Rifts to GURPS: another way to look at it.

[thona]

You could add that the banestorms are also sort of stable. Things like Reich 5's highway may turn common :-)

[Almafeta]

Originally Posted by UncreativeNameMaker

It could be an interesting reversal to have a fantasy world suddenly introduced to advanced technology (instead of adding magic to a high tech world, like in Rifts and Technomancer).

That would be Dragonstar. Dragons invent high technology and conquer worlds to fight their wars, until an uneasy peace is made through an intergalactic 'empire'.

[Almafeta]

Originally Posted by thona

You could add that the banestorms are also sort of stable. Things like Reich 5's highway may turn common :-)

Rifts has at least one stable two-way 'banestorm' -- the rift that formed in the St. Louis Arch.

[tratclif]

There have been some Rifts-like ideas pop up in GURPS. "All This and World War, Too" from the Weird War II book has gates to eight other worlds open up in 1943 bringing everything from elves to saucer aliens into WWII. Reality Sidewise combines fragment of earth from 13 different passes of Halley's Comet from 12 B.C. to 2061. When it came out, it was called "Rifts for historians."

[rogersd]

Gurps is one setting that has a great rule set and is based really around the roleplaying aspects, including killing and parlay. Rifts is all about the biggest gun and baddest power armour. I played a ton of Palladium products when I was younger. I still think one of my favourite settings has to be Recon. Rifts outside of the story itself didn't appeal to me.

Really the comparison is like comparing apples and oranges. One is about roleplaying, and the other is about cool toys and killing things.

[UncreativeNameMaker]

Originally Posted by rogersd

Really the comparison is like comparing apples and oranges. One is about roleplaying, and the other is about cool toys and killing things.

I've played Rifts and D&D games that were heavy on story and light on combat. I've also played GURPS games that were mostly hack-and-slash. Role-player vs roll-playing is about how you play, not what game your playing.

[ecienavxela]

Originally Posted by UncreativeNameMaker

I've played Rifts and D&D games that were heavy on story and light on combat. I've also played GURPS games that were mostly hack-and-slash. Role-player vs roll-playing is about how you play, not what game your playing.

While this is true (type of play is dependent on group and not on game system), an appropriate game system tends to encourage one over the other. IMHO, DnD is good for hack-n-slash and a sprinkling of roleplay while GURPS lives up to its acronym offering equal opportunities for hacking and roleplaying. However, this leads to the problem of "what does the party spokesperson do when fights erupt?" or "what does the crackshot do when confronted by cops?"

Lots of opportunities for excellent roleplaying or hack-n-slash, depending on the flavor you want. For me, its easier in GURPS (generic and do-anything) than in DnD (mostly hack-n-slash)...

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by Bobzilla

Sorry I meant the Rifts copyright. Basically if by some strange chance SJG wanted the rights to Thundarr they could get them have a world similar to Rifts but PB couldn't sue because Thundarr came out many years before Rifts.

Ahhh, okay, then. O:>

(But if you're going that way, what's wrong with Post-Apocalypse IOU? O;>)

[AOTA]

Originally Posted by Archangel Beth

Ahhh, okay, then. O:>

(But if you're going that way, what's wrong with Post-Apocalypse IOU? O;>)

Thats usually how most of my IOU games end. ;-)

[Baron Karza II]

Originally Posted by Bobzilla

If you want a Rifts like world then maybe GURPS Under the Broken Moon the Thundarr the Barbarian RPG. Almost the same as the Rifts world but since it came out many years before there wouldn't be a problem with copyright.

No offical Thundar rpgs yet, so that might work out well.

http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm_list...892.30464.html

It would be very easy to make a Rifts-like setting for GURPS however.

Select your Gurps books : Gurps High, Ultra, Bio,and Low tech books. Gurps Magic or Gurps Mage the Ascention. Gurps Bloodtypes or Gurps Vampire the Masquerade, Gurps Shapeshifters or Gurps Werewolf the Apoc. Gurps Cyberpunk, and Cyberworld, Gurps fantasy and beastary.

Then Create your Core location for Adventures. (in Rifts it is North Armerica and Earth in the future). Create One large mega-evil empire of some sorts, could be Promagic, protechnology, pro-non-humans, pro-human whatever. As long as that Empire is alot like the Star Wars Empire and seeks to rule, and kill as it sees fit. Then create a Rogue or anti-empire faction. Maybe even more than one. These factions will not be as strong or powerful as the Empire for many reasons.

Then create characters using the books above and custom setting. Cyborgs sure, Kung-Fu Monks sure, Genetic Enhanced Super-soldiers with a few defects (suck as tremors from not sleeping. Dark Angel TV series style) sure, Soldier piloting an Exoskeleton armor for combat sure, Mages sure, Werewolves sure, Vampires sure, Demi-gods sure, Dragons why not, but you young, just hatched sure, Psi-Corps member sure, Captain of a Firefly class ship sure thing, Want to play a Guyver or Zoanoid type of character sure thing, and so on and so on.

My group Loves Rifts, HU2, Splicers, and Nightbane. I do get tired of it though. Mostly because dispite Palladiums claims their games do not mix-match as well as they should. GURPS on the other hand does IMHO. Same rules in all the sourcebooks. They make it easy to mix and match things from the books.

I'm a GURPS 3rd Edition fan however. Mainly because i have so many older books already i do not see the need to buy the updated 4th Edition at all. I did not see anything broken with Gurps 3e. Still don't. Now if i was a newbie, sure Gurps 4e would be great. Then buy the updated 4e books, and maybe a few old 3e books that interest me, that have not been collected into the 4e books already. This is another topic however ;)