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 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 Robotech® 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®, 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,” RPG Tactics, and titles and names such as Armaged- don Unlimited, Aliens Unlimited, Arzno, Atorian Empire, ARCHIE-3, Beyond Arcanum, Beyond the Supernatural, BTS-2, Brod- kil, Biomancy, Biomancer, Bio-Wizardry, ‘Burbs, ‘Borg, ‘Bot, 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, 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.