Forums of the Megaverse®

I was wondering if anyone thinks that the RIFTER could be used to give Palladium a more consistant amount of canon material. I for one think that saving a single page(front and back) for different systems to add canon material might be a great way to kill 2 birds with one stone.

This idea would alieviate part of the trouble Palladium has in gitting out product. One page is certailnly easier then building a 250 page book. From my limited exposure to the forums it is clear there is alot of content being generated by fans and seasoned freelance writers.

Very simple things like updating a old OCC from Phaseworld, or WormWood for example. Perhaps, adding canon material that got cut from books, like the Lemurian Screamer OCC. Take a look at RIFTER#55 and tell me if the OCC updates for NRG don't make those much more fun to play. Most old tech OCCs need that kind of faceift.

Maybe publishing material from books that never happened, like Japan 2. I for one ewould love to see a truley Japanese spell caster.

A contest that fans vote on could choose which OCCs or gear would git a facelift, or introduction.

Adding reliable canon content can entice folks to buy Rifters, or just keeping them happy with new material for settings that are languishing.

From what I can gather this would not be difficult, large amounts of material has alread been written but not published. If 1-3 major books is all Palladium can produce then perhaps the Rifter's regularity can solve some problems without too much extra effort.

Does this strike anyone else as a viable idea?

It could work possibly. But, the problem is that releasing new cannon material is not the real purpose of the Rifter. Yes, official cannon material does appear in the Rifter occasionally. However, its primary goal is to find new writers/artists to work as freelancers. It's secondary purpose is to give updates about what is going on at Palladium. Not everyone subscribes to the newsletter or goes on the website. Also, the one page idea is a little small. The minimum requested for Rifter articles is 3 pages. Sometimes being so concise with an article is damn near impossible. But, ultimately, you can PM Wayne and see what he thinks.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but you are talking about how the Rifter is currently being used. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Palladium could be using the Rifter to solve a problem that nearly everyone on this Forum would put at the top of their gripes about the company, timely release of material.

The reliability of the Rifter should be used to make the Official Megaverse better. I feel like there is an ocean of ready to go but unpublished material that could easily find it's way into Rifters.

Alien of the month? Becaue there is not going to be any Phase World.

Super Power of the Month? Because there will be no HU.

OCC update of the Month? Because there is 25 years of outdated OCCs.

NPC villian of the Month? Because Palladium don't do Adventure Modules.

These are all 3-4 page ideas and would be the only content of it's kind produced all year( and most likely all of next year) for 3-4 product lines.

It still has the problem that all the other cannon material has.
Someone has to write it, and then it has to be vetted.
Its easier yes, but if your working on project X, then your not working on project Y.
Resources do tend to be a zero sum game unfortunately.

And while I myself would love more canon material, especially in some of the less developed areas (we can always use more psionic powers for instance, and some more tech oriented OOCs, or write ups of things like technology that intersects with the supernatural that is NOT super science (like kirlean cameras from BTS... I would love rules on those video cameras so that I can use them as a sensor system in HU or Rifts in canon and not just my personal homebrew) I realize that it takes a lot of work to write this stuff, and that what I want is often not what others want. With large sourcebooks you can appeal to a wider base by putting in something for everyone... but with just a couple pages, you have much less flexibility.
Not to mention it also means that you have to cut something else. So you then have to make one of the other articles shorter, or drop one completely or what have you. Its not quite as simple as just adding in a couple pages of content.

I agree that we can do a lot more with the Rifter, I'd like to see people just submit interesting characters, even their own personal PCs to the Rifter, or just tell some gaming stories like in KoDT. I'd like to see like...a sampling of the best new questions and answers from the forums, like GMs asking other people 'what can I do for this?' You know, things to really make the game better overall.

i was talking to my podcast crew, and I like the idea of 'ask the megaverse' where a player asks a non-rules specific question to a group of players either on the forum or elsewhere, and several answers and thoughts could be voiced from several points of view. I might have to pitch a 'ask the guides to the megaverse(tm)' variant to the crew when I hit the open house

Yea, something like "The best NPC from the newest book" kinda thing. Folks would send in their NPC/PC with background skills and gear giving time strapped GMs a quick NPC that uses the newest stuff Palladium has to offer.

A Sunaj hit squad, or heroic Undead Slayer comes to mind.