Rifts world book 24 china 1 Yama Kings review. China is full of new setting information specific to Rifts China.
World Book 24 brings to Rifts the terrible war of the Yama Kings. China is rife with demons of all types and GMs will love the ghosts, demons, goblins, and dragon lands all fully described.
Gm Material from Rifts World Book 24 China 1
China book one will mostly give GMs material to work with. It fully maps, describes and fleshes out a lot of Chinese demons, goblins, ghosts, curses, and other things unique to China.
There is no place on Rifts Earth more exotic, magical and dangerous than China, especially since the Hell of the Yama Kings has bled into the mortal plane.
World Book 24 Player Material
China 1 is completely full of setting information for a Gm. This book provides a player with all the background information of the setting that will help them develop a backstory for their character. The follow-up China 2 is needed for players to pick an OCC, equipment, and all the rest that players want.
Story material within Rifts China 1
Rifts China is utterly dominated by the supernatural, be it dragons, demons, or the Yama Kings. When the Rifts began a huge fog covered the coastline of China stopping anything from viewing what’s going on within. No magic, psionics, or technological communication, radar, or scanning can make it through the fog.
The reason for the fog is the Yama King’s desire to get away from the prying eyes of Light-based gods. When the Rifts erupted they cast a spell that made “The Mist”. During those 300 or so years after the Rifts 11 kingdoms of hell were created with all manner of spirits, demons, and other supernatural forces. Humanoids are suppressed at best and killed if they resist.
The originatlity of Rifts World Book 24
I think that while it’s similar to Rifts Russia (world book 17) in that it has a demonic invasion force, the rest makes it totally different. Yes, demons, dragons, and other supernatural forces exist elsewhere but no other book puts them in a mix as China does.
In addition, the culture and OCC options are very different than other areas. This means it will create a unique setting “feel”. Instead of running around primarily with large robots and huge guns, you are more likely to have mystical martial arts fights.
There are also ghosts, curses, and other things specific to China to consider. Undead exist elsewhere, like ghosts, but China has a mix of things that are wholly different and terrifying. Combine them with the curses that can occur and it makes for a traumatizing experience at best.
Is World Book 24 game breaking
The power level of the opposition in Rifts China is vastly higher than the standard players will deal with. For example, one of the hell kingdoms is run by immortal martial artists, one of which is 1658 years old and is 20th level Taoist Immortal and 11th level Mystic Martial Artist. So I think this setting is incredibly difficult for players to make a large difference any time soon.
The idea behind most roleplaying games is to be a hero, well if that’s the case you need to work for the long game. This means, that nothing you do in the immediate setting is going to change it overnight. There are so many supernatural forces that it’s going to take years and years to start freeing humanity in the area (if ever).
How good are Rifts China’s OCCs
There aren’t any OCCs listed in this book, they are added in the follow-up book China 2 Heroes of the Celestial Court.
How well does World Book 24 mix with the core book
I would put this book as not mixing well with Rifts Ultimate. I think it would make more sense to combine Rifts Japan, Rifts China, Russia, and the Rifts Sourcebook together. The settings of these books include things like martial arts that would make the integration of each other a lot easier. That said rift is all about having totally different character groups a lot of the time, so do what you find fun.
Some basic differences between this book from the original are that some skills are different in China. For another thing, Hand To Hand combat skills is much more detailed than they are in Rifts North America. For the most part, HTH just adds attacks per melee, bonuses to attack, dodge, etc. In Rifts China HTH skills can add stat bonuses, and double your ISP or PPE, just to name a few differences.