Rifts Hero.

[Herolover]

Hello all.

 

I have always liked the Rifts setting, but hated the system and recently I began to study on how I would want to run a Rifts Hero campaign. I do not want to do a conversion, but instead am looking at capturing the feel and ideas presented in Rifts.

 

With that in mind I began to study how I would want my players to create their characters. I want them to be able to create just about any character since a dimensional rift could have deposited them on the Rifts world. So, with this in mind I have a couple of question.

 

1) Is Rifts a superheroic level or a heroic level campaign?

This is the first a most basic question of the campaign. At the moment I am considering saying it is a heroic level campaign, meaning no knockback and players do not pay points for "normal" equipment. I like this idea because it means characters can pick up a gun or piece of equipment and not have to worry about paying experience to keep it.

 

2) How many points do characters start with?

This is another big question. I want the players to be able to play just about any chracter they would want to play. This means, that if they wanted to play a super they should at least have the option of getting close. So 75+75, 100+100, 100+150 what level would you suggest?

 

What do you think. I would like the characters to be able to create a "super" character and still be not have to worry about paying points for equipment. At the moment I am considering 100+100 with power frameworks allowed. "Normal" equipment does not cost character points. What do you think of this?

 

Another way to go, is to do the 250+100 character, but you must pay character points for any equipment? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Magmarock]

I like Rifts too...

 

Been a long time since I played my ley-line walker...

 

If I were to run a Rifts-style campaign, I would run it with 300pt PCs (200 + 100 Disads) and have the PCs build their equipment/powers with CPs.

 

Any equipment found in the game can be dealt with in a number of ways-

 

Limited uses until it doesn't work (charges)

Alien tech explodes/implodes after a short time (jams)

Items stolen or lost or purposefully left behind (too dangerous)

Items are magical in nature (END battery runs out and need a special way to be charged again)

 

Etc.

Or XPs earned can buy an item if the Player really wants it.

 

As for money and treasure, that can always be a plot developement thing. It's Rifts, so make stuff RARE! Hard to find means that PCs can't just run across things whenever its convenient.

 

Mags

 

EDIT: Also, I would run the game (mechanics wise) like a cross between FH and CHAMPIONS, only set in that post-apocalyptic world.

[Jhamin]

I agree with your assessment that RIFTS ought to be heroic.

 

I would say that you should abandon the "any character" concept. This is one of the main problems with the origional game. Young Dragons, Mind Masters, Rouge Scholars, and Full Conversion Borg are on vasty diffrent power scales. The beauty of Hero is that we can finally point balance these people. Decide which bunch you want in your PC group.

If you are thinking of:

Rouge Scholars & Wilderness Scouts, go with 50+50

Headhunters & Psi Stalkers, 75+75

MOM Crazies & Juicers, 100+100

Full Conversion Borg & Dragons, 150+100 or even 200+150

 

Just set the point level & let poeple make whatever characters they can at that point level. IMHO one of the overlooked but very interesting parts of this world is the vast diparity in power levels. A bunch of Coalition Grunts with some powerarmor backup may well find themselves up against elder elementals or even mechanoid swarms. Only their equipment and tactics keep them alive. If you set the points too high in a heroic level game you will quickly loose that.

Of course, I always wanted to run a PRIMUS game with 150 point PC agent teams vs. supervillians so YMMV.

 

I would agree that equipment should be free, but only if it is commonly avalible. Much is made of how rare Glitter Boy armor is, so it should probably cost points (but I might be persuaded to let a charater buy it as a vehicle). The same thing would apply to strange items taken from other dimensions, assuming they went beyond the capabilities of standard RIFTS gear.

[Jhamin]

The main thing I have been trying to sort out in a conversion is how to handle the MDC/SDC stuff from the Palladium System? I for one would not want to keep the "insta-kill" effect you got when an SDC target takes MDC, but the idea that humans are squishy and need armor to stand up to supernatural threats is central to the game. You would need some way to simulate that.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

[Lord Liaden]

While Herolover isn't looking for a Rifts-HERO conversion, for anyone who is, there was a quite extensive discussion of it on the old forum boards. While that was for 4E HERO, almost all of it usable for 5E:

 

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/Champions/000157.html

 

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/C...s/000157-2.html

 

http://www.herogames.com/oldForum/Champions/000579.html

 

There's a summary of some of that material, with more current commentary, here:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=168&highlight=rifts+hero

[Herolover]

How about this idea.

 

All characters are 125+50 cp's.

 

When you create a character you must decided if your character is heroic or superheroic. If you decide superheroic you may use power frameworks. I you decide heroic you cannot use power frameworks, but all "normal" equipment you get for free.

 

A heroic character could pick up gun and use it just as normal while a character that was built on superherioc means would have to spend experience.

[Herolover]

I have an idea which is really a hodge podge of different things. In this "hodge-podge" characters can create just about any character that they can think of. This has lead to a problem in character creation, because I want all the characters to be based off the same amount of points. I want the players to be able to make up the gritty fantasy fighter, the swashbuckling space pirate, or the superhero. Of course, I realize they might not be able to do it exactly, but I want them at least to be able to get close.

 

So, here is my idea.

The campaign will be run without any of the optional rules there will be knockdown, but not knockback. Characters are created using 100+75 character points.

 

Now here is where it gets different and I wonder if this is balanced.

When you create a character you designate the character as either Supeheroic(SH) or Heroic (H).

 

(SH)

Superheroic characters may use power frameworks in character construction. However, they must pay character points for all equipment they have and any "normal" equipment they wish to have on a constant bases.

 

(H)

Heroic level characters may not use power frameworks in character contstruction (They do not have to have Normal character Maxima). The benefit they get is they never have to pay characte points for ANY equipment.

[prestidigitator]

Originally posted by Jhamin

The main thing I have been trying to sort out in a conversion is how to handle the MDC/SDC stuff from the Palladium System? I for one would not want to keep the "insta-kill" effect you got when an SDC target takes MDC, but the idea that humans are squishy and need armor to stand up to supernatural threats is central to the game. You would need some way to simulate that.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

Oh yes! Stun and Body. It's all about Stun and Body. Can you see SDC->Stun/Normal and MDC->Body/Killing? Not an exact conversion, but it sure makes sense in terms of what armor/normal defenses do for you, the difference between the different types of weapons, etc. An overabundance of Killing Attacks is sure to put the (heroic) characters behind armor/magic.

 

Here's an idea. Use the suggested differences between heroic and superheroic mentioned above, then give a heroic number of Base points, and a really high limit on Disadvantages (and play those Disadvantages for all they are worth, at least on an individual level--don't punish the hero-powered PCs in the party because one PC decided to take a 50-point Hunted!). Players who want superhero-powered characters will wind up paying for it.

[Dust Raven]

SDC & MDC

 

Originally posted by Jhamin

The main thing I have been trying to sort out in a conversion is how to handle the MDC/SDC stuff from the Palladium System? I for one would not want to keep the "insta-kill" effect you got when an SDC target takes MDC, but the idea that humans are squishy and need armor to stand up to supernatural threats is central to the game. You would need some way to simulate that.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

While the concept is cool, you have to remember the rules for MDC were created for a system that dealt 100% damage to their targets. There were no Hero System-like defenses that subtracted from the damage. In a system that does, I would simply rate that "megadamage" is lots of damage and "megadamage capacity" is enough armor to stop most of the damage. Just make sure that the megadamage are enough to squish most things without armor (at least 18 DC or so).

[Dust Raven]

Herolover. Your idea of allowing players to choose if their character's are Superheroic or Heroic is one of my first ideas when converting Rifts to Hero. If your players are 100% role-players, and don't pay attention to their points anyway, this is a great idea. If not, you'll end up with a Heroic Campaign so everybody can use the free equipment.

 

What I eventually came up with was simply deciding that the campaigh was Heroic. Characters could be built as if they are Superheroic (meaning they can buy powers and such, and didn't have NCM), but all of their equipment was free. To aid in game balance, I required mech pilots to buy a lot of their benifits of using a mech as skills. Basically, TF: Specific Mech would let you pilot it, but you would still need to buy the extra SPD and DEX (with the OIF LImitation) to have the Mecha Combat skills. This keeps mech pilots even with 'borgs, dragons and magic users.

 

As for the non-mech, non-powered O.C.C.s, just do as sugested above, and decide what power level you want the game to be. If it's mostly scholars and vagabonds, set the points kinda low. If it's mostly Dragons, Battle Magi and MInd Melters, the the points kinda high.