I played a Psy-Stalker who turned against the Coalition after they deliberately used artillery fire on my squad of Dogboys while we were engaged with an alien threat. The alien was neutralized but my Dogboys were killed in the shelling. My second in command died shielding me from the barrage.
My first ever character was a Coalition Soldier who went AWOL after his squad were abandoned amidst a (forgive me if I butcher the spelling but you know what I'm talking about if you know what I'm talking about) Rift opening above our training base and expelling a large Xitixic force. My squad were considered over comms "acceptable casualties." Buy higher command And were promptly abandoned on-site by the greater forces that went into a full retreat. I was stuck under rubble and subsequently 3 Days later found by the rest of my companions who came across the aftermath of the bases destruction. As you can imagine, my character was quite disillusioned about the nature of his faction and what they stood for. It took time for him to get used to D-bees and trust them, but he did. He was a fun character to roll play, because he was a morally upstanding individual struggling to overcome an entire life of social engineering against the rights of Dimensional Beings.
damnit boi, ya taking me back. i played a dogboy once that was left for dead by the Coalition. The party found me and nursed me back to health. needless to say my alligance shifted and i was declaired a Rogue/Ronin Dogboy and shoot on sight... typical Coalition stuff. He was a "good ole boy" attitude. i modeled him after my Siberian Husky named "Bubba" (he was 140 pounds and stood 7ft 3 on his hind legs.) . after a few years of mishap adventures he settled down somewhere in Texas with a wolfen woman, raising pups born free. *sign* aha good times =) Thank you for the walk down memory lane sir.
Man that art really takes me back, Rifts provided many many hours of entertainment back in the early/mid nineties, I should try to round up a group again! Oh yeah, no time…. Thanks for the hit of nostalgia!
Let's go dead boys! Hah-oo! Hah-oo! Good video. I'm surprised that you didn't mention that Free Quebec was a member of the Coalition States, then broke away that resulted in a short-lived war that ended in a stalemate and a treaty of mutual defense.
That gets too deep into the weeds on the Juicer Uprising, which will be another video in the series. But yeah, there was a lot I could only cover the bare basics on, otherwise this video would be four hours long and not be much interest to people unfamiliar with the game. (I am hoping to bring in fresh players with these vids)
@@AJPickett I get ya, man. The Juicer Uprising was an insane bit. It happened while the CS were fighting two other wars, had secret inter-dimensional aliens and zombie juicers.
Ever since you branched out into other games I've been eagerly awaiting this one. I run new players through Rifts campaigns as CS troopers, pilots, Dog Boys, etc. so they don't end up completely overwhelmed by trying to choose from over 70 Palladium titles on my shelf. If gives them a natural reason to work together from session one, and lets them explore the world of Rifts earth with little real knowledge of other species aside from CS reports. As things progress, they begin to understand how things work outside CS borders, and even have a few "Are we the baddies?" moments. So, I essentially use the CS as training wheels, and it works like a charm.
I played a Mind Melter in a recent game, and it was amazing. By level 5 I was basically a Sith. Vampires and Coalition Psy-Stalkers were my only real threat. Mega damage was a mild inconvenience...
Ah, Chi-Town. Our starting campaign arc was based there, very cyberpunk/Shadowrun feeling at the time ... of course the next arc was running for our lives after getting implicated in everything we did and a few things we didn't do.
how did i miss this video. Love your take on the Coalition states. As a Player they were always my favorite to OCCs to choose from. in fact my gm made it a rule i had to choose a different OCC each time. as a gm they are great villains. because like thanos they have a real and understandable reason for their human supremacy.
I started playing Rifts in 1990 when it came out, still running a campaign. I have always loved the CS. The reason for their Xenophobia and hatred of all things Magical is because of the sneak attack by the Federation of Magic that almost wiped them off the face of the planet. They have taking dogs, high tech kit, and some of the most awesome iconography in a Sci-fi setting. Long Live Emperor Prosek! Even though when Joseph II takes over I believe the Coalition will reach a new High.
The CS was a villain that couldn't be put down only delayed in the Rifts games I played. Although I got to admit how the Tolkeen/CS war was handled left me sour. Not over who won and who lost, but the books often seemed to preach that just by resisting the CS, Tolkeen was just as bad as they were. I mean assuming running was even a realistic option for that many people, sooner or later you're gonna run out of continent to run to, and then what?
I love how the Palladium multiverse has such smooth transitions in its related canon. The Coalition is easily the RIFTS evolution from the TMNT: After the Bomb's Empire of Humanity, they have loyal mutant dogs too. Only TMNT: After the Bomb, most of them "formed naturally"... along with all the other saturation of mutant animals. A GM with a deliciously creative mind would have his/her own reason for the bipedal mutant dogs being genetic constructs under that company. In that TMNT extension, it was more or less mutant animals being the genocide targets of the Empire of Humanity. The Road Hogs extension (TMNT: Mad Max, pretty much) was also great, but I digress. Love Palladium's TMNT and Rifts? Play the in-between RPG, TMNT: After the Bomb (with Road Hogs expansion).
A comment in the video about their CS dog boy defector settling down and raising a family with a Wolfen character from Palladium fantasy was just perfect, like, of course that would happen, how lovely!
Great video. Watched it like 3 times. Makes me wanna dive back into Rifts again. In my version the TMNT came back from their adventures across the multiverse as wise old sages and started a yakuza style infiltration and control over illicit trade, training young folks in the ancient ways of the ninja and a rebellion of sorts. Gonna reintroduce my gaming group to it once i get back on my feet.
While I find the mechanics of the Palladium system to be clunky and cumbersome, I deeply adore the Rifts setting. Some of my favorite lore in any TTRPG. RUclips needs more Rifts content, thank you for your service! o7
never understood what issues people have with the system, I have hated every other system I played (white wolf, AD&D, D&D 3, 3.5, 4 , 5 and a few others) it's incredibly easy and basic math, and that's it
Dude, I'm so glad you're doing videos on RIFTS!! Currently it's my favorite RPG. Are you intending to have special RIFTS content for members? I'd be interested.
These videos to show me home much I missed because my local gamestore didn't support Palladium. Gamma World would of done so much better if TSR has spend half as much on lore that Palladium did on Rifts. This a a really fun series thank you for doing this.
I would love that made this into a role-playing game or action role-playing game that I can play on computer or my game systems but I fear it’s too complex
I've recently picked up Savage Worlds explorers edition (before I realized they have swade edition) and I love it. General rules systems that allows you to play easily in any setting or from fantasy to scifi is AWESOME 👍 I've been playing ttrpgs since 89' or so. Until the whole wotc drama recently, I had totally forgotten about other games besides 5e because that's what people play mostly. Honestly I'm not a fan of the 5e player characters powers out of the gate. It feels more like a video game that you'd mod up to become invincible. I LOVE the lethality of old school stuff where it was epic if you could make it to 4th level unscathed,creeping out of dungeons with no food and 1 hp and knowing that you earned the 2500 XP to advance a level. It forces you to work together just to survive. Thanks for the universal content A.J.
I remember playing this RPG when it first came out. The game was so much fun. I wish I could play today. We are going back to I think 1993 or with in 1 year. I was in middle school
I've always wondered if there were any Rifts novels. Warhammer 40k and the Forgotten Realms generated reams of novels, but I've never been able to find any Rifts stories.
the Rifts universe is like the xcom 2 universe alien elders conquered earth to find a cure for thier sickness and choose the human race for that cure and also funded the advent empire
Absolutely loved Palladium and Rifts. Soo many stories of amazing TTRPG session with this system. Coalition States are a dynamic love/hate character within the world. Its easy to point a finger and call them Xenophobes, and its likely correct...but at the same time they've likely saved much of the human race. The path that the "story" took for the overall arch kinda turned my group off, and we focused on other systems. With the major threats to the human race, CS and Federation of Magic teaming up would have been great to face the Xiticix, Vampires, Atlantis and etc. I had written out 30 pages of TechnoWizard items, but sadly never published. CS Engineers teaming up with TechnoWizards would've been a stellar twist to help push back the true evils coming from the Rifts.
The reason it stretches out into Iowa is because the world’s largest cereal milling operation is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as is the main production plants of Rockwell’s Collins Avionics, which manufactures flight avionics and the guidance systems of Hellfire and Tomahawk missiles. More than half the population of Iowa is east of the I-380 corridor, which runs north to south less than 100 miles from the eastern border of the current state. It’s under 300 miles from Chicago. The authors did their research, didn’t they?
@@AJPickett I used to live there, so I can see things in the writing other people wouldn't know. That's the first part of writing a decent post-apocalyptic game. It has to be believable in the parts covering the place you live to catch your attention.
One side note. Starship Troopers didn't actually show a fascistic nation. Though the director did try to put that in there, his lack of understanding of the book itself, and his purposeful ignorance of what the book was about(He unironically didn't read it and had his assistant read it. Who if what we can actually see in the movie, did a great job guiding the actual message through.) 1. Service equals citizenship, does not me military service.(Though you'd also be calling I think like Sweden? and definitely Israel fascistic) 2. Fascism is an off-shoot of socialism, though it has a modern second meaning which is often just nazi-like dictatorships, which Starship Troopers did not have, sure you couldn't vote if you weren't a citizen, but you still had your rights, even to the point where you could make enough money to BUY citizenship. 3. Fascistic dictatorships do not have open media coverage of their failures nor are the higher ups willing to lose rank, and suffer worse punishment due to their failings. Remember the whipping our hero got in the story was because his shitty orders got a guys head blown off in training. He knew it was live ammo, he still gave the shit order. This level of punishment appears when the general that gave the failed invasion order, LITERALLY became a private just to keep serving. Never on earth have I heard a fascist general willing admit to fault and submit himself to punishment for his failing 4. they still have elections, and a senate and house of representatives, but again you HAVE to have served the nation to gain access to vote. an example of service other than getting your legs blown off- ice road trucking, you can literal just drive a big rig on an ice world for a few years and boom citizen. Also they cannot deny you request for service, unless it is medically proven that you cannot understand what the oath means meaning you could be a blind, limbless hobo and they have to find you something to do. Its why they are happy to give people the option to leave. If you don't want to do service you don't have to, but you can't reapply if you leave during.
It might not hit all the markers for fascism but it does hit most of them here's a list for reference Fascist style" - a political aesthetic of romantic symbolism, mass mobilization, a positive view of violence including corporal punishment, and promotion of masculinity, youth, and charismatic authoritarian leadership and a goal of building a empire. So, as you can see it fits most of them.
@@jacobwilbers9852 In the movie yeah, though they were fighting Giant bugs from space, EDF is fascist styled. Though again you you said style, while most people don't/ won't get it I do and honestly feels like we are getting into semantics about the difference of actual theory and real theory. Like how in a lot of movies combat is done in a flashy if illogical manner.
so far sounds like a interesting setting for those wanting a post apocalypse with mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements from what little i've heard of rifts
I'm so mad at RUclips your last like 15 videos haven't shown up on my feed! I thought there just weren't any videos coming out! I'm watching them now...
I’m doing a coalition campaign as well. My character is a commando class in the Coalition navy. It’s gonna be a lot of fun civilizing the surrounding lands.
Awesome job on the video AJ...would you or will you be able to post more videos on the Coalition, NGR and of course more of Rifts Earth? Not very many videos like you do out there that I've seen and I luv Rifts. Again, great job!
Next vid I have planned for Palladium is on the Cyberknights, which I shall get around to later. Sorry, you will have to be patient, at the moment everyone wants videos on Baldur's Gate III lore.
I have not yet, I am one of those folks who barely needs the books to run the Palladium system (I can see the matrix), but I will give *any* RPG system a try.
@@misterjoshua5720 What didnt they get right? Banned magic, got rid of demons. Once they get rid of Atlantis humanity can finally be free of the evil from the RIFTS!
A group of friends and I got started in Chaos Earth and our DM brought in content from all the other books. Funny enough I was the only player who took a class from the Chaos Earth handbook funny enough. It was a great deal of fun. But one of the things I enjoyed a great deal was my character learning about the fall of NEMA and the creation of the Coalition States in its place and all the stuff they did. Mind you many of our party were D-Bees and one Cyber Knight and hearing about what the future held completely wrecked him which was a great deal of fun to roleplay through. And then he decided to say screw it and plunged himself through a rift to try and prevent that future (didn't work).
@@AJPickett For a lowly Demon/Witch Hunter there was nothing else he could do. It did help that he got to see what his labor would bear through the centuries though. He couldn't change the future, but he armed and prepared them for what would come. He wrote several books on the monsters he faced, about magic, general good practices, ideal weapons and more. These books would go on to be mass produced throughout the multiverse and they seem to always appear in other campaigns now. Plus he effectively became an immortal sentinel/trainer of heroes. Plus he got married....to... the sentient AI of a starship. It's weirder and weirder the more I think about it :P
Fuck mate. Now I need to play a game of Rifts. I really hope we get Rifts instead of Cyberpunk in our dystopian future. I just need to see MDC concrete in my life to die happy. Lol. Okay and maybe the Glitterboy Wars
Always loved the dogboys and wen ever someone tried to tell me it didn't make sense to them I asked "did u question the kangaroos in tank girl? No didn't think so", in heroes one of my characters started what would eventually become the coalition navy, he's this kinda nick fury nightwing character that started building a meta underwater training and tech r&d facility
@@AJPickett right, privacy, isolation, international sea laws, rapid deployment to anywhere, the unknown, gets kinda crazy tho when you make the transition from modern timeline to rifts, it then becomes a underwater scary movie like "aliens" but in a sealab
@@chriscalvin5083 riftsimcn.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/8/7/56872659/rifts_na_map.jpg these are the factions and centers of activity, I don't have much specific information on Kentucky, other than to say it is not Coalition states controlled, Ohio has significant coalition presence though.
Where oh where oh where did you find that map of North America at 1:06????????????? I have never seen it before and I could really use a high quality version of it for my campaign coming up here.
You seek Savage Rifts, the Savage Worlds RPG adaptation of the Rifts World Setting. Lots of great new art for Rifts is included and can be found online.
Shadow Run, .. at my last game shop I created a dozen starting characters along with ten years worth of advancements if said PC lived that long. The DM looked them over and said, " No." Then turn around and used my PC to survival horror kill off on our stander game PC just to show how OP the concept designs were. After that, she had everyone PC the characters that just killed off their main PCs while defending a building complex. Characters, .. they are all f-ck ups. a.) Wolverine, mage that fast heals who happens to be the bullet magnet. Has to roll every time when walking through a door frame or around a Corner to make sure they don't walk into anything. Very slap stick. People open doors into him all the time. Also having to make dex rolls to make sure he doesn't trip over his own feet, .. down staircases. b.) He Who Is Not There, or remembered. Power invisibility and forgetfulness. Most people don't remember even meeting them, kind of hard to have a job employment record. Few co-works can even see them. Most other in the group think the other person is talking to a spirit guide. Perfect assassin, side plot, someone else seems to always makes the kill and gets the credit. c.) Phase walked, power of invisibility and phase walking through walls. Flaws, the guy can't read maps and gets lost way too easily. But is smart enough not to walk through walls with given energy blocker and gets fried. He was lost in a warehouse complex just waiting around for others to open personal locked doors not to blow his cover. The complex notice his activities and lead him on a two day goose chase through the warehouse testing their own defensives. ( Management, " If the spy is real good, triple what their current employer is offering. If not .. just see how long we can mess around with them till they break.") Player roll too many failed Willpower rolls and yelled, " I am lost and can't get out of this place !" Ghostly voice from nowhere, the DM rolled for the guards and workers reactions, result was deadpan, " So we have a new guy here huh ?" Business as normal. d.) Astral phase shifter, power is jumping a given rolled adjustment area into and out of the astral. Which blows out electronics and makes organics feel that they just got tasered. " Noo, .. I don't Want to Jump ! It hurts like bloody hell !" In a way the PC is a living EMP that has to be carried away after mission cause their own power messes themselves up that bad from self inflicted temporary ability damage. A properly set stun club will trigger his astral jump at full dice effect. But nocks him out for 2d10 minutes. So temporary took out of the game. Best used for well time comic relief.
Shadowrun is a different critter altogether. A friend and I routinely disrupted the GMs game by killing off the other players for their cut of the pay until those players made characters that fit our goals better. He was playing a tech-savvy BTL dealer and I was playing a shamanic magic-using stripper who both understood the concept of “no witnesses” was key to higher paychecks even if it meant the perpetrators too. The characters were based on Lenny Nero and Mace from the film Strange Days loosely.
@@almitrahopkins1873 Other than source book material, my last gaming shop mixed a lot of Shadow Run and Cyber Punk into all of our Star Wars games. From corporate spy work to gritty smuggler Hutt work. b.) Hero Click minis of DC/Marvel/ Wild Cats and other what nots. I had a figure of a woman with green hair, twin heavy pistols, mini skirt/thong, with leggings. So I turn her into a WotC 3.5e Star Wars bounty hunter with force levels that was more or less a stripper. c.) My last shop's DM, she had a knack of dropping Ravenloft/ Call of Cthulhu theme fear/horror and madness checks into all of her games. Along with reality wrapping effects of changing door handles and which way they open into and out of rooms. Also hallways, stair wells, elevators that only exist on the astral. We got overly paranoid on any taxi, bus, train we step foot on not knowing where we will turn up at, or what monsters on the astral/ethereal we had to fight or RUN for our PC lives. We normally start off with two or three stander normal games, then get a flash of weirdness and by the fifth game total deep end survival horror mind breaking action madness.
I would first advise you to head over to the forums of the Megaverse - the old-school text forums at the palladium books website and just browse and ask questions. For example, they will tell you there are Dimension Books, World Books and Source Books, so what you asked me is actually a much more specific question than you intended to ask. You can play rifts with just the main setting book, but I personally love the Vampire Kingdoms, Atlantis and Triax (new German Republic) books, they pack a lot in there and provide a good range of resources for games.
The Coalition States. As a whole they are not villains. My play group absolutely hates Chi-Town and fears Lone Star, but on a whole most member states are bastions of humanity with degrees of self rule. The big issue is Chi-town's royal family. They have introduced more hardline rule over other member states. Like that time they invaded Iron Hearts, a member state, or started a war with Free Quebec, another member state. Northern Gun seems alright. Then there is the NGR and their demon problem. And Area 51 supplying the black market. There is also the remnants of the U.S. navy sailing about. I think I lost the train of thought.
Thats a lot of information. I'm guessing you probably knew most of it off to top of your head. What would recommend if I was looking to learn a brief summary or history of RIFTS Earth?
In one book? Rifts Ultimate Edition has a good amount of lore spread through it's pages. From there world books are a good start. Any place spacific you want to look at?
Brief Rifts description: Have you ever wanted to take a job fighting a dragon, while you're piloting a giant Mecha robot, in the future ruins of your local Costco, with the reward being a case of Pepsi that somehow gives the drinker psychic powers, and the job offer came from a sentient mutant cactus that owns a hog farm? Well, you're in luck!
i've always hated other rules settings, i really don't know what peoples rules issues are with palladium and when they list them most of the time it's their house rules fucking it up lol
Id suggest looking at miniature wargames like Warhammer and kitbashing it. It's one of the things I do. Rifts has never been popular enough to warrant very many dedicated miniatures. Hell a lot of people don't even use miniatures, they just draw on maps and crap. Edit: For example depending on how you imagined his mech to look you can definitely use a mix of bits from wraiths and Tao Mecha. I tend to use Tao fire warriors as coalition painted as coalition. I tend to use Astra Militarum for mercs and bandits. Etcetera.
@@venom66656 You've obviously never read the book. The government is a liberal democracy with a restricted franchise. Before the bugs attack the Military is a rather small part of society. It takes center stage because you are seeing events unfold through the eyes of a young man who has decided to join the service to earn his citizenship just before earth is attacked by a hostile alien race.
@venom66656 Yes and no. A limited franchise is a trait of fascism, however fascism borrowed that from other old government styles. The Romans required a term of military service to be eligible for government offices. Something to consider, the US grants citizenship to immigrants if they serve.
@@dragoninthewest1 A limited franchise was also a feature of the American republic (land ownership). It is unrelated to fascism, An unrestricted franchise is more often than not a means of controlling a population. The book "The Dictator's Handbook" has a good discussion of why that is. Fascism is an evolution of Socialism, something Heinlein is against. The book contains multiple instances of him decrying it. The director of the movie never bothered to read the book. He also didn't understand what fascism is.
@garyuu2003 the director of the movie was also just trying to make an anti fascism movie and skin suited Starship Troopers to do so. The book had federal service be the doorway to citizenship and military service was only of many jobs offered. The movie obviously made it the only job. Side note this video mentioned only the movie and not the book so they were technically correct in what they said.
I played a Psy-Stalker who turned against the Coalition after they deliberately used artillery fire on my squad of Dogboys while we were engaged with an alien threat. The alien was neutralized but my Dogboys were killed in the shelling. My second in command died shielding me from the barrage.
Brutal.
I love the stories that can evolve out of Coalition campaigns. Did your character develop any insanities based off n the experience?
My first ever character was a Coalition Soldier who went AWOL after his squad were abandoned amidst a (forgive me if I butcher the spelling but you know what I'm talking about if you know what I'm talking about) Rift opening above our training base and expelling a large Xitixic force. My squad were considered over comms "acceptable casualties." Buy higher command And were promptly abandoned on-site by the greater forces that went into a full retreat. I was stuck under rubble and subsequently 3 Days later found by the rest of my companions who came across the aftermath of the bases destruction.
As you can imagine, my character was quite disillusioned about the nature of his faction and what they stood for. It took time for him to get used to D-bees and trust them, but he did. He was a fun character to roll play, because he was a morally upstanding individual struggling to overcome an entire life of social engineering against the rights of Dimensional Beings.
Oops, star wars fans are going to hand me my ass over saying Genosis instead of Camino! It was a slip of the tongue I swear!
damnit boi, ya taking me back. i played a dogboy once that was left for dead by the Coalition. The party found me and nursed me back to health. needless to say my alligance shifted and i was declaired a Rogue/Ronin Dogboy and shoot on sight... typical Coalition stuff. He was a "good ole boy" attitude. i modeled him after my Siberian Husky named "Bubba" (he was 140 pounds and stood 7ft 3 on his hind legs.) . after a few years of mishap adventures he settled down somewhere in Texas with a wolfen woman, raising pups born free.
*sign* aha good times =)
Thank you for the walk down memory lane sir.
😅😅😅 nice
Man that art really takes me back, Rifts provided many many hours of entertainment back in the early/mid nineties, I should try to round up a group again! Oh yeah, no time…. Thanks for the hit of nostalgia!
Let's go dead boys! Hah-oo! Hah-oo! Good video.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention that Free Quebec was a member of the Coalition States, then broke away that resulted in a short-lived war that ended in a stalemate and a treaty of mutual defense.
That gets too deep into the weeds on the Juicer Uprising, which will be another video in the series. But yeah, there was a lot I could only cover the bare basics on, otherwise this video would be four hours long and not be much interest to people unfamiliar with the game. (I am hoping to bring in fresh players with these vids)
@@AJPickett I get ya, man.
The Juicer Uprising was an insane bit. It happened while the CS were fighting two other wars, had secret inter-dimensional aliens and zombie juicers.
I so enjoyed playing Rifts 30+ years ago as a teenager.
Ever since you branched out into other games I've been eagerly awaiting this one. I run new players through Rifts campaigns as CS troopers, pilots, Dog Boys, etc. so they don't end up completely overwhelmed by trying to choose from over 70 Palladium titles on my shelf. If gives them a natural reason to work together from session one, and lets them explore the world of Rifts earth with little real knowledge of other species aside from CS reports. As things progress, they begin to understand how things work outside CS borders, and even have a few "Are we the baddies?" moments. So, I essentially use the CS as training wheels, and it works like a charm.
Exactly the right vibe, you nailed it.
I played a Mind Melter in a recent game, and it was amazing. By level 5 I was basically a Sith. Vampires and Coalition Psy-Stalkers were my only real threat. Mega damage was a mild inconvenience...
Psionics vid coming right up
Oh shit! RIFTs didn’t know people still played
Ah, Chi-Town. Our starting campaign arc was based there, very cyberpunk/Shadowrun feeling at the time ... of course the next arc was running for our lives after getting implicated in everything we did and a few things we didn't do.
how did i miss this video. Love your take on the Coalition states. As a Player they were always my favorite to OCCs to choose from. in fact my gm made it a rule i had to choose a different OCC each time.
as a gm they are great villains. because like thanos they have a real and understandable reason for their human supremacy.
Excellent memories
I am deeply saddened to learn Arkansas was subjugated by the Texan barbarians in this setting. One day, my fellow razorbacks shall breathe free.
What if you're given voting rights? Parliament Seats? Allowed to run for Governor (President)?
@@dubuyajay9964 I'd still have to live in Texas, which is worse than any prison. Only place worse would be England.
@@dbensdrawinvids8390 Ah yes, the "civilized" Ozarks... 🙄
I ran a game with the party all as assorted Coalition soldier types. We had a ball and still talk about the Coalition "good guy" campaign.
they are the good guys
I started playing Rifts in 1990 when it came out, still running a campaign. I have always loved the CS. The reason for their Xenophobia and hatred of all things Magical is because of the sneak attack by the Federation of Magic that almost wiped them off the face of the planet. They have taking dogs, high tech kit, and some of the most awesome iconography in a Sci-fi setting. Long Live Emperor Prosek! Even though when Joseph II takes over I believe the Coalition will reach a new High.
yup, CS are the good guys and the underdogs in the right and everyone thinks they are 'evil' for trying to save earths native inhabitants lol
@@6661313 yes indeed.
The CS was a villain that couldn't be put down only delayed in the Rifts games I played. Although I got to admit how the Tolkeen/CS war was handled left me sour. Not over who won and who lost, but the books often seemed to preach that just by resisting the CS, Tolkeen was just as bad as they were. I mean assuming running was even a realistic option for that many people, sooner or later you're gonna run out of continent to run to, and then what?
I love this world!!Never could find enough people that would stay with this game to play it
RIIIIIIIIIIFTS! More Rifts lore!
Played many RPG's over the last 40+ years. Love Rifts.
loving the Rifts content bub, hoodyhoo!!
I like their style.
I love how the Palladium multiverse has such smooth transitions in its related canon.
The Coalition is easily the RIFTS evolution from the TMNT: After the Bomb's Empire of Humanity, they have loyal mutant dogs too. Only TMNT: After the Bomb, most of them "formed naturally"... along with all the other saturation of mutant animals. A GM with a deliciously creative mind would have his/her own reason for the bipedal mutant dogs being genetic constructs under that company. In that TMNT extension, it was more or less mutant animals being the genocide targets of the Empire of Humanity. The Road Hogs extension (TMNT: Mad Max, pretty much) was also great, but I digress.
Love Palladium's TMNT and Rifts? Play the in-between RPG, TMNT: After the Bomb (with Road Hogs expansion).
A comment in the video about their CS dog boy defector settling down and raising a family with a Wolfen character from Palladium fantasy was just perfect, like, of course that would happen, how lovely!
I played first edition - I have a long way to catch up!
Great video. Watched it like 3 times. Makes me wanna dive back into Rifts again.
In my version the TMNT came back from their adventures across the multiverse as wise old sages and started a yakuza style infiltration and control over illicit trade, training young folks in the ancient ways of the ninja and a rebellion of sorts.
Gonna reintroduce my gaming group to it once i get back on my feet.
While I find the mechanics of the Palladium system to be clunky and cumbersome, I deeply adore the Rifts setting. Some of my favorite lore in any TTRPG.
RUclips needs more Rifts content, thank you for your service! o7
never understood what issues people have with the system, I have hated every other system I played (white wolf, AD&D, D&D 3, 3.5, 4 , 5 and a few others)
it's incredibly easy and basic math, and that's it
Dude, I'm so glad you're doing videos on RIFTS!! Currently it's my favorite RPG. Are you intending to have special RIFTS content for members? I'd be interested.
Yes, I will continue making Rifts content for members and Patrons.
These videos to show me home much I missed because my local gamestore didn't support Palladium. Gamma World would of done so much better if TSR has spend half as much on lore that Palladium did on Rifts. This a a really fun series thank you for doing this.
8:55 for the emperor!
I am loving this universe the more I hear about it
Ohh I love Rifts and happy to see you covered it!😁
I came into this video with extremely high expectations. I’ve been reading riffs books since the start. You delivered! Job well done!
Thank you!
I forgot how much I love riff
I would love that made this into a role-playing game or action role-playing game that I can play on computer or my game systems but I fear it’s too complex
I've recently picked up Savage Worlds explorers edition (before I realized they have swade edition) and I love it. General rules systems that allows you to play easily in any setting or from fantasy to scifi is AWESOME 👍 I've been playing ttrpgs since 89' or so. Until the whole wotc drama recently, I had totally forgotten about other games besides 5e because that's what people play mostly. Honestly I'm not a fan of the 5e player characters powers out of the gate. It feels more like a video game that you'd mod up to become invincible. I LOVE the lethality of old school stuff where it was epic if you could make it to 4th level unscathed,creeping out of dungeons with no food and 1 hp and knowing that you earned the 2500 XP to advance a level. It forces you to work together just to survive. Thanks for the universal content A.J.
You're welcome
I remember playing this RPG when it first came out. The game was so much fun. I wish I could play today. We are going back to I think 1993 or with in 1 year. I was in middle school
I love playing CS forces on long range missions, especially in the Vampire Kingdoms
it's like, OK, how long until the Squad "Goes Native" :D
Rifts was a blast wish more knew about it thanks again 👍
I've always wondered if there were any Rifts novels. Warhammer 40k and the Forgotten Realms generated reams of novels, but I've never been able to find any Rifts stories.
There’s a few
the Rifts universe is like the xcom 2 universe alien elders conquered earth to find a cure for thier sickness and choose the human race for that cure and also funded the advent empire
Yes! More Rifts content please!
AJ is the best rpg storyteller in the game.... theres no other channel that makes you feel like your reading the lore!
Thank you!
Absolutely loved Palladium and Rifts. Soo many stories of amazing TTRPG session with this system. Coalition States are a dynamic love/hate character within the world. Its easy to point a finger and call them Xenophobes, and its likely correct...but at the same time they've likely saved much of the human race. The path that the "story" took for the overall arch kinda turned my group off, and we focused on other systems. With the major threats to the human race, CS and Federation of Magic teaming up would have been great to face the Xiticix, Vampires, Atlantis and etc. I had written out 30 pages of TechnoWizard items, but sadly never published.
CS Engineers teaming up with TechnoWizards would've been a stellar twist to help push back the true evils coming from the Rifts.
So good
Keep up the great work actually going to try a rifts game at some point but now it’s bed time
The reason it stretches out into Iowa is because the world’s largest cereal milling operation is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as is the main production plants of Rockwell’s Collins Avionics, which manufactures flight avionics and the guidance systems of Hellfire and Tomahawk missiles. More than half the population of Iowa is east of the I-380 corridor, which runs north to south less than 100 miles from the eastern border of the current state. It’s under 300 miles from Chicago.
The authors did their research, didn’t they?
They sure did
@@AJPickett I used to live there, so I can see things in the writing other people wouldn't know. That's the first part of writing a decent post-apocalyptic game. It has to be believable in the parts covering the place you live to catch your attention.
IIRC Kevin Siembada is from Detroit, and went to school at New Lazlo, err, Anne Arbor.
One side note. Starship Troopers didn't actually show a fascistic nation. Though the director did try to put that in there, his lack of understanding of the book itself, and his purposeful ignorance of what the book was about(He unironically didn't read it and had his assistant read it. Who if what we can actually see in the movie, did a great job guiding the actual message through.)
1. Service equals citizenship, does not me military service.(Though you'd also be calling I think like Sweden? and definitely Israel fascistic)
2. Fascism is an off-shoot of socialism, though it has a modern second meaning which is often just nazi-like dictatorships, which Starship Troopers did not have, sure you couldn't vote if you weren't a citizen, but you still had your rights, even to the point where you could make enough money to BUY citizenship.
3. Fascistic dictatorships do not have open media coverage of their failures nor are the higher ups willing to lose rank, and suffer worse punishment due to their failings. Remember the whipping our hero got in the story was because his shitty orders got a guys head blown off in training. He knew it was live ammo, he still gave the shit order. This level of punishment appears when the general that gave the failed invasion order, LITERALLY became a private just to keep serving. Never on earth have I heard a fascist general willing admit to fault and submit himself to punishment for his failing
4. they still have elections, and a senate and house of representatives, but again you HAVE to have served the nation to gain access to vote.
an example of service other than getting your legs blown off- ice road trucking, you can literal just drive a big rig on an ice world for a few years and boom citizen. Also they cannot deny you request for service, unless it is medically proven that you cannot understand what the oath means meaning you could be a blind, limbless hobo and they have to find you something to do. Its why they are happy to give people the option to leave. If you don't want to do service you don't have to, but you can't reapply if you leave during.
Correct, but it was just an off-hand metaphor to give new players a generic vibe for life as a CS citizen. I do appreciate your insight.
@@AJPickett fair fair.
It might not hit all the markers for fascism but it does hit most of them here's a list for reference
Fascist style" - a political aesthetic of romantic symbolism, mass mobilization, a positive view of violence including corporal punishment, and promotion of masculinity, youth, and charismatic authoritarian leadership and a goal of building a empire.
So, as you can see it fits most of them.
@@jacobwilbers9852 In the movie yeah, though they were fighting Giant bugs from space, EDF is fascist styled.
Though again you you said style, while most people don't/ won't get it I do and honestly feels like we are getting into semantics about the difference of actual theory and real theory. Like how in a lot of movies combat is done in a flashy if illogical manner.
Thanks. Palladium doesn't get enough love
Thank you for the rifts content
I'd like to see more on the NGR in future videos
Yep, its on my requested list.
@@AJPickett, eagerly awaiting that content
Awesome!
I remember playing rifts as a kid.
Good times
AJ,Thankyou. I’ve wanted this for so many years. Ur the best dude.
I should have done this a long time ago to be honest, you are a wise man Mr Perez
@@AJPickett Awww u really know how to make a guy feel special lol,thankyou my friend.
so far sounds like a interesting setting for those wanting a post apocalypse with mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements from what little i've heard of rifts
Watching before it’s flagged
Thank you!!
No worries!
I'm so mad at RUclips your last like 15 videos haven't shown up on my feed! I thought there just weren't any videos coming out!
I'm watching them now...
Rifts is one of the few ttrpg's I haven't played but would really like to! Incredible lore.
Well now I'm even more interested in hearing about those vampire kingdoms.
The vampires in rifts are no joke brutal is there name
omg i remember Rifts, i always wanted to play desperately. I would see the ad's in comics on the back page. lol.
USA! USA! USA! Geno-what?! Uh……. Never mind
😅😅😅
I’m doing a coalition campaign as well. My character is a commando class in the Coalition navy. It’s gonna be a lot of fun civilizing the surrounding lands.
Oh man Rifts! I love you, I'm very happy to see other settings, particularly the more insane ones. Keep of the fantastic work, you're the best!
Thanks, will do!
Awesome job on the video AJ...would you or will you be able to post more videos on the Coalition, NGR and of course more of Rifts Earth? Not very many videos like you do out there that I've seen and I luv Rifts. Again, great job!
Next vid I have planned for Palladium is on the Cyberknights, which I shall get around to later. Sorry, you will have to be patient, at the moment everyone wants videos on Baldur's Gate III lore.
AJ, have you tried the Savage Worlds version of Rifts?
I have not yet, I am one of those folks who barely needs the books to run the Palladium system (I can see the matrix), but I will give *any* RPG system a try.
Good video. Free Quebec deserves its own video, not a footnote to IronHeart...
Yep, already requested and planned.
love the content thank you .
HUMANITY FOREVER!
Eh what did they ever get right?
@@misterjoshua5720 What didnt they get right? Banned magic, got rid of demons. Once they get rid of Atlantis humanity can finally be free of the evil from the RIFTS!
@@bigbadrpg The Sunaj would like a word with you in private.
@@AJPickett He's currently not here right now, can I take a message? *leaves immediately* lolol
OM nom nom nom. Not my usual fare, but I'll come back here for the occasional desert. Tasty glue as always!
Oh yeah. I’ve been looking forward to this one!
Thanks AJ
A group of friends and I got started in Chaos Earth and our DM brought in content from all the other books. Funny enough I was the only player who took a class from the Chaos Earth handbook funny enough. It was a great deal of fun. But one of the things I enjoyed a great deal was my character learning about the fall of NEMA and the creation of the Coalition States in its place and all the stuff they did. Mind you many of our party were D-Bees and one Cyber Knight and hearing about what the future held completely wrecked him which was a great deal of fun to roleplay through. And then he decided to say screw it and plunged himself through a rift to try and prevent that future (didn't work).
Very heroic though.
@@AJPickett For a lowly Demon/Witch Hunter there was nothing else he could do. It did help that he got to see what his labor would bear through the centuries though. He couldn't change the future, but he armed and prepared them for what would come. He wrote several books on the monsters he faced, about magic, general good practices, ideal weapons and more. These books would go on to be mass produced throughout the multiverse and they seem to always appear in other campaigns now. Plus he effectively became an immortal sentinel/trainer of heroes. Plus he got married....to... the sentient AI of a starship. It's weirder and weirder the more I think about it :P
Fuck mate. Now I need to play a game of Rifts. I really hope we get Rifts instead of Cyberpunk in our dystopian future.
I just need to see MDC concrete in my life to die happy. Lol. Okay and maybe the Glitterboy Wars
"Chromium Guardsmen". "Glitterboy" is a hate speech lol
@@BigFrakkinOgre I like you. Good on you mate.
Empire of humanity.... Inquisition will hear about this
Always loved the dogboys and wen ever someone tried to tell me it didn't make sense to them I asked "did u question the kangaroos in tank girl? No didn't think so", in heroes one of my characters started what would eventually become the coalition navy, he's this kinda nick fury nightwing character that started building a meta underwater training and tech r&d facility
There are a LOT of reasons to build a secret base deep in the ocean.
@@AJPickett right, privacy, isolation, international sea laws, rapid deployment to anywhere, the unknown, gets kinda crazy tho when you make the transition from modern timeline to rifts, it then becomes a underwater scary movie like "aliens" but in a sealab
Cyber-Knights soon?
On it's way.
Great video. I watched this one like 4 times already.
Awesome video AJ
Thank you Chris! More to come.
@AJ Pickett cool does the setting tell what happened to Fort Knox ky, Louisville KY or the Ohio Valley in general?
@@chriscalvin5083 riftsimcn.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/8/7/56872659/rifts_na_map.jpg these are the factions and centers of activity, I don't have much specific information on Kentucky, other than to say it is not Coalition states controlled, Ohio has significant coalition presence though.
@@AJPickett thanks AJ
Damn this is rad AF lol
Still dying for a Cyber-Knights video!
They are so lame tho😢
@@tonytireiorn9708 that sounds like Chi-town propaganda to me!
@@choostopher5018 na, he's right, they are lame, especially with the R:UE changes lol
@@6661313 oh that’s sad to read, would be very keen to have a game being a Cyber-Knight regardless
@@choostopher5018 they can work in over the top Saturday morning cartoon style games ... those aren't the kind i run lol
I love living in new lazlo irl always fun to imagine what it would be like
Where oh where oh where did you find that map of North America at 1:06????????????? I have never seen it before and I could really use a high quality version of it for my campaign coming up here.
You seek Savage Rifts, the Savage Worlds RPG adaptation of the Rifts World Setting. Lots of great new art for Rifts is included and can be found online.
Shadow Run, .. at my last game shop I created a dozen starting characters along with ten years worth of advancements if said PC lived that long.
The DM looked them over and said, " No."
Then turn around and used my PC to survival horror kill off on our stander game PC just to show how OP the concept designs were.
After that, she had everyone PC the characters that just killed off their main PCs while defending a building complex.
Characters, .. they are all f-ck ups.
a.) Wolverine, mage that fast heals who happens to be the bullet magnet. Has to roll every time when walking through a door frame or around a Corner to make sure they don't walk into anything.
Very slap stick. People open doors into him all the time. Also having to make dex rolls to make sure he doesn't trip over his own feet, .. down staircases.
b.) He Who Is Not There, or remembered. Power invisibility and forgetfulness. Most people don't remember even meeting them, kind of hard to have a job employment record. Few co-works can even see them. Most other in the group think the other person is talking to a spirit guide. Perfect assassin, side plot, someone else seems to always makes the kill and gets the credit.
c.) Phase walked, power of invisibility and phase walking through walls. Flaws, the guy can't read maps and gets lost way too easily. But is smart enough not to walk through walls with given energy blocker and gets fried. He was lost in a warehouse complex just waiting around for others to open personal locked doors not to blow his cover. The complex notice his activities and lead him on a two day goose chase through the warehouse testing their own defensives.
( Management, " If the spy is real good, triple what their current employer is offering. If not .. just see how long we can mess around with them till they break.")
Player roll too many failed Willpower rolls and yelled, " I am lost and can't get out of this place !"
Ghostly voice from nowhere, the DM rolled for the guards and workers reactions, result was deadpan, " So we have a new guy here huh ?"
Business as normal.
d.) Astral phase shifter, power is jumping a given rolled adjustment area into and out of the astral. Which blows out electronics and makes organics feel that they just got tasered.
" Noo, .. I don't Want to Jump ! It hurts like bloody hell !"
In a way the PC is a living EMP that has to be carried away after mission cause their own power messes themselves up that bad from self inflicted temporary ability damage. A properly set stun club will trigger his astral jump at full dice effect. But nocks him out for 2d10 minutes. So temporary took out of the game. Best used for well time comic relief.
Shadowrun is a different critter altogether.
A friend and I routinely disrupted the GMs game by killing off the other players for their cut of the pay until those players made characters that fit our goals better. He was playing a tech-savvy BTL dealer and I was playing a shamanic magic-using stripper who both understood the concept of “no witnesses” was key to higher paychecks even if it meant the perpetrators too.
The characters were based on Lenny Nero and Mace from the film Strange Days loosely.
@@almitrahopkins1873 Other than source book material, my last gaming shop mixed a lot of Shadow Run and Cyber Punk into all of our Star Wars games. From corporate spy work to gritty smuggler Hutt work.
b.) Hero Click minis of DC/Marvel/ Wild Cats and other what nots. I had a figure of a woman with green hair, twin heavy pistols, mini skirt/thong, with leggings. So I turn her into a WotC 3.5e Star Wars bounty hunter with force levels that was more or less a stripper.
c.) My last shop's DM, she had a knack of dropping Ravenloft/ Call of Cthulhu theme fear/horror and madness checks into all of her games. Along with reality wrapping effects of changing door handles and which way they open into and out of rooms. Also hallways, stair wells, elevators that only exist on the astral. We got overly paranoid on any taxi, bus, train we step foot on not knowing where we will turn up at, or what monsters on the astral/ethereal we had to fight or RUN for our PC lives.
We normally start off with two or three stander normal games, then get a flash of weirdness and by the fifth game total deep end survival horror mind breaking action madness.
While I currently play 5E, I grew up on Rifts. Thanks for making these videos AJ.
Thank you so much for your good works! What are the minimum sourcebooks you recommend for a GM to get?
There is a reissue of the RIFTs core book which includes most of this
I would first advise you to head over to the forums of the Megaverse - the old-school text forums at the palladium books website and just browse and ask questions. For example, they will tell you there are Dimension Books, World Books and Source Books, so what you asked me is actually a much more specific question than you intended to ask. You can play rifts with just the main setting book, but I personally love the Vampire Kingdoms, Atlantis and Triax (new German Republic) books, they pack a lot in there and provide a good range of resources for games.
@@AJPickettWow you never disappoint and continue to inspire. Thank you so much!
The Coalition States. As a whole they are not villains. My play group absolutely hates Chi-Town and fears Lone Star, but on a whole most member states are bastions of humanity with degrees of self rule. The big issue is Chi-town's royal family. They have introduced more hardline rule over other member states. Like that time they invaded Iron Hearts, a member state, or started a war with Free Quebec, another member state.
Northern Gun seems alright.
Then there is the NGR and their demon problem.
And Area 51 supplying the black market.
There is also the remnants of the U.S. navy sailing about.
I think I lost the train of thought.
Love the video but at 4:49 you mention Lone Star but show a picture of Mindwerks.
Correct. Good spotting. Now share this video with five friends who have never played the game, because I totally snapped you with that obvious rouse 😅
This Rifts videos are excellent!
Glad you think so!
Excellent
Thats a lot of information. I'm guessing you probably knew most of it off to top of your head. What would recommend if I was looking to learn a brief summary or history of RIFTS Earth?
In one book? Rifts Ultimate Edition has a good amount of lore spread through it's pages. From there world books are a good start. Any place spacific you want to look at?
The books, otherwise there are some good wiki sites now available that are very comprehensive. (but need more map images)
Brief Rifts description:
Have you ever wanted to take a job fighting a dragon, while you're piloting a giant Mecha robot, in the future ruins of your local Costco, with the reward being a case of Pepsi that somehow gives the drinker psychic powers, and the job offer came from a sentient mutant cactus that owns a hog farm?
Well, you're in luck!
@@BigFrakkinOgre Nice Psi-Cola reference.
@@BigFrakkinOgre LOL! All of this is accurate.
Thanks AJ.
Great video
Woot!
What’s wrong with north west Michigan and Monroe Mi?
Flooded mostly? I dunno, are you referring to the map?
From Houston. This city would sink in all reality if the sea levels rose. I played an escaped Lone Star dogboy who became a cyberknight.
Cover the Vampire Hive Mind...from another dimension. :P
Yep, that video is on its way.
the alien intelligence is not a hive mind
Starting my stepson in his first session..thoughts on coalition occ or maybe something special perked?
Psi Stalker.
@@AJPickett psi stalker skelebot specialist
those are 2 different things@@marvelrifter
@@6661313 psi stalker is rcc to whereas skeleton specialist is the occ
Rifts is a super cool setting! Rules leaves much to be desired though :(
You can play the setting with Savage worlds mechanics now and the company is open to further partnership licences
i've always hated other rules settings, i really don't know what peoples rules issues are with palladium and when they list them most of the time it's their house rules fucking it up lol
That was 🙃 flipping awesome 👍!
That was mind works not loan star
My character is a Northern Gun Alliance army guy. Piloting a Red Hawk Armor suit. Where do I get a Red Hawk Miniature?
Id suggest looking at miniature wargames like Warhammer and kitbashing it. It's one of the things I do. Rifts has never been popular enough to warrant very many dedicated miniatures. Hell a lot of people don't even use miniatures, they just draw on maps and crap.
Edit: For example depending on how you imagined his mech to look you can definitely use a mix of bits from wraiths and Tao Mecha. I tend to use Tao fire warriors as coalition painted as coalition. I tend to use Astra Militarum for mercs and bandits. Etcetera.
Good guys for most of Humanity! Bad guys for Dee-bees and ass wholes like me!!! What???
don't bypass foul language filters Deforest, its rude *badabum tish* 😀
@@AJPickett tough luck. I have to be honest! So have you made it to Canada yet? If yes how are you liking it?
Earth's government in Starship Troopers is not fascist. A restricted franchise is not the same thing.
Yes they are lol, that's literally the point, my pal
@@venom66656 You've obviously never read the book. The government is a liberal democracy with a restricted franchise.
Before the bugs attack the Military is a rather small part of society. It takes center stage because you are seeing events unfold through the eyes of a young man who has decided to join the service to earn his citizenship just before earth is attacked by a hostile alien race.
@venom66656 Yes and no. A limited franchise is a trait of fascism, however fascism borrowed that from other old government styles. The Romans required a term of military service to be eligible for government offices. Something to consider, the US grants citizenship to immigrants if they serve.
@@dragoninthewest1 A limited franchise was also a feature of the American republic (land ownership). It is unrelated to fascism,
An unrestricted franchise is more often than not a means of controlling a population. The book "The Dictator's Handbook" has a good discussion of why that is.
Fascism is an evolution of Socialism, something Heinlein is against. The book contains multiple instances of him decrying it.
The director of the movie never bothered to read the book. He also didn't understand what fascism is.
@garyuu2003 the director of the movie was also just trying to make an anti fascism movie and skin suited Starship Troopers to do so. The book had federal service be the doorway to citizenship and military service was only of many jobs offered. The movie obviously made it the only job. Side note this video mentioned only the movie and not the book so they were technically correct in what they said.