Should I Give Rifts Another Chance?

[@davidnemoseck9007]

Big Palladium fan here. Something to keep in mind is that even Kevin has said, yes the guy who runs the company, is if you don't like something in it, use what makes sense to you. You are there to have fun, not get bogged down in rules. Look up Legion of Myth, and Breakfest Pupies. They talk a lot about Palladium and even have interviews with Kevin. Kevin is really open in those interviews, so you can get an excellent insight into the games, IMO. Hope this helps you out some!

[@mortenolsen838]

I love Rifts. My story with Rifts is somewhat similar to yours. One of my friends showed me the book back in high school. 30+ years ago.I was hooked immediately. We ran Rifts for several years and had loads of fun with it. I even ran a rather successful Rifts campaign using GURPS rules. The paladium rules are rather clunky with inconsistencies and strangeness that reminds me of the AD&D times. It could benefit from a streamlining of the system, just like the transistion from AD&D 2nd edition to D&D 3rd edition. But still, I love Rifts and would love to play/run it again.

[@lightseeker4155]

Ran a campaign for 10 years with my old comrades and now my son is 21, and after listening to all my friends talk still to this day about our old campaign he's asked me to do it again so we are going back! Great game great times

[@belgerod]

I've been into the setting and lore since I was a teenager, but had a similar experience to you. I tried going back to the well a few times, with no success. Finally, I tried Savage Worlds' version of RIFTS and finally made it work. Now I'm a big fan!

[@DD8842]

Savage worlds does rifts now if you want a better system

[@gzombie1]

I love Rifts, and the Palladium System in general. It's a very cinematic form of game play but it does take a little time to learn. Once you have it down you're good, it's fairly simple.

[@feralfaith]

Like someone else in the chat said. SAVAGE RIFTS. All the amazing Rifts lore, running on a good system. And SW Bennies were made for a setting like Rifts.

[@drjohnwooberg]

I’ve had a lot of fun playing Rifts, but most of that is despite the book/system. Rifts is an immutable document etched in stone. They’ll never clean up the clunky rules, pare down the number of skills, trade in the all Times New Roman layout for something easier on the eyes, or get rid of the Satanic Panic-era content warning in the front. But the kinds of games you can play in this setting are a lot of fun. I really need to get around to reading Savage Rifts to see what they’ve done with it.

[@imjodokast]

Coming in late I know, but as others have brought up, they have Rifts for the Savage Worlds RPG system. The Kickstarter you saw most likely was one of several they ran for the SW version of Rifts. You'll find plenty of Classic Rifts fans doing reviews for SW Rifts and most of them say they now prefer to run using Savage Worlds. You can also find Sprawlrunners for Savage Worlds. That one the writer admits it was basically his way of running Shadowrun in Savage Worlds.

[@Beetmagnet]

It has the most expansive world building Lore available. Give it several more shots. Play with someone who knows the system and it will come alive. Also Note...it may take awhile to make a character, but once done, everything else becomes easy because all the work is done. All this is dependent on having a competent GM.

[@francoisdumont4105]

I share your sentiments about rifts. I too was soured by the system. I am still curious about it though.

[@Backfromthedeadguy]

As long as you're prepped going in (not creating characters the day of, and not having to babysit the players) the game runs smoothly. And the GM needs to know what they want to run and not be afraid to communicate this to the players. If the GM tells the players they can play "anything" they're asking for trouble. And then there's mega damage. Not everyone likes it. But there are optional conversion rules to convert everything to SDC. On this issue I have home brew rules that favors the Savage Rifts approach so I don't have to do a lot of math.

[@ProfessorHeyTeeEn]

I messed around with Rifts a little, and Macross / Robotech a bit.

[@Kainsdisciples]

Rifts is one of the coolest settings ever created. It's kitchen sink the RPG. You can have the TMNT fight a Veritech in downtown St. Louis and the lore supports it. But gods is the system a garbage fire.

[@longshot9060]

Give it another try! For newcomers, I recommend sticking to the core book and not bleeding into the supplemental books. Start small and branch out as you become more familiar. IMHO, Palladium Fantasy and Rifts are great games. Lots of fun!

[@kierdalemodels]

I have little memory of the game system but I do remember I was introduced to it by the same high school friend who introduced me to BattleTech and ShadowRun. I do remember it being a very open, anything-goes setting. You can make it what you want it to be. It honestly seems like it was a poorly prepared and little-experienced GM that was the problem when you first played it. I hope it goes better this time!👍

[@nerdyogre6683]

Rifts= Robocop and Merlyn fighting side by side against Cobra. No, it wasn't WW3, it was a small skirmish between 2 countries. Yes nukes were used, but that was just the match that set fireworks off. And yes, definitely give it another try.

[@Dreamfox-df6bg]

Honestly, I never played the Palladium System. I love some of their settings though. I heard that they might be releasing a new print of the TMNT RPG, which I might buy for two reasons. I didn't buy it back in the day, but saw the some possibilities in their 'After the Bomb' setting and I hope that they updated the system. Not much hope to tell the truth, I'm more after the character creation part of TMNT and might look if I can adapt that to another system.

[@bless_yore_-heart1914]

Down for the apocalypse here 👍

[@facelessman265]

I love the system, it takes a wee bit longer to make a character but after that is a lot of fun your GM was just not great there is a lot of fun in Palladium it was actually my first system all time favorite character was a Ludicrous Mage in rifts

[@marvelrifter]

Also I give my players the skill list from the book so that cuts off on alot of time itself. Just rewrite the % for whatever it is. Takes my players 20mins and done.

[@tikiux5]

Palladium has its faults. Character creation is tough with the games with classes with lots of skill selection.

[@roseknightmare]

Rifts is fine. Not a system i like. It has excellent setting ideas, and this is where it actually shines. Never include everything. Be specific and have a very strong hook with this system.

[@TheSixthWorld]

Yeah it seems like you could definitely overwhelm yourself by trying to include everything, lol. One member of my group loves Palladium and has been wanting to play it for a while. Might see if I can strong arm him into running Rifts once his Alien campaign is over.

[@JamesTillmanjimthegray]

Savage rifts does rifts excellently

[@LtCdrRoyFokker]

No. And I say that as someone who fits the profile you described as I got my start in ttrgps with Rifts/Robotech and pretty much exclusively played their games for the first decade other than convention one shots. The same crappy rules that were around in the late 80's are still 99% there in their newest products and the same person is still owner of the company (though he's brought on a junior partner to manage some day to day stuff). If you're going to try it for the excellent universe, I say go for the Savage Worlds version instead.

[@vldster]

Yes and no. The setting and concepts are fun for an RPG but the system is crap and limit what splat books are or are not allowed.

[@marvelrifter]

I'd rather play rifts for 2 life times then play the next edition of d&d that'll make the other books obsolete. Rifts is not perfect but every game is flawed. Rifts is a fun experience that brings the definitive definition of kitchen sink game. Rifts is what the g.m makes it. Go by the setting, go by your own. Either way the tools are there to make it YOURS. should be tried out even if you've had a bad session or 2. I myself have had quite a few horrid ones eoth d&d.For anyone to say "Rifts sucks" has a screw loose ultimately lol. Try it out and give it a 2nd shot with new perspective! Hell I have a group of 5 who'd go for a 6th.

[@SCAR16L]

Love the setting, but I hate the system. I played it a LOT as a teen, but I just can't do it anymore. I've thought about scrapping all of the mechanics and going with something that doesn't suck. And changing the really stupid stuff like the spider skull walker and death head transport.