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 26 Your guide to the Palladium Megaverse®! First Printing - April, 2004 Copyright 2004 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 fonn 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 char­ acters or persons living or dead, is strictly coincidental. Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, Coalition Wars®, RECON®, Nightbane®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, The · Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, After the Bomb®, Phase World® and Megaverse® are registered trademarks owned and li­ censed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. Beyond the Supernatural Two, Chaos Earth, NEMA, MercTown, Dimension Builder, Splicers, Naruni, United Worlds of Warlock, Chaos Wizard, Lord of the Deep, NEMA, Mechanoid Space, Dinosaur Swamp, Arzno, Lazlo, Victor Lazlo, Lazlo Agency, Michael Mach, Heroes Unlimited, HU2, Powers Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Aliens Unlimited, Mutant Underground, The Nursery, Hardware Unlim­ ited, Gadgets Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, BTS-2, Three Galaxies, Void Runners, Gramercy Island, Skraypers, Atorian Empire, Wormwood, Land of the Damned, The Citadel, Wolfen Wars, Wolfen, Cosmo-Knights, Cyber-Knight, Dragonlands, Triax, Gargoyle Em­ pire, Free Quebec, Xiticix Invasion, Fadetown, Hammer of the Forge, Siege On Tolkeen, Psyscape, Dweomer, ARCHIE-3, Northern Gun, Coalition States, Erin Tarn, Emperor Prosek, Splugorth, Splynncryth, Mega-Damage, Skelebot, SAMAS, Glitter Boy, Dog Boys, Dog Pack, Techno-Wizard, Ley Line Walker, Shifter, Bio-Wizardry, Psi-Stalker, Brodkil, Juicer, Crazy, 'Burbs, 'Borg, 'Bot, D-Bee, Chi-Town, Triax,Sample NGR, and other names, titles and likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda file and Palladium Books Inc. Palladiwn Online www.palladiumbooks.com The Rifter® #26 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladiwn Books Inc., 12455 Universal Drive, Taylor, MI 48180. Printed in the USA. 2 Palladium Books® Presents: THE #26 Sourcebook and guide to the Palladium Megaverse® Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith Cover Illustration: John Zeleznik Contributing Writers: Interior Artists: James M.G. Cannon Kent Buries Evan Cooney Drunken Style Studios (DSS) Chris Fox Michael Dubisch Michael Long Allen Manning Jason Richards Brian Manning Andrew Rusling Apollo Okamura Kevin Siembieda Ramon Perez and other Palladium Madmen Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein Cover Logo Design: Steve Edwards Credits Page Logo: Niklas Brandt Typesetting: Wayne Smith Keylining: Kevin Siembieda Based on the RPG rules, characters, concepts andSample Megaverse® created by Kevin Siembieda. file Special Thanks to all our contributors, writers and artists - and a special welcome on board to the artists and writers making their debut in this issue. Our apologies to anybody who got accidentally left out or their name misspelled. 3 Contents - The Rifter® #26 - April, 2004 Page 7 - From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Life at Palladium Books has gotten pretty crazy around here, been waiting for this hotly anticipated Second Edition game. and threatens to get even crazier as things progress with taking The Sneak Peek opens with a little history and information Rifts® into the mass market. Publisher and creator, Kevin about the game, followed by a color piece involving Robert Siembieda, explains how working toward the future is messing Mach, head of the Lazlo Agency, and a skeptical reporter. up the present. That's why our release schedule has been a mess. The Psychic Medium P. C. C. is one of the new Psychic Char­ It's all explained here. acter Classes, and is presented in its entirety, starting on page Artwork by Mike Majestic of Drunken Style Studio. 23. This is one of several new character classes being added to BTS-2. The old favorites (Physical Psychic, Psychic Sensitive, Page 8 - Palladium News Nega-Psychic, Psi-Mechanic, Arcanist, etc.) will also appear in The big news is Palladium's convention schedule this year, the final product, but they will be expanded upon and made and the fact that we are working hard to make Origins Game even more interesting while retaining their original flavor. Expo 2004 (held in Columbus, Ohio, June 24-27) something Kevin is shooting to finally have BTS-2 released by the end of special for Palladium garners. More guest creators than we've May, but it might slip into a June release (let's hope not). ever brought to any convention in the past, more than 30 Palla­ Artwork by is by Michael Dubisch, one of the fme artists dium gaming events (2 run by Kevin, himself, 6-8 by Carmen contributing to Beyond the Supernatural™, Second Edition. Bellaire, 3-5 by Carl Gleba and a whole bunch of other people), (Ramon Perez and Apollo Okamura are two of the other chief plus Palladium' s booth bursting with game books, new releases, artists breathing life into BTS-2; cover by John Zeleznik). T-shirts, original artwork, and special items. We're planning to go all out at Origins. Then, in August, we'll be at Gen Can (In­ dianapolis Indiana), and maybe Dragon Can (Atlanta, Georgia), Page 31 - Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game® and then in October, we'll be at Trinity Can (Southfield, Michi­ Construct Animation Magic gan), and maybe U-Con (in Ann Arbor, Michigan). Not to men­ tion a few trade shows. This is one of Palladium's busiest Evan Cooney presents optional rules and clever ideas for a convention seasons ever, and we invite garners everywhere to new type of magic that dates back to the early days of the Elf-Dwarf War - animating inanimate objects like a mystical come on down and join the fun . puppet master. This practitioner of magic is know as the Anima­ Other news includes a big alU10uncement at E3, a writer for tor, and how his powers and creations work is all laid out for the Rifts Movie, a Retailer Directory on our website, and some your enjoyment. silliness. Artwork is by Brian and Allen MalU1ing. Page 11 - Coming Attractions Page 40 - Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game® Our revised schedule, five "big" summer releases, some re­ cent releases you don't want to miss - including Powers Unlim­ Unknown Depths ited 2, Rifts® Megavers e® Builder, and Naruni Enterprises' Andrew Rusling takes and in-depth look at the misunder­ return to Rifts Earth in Naruni Wave Two. All these titles in stood Lizard Men of the Palladium World. This race of tribal print, in stock and available through stores. people inhabit the swamps and woodlands of the Yin-Sloth Jungles and are considered to be primitive savages by the rest of Page 13 - Coming Soon the world. Learn about how their reptilian minds and society re­ New titles in the works and scheduled for a May, June or ally work. Includes some tips for using them as player charac­ Summer releast:. That includes Rifts® China Two, Beyond the ters, plus some adventure campaign ideas. Supernatural™ 2, Rifts® Dinosaur Swamp, Phase World®: Artwork is by Apollo ''I'm everywhere" Okamura. United Worlds of Warlock and our new science fiction role­ playing game Splicers (which is really cool). Page 47- Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game® The Fires of Korath, Part Two Page 14 - Fleas for Systems FailureTM The conclusion to Michael Long's epic adventure. To quote A new kind of alien insect and danger, but one that can be Julius Rosenberg, one of the original Defilers, "This adventure used against the invading Bugs. Adventure ideas, the Fleas, is great! Defmitely worth playing." some new "bug bombs," and other good stuff. Optional for use with Systems FaiJure™. More mystery, intrigue and treachery involving the Old Ones, dark gods and insane cultists. Perils include evil Wizards, ArtworkSample by Apollo "I hate bugs" Okamura. file dark Priests, Necromancers, Thieves, Goblins, Serpent Rats and Page 19 - Sneak Preview of the ultimate villain, Minoth Soulbreaker, among others. Best suited for mid- to high-level characters willing to face deadly nd Beyond the Superoatural™, 2 Edition odds, torture and death. Kevin Siembieda peels off some of the new material he's Artwork by Kent "Cowboy" Buries. Maps by Michael Long written for BTS-2 and presents it here for those of you who have (assisted by Wayne Smith). 4 Page 6S - The official Origins Game Expo Ad The Cover Zillions of games, thousands of gamers, hundreds of gaming This issue's cover is one of the digital pamtmgs John events, and the one and only Palladium Books. We hope you Zeleznik did for the defunct Rifts® Collectible Card Game by join us there to make Origins the talk of the town for Palladium Precedence. The artwork is simpler than most of John's covers garners from around the world. because the art had to fit within an image area of only a few inches. We think it looks pretty dam good at any size. Page 66 - Rifts® Mutants of Rifts Earth Optional and Unofficial Rules & Source Material Please note that most of the material presented in The Jason Richards offers new ideas and approaches for a host of Rifter® is "unofficial" or "optional" rules and source material.