What makes Chaos so good

[drakinn]

I bought the 1st 3 books and haven't gotten any more of this set. I am looking at GMing again. It seemed to me that the harsh survival setting wasn't really reached. has it gotten better or was it good in the first place and I missed something. What should I look for to make this a great setting?

[Dustin Fireblade]

I don't believe the main CE book really conveyed the hard core survival that it should have. There's no real mention of what daily life was like in the Golden Age, so there's no sense of loss for it. Likewise there's not a lot of information about enviromental hazards. I also think the old monster creator from the original Rifts Main Book would have been a real good addition, just to provide a good deal more randomness for GM's to introduce into the setting.

Currently there are only the three books out for Chaos Earth. Jason Richards is hard at work creating new material for the setting, so I have high hopes for it.


If you wish to run a CE game -
1. I would look at enviromental hazards (again that Jason is already researching) - use this thread as a reference point:
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=112394

2. Use the monster generator from the old Rifts Main Book if you have it.

3. Check out some of the other CE threads for more material and idea's -
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=103095

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=98812

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=100622

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=78234


There's sure to be a few more threads that will help as well.

[The Galactus Kid]

I had my players start out as non-NEMA characters. Survival is pretty rough, when you're facing about 2 dozen Day Demons and your party consists of:

1)Melvin, the neighborhood gamer-kid(with his copy of Rifts Conversion Book 1{the original}).

2)Joey, the mentally-challenged ice-cream truck-driver(with his truck{not an ice-cream truck, just an antique '11 ford})(the only member of the party with psionics, but it's just empathy and mindblock).

3)Shelly, "The Oldest Prostitute in Cole County", 117 years young. Armed with a cross, a 12-gauge(no shells), and "FooFoo"(her pet Chihuahau, 15 years old, with cyber-legs and organs).

4)K9, an escaped con. Found guilty of Murder 1, and horse-raping. Armed with a shiv.

5)Last but not least, Little Rosamund, age 6. Cute enough to make you puke, she's a Chaos Wizard(the only partymember to be worth anything in a combat with Demons, if she wasn't such a scaredy-cat).

Holy crap. This sounds like an awesome game.

[Jason Richards]

As written, the player characters in the CERPG are basically all superhumans with high technology and good resources. Hopefully First Responders helps in that area, as it will provide decidedly non-powerful classes.

[RoadWarriorFWaNK]

As written, the player characters in the CERPG are basically all superhumans with high technology and good resources. Hopefully First Responders helps in that area, as it will provide decidedly non-powerful classes.

Right. Chaos Earth is an offshoot of Rifts, and Rifts is about playing larger-than-life heroes, not picking at the ruins for a bite to eat.
Although if I were to run Chaos Earth, there would be more ruin-picking than is implied in the books.

[Xar]

As written, the player characters in the CERPG are basically all superhumans with high technology and good resources. Hopefully First Responders helps in that area, as it will provide decidedly non-powerful classes.

Right. Chaos Earth is an offshoot of Rifts, and Rifts is about playing larger-than-life heroes, not picking at the ruins for a bite to eat.
Although if I were to run Chaos Earth, there would be more ruin-picking than is implied in the books.

I have had the good fortune in playing in two of Jason's Chaos Earth games at Open Houses. If memory serves, I have died 4 times now at his hand. (And loving it!)

It should be that gritty. It drives home the point that nearly everyone on Earth dies during the coming of the Rifts. It sets up that everyone who survives was truly special to have lived through the dark times. It makes the survivors ok to be larger than life.