The Palladium Rifts tabletop roleplaying game has been engaging players’ imaginations for over two decades. It has a focus on player and game master choice be it character customization, monster encounters, and much more. Rifts is a world full of magic, technology, psionics, mutants, demons, and dragons. This article delves into some of the reasons you should play Palladium Rifts RPG, from its setting to its lore and far more. Regardless if you are new or old to TTRPGs Palladium Rifts has endless options for you to explore.
1. Palladium Rifts Has a Unique Setting
If you’re looking for a game with a one-of-a-kind setting, Palladium Rifts has you covered. Instead of the traditional fantasy or zombie setting of most games, Rifts has so much more. Rifts is a post-apocalyptic setting where Rifts opened up with aliens of all kinds released upon the land. This allows the players and GM to craft adventures with all kinds of creatures imaginable.
The factions worldwide are also diverse and unique with varied agendas and motivations. The Coalition is a militaristic organization that doesn’t like D-bees(dimensional beings) or magic users. Other groups include the Republicans, Splugorth, Vampires, and many more.
2. Customizable Characters and Endless Options
In the Palladium Rifts RPG creating a character is just the beginning. All Palladium Books games have the same character creation process and are part of a Megaverse. This makes many races, classes, skills, abilities, spells, equipment, and more available for players to use. As you earn experience and level up you improve your skills and gain more power.
The last part is common to many games, but in Rifts that’s not all. Palladium Rifts encourages players to create their own stories. Are you playing a pacifist monk that uses technology to avoid combat (you could do that)? Maybe you want to play a repentant demon that seeks to live out its days as a mortal (you could do that too). These are just two of the many options you can create.
3. Player Choice Focused Storytelling
Palladium Books has been expanding the Rifts RPG setting since the 1990s. Whether you want to face threats from other dimensions or local humans, something is happening around every corner. The setting is created in a way that players are directly able to influence the story’s direction.
You can shape how the world of Rifts goes through your actions, and choices (or lack thereof). Will you negotiate peace between nations, continue the hate between races, engage in battle, betray, or keep alliances? The choices before you will have seemingly minor consequences that can reach truly epic proportions.
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4. Combat Adventure and Gameplay Mechanics
Combat in Palladium Rifts is often seen as a slogfest, with monsters and armor having hundreds or thousands of damage capacity. With all the optional game choices from the Rifters or other homebrew mechanics, you can easily avoid that. Common sense and a more adventure-style approach can easily be used in combat to keep it fast and fun, or long and challenging whatever you desire.
Gameplay can be influenced by you or your enemies by many elements. With diverse weapons and equipment, spells, psionics, and robotic or supernatural strength, you can take many varied approaches to combat. No two combats need to be the same, both by the players or by the Game master.
While most players are used to resorting to combat that is not the only way. Creative problem-solving will often result in much better rewards and conflict resolution. If you exhaust all avenues your players have available to them through their skills and abilities before getting into combat you ensure a more rewarding engagement.
5. Passionate Community and Ongoing Support from the Publishers
Palladium Rifts RPG boasts players that are truly passionate about the game. Few games have players that are as dedicated to “their” game system as I’ve seen with Palladium Rifts. Some troubles occurred years back and the player base kept Palladium Books from going under. A recent Kickstarter was run for their new book Titan Robotics as well, with many people supporting it (including me).
The Kickstarter is just one example of how Palladium Books is continuing to create and support Rifts. The Palladium Rifts series has well over 70 books for players and game masters to pick from. Want to just play on North America, sure books for that. Want to play in space and another dimension or make your own, yep books there too. In addition, the forums on Palladium’s website are active with questions and answers from new and old players alike.
6. Expansive Lore and Exploration Opportunities
The Palladium Rifts storyline runs throughout many books just waiting to be explored. Whether you want to follow the Minion Wars series, the Coalitions actions, the Atlanteans, or others countless opportunities are available. Each area has its own background, threats, agendas, and challenges, with many having nothing to do with each other.
7. The Perfect Blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy Genres
Palladium Rifts blends science fiction and fantasy seamlessly. The game features a mix of technology, magic, robots, mutants, demons, wizards, and far more, all coexisting in the same world. This makes it the perfect fit for fans of both genres, as well as anyone looking for something new and exciting.
8. Endless Replayability and the Ability to Create Your Own Adventures
The vast options for creating your own games make the replayability of Rifts endless. The character options alone would take a lifetime to play each class. When you add in the mix the ability to create your own races, worlds, dimensions, and everything in between they really are endless.
The ability to create your own adventures, campaigns, and characters in the Palladium Rifts universe is unlimited
FAQ
What type of players would enjoy Palladium Rifts?
Palladium Rifts is great for those that enjoy a mix of genres, especially science fiction, and fantasy. The post-apocalyptic setting makes the multiple genres a great fit while allowing games to range from adventure class to high-powered Dragons and more.
How complex is the character creation process?
The character creation process is relatively complex compared to simple game systems, but far more rewarding. With the wide range of player options, you will never have a dull moment creating a character.
Do I need to be familiar with the lore to enjoy the game?
No, but it helps. The more knowledgeable you are with the game the more immersive it will be. If you come from other games and use your knowledge of how things work in the other game to work in this one then you are only creating challenges for yourself. Familiarize yourself with Palladium’s rule system and put aside how other games do things.
How can I find people to play with?
As with all other games, this is influenced a lot by where you live. If you are in a smaller city then you are going to want to use online resources to find Rifts players. The Palladium forums can be one, as well as virtual tabletops, and other options. If you live in a larger city then you can go to local gaming stores to start with, if that doesn’t work then social media could be of use too.