User:Bill/Blasters and Bushwhackers

Background

As a post-apocalyptic setting, Rifts frequently incorporates tropes such as horseback riding and dusty cattle towns. Palladium Games even has a source book for Rifts entitled The New West, that focuses on post-apocalyptic cowboys and indians doing battle over the great plains. This game will capitalize on these elements while avoiding some of the kitch.

Characters

This game is best suited to moderately powerful characters with an emphasis on pulpy action and codes of conduct. Cyberknights in particular are recommended.

Adventure Seeds

Cattle Thieves

Rustlers done bushwhacked old man McCutchin! He managed to kill one of the varmints before they made off with the herd but he's dead just the same. The widow McCutchin wants their hides for what they done, but the local law man has water in his veins.

Can our intrepid heroes track down the missing herd of horses and bring the rustlers to justice? Can they do it without killing the poor animals in the process? This is a great opportunity to play around with classic old west cliches such as box canyons, ambivalent/hostile savages, and tracking bad guys through a wasteland.

Strong Men

Warren Dodge is a petty warlord. He's holed up in a dinky fort that'd take no effort at all to blow into little pieces. One decent shot with a plasma cannon and it'd go down like a house of cards in a strong wind. There's a catch though. He's got hostages. 35 little kids that would cook away like so much bacon fat on a hot griddle when that plasma blast hit.

The parents have sent a representative to the nearest town to hire mercenaries to help. They haven't got much and are hoping to find somebody to do the right thing because it's the right thing. Are you that person? Even if you take the job, how are you going to bring down Dodge without killing the kids? He's not alone in his match-stick fort. He's got a dozen guys with a hodgepodge of gear and he himself has a banged up suit of power armor.