Warning! Violence and the Supernatural

The fictional Worlds of Palladium Book.s® 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 fonns, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in this book.

Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the game 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.

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First Printing - July, 2000

Copyright 2000 Palladium Books Inc. & Kevin Siembieda

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.

Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, 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 licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

Heroes Unlimited, HU2, Ninjas & Superspies, Hardware Unlimited, Aliens Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, BTS, Coalition Wars, RiftsworksZ, Systems Failure, Century Station, Gramercy Island, Chaos Earth, Skraypers, Wormwood, Baalgor Wastelands, Mount Nimro, Eastern Territory, Library of Blethemd, Land of the Damned, Wolfen, Coalition Wars, Free Quebec, Xiticix Invasion, Splynn Dimensional Market, Hammer of The Forge, Siege On Tolkeen, Psyscape, Mechanoids Space, ARCIDE-3, Northern Gun, Coalition States, Erin Tam, Emperor Prosek, Splugorth, Splynncryth, Mega-Damage, Skelebot, SAMAS, Glitter Boy, Dog Boys, Dog Pack, Techno-Wizard, Ley Line Walker, Shifter, Bio-Wizardry, Cyber-Knight, Psi-Stalker, Brodkil, Juicer, Crazy, 'Burbs, 'Borg, 'Bot, D-Bee, Chi-Town, Triax, NGR, Spatial Magic, Spatial Mage, Mutant Underground, The Anvil Galaxy, and other names, titles and likenesses of chamcters are tmdemarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

Knights of the Dinner Table™ is a tmdemark of Kenzer Co. and the creation of Jolly Blackburn. Robotech® is a registered trademark of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.

Gen Con® is a registered tmdemark of Wizards of the Coast.

Palladiwn On-Line www.palladiumbooks.com

The RifterTM #11 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladiwn Books Inc., 12455 Universal Drive, Taylor, MI 48180. Printed in the USA.

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Palladium Books® Presents:

THE #11 Sourcebook and guide to the Palladium Megaverse®

Credits

Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith

Supervising Coordinator & Typesetting:

Maryann Siembieda

Contributing Writers:

James M.G. Cannon

Hugh King

Michael Long

Jason Lukowski

Nicholas Luna

Shawn Merrow

William Muench

Matthew Olfson

Kevin Siembieda

Leland H. Smith Jr.

Rodney Stott

Richard Winters

Knights of the Dinner Table: MIA

Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein

Cover Illustration: Scott Johnson

Interior Artists:

Apollo Okamura

Wayne Breaux Jr.

Kent BurIes

Brandon C. Clark (DSS)

Mark Dudley (DSS)

Ka Xiong (DSS)

Drunken Style Studio

and other Palladium Madmen Rifts® Comic Strip: Ramon Perez Cover Logo Design: Steve Edwards Credits Page Logo: Niklas Brandt Keylining: Kevin Siembieda

Based on the RPG rules, characters, concepts and Megaverse® created by Kevin Siembieda.

Special Thanks to all of our contributors. Our apologies to anybody who got accidentally left out or their name misspelled.

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Contents - The Rifter #11- July, 2000

Page6-Art

One of Kevin Siembieda's and Bill Coffm's favorite illustrations by Freddie Williams 11. It depicts a Cyber-KnightTM from the Rifts® RPG with books and ink to symbolize the creation process and imagination that goes into and comes out of Palladium's role-playing games. This piece was one of Freddie's "samples" and it helped to get him a job at Palladium as a freelance illustrator. More of Freddie's work can be seen on page 12 and numerous source books, the most recent including Siege on Tolkeen One™, The Library of Bletherad™ and Century Station™. You can expect to see a lot more of Freddie's work in books to come.

Page 7 - From the Desk

of Kevin Siembieda Adventure and surprises (at least for publisher Kevin

Siembieda) concerning coming projects, conventions and licenses involving Palladium Books.

Page 8 - Palladium News A bouncing baby girl (Why do people say that? Babies, little

newborns don't bounce at all. Babies don't get "bouncing" until about four months in) - Gen Con® 2000 update, news and information you don't want to miss (and if you do, skip to Coming Attractions on page 9).

Page 9 - Coming Attractions Wow, Palladium has a lot of cool sourcebooks in the works,

with the Library of Bletherad, Coalition Wars Siege on Tolkeen™ One already at the printers and work on Wayne Breaux's Galaxy Guide™, Bill Coffin's Gramercy IslancJrM, Coalition Wars Two: CS Overkill and other project well under way. Check out this section for all the delicious details.

Page 12 - Coalition Wars The Coalition Wars: Siege on Tolkeen™ series is described,

with a focus on the fIrst two books in the series (available now!).

Page 15 - "Fantasy role-playing"

is our middle name And don't you forget it! Palladium Books fIrst big

role-playing release was the ever-popular Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game® (now in its Second Edition). If you like Rifts® and our other games, you'll love Palladium Fantasy. And we have all kinds of new sourcebooks coming out for it throughout the year.

Page 17 - Optional Combat Rules

For Rifts® & Other Games Matthew Olfson offers readers his own house rules and mod

ifications involving Hand to Hand and long-range combat.

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These are not sanctioned by Palladium, but they are an interesting read that should stimulate ideas.

Page 22 - Heroes Unlimited™, 2nd Edition

Optional New Super Powers Nick Luna, Jason Lukowski, Ledand Smith and Richard

Winters join forces to present a number of new and variant super abilities. Wayne Breaux Jr. does the artwork.

Page 28 - Rifts® Game Master Tips

Suggestions, and good advice Hugh King offers excellent observations, comments, tips and

suggestions on playing Practitioners of Magic in the Rifts® RPG. Although the focus is Rifts®, the advice is priceless and suitable for most any game (especially the section on Role-Playing Strategically and Use Imagination). Plus this article is a fun and insightful read. Siembieda says, don't pass it up!

Artwork is by Apollo Okamura - don't you just love the illustration on page 33?

Page 48 - Palladium Megaverse®

Questions and Answers Direct from the web, Rodney Stott and Shawn Merrow pres

ent the first in a continuing series of "Questions and Answers." Hopefully these answers to frequently asked questions will shed light and understanding upon various rules and misconceptions.

Artwork is by Brandon C. Clark and Apollo Okamura.

Page 53 - Rifts® Lone Star™ Comic Strip Ramon Perez presents the latest installment of his Rifts®

Comic Strip. This issue is starts out with action and intrigue and ends with .. , urn ... action and intrigue. It's great stuff as only Ramon can dish it out.

Part Six of "Seven" chapters by Ramon Perez (Penciler, Inker, Letterer, and Writer).

Don't miss the explosive conclusion in The Rifter® #12.

Page 63 - Nightbane® RPG "The Nightbane"

Kevin Siembieda takes a look at the Nightbane themselves in a short tale that serves as something of an introduction to William Muench's Gregor's Chronicle story. It offers insight into the Nightbane, their struggle against the Nightlords, their purpose and introduces the Salvation of Light.

Page 65 - Nightbane@ RPG Short Story

Gregor's Chronicle: The Tale of a Lost Boy William Muench weaves a tale of confrontation and survival

set in the world of The Nightbane®.

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Page 69 art by R.K. Post.

Page 76 - Rifts® T-shirts Just what you need this summer, eh? All the fash

ion-conscious Nightbane and Superheroes are wearing one, shouldn't you?

Page 79 - The Palladium Fantasy RPG®

The Shrine of Ventax - Adventure Michael Long whips up Palladium Fantasy adventure suit

able for mid-level characters (and easily modified to accommodate all others), set in the border lands between the Eastern Territory and the Old Kingdom. Defenseless fanners, a dangerous dungeon, treasure, mystery, combat, heroism, marauding Orcs, Ratlings, the Dread-Lord, and fun! A full-length, 29 page adventure!

Artwork by the gents at Drunken Style Studio: Mark Dudley, Brandon C. Clark, and Ka Xiong. Maps by Michael Long.

Page 107- Hammer of the Forge The next chapter in James M. G. Cannon's Phase WorlarM

story.

The Cover

The cover to The Rifter® #11 is something that artist SCali Johnson was doodling around with on the computer. Kevin thought it fit in very nicely to the central theme of this issue "magic" and "fantasy." We liked it, Scott tweaked it, and hear it is for your enjoyment.

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. They are alternative ideas and things one can include in his campaign or enjoy reading. They are not "official" to the main games or world settings. As for optional tables and adventures, if they sound cool or fun, use them. If they sound funky, too high-powered or inappropriate for your game, modifY them or ignore them completely. All the material in The Rifter® has been included for two reasons: One, because we thought it was imaginative and fun, and two, we thought it would stimulate your imagination with fun stuff that you can use (if you want) or which might inspire you to create your own wonders.

www.palladiumbooks.com - Palladium On-Line

Coming Next Issue • •• The Rifter® #12 • The conclusion of the Rifts® Lone Star comic

strip.

• The return of Knights ofthe Dinner Table® (we hope).

• Material for The Palladium Fantasy RPG®.

• Material for Heroes UnlimitetPM •

• The next chapter of the Hammer ofthe Forge™.

• Material for Rifts®

• The latest news and developments at Palladium.

• Source material for the Palladium Megaverse®.

• New contributors and fun. . .. oh, and maybe some really big news. Maybe. So please

join us.

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PAL-Rifter11.pdfPAL-Rifter11.pdf