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 62 Your Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®!

1 Special Palladium Fantasy 30th Anniversary Dedication: To Julius Rosenstein: Friend, Game Master and a founding member of the fabled Defilers. Without you, Julius, there may very well had never been a Palladium Fantasy RPG or even Palladium Books. Thank you for introducing me to the wonders of role-playing and joining me on so many grand adventures. I am forever grateful. – , May, 2013

First Printing – May 2013

Copyright 2013 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.

Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.

Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, Coalition Wars®, After the Bomb®, The Mechanoids®, ®, Mega- verse®, ®, Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, 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,” and titles and names such as Armageddon Unlim- ited, Aliens Unlimited, Arzno, Atorian Empire, ARCHIE-3, Beyond Arcanum, , BTS-2, Brodkil, Bioman- cy, Biomancer, Bio-Wizardry, ‘Burbs, ‘Borg, ‘Bot, Chaos Earth, , 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, C.A.M.E.L.O.T., Chi-Town, CS, Coalition States, Cosmo-Knight, Crazy, Cyber-Knight, D-Bee, Dark Day, Dead Boy, Doc Reid, Dog Boy, Dog Pack, Emperor Prosek, Erin Tarn, Fadetown, Free Quebec, Gadgets Unlimited, Gargoyle Empire, Glitter Boy, Gramercy Island, Hardware Unlimited, Heroes of the Megaverse, Heroes Unlimited, HU2, Juicer, Ley Line Walker, M.D.C., Mechanoid Space, Mega-Damage, Mega-Hero, Megaversal, MercTown, Minion War, Morphus, Mutant Underground, Mysteries of Magic, Merc Ops, Naruni, Naruni Enterprises, NEMA, Ninjas & Superspies, NGR, Northern Gun, The Nursery, P.P.E., Powers Unlimited, Psi-Stalker, Psyscape, SAMAS, S.D.C., Shifter, Siege on Tolkeen, Skelebot, Skraypers, Sorcerer’s Forge, Splugorth, Splynncryth, Splynn, Techno- Wizard, Temporal Magic, Temporal Wizard, Three Galaxies, Tome Grotesque, Triax, Vampire Kingdoms, Warpath: Urban Jungle, Void Runners, Wilk’s, Wolfen, Wolfen Wars, Wormwood, Wulfen, Xiticix, and other names, titles, slogans, and the likenesses of char- acters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

PalladiumSample Online www.palladiumbooks.com file Also visit us at facebook.com/PalladiumBooks

The Rifter® #62 RPG sourcebook series is 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: #62

Sourcebook and Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®

Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith Editor: Alex Marciniszyn Contributing Writers: Matthew Clements Jeff Duncan Michael Long Thomas Morrison Kevin Siembieda Michael Strom Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein Cover Illustration: Kevin Long Interior Artists: Nicholas Bradshaw Kent Burles Kevin Long Michael Mumah Tanya J. Ramsey Benjamin Rodriguez Charles Walton Michael Wilson Castle Maps: Michael Long Cover Logo Design: Steve Edwards Credits Page Logo: Niklas Brandt Typesetting & Layout: Wayne Smith Art Direction: Kevin Siembieda Based on the RPG rules, characters, conceptsSample and Megaverse® created by Kevin Siembieda. file Special Thanks to all our contributors, writers and artists. Our apologies to anybody who may have gotten ac- cidentally left out or their name misspelled. – Kevin Siembieda, 2013

3 Contents – The Rifter® #62 – April, 2013 Page 6 – From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Page 27 – Top Ten Enemies List Page 29 – Hook, Line and Sinker™ Adventures It’s the Palladium Fantasy RPG’s 30th Anniversary. This fan Page 32 – Additional Exotic Weapons favorite game line has been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands Page 33 – Harvesters and their Meat Wagons of gamers for generations. It has never been out of print. Kevin Artwork by Kent Burles, Nick Bradshaw, Kevin Long. Siembieda, the creator or the Fantasy RPG® and founding Pub- lisher of Palladium Books, presents a fun and startling story of Page 36 – Dark Magic – New Rifts® Necromancy how the Fantasy RPG® started everything you have come to ® know and love as Palladium Books. It is a fun read and offers a Spells – Official source material for Rifts lot of little known information on how Palladium (the RPG and Jeff Duncan presents 26 new Necromancy spells and magic the company) got started. Enjoy. for your Rifts® games. A perfect companion to Rifts® Vampire Artwork by Kevin Siembieda (one of his favorite illustrations, Kingdoms and Vampires Sourcebook (not to mention Rifts® reprinted from the first printing of the Palladium Fantasy RPG®). Africa and Mystic Russia) and any setting where there are Nec- romancers present. Page 9 – News Page 37 – List by Level First, let us apologize for the April issue of The Rifter® com- Page 38 – Descriptions by Alphabetical Order ing out . . . in May. This is only the second time in 15 years that Page 38 – Blood Barrier: Stop Dead (15) The Rifter® came out a month late. It has been crazy at Palla- Page 38 – Blood Barrier: Stop Undead (60) dium as we launch one of our biggest undertakings in years, Ro- Page 38 – Bone to Dust (10) botech® RPG Tactics™ and a related Kickstarter crowdfunding Page 38 – Bone Meld (125) for it. Meanwhile, we are working hard to get the books you have Page 38 – Bone Shovel (100) been waiting for in your hands. This News section brings you up Page 39 – Bone Torch (3) to speed on our progress and some of the goings-on at Palladium. Page 39 – Bury Bone (2; special) Page 39 – Call Predators (25) Page 11 – Coming Attractions Page 40 – Create Bone Well (92) Page 44 – Create Bloodlust Zombie (850; Legend) The books you have been waiting for are getting finished Page 40 – Cursed Grave (35) and will be coming your way all year long. Rifts® Vampires Page 41 – Decay Living Flesh (12) Sourcebook is in stores and wowing fans everywhere, Rifts® Page 41 – Flexible Bone (6 or 25) Northern Gun™ One is in final production and should be avail- Page 41 – Nails of the Dead (4 or 8) able soon. Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two will follow soon af- Page 42 – Preserve Remains (8) ter. Then prepare for Rifts Earth to get shaken up by the events Page 42 – Rigor Mortis (12) of Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames™. It will be followed by the Page 42 – Sense Vampires (10; special) Robotech® UEEF Marines™ One Sourcebook, Robotech® Page 42 – Senses from the Dead (6) RPG Tactics™, Rifts® Chaos Earth™, and more. Descriptions Page 43 – Siphon Component/Talisman (125 or 250) for the titles we anticipate coming out between now and Summer Page 43 – Speed from the Dead (35) are found in this section. Page 43 – Sphere of Pitch Black (20) Page 44 – Spinal Whip (320) Page 17 – The Megaversal Ambassadors want you Page 45 – Turn Dead: Superior (90; Legend) Megaversal Ambassadors are a growing army of gamers who Page 44 – Unrest (15) run Palladium demos and games at conventions and stores. The Page 44 – Zombie Tongue (25) idea is to champion Palladium Books and spread the word about Artwork by Tanya J. Ramsey. our games. This article tells you all about this fun program. Page 46 – Experience Tables Page 20 – Deathspike and the Vampire Lands – Official source material for Rifts® Black Market – Official source material for Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook and Vampire Kingdoms™ Sourcebook By Kevin Siembieda. When we published these two books, the Matthew Clements and Kevin Siembieda reveal more “offi- experience tables of the new O.C.C.s were accidentally omitted. cial” source material for your Rifts® campaigns set in the Vam- Well, here they are. We’ll also be posting them online for those pire Kingdoms and the Yucatan. who need them, so feel free to share this info with other gamers. Page 20 – The Many Faces of Death (opening story) Page 21Sample – Deathspike Key Personnel Page 47 – Rifts® Northern file Gun™ Preview Page 21 – Master Vampire Damacio Vega – Official source material for Rifts® Page 23 – Drill Sergeant Antonio Martinez Page 24 – Deathspike Infiltrator/Observer O.C.C. Matthew Clements and Kevin Siembieda present the Gunbot Page 25 – Deathspike Werewolf Agent O.C.C. Robot-Killer. It is just one of the many new, cool robots, weapons Page 27 – Deathspike Chupacabras and gear in Rifts® Northern Gun™ One. Artwork by Charles Walton. 4 Page 50 – World Association of Super-Humans of fiction and more. So think about writing up something short – Optional source material for Heroes Unlimited™ (even something as small as 4-6 pages). Newcomers and regular contributors are always welcomed. Thomas Morrison presents the international superhero organi- The Rifter® needs new material, especially when it comes to zation WASH and how it works with other world agencies such as adventures and source material, for all of our game lines, espe- INTERPOL. This is a great way to give your superhuman heroes cially Rifts®, Chaos Earth™, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Heroes international crime fighting credentials. There is background info Unlimited™, Ninjas and Superspies™, Beyond the Supernatu- about the organization, its goals, key individuals, field agents, ral™, Dead Reign™, Splicers® and Nightbane®. and place in the world. Pay is lousy, fame is dubious, but you get to share your ideas and adventures with fellow gamers and get four free copies to Page 61 – Climbing Skill Expanded show to your friends and family. – Optional source material for ALL Palladium game settings. The Cover Michael Strom takes a closer look at the Climbing skill and its Every 2013 cover of The Rifter® will be fantasy, to celebrate many applications in the worlds of role-playing. the 30th Anniversary of the Palladium Fantasy RPG®. This one Artwork by Benjamin Rodriguez. reprints one of Kevin’s favorite Fantasy covers by artist Kevin Long. Page 65 – Castle Sturmgard – Optional source material for The Palladium Optional and Unofficial Rules & Source Material Fantasy Role-Playing Game® and just about any Please note that most of the material presented in The Rifter® Palladium game is “unofficial” or “optional” rules and source material. They are alternative ideas, homespun adventures and material Michael Long gives us the layout for a castle and sprawling mostly created by fellow gamers and fans like you, the reader. castle compound, complete with descriptive notes and setting Things one can elect to include in one’s own campaign or simply ideas. Just drop it into your Palladium Fantasy world or any set- enjoy reading about. They are not “official” to the main games or ting where a castle might be suitable. Enjoy. world settings. Maps and floor plans by Michael Long. As for optional tables and adventures, if they sound cool or fun, use them. If they sound funky, too high-powered or inap- Page 94 – Doc Reid’s Vampire Survival Guide propriate for your game, modify them or ignore them completely. – Official source material for Rifts® Vampires All the material in The Rifter® has been included for two Sourcebook reasons: One, because we thought it was imaginative and fun, and two, we thought it would stimulate your imagination with The Theme for Issue 62 fun ideas and concepts that you can use (if you want to), or which might inspire you to create your own wonders. Clearly, the theme of this issue is Rifts® and Palladium Fan- tasy®. And much “official” Rifts® source material at that. The www.palladiumbooks.com – Palladium Online Vampire data was written for Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, but it had to be cut to make page count. The Necromancy spells were the perfect companion and so much fun, the Publisher decided to The Rifter® #63 make them “official.” The Gunbot is a preview of the good stuff our July issue, is sure to contain that awaits you in the two Northern Gun titles (coming soon). The Rifter® #63, To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Palladium Fantasy®, we more thrills and data to help you build new adventures. will make sure every 2013 issue of The Rifter® contains Fantasy ! Source material for Rifts®. source material. ! Source material for Palladium Fantasy®. ! Source material for numerous settings. The Rifter® Needs You ! News, coming attractions and much more. We need new writers and artists to fill the next few decades ! And maybe YOUR submission. Send us some- of The Rifter®. You do not need to be a professional writer to contribute to The Rifter®. This publication is like a “fanzine,” thing and see if you get published. written by fans for fans. A forum in which gamers just like you can submit articles, G.M. advice, player tips, house rules, adven- Bringing you infinite possibilities limited tures, newSample magic, new psionics, new super abilities, monsters, file ™ villains, high-tech weapons, vehicles, power armor, short works only by your imagination Celebrating 30 years of Palladium Fantasy RPG®

5 From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda

Palladium Fantasy Origin Story There would be no Rifts® without the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing® Game. No Rifts®. No Rifts® Chaos Earth. No Phase World® or Dimension Books. No Heroes Unlimited™, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® RPG, Robotech® RPG, Beyond the Super- natural™, Nightbane®, Dead Reign™, RECON®, Mecha- noid Invasion®, After the Bomb®, or Megaverse® of Palladi- um worlds, adventure, products and creators. Heck, there would be no Palladium Books. The Palladium Fantasy® RPG started it all. That might surprise some people. Palladium Books was, after all, founded in 1981. The Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy was our first game product. The Palladium Books of Weapons & Armor and Weapons & Castles came next. The Palladium Fantasy® RPG did not hit store shelves until Spring 1983. But what you may not know is that The Palladium Fantasy RPG® and the concept for one Megaverse® spanning set of game rules, rules that would cross every genre, came first. And it came years before I published a single book. I was working as a clerk at an art supply store by day and trying to keep my fledgling art career as a freelance artist going by night and on weekends. I had dropped out of art school (the College for Creative Studies) after three years when I could not get a scholarship for my 4th and final year. Little did I know that disappointment would lead me on a career of writing, drawing and publishing role-playing games. I had burned through a number of unfulfilling jobs and landed at an art supply store not far from the college I had been attend- ing. It was also off the campus of Wayne State University. One of my co-workers was a cheerful punster and martial artist named Julius Rosenstein. He trained me at the store and was a fellow nerd who liked many of the same comic books, movies and TV shows as me. One day, Julius bound into work clutching some books and raving about a new kind of game. Something called “role-playing.” I think this was the end of 1978 or very early 1979. I must confess, despite my friend’s rants and raves, role-play- ing games sounded stupid. Yes, you read that correctly. I thought role-playing games were a stupid idea. I mean, I had always been a teller of stories even as a child. My goal at the time of Julius’ discovery was to become a comic book artist and writer, so I loved telling stories, but this? This sounded dumb. Grown men role-playing characters like let’s pretend when we were children? No way. And when I looked at the rules – expecting to see a page or two of them like any normal board game – Julius handed me a thin book. A book! You expect me to read an entire book of rules! That’s crazy. Besides, reading it was like reading a foreign The Palladium Fantasy® RPG celebrates is 30th Anniversary language. A foreign language intermingled with a secret code. No this year.Sample For 30 years this game line has been bringing joy and thank you. Count me out. file adventure to fans around the world. 30 years makes it one of the Over the next few weeks, role-playing games were all Julius longest, continually published game settings and game rules in could talk about. I have to admit, his enthusiasm was infectious, role-playing game history. And by the same publisher. 30 years, and his recounting of his character’s adventures were very cool. I’m proud of that accomplishment. 30 years . . . no wonder my Still, every time I tried to flip through one of his RPG books, my hair has turned silver. mind went blank. He also told me about these other cool gamer

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