"Disappointed" in Rifter #70

[Sir Dellis]

I got my Rifter #70 the other day and was very disappointed. The content was very good. I've never read the Splicers main book so I tend to be a little lost when reading those submissions, but the article looked awesome. The Rifts content was great. The Frost mage was good, but I think could have been a bit better. There are some confusing statements about water warlock spells, but my main concern is the fact that the actual content seems to be less and less each issue.

The first 19 pages of the 96 page book....outside of the table of contents was all advertisements...

Page 1-5, table of contents
Page 6 - cool art
Page 7-8 - Notes from Kevin
Page 9-19 - News and Ads
Page 20-96 - Actual content

20% of the book is wasted. The ads need to be reduced or increase the page count so that we are actually getting 96 pages of content.

[FatherMorpheus]

How does this compare to other Rifter issues?

I've always considered the Rifter to be a quasi magazine, so ads and fluff are kind of expected.

[Sir Dellis]

I've not compared Rifter 70 to any recent ones that I have, but I consider the Rifter more of a quarterly "sourcebook" that covers many lines.

[eliakon]

I just flipped though the last dozen Rifters (three years worth) it looks like the average is 14-18 (normally 16) pages in the front with the first article starting on page 15-19. Though some have had as many as 25 pages. Although every Rifter I looked at was this way (issue #1 had 28 pages devoted to ads, editorials, and the index) so its not really a new thing, but something that has been a regular feature for the last seventeen and a half years.....

[Glistam]

It's for this reason that I cancelled my subscription back when the Rifter was in the 30's. I only started subscribing again because a friend bought the subscription for me as a gift.

[eliakon]

The way I have looked at it is not as 'I should get x page count' but "I will get 4-6 articles per issue. On average 2-4 of these are of use to my game."

[The Dark Elf]

I expect ads but also like the news section.

[jedi078]

Page 1-5, table of contents
Page 6 - cool art
Page 7-8 - Notes from Kevin
Page 9-19 - News and Ads
Page 20-96 - Actual content

20% of the book is wasted. The ads need to be reduced or increase the page count so that we are actually getting 96 pages of content.

The advertisements, news and notes from Kevin should probably be removed and that space used to include another article. It made sense to have them 15 years ago, but today there is no reason to put advertisements, news and notes from Kevin in the Rifter.

We get the Murmurs from the Megaverse and product updates through the internet and don't need to see them copy/pasted in the Rifter.

[Zenvis]

I got my Rifter #70 the other day and was very disappointed. The content was very good. I've never read the Splicers main book so I tend to be a little lost when reading those submissions, but the article looked awesome. The Rifts content was great. The Frost mage was good, but I think could have been a bit better. There are some confusing statements about water warlock spells, but my main concern is the fact that the actual content seems to be less and less each issue.

The first 19 pages of the 96 page book....outside of the table of contents was all advertisements...

Page 1-5, table of contents
Page 6 - cool art
Page 7-8 - Notes from Kevin
Page 9-19 - News and Ads
Page 20-96 - Actual content

20% of the book is wasted. The ads need to be reduced or increase the page count so that we are actually getting 96 pages of content.

You telling me Frost Magic (written by me) was a waste?

[eliakon]

I got my Rifter #70 the other day and was very disappointed. The content was very good. I've never read the Splicers main book so I tend to be a little lost when reading those submissions, but the article looked awesome. The Rifts content was great. The Frost mage was good, but I think could have been a bit better. There are some confusing statements about water warlock spells, but my main concern is the fact that the actual content seems to be less and less each issue.

The first 19 pages of the 96 page book....outside of the table of contents was all advertisements...

Page 1-5, table of contents
Page 6 - cool art
Page 7-8 - Notes from Kevin
Page 9-19 - News and Ads
Page 20-96 - Actual content

20% of the book is wasted. The ads need to be reduced or increase the page count so that we are actually getting 96 pages of content.

You telling me Frost Magic (written by me) was a waste?

I will say that other than a couple minor nit-picks with a couple of the spells that I liked the Frost Magic section immensely. It was very nice, useful magic that, in my opinion, filled a useful niche in the game.

(That and I will repeat that while I personally agree that there are too many ads....its not a new thing and that after this long I don't really foresee it changing......)

[glitterboy2098]

You mind elaborating a bit on what you find enjoyable (or not) about each of the articles?

Would be helpful to us writers, let us know the kinds of things to shoot for or avoid.

[Lori]

You mind elaborating a bit on what you find enjoyable (or not) about each of the articles?

Would be helpful to us writers, let us know the kinds of things to shoot for or avoid.

Right, Agree, articulating specifics are good.

[The Beast]

The advertisements, news and notes from Kevin should probably be removed and that space used to include another article. It made sense to have them 15 years ago, but today there is no reason to put advertisements, news and notes from Kevin in the Rifter.

We get the Murmurs from the Megaverse and product updates through the internet and don't need to see them copy/pasted in the Rifter.

I must disagree with you on some of that. First, anyone who doesn't have internet access obviously can't get those updates. Second, there are people who don't go to the Boards anymore due to a variety of reasons, and thus would miss them as well. Finally, there are those (such as myself) who'd much rather get everything at once instead of spaced out over the course of three or more months.

I would however like to see the number of ads cut back though. IMO, it should be limited to books that came out between the current issue and the previous issue, and to books that are honestly within a month of going to the printer.

[Niji]

I am scared to buy this issue, i was very dissapointed in the content of the last "frosty issue" of the rifter. the frost dragons were cool but over all disappoonting (exclusively niche and mostly unusable in a non PFFPG campaign, at least until rifts antarctica gets some light shed on it), and i felt a massive waste of the $15 spent on it. Is the frost mage worth the whole price of the book on its own? As someone who has been desperately awaiting Rifts Antarctica (so far only the Icer and Soaker PCCs have been a eldergodsent for such a theme, allng with HUs PU3 sub-zero(first time ive seen "cold rules" for disabling targets/brittling inanaments!) and lover of all things icy or frosty magicy/psychicy; How satisfying is the Frostmage and new spells? Is it as flavorful and fleshed out read as the Soaker and Freezer P.C.C.s from The Rifter(#19 if i recall)? Effects of cold detail/debuffing on frost magic?(as good or better than Sub-Zero Freezing Power?)

[Lori]

I don't have any complaints about game vs. advertising material. More game material-less ads is never a bad thing, and I understand what the OP is saying

Though if I could wave my magic wand...

I would like to see more fanzine like stuff. As it is I see a lot of "Official" stuff-which is good-but I also see a lot of Errata stuff and overflow from recently printed sourcebooks. There are times I appreciate the errata and times I don't... And I would guess other's feel the same.

Perhaps publishing an Errata Edition of the Rifter might be interesting-but who'd buy it? (I'm asking)

I think giving a Theme to each Rifter would be better. These themes don't have to be annual, but just expressed ahead of time so that submitters might make an attempt. Example:

Technology Themed: Vehicles, Manufacturers, House Rules etc.
Magic Themed: Spells, Magic Items, New O.C.C.s. House Rules etc
Gun Porn Themed: Manufacturers, New Weapons, Optional Rules for Weapons/Shooting ect.
Powers Themed: Superhero Unlimited Stuff. NPC Super Villains of Note-Regular Humans bad and good. etc.
Undead Themed: Anything undead-From DR to Rifts
Palladium Staff: Articles written by Palladium Books "Official free-lancers to staff"
Map Themed: Maps and player aids: Dungeons-Streets etc...

Those are a few off the top my head and literally you could do anything. A themed Rifter (In my humble opinion) would be better...

[Boethermsbrukan]

Greetings, cubs and elders!

I would like to see more fanzine like stuff. (snip)

It'd be great to see some fleshed-out fan frothing, sort of like what was often in Dragon Magazine way back in the day, or even White Wolf Magazine's optional work. This sort of content has cropped up in The Rifter regularly, mind you, but it's exceptionally game-specific (although I still have tremendous appreciation for 'The Tribes Of The Moon' and a great take on Megaversal Werecreatures from the single-digit days; easily adaptable outside of Nightbane, the RPG for which it was first intended). I think that's the big constraint The Rifter has, even when submissions are plentiful: it really has to cover a lot of ground, often regarding Palladium game lines that haven't seen a lot of 'official' upkeep (and some for quite some time) in the last decade, and often what comes out for a 'big support' line like Rifts are either tacked-on O.C.C. or P.C.C. supplementals that otherwise would've been small features in a World Book or could be intended as such but didn't make the World Book or Dimension Book cut, as it were. I find it's easier to have many Rifter articles inspire the story behind a gaming campaign rather than my using material verbatim (with some respectable exceptions).

I think giving a Theme to each Rifter would be better. These themes don't have to be annual, but just expressed ahead of time so that submitters might make an attempt.

Big huge clawed double opposing digits up here. I would absolutely love a Rifter that intentionally contained material focussed only on Palladium Fantasy or After The Bomb or Beyond The Supernatural; I recall in many Forum letters in Dragon that even with the closer relationship between the different TSR fantasy campaign worlds (than Palladium Books' Megaversal worlds, as I understand it) in the early to mid 1990s when I was a regular reader, a lot of the beef had with Dragon's content (even though individual issues regularly topped 120-140 pages) is that frequently less well-travelled worlds (thinking Known World, Al-Qadim, Mystara (pre-First Quest) and even Spelljammer and Dark Sun in those days) would be passed over in favour of either generic fantasy/magic use articles or focussed (perhaps too deeply) on optional or more exotic material for specific game lines of the day.

I don't doubt Palladium Fantasy will be gotten to (I'm looking forward to getting a copy of Bizantium not too far down the road); I will definitely say that if there were to be a Palladium Fantasy ('Special Content Issue', perhaps?) specific Rifter and a few months advance warning, I'd have a few articles and artwork pieces I'd love to submit; and even if I didn't get a submission through I'd buy a copy.

-Boe.

[Reagren Wright]

It not that they really want to crowd the books with so much ad space and such, it also comes down to the
what sort of articles they are receiving. They've been getting some slim picks as of late. Many freelancers
such as myself are working on other projects. Need some new blood to try their hand at the Rifter. So I say
to everyone find something you really passionate about, sit down and think about it, and try your hand at
writing the thing out. Don't just trust your friends and family with looking it over, they can be very bias in
determining if the work is good or not. Any more advice glad to hand it out .