There are a lot of Rifts books to consider when starting to play. Today I want to give my thoughts on the best rifts dimension books. Having read all the Rifts books several times I like certain ones more than others.
My favorite Rifts dimension books are Phase World, Anvil Galaxy, Megaverse Builder, Thundercloud Galaxy, Secrets of the Atlanteans, and Dimensional Outbreak. Everyone has their own opinion and reasoning though decide for yourself. I have an individual review on all 15 rifts dimension books but here are my quick thoughts about each.
Rifts dimension book manhunter
Some themes get used far too often which leads to a very cliche situation. Rifts Manhunter is such a book that centers on robots viewing humanoids as their enemies to hunted to extinction. Rifts already have the Mechanoids. On top of that though how many movies and stories do we have about killer robots, or killer AI going on the rampage? In a tabletop RPG setting, it contradicts some of the elements desired.
Specifically speaking look and fun. When you are thinking about enemies to fight, the most realistic seeming enemies are those that you can relate with. A robot has no feelings, even if you tell me they do it still comes down to programming. They are programmed to behave in certain ways and they just aren’t fun to deal with.
Secondly, where is the fun in creating an entire set that provides no loot to the player characters? When you run around blasting robots the only loot to pick up is maybe scrap metal. If you play a character that doesn’t use guns or blades there is literally nothing to pick up from a robot. I find this setting dull and boring.
Rifts dimension book 1 wormwood
I want to sit here and say I like this book but the fact is that I don’t care for Wormwood. It has some cool classes, equipment, and OCCs BUT nothing can leave. I play Rifts because I want to travel the Megaverse, and in comes a dimension book that literally doesn’t allow you to remove anything from it. Ok so you can go and have some fun adventures there.. but that’s not unique to it. Why go to Wormwood for adventure, when you can go to other places for similar adventures and take things with you?
Rifts dimension book 2 phase world- Pick #1
Like the Rifts main book and Ultimate Edition, this book started the Three Galaxies and is essential. It is probably my number one pick from the dimension books. I also love using this book for other Rifts settings through the use of the Race creation tables.
Rifts dimension book 3 phase world sourcebook
The followup to Rifts Phase World is a short yet sweet book adding much to the Three Galaxies. With over a dozen new spaceships, more alien races, weapons, armor, and equipment. Other information is also added.
Specific information regarding Naruni Enterprises, the Kreeghor Empire, Cosmo-Knights, and the cosmic forge. This information can be used to create a lot of good adventures. While I really like the book it’s not at the top of my must-have Rifts dimension books.
Rifts dimension book 4 skraypers
This is also another book that I don’t connect with, perhaps you will. It is another setting, like manhunters, that is supposed to be isolated within the Three Galaxies. The tech level of the area is supposed to be similar to the Coalition of Rifts Earth. This is one reason why it doesn’t resonate well with me.
The Phase World setting has crazy out-of-this-world planets and OCCs, and this book is just.. not. Aside from that though the bad guys from Skraypers sound a lot like Transgalactic Empire and I just don’t care for that at all. They are a watered-down version of whiny children(yes that’s what I think of the Kreeghor).
Rifts dimension book 5 anvil galaxy- pick #3
This is my 3rd pick because it is necessary to combine it with my 2nd pick. The world builders toolkit is amazing. The UWW(United Worlds of Warlock RCCs are a fun twist on common races but for me, it’s all about building worlds to travel to.
When you build a dimension and then Rift to it you generally arrive at a dimensional nexus. Generally, that place is a planet so while the dimension generator is really awesome as well, without a planet or arrival place it isn’t complete enough. This book gives you all you need to fully complete a dimension, though you can add some cherries on top by using other generators like the colony generator from Thundercloud Galaxy.
Rifts dimension book 6 three galaxies- honorary #7
The colony generator is not the only one you can use to finalize a new setting. This book has a space station creation table. I haven’t made much use of this though. I often find that I just roll a couple more planets and call that good. This book has a lot of stations and adventure ideas for deep space travel so if that’s you then pick this up for sure.
Rifts dimension book 7 megaverse builder- pick #2
Oh gosh, the options available for travel are endless with this book. If you are someone that likes to make up your own places to visit then this book is a must-have. It also has a Shifter summoning table that can be used to simplify random monster summoning (in my experience though it’s better to specify what you want as a Shifter).
Rifts dimension book 8 Naruni Wave 2
This book would have been better as a World book simply because it gets overlooked being in the dimension section. There is some really good equipment for players to use from it so I think it would have been received better if it had been listed as a world book.
Rifts dimension book 9
This book was never finished I just have it here so you don’t think I missed a book.
Rifts dimension book 10 hades
If you are playing a Shifter or something that uses demons then this is a must-have book. If you want to know what the demons are doing in the Minion War then this is a go-to also. However, from space travel, a planet-creation standpoint is not necessary.
Rifts dimension book 11 dyval
This book is similar to the above only for knowing what the deevils are doing.
Rifts dimension book 12-dimensional outbreak- pick #5
I really like the Minion War concept because it spans so many settings and books that, like Rifts, you can create an adventure with it anywhere.
Rifts dimension book 13 fleets of the three galaxies- honorary #8
I really like spaceships and no other book has as many as this one. In addition, it has guidelines on creating new spacecraft (I don’t really like the guidelines totally but they are a good starting point). Also, there is a lot of adventure ideas with the additional information on the power blocs in the Three Galaxies.
Rifts dimension book 14 thundercloud galaxy pick #4
As you may have guessed, this book also has a creation table (2). If you want to know more about the Elders in the Three Galaxies then this book has more on them. In addition, it has a table with guidelines for creating them (recommended for GMs, not players). The creation tables I pick this book for though are colonies. Is it a big city your players are going to? Small city, town, massive place? You can easily just randomly roll it and find out.
Creation Table note- Use what is listed as a baseline and then add to, edit, or remove things to suit your playstyle and games.
Rifts dimension book 15 secrets of the Atlanteans- pick #6
Atlanteans in Rifts are a very popular race to play as. They have a lot of options and most of the people I have played or spoken with like them. So I can see expanding Rifts with more information about where they have gone to and what’s become of them. More so ever since Rifts Atlantis, there have been the Sunaj that we didn’t know a whole lot about. This goes into more detail on them too.
Rift’s heroes of the megaverse
There are a few books that I think were a complete waste of space and time but this one takes the cake. As far as superheroes go, Heroes Unlimited already has the Magic item category. There was no real need to create this book. It is entirely about a single magic item that gives superpowers.
Check the available Rifts roleplaying game books available for sale from amazon to help save some money.
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