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.
Contents
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.
Custom Characters
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.
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
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 five (round down) as a bonus against a target number based on the difficulty of the task.
