Warning! Violence and the Supernatural The fictional worlds of ® are violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other-dimensional beings, often referred to as “demons,” torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in these books. Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the games inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion. Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence.

Sample file The Rifter® Number 80 Your Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®!

1 Dedication – To Julius Rosenstein – Palladium staffer, Game Master guru, writer and friend. Without Julius there might not have been a Palladium Books. Thank you, my friend, for your many years of dedication to Pal- ladium and for introducing me, and many others to the magic of role-playing. We all owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. – , 2018

PDF Edition – June 2019

Copyright 2018 Palladium Books® Inc.

All rights reserved, world wide, under the Universal Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means, without permission from the publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews. All incidents, situations, institutions, governments and people are fictional and any similarity, without satiric intent, of characters or persons living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, Chaos Earth®, Coalition Wars®, After the Bomb®, ®, The Mechanoids®, ®, Megaverse®, ®, Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Powers Unlimited®, RECON®, and ® are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. The slogan “A Megaverse of adventure – limited only by your imagination,” RPG Tactics, and titles and names such as Bizantium and the Northern Islands, Armageddon Unlimited, Aliens Unlimited, Arzno, Atorian Empire, ARCHIE-3, Beyond Arcanum, , BTS-2, Brodkil, Biomancy, Biomancer, Bio-Wizardry, ‘Burbs, ‘Borg, ‘Bot, Dimensional Outbreak, Dinosaur Swamp, Dyval, Elf-Dwarf War, , I.S.P., Land of the Damned, Lazlo, Victor Lazlo, Lazlo Agency, Lazlo Society, Palladium of Desires, Chi-Town, CS, Coalition States, Cosmo-Knight, Crazy, Cyber-Knight, D-Bee, Dark Day, Dead Boy, Desert Judge, Desert Rose, Doctor Feral, Dog Boy, Dog Pack, Dweomer, Emperor Prosek, Erin Tarn, Fadetown, Free Quebec, Gadgets Unlimited, Gargoyle Empire, Glitter Boy, Gramercy Island, Hardware Unlimited, Heroes of the Megaverse, Heroes Unlimited, HU2, House of Red Sands, Juicer, Ley Line Walker, M.D.C., Mechanoid Space, Mega-Damage, Mega-Hero, Megaversal, MercTown, Minion War, Molok, Mor- phus, Mutant Underground, Mysteries of Magic, Merc Ops, Naruni, Naruni Enterprises, NEMA, Ninjas & Superspies, NGR, Northern Gun, Nova Hawk, The Nursery, P.P.E., Psi-Stalker, Psyscape, SAMAS, S.D.C., Shifter, Siege on Tolkeen, Skelebot, Skraypers, Sovi- etski, Splugorth, Splynncryth, Splynn, Techno-Wizard, Temporal Magic, Temporal Wizard, Wayfarers, The Disavowed, Three Galax- ies, Tome Grotesque, Triax, Vampire Kingdoms, Warpath: Urban Jungle, Void Runners, Wilk’s, Whispering Field, Wolfen, Wolfen Wars, Wormwood, Wulfen, Xiticix, and other names, titles, slogans, and the likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

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The Rifter® #80 is part of an RPG sourcebook series published by Palladium Books Inc., 39074 Webb Court, Westland, MI 48185. Printed in the USA by McNaughton & Gunn of Saline, Michigan.

2 Palladium Books® Presents: #80

Sourcebook and Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®

Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith Editors: Alex Marciniszyn Kevin Siembieda Charles Walton II Contributing Writers: Daniel Frederick Julius Rosenstein Kevin Siembieda Megan Timperley Kris Tipping Charles Walton II Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein Cover Illustration: Amy L. Ashbaugh Interior Artists: Amy L. Ashbaugh Mark Dudley Michael Mumah Benjamin Rodriguez Cover Logo Design: Steve Edwards Credits Page Logo: Niklas Brandt Typesetting & Layout: Wayne Smith Art Direction: Kevin Siembieda Based on the RPG rules, characters, concepts and Megaverse® created by Kevin Siembieda.

SpecialSample Thanks to Amy, Ben, Mike and Mark for their artistry, to writers Julius, Kris,file Dan, Megan, Chuck, and all our contributors for their bold imaginings brought to life in words and pictures, and to the hardworking Palladium staff. Our apologies to anybody who may have gotten accidentally left out or their name misspelled. – Kevin Siembieda, July 2018

3 Contents – The Rifter® #80 – 2018

Page 6 – From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Page 23 – The Caravan Master Page 24 – The Council of Elders Our subscribers probably think we dropped off the face of the Page 25 – The Swapper’s Code Earth. Sorry about that. The good news is we will be trying to Page 26 – Language: Wayspeak make up for that with more pages and epic adventure source ma- Page 26 – Adoption and Family Status terial in The Rifter® starting with this issue. Publisher Kevin Page 27 – Caravan Disputes Siembieda explains what happened, what you can expect in the Page 27 – Battle of Champions future and what’s coming down the pipeline with books. You are Page 27 – Vendetta & Blood Feud going to like the goodness we have in store for you. Page 28 – Foreign Relations Page 7 – Palladium News Page 29 – Old Kingdom Page 30 – Wayfarers’ Stance on Magic A lot has happened since the last issue of The Rifter®. Pub- Page 31 – Wayfarer O.C.C.s lisher Kevin Siembieda offers up the latest goings-on and high- Page 31 – Wayfarer Enforcer lights of events over the last several months at Palladium Books. Page 33 – Wayfarer Healer That includes the 2018 Palladium Open House Report (the Page 35 – Wayfarer Peasant/Vagabond POH was a very fun time for us as well as those who attended), Page 36 – Wayfarer Seer the announcement of the 2021 Palladium Open House (how is Page 38 – Wayfarer Teamster that for advance notice), Matt is back, Scott is gone (only sort of), Page 39 – Wayfarer Thief books coming, and fun at Anime North. Page 41 – Wayfarer Wizard Thief Artwork by Michael Mumah. Page 10 – Coming Attractions Books like Rifts® Sovietski™, Nightbane® Dark De- Page 44 – House of the Red Sands™ signs™ and Splicers® I Am Legion™ have been released, and – “Official” Setting & Source Material for Splicers® a lot more books are coming your way, starting with Rifts® Kris Tipping, Charles Walton and Kevin Siembieda join forces Bestiary of North America, Vol. One and Two and issues of to deliver you the first Splicers® Great House in a desert environ- The Rifter® in rapid succession! Dead Reign® sourcebook: In ment. It is a new, mysterious, Splicers House and their unique, the Face of Death, Rifts® The Disavowed, CS Arsenal and new Host Armors, War Mounts, Desert Rose, bio-engineered other fun books to follow. Read all about them all in the coming ants, other creations and adventure ideas. attractions. Page 45 – Words to follow ™ Page 46 – Geography and Climate Page 18 – Wayfarers Page 46 – Noteworthy Weather Conditions – Official O.C.C.s & source material Page 47 – Travel for Palladium Fantasy RPG® Page 48 – Government & Relationships Julius Rosenstein and Kevin Siembieda have whipped up a Page 48 – How the House Got its Name brilliant batch of memorable and fun characters, and ideas for the Page 49 – Population Breakdown Palladium Fantasy RPG® setting. For players, the Wayfarer™ Page 50 – Dreadguard Template characters/O.C.C.s and history are a blast to play. For Game Page 50 – Dune Viper Host Armor Masters, the Wayfarers are roguish heroes or thieving bad guys Page 51 – Thorny Devil Host Armor who can be encountered just about anywhere in the Palladium Page 53 – Red Sands War Mounts World to help or cause a little mayhem. Talk about versatile role- Page 53 – Desert Judge War Mount playing game source material. You will never think of thieves the Page 58 – Molok War Mount same way after you read the Swapper’s Code (Julius’ idea) and Page 60 – Hydrant Ant the Wayfarer Thief and Wizard-Thief O.C.C.s. Page 62 – Nova Hawk War Mount Wayfarers are rogues who travel the world in caravans, rob- Page 65 – War Ant bing, beguiling and trading with everyone, from the monster rac- Page 66 – Eraser Ant es to humans. They arrive with entertainers, Seers, Psi-Healers, Page 68 – Scarabick Soldier Ant exotic trade goods, rumors, and news. They also bring thieves, Page 72 – Desert Rose Mega-War Mount con artists and vagabonds, all happy to gamble, cheat and rob Page 78 – Template Biotic people blind. Page 78 – Xeric Guard Page 19 – G.M.s using Wayfarer NPCs Page 81 – New Weapons & Enhancements Page 20Sample – Wayfarers – A nomadic life Page 82 – New Enhancements file start Page 20 – Things everyone knows about Wayfarers Page 82 – Dry Muscles Page 20 – Most Wayfarers are Human Page 83 – Sand Feet Page 21 – Wayfarer Society Page 84 – Quick Stats Page 21 – Wayfarer Wagons Page 84 – Notes on The Red Sands Librarians Page 22 – Wayfarer Confederation Art by Mark Dudley and Amy L. Ashbaugh.

4 Page 85 – Masters Unlimited™ Become a Writer for The Rifter® – Optional source material for Heroes Unlimited™ We need new writers and artists to fill the next few decades Paul Herbert presents an insidious, new villainous organiza- of The Rifter®. You do not need to be a professional writer to tion, a cadre of notable super-villains within the organization, and contribute to The Rifter®. This publication is like a “fanzine,” adventure ideas galore. written by fans for fans. A forum in which gamers just like you Page 86 – Potential Masters can submit articles, G.M. advice, player tips, house rules, adven- Page 86 – Masters (Current Master) tures, new magic, new psionics, new super abilities, monsters, Page 87 – Battleship villains, high-tech weapons, vehicles, power armor, short works Page 88 – Merlock of fiction and more. So think about writing up something short Page 88 – Major Powell (even something as small as 4-6 pages). Newcomers and regular Page 89 – Verdict contributors are always welcome. Page 90 – Minions The Rifter® needs new material, especially when it comes to Page 93 – Associated Heroes adventures and source material, for all of our game lines, particu- Page 94 – Hook, Line and Sinker Adventures larly Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Heroes Unlimited™, Ninjas and Superspies™, Beyond the Supernatu- Page 95 – Chaos Earth® Nebraska, Part One ral™, Dead Reign®, Splicers® and Nightbane®. – Official source material for Chaos Earth® Pay is lousy, fame is dubious, but you see your work in print, get to share your ideas and adventures with fellow gamers, and Dan Frederick, Megan Timperley and Kevin Siembieda pres- get four free copies to show to your friends and family. ent the new setting of Nebraska. The chaos of the Great Cata- clysm is different everywhere. This source material examines the The Cover events and survivors of Nebraska, and a few of the weird mon- sters survivors must deal with. Part One of two. The cover is by Amy L. Ashbaugh and depicts the Thorny Page 95 – Shadows Over Omaha Devil Host Armor from the House of the Red Sands for Splic- Page 99 – State of Affairs in Nebraska, 2099 ers®. Page 99 – NEMA Page 100 – Nebraska Optional and Unofficial Rules & Source Material Page 100 – Offut Air Base Most of the material for this issue is “official” source mate- Page 100 – Omaha rial. As for optional source material, settings and adventures, if Page 101 – Lincoln they sound cool or fun, use them. If they sound funky, too high- Page 103 – “Reaper” Power Armor powered or inappropriate for your game, modify them or ignore Page 106 – Nebraska Police Gear them completely. We hope all of it ignites your imagination and Page 107 – Monsters of Nebraska inspires you to create your own wonders. Page 107 – Ash Worm Page 109 – Demon Hopper www.palladiumbooks.com – Palladium Online Page 110 – Undead Fossils Page 111 – Whispering Field ® Artwork by Benjamin Rodriguez. The Rifter #81 ! Rifts® source material. The Theme for this Issue ! Game Master tips by Greg Diaczyk. The theme for The Rifter® #80 is new settings for adven- ! Heroes Unlimited™ source material. ture and the unique people you find there. That includes new ! Rifts® Chaos Earth® Nebraska, Part Two. O.C.C.s for warriors, healers, thieves, mages, heroes, villains and ! Palladium Fantasy RPG® – Gnomes by Hendrik Härt- monsters. All fuel to fire up your imaginations and carry you to erich. new realms of adventure. With a new release for Splicers® and ! Palladium Fantasy RPG® adventure by Kevin Siembieda. upcoming books for Chaos Earth® and Fantasy, we thought it ! News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more. would be fun to present material to support all three settings. En- ! 112 pages – $14.99 retail – Cat. No. 181. July/August re- joy. lease. SampleOne game system, infinite possibilities limited only by your imaginationfile™

The battle between good and evil rages

5 What this means for our subscribers to The Rifter® is the From the Desk of rapid release of the next several issues. You have The Rifter® #80 in your hands and you will be seeing The Rifter® #81 ar- rive a couple of weeks later, and #82 a month or so after that. Kevin Siembieda To help make up for the long delay, we have given issues #80 and #81 more pages. So you are getting more content. I apolo- Where do I even begin? gize for the long delay, but when I say we were consumed by The year started with catastrophe. After proudly carrying the Robotech® I mean we were consumed. No Rifters®, no new legacy of Robotech® in the role-playing games medium for 30 books other than Rifts® Sovietski™ (sent to the printer in Jan- years, our license had expired and would not be renewed. uary), until the recent June releases. But that all changes now. What happened? To make a very long and painful story short, We are getting The Rifter® on schedule, and after that, Pal- production of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ (RRT) game line ladium will be releasing a string of new books that we think went sideways, production costs soared, shipping costs soared you’ll love. and disaster ensued. We had explored every available option in order to secure more funding or bring in business partners and in- vestors to fund Robotech® RPG Tactics™. We solicited multi- What books are next? ple quotes and explored different manufacturing options and new The Rifts® Bestiary™, Volume One and Volume Two. Both production technologies for these potential partners. There was a feature notable monsters and animals of Rifts® North America period when we felt very confident RRT Wave Two would see updated, as well as a number of new monsters and critters to liven production and release. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, up your Rifts® campaigns. There is new information and maps we came up short. But we were so committed, even that did not throughout, but there are also more new monsters than we had stop us. We reached out to others. Even Harmony Gold and Pal- originally anticipated. That’s because our imaginations are work- ladium’s licensing agent tried to help us put deals together with ing overtime to get you great new books. Followed by more is- third parties. We made a Herculean effort and did everything we sues of The Rifter®, and in no particular order, Rifts® Antarc- could, right through this past Christmas and into the New Year, tica™, First Responders™, The Disavowed™, CS Arsenal™, but without success. Dead Reign® In the Face of Death™, a bunch of Palladium On February 28, 2018, Palladium announced that despite our Fantasy RPG® books ... lots of good stuff. More details as our best efforts, we were unable to produce the Robotech® RPG schedule tightens up. Tactics Wave Two rewards and simply did not have the finan- This renewed focus and commitment has everyone at Palla- cial resources to offer cash refunds for the remaining Robotech® dium energized. Ideas are flowing like water and we are pounding RPG Tactics™ (RRT) Wave 2 Kickstarter pledges. Palladium away on several books while planning many, many others. offered a refund-in-kind by exchanging existing Wave One prod- That enthusiasm includes Palladium’s many freelance writ- uct in inventory for the remaining Wave Two rewards. ers and artists: Matthew Clements, Carl Gleba, Brandon Aten, The response to the Robotech® Reward Exchange Program Taylor White, Glen Evans, Greg Diaczyk, Mark Oberle, Charles was overwhelming, but welcomed. Between it and Robotech® Walton, John Zeleznik, Mark Dudley, Nick Bradshaw, Ben Ro- liquidation, we were consumed by all things Robotech® for the driguez, Mike Mumah, Amy Ashbaugh, and others. All reener- next two and a half months: March, April and into May. We gized and working away on multiple projects. There are some worked insane hours and through weekends and Easter Sunday, new faces coming your way too. and nearly all of our birthdays, and were still shipping RRT Re- Our goal, to set your imaginations on fire by releasing book ward Exchanges the first morning of the Palladium Open House! after book that wows, pushes the envelope and blows your minds. And we resumed immediately after it. We intend to support all of our game lines, but our focus over the next few years will be on what we’ve decided will be our Moving forward with gusto big four game lines: Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy® and Beyond the Supernatural™. Yes, BTS will be Sadly, all good things must come to an end. It is pointless to getting the attention it deserves. dwell on the disappointment of RRT. Instead, we are trying to The handful of people who have heard some of our plans for look forward to the future. Palladium is going back to what we these games line have been floored. Jaws have dropped. Cheers all love and know best: creating role-playing games and source- and expressions of gratitude have been exclaimed. We are pleased books, and world building. We are redoubling our efforts on to see the level of excitement from them and from our fans, be- those fronts and will be working hard to release the many game cause that motivates us all the more. book titles we have been talking about for some time now. We are galvanized, focused and dedicated to revitalizing the Since the end of May, Palladium has already released the Palladium game worlds you know and love, and introduce you to Splicers® I Am Legion™ Adventure Sourcebook (yes, we some new worlds. gathered all the material that appeared in The Rifter® #71-78, So sit back, enjoy the many new releases coming your way, into one juicy, 256 page sourcebook), the Rifts® Antarctica™ and please keep those imaginations burning bright. Raw PreviewSample Edition (an upcoming World Book for Rifts®), file the Surviving Chaos Earth® Raw Preview Edition (an ad- – Kevin Siembieda, Publisher & Writer, July 2018 vance look at Chaos Earth® First Responders™ and Psychic Scream™ sourcebooks), and The Rifter® #80 in your hands! So we mean business.

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