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 ® Number 67 Your Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®!

1 PDF Edition – August 2016

Pirst Printing – August 2014

Copyright 2014 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 ® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.

Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, Chaos Earth®, Coalition Wars®, After the Bomb®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid In- vasion®, Megaverse®, ®, Palladium Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, RECON®, and ® are registered trademarks owned and licensed by and Palladium Books Inc. The slogan “A Megaverse of adventure – limited only by your imagination,” RPG Tactics, and titles and names such as Armaged- don Unlimited, Aliens Unlimited, Arzno, Atorian Empire, ARCHIE-3, Beyond Arcanum, , BTS-2, Brod- kil, 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, 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, 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, Ley Line Walker, M.D.C., Mecha- noid 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 characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

Palladium Online www.palladiumbooks.com Also visitSample us at facebook.com/PalladiumBooks file

The Rifter® #67 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: #67

Sourcebook and Guide to the Palladium Megaverse®

Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith

Editor: Alex Marciniszyn

Contributing Writers: Jeff Duncan Michael J. Osborne Kevin Siembieda Kris Tipping Alex Tulloch Anthony Uyl

Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein

Cover Illustration: Michael Wilson

Interior Artists: Nick Bradshaw Tanya J. Ramsey Benjamin Rodriguez Charles Walton

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 this issue, especially new contributors. Our apologies to anybody who may have gotten accidentally left out or their name misspelled. – Kevin Siembieda, 2014

3 Contents – The Rifter® #67 – Summer, 2014

Page 6 – From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Page 27 – Rusty Nail Page 28 – Deadwood Publisher Kevin Siembieda talks about new releases like Page 30 – Lockjaws Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames™ and Future Visions™ (both Page 31 – Snafu and Coffin available now), Gen Con, an upcoming release for Palladium Page 33 – Lasher Fantasy® and other projects, as well as the ups and downs with Page 33 – Howler Pods Robotech® RPG Tactics™. Page 34 – Iron Wood Blades Page 7 – Palladium News Page 34 – Template Biotic: Widow Page 37 – Template Biotic: Gemini Get an idea of what’s out, what’s coming and what’s going on Page 39 – Template Biotic: Gorillephant in this issue’s news section. Page 41 – Template Biotic: Shield Maiden/Youth Page 42 – Nova Enhancement (secret) Page 8 – 2015 Palladium Open House Artwork by Charles “Splicehead” Walton. We can only squeeze in 300 or so gamers to the Palladium Open House. Are you one of them? If you’re planning on com- Page 43 – Outpost F279 ing to next year’s event, you should order your admissions ticket – Optional Adventure and Source Material for Rifts® sooner than later. Read about all the juicy details. Anthony Uyl has returned to serve up an adventure centering around revenge and betrayal that could shake the very founda- Page 10 – Coming Attractions tions of Lazlo and the Coalition States. Deception, treachery and New books are coming your way. You are holding the lat- a new Alien Intelligence are all part of this growing menace. And est issue of The Rifter®, and by the time you see this, Rifts® only your characters can stop things going from bad to worse. Megaverse® in Flames™ and Future Visions™ (the Chuck Page 43 – Introducing the Characters Walton art book) will have shipped to stores. “Paper Minia- Page 44 – Londesborough tures” for the Palladium Fantasy RPG® are also available. Page 46 – Coalition Outpost F279 Next in line for book releases are Graveyard Earth™, Chaos Page 50 – New Monsters Earth® Sourcebooks, and Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Page 50 – Timral Lieutenants Marines™ Sourcebook One. The big release is Robotech® Page 51 – Timral Familiar RPG Tactics™. The game looks amazing and is a blast to play. Page 51 – Timral Pod It really captures the look and feel of Robotech®. Containers full Page 52 – Consumed Human of product are on their way to us. Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Page 52 – Timral Soldier will ship to our Kickstarter backers in August and September, Page 53 – NPCs (Non-Player Characters) ship to distributors in September and hit store shelves in October. Artwork by Nick “the Brick” Bradshaw

Page 16 – House Pandorum™: The Chaos Spreads Page 55 – The Mutant Bees of Earth™ – Optional Source Material for Splicers® – Optional Adventure and Source Material for Kris Tipping has provided us with more background on House After the Bomb®, Plus Alternative M.D.C. Stats Pandorum, new O.C.C.s, an array of new bio-enhancements, for Rifts® armor, venom, weapons and gear, as well as Biotics, adventure The imaginative Michael J. Osborne has represented geneti- ideas and more. Be prepared to take your Splicers® campaign in cally altered, intelligent, humanoid mutant bees. Martial artist new directions with this fun selection of optional source material. bees, at that. Note: Though conceived for the post-apocalyptic Page 16 – Photonic Nervous System After the Bomb® world setting, these unique and fun beings can Page 17 – The Beginning of the End be easily dropped into a Heroes Unlimited™, Aliens Unlim- Page 17 – Day Care or a Prison? ited™, or Palladium Fantasy RPG® setting, or even Rifts®, Page 18 – Hook, Line & Sinker Adventures Chaos Earth® or Phase World®/Three Galaxies™. Page 19 – The Gardener Daughters Page 57 – The Bee Colony of Timbuk Page 19 – New Enhancements for the Gardener Biotic Page 59 – Elite Militia: Samurai Page 20 – Earthen Flesh Page 59 – Hand to Hand: Bee-Chi Page 21 – Gaia’s Voice Page 60 – Hand to Hand: Bug-Fu Page 21 – Third Daughter Page 60 – Adventure: Day of the Z.O.M. Bees Page 22 – New Enhancements for the Hand of Death Page 61 – The Ruins Page 23 – Sons of Chaos SamplePage 62 – After the Bomb®/Rifts® file Crossover Page 23 – Unique Plant Creations of House Pandorum Page 65 – Adventure Ideas Page 24 – Arch Vine Artwork by Ben Rodriguez. Page 25 – Dandelion Page 26 – Red Dragon and Dragon Fang

4 Page 66 – Rifts® Africa: Creatures & Monsters can submit articles, G.M. advice, player tips, house rules, adven- – Optional Source Material for Rifts® tures, new magic, new psionics, new super abilities, monsters, villains, high-tech weapons, vehicles, power armor, short works Jeff Duncan presents an array of new supernatural beings and of fiction and more. So think about writing up something short creatures of magic for the Rifts Africa setting. While most of (even something as small as 4-6 pages). Newcomers and regular these beings are most common to Africa, they may make their contributors are always welcome. way up into India and China, and just about anywhere via dimen- The Rifter® needs new material, especially when it comes to sional Rifts, the slave trade and demons. Enjoy. adventures and source material, for all of our game lines, espe- Page 66 – Abiku, Tectonic Entity cially Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Heroes Page 69 – African Gorgon Unlimited™, Ninjas and Superspies™, Beyond the Supernatu- Page 70 – Ambize ral™, Dead Reign™, Splicers®, and Nightbane®. Page 71 – Bunyip Pay is lousy, fame is dubious, but you get to share your ideas Page 73 – Corrocotta and adventures with fellow gamers and get four free copies to Page 74 – Criosphinx show to your friends and family. Page 76 – Giant Mason Wasp Page 77 – Hieracosphinx The Cover Page 78 – Horned Serpopard Page 79 – Inkanyamba Every 2014 cover of The Rifter® will celebrate the 30th An- Page 81 – Pegomastax Africanus niversary of the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG. This cover from Mi- Page 82 – Werehyena chael Wilson is called Villains Triumphant, for obvious reasons. Page 83 – Werejackal Page 84 – Yumboes Optional and Unofficial Rules & Source Material Artwork by Tanya J. Ramsey. Please note that most of the material presented in The Rifter® is “unofficial” or “optional” rules and source material. Page 86 – Power Behind the Throne They are alternative ideas, homespun adventures and material – Optional Source Material for Heroes Unlimited™ mostly created by fellow gamers and fans like you, the reader. Things one can elect to include in one’s own campaign or simply Alex Tulloch provides us with a shadowy group of characters enjoy reading about. They are not “official” to the main games or working for the UK government. Or are they controlling it? Mov- world settings. ers and shakers, spies and super-beings behind the scenes who As for optional tables and adventures, if they sound cool or possess the savvy and super abilities to influence the world. Who fun, use them. If they sound funky, too high-powered or inap- is really in charge and how do they use the secrets at their dis- propriate for your game, modify them or ignore them completely. posal? All the material in The Rifter® has been included for two Page 87 – The St. George Committee Today reasons: One, because we thought it was imaginative and fun, Page 88 – Current Membership and two, we thought it would stimulate your imagination with Page 90 – The Queen’s Own Warlock Guard fun ideas and concepts that you can use (if you want to), or which Page 91 – Lt. Colonel Riddle might inspire you to create your own wonders. Page 92 – Major Storm Page 93 – Warlock Guard Fireteams www.palladiumbooks.com – Palladium Online Page 93 – Saxon Team Page 96 – Adventure Ideas The Rifter® #68 The Theme for Issue 67 The Rifter® #68 Summer issue will present a nice variety The theme of The Rifter® #67 is secrets and betrayal with of new source material for Heroes Unlimited™ and other Pal- a touch of the alien and exotic. From secret invasions to secret ladium RPG settings. agencies, to strange creatures. Please note that we are celebrat- ! Cover by (tentative). ing the 30th Anniversary of Heroes Unlimited™ all year. That ! Source material for Rifts®. means every 2014 issue of The Rifter® will contain something ! Source material for Heroes Unlimited™. for it. New Heroes Unlimited™ and Palladium Fantasy® titles ! Source material for other settings. should be coming your way in 2015. ! News, coming attractions and much more. ! And maybe YOUR submission. Send us something and see The Rifter® Needs You if you get published. We need new writers and artists to fill the next few decades of The Rifter®. You do not need to be a professional writer to Bringing you infinite possibilities contribute to The Rifter®. This publication is like a “fanzine,” Sample file™ written by fans for fans. A forum in which gamers just like you limited only by your imagination

Celebrating 30 years of Heroes Unlimited™

5 From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda

It has been another truly wild and busy three months since last There will be a dozen Palladium creators available to sign issue. The entire year has been like that. books and chat with fans, nearly our entire product line, new re- Robotech® RPG Tactics™ has occupied much of our time, leases, collectibles, some test products, art prints, original art and as Palladium has been involved in every step of product devel- plenty of fun to be had by all. opment from and packaging to manufacturing and The big release at Gen Con should have been Robotech® shipping. We have learned a great deal about this table top gam- RPG Tactics™, but we just received the devastating news that ing, Kickstarters, miniatures and manufacturing. We’ve most US Customs has tagged our first container of Robotech® RPG recently learned about overseas shipping and the many require- Tactics™ games and expansion packs for examination. This is ments of US Customs as well as the ins and outs of professional a painfully slow process that will keep our container held up in miniatures painting. Holy Cats, talk about extensive and intensive customs for one or two weeks. Wahhhh. on the job training. Not at what we expected at all when we joined Barring a miracle, i.e. the container is one of the first to be forces with Ninja Division to produce and publish Robotech® inspected and promptly released in only a few days (a very, very RPG Tactics™. But what an exciting new product line, and the unlikely proposition), we will NOT be able to have Robotech® final product is gorgeous. I think our Kickstarter backers and Ro- RPG Tactics™ for sale at Gen Con Indy. We know this news botech fans will be quite happy with the final product. will disappoint everyone (no one more than us), but it is totally The game starts shipping to our backers in August and to the out of our hands. This could hurt the release on a lot of different rest of the world by the end of September. Can hardly wait till it levels, but we’re powering through it as best we can. ships. We are having our China manufacturer express mail us a few box games so we can display them at Gen Con along with MANY Fear not, we have ALL KINDS painted and unpainted game pieces and sprues. There will be of RPG products coming your way demonstration games going on at the booth and we’ll be happy to talk about Robotech® RPG Tactics™ all weekend long. Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames™ is done and available now! We are confident that Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is going So is the Charles Walton art book; and if you love Chuck’s to be a hot seller, so we’ll be offering the gamers at Gen Con a work, you NEED this art book. chance to place pre-orders to GUARANTEE they get all the RRT Graveyard Earth™, a sourcebook for Dead Reign™ is next, products they want. Of course, you guys and gals can place a pre- along with Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Source- order anytime via Palladium Books’ online store. We’ll ship out book, Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity, the next issue of all pre-orders after we have shipped to our Kickstarter backers The Rifter®, and a NEW Palladium Fantasy® sourcebook: and as we are shipping to our distributors. Bizantium and the Northern Islands, 160 pages of new materi- We even designed and built a special, enclosed booth to func- al that expands the world. And Bizantium is just the first ofmany tion as a store, but without Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to sell, new Fantasy titles coming from Palladium over the next year. we’ll hang onto it until next year and go with a much simpler, Then there are new titles for Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Beyond the basic booth display that is faster and easier to put up and tear Supernatural™, and so much more. down this year.

2014 Gen Con Indy In the meanwhile, we are working away on a number of prod- As I write this, Gen Con Indy is one week away. Gen Con is ucts and secret projects that we think will surprise and delight always a big deal. And this year we have really, really big plans you. Palladium’s freelance artists and writers have been kicking for it. Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is going to be the main attrac- out some epic material, and ideas are flying around in swarms. tion, but we are hyping up the ENTIRE Palladium RPG product Nothing but good things are coming your way. line with new releases, upcoming releases and dozens and dozens The next Rifter® is our Fall issue and that means a focus of official Palladium Books gaming events being run at Gen Con on horror, so I hope we get a cool, spooky Heroes Unlimited™ — 50+ of them! That’s three times more than we’ve ever held a article or adventure to include. There will be some extra, offi- Gen Con. This big gaming event effort was spearheaded by Gary cial material for the Minion War™ and Rifts® Megaverse® in Miller, Victor Petersen, Nathan Bingham, Jeff Ruiz, and Bill Kor- Flames™. sak. If my memory serves me right, it was Bill Korsak who first We hope you continue to enjoy Heroes Unlimited™ being came to me with the idea, and then Gary Miller and the rest of featured in each issue of The Rifter® to help celebrate its 30th the four guys in charge of managing the M.A.s jumped in to help Anniversary. We have some sourcebooks being developed for re- make it a reality. Of course, we could not have done any of it lease in the future, too. I’m also dying to dive deep into Beyond without the 20+ Megaversal Ambassadors/G.M.s running games, the Supernatural™ sourcebooks and several other projects. so this isSample very much a team effort. My thanks go out to each and Keep the faith and those beautiful file imaginations burning bright. every one of our Game Masters/Megaversal Ambassadors. You Enjoy the new releases. guys are awesome. On top of that, there will be free role-playing game events and – Kevin Siembieda, Publisher & Game Designer demos of RRT (Robotech® RPG Tactics™) at the Palladium booth.

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