Jab's Rifts Builds (Rifts- A Final Summation!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

I was gonna make a joke about the DC Tattooed Man, but..I got nothing.
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Sidious
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Sidious »

These tattoos look like things drawn or designed by people that don't have and don't understand tattoos.

I never understood the fascination with making them magic. At higher levels you don't need to touch the tattoo to activate it.
I WILL give in to the fact that Orges make AWESOME T-Monster Men.

You know, I honestly don't think Palladium does ANY play testing on these things at all? There are some good ideas in there but they need just something more to bring it out.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Sidious wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:15 pm These tattoos look like things drawn or designed by people that don't have and don't understand tattoos.
RIGHT?? It’s just a bunch of individual drawings of a regular thing. No... story or anything. Not even hidden in the “big green mess” style of tattoo (which I think has an official name).
You know, I honestly don't think Palladium does ANY play testing on these things at all? There are some good ideas in there but they need just something more to bring it out.
It’s been an accusation for years that they don’t test anything. Certainly they don’t check much. The Free Quebec book contains a half-dozen Glitter Boys mods that are just “slightly different GB with a worse weapon”, even when the text indicates that the weapon is the equal of the Boom Gun. They universally are not.

This book here mentions one Metzla as being more deadly than the other, even though it too is not. A lot of “All Talk” classes.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Oh damn- I can't utterly tear Kevin's idiotic "Mages aren't WIMPS" argument to shreds, because Fatal & Friends, the gift that keeps on giving, already did so in explicit detail: https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-a ... -of-magic/

Short Version: Kevin is a moron, Kevin doesn't really realize how his own game plays, Kevin thinks that "versatility" is the same thing as "good in a fight", Kevin thinks that Rifts works like D&D where the mage becomes a God at later levels and leaves the warriors behind even though a 1st Level Glitter Boy would utterly trash a 15th Level Mage, Kevin thinks fans who want powerful fighters are imbeciles, oh and BTW here's an entire list of O.C.C.s that makes mages more powerful even after he spent several pages passive-aggressively shitting on people who thought that Juicers were better.

Also, hilariously, the whole "Mages can't wear lots of metal or most MDC Armor" thing mentioned here HAS NEVER BEEN BROUGHT UP BEFORE AS A THING. So they retconned in an EXTRA WEAKNESS for wizards.

It's just STAGGERING ass-clown-ery. It would have taken only moments to fix many of these issues. Give Wizards more regular access to powerful blasts and Force Fields at lower levels, and bridge the gap between them and the others. Done. But no- instead they get much weaker Call Lightning & Fire Bolt at later levels, while all other fighters get better gear at Level One... oh, and those classes also fight better. But no- Mages aren't WIMPS.

A funny one, indicating Kevin doesn't know shit about his own engine:
Even if you measure “power” only by the brute strength and raw destructive “power” provided by M.D.C. body armor, power armor, bionics, missiles and big guns - even then - practitioners of magic are not wimps! Quite the opposite.

A fireball cast by a spellcaster of max level (15) will do 50% of the damage of a 1st level Glitter Boy, will have about 25% of the attacks of a Glitter Boy, have to spend more of their paltry attacks on defense (due to the mage often being less durable), and has 0.8% of the Glitter Boy's engagement range. (Yes, the GB can fire 122x farther.) In addition, the spellcaster will have a far slimmer amount of "ammo" to use. So this is demonstrably and hilariously false.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:46 am Oh damn- I can't utterly tear Kevin's idiotic "Mages aren't WIMPS" argument to shreds, because Fatal & Friends, the gift that keeps on giving, already did so in explicit detail: https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-a ... -of-magic/
Fatal & Friends really is a fun site, though given the numerous people reviewing you should take a lot of their reviews with a grain of salt. Still, for the most part I really enjoy their reviews and I've actually gotten into a few books because of them.
Short Version: Kevin is a moron, Kevin doesn't really realize how his own game plays, Kevin thinks that "versatility" is the same thing as "good in a fight", Kevin thinks that Rifts works like D&D where the mage becomes a God at later levels and leaves the warriors behind even though a 1st Level Glitter Boy would utterly trash a 15th Level Mage, Kevin thinks fans who want powerful fighters are imbeciles, oh and BTW here's an entire list of O.C.C.s that makes mages more powerful even after he spent several pages passive-aggressively shitting on people who thought that Juicers were better.

Also, hilariously, the whole "Mages can't wear lots of metal or most MDC Armor" thing mentioned here HAS NEVER BEEN BROUGHT UP BEFORE AS A THING. So they retconned in an EXTRA WEAKNESS for wizards.

It's just STAGGERING ass-clown-ery. It would have taken only moments to fix many of these issues. Give Wizards more regular access to powerful blasts and Force Fields at lower levels, and bridge the gap between them and the others. Done. But no- instead they get much weaker Call Lightning & Fire Bolt at later levels, while all other fighters get better gear at Level One... oh, and those classes also fight better. But no- Mages aren't WIMPS.

A funny one, indicating Kevin doesn't know shit about his own engine:
Even if you measure “power” only by the brute strength and raw destructive “power” provided by M.D.C. body armor, power armor, bionics, missiles and big guns - even then - practitioners of magic are not wimps! Quite the opposite.

A fireball cast by a spellcaster of max level (15) will do 50% of the damage of a 1st level Glitter Boy, will have about 25% of the attacks of a Glitter Boy, have to spend more of their paltry attacks on defense (due to the mage often being less durable), and has 0.8% of the Glitter Boy's engagement range. (Yes, the GB can fire 122x farther.) In addition, the spellcaster will have a far slimmer amount of "ammo" to use. So this is demonstrably and hilariously false.
Yeah, Kevin should REALLY keep his mouth shut.

Glitter Boys are actually a perfect example of why Rifts doesn't really work in a Level based system. The whole point is to start the game in one of the best suits of Power Armor there is, with max damage built into the suits gun. A Glitter Boy is never going to do more damage at later levels than it does at the start, only maybe getting more accurate and more attacks. Meanwhile Mages and Cyber Knights will take forever to level up and gain the abilities and damage that makes them even comparable to the Glitter Boy.

The idea of the Glitter Boys being the major damage dealer and having a ton of armor isn't bad in and of itself, because they're basically tanks. They do one thing and they do it well, but they've got crap for versatility and their mobility is garbage. Even using their best weapon basically makes them a sitting duck, requiring support to be really effective.

Mages should be the ultimate option guys, where they can either focus on versatility or spec into being guys with extreme ranged damage as well. Like, a Mage should have the option of buying the right abilities that would let them deal Glitter Boy like damage, but doing so would kill most of their versatility, basically making them a Magical Blaster, which should be a viable option.

Again, Rifts system is its own worst enemy. Mutants and Masterminds or Champions would make better systems by far. Heck, I'm wondering how easy it'd be to do a hack of the new TORG system to run a Rifts game.
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T-Monster Men

Post by Jabroniville »

T-MONSTER MEN O.C.C.
Role:
Enraged Slaves, Crazy Heroes, Monster Guys
PL 9 (73 + Tattoos)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Expertise (Slave) 4 (+4)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+6)
Intimidation 6 (+6)
Perception 4 (+6)
Technology 3 (+3)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Assorted Gear), Languages (A Few)

Powers:
"MDC Creature" Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious 5) [10]

"Tattoos"
(1 Simple Weapon, 2 Magic Weapons, 3 Animal, 4 Monster; Animated Dead or Protection; Invulnerability or Magic Armor, 2 more)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Assault Rifle +4 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
MDC Weapons +5 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
MDC Weapons vs. Dragons +5 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Magical Blasts +4 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +4 (+9 Tattoos, +11-ish with Tattoos), Fortitude +7, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Slaves)- Tattooed Men are marked by their ink as slaves. Most are bitter, full of rage, and hostile to everyone. Basically you are a Linkin Park song.
Power Loss (Tattoo Magic)- All powers coming from Tattoos do not last an infinite amount of time.

Total: Abilities: 38 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 10 + Tattoos / Defenses: 7 (73 + Tattoos)

-Very similar to the last O.C.C., but with a different focus, T-Monster Men... oh, I get it now. THESE GUYS pay only HALF for the Monster Tattoo powers! That means they can likely summon a couple before they run out of P.P.E.! And they get two more than the T-Men get, making them tougher in MDC as well! So... they're literally the same class, but better and with no statistical weaknesses. Got it. OH, but they get to roll THREE TIMES on that dumb Insanity Table, meaning they can be Obsessed with Fighting, always want to avoid fighting, afraid of Elder Dragons, etc. This is said to be a favored class of Ogres.
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Undead Slayer

Post by Jabroniville »

Image

How many f*ckin' books did they PUT this piece in?

UNDEAD SLAYER O.C.C.
Role:
Vampire Slayer
PL 8 (172 + Tattoos)
STRENGTH
4 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+8)
Expertise (Supernatural Beings) 8 (+9)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+7)
Intimidation 2 (+5)
Perception 3 (+6)
Stealth 4 (+5)
Technology 4 (+4)
Treatment 4 (+5)
Vehicles 1 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 11 (Gear, Anti-Vamp Stuff), Favored Foe (Vampires), Tracking

Powers:
Immunity 2 (Aging, Disease, Limited to Half) [1]
Immunity 5 (Transformation Effects) [5]
"Tatoo- Protection From Vampires" Senses 4 (Vampire Detection- Radius, Ranged, Recognize on Sight) [4]
"Sense Magic" Senses 2 (Magic Awareness- Ranged) [2]
"Sense Rifts" Senses 3 (Rift Awareness- Ranged 2) [3]

"MDC Being" Protection 5 (Extras: Impervious) [10]

"Ley Line Phasing" Teleport 10 (Extras: Extended, Accurate) (Flaws: Limited to Along Ley Lines, Source- 15-60 Second Ritual -1/2, Unreliable- 4/hour -1/2) (20) -- [22]
  • AE: "Tattoo- Flaming Sword" Damage +3 (3)
  • AE: "Tattoo- Eye of Knowledge" Comprehend 3 (Languages) (6)
  • AE: "Wind" Fans out Flames, etc. (1)
  • AE: "Call Lightning" Damage 9 (Feats: Ranged 2) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Line) (Flaws: Limited to 4-6 Min. at a Time, Unreliable- 5/day) (6)
  • AE: "Turn Dead" Mind Control 8 (Burst, Ranged Only, Limited to Animated Undead) (16)
  • AE: "Tattoo- Healing Touch" Healing 5 (Flaws: Unreliable- 5/day) (5)
  • AE: "Tattoo- Rising Phoenix" Healing 10 (Feats: Persistent) (Extras: Resurrection, Restorative) (Flaws: Unreliable- 1/day -2, Side-Effect- Tattoo Loss) (11)
"Tattoo- Weapon With Wings" Blast 7 (Extras: Affects Others) (Quirks: Runs out in 15 Min.) [20]
"Tattoo- Weapon Covered in Flames" Strength-Damage +3 (Extras: Affects Others 7) (Quirks: Runs Out in 15 Min.) [9]
"Tattoo- Heart Encircled By Chains" Protection 1 (Extras: Impervious) (Flaws: Unreliable- 5/day) [1]

"Tattoo- Chain Wrapped Around Cloud"
"See Invisible & Air Elementals" Senses 5 (Vision Counters Concealment, Detect Air Elementals- Ranged) (Flaws: Limited to 4-6 Min., Unreliable- 5/day) [2]
Comprehend 1 (Air Elementals) (Flaws: Limited to 4-6 Min.) [1]
"Float" Flight 1 (Flaws: Limited to 4-6 Min.) [1]

Plus:
(2 Simple Weapons, 2 Magic Weapons, Two Animals, 1 Monster, 2 Powers)

Equipment:
"Body Armor"
Protection 3 (Impervious 5) (12)
Immunity 6 (Radiation, Vacuum, Hot, Cold, Suffocation 2) (6)
Mini-Computer (2)
Tinted Visor (1)

"Energy Rifle" Blast 10 (Extras: Multiattack) (30)
"Assorted Gear" Gas Masks, Radios, etc. (4)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Assault Rifle +4 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Flaming Sword +5 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +5 (DC 15), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +9 (+10 Heart Shield), Fortitude +7, Will +7

Complications:
Guilt- The Atlanteans feel shame for their past mistakes, and resolve not to gather once more.
Power Loss (Tattoo Magic)- All powers coming from Tattoos do not last an infinite amount of time; the more experience Atlantean can keep them up for longer.

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 34--17 / Advantages: 13 / Powers: 81 + Tattoos / Defenses: 11 (172 + Tattoos)

-Okay, now HERE's something unique- an Atlantean shoved into the "T-Men" section, with a focus towards killing Vampires in specific, but Evil Supernatural Beings in general. The Undead Slayer gets a lot of "Maxi-Man"-type stuff, including the same number of Magic Tattoos, BUT he ends up with various specific ones, meaning I actually have to stat out the real character, minus nine other tattoos they can choose. Undead Slayers are still solo operatives, but are empowered by Atlantean Mystics, so each level requires them to head back to a different dimension to gain more tattoos (2/level, as normal for T-Men).

-The Undead Slayer is VERY expensive, largely because he piles on two Templates in one, plus gains a ton of Tattoo Magic. They are T-Men combined with True Atlanteans, which makes them fairly tough. BUT, the specific tattoos they get allow me to show what happens when you pick various ones- ie. you end up with a very complicated mess. See, some Tattoos are used more or less like a one-off Instant Duration power in M&M. But... the Summon Weapons ones? Those are active for a while, and can be used by others, so they're outside of the array. Sensory powers? Outside the array. Half the powers from the "Cloud" tattoo are in the Array, while others are not. And THEN... you add in the weird Flaws & Quirks that involve the P.P.E. stuff- the "Phoenix" Healing spell could be done only once by most early characters, who would then lose most of their other powers (certainly you could not do a Monster Summon, then Phoenix). Other powers wear out after 15-ish minutes.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Ares »

You know, in Rifts being a Monster Hunter would and should be a pretty big deal. Like some kind of hybrid of the Witcher and Monster Hunter video games with maybe a little Blade, Castlevania and Devil May Cry thrown in. Or Hell, have a little bit of each and have a lot of different monster hunter types. But they go with Tattoo Magic for the major monster slayers of the game? Really?
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Maxi-Men

Post by Jabroniville »

MAXI-MEN O.C.C.
Role:
Loyal Slaves, Super-T-Men
PL 9 (89 + Tattoos)
STRENGTH
3 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 5 DEXTERITY 4
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Athletics 5 (+7)
Expertise (Military) 10 (+10)
Expertise (Survival) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Espionage) 6 (+6)
Intimidation 6 (+6)
Perception 4 (+6)
Stealth 4 (+7)
Technology 3 (+3)

Advantages:
Equipment 4 (Assorted Gear), Languages (A Few), Tracking

Powers:
"MDC Creature" Protection 6 (Extras: Impervious 5) [11]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]

"Tattoos"
(2 Simple Weapons, 2 Magic Weapons, 2 Animal, 2 Monster; 4 Powers, 6 Extra)

Offense:
Unarmed +5 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Assault Rifle +4 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
MDC Weapons +5 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
MDC Weapons vs. Dragons +5 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Magical Blasts +4 (+6 Ranged Damage, DC 21)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +5 (DC 15), Toughness +4 (+10 Tattoos, +12-ish with Tattoos), Fortitude +7, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Slaves)- Tattooed Men are marked by their ink as slaves. Most are bitter, full of rage, and hostile to everyone. Basically you are a Linkin Park song.
Power Loss (Tattoo Magic)- All powers coming from Tattoos do not last an infinite amount of time.

Total: Abilities: 42 / Skills: 42--21 / Advantages: 6 / Powers: 13 + Tattoos / Defenses: 7 (89 + Tattoos)

-So while Tattooed Men are a bit sub-par (perhaps more than the designers themselves intended), the Maxi-Men are QUITE potent. T-Men are mere slaves, but these guys are the HOUSE Slaves- Maxi-Men are raised from youth to accept tattoos, get way more of them (18 to start), and make more money. They can be raised to the rank of general, espionage master, or even KING- their position in the ranks of Splugorth Minions is actually right up there with Dragons (and above Gargoyles)!

-Maxi-Men have six more tattoos than T-Men, and also get 1D4x10 extra MDC, adding up to about 70-100 extra MDC! Of course that adds up to little on the M&M scale, but it's a lot in Rifts.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Fatal & Friends points out the absurdity inherent in Palladium posting all sorts of stuff over this sexy, new class (the Tattooed Men)... and immediately offering up three BETTER VERSIONS OF IT, thus completely nuking the T-Men before they even get off the ground. It's so weird.

"Class Glut" is a big thing in Rifts, though. Often a lot of VERY unnecessary, incrementally-tiny changes to them. Rifts New West is probably the worst ever for this, with three kinds of Gunslingers, a GunFIGHTER, two unskilled hobo classes, and both a Sheriff and a Deputy as DIFFERENT CLASSES, alongside "Justice Ranger".

It all just seems so weird. Like "padding" for the books, when they could EASILY add tons of information about different organizations and classes instead.
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Ares
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Ares »

So if a bunch of Maxi-Men rent an apartment together, is it called a Maxi-Pad?
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Cyber-Knights! Xiticix! Rifts Atlantis!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Ares wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:41 am So if a bunch of Maxi-Men rent an apartment together, is it called a Maxi-Pad?
Good one, Ken.






WAIT.
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Re: Anti-Monster

Post by Spectrum »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Apr 06, 2019 5:52 am -The reason your 14-year-old ass bought Rifts South America, the Anti-Monster features on the cover of the book in a bad-ass Frazetta-esque painting by a guy named "Brom" (Gerald Brom, a fantasy and advertising artist of note; this is his only Rifts work, likely as he can afford to charge a pretty penny, having been the signature artist of TSR's famous Dark Sun campaign world in the '80s). While I'm not a worker at the Palladium offices, I would bet all the money I have that Brom was hired to design the cover, came up with this BITCHING uber-90s "Muscle Monster" thing, and the writers scrambled to include it. They're so '90s that they even have a Mysterious Past, being such Special Snowflakes that they can't even be replicated by beings as mighty as the Splugorth. The book only gives two potential origins (a mad Doctor and an Alien God, both from other books).
Brom also did a ton of stuff for Deadlands. He has an awesome dark fantasy style that was really popular back then.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Amazons! Headless Men! Anti-Monster!)

Post by Spectrum »

Ares wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:53 pm
Jabroniville wrote: Mon Apr 08, 2019 5:25 am Do I even have to check? It’s eighteen shitty powers and two auto-take MDC boosts, isn’t it?
Its one of those "needlessly complicated / not enough function" things. There's like a half-dozen different martial arts character classes, 8 or so "normal" martial arts styles, 8 or so "mystical" martial arts styles, and some classes with some built in powers. Only one class, the Seng Ren Monk, has any real potential for flexibility, having a list of "Chi Powers" to pick from, but they come off as basically a spell list, and the damage really isn't all that impressive, especially since the abilities mostly don't improve with level. The major saving grace of the Seng Ren Monk is that they have an insane ISP regeneration, so they can at least use their abilities often.

Like, for example, there's a Mystical Martial Art based on Bagua-Zhang. Bagua-Zhang is the martial art they based the Air Nomad Bending style off of, being about fluid movement, awareness, a strong focus on defense and the ability to move around your target effectively. They have a practice called, "walking the circle" where you basically develop a means of being able to move around your opponent to evade their attacks, to attack them from any angle, while still being aware of your surroundings, so you can shift your "circle" encompass new target. Its an interesting martial arts form and one of the major internal styles.

In Rifts China, Bagua-Zhang is about . . . walking in a circle to build a magical circle on the ground. Basically you literally walking a circle and that circle becomes this sort of little point where you gain bonuses to offense, defense and awareness while inside said circle, awareness of threats out of it, and the more you level up, the more bonuses and powers you get while inside of the circle.

The problem?

The circle is stationary. You basically walk in a circle to build up a little place of power, and then try to remain in that spot for the entire battle. If you step outside the circle, it automatically starts to break down, and you need to work to repair it. And it takes time to set the circle up, meaning that for a round of combat you'll just be walking in a circle not doing anything else. And the powers it grants aren't anything super spectacular.

It's like, if you were going to try and turn Bagua-Zhang into some kind of Street Fighter/Dragon Ball Z style, that is the least effective, most overly complicated, and most missing the point way of doing it I'd ever even conceive of.
Once more we get back to my real 'problem' with Palladium as a whole. Some really awesome cool concepts with crap mechanics to (not) back them up.

Recently, I've been on a martial arts in rpgs concepts and Ninjas and Superspies and Mystic China have been in my reference pile.
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Re: Jab's Rifts Builds (Amazons! Headless Men! Anti-Monster!)

Post by Spectrum »

Jabroniville wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:04 am So.... Did C.J. Carella Over-Power Rifts?:
* This seems to be the million-dollar question. Carella's work gets called out specifically on TV Tropes and by Kevin Siembieda for this. His work in the early third of the World Books is FULL of stuff that's insanely over-powered, and things that make the early books redundant. So... is it his fault? Does he deserve the blame?
... and catching up :)

CJ Carella was one of my favorite game writers for a while. Nightbane was full of awesome concepts- but hampered by Palladium mechanics and randomness.

He (?) also did some really great modern horror games for Eden. In a lot of ways he was doing the same stuff that White Wolf set off to do but also had a much better concept of internal consistency and narrowing down the range rather than trying to do everything.
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