The Black Market is referred to as a single group in Palladium Rifts RPG however it’s made up of many groups. The Black Market Reference book brings to light the different sections within the black market. Lets review whats within this book to help you decide if it’s one for your bookshelf.
Expanded sourcebook discussing the 5 factions that sell contraband the Coalition States outlaws, including magic, weapons, drugs, and more. Trade routes, how crime is dealt with, underground railroads, and more are all discussed in the book.
Black Market GM Material
The black market has at least one or two outlets even in small towns. This is a great way for GMs to introduce illegal activities, missions, bad guys/good guys(depending on how you want to view them), and more.
You can make each black market group have a hierarchy, be a single individual, or any sort of mix in between. So this gives a GM a lot of leeway for making the Black Market in a town a small or large part of their adventure path.
Finding the black market
Each person that is part of the black market is knowingly selling goods or services that are illegal(for the city they are in). Consequently, they don’t have signs stating how to locate them. This can become a mission itself, requiring players to prove they won’t give them up, or something to that effect. Each black market group has its own set of rules they follow.
You may find them at abandoned warehouses this week, only to find it vacant next week. The bartender that you spoke with last month could have disappeared or been arrested. Once found they’ll want to trade quickly and professionally to reduce risk.
Resources for the GM
Where are the black market outlets? What do they have to sell? Who is likely to want their services? These are all easily answerable questions when you look at the Black Market Business roll table listed. It describes what kind of businesses are most common, plus there’s a contact roll table for players to find the black market.
Other tables are listed that help with various things. Coalitions States encounters, setting up a market town, Bar/Club generation, Body Chop Shops, and more.
Black market relations
A section discusses the different relations the black market has with other Factions, like The Yakuza of Japan, Coalition of North America, etc. After discussing those relations it goes into some detail on the smuggling routes they are currently using.
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Black Market Factions
This is probably the most useful section for GMs when creating multiple adventures. This section covers the 5 most prominent Black Market Factions: Bandito Arms, The Chicago Network, El Oculta, The Immaterial Hand, and LeMarche Noir.
Each of these factions specializes in a certain type of contraband. For the most part, Bandito Arms is allowed to set up shot in most locations without difficulty as they sell weapons and armor of an older time period. That said, some areas don’t want them as competition.
The other factions deal in much less savory areas and are usually not welcome anywhere. In addition, each faction works in specific areas of North America with sparse agents traveling outside. As to what each faction sells, pick up the book to find out ;).
Player Material from The Black Market
Players are mostly going to benefit from some new OCCs and expanded weapons, armor, and equipment options. Knowing about the different factions allows a player to create new backstories as well.
A section lists some Pre-Rifts art and artifacts that players could have or scavenge for. Many of these kinds of pre rifts materials are illegal in the Coalition States but can fetch a good bit of coin within the right circles.
A part of the book lists different jobs that players could pick up for some extra coin, and a GM could use as links to adventures.
Black Market story material
This book doesn’t have a specific story it advances. More so, it focuses on expanding our knowledge of the Black Market factions and the general motives behind each. There are some NPCs within each organization that have goals and would make good opposition depending on your take on Rifts.
How original is The Black Market
While we knew about the Black Market long before this book was out, little was known. I find this book to be very informative and quite unique. It really brings to life The Black Market. As it has always been referred to as a single entity, now we have not 1 but 5 parts within to work with. Fantastic!
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Is The Black Market game breaking
I don’t believe that The Black Market is game-breaking. Players may come to remember it for the Baby Boom Gun however which turns a strong character into a mini Glitter Boy.
Other than the baby boom, there are some silly-looking vehicles allowing for good all-terrain travel. My favorite vehicle is the Rod-Hammer Transport as it it great for transporting lots of goods to sell, without being super expensive.
For those that want to smuggle goods across Rifts North America, then you can look at the smuggling robots. They are insanely expensive, especially the Mega-Rex, but are fun nonetheless.
How good are the OCCs from Black Market
I list the OCCs most as support classes. They help expand the roster of classes you would expect in the world but aren’t super impressive in any way.
That said there are a few worth noting that I do like. The Rift Runner is a variation on the Ley Line Walker magic OCC. It is part magician, part smuggler. They start with a container spell to help smuggle, have some contacts in the Black Market, and slightly different skills and spell selections. Overall a fun change to the standard.
Specific Black Market OCCs I like are the Information Broker, Merchant, Con Artist, and Case Man. These are all sorts of variations on the City Rat, though not directly. You could make most of these OCCs using the City Rat if you didn’t have this book. With it, however, they gain some extra class perks that are intriguing.
One class that is in this book that isn’t Black Market related is the Raider. The title is loosely given as Rifts Earth has been lawless for centuries outside of civilization, giving rise to Raiders long ago. This book simply helps define a general skill set they all would have.
Does The Black Market mix well with Rifts Ultimate Edition?
This book works incredibly well with the Rifts core book. Is it a “must have”, possibly not. I do however think it is an intriguing book to read and learn more about the black market factions. Two of the factions within it are rather evil in nature(or parts of them anyway) and can be used for countless adventure on Rifts Earth.