Warning! Violence and the Supernatural The fictional worlds of Palladium Books® 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 82 Your Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®! 1 Dedication – To the memory of my beloved friend, Erick Wujcik. He died 10 years ago, but his passion for games, pushing the envelope, thinking big, and Palladium Books is still with me — with all of us – today. Erick’s legacy not only continues in the games and sourcebooks that bear his name, but in everyone he had touched over the years. And that is a great many people around the world. I would say I miss him, and I do, except ... I feel him (and Kay) with me every single day. Still prodding me to push my ideas further and sending me hope and inspiration when I need them most. Love you, Erick. – Kevin Siembieda, 2018 First Printing – November, 2018 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®, Dead Reign®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Powers Unlimited®, RECON®, and Splicers® 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, Beyond the Supernatural, BTS-2, Brodkil, Biomancy, Biomancer, Bio-Wizardry, ‘Burbs, ‘Borg, ‘Bot, Dimensional Outbreak, Dinosaur Swamp, Dyval, Elf-Dwarf War, Heroes Unlimited, 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, Devil Worm, 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, Juicer, Khemennu, Ley Line Walker, M.D.C., Mechanoid Space, Mega-Damage, Mega-Hero, Megaversal, MercTown, Minion War, Moorcroft, Morphus, Mu- tant 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., Secrets of the Coalition States, Shifter, Siege on Tolkeen, Skelebot, Skraypers, Sorcerer’s Forge, Splugorth, Splynncryth, Splynn, Techno-Wizard, Temporal Magic, Temporal Wizard, The Dis- avowed, 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 characters 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® #82 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: #82 Sourcebook and Guide to the Palladium Megaverse® Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith Editor: Alex Marciniszyn Contributing Writers: Interior Artists: Matthew Clements Robert Atkins Daniel Frederick Nicholas Bradshaw Mark Oberle Kent Burles Matt Reed Mark Dudley Julius Rosenstein Scott Johnson Kevin Siembieda Kevin Long Todd Yoho Apollo Okamura Charles Walton II Ramon Perez Jr. Erick Wujcik Roger Peterson And the many contributors to the Remembrance R.K. Post Benjamin Rodriguez Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein Kevin Siembieda Charles Walton II Cover Illustration: Nicholas Bradshaw 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. Special Thanks to Dan, Mark D., Mark O., Matt C., Julius and all our contributing writers and artists this issue, as well Sampleas to Matthew Balent for some great old photos, the folks who contributed their fileheartfelt remembrances of Erick, and to the family and friends of Erick Wujcik everywhere. And as always, to the fabulous and hardworking Palladium staff. Our apologies to anybody who may have gotten accidentally left out or their name misspelled. – Kevin Siembieda, 2018 3 Contents – The Rifter® #82 – 2018 Page 6 – From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Page 38 – Flights of Imagination by Paula Leasure Blumm Page 39 – My Friend, Erick by Paul Deckert It has been 10 years since Erick Wujcik was taken away from Art by Kevin Siembieda. Photos by Matthew Balent and oth- us much too soon at age 57. The fun and insightful trip down ers. memory lane starts here, with some photos of Kevin and Erick at Gen Con in 1984. Here Kevin talks about their early days work- Page 40 – The Name Giver ing together, Erick’s many accomplishments, and presents an Er- ick Wujcik Bibliography of Palladium Books published works – “Official” G.M. & Player Tipsfor All Settings and some things you may mot know about Erick. It is a fun and We thought it only fitting to reprint this gaming advice byEr - interesting read, and a prelude to many more insights about this ick Wujcik from The Rifter® #1. It’s solid advice that holds up. creative dynamo in the Remembrance section on page 22. Art by Scott Johnson. Photos by Matthew Balent. Page 45 – Thinking Big Page 9 – Palladium News Publisher Kevin Siembieda offers up the latest goings-on – “Official” G.M. & Player Tipsfor All Settings since last issue. He talks about the bold moves we are making Some more great tips and advice by Erick Wujcik from The with the company and upcoming releases, the Christmas Surprise Rifter® #2. Learn from a master of seeing the big picture and Package offer (yes, it is that time of year again, see page 18 for thinking big. It will make your games feel epic. So read, learn and complete details), some errata for The Rifter® #80, and updates unleash those imaginations. on the books in the pipeline. Art by Apollo Okamura and Kevin Long. Page 48 – The Impact of Age – “Official” Source Material for theNightbane ® RPG Page 11 – Coming Attractions Mark Oberle (co-author of Nightbane® Survival Guide and Nightbane® Dark Designs™) presents more information about Books like Rifts® Bestiary Volume One, In the Face of the Becoming and tables for selecting skills based on the ‘Bane’s Death™, Rifts® Bestiary Volume Two, Rifts® Chaos Earth®: age and experience. Psychic Scream™, Rifts® Antarctica, Garden of the Gods™, Page 50 – Adapting to Power Chaos Earth®: First Responders, and many other titles are in Page 51 – Educational Character Classes production, along with a lot of other books. Read all about them Page 51 – Young Nightbane here. Page 52 – Average Nightbane Page 18 – 2018 Christmas Surprise Package™ Page 54 – Older Nightbane Page 55 – New Skills Quite possibly the best deal in gaming. Certainly the most fun. Artwork by R.K. Post and Roger Peterson. A way to get autographs from the Palladium crew wherever you live. All the details are right here. Page 57 – Hitting the Gym Page 22 – Erick Wujcik Remembered – Optional Source Material for Heroes Unlimited™ – Fond, fun insight to the Matt Reed revisits and expands upon the Physical Training Hero with new abilities, signature moves, and more. It is all so man and his work at Palladium fun and compelling it will leave you wanting to dive into a He- Kevin Siembieda has managed to put together an uplifting and roes Unlimited™ game with martial artists and Batman types of insightful celebration of Erick’s life that is fun and touching. The heroes. many contributors are just a few of the millions of people who Page 58 – Parkour and Stunting have been touched by Erick’s work in gaming or by the man him- Page 59 – Determining Focus self. It is a tribute to the creative spirit and a joyful life that has Page 60 – Hand to Hand and Signature Moves inspired countless others around the world. Erick is missed, but Page 61 – The Power of Signature Moves never forgotten. For your reference we list the page numbers for Page 62 – Physical Training Abilities some of the remembrances. Page 64 – General Abilities Page 23 – Erick and Kevin by Kevin Siembieda Page 65 – Defensive and Fast Abilities Page 24 – The Butterfly Effect by Julius Rosenstein Page 66 – Other Stuff Page 27Sample – My Early Recollections by Matthew Balent Page 66 – Sample Physical Trainingfile Characters Page 28 – The Wujcik Legacy by Mark Oberle Page 66 – Olympian Page 32 – Living in the Moment by Brandon Aten Page 66 – Swashbuckler Page 34 – Art and story by Nicholas Bradshaw Page 67 – Manik Page 36 – Mutant Animals and Humanity by Michael Leonard Artwork by Mark Dudley. 4 Page 69 – Chaos Earth® Nebraska, Part Three Page 105 – Devil Serpent Tongue Page 109 – Eeracrech Riding Lizard ® ® – “Official” Source Material forRifts Chaos Earth Art by Robert Atkins, Ramon Perez, and Charles Walton II.