Editing User:Bill/Rifts Week by Week

After experiencing the success of the weekly D&D Encounters group, I discussed the possibility of doing something similar for another RPG with the store owner. After a brief conversation, we agreed on Palladium Games' Rifts. I'm going to try and have an adventure and cast of characters prepared to start regular weekly sessions on August 8th, the same week as the next season of Encounters. I'll be taking a lot of cues from the Encounters program, so if the stuff I put here looks familiar it probably is meant to.

==Player Characters==
Any character that will fit into the basic story line of the game, regardless of original source, will be acceptable. However, for my sanity I will need to know what books you have used. Please have them at hand so I can easily review the background material and make a determination on whether or not the character will be approved. I strongly recommend reviewing the pregenerated characters before you start making one of your own to familiarize yourself with the approximate power range and background stories I am already using.

===Pregenerated Characters===
All of the pregenerated characters will be made using one or more of the following books; World Book 31: Triax 2, Dimension Book 14: Thundercloud Galaxy, Rifter 51, Rifter 52. These sources have been selected in an effort to highlight the most recent releases in the Rifts product line. While players who wish to make their own characters are encouraged to use these sources, they are not required to do so as long as the characters are of a similar power level and are able to fit into the background story.

*[[/Ashara|Ashara]]
*[[/Jimena|Jimena]]
*[[/Milosh|Milosh]]
*[[/Peta|Peta]]
*[[/Theophorus|Theophorus]]
*[[/Zebulon|Zebulon]]

===Custom Characters===
'''[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5i4WLbKRXBzNTMwOWM0N2MtZTA0Yi00MDBiLWJiNmUtY2Y2OWQ2Yjg4YTQz&hl=en_US Download the Character Sheet]'''

Anyone wanting to create their own characters may do so, following these guidelines. 
*Level 3
*Stats will be rolled straight without modification
*Any alignment except Diabolical or Miscreant may be selected
*Any personal equipment, within reason
The only real requirement is that the characters be willingly employed by the New German Republic's Special Tactical Regiments; volunteer units assembled from D-Bees, mutants, magic users, and assorted other folks that don't quite fit into the mainstream military. Since the characters will be working for the NGR, Triax weapons and armor will be assigned to the characters as appropriate for any given mission.

Players are encouraged, but not required, to use the advanced skill rules presented in Rifter #30.

====Background Stories====
Since this is a drop in game, you may not want to put a lot of time or thought into your background story. I really only need the following defined for every character.
*How you got to Germany
*Why you joined the special tactical regiments
The easiest answers to these questions are that the character was born in the NGR or one of the D-Bee border settlements and that he or she (or it) is attempting to gain citizenship, but feel free to be creative. Anything else you take the time to write will be read, provided that it's legible, and I may end up incorporating portions of it into the metaplot.

==House Rules & Clarifications==
Including too many house rules in a game intended to teach people the rules as written somewhat defeats the purpose. However, Palladium actively encourages the game master to house rule as he or she sees fit to make the game personal. Any house rules I do choose to use will appear here along with my justification for them. 

===d20 Skill Resolution===
Normally, Rifts uses a percentile skill system where the player must roll under his or her character's rating to be successful. There's nothing wrong with this system per se, but it is inconsistent with the roll over mechanic used in the rest of the system. So, for purposes of resolving skills, a player will roll a 20 sided die and add his or her skill rating divided by ten (round down) as a bonus against a target number based on the difficulty of the task.

===Head-Shots Are Critical===
Any successful called shot to the head of a normal living creature will count as a critical strike. As normal for critical strikes, combining criticals increases the damage multiplier by one. So, if you were to declare a called shot to the target's head and roll a natural 20, the attack would inflict triple damage. Non-living targets such as robots and undead monsters, or creatures with unorthodox anatomies that locate their brain elsewhere are not subject to this rule. A successful check with the appropriate lore skill will reveal a weak area that may be targeted on such creatures, if one exists.

===MD Damage Stacks===
Per RUE p.341, damage from MD hand weapons does not stack with basic MD hand to hand attacks. This is contradicted in a couple places and, in the interest of accelerating combat, I'm overruling it. If a character possesses sufficient strength to inflict megadamage with a hand to hand strike, he or she may treat the megadamage value of a hand weapon as a bonus to that attack. So, if a character is able to inflict 2d6 MD with a punch and it has a vibroweapon that inflicts 2d6 MD, it may roll 4d6 when it hits with the weapon. This will bias things towards hand to hand combat slightly, but with my current set of pregenerated characters that isn't a problem.

===Movement===
A character may move a number of yards equal to (5•SPD)/ the character's attack actions by expending an action. A move action may be combined with any attack, increasing the total actions required to perform  the attack by one.

For example, the TX-31 Super Trooper power armor has a maximum ground speed of 40mph, SPD 58. Zebulon is able to make 6 attacks per melée. Zebulon is therefor able to move (5•58)/6=48.33 yards in any given action. If the player wishes to execute a move (1) and a tackle (2), he will use three of the character's six actions. The move will however enable him to gain speed and potentially inflict more damage.

====Leaping====
Default leaping rules are not included in the ''Rifts: Ultimate Edition'' core book. We will be using the following rule, expanded from the Heroes Unlimited GM Guide:

A full speed running start allows a normal character to leap one half foot for every point of P.S. long/across and half that vertically, reduced by 40% for a standing start. Characters with robotic strength double this value and characters with supernatural strength triple it, unless otherwise indicated in the RCC or OCC of the character.

===Shooting Into Melee===
Firing into melee is dangerous for friendly characters. To fire into melee, a player must take an aim action and at a -2 penalty, offsetting the normal bonus. If the attack is successful, it resolves normally. If the shooter misses though, roll a D20. On 11+ the shot will hit a friendly character; usually the one standing closest to the intended target.

===Strength Bonuses===
Strength bonuses to damage do not apply at robotic and supernatural levels or to megadamage attacks in general. They are SDC bonuses and therefor insignificant by comparison to the rolled damage.

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