Rifts World Book 34 Northern Gun 2 review covers some fantastic options for players and GMs alike. This is the followup to the Northern Gun one that had a ton of new Robots. Northern Gun 2 includes about a dozen power armor, new body armor, aircraft, boats, and more.
A huge book full of all kinds of equipment for the daring adventurer. Northern Gun is THE adventurer’s arms manufacturer. You will find dozens upon dozens of new power armors, body armors, vehicles-flying, air and ground, and more.
Gm Material from Rifts World Book 34 Northern Gun 2
If you are looking for a place to have arena combat then Ishpeming is the place. It has a Robodome that hosts a variety of different sports with the most anticipated being large robot combat. There are other combat sports with juicers being the most consistent, crazies, power armor, and cyborg matches also. Robot horse races, hovercycle races, and other things are also part of the events.
Around the city of Ishpeming are the great lakes. On those great lakes, piracy occurs rather often. Green Bay is home to many pirates that use the lake for their deeds, especially against the Coalition shipping lanes to the south.
Some of these pirate groups have bounties on their heads as well. This can be a great lead-in to an adventure for the player characters. Perhaps after more violence than normal happens, or simply from stealing from the wrong people, just to name a few ideas.
Player Material from Rifts Northern Gun 2
The previous Northern Gun 1 brought us Robots, and this one brings players body armor, power armor, weapons, and other basic equipment.
I really like the Huntsmans armored clothing line. I think it fills a gap that has been around for a long time as it is light MDC clothing. Everyone wants MDC protection, especially when traveling in Rifts. For a measly couple thousand credits, you can get full MDC protection, instead of paying the tens of thousands that normal body armor costs.
If you are someone that loves things like Robotech, power armor, robots, and the like then you will love the Ride Armor series in this book. It’s just body armor but it all has a much bigger feel to it than that.
Players also will love the artwork for the new power armors, plus the power armors themselves are really awesome. They may not be like Phase World impressive or even Triax but they are impressive for Rifts Earth.
One of the features from the new power armors is the Universal Energy Link that allows you to connect any weapon to the suit of armor that standardly uses an E-clip.
There are a lot of cool power armors like the Cougar which has huge claws for monster hunting, the Blue Boy which is an all-purpose infantry version (reminds me of Halo sort of), the Aurora Blazer an all-terrain amphibious variant, Beach Stormer marine style, the Flying amphibious Blue Hawk, and let’s not forget the Samson MK3(one of their most popular).
Story material in Rifts World Book 34 Northern Gun 2
There isn’t much in the way of the actual story. There is some history spoken of about Ishpeming and how it operates. The majority of the story revolves around the Robodome and the Pirates.
Other than that the book describes the use of different vehicles. Hovercycles for example give a sense of security because they are fast and allow people to traverse almost anything. Anyone from a wilderness scout, to a soldier all can use them.
The originality of World Book 34 Northern Gun 2
This book sits up there at the top of my list. I use this book a lot to reference adventuring equipment, modular hovercycle weapons and sensors, and body armor(and of course power armor).
Game breaking World Book 34
Northern Gun 2 is not game-breaking in any way. It is a much-needed addition of really awesome arms and equipment for players and GMs alike.
If you missed the first book check out Rifts World Book 33 Northern Gun 1 Review
How good are the occs from Rifts World Book 34
The only OCC(occupational character class) is the Robo-Gladiator. It is essentially only good if you plan on keeping your character in Ishpeming to fight in the arena. You could take it adventuring however you would be better off using an actual military OCC for that. The robo-gladiator states it’s not good with military tactics and the art of war. They don’t go to war, they go to brawl in an arena.
How well does Rifts Northern Gun 2 mix with the core book
I think this book is a must-have for players and GMs. It has so much gear in it that I personally have no problem allowing a lot of it even if set before 109PA. The stuff is just so good and fits so many situations that it’s a no-brainer.
For those doing a city setting wondering what kind of MDC gear people have, use the Huntsmans Armored clothing. If you want a light MDC-style game, regardless of the year it makes so much sense, and that are just two situations to look at.