User:Bill/Chi-Town Fire Department

Background

A small unit of elite RPA pilots outfitted with custom-armed red and white SAMAS units must battle fires in the city and Burbs. The rail guns have been replaced with fire-retardant foam cannons and the mini-missile launchers loaded with implosive devices and other fire suppressive chemical charges.

In a world full of pyrokinetic mutants, plasma weaponry, and fire-breathing dragons the work never ends for CTFD's finest. Some possible story lines include investigating a string of arsons that have targeted anti-psychic activists, stopping a gang war before the rival gangs burn down half the burbs, tracking down a fire worshiping elemental cult, and numerous others. Imagine the complications of working with CS regulars or other special ops bureaus like the dog packs and their psi-stalkers. A lot of opportunity to play around with the bureaucracy of the Coalition. Good potential for conspiracy stories too. Think Backdraft with power armor.

Characters

This game essentially requires all player characters to be normal humans trained to pilot SAMAS power armor. Arguably, a character could include a minor mutation or a couple lesser psychic abilities, but these would make he or she stand out quite a bit.

Rules

This may be the only game of Rifts that I wouldn't actually mind using the stock rules for. Since everyone would be at the same power level and advancing in the same class, it wouldn't be nearly as much of a pain in the ass as a standard wilderness adventure with a wider variety of characters. However, the combat rules for Rifts are still pretty clunky and I don't recall any rules for environmental damage from a burning structure. Going with a rule set that includes those elements might be preferable.