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Old 05-02-2006, 10:23 PM   #1
nik1979
 
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Default Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Pardon my Poor Understanding of Love/hate relationship with RIFTS.

In my opinon the best way to really play Rifts with GURPS is not to play rifts at all. Use the GURPs post apocalytic material available and just string the together. Concepts like Partially Augmented Combatants and Powered Armor Soldiers are nothing new or original. Mixing it with occult and magic is not new as well (w/c is covered in gurps btw).

My problem with Rifts is a bit of how it scales poorly. GURPS is great with realism and the sense of scale (which it corrects with rifts). If GURPS comes out with its own Epic Post apocalyptic setting, does that make it a RIFTS RIP OFF? or can one just say, they're improving on an established genre?

I dont get why it has to be RIFTS itself. I've GMed it and tired to make sense of it as much as I can with GURPS but the powerlevels dont make sense. My opinion is that all you really need to have a GURPS RIFTS is just get all of GURPS post appocalytic and some cyber-punk material connect them together with a good story and add a conspiracy or two and you've got your Rifts effect withouth the legal issues.

RIfts is fluff, its good fluff but fluff still. Better fluff will come along and in the same genre... possibly reinventing it. Why not just play that... it may not be RIFTS but it is GURPS?

I'm sure GURPS can pull of the conspiracy, the big-brother militaristic-keep'em in-the-dark bad guy much better and make a better mix and balance between tech and magic. Without class limitation; templates and heroes would reach a broader and more original variety.

Of course, what made rifts what it is. Is the charisma of its creator and the passion placed in its work. Although, i'm sure he is not the only charismatic and passionate game-designer to come around and I'm sure this idea is nothing new to anyone. So i guess is the real challenge is that people to see RIfts as a genre and not anymore the sole property of one man... but an idea that can take many forms and be expresed by different gamers to be shared with more gamers.
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Old 05-02-2006, 11:30 PM   #2
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nik1979
I dont get why it has to be RIFTS itself.
You're the one who named the thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nik1979
all you really need to have a GURPS RIFTS is just get all of GURPS post appocalytic
I seem to recall reading that the only official post appocalytic book will be Y2K.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nik1979
and some cyber-punk material
Unfortunately Cyberpunk is out of print, but you might be able to find it on ebay; however, the Secret Service may be watching you for a while.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nik1979
and add a conspiracy or two
If you want conspiracy you might want to check out Illuminati.
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Old 05-03-2006, 01:17 AM   #3
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nik1979
If GURPS comes out with its own Epic Post apocalyptic setting, does that make it a RIFTS RIP OFF? or can one just say, they're improving on an established genre?

Umh... I really wouldn't call RIFTS a "genre". Isn't it more like sloshing everything from every setting every into one setting, sprinkling with a fair dose of bad rules and less structure, and just kinda hoping the end result will work? C'mon, vampires AND dinosaurs AND cyber-knights AND aliens AND magic AND mutants AND robots?

Why anyone would ever want to play RIFTS, even with GURPS rules, is frankly beyond me.
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Old 05-03-2006, 01:29 AM   #4
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by krank
Isn't [RIFTS] more like sloshing everything from every setting every into one setting, sprinkling with a fair dose of bad rules and less structure, and just kinda hoping the end result will work? C'mon, vampires AND dinosaurs AND cyber-knights AND aliens AND magic AND mutants AND robots?
Apart from the rules and structure, how's it different from Infinite Worlds?
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Old 05-03-2006, 01:38 AM   #5
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

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Originally Posted by krank
Why anyone would ever want to play RIFTS, even with GURPS rules, is frankly beyond me.
Did you ever read the main book or actually play the game?
Some/most of the books are quite well written, have good ideas, and almost every single NPC in the books comes with a plothook.

I don't like the system; I don't like the scaling from book to book but I definitely like the setting and the various fractions and ideas because there is so much story potential in there...
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Old 05-03-2006, 01:39 AM   #6
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DryaUnda
Apart from the rules and structure, how's it different from Infinite Worlds?
It has more than two important fractions,
humankind is in its extinction,
its post apocalyptic.. there are a few.
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Old 05-03-2006, 01:53 AM   #7
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Dryaunda's point still stands. Score one for the Lady in San Francisco.

If you want that stuff - just use the appropriate bits of GURPS. Its not that difficult.

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Old 05-03-2006, 02:19 AM   #8
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Agreed. I'm not all that familiar with Rifts, but I'm using the same "mix-and-match GURPS books" to do a rough-and-ready GURPS adaptation of Torg.
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Old 05-03-2006, 02:19 AM   #9
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by krank
C'mon, vampires AND dinosaurs AND cyber-knights AND aliens AND magic AND mutants AND robots?
You know, that's a selling point for lots of people.


Kitchen sink settings can work. Fading Suns is a good example of them. It has cybernetics, genemodified humans, psi, magic, feudalism, space vikings, gene-stealing monstrosities that used to be human, lots of aliens, demons...

And yet, it seems to work.
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Old 05-03-2006, 02:23 AM   #10
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Default Re: Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

TORG!!

Yahoo!! The only word that is both the name of a Klingon and a campaign setting. Gotta love it!!

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