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 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. – Kevin Siembieda, 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®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Mega- verse®, Nightbane®, Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, 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,” and titles and names such as Armageddon Unlim- ited, Aliens Unlimited, Arzno, Atorian Empire, ARCHIE-3, Beyond Arcanum, Beyond the Supernatural, BTS-2, Brodkil, Bioman- cy, Biomancer, Bio-Wizardry, ‘Burbs, ‘Borg, ‘Bot, Chaos Earth, Dead Reign, 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, 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.