Intro & Thoughts on Rifts        by:  K. G.
11/18/99    6:18 PM

I haven't poked my head in here much, but I guess I should introduce myself now that I'm putting up a post :-)

I'm 29, out in So.Cal., and been gaming ever since I married my hubby almost 6 years ago. I've got to admit, I thought gaming was only for prepubscent boys who lacked social skills for many years before my husband took me to my first game. I'm not much into the numbers and I've never been good at remembering all the rules, but I love the social interaction between the players, and I had a lot of fun in character, and have been hooked ever since my first game :-)

About a year ago, our GM moved out of the county (boo-hoo!) and now out of state (WAH!), and we haven'be been gaming much since then. I dearly miss the social aspect of the game.

Well, finally, my husband and some friends are thinking about getting a new game together. I'm a little nervous because I'll only know one (maybe two) of the players, and I got very comfortable with my old gaming group, but I'm looking forward to it anyway :-)

Hubby's looking at Rifts, he's brought home a few of the books, including Psycape and New West which both look really interesting to me, but this is a brand new game world and system for both of us.

Have any of you played Rifts and what are your thoughts? What do you like about Rifts, what don't you like about it?

Thanks for any input!
 

Untitled    by:  C. B. in response to Intro & Thoughts on Rifts
11/18/99    10:55 PM

i played rifts after it first went to market for a couple years, mostly (like many other games) it depends on your players and your GM, i found the rules plausible if a little bulky, and combat does tend to take awhile to resolve, but a good GM can do lots to avoid that as can players that take the time to prep well before games, check online for character sheets and get all your bonus's inline before hand and it cuts an hour off the combat time.... the best rifts games i know we played with only 2 or 3 people and mostly let the GM decide the minor combats without dice..

good luck, and there is lots online about rifts, though most of it is the statistical info the younger and more violent gamers tend to go for...

  c.

Untitled    by:  H. W. in response to Intro & Thoughts on Rifts
11/19/99    11:05 AM

I've played Rifts a bit and quite enjoyed it. We had a game going locally (Seattle), but we've lost a major character, so we're regrouping after the holidays. It has a very interesting mix of fantasy and cyberpunk.

  H.
a vase...a shard...a dead rose

Untitled    by:  L. S. in response to Intro & Thoughts on Rifts
11/21/99    4:54 PM

Rifts has a rather number-intensive character generation, but once the game gets going, things can get REALLY fun. The thing you have to remember with Rifts is that anything goes. The more ridiculous or overpowered the character/situation/chronicle, the more fun everyone will have. Also, Rifts can really create bonds- everyone conspires to a) beat the living daylights out of NPCs b) beat the living daylights out of each other and c)drive the GM nuts. Good luck, and have fun!
  K.

Re: Rifts    by: J. R. in response to Intro & Thoughts on Rifts
11/25/99    12:21 PM

I've played Rifts many times, and run a couple 1-player games. I think it is a great system, with opportunities for many genres to be included with fairly plausible explanations. I do not find it number intensive, and the combats do seem to drag a bit. The key to that is keeping the number of pc's down. Character creation, even for experienced people, can take a long time. I think my first character took me at least two hours. Course, we were sharing books though. I lot of people will take the game to juvenile-munchkin-ness; it does have that potential. But that's where quality players and gms come into play. Another downside, a small one, to Rifts is that you are now, what?, 40 books behind. Palladium/Kevin keeps production up fairly well, producing lots of good books every year. You have the main book, world books, dimenional books, source books, and possibly Rifters to pick up. Obviously, you don't need all these to play the game. If your gm just narrows down the geographic region you will be playing in and restricts the possible player character occ's and rcc's, you won't be missing all those books. I can't think of anything else to add except that this is a great game and system, give it a chance and you shall be pleased!
  J.

Back to Index
Back to Previous Entry
Forward to Next Entry