play (almost) anything.

Dude, can you stop trying to derail the thread with your fucking stupidity? This is about Rifts, not about how you want D&D to be Rifts.

Go fuck yourself.

Quote from: Brad on July 02, 2024, 09:57:15 PM

Quote from: Spinachcat on July 02, 2024, 09:48:48 PMI actually like the South America books! Definitely far more than the Coalition War books.

You would...but then again, the Coalition War books suck so that's not hard anyway. The most egregious thing ever to happen in Rifts is changing the badass Coalition skull motif uniforms. 100% serious.

QuoteIf I was running an ARZNO campaign post Tolkeen, I would use everything in the official books as just rumors. For each rumor the PCs hear, roll 1D6. 1-2 it's True! 3-4 it's False! 5-6 it's a Mixture of Truth and False.

Erin Tarn is never wrong! Except when she is. After the face reveal, I decided she wasn't even real and just a bunch of dudes grifting, printing up books based purely on rumors and supposition.

Even if the books are accurate about Erin Tarn, I have no doubt there are fakers and pretenders making books and using her name. The NGR even idolizes her with fake pinup models since hardly anyone there knows what she looks like.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on July 04, 2024, 03:38:10 AMEven if the books are accurate about Erin Tarn, I have no doubt there are fakers and pretenders making books and using her name. The NGR even idolizes her with fake pinup models since hardly anyone there knows what she looks like.

They're probably making pornos with the fake pinups. Maybe even a way to keep the population reproducing! 'Do your duty for God & Country! Impregnate your wife!'

Quote from: HappyDaze on July 04, 2024, 01:13:10 AMGo fuck yourself.

Stunning and brave reply.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on June 29, 2024, 04:33:18 PM

Quote from: oggsmash on June 29, 2024, 02:07:06 PMThis is contrary to what you may be doing, but I just ignore the whole war thing ever happening and base the setting as it was in the very first RIFTs book.  I do not love meta events and I really think having a massive full scale war for the Coalition is beyond stupid.  Teleportation/magic/dragons who can appear in your bedroom are not the sort of opponents you want to declare open and total war against.  That makes zero strategic sense.

If teleportation is the issue, then any anti-magic faction of sufficient size and belligerence would be wiped out long before they became a threat. Rifts would be a world of competing magic kingdoms and no Coalition as we know it would be able to exist.

There is always some tech gadget to interdict teleport.

Quote from: Omega on July 21, 2024, 07:15:23 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on June 29, 2024, 04:33:18 PM

Quote from: oggsmash on June 29, 2024, 02:07:06 PMThis is contrary to what you may be doing, but I just ignore the whole war thing ever happening and base the setting as it was in the very first RIFTs book.  I do not love meta events and I really think having a massive full scale war for the Coalition is beyond stupid.  Teleportation/magic/dragons who can appear in your bedroom are not the sort of opponents you want to declare open and total war against.  That makes zero strategic sense.

If teleportation is the issue, then any anti-magic faction of sufficient size and belligerence would be wiped out long before they became a threat. Rifts would be a world of competing magic kingdoms and no Coalition as we know it would be able to exist.

There is always some tech gadget to interdict teleport.

And, of course, there are the Coalition's own black ops magic-users that they never speak about...

  The tomorrow legion is no issue for me because I do not use it at all.  The old rifts I thought jumped the shark when it started a massive war in NA that drove a silly metaplot and led to massive power creep. I ignore any of that ever happening as well.  I think Rifts for my group plays amazing  from the ground up sandbox.  The characters are not fighting in wars or deciding who gets to be king.  They are fighting off local raiders/monsters or investigating old installations and the like. 

  I can appreciate the designers wanted to give a GM some tracks to drive on as well as an organization to build story around (Steve Austin had OSI, Bond has his org, etc) but alot of that infrastructure of all sides, good (TL), bad (CS), the middle (some of the more independent human kingdoms) seem way, way out of proportion to the number of brains/brawn/materials it would take to put them together in the time frame given.  I toss all that and just scale everything back, make the CS much more grey overall (well players using magic still consider them black) in their actions and motives and allow the players to decide where they go and what they do with far fewer metaplots/actions in the background.

  That said I do prefer a little less gonzo in my sci fi (fantasy) post apoc and right now we are loosely running around in Darwin's World.  Darwin's world was the closest thing I always felt to an updated Gamma World, but less gonzo.  It falls somewhere between Fallout and Gamma World as a setting and the new SWADE book for the setting is pretty good for my needs. 

  As for the CS's black ops magic-users...I have always felt KS was going to finally at some point reveal the Proseks are actually extremely gifted Ley Line Walkers who have learned to conceal their aura completely and utterly.  This would make a great deal of sense as to why they want to eradicate magic from the continent as well as why they would wage such an open war against something they visibly have no hard counter for.   

Quote from: oggsmash on July 23, 2024, 08:47:39 AMThe tomorrow legion is no issue for me because I do not use it at all.  The old rifts I thought jumped the shark when it started a massive war in NA that drove a silly metaplot and led to massive power creep.

Power creep is a thing in Rifts since... Atlantis? Vampire Kingdoms was pretty subdued. Atlantis was nuts, but most of the stuff in Atlantis is meant to be monstrous opponents. But powerful enemies drives power escalation in the characters.
Though it's kinda hard to call it power creep when a character class in the core rulebook starts out with a signature power armor/mech with an insane amount of armor value and one of the most powerful guns in the game. I speak, of coure, of the infamous Glitter Boy.

QuoteI ignore any of that ever happening as well.  I think Rifts for my group plays amazing  from the ground up sandbox.  The characters are not fighting in wars or deciding who gets to be king.  They are fighting off local raiders/monsters or investigating old installations and the like.

I agree. I like my Rifts more rebuilding from the apocalypse. Some of the nation states are a little too civilized for my tastes. But again, it's a fine line, because it does give the opportunity for urban cyberpunk style adventures in the big tech cities.