Quote from: The Butcher;927429He did. Also what's with all wizards turning MDC at ley lines? I realize the magic levels were higher but jeez.

MDC in general is a goofy idea. The idea that either high technology or magic are the factors that make tiny town dictators or allow demons and monsters to prey on people with impunity is good.
Making it into a "I got MD, fuck you." is bad, in that anyone who wants to do anything in Rifts is probably going to have to tangle with not magic or technology specifically, but MD/MDC specifically.
And so we get magic MDC leaves, and magic gives you MDC and magic gives you MD all over the place.
Magic or technology in Rifts isn't powerful*, Mega-Damage is powerful.

*This is a huge simplification. There are spells that can be powerful situationally without addressing MD, but you better have a MD solution somewhere along the line.

Quote from: danbuter;927301Siembieda really dropped the ball with Chaos Earth. If he hadn't tried to split it up into 3 books, I think it would have been a big seller. I certainly like it a lot.

Maybe it should have been a Rifts supplemental line, like the Dimension Books and Phase World, instead of its own game line.

But it really needs a total overhaul.

Quote from: RPGPundit;926829Systems Failure is even more like that.

Very true. I use the OCCs from Systems Failure for the non-NEMA forces in Chaos Earth. It works great.

Quote from: The Butcher;927429Also what's with all wizards turning MDC at ley lines?

I actually liked that, but only when the wizard was at the ley line. It led to some interesting tactics.

Quote from: danbuter;927301Siembieda really dropped the ball with Chaos Earth. If he hadn't tried to split it up into 3 books, I think it would have been a big seller. I certainly like it a lot.

He also lied about the core book being a 'complete' game.  That got up my craw.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;927464MDC in general is a goofy idea. The idea that either high technology or magic are the factors that make tiny town dictators or allow demons and monsters to prey on people with impunity is good.
Making it into a "I got MD, fuck you." is bad, in that anyone who wants to do anything in Rifts is probably going to have to tangle with not magic or technology specifically, but MD/MDC specifically.
And so we get magic MDC leaves, and magic gives you MDC and magic gives you MD all over the place.
Magic or technology in Rifts isn't powerful*, Mega-Damage is powerful.

*This is a huge simplification. There are spells that can be powerful situationally without addressing MD, but you better have a MD solution somewhere along the line.

Actually, MD in general, especially techwise was even more broken.  It made every piece of military level (not actual military hardware, but anything that could be taken into battle, like those dune buggies from the core book) gear able to affect each other equally.  Couple that with Siembeida's inability to understand sensory equipment, you have situations where military forces would do better with fielding 3-4 platoons of men and ignore everything else, simply because several men with rifles would and could lay waste to every piece of heavy armour (as in tanks, power armour and robots) in about 15 seconds of concentrated firepower.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;927565Actually, MD in general, especially techwise was even more broken.  It made every piece of military level (not actual military hardware, but anything that could be taken into battle, like those dune buggies from the core book) gear able to affect each other equally.  Couple that with Siembeida's inability to understand sensory equipment, you have situations where military forces would do better with fielding 3-4 platoons of men and ignore everything else, simply because several men with rifles would and could lay waste to every piece of heavy armour (as in tanks, power armour and robots) in about 15 seconds of concentrated firepower.

I actually don't have an issue with that. For a game setting that's usually focused on a small group (of player characters) going on adventures and doing stuff. I want them to be able to take on a Coalition patrol one day, and a pack of vampires the next. If that means the party can focus fire with fireballs and laser rifles and blow up a tank, I can live with it.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;927565He also lied about the core book being a 'complete' game.  That got up my craw.

Mine as well. Made worse by some of the fans and people working for the company insisting it was. Telling me it's complete but one still needs to buy book 2 and 3 to cover the missing elements means it's not complete. It's a clusterfuck of epic proportions with Palladium Books. Their Robotech mini game is delayed. Kevin keeps promising the fanbase 50+ books knowing damn well with their resources and employees might if they are lucky release four a year. And no I don't consider their Rifters a official product.

As to the OP it's the end of the world. The planet is overrun with demons and who knows what. If anything being sane would be abnormal imo. It's like the Walking Dead. The tone down how insane the main characters should be otherwise it would be depressing to watch. Their surrounded by zombies. Will be come one if they die and no cure in sight. Insanity would be the norm in both worlds.

Just to play Devil's Advocate.

I doubt there are many, if any, insane people left on Rifts Earth.  It's just too deadly and unforgiving for them to survive for long.

Insanity. n. mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior.

Someone like that would get dead on Rifts earth in a hurry.  They would have to be watched constantly to keep them from wandering off and getting eaten or suffering some other horrible fate and everyone else would be too busy surviving to want to do it.  The insane people would get weeded out fast.

Getting a cyborg body in Rifts isn't insane.  It's perfectly rational.  Given that lethality of the environment and the creatures that can be found in it, trading in your fragile meat body for a metal one that can actually withstand the environment is quite rational.  People like this who are looking for some edge to survive are the sane ones.  They are coping with the world as it really is.

Quote from: yosemitemike;928035Just to play Devil's Advocate.

I doubt there are many, if any, insane people left on Rifts Earth.  It's just too deadly and unforgiving for them to survive for long.

Insanity. n. mental illness of such a severe nature that a person cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior.

Someone like that would get dead on Rifts earth in a hurry.  They would have to be watched constantly to keep them from wandering off and getting eaten or suffering some other horrible fate and everyone else would be too busy surviving to want to do it.  The insane people would get weeded out fast.

Getting a cyborg body in Rifts isn't insane.  It's perfectly rational.  Given that lethality of the environment and the creatures that can be found in it, trading in your fragile meat body for a metal one that can actually withstand the environment is quite rational.  People like this who are looking for some edge to survive are the sane ones.  They are coping with the world as it really is.

This is pretty much my position as well.  What WE consider absolutely gonzo nutso in RIFTS isn't, because it's a matter of life and death.

Quote from: yosemitemike;928035Getting a cyborg body in Rifts isn't insane.  It's perfectly rational.  Given that lethality of the environment and the creatures that can be found in it, trading in your fragile meat body for a metal one that can actually withstand the environment is quite rational.  People like this who are looking for some edge to survive are the sane ones.  They are coping with the world as it really is.

This brings up the other aspect of why I asserted that people in Rifts are a bit nuts. I certainly didn't want to go into dictionary definitions and real world psychiatric conditions, but to rationalize stuff like this-





Getting a cyborg body is, some might say, a rational reaction to Rifts earth. But getting a dragon cyborg body?



Aw yeah.

They're just trying to look cool.

Quote from: Headless;927363Culture and history are the reason people do things.  So paraphrasing the above statement "people who do things for no reason are insane."

And people in hight stress environments know they are in high stress environments.  And they can feel the toll it takes on them. They know they aren't at their best.

No, the way I meant it is "to someone outside of the history and culture of a person doing a thing, most of what that person does will look crazy".

Quote from: RPGPundit;928732No, the way I meant it is "to someone outside of the history and culture of a person doing a thing, most of what that person does will look crazy".

Sure but histoy and culture are the reason for lots of stuff and they color everythingelse.   The person with out history and culture is closer to insane.

That said I still agree with the OP that the survivors are on the ragged edge.  

I think i am with the joker instead of Conan on this one.  That which does not kill you doesnt make you stronger, it makes you stranger.

Hell, we'd all seem insane to people even from 80 years ago.

What i meant by insanity being the norm is that one can walk to the lake to get a bucket of water. Their not only a good chance of something waiting to attack in the lake. It's also immune to most non-mdc attacks. It's a world where danger is always closeby imo. Their not going to be batshit insane. I do think most people in that world would be slighlty unhinged in some way. Simply because the rest of the world around them is insane.