Rifts® New West Review

 

Welcome to a world where there is no law amongst the West.  It's the Old West reborn, for your Rifts® campaign.  Rifts World Book 14: New West describes my favorite setting for Rifts.  The region of the old United States called the Old West.  Written by Christopher R. Kornmann and Kevin Seimbieda, the book doesn't disappoint bringing the Old West into the New.

What does the book have in it?

The first few pages introduces you to the New West.  After the coming of the Rifts, the region had returned to the ways of the Old West.  Mainly through pre-Rifts Western shows and books that romanced the time period.  The ways and style of the Old West return with a vengeance.  People riding horses, wearing the styles of the old west, and other trappings have made the Old West come back.  There is no law, but the Code.

The book starts out with an overview of the territory of the New West.  Beginning with a journal entry from William McKinnith -- a gunslinger.  The west is a vast wilderness beyond the Coalition States.  Considered to be a true wilderness, there are villages and towns beyond to the West.  Places like Ephraim, Tombstone, Arzno, Charity, and Boise.  These places were the towns of the New West.  The vast wilderness that in between places of settlement is a place of danger and excitement. 

By Sascha Burkard, available from Shutterstock.

 The culture of the New West is a romance of the Old West.  John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and other actors are viewed as heroes.  Western music dominates, and the fictional cowboys of Hollywood Westerns are viewed as cultural templates.  From this romanticism arose a culture of freedom and chaos.

Character Types

There are several character types that one could play, most based off the romance of the Old West.  From bandits and desperados, to bounty hunters and gunslingers (there are three types of gunslingers -- by the way), to mining borgs, to justice rangers and sherrifs.  Other character types include the cowboy, preacher, saloon bum, gambler, and barmaid.  Of course, there are new skills included in the book to support the various character types. Yep, there is everything you need for a campaign in the New West. Even the Code is remunerated.

By Sherwood, shutterstock

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Then comes a list of monsters for your campaigns.  Which include the dream snake, gwilacks, and others -- including a worm man. Others include various dinosaurs.  Including the hadrosaur, the triceratops, and tyrannosaurus rex.

After that, various items you can buy, even borg conversion packages are detailed. What was interesting, Bandito Arms have gotten access to the Area 51 site and found some SAMAS suits.  Pre-Rifts suits.  Bandito then copied the technology and made it available.  Then whats available from the Black Market and Wilks merchandise is made available.  Even robot horses, although it's possible to get an AI installed in the horses, so that cowboys could talk to their horses.  The book ends with Techno-wizard weapons and gear.  Including the iron horse -- a train powered and follows the ley lines.

Conclusion

This is one of Rifts better world books. I suggest it wholeheartedly.  Of course, you can do research and watch Westerns for your adventures.  You can base your adventures on actual Western movies -- like True Grit and the Searchers.  Even Clint Eastwood movies can be a source of inspiration.  Also, reading books can give you inspiration for your adventures.  The book provides a starting point for your adventures in the New West.

So, what's bad about it?  Well, the OCCs aren't balanced with other World books.  Other than that, it's a good book and I recommend it for your campaigns.