Warning! Violence and the Supernatural The fictional Worlds of Palladium Books® are violent, deadly and filIed with supernatural monsters. Other­ dimensional beings, often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, mon­ sters, gods and demigods, as welI as magic, insanity, and war are alI elements in this book. Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the game inappropriate for young read­ ers/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 RifterTM Number Eight Your guide to the Palladium Megaverse®! 1 , First Printing - October, 1999 Copyright 1999 Palladium Books Inc. & Kevin Siembieda All rights reserved, worldwide, 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®, RECON®, Nightbane®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, and Megaverse® are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. The Rifter, Systems Failure, Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, HU2, BTS, Beyond the Supernatural, Century Station, Chaos Earth, Skraypers, Phase World, Wormwood, Baalgor Wastelands, Mount Nimro, Eastern Territory, Xiticix Invasion, Splynn Dimensional Market, Hammer of the Forge, The Siege Against Tolkien, Siege Against Tolkeen, Free Quebec, Psyscape, Mechanoids Space, ARCHIE-3, Northern Gun, Coalition States, Erin Tarn, Emperor Prosek, SpJugorth, Mega-Damage, Skelebot, SAMAS, Dog Boys, Dog Pack, Techno-Wizard, Ley Line Walker, Shifter, Cyber-Knight, Mystic Knight, Battle Magus, Psi-Stalker, Glitter Boy, Simvan, Brodkil, Juicer, Crazy, 'Burbs, 'Borg, 'Bot, D-Bee, Chi-Town, Triax, NGR, Spatial Magic, Spatial Mage, Blood Priest, Death Walker, Cursebringer, Murder- Mage, Warborn, Warba by, Kumongas, and other names, titles and likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. Knights of the Dinner Table™ is a trademark of Kenzer & Co. and the creation of Jolly Blackburn. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® is a registered trademark of Mirage Studio. Robotech®Sample is a registered trademark of Hannony Gold USA, Inc. file Palladium On-Line www.palladiumbooks.com The RifterTM #8 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladium Books Inc., 12455 Universal Drive, Taylor, MI 48180. Printed in the USA. 2 Palladium Books® Presents: THE #8 Sourcebook and guide to the Palladium Megaverse® Coordinator & Editor-in-Chief: Wayne Smith Supervising Coordinator & Typesetting: Maryann Siembieda Contributing Writers: Interior Artists: Matthew Burns Apollo Okamura James Calder Ryan Beres James M.G. Cannon Scott Johnson Randi Cartier Ramon Perez Bill Coffin Wayne Breaux Jr. David Haendler and other Palladium Madmen Jason Marker Mark Sumimoto Rifts® Comic Strip: Ramon Perez Kevin Siembieda Coleen Laxalt Jason Richards Nathan Taylor Knights of the Dinner Table: Jolly Blackburn Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein Cover Painting: Brom Cover Logo Design: Steve Edwards Credits Page Logo: Niklas Brandt Keylining: Kevin Siembieda Based on the RPG rules, characters, conceptsSample and Megaverse® created by Kevin Siembieda. file Special Thanks to Brom for his cover painting and to all of our contributors. Our apologies to anybody who accidentally got left out or whose name was misspelled. 3 Contents - The Rifter #8 - October, 1999­ Page 6 - From the Desk Page 28 - Knights of the Dinner Table™ of Kevin Siembieda Another hilarious installment of KoDT by creator Jolly Publisher Kevin Siembieda talks about how the year 2000 Blackburn and Steve Johansson. marks the anniversary of both the ever-popular Rifts® RPG Don't forget the KoDT comic books are available from series and Palladium Books. This causes him to ruminate a bit Kenzer & Company, 1935 S. Plum Grove Rd., Suite 194, about the past and talk about the excitement promised by the Palatine, IL, 60067. future (forgive him, he's getting old). Page 30 - Palladium Fantasy RPG® Page 7 - Palladium News, Info, Mysteries of the Deep Forest & Coming Attractions Randi Cartier strikes again with a host of new "optional" crit­ There is a bunch of news this issue starting with the marriage ters, monsters, a new Warlock spell, and herbs for The Palladium of Jolly Blackburn, cartoonist supreme. Then there's news about Fantasy RPG® - adaptable to most fantasy settings. Artwork by Apollo Okamura doing more artwork for other Palladium titles, Apollo Okamura (does this guy keep getting better or What?). Mike Wilson opening a store (a must-read for anybody living in Portland), a call to fledgling artists to contribute to The Rifter™ and industry news. Be in the know. Page 40 - Nightbane® & Coming Attractions makes note of Palladium's many new and Beyond the SupernaturaJTM pulse-pounding titles planned for the rest of 1999 and what read­ The Charonis ers can expect in the year 2000. In keeping with the Halloween spirit, James M. G. Cannon presents a new variety of werebeasts - "werebats" from around Page 11 - 1999 X-Mas Surprise Package the world. Optional source material perfect for Nightballe® and adaptable to Beyond the SupernaturafTM and even Heroes It's that time of year again , so here's our 1999 X-Mas Surprise UnlimitedT M and other RPGs. Packnge-Grab Bag! Autographs, a secret surprise, and tons of Artwork by Ryan Beres. great stuff from Santa's helpers, Kevin & Maryann Siembieda. We want to make X-Mas for our fans the merriest ever. Page 47 - Beyond the SupernaturaJTM Page 12 - Systems Failure™ & Nightbane® Adventure & Source Material The Laughing Man R.C.C. Palladium's new shoot 'em up, save the world, role-playing James Calder gives us a demonic creature suitable for either of game has taken the market by storm with rave reviews and hot Palladium's popular horror games. sales. So when author/designer, Bill Coffin, suggested doing an adventure and source material contribution for The Rifter™, we jumped at the chance. Besides, it fits in with the Halloween Page 49 - Rifts® theme of this October issue. Lone Star Comic Strip What? You don't know about Systems Failure? Here's the The next rockin' installment of the Rifts Comic Strip. And nitty-gritty. On the eve of the Year 2000, computers and society you ain't seen nothin' yet. around the world "crash." Only strange alien "Bugs" are the ones Part Three of six chapters by Ramon Perez (penciler, Inker, responsible. The Bugs are stinking monsters from another Letterer, and Co-Author) and Coleen Laxalt (plot and Scripter). dimension who have invaded Earth and enslaves its people to manufacture energy for them . Anybody who gets in the way is killed or turned into a zombie. But here's the dig. The monsters Page 57 - Rifts® don't need to do this. They're energy junkies and use the power Demonwrath plants and electricity to get high! America is fighting! Are you Matthew Burns gives us a suitably scary, demon-stomping in? Sampleadventure set in Rifts Russia . Optionalfile source material. This is an "official" adventure and source material for the Artwork by "Drew" from Drunken Style Studios. RPG, produced specially for this issue by the creator, Bill Coffin. Illustrated by the bugged out Scott Johnson . FJyboy O.c.c. & New Core Material starts on page 21 . Page 60 - Rifts® The New Kingdom Jason Richards and Nathan Taylor give us a new Vampire Kingdom and menaces to deal with this Halloween season. Not 4 to mention some cool, optional vampire variants, the Abandoned Vampire, Blood Wraith, and Blood Priest, R.C.c. Optional source material. Artwork by Wayne Breaux Jr. and Apollo Okamura. Page 76 - Rifts® Bring Out Your Dead Mark Sumimoto presents a number of deliciously evil practi­ tioners of Necromantic Arts - optional O.c.c.s different from the classic Necromancer. They include the Cursebringer, Death Walker, Murder-Mage, Warbom, and Warbaby. Artwork by the dynamic Ryan Beres. Page 95 - Rifts® Fiction Three Words First time contributor, Jason Marker has written a (very) short story inspired by one of Ramon Perez's illustration in Rifts® Lone Star. Artwork by Ramon Perez (from Lone Star). Page 99 - Hammer of the Forge The next chapter in James M. G. Cannon's Phase Worldf M story. Artwork by Apollo Okamura. Page 105 - The Siege Against Tolkeen The next four chapters in David Haendler's Rifts® saga. Artwork by Apollo Okamura. The Cover We thought this Brom painting of a Frankenstein-like Monster fit nicely into the Halloween spirit and theme of this issue. Thanks Brom. Coming Next Issue ••• The Rifter™ #9 Optional and Unofficial Rules & Source Material Please note that most of the material presented in The Rifter™ is "unofficial" or "optional" rules and source material. • More material for the Palladium Fantasy RPG®. They are alternative ideas and things one can include in his cam­ • The Bio-Borgs left out of Splynn Dimensional paign or enjoy reading. They are not "official" to the main games Market™. or world settings. For example, the story, Siege Against Tolkeen, • Arzno, an army of Techno-Wizards dedicated to is likely to be very different from Kevin Siembieda's "official" world books coming in 2000. As for optional tables and adven­ destroying the Vampire Kingdoms. tures, if they sound cool or fun, use them. Ifthey sound funky, 100 • The Astral Plane Revisited. high-powered or inappropriate for your game, modify them or • Material for Ninjas & Superspies & HU2. ignore them completely. • The next chapter of the Hammer ofthe Forge™. All the material in The Rifter™ has been included for two rea­ • The continuing saga of The Siege Against sons: One, because we thought it was imaginative and fun, and Tolkeen™.