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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2016 11:48:16 GMT -8
RIFTS, being a pre-existing game system known for it's over the top Gonzo action and overpowered antagonists, was overdue for a modern facelift in a new system. However keeping the feel of RIFTS within Savage Worlds, which can be argued has a greater focus on balance and player success, can present several challenges. I am going to catalog issues that have come out during gameplay of my ongoing RIFTS campaign to serve as a brainstorming tool for folk thinking about running the system/setting and to highlight concerns that they can keep in mind. It will serve as both cautionary tale and ....well, most likely cautionary tale but you never know, y'all might get something useful out of it. The players in the game are more than welcome to add their insights and commentary as I will not be discussing any specific game spoiler info. The main purpose is to highlight things brought up in previous game sessions that can help other avoid the same pitfalls. They are also welcome to avoid the place altogether. Some folk don't want to see how the sausage is made. ... Stu Venable: Let me know if this is cool. I could probably just put it in a blog but i figured the back and forth is where solutions/better ways can be discussed. The Savage World's forum has been quiet of late and some folk may find my GM fumblings useful. Almost like an ongoing slow motion GM horror story.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 9:07:06 GMT -8
The game has 5 players, mostly non-happy Jacks folk, and meets every other Thursday from 7:30-10. With shorter gameplay time it is useful to get things rolling quickly and adjust things as necessary. OCCs and races are very complex and having things worked out between players and to have all players with a fair understanding of their own character mechanics is important so I like to do character building together before the first session (although there is always some adjustment during the first couple games). I have mentioned utilizing character questionnaires (as Stu Venable has talked about during the GM briefing and in past episodes) for backstory (to mine for plot ideas) and for character connections. The party breaks down as follows (with some adjustments from the setting book necessary due to the game play length) Bo: Human Cyberknight cadave : Human Ley Line walker Mike: Dragon hatchling ( per setting - first three games will determine hindrances, extending up to 5 games to choose) hoseirrob : Dogboy Juicer (per setting - roll burn every game, now rolling burn every other game) Tony: D-Bee Technowizard (may be adjusting frequency Technowizard machinist ability from 1/2 smarts to 1/3) Traffic and family madness can cause delays or missed games and that is when out of game communication becomes very important. I set out an email blast a few days before to see if we have quorum (at least 3 payers) and possibly cater to the players who will be there.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2016 9:16:41 GMT -8
As players are high powered and can deal with a vast array of danger I will be trying to vary the types of challenges the players face.
Last game, a good chunk of the action was a form of dramatic task in trying to weather a ley line storm. Players rolled to randomly determine what kind of dangers they had to deal with and cards were drawn to figure out order in which action took place. Length of storm and locations of things like lightening strikes were randomly generated while the players tried to get NPC villagers to safety.
Mixing up the types of challenges can keep things a bit more interesting then just walking from place to place to punch things in the face (although I still had an encounter like that at the end of the night)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 8:46:17 GMT -8
Schedule conflicts kept us from playing the last few sessions...adulthood is not without its drawbacks.
The vast array of powers that players have access to can be both a boon and a bane. The different powers can be fun to experiment with and allow your players a lot of freedom but Do not be surprised when the group circumvents several side quests or pre-planned encounters due to some ability that you may have previously unaccounted for. Having contingency plans in place and making adjustments when necessary can help keep you from being stalled out.
Group doesn't set out hiking through the forest as you first thought and instead flies along a ley line? No problem, the coalition patrol that you had originally planned them to meet would likely have no problem seeing them from down below.
Players need to be aware of what they are capable of but as the GM, you must also be familiar with all the player archetype powers. I realized after the fact that a misreading of a power may have allowed the players to do something they shouldn't have been able to to do but overall it did not impact story/gameplay that much. Better to err on the side of letting it play out vs wasting already short game time arguing rules and doing conversions for distance.
The goal is to have fun.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2016 9:05:08 GMT -8
The urge to relive the glory days of gonzo high school role playing can sometimes be overwhelming....and RIFTS is the perfect vehicle for that indulgence. When a player decides to dive bomb an enemy, barrelling full speed ahead....don't penalize them too hard when they screw up that unskilled flying roll. Make the failure memorable and ensure there are consequences....but remember that many enjoy RIFTS for its potential of outlandish high stakes action.
This particular example is from last game. A juicer was granted flying ability from his LeyLine Walker companion. He decided to charge full speed at a coalition officer on the ground but flubbed his flying roll and the benny reroll. Rather than be pulverized by flying full speed into the ground, I decided that due to the Juicer's exceptional reflexes he was able to roll with the impact; therefore taking only a fraction of the damage (which was still three wounds!), effectively destroyed his armor, and bounced 3x his speed away from the action. Definite consequence but not game ending. The key is to still have fun.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Dec 14, 2016 9:11:29 GMT -8
Since my group just started a Rifts campaign I'll occasionally update here too. Our group: - Henry "Hammer" Stone (Combat Cyborg) (Me): Formerly of a Coalition strike force, Gryphon Squad, he went AWOL to save a few innocents, including his future wife. When his former squadmates take out his home settlement and kill his family he strikes out for revenge only to almost be taken out during the Juicer Uprising in Newtown. The Tomorrow Legion, promising him the tools to take out his former squad save what's left of Henry and make him a Combat Cyborg. Something he has yet to come to grips with...
- (No name yet) (Techno-Wizard): An aged techno wizard making plenty of money with the black market finds himself hunted. Making an exo-suit to function as his legs, he joins the Tomorrow Legion to put his technology and connections to use.
- Millie Tremble (M.A.R.S. Mech Suit Jockey): A hero of another Earth, Millie Tremble was the first Jaeger pilot to attempt to nuke the rift letting Kaiju monsters into her world. When nothing goes as expected Millie's escape pod is sucked through the rift to Rifts Earth where she uses her newly stole UAR-1 Enforcer to fight for the Tomorrow Legion and hunt for the origin of the Kaiju on Rifts Earth.
- (No name yet) Burster: Born from a plane of existence of flame and fire, the Burster was sucked through a Rift straight into a major battle between the Coalition and resisting forces. Quickly choosing sides, the Burster torched the Coalition forces and was brought to the Tomorrow Legion to be caught up on current events. Feeling the Coalition should feel the holy cleansing fire of his homeland, the Burster dedicated himself to wiping the Coalition away.
It's going to be a lot of fun. Between starting the game with a UAR-1 Enforcer and me having the All Thumbs Hindrance while shooting big techno guns it's going to be a blast, I just know it.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Dec 15, 2016 14:43:48 GMT -8
One thing that came up is the drastic change of the Rich edge in Rifts (Pg 67 Tomorrow Legion). It gives you 5k extra cash and more rolls on a few equipment tables OR a free vehicle. What it does not do is give your character a reoccurring source of income. The wording specifically says that unless the character plans on staying in one place then the Rich edge is a one time cash advance as if the character made it big and has some extra dough to throw around.
Personally, I find that change to the Rich Edge a little bland almost to the point of uselessness. It gives you finite resources which will run out or be destroyed. Sure, the story of how you got those creds and items might be worth choosing the Edge, but it has no continuous effect like other Edges might.
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sbloyd
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WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
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Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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Post by sbloyd on Dec 16, 2016 13:29:42 GMT -8
It depends on the scale of the "free vehicle". Some kind of entire-group combat Winnebago might be handy.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Dec 19, 2016 8:30:15 GMT -8
sbloyd It's really just any land vehicle from the list except mechs and walkers. So yeah you could have a combat Winnebago. We had one at the end of our last Agents of Oblivion campaign. The rooftop AC unit turned into a .50 cal rotary machine gun.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2017 11:22:34 GMT -8
The key to any RIFTS campaign is actually playing. My Savage Worlds RIFTS game is being cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. Gaming with a variety of adult responsibilities is never easy and the busy holidays didn't help. Que sera, sera. I guess I am down to 5 ongoing games again. Anyone else running a Savage RIFTS game should feel free to utilize this space and let us all know how you are doing. RIFTS is a great setting that takes some finesse to run...balancing almost super power level of PCs in a richly populated world. I am certain plenty of folk would benefit from hearing from anyone running a campaign or one shot. You should also check out the Live play being run by cadave. It has phenomenal players and some possibilities for audience participation in the chat room. See you there!
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Post by Houndin on Jan 10, 2017 12:56:09 GMT -8
bummer man. One of my games is dying the slow death as well. And I've already rebooted it once. Maybe some Savage RIFTS is in my future.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Jan 10, 2017 14:06:37 GMT -8
Mine starts this weekend so I got that going for me. My GM is overplanning, I can already tell. He's contacted people and handed out specific skills to be added to our characters based on our backgrounds. Specific things like having Knowledge: Kaiju Anatomy, Colossal Robotic Systems and Colossal Weapons Systems for my wife the Jockey Pilot. I'm like "Okay, aren't two of those things just the Repair skill?"
Oh well, I'll see how long this runs.
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Post by hoseirrob on Jan 11, 2017 15:11:48 GMT -8
RIP AA-RON The Dogboy Juicer. I have to live vicariously through cadave now.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2017 8:57:31 GMT -8
RIP AA-RON The Dogboy Juicer. I have to live vicariously through cadave now. You and me both. Don't worry about AA-RON, I am sure he will rise again.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Jan 12, 2017 13:01:38 GMT -8
I was considering doing a Dogboy Juicer for the game I'm playing this weekend but the Combat Cyborg called to me. But now that I think about it a Dogboy Crazy would be pretty neat too. Could just be a hyena strain of Dogboy with the equivalent of a Thunder Hammer from Warhammer.
Man, this system is awesome because that sounds so OP and a dumb concept and yet would fit perfectly in this setting.
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