Bitcoin Forum

Just bored, looking to fill time. I was curious if anyone here ever played "Rifts", the RPG game by Kevin Siembieda of "Palladium Books".

After seeing the artwork from the game "Destiny", and after having played "Fallout 3", I kept having flashbacks to that game. Well, that and the old Battle-Mech game. (The RPG, not the video-games. Though the video-games were fun for a bit too. They just didn't capture the point of wielding all that power correctly. Always felt drunk playing the computer-game. lol. Though, I think I was actually always drunk, playing the RPG table-top game anyways. That part is fuzzy.)

Anywho, I saw that they started listing a bunch of older books for sale again. However, they refuse to accept PayPal, and I forgot to push Bitcoins, which I assume they would be more receptive to. I got pissed that no-one there was willing to accept PayPal for my $300 order I just placed. lol. So I hung-up and went right to eBay instead. (Now I own half their damn collection, and eBay members got a nice $1000 worth of my funds.)

Not that I was going to play again... I just wanted it to have in my collection. Loved the art-work.

So... Are there any old-school players here, or new ones?

I also played old D&D, and "Car Wars" by Steve Jackson, the creator of "GURPS". However, I think I enjoyed Rifts better. Might have been the alcohol and creative people I played with. I don't think there was ever a serious moment in any of our games. Pure random torture to each-other, and from the game-master. (Oh, how I hate that title... lol. Should have been called the "Annoying guy who loved to torment others". Ok, Game-master is much shorter, and rolls off the tongue better.)

For those who have no idea what "Rifts" is...

Take "World of Warcraft Online", merge that with "Skyrim", merge that with "Fallout 3", merge that with "Grand Theft Auto XVIIXMCXVII", merge that with "Crysis", merge that with "Destiny", merge that with "Tomb Raider XCVMCXII", merge that with "Star Wars", and then shake and stir until you are completely shit-faced.

Spend ten days making a character, perfectly for your needs... Then have a game-master throw you into situations where all that perfection is useless... Before killing your hard work, or dragging your half-dead character around the world. Ultimately, resurrecting you, to kill you again, over and over. Good times!

I've always wanted to try out a table-top game but it's a little daunting. Giant rule books that look like they take ages to go through. Hard core table-top vets that are lightning fast at the game. All these factors are a little scary to me. Plus there's so many, I don't even know where to start to be honest. Any suggestions? For a beginner of course.

Ouch, that's a tough one...

I think complexity is the one attribute all the games hold in common. Also, I believe it is the greatest thing that ever held them back.

In all honesty though, it is the people you play with, which determines the quality and difficulty. Some people get hung-up on rolling the dice and micro-management of every damn aspect... While others actually focus on the actual "story creation", which was most games intention... Then others throw all that out the window, and just go free-for-all, only taking note of "rules". (Those are the real fun ones. However, you don't actually get much content, just a lot of laughs.)

For RPG's, I would say that the old D&D is the easiest to learn. The actual original box-set comes with an easy to follow, and play, adventure. They give you a real limited taste of the game. Something like only five or six character-classes, simplified rules, and limited supplies like weapons and food. It is a real "out in the rough", starting game. (It was enough to get a bunch of people hooked for more detail, so I still believe that is one of the best starting places.)

I think GURPS (Generic Universal Role Play System) would be the next step up. They use super-simplified rules which I think they setup as the "D-20" rules too. (D-20 is one 20-sided Dice, to play the whole game. As opposed to the classic set of dice, which was... D-20, D-12, D-10, D-8, D-6, D-4... Yea, a lot of dice. All for odds.)

You would have to pick just one format you like, to play any of the GURPS games.

For example, they have adventures and specific rules or expansions for things like this...
Star-wars systems
Worlds of magic
Worlds of psychics
Mid-evil (fantasy and reality)
Super-powers
Time-travelers
Prehistoric adventures
Ninjas
Robots
etc...

Pallalidium did the same thing, but using their own set of rules, which were also intended to be generic... However, it created the game "Rifts", as a generic "World" instead. The worlds attributes is what actually allows all those separate contents to exist in one place, at once. (As opposed to being Ninja's in old-world Japan, and being robots in the future, and being magical and psychic at the same time, all in present day.)

However, because of that odd world unity... The rules became a little more complex. :P

If complex didn't scare you... I would have said 40K Warhammer or Mech-Warriors. (They are both complex, where they need to be. However, there is not much content, just technical warfare battles to conquer and collect remains of those who fall.)

If you like card-games (For table-top stuff)... "Magic the gathering" and "Pokemon" are still real popular. Not my thing, but it still has a growing base of followers. Gets interesting with adults playing, as they tend to bet more. Apparently, this is where a lot of kids learn about betting, losses, and value. lol. I watched people bet entire collections against one another, money, and acts of personal humiliation... Was entertaining to watch, but I didn't have a clue how to tell who was winning or losing, unless you read their futile poker-faces.

Oh, also GURPS has a lot of "pocket-games"... Super condensed rules and adventures. Made to jump right into a game and start playing mini-adventures. (That is where I got my first games, "Car Wars", and "Vampires". They were fun for about a month, then I had to expand. :P)

Any-one else feel free to chime-in, if you have other opinions or suggestions.

Funny stories would be appreciated too.

The suggestion you are searching for is pretty much the following one.

My advice would be to find some likely-minded people to start with (possibily as beginners as you), and a nice Game Master who knows his job. Agree on a RPG the Game Master knows, then organize a 4 hour meeting with everyone. Before the meeting, skim the basics of the Player Manual, just to be able to have an idea about the world you will be playing into.

Then meet with your group, and let the Game Master introduce the world, races, classes, and help you define who would you be. A nice Game Master is able to fill your first character sheet just by asking you some questions about your desired character. Otherwise, he could just prepare some characters himself and let players choose their role.

Agree on a day to start your adventure, then just play listening the Game Master and declaring what your character wants to do. Let the Game Master explain stuff when those will be needed.

At this point, you just started playing without "Giant rule books that look like they take ages to go through", then your level of fun/involvement/curiosity may or may not trigger your interest about knowing better the rules.