Rifts is an absolutely insane TTRPG setting. In the future, humanity has created a utopia on Earth. Medicine for everything. Hunger and war eliminated. Cybernetic implants for everybody to be able to do anything. And then that prefect society gets destroyed by the opening of the Rifts. Millions of leylines across the planet unlocked portals to a million other realities. Earth was invaded by aliens, demons, angels, monsters, faeries, and every other conceivable being you can think of. Give it a few centuries to settle a little bit and you have the Rifts official setting.
The Rifts rule system was written by the Palladium team and is the same as Palladium with a few changes. The most notable change is a focus on science fiction instead of Medieval fantasy. Cyber-Knight instead of Knight and Psychic instead of Wizard. I’m not a huge fan of the Palladium system as it was presented, so I only skimmed this section of the rulebook.
The intention of Rifts is clear, to have a system that can stimulate everything. Like GURPS but with a more heroic focus. GURPS has the potential to be modified for any sort of story or genre. Rifts has a different angle by throwing every story and angle into the same setting. It’s a universal system by being an even bigger kitchen sink than the Forgotten Realms. A kitchen swimming pool!
For the China portion of Rifts, the Kingdom under Heaven got a bad deal. The portals to Hell opened in China during the Rifts leyline event. The country was overwhelmed by demonic invaders. Eleven demon kings now rule China and compete with each other for how horribly they can abuse their subjects.
So is Rifts a good game for telling stories set in pre-Yuan China? Absolutely not. Laser rifles, cyborgs, demons, and magic portals aren’t exactly period appropriate. Adapting it to what I’d want would essentially be returning to the Palladium system instead of using Rifts. It was actually my quickest “no” in my search, where I don’t think it’s even useful as research material or an idea generator.
If the craziness of Rifts sounds fun to you, the game is available here. And the two China supplements are here and here.
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