Combining Barsoom with Lothlórien

After reading all of the posts on the Palladium boards and the Savage Worlds RIFTS boards I can world build a little.  The game is set in the New West setting for RIFTS, and my wife wants to play a nude elf cowgirl.  The game system we are using is Savage Worlds, the setting is RIFTS from Palladium.

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I'm figuring a dude ranch in Southern Utah (like the one above is in Zion National Park).  She wants to be based in Moab, Utah, however, but we'll talk about it.  The changes everyone is suggesting is either cosmetic or mechanical, however.  The trick is creating a culture that combines Barsoom with Lothlórien.  Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Barsoom to be an exotic Mars.  The Martians wore harnesses and very little clothing (their harnesses are their only clothing).  Something my wife approves of.  Remember, she's a nudist and wants her character to be nude in game.

Lothlórien is an elven forest found in the Lord of the Rings. The magical nature of the kingdom is protected by Galadriel's ring. I'll figure more out of the setting once I talked to my wonderful, nude wife. I'll be world building this for her.  And North America is a big place in RIFTS.  The most powerful nation, the Coalition States, only takes up a small part of the Heartland of America.  The rest is considered to be wilderness by the Coalition States.  There's room for an elven kingdom in Utah.  Even if they are nudists.

Barsoom and Lothlórien

My wife had the great idea of playing in a Rifts game (campaign) as her first introduction to roleplaying games.  She wants to play RIFTS mostly because she had read my entire Rifts library and wanted to play.  She wants to play an elf cowgirl in the New West (a setting where the Old West comes to life in RIFTS, see my Rifts: New West review below).  Not just any elf Cowgirl, but a nude one.  My wife is a nudist and yes, I'm very lucky.

This is the first time for her playing any sort of Roleplaying Game, especially Rifts.  I already reached out to the gaming community.  Both at the Palladium Forums and the Pinnacle Entertainment Group RIFTS forums for some ideas for creating an elf community that is based both on Lothlórien and Barsoom.  And both communities have responded with ideas of their own. I was surprised that she picked RIFTS as her first foray into Roleplaying Games, actually.  RIFTS is not an easy setting to grasp, but then again she read my entire library and picked both the New West setting and the Atlantis setting as places to start a campaign in.

Savage Worlds Rifts: The Tomorrow Legion's Guide

 

Ah, original Rifts.  Good setting, very good setting, but the game mechanics was something of a fusion of AD&D and Chaosium Basic Roleplaying. While it worked when I was a teen and a little later, today it's dated and in need of a overall.  Fortunately, the Savage Worlds team approached Kevin Seimbedia one day and said they like to do Rifts for Savage Worlds.  Well, Kevin thought it would be a good idea and so we have Rifts: the Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide. While most players would play Rifts with a different system, the Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide contains all the rules for playing Rifts in Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE).

Kevin is a gregarious and generous person.  And while I liked him when I met him, he will not open Rifts up to third party publishers.  I don't know if he will use the Open RPG Creative license, although it would be awesome if he did.  Rifts is very imaginative: Man just rose from a Dark Age, although illiteracy is common in the Coalition states.  The world is not how we see it.  The world is beset by the rifts: doorways into dimensions and far away worlds. The Tomorrow Legion Player's Guide contains all you need to get started with a Savage Worlds Rifts campaign.  Of course you'll need the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition core rulebook to play.

What is in it?

Savage Rifts still does not contain classes, but most of the classes in Rifts were converted into Iconic Frameworks for Savage Worlds.  These iconic frameworks work like the Occupational Character classes in Rifts. And as Savage Worlds does not use levels, there are no levels for these classes. But don't worry, you can improve your character using the Savage Worlds RPG.  The iconic frameworks include: Burster, a pyrokinetic; combat cyborg, a being built with cyber-bionics; crazy, a person with cybernetic brain enhancements; Cyber-knight, Rifts answer to the D&D paladin; dragon hatchling, yes you can play a dragon!  Glitterboy, a futuristic warrior in a power suit; Juicer, a person that uses drugs to enhance their performance; Ley-line walker, technically a wizard; MARS, catch all for iconic frameworks for the doctor, headhunter, and others. Mind melter, a super psionic person; Mystic, a man of magic that creates miracles like a priest; finally Techno-wizard; a man of magic that can create gizmos.

After all this, some of the Rifts dimensional beings and aliens are discussed. These include: the Altara blind warrior women; D'Nor, the devil men; dog boy, a genetically enhanced dog; Fennodi, or cactus men of the West; Grackle Tooth, a dee-bee found mostly in Canda; Lyn-Srial, an eagle like humanoid with bat wings.  They are found in the West too. Of course, you need a psi-stalker, a mutation among humans that feed on magical and psionic potential; Quick Flex, a dextrous human like alien.  And of course the simvan, which are found in the Lonestar state.  Finally, the Trimador is discussed.

  After that we get into traits.  These include new abilities, like Anti-personnel and nimble; and a few new attributes for a Savage Rifts game.  Including strain, and super strength.  And then there are new skills: like Cybernetics.  And there is discussion of how existing skills work in the Savage Rifts setting.  After this, languages are discussed.  Including American and Elvish/Dragonese. 

New hindrances and edges are discussed.  Although magical edges (such as the Weird Science edge) are discussed in the magic chapter; this section discusses how some edges are reconfigured for the World of Rifts. It also includes new edges.  Many new edges, including some that are iconic.

The next chapter deals with Gear. Player characters may start with a lot of gear already, depending on which iconic framework is chosen.  Then gear in the game is discussed.  There are a lot of items in Rifts listed.  Plus, you can use gear from Savage Worlds.  Then there is a section on Armor, after that power armor is discussed (this includes the Glitter-boy armor).  Then we have a section on weapons. Many different weapons. 😀

Gear also goes over vehicles.  There are several vehicles to choose from. Including robot vehicles. After vehicles are discussed, we get to the cybernetics section. And several cybernetics are discussed.  Like organ replacement and strength upgrade.  Everything you need for your character to have cybernetics.  Of course the Atlantis module talks about bio-wizardry.  That I will be reviewing at a later date.

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Chapter three discusses the new setting rules in Rifts.  These include: Blaze of Glory, rules that state when the character using it goes to die.  Blood and Gore, like it says.  Death and defeat; when the player character decides not to use the Blaze of Glory rules. Siphoning PPE rules (from another individual to cast a spell), includes rules for blood sacrifice.  Rules for technical difficulties are put forth.  After that, vehicle fatigue rules are discussed.  And that rounds out chapter three.

After that, rules for magic and psionics is discussed in Chapter Four: Psionics and Magic.  First, some basic rules -- like how spells work with mega-damage rules (yes, mega damage is discussed in Savage Rifts), and basic rules for strain are discussed.  After that, the arcane backgrounds are also discussed how they work in Rifts. There are some changes rather than those discussed in Savage Worlds. Ley lines and how they work are discussed.  Then there is a section on rituals and items that can be used for rituals.  Including PPE batteries.  Then some rules regarding magic spells in powers in Rifts are discussed.

Finally, in Chapter five the hero's journey rounds out the chapters in Savage Rifts. This chapter goes over various hooks you can use for your character's background.  These include body armor, education, close combat weapons, and other tables.  After these are discussed, we get an index.

Innovations from Vanilla Rifts  

One thing you've got to remember is that the Savage Worlds system is completely classless. Well, what I mean is that they don't have classes.  While vanilla Rifts does have classes, occupational character classes -- or O.C.C.s; and (if you're going by the 1990's version of Rifts like I do) racial character classes or R.C.C.s. So, what did Pinnacle do with this sort of situation?  Come up with Iconic Frameworks!  That is one good innovation right there.

The iconic framework in Savage Worlds Rifts allows you to pick a "class" while allowing you some customization.  While vanilla Rifts allows for some customization through skills -- you are still playing that O.C.C. or R.C.C.  And while vanilla Rifts was a step up from the class system of AD&D and the skill system of Call of Cthulhu -- the probability that you will end up with two different Glitterboys in Savage Rifts is very high.  Customization is par excellence in Savage Rifts that you might end up with a Glitterboy who can do magic (Arcane Background: Magic) and one who can do psionics (Arcane Background: Psionics).  The frameworks are there to provide you with a scaffold to build your character with.  It's kind of like a class, but then it's not.  You're not defined by your framework in Savage Worlds Rifts.  You are allowed to come up with any kind of character you want: the framework is there to help you leave the occupational character class of Rifts behind.  In fact, you define the character you want to play.

If you want to play a gunslinger with psionics you can (in fact, the Psi-Slinger is an iconic framework in another, later SW Rifts product.)  If you want to play a cowboy who does magic, it's very possible to do that (Empires of Humanity details the cowboy and the gunslinger).  Each iconic framework "is a package of powers, special abilities, Edges, gear, and other character elements that define an iconic
role within a setting. In the case of the world of Rifts®, where characters begin with incredible capabilities and devastating machines of war as a matter of course, the Iconic Framework is a necessary tool to help represent these ideas while still working within the core ideas of Savage Worlds."

An iconic framework is there to help you make the character you want.  How different races are handled is another innovation.  While you can select a race in Rifts (human or Dimensional Being, like elf, orc, or simvan), some of these are considered Racial Character Classes in vanilla Rifts®.  That means it has it's own skills and other things to consider.  In Savage Worlds, you can choose a race and then choose a framework.  This means you can play a simvan cowboy, a grackletooth mind melter, or a "mutant" dog crazy (the dog boy is actually genetically engineered, something I'll discuss once I get to Rifts: Lone Star). Each race in Savage Worlds Rifts is just an option to pick.  To help you customize your character to your tastes.  And yes, you can still play a dragon hatchling.  Except it's an iconic framework, not a race.

One other innovation over vanilla Rifts is how skills are handled.  In  vanilla Rifts® you roll percentile dice and hope to get under a certain percentage.  Savage Worlds handles skills differently.  You roll a die.  The better the die, the better the probable outcome.  Rolling a skill with a d4 in it is a lot different than rolling a skill using a d12. It can provide different results than rolling a percentile die (note: I know skills in Rifts are varied in their application -- one skill might just raise your Physical Strength, another might raise your Physical Prowess).

Cybernetics is another important innovation over vanilla Rifts®. You can still get cybernetic implants, but you are simply restrained by a mechanic called strain.  Strain tells you how you may recover from cyber-surgery.  Although some systems are unlimited, some are not, and some may require a basic cybernetic implant.

So, mega-damage.  Is it in there?  Yes, it's in there. A weapon in Savage Rifts that can do mega-damage is considered to be a heavy weapon in Savage Worlds.  Armor capable of having MDC is considered to be heavy armor in Savage Worlds. One problem with vanilla Rifts® was that you had different scales of damage and most weapons did mega-damage.  In Savage Worlds, this is handled differently. The damage scaling is more realistic.  A hand-held Wilk's laser weapon does not do mega-damage in Savage Worlds. Therefore, if you shoot a regular Joe with your laser weapon in Savage Rifts®, you aren't going to suddenly turn him into a pile of ash. He'll be hurt, but he won't automatically burn up.  However, a mega-damage weapon -- like a rail gun -- does gritty damage per Savage Worlds' rule systems.

Potential Psychic Energy, or P.P.E. and Inner Strength Points, or I.S.P.  Are they in Savage Rifts®? Yes, they are.  P.P.E. can be transferred like it is in vanilla Rifts®, and there are ways of cultivating your personal P.P.E.  Usually everyone has P.P.E. (this includes Mystics), and psychics have I.S.P.  This is discussed in the Magic and Psionics chapter, including a discussion on each Arcane Background (Gifted, Magic, Miracles, Psionics, or Weird Science).

Conclusion

So, you're a Rifts player of the original system. Maybe you enjoy the original system.  And you are curious of how Rifts work with the Savage Worlds system.  And they did their best translating Rifts to Savage Worlds. It's beautifully laid out in living color.  And it looks well done!  I suggest you get a copy of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition and this book to begin a campaign.  Savage Worlds and Rifts work well together.  There are no levels, that's for sure, and no alignments. But Savage Worlds brings Rifts up to date and nearly into the 21st Century.