Rifter #50!!!

[The Galactus Kid]

FYI...It's going to be excellent!!!

[Ziggurat the Eternal]

cant wait

[MADMANMIKE]

FYI...It's going to be excellent!!!

Are we bragging about our contributions? I'll wait until I've finished mine..

-Mike <8]

[The Galactus Kid]

I'm bragging up the whole issue. I'm in the unique position of being able to see all the contributions before I send it to Palladium. That includes your stuff you've sent in, Mike. Everything that I've seen looks like it will help make this one of, if not THE BEST issue of the Rifter ever.

[MADMANMIKE]

Finally had a day to work on my project and I'm getting alot done. Page one almost complete.

After that, just the bottom two thirds of page two and pages three and four left to go... <<o_0>>

-Mike <8]

[MADMANMIKE]

Finally had a day to work on my project and I'm getting alot done. Page one almost complete.

After that, just the bottom two thirds of page two and pages three and four left to go... <<o_0>>

-Mike <8]

Page one is complete!

-Mike >8]

[Lord Z]

Wait a minute, is Rifter #50 going to be a full color magazine?

[MADMANMIKE]

Wait a minute, is Rifter #50 going to be a full color magazine?

No. I'm doing a four page comic that will be in grayscale. And this looks ten times better than my previous inside art, with the possible exception of Evie in the swimsuit issue.

-Mike <8]

[Carl Gleba]

I'm bragging up the whole issue. I'm in the unique position of being able to see all the contributions before I send it to Palladium. That includes your stuff you've sent in, Mike. Everything that I've seen looks like it will help make this one of, if not THE BEST issue of the Rifter ever.

We rock

[The Galactus Kid]

I'm bragging up the whole issue. I'm in the unique position of being able to see all the contributions before I send it to Palladium. That includes your stuff you've sent in, Mike. Everything that I've seen looks like it will help make this one of, if not THE BEST issue of the Rifter ever.

We rock

Agreed.

[The Galactus Kid]

Update: Everything has been submitted to Palladium a couple of weeks back and Wayne and Alex are really digging into it making any edits that need to be made. I haven't heard any feedback from them, but judging by what I've seen, this is going to be excellent. I also got a sneak peek at the Chuck Walton cover and I know that this issue is going to be epic...maybe one of the best selling issues of the Rifter in years.

[johnkretzer]

You have any idea when us, the unwashed masses , will get start getting previews of the content? and the cover?

[The Galactus Kid]

I don't know if there will be any sneak peaks of the material, but I would think that the cover should be up in the next few weeks.

[Warwolf]

You have any idea when us, the unwashed masses , will get start getting previews of the content? and the cover?

Well, if you masses would wash yourselves once in a while maybe we would be more willing to share...

Kidding of course, I do know that material was submitted for almost every current game line (including Splicers), but I have no idea what is going to make it in and what won't. I'm just as anxious as you are to find out...

[Kalidor]

Great Milestone!

[Premier]

A sneak peak of the cover is up in the latest Press release and indeed I think this issue will be epic for the Rifter series from what l have heard has been submitted. I would love to know what made the final cut as everyone else would, but from the list of submissions it all sounds great to me.

[sHaka]

A sneak peak of the cover is up in the latest Press release and indeed I think this issue will be epic for the Rifter series from what l have heard has been submitted. I would love to know what made the final cut as everyone else would, but from the list of submissions it all sounds great to me.

Rifter #50 just went up several more degrees of awesome - that is one awesome cover

[johnkretzer]

The cover alone makes it worth it...if the content is half as good it will be great.

I wonder if they will sell the cover art as a art print.

[The Galactus Kid]

The cover alone makes it worth it...if the content is half as good it will be great.

I wonder if they will sell the cover art as a art print.

I sure hope so. Maybe Chuck could print out a few high res prints for the open house. Anything large and suitable for signing in paint pen and framed. I'd go for that in a heartbeat and with so many freelancers and artist who contributed at the open house, it shouldbe excellent.

[Carl Gleba]

The cover alone makes it worth it...if the content is half as good it will be great.

I wonder if they will sell the cover art as a art print.

I sure hope so. Maybe Chuck could print out a few high res prints for the open house. Anything large and suitable for signing in paint pen and framed. I'd go for that in a heartbeat and with so many freelancers and artist who contributed at the open house, it shouldbe excellent.

That would make for a cool prize or auction item. I'd bid on that!

Carl

[MADMANMIKE]

Well, I finished my comic and sent it in Friday morning, just under the wire. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, considering it's my first stab at sequential art (if you don't count the lampoons I did of my tenth grade biology teacher back in high school). My sig-pic is a rough of one of the panels of the comic, before adding text, a few details and grayscaling it.

EDIT: My old sig-pic was, this one is just my latest goofing around.

-Mike <8]

[Shawn Merrow]

Looking forward to seeing your comic.

[Carl Gleba]

Cool Good job mike.

[The Galactus Kid]

I saw a sneak peek of some of the art for the article my brother in law and I worked on, and it is totally sweet. I can't tell you how epic this issue is going to be. So much awesome stuff packed into one full to the brim issue.

[Premier]

Shaka
Rifter #50 just went up several more degrees of awesome - that is one awesome cover

Johnkretzer
The cover alone makes it worth it...if the content is half as good it will be great.
I wonder if they will sell the cover art as a art print.

Thank You everyone for the encouraging compliments and support. I really wanted to capture a good composition & Palladiumbooks hallmarks for the cover. I hope this Anniversary edition of the Rifter really does its due and sells like hotcakes as I know the articles inside are well worth the book alone. I am just glad the cover is hopefully going to help.

I realized that my monitor settings were off and what I originally uploaded up on my Deviantart site was a much darker version than what I was seeing in Photoshop when I painted it. So I recallibrated my monitor (thanks to Mark Dudley's tech support) and re-loaded the Image accordingly. So now everyone can see the image much better, so feel free to take a 2nd and better look at what I thought you all were originally seeing. As to prints, hmmm... good question. I have to see what Kevin says about that one.

http://madjaguar.deviantart.com/art/Rif ... -156878642

~Cheers, Enjoy & please... Support

[Lord Z]

The dragon is fantastic. It almost blends into the cityscape due to similar colors, but it doesn't. The texture on the face is amazing. How did you paint that drool?

I also liked how you used the litttle bio-electric guy as a secondary light source -- very clever.

[The Galactus Kid]

I think this issueis going to become a fan favorite along the lines of Rifter 21.

[Warwolf]

Thank You everyone for the encouraging compliments and support. I really wanted to capture a good composition & Palladiumbooks hallmarks for the cover. I hope this Anniversary edition of the Rifter really does its due and sells like hotcakes as I know the articles inside are well worth the book alone. I am just glad the cover is hopefully going to help.

*Looks over shoulder to make sure Amy Ashbaugh isn't within earshot.*

Chuck Walton=Warwolf's favorite Palladium artist... and with the level of talent around these days, that's REALLY saying something.

Just don't tell Ashbaugh... she might stab me in the neck with a spork or something else befittingly gruesome.

[BookWyrm]

I'll call The Strat in NYC by Friday and find out if they got it in. I still have to pick up 3 Galaxies, Dyval & Dimensional Outbreak; they wern't available at I-CON a couple of weeks ago, and I have an opportunity to get into the city on Saturday. Wish me luck.

[Carl Gleba]

I'll call The Strat in NYC by Friday and find out if they got it in. I still have to pick up 3 Galaxies, Dyval & Dimensional Outbreak; they wern't available at I-CON a couple of weeks ago, and I have an opportunity to get into the city on Saturday. Wish me luck.

How about some



BIG LUCK

I sure hope they have them in stock for you

Carl

[johnkretzer]

Just curious any word when subscibers will get issue 50?

[The Galactus Kid]

Just curious any word when subscibers will get issue 50?

The issue is supposed to ship April 12th but Kevin said in the last press release that it MAY ship earlier.

[Warwolf]

Just curious any word when subscibers will get issue 50?

Seems like some of the subscribers got theirs today. Keep an eye on that front step!

Edit: I see by your response in another post that you got yours today as well. Make sure to let us know what you think!

[johnkretzer]

Just curious any word when subscibers will get issue 50?

Seems like some of the subscribers got theirs today. Keep an eye on that front step!

Edit: I see by your response in another post that you got yours today as well. Make sure to let us know what you think!

It is awesome. Now I am a Rifts player and usualy do not touch the other games much...though one of the things I like about Rifts is that is easy to transport stuff...but here is the run down.

1)The cover as stated is great.

2)Taking Up the Mantle: While I play HERO system Champions for my Super Hero fix this article give alot of system neutral ideas that can easily be transported intro any super-hero RPG. Overall it is my second favorie article.

3)Mortificants....Free World Council.... Splicers:ForcedChoice... Zodiac Mage ... A challenger Has Appeared are all well written...it is just will take me a little bit to figure out how to use them in Rifts. I Enjoyed reading them...but I really can't rave about their awesomeness just yet.

4)Chaos Earth Pychics I like alot...It is a great preview for Psychic Storm...in that now I can't wait for it. My next character will probably be one the OCCs from this article.

5)Vehicle Construction Rules. This is my favorite article in this Rifter and can't wait for Rifter 51...(anybody know how many parts it is going to run?). I am already thinking of vehicles to design.

6)The Comic...the story is interesting...I just don't like that art style.
7) The logic puzzle was a interesting adder....I'll admitt I just looked at the answear...
8 ) The Cosmic Forge...I rather see it as a novel than a serial...I don't have every Rifter so it is a little annoying...but I can ignore it.

Anyway overall this a great issue my congrats. and apprecition to all the contributors you all did a great job.

[The Galactus Kid]

Good review. A little more detail when you fully dive into it would be good, but this is a really good synopsis. Thanks man!!!

[azazel1024]

Pretty much covers it for me. I haven't finished reading it, but here is my take.

Hero's legacy article, great. Makes me want to get HU2, I only have the original HU and haven't played it in years. That is GOING to change sometime this year.

The Mortificant was kind of cool, but I don't play nightbane, but some of the spells could be ported to a necromancer in PFRPG or Rifts with little tweaking, so that was cool.

FWC, really nice, but it felt awfully short. It gives me a few adventure ideas and a little more background info, but I do hope the FWC gets fleshed out somemore in a future DB either as a small standalone book or else simply a lengthy article in a bigger DB. A little more info on the actual worlds of note, a few more of the personalities, maybe some more FWC specific equipment (though limited, they are pretty economically starved), etc.

Splicers article, really long, and if I played splicers it would be cool, but I don't. It did make me interested in the game, I may pick it up eventually.

Zodiac Mage. I love! Easy port to Rifts, and since I play PFRPG it'll work great. Only negative comment, and it isn't about this article, I'd love to see a 3rd edition PFRPG one of these days with updated magic rules following the new Rifts ones. Even in PFRPG the 2 spells a round is pretty limiting against high power foes (say dragons, demons, etc). I have gotten about halfway through the spells and they are great and the OCC is awesome.

Can't decide if I am happier about the Zodiac mage article or if I am just really damned impatient to finish reading it and read the Rifts vehicle construction article. I think both.
-Matt

[azazel1024]

Oh, forgot the Chaos Earth Psychic section. Good, but most of the powers were, way, way over powered. The Teke psychic with its hammer and crush powers can chew up and spit out tanks and robot vehicles with maybe just a couple of attacks at a modest 20ISP for each crush attack.

Significantly more powerful for the cost than any magic power available in any PB setting that I know of (annihilate costs a heck of a lot more, for only a bit more damage than a high level crush attack). I'd either like to see the ISP cost at least triple, or else see the damages reduced a bit, or better yet both. Maybe 1d4x10MD multipliers for crush and 40isp cost (I think it is 1d6x10 multipliers now, but I'll have to double check). Hammer reduce the damage by about half for the same ISP cost or maybe a bit more, like 10-12isp.

Otherwise a high level Teke could easily chew up and spit out a tank platoon and still be able to make tea time with an adult dragon later that day. All possibly outside the range of either (though admitedly the tank platoon with missiles could probably out range the teke, but considering the small target of a single human, and no obvious incoming fireball, missile, bolt, etc the teke could probably remain fairly hidden and crush an armored formation at a whim).
-Matt

[The Galactus Kid]

Oh, forgot the Chaos Earth Psychic section. Good, but most of the powers were, way, way over powered. The Teke psychic with its hammer and crush powers can chew up and spit out tanks and robot vehicles with maybe just a couple of attacks at a modest 20ISP for each crush attack.

Significantly more powerful for the cost than any magic power available in any PB setting that I know of (annihilate costs a heck of a lot more, for only a bit more damage than a high level crush attack). I'd either like to see the ISP cost at least triple, or else see the damages reduced a bit, or better yet both. Maybe 1d4x10MD multipliers for crush and 40isp cost (I think it is 1d6x10 multipliers now, but I'll have to double check). Hammer reduce the damage by about half for the same ISP cost or maybe a bit more, like 10-12isp.

Otherwise a high level Teke could easily chew up and spit out a tank platoon and still be able to make tea time with an adult dragon later that day. All possibly outside the range of either (though admitedly the tank platoon with missiles could probably out range the teke, but considering the small target of a single human, and no obvious incoming fireball, missile, bolt, etc the teke could probably remain fairly hidden and crush an armored formation at a whim).
-Matt

Which is why they're so dnagerous, but as written, I think that they are great damage dealing characters. The reason they can take a multiple tanks is because that is what theyare supposed to do. It is pure unrestrained TK. Good constructive comments, though.

[jedi078]

Perhaps the ISP should be dependent on the number of dice he rolls?

Look at the damage for the uppercut. It is 4d6 +1d6 @ levels 2, 4, 6 etc. The same goes for the sweep attack (+1 die per level). The damage, unlike that of the Hammer Blow is not doubled per level, only an extra die is added per level.

That said the Hammer blow power, as written is too powerful when compared to the damage output of the other powers. So for those who think the Hammer Blow damage is too much, I would just make the Hammer Blow do 5d6 +1d6 @ levels 3, 6, 9 etc. Crush would simply do x2 damage of whatever the characters Hammer Blow power does.

[jedi078]

Well, I actually meant that the "ISP based on number of dice rolled" would only apply to the Hammer Blow power, not to all of his powers. Sorry for not being more clear there.

I wasn't even commenting that. I was just talkign about the power as a whole, and what I woudl do to fix it.

Either way, there are some pretty easy fixes that would tame this class down a bit and make it more fitting for a regular (i.e. non-high powered) campaign.

Yep.

[azazel1024]

Perhaps the ISP should be dependent on the number of dice he rolls?

Look at the damage for the uppercut. It is 4d6 +1d6 @ levels 2, 4, 6 etc. The same goes for the sweep attack (+1 die per level). The damage, unlike that of the Hammer Blow is not doubled per level, only an extra die is added per level.

That said the Hammer blow power, as written is too powerful when compared to the damage output of the other powers. So for those who think the Hammer Blow damage is too much, I would just make the Hammer Blow do 5d6 +1d6 @ levels 3, 6, 9 etc. Crush would simply do x2 damage of whatever the characters Hammer Blow power does.

That would balance it a lot more.

Got through the rest of the Zodiac mage. Really great. My only negative comment is that a few of the spells mention Rifts/MDC conversions, but it seems like it was only for the very begining few levels that those conversions were made and then higher level spells the conversion notes were forgotten. Deffinitely a few of the higher level spells seem like they should do MD in an MDC setting. Easy enough to do a conversion still.

Also read the NJ&S stuff. I might apply those rules, but probably only for N&SS as it works best in that setting.

I managed about 2 paragraphs of the vehicle construction rules and I had to put the book down in disgust...

Okay, actually it was in extreme fatigue at 11:15 at night praying my new born and toddler would sleep decently that night and I hadn't made a big mistake by reading for an hour past when I should be been sleeping anyway. Anxiously looking forward to reading the vehicle construction section tonight.
-Matt

[azazel1024]

Finished reading it. Vehicle article was good. A few niggles I see, mostly being how much power the solar system delivers and a couple of other minor things, but none of its really that much of an issue unless you are trying to go for ultimate realism (lame). Looking forward to the next article (hopefully completing it). I am just hoping that the miscellaneous catagory isn't going to be 3 items long. I don't need a 101 item list of what sorts of miscellaneous mods you can do to vehicles, but it would be nice to see a good laundry list (camper modifications, mobile science laboratory, sensor systems, ambulance or firefighting mods, etc).
-Matt

[Lord Z]

I have now read the Rifts Vehicle article. I found it good but not great. The author starts with a nice introduction.

This intro includes an explanation for the vastly out of proportion power that smaller weapons and armor have when compared with larger weapons and vehicles. These wacked ratios have been a problem evr since the mega-damage system was introduced in way, way back in the first Robotech RPG. This article marks the first time I've found of an author even trying to explain the imbalance. I don't buy this explanation, but the attempt is appreciated.

Then, the remainder of the article is basically a rewrite and update to the vehicle modification rules. We've seen before in Road Hogs, N&SS, HU, and (I think) Rifts Sourcebook 1. This version is an improvement over the older stuff.

My one hang up is that the costs seem very arbitary. For example, it's been well established that recharging an e-clip costs 1000 credits. Well, getting a solar power converter for a motorbike which can recharge that clip costs a mere 2000 credits. Why would anyone pay to have e-clips recharged if for a comperable amount, a portable system to do the same thing yourself can be purchased? For another example, for half a million creds, one can buy a feature for walk-type vehicles that their legs can fold up for easier parking. For the exact same amount of money, one could instead get a medium range missile launcher WITH six rockets of choice!

Despite the problems with the cost of features, I would still be comfortable allowing a playing to use this article without any changes by me. It's balanced enough, and the material is quite good.

[azazel1024]

The solar power is the only part that I would modify. More expensive and not working the way stated. Can't run anything other than the engine, and at that it isn't powerful enough to run the vehicle at full speed.

Max 50% speed OR it can charge the battery system at a rate of 10% for every hour of daylight. I know super advanced, but even 100% efficient solar cells are just no where near powerful enough to run a 'modern' vehicle, even if it had 100% efficient electric motors at any real speed.

Heck look at solar powered vehicles today, and with 20% efficient solar cells they need expansive wings, super low drag tires and low aero drag designs and they can maybe clock 45mph on a smooth road at noon. 5 times more power and you're only talking about 100mph with the same design with expansive solar panel coverage. If I cover the roof of the average sedan with 100% efficient cells I might be able to get it to clock 30mph on the road.

So anyway, long story short, the solar cells are several dozen times more efficient than real life and way to cheap.

I'd x10 the cost and have them work the way I mentioned (a single set (can't get more than one) covers the entire roof and only 50% speed, and 10% charge per hour of daylight, so you could charge E-clips off it if you wanted, but only 10% per hour).
-Matt

[Lord Z]

As noted above, I wouldn't bother changing anything in the Rifts Vehicle article. It's good enough. The feasibility of the solar panels is actually the thing that bother me least about the various quirks.

[Sureshot]

I bought mine yesterday and like all of the book. My own complaont is that I would have preferred to have the entire Rifts Vehicle article. I would have left out the comic strip and included the entire article.

[Jason Richards]

Thoughts about the Teke Freak's Hammer/Crush abilities:

First off, the Teke Freak is a beast. No doubt about it. Beating up on mechanized squads is what he does best. That said, none of this was really put through the wringer, so this is definitely a dry run for what will appear in Psychic Storm. Also, let's make no mistake about this: balance between character classes is for suckers. Dragons should be more powerful than villagers, Godlings more powerful than Mystics, and the Teke Freak is just what the name says, a freak. His powers skew very high-end, and it might even be over the top, but what I REALLY didn't want in this article is another crop of characters that all have a bunch of 4D6, 5D6, or occasionally the 1D6x10 powers picked from the same rehashed list of psychic abilities that have seen print in every Palladium book for 20+ years.

What I do strive for is internal consistency, in that the Freak's powers should line up logically when looking at ISP cost vs damage and all of that. Low-powered abilities with very few effects shouldn't cost much in terms of ISP, and more powerful abilities should be less efficient in their use of Inner Strength. Looking at it now, Hammer could maybe be bumped up a tad in ISP cost, but Crush should probably go to 30 ISP. Before Psychic Storm gets underway, I'll definitely take a closer look here and see what needs to be tweaked. When I find something that I will ultimately change in the canon, it will be up on my website as an errata for free download. That's just how I roll.

I don't think the overpower is horrible, though. The ISP cost is already fairly high, which limits the number of times the Freak can use his strongest powers. Also, don't underestimate the impact of the relatively short range of the Freak's powers compared to those he is likely to run up against.

Another thing to the specific example given that Crush can do 6D4x10 per attack at 7th level. That's to the exclusion of developing other Complimentary powers, for one. Plus, 7th level is pretty far advanced, particularly in Chaos Earth. The point is still well taken, though, and it should probably be knocked back one notch and, as I said, get the ISP cost bumped up to 30.

Good thoughts, though. As people roll up these characters and use them, be sure to update me so I can take your play experiences into account.

But, no thoughts on the other classes? I love the Charismatic as a villain, and think the Reactionary creates a whole new dynamic in the way the character engages in combat. I knew the Freak would be the favorite, but let's not forget the others. Plus, I thought the new Minor Psychics setup was a refreshing change of pace.

[jedi078]

Jason thanks for explaining things, and being open to the idea of toning down the Teke Freak. Overall I think the Teke Freak is the best of these new psychic classes, but IMO is overpowered. I also like the fact you’ve come out to say you don’t want to re-hash something from before with a slight change to say it’s a different PCC/OCC/RCC.

[Jason Richards]

Rehashed characters are boring to read, play, and even more boring to write. For my part, you won't see any psychic powers, races, O.C.C.s, or anything else that you've seen before reprinted in Chaos Earth unless it positively must be included. I might write some terrible, awful stuff, but by God it will be original.

[BookWyrm]

Picked up Rifter #50 today, along with Triax 2, Dimensional Outbreak & Dyval. Much reading to do