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Rifts China RPG Quick Look

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Isaac

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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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Hello,

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

71 – Aaron Ryan and Dissonance/The End – Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

I talked with Aaron Ryan about two of his book series, Dissonance and The End.Dissonance is a near future world where aliens have attacked, killing most humans and animals on Earth and driving humans into hiding underground. Humans finally develop technology to fight back and the war enters a new stage while the characters also struggle to determine the motivation for the alien invasion and nefarious actions of the government.The End is a Christian End Time series based loosely on the events described in Revelations. A man calling himself Nero has risen to rule over the world and he has outlawed Christianity. Robots called Guardians hunt Christians throughout the world, murdering them on the spot if they don't recant their faith. A resistance movement works in the shadows against Nero, but things aren't looking good for them.We talked about the basics of those settings along with how they could be adapted for RPG campaign settings. My main recommendations were Ashes Without Number, Spire, and Blades in the Dark.If you're interested in reading Aaron's books you can find them at most any bookstore or library. Both of the series are also being adapted into movies, but aren't publicly available yet. Aaron's website is https://authoraaronryan.com/ for the latest updates on his work. Next up for Aaron is the Talisman series that covers events within the "Aaronverse" in the decades between Dissonance and The End.Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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