The Rifter Article Review Volume One

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 04/28/2003)

• Introduction
• The Rifter #1
• The Rifter #2
• The Rifter #3
• The Rifter #4
• The Rifter #5
• The Rifter #6
• The Rifter #7
• The Rifter #8
• The Rifter #9
• The Rifter #10
• The Rifter #11
• The Rifter #12
• The Rifter #13
• The Rifter #14
• The Rifter #15
• The Rifter #17
• The Rifter #18
• The Rifter #19
• The Rifter #20

Introduction

The Rifter is an excellent sourcebook for the systems released by Palladium Books. It contains both official material and fan based material and some material has even found itself into official books published by Palladium Books. The Rifter lives by fan submissions and has mostly original artwork, a nice low price, and is much higher quality then a typical magazine. Although the page count has gone down recently and the price has gone up slightly, I still believe that the Rifter is a high quality book with excellent material.

There are several reviews available for the products released for Palladium Books, and some specifically dedicated the Rifter, a series of books with printed official and fan material, but this document is slightly different, instead of reviewing the book as a whole, such as how many pages were in the book, how good is the artwork, or how many pages of advertisements are there, it will focus on the material within each article within the book. A good catalog of the Rifter books, with material that is not mentioned here is available here (external link), but for the official list of the Rifter book, go to the online catalog at Palladium Books, located here (external link).

Issues one through twenty of the Rifter are described below and for each issue the cover art and release date is provided and each article within that issue is listed. While each Rifter has material that is not mentioned below, namely short stories, the Coming Soon section, a Question and Answer section, and comic strips, none of that is RPG material and is not reviewed below. For each article that is reviewed below the author's given along with the setting that the article is primarily written for, the number of pages in the article, my rating of the article, and some comments from me about the article. Although I specify which setting the article is primarily written for, the article is probably not restricted to that setting. For example, something written for Ninjas & Superspies, may be perfectly suited for a Heroes Unlimited campaign, although it may not be perfect for a Rifts campaign. Page counts also include partial pages, so a page with even a single line of material is included as part of the article, but it does not include full page artwork, even if it is in the middle of an article. All material listed below is assumed to be optional, unofficial material, except for those that state Official in the article's title. Adventures are a special case because they are not new rules or expansions of existing rules, so articles that are adventures will also mention this fact in their title, but since adventures are generally stand alone articles, there is no mention whether they are "official" or not. I use five ratings when I review an article, the lowest level is Poor, which is generally only used for the really really bad article, above that is Below Average, Average, and Above Average, and the highest rating is Excellent, which is used only on the best articles that I have seen and that article alone should be reason enough to buy that issue of The Rifter.

The Rifter #1

• Release Date: January 1998
  
  
• Article One - Rifts City Creation Rules
  • Author: Eric J. Lind
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - The New Roman Republic
  • Author: Rodney Scott
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 13
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - This Knights of Kamnos
  • Author: James M. G. Cannon
  • Setting: Rifts - Phase World
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - New Major Super Powers
  • Author: Aaron Oliver and Steve Trustrum
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 16
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - New Morphus Tables
  • Author: Aaron Oliver
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 10
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - This Illustris
  • Author: William R. Muench
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating:
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• Article Seven - Hook, Line, & Sinker
  • Author: Aaron Oliver
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Eight - Beyond the Supernatural OCCs
  • Author: William R. Muench
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #2

• Release Date: April 1998
  
  
• Article One - The Imp, Supernatural Rumormonger
  • Author: William Muench
  • Setting: All
  • Page Count: 2
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Pirates
  • Author: Shawn Merrow
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - Hacking, Cyberjacking, and Supernatural Data Theft Across the Megaverse (Official)
  • Author: Waybe Breaux
  • Setting: All
  • Page Count: 25
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - The Blood Shaman
  • Author: Steven Trustrum
  • Setting: Rifts - Wormwood
  • Page Count: 10
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Techno-Wizard Extravaganza
  • Author: Mark Sumimoto
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 35
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #3

• Release Date: July 1998
  
  
• Article One - From the Dangerous, to the Magical, to the Just Plain Useful
  • Author: Randi Cartier
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 4
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Everybody's Kung Fu Fighting
  • Author: Wayne Smith
  • Setting: Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 13
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - Revised Grappling Rules and New Martial Arts
  • Author: Lee Casebolt
  • Setting: All and Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - Mystic China Conversions for Rifts
  • Author: Andrew Smith
  • Setting: Rifts and Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 17
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• Article Five - The Xiticix (Official)
  • Author: Wayne Breaux Jr.
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 17
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - Spatial Mage
  • Author: Steven Trustrum
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 13
  • Rating:
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• Article Seven - Primorder
  • Author: Rodney Scott
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 10
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #4

• Release Date: October 1998
  
  
• Article One - Hook, Line & Sinkers for the Western Empire
  • Author: Bill Coffin
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Death is Not Always Final (Official)
  • Author: Randi Cartier with Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 7
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• Article Three - Tribes of the Moon: Part One
  • Author: Steven Trustrum
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 24
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - A.R.C.H.I.E. Three vs. The World (Official)
  • Author: Mark Sumimoto
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 22
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - The Evolved
  • Author: David Ransom
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #5

• Release Date: January 1999
  
  
• Article One - REF Zentraedi Heavy Assault Pod (ABP-Z4)
  • Author: Stanley Bundy
  • Setting: Robotech
  • Page Count: 4
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Heroes Throughout the Ages
  • Author: Jay Fitzloff and Julius Rosenstein
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - The Rahu-Man
  • Author: Peter Finin
  • Setting: Ninjas & Superspies and Rifts
  • Page Count: 10
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - A Mind of Their Own
  • Author: Nathan Taylor
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - The Right Stuff
  • Author: Edward J. Sauerland
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 14
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - The World of the Operator
  • Author: Eric Thompson
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 8
  • Rating:
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• Article Seven - Spatial Mage Additions
  • Author: Steve Trustrum
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Eight - Tribes of the Moon: Part Two
  • Author: Steven Trustrum
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 24
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #6

• Release Date: April 1999
  
  
• Article One - Cloak & Dagger
  • Author: Richard Thomassen
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 15
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Russian Gods (Official)
  • Author: Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 19
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - Intrigue in Singapore (Adventure)
  • Author: Victor Russof
  • Setting: Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 4
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - The Old Ways
  • Author: David Solon Phillips
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Hunter
  • Author: Matthew M. Foster
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 8
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - The Khans of Mongolia
  • Author: Christopher Jones
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #7

• Release Date: July 1999
  
  
• Article One - The Children of Dorcha
  • Author: Chad Rasnake
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 13
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - The Dragon Hunters of Kremakrilon
  • Author: Jon Thompson
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - World Warriors
  • Author: Ben Cassin Lucas
  • Setting: Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 17
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - Choas Earth (Official)
  • Author: Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Rifts - Chaos Earth
  • Page Count: 3
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Skelebots: The Mechanical Menace
  • Author: David Haendler
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 10
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #8

• Release Date: October 1999
  
  
• Article One - The Guns of Sulfur Gulch
  • Author: Bill Coffin
  • Setting: Systems Failure
  • Page Count: 16
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - The Mysteries of the Deep Forest
  • Author: Randi Cartier
  • Setting: Palliadum Fantasy
  • Page Count: 10
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• Article Three - The Charonis
  • Author: James M. G. Cannon
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - The Laughing Man R.C.C.
  • Author: James Calder
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 2
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Demonwrath
  • Author: Matthew Burns
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 4
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - The New Kingdom
  • Author: Jason Richards and Nathan Taylor
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 16
  • Rating:
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• Article Seven - Bring Out Your Dead!
  • Author: Mark Sumimoto
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 18
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #9

• Release Date: January 2000
  
  
• Article One - Beyond Between the Shadows
  • Author: Todd Sterrett
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 20
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: A large article about the Astral Plane, it mostly expands upon the ideas that were presented in the Nightbane sourcebook Between the Shadows and is not as as useful if the reader does not have that book. For example, one small section of the article adds clarifications and new domain characteristics to the point system given in the sourcebook for creating a domain in the astral plane. The article provides more general information about the Astral Plane as well how it affects certain spells, but nearly half of the article, nine pages, is dedicated to several new OCCs and RCCs that are native to the Astral Plane. Finally, there are some new psionic powers and spells that generally follow them of the Astral Plane, except for the spell Create Clothing, which seems like it was just thrown in there for little reason, there may be some connection with a general theme of creating things in the Astral Plane, but that spell has nothing specifically to do with the Astral Plane. I rate this article average because it contains nothing too revolutionary, although it does have a good spread of new information, new options, and new OCCs and RCCs.
  
  
• Article Two - New Type Bio-Borgs (Official)
  • Author: Mark Suminoto, additional text and rules by Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 14
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: This article contains four Bio-Borgs that had been cit from Rifts World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market. Each bio-borg is a nice complete package and have good introductions. I personally like the bio-borgs, but they are not for everyone. This article has nothing else besides the four bio-borgs and an experience table for each of them, but at least they are good.
  
  
• Article Three - The Territory of Arzno: Part One
  • Author: Jason Richards and Nathan Taylor
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 25
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: A good article about a new location. The first part of the description contains most of what would be needed to adventure near the Territory of Arzno. The article contains a general description of the territory, a description of the main mercenary company founded by the city, and some other places of note within the territory. The description of the Arzno Mercenary Corps is in the same style as the companies in the Rifts Mercenaries book, using the same point system and providing a large number of notable NPCs within the mercenary company. The second part of the Territory of Arzno is in The Rifter #10.
  
  
• Article Four - Weather... Or Not
  • Author: Owen Johnson
  • Setting: All
  • Page Count: 2
  • Rating: Poor
  • Description: Mercifully short, but certainly not sweet, this article contains a general description of the importance of mentioning weather in a campaign, which I also believe helps complete the setting. The only other part of this article are two very short tables for rolling weather. There are two tables, one for Spring / Summer and another for Fall / Winter. From all appearances, these tables were probably written to represent the weather for the author lives and are not use outside of there. According to his Fall / Winter table, there is a 75% chance of having above freezing temperatures in the dead of winter. Personally, I would have preferred a much larger article on weather or at the very least four different tables, one for each season.
  
  
• Article Five - Palladium Fantasy Hook, Like & Sinkers (Adventure)
  • Author: Shawn Merrow
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 4
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: I like Hook, Line & Sinker adventures. They are short, sweet adventure ideas, and a short article can contain a large number of them. This article contains no less than fourteen of these little adventures and while they range in quality, they are all easily adaptable and provide excellent adventure ideas and hooks that can be placed into most campaigns.

The Rifter #10

• Release Date: April 2000
  
  
• Article One - The Magic of Science in Palladium Fantasy
  • Author: Greg Diaczyk
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - The Changeling Metamorph
  • Author: Mark Hall
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 3
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - Gestalt
  • Author: Jay Fitzloff
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - Gestalt NPCs
  • Author: Wayne Smith
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Trouble in the Midwest (Adventure)
  • Author: Blake Trzpuc
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - Dark Consequences (Adventure)
  • Author: Russell Brin
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 3
  • Rating:
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• Article Seven - On the Fringe of the Night
  • Author: David Solon Phillips
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 8
  • Rating:
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• Article Eight - Diplomatic Relations of the City and Territory of Arzno
  • Author: Jason Richards and Nathan Taylor
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 15
  • Rating:
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• Article Nine - The Environment of Space
  • Author: Ewen Cluney
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 15
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #11

• Release Date: July 2000
  
  
• Article One - Optional Supplemental Combat Rules
  • Author: Matthew Olfson
  • Setting: All
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Super Powers
  • Author: Nick Luna
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - The Shrine of Ventax (Adventure)
  • Author: Michael Long
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 28
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #12

• Release Date: October 2000
  
  
• Article One - Into the Shadows
  • Author: Jon Tompson
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - The Texas Lone Star Cavalry
  • Author: Ismael Alvarez
  • Setting: Systems Failure
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - The Geiger Organization
  • Author: Carl Syphrett
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 25
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - Blueprint of a Dragon
  • Author: John Courtenay Shera
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Tyrell Industries
  • Author: Richard Jenkins
  • Setting: Rifts - Phase World
  • Page Count: 23
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #13

• Release Date: January 2001
  
  
• Article One - Lucky Charms and Superstitions
  • Author: Joseph Larsen
  • Setting: All
  • Page Count: 3
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - The Cursed P.C.C.
  • Author: Shawn Merrow
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 2
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - Beyond the Supernatural O.C.C.s
  • Author: James Calder
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - Living Numbers and Curses
  • Author: Russel Brin
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 8
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - In the Hands of Fate
  • Author: Crystal Fraiser
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 8
  • Rating:
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• Article Six - Thirteenth Tribe
  • Author: Richard Thomassen
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating:
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• Article Seven - Thirteen Deadly Magicks
  • Author: James Calder
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating:
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• Article Eight - The Legend of the Thirteen Orcish Lords
  • Author: Jon Thompson
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 18
  • Rating:
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• Article Nine - Dark Techno-Wizardary
  • Author: Bill Fellows
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 15
  • Rating:
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• Article Ten - Thirteen The Thirteenth Hour
  • Author: Rich Wulf
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 10
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #14

• Release Date: April 2001
  
  
• Article One - The Atorian Empire (Official)
  • Author: Wayne Breaux Jr.
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating:
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• Article Two - Destiny's Call
  • Author: Erik Growen
  • Setting: Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 19
  • Rating:
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• Article Three - Beneath the Surface
  • Author: Sonny Rice
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 15
  • Rating:
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• Article Four - Goodcourt
  • Author: Eric Swanson
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 17
  • Rating:
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• Article Five - Horlock Robots Inc.
  • Author: Jeremy Clements
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating:
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The Rifter #15

• Release Date: July 2001
  
  
• Article One - Knights of the Eastern Territories (Official)
  • Author: Steve Edwards
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Knightly orders from the Eastern Territories. Interesting campaign information and it helps round out those knights that want to be part of an order. It also provides some interesting campaign ideas because some knightly orders have missions, reasons to exist, etc. There is also a description of knight traditions, which I think is something that should have been included in the main book, unfortunately, that book already had so much information.
  
  
• Article Two - Blade Law
  • Author: Richard Thomassen
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: A very interesting form of "lost" magic developed during the Elf-Dwarf Wars. All of these spells are related to rune items, which makes these very rare spells only useful on very rare magic items, but they seem well thought out and are quite interesting. In a campaign where rune items are more common, these spells could be highly useful for any wizard.
  
  
• Article Three - Brain Fry
  • Author: David Haendler
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: An interesting article that contains information about a gang called Brain Fry. The gang markets a series of mind enhancing drugs that provide mental bonuses and psychic powers, but have terrible consequences. Besides the drugs, the article contains a good description of the gang and several notable NPCs within the gang. Overall, this is an interesting article, both for its source material and as a possible adventure for the players moving in New York City.
  
  
• Article Four - New Morphis Tables
  • Author: Multiple Authors
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Since it is so easy to create new tables for Nightbane Morphus, I don't think any single area has gotten as much attention in The Rifter. This section contains many new tables, although there are only a few that I find particularly noteworthy. The first is the Aura table, which I think is a really cool idea and the other two are the Undead Morphus and the Unusual Blood tables, both of which have interesting ideas.
  
  
• Article Five - New Nighbane Talents
  • Author: Roy Craigo and DeAnna Renae Bearce
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 3
  • Rating: Below Average
  • Description: A short article with eleven new Nightbane Talents. Some are good and some are not, but there is nothing in the article that I find terribly memorable.
  
  
• Article Six - Operation Ironskull
  • Author: Ted Dimitry
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: This article contains a series of cyborgs created in the likeness ofg the VX-2000 series of cyborgs from Rifts World Book 5: Triax and the NGR. Presented as "top secret" information about a secret cyborg program at the Coalition States, this article is actually quite useful as an addition to a campaign revolving around the Coalition's war against Tolkeen and Free Quebec. There are four cyborgs and each is unique in its own way and as mentioned in the article, they are useful as players that are part of the CS or as enemies that the players can face if they are fighting the CS.
  
  
• Article Seven - Specialized Shifter
  • Author: Alex Miller
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 16
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: This is an excellent article about Shifters. As its name implies, it provides Shifters that are specialized either in dimensional travel or in summoning creatures. Even better there is a large number of spells that

The Rifter #17

• Release Date: January 2002
  
  
• Article One - Last Street
  • Author: Todd Yoho
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 11
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: Set in 1928 Chicago, this new location is quite interesting and serves as an excellent location to start an adventure or to use as a reoccurring location in an ongoing campaign. There is not much new material for Beyond the Supernatural, so almost anything is welcome and this certainly is a nice setting for those who like Beyond the Supernatural and are willing to play in a different time period. This article contains a section for notable places and faces within Last Street, as well as some new and interesting equipment and a few adventure hooks. I found the adventure hook section a little disappointing since many people might not be familiar with Chicago in the late 1920's, but the rest of the article was so good, that this didn't hurt it too badly.
  
  
• Article Two - Strength and Honor (Official)
  • Author: Wayne Breaux, Jr.
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited - Aliens Unlimited
  • Page Count: 11
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: With the subtext being the Thropo Revisited, this article provides official material on the brutes that represent a good portion of the military power of the Atorian Empire. This article is well written, as it should be being written by the author of Aliens Unlimited after all, and the information is very useful. I am really hoping for more articles like this to expand the many interesting races that are in Aliens Unlimited.
  
  
• Article Three - Stilt City
  • Author: Sonny Rice
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 11
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Another location, but this time it is a city near the Land of the South Winds on the Palladium Fantasy world. The city has an good description and background and there are plenty of notable NPCs milling about, but the article lacks any maps, so it is hard to know exactly where it is in the world and there is no map of the city either, which I always like from the city descriptions in the official material released by Palladium Books, this is one of the reasons that the article did not get a rating of Above Average. The article also has an Adventure Idea section, which is very useful and there is a small mini-adventure about missing people in the city, which is very basic and only provides a simple outline, but it appears easy to adapt and this appears to be the intention of the mini-adventure anyway.
  
  
• Article Four - Dweomer Mage O.C.C.
  • Author: James Calder
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy and Rifts
  • Page Count: 14
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: Perhaps one of my favorite articles in The Rifter, even if I don't agree with everything in the article, the Dweomer Mage O.C.C. article is well written and is a nice, complete package. It presents a new type of mage that is focused on harnessing and manipulating PPE. What separates them from most wizards is that the Dweomer Mage manipulates PPE not to create spells but because they enjoy manipulating PPE. Their focus provides them with a wide assortment of interesting and unique spells. Although I believe some spells, especially some of the P.P.E. Curses, are too powerful for their cost, there is enough information in this article to run a Dweomer Mage from low level to high level with no problems and no lack of interesting things to cast.
  
  
• Article Five - The Bandits of Hollow Hill (Adventure)
  • Author: Patrick Nowak
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 11
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: An interesting adventure for Rifts, this article is well written and provides a good adventure for players. Unfortunately, there is no mention as to what player levels would be appropriate for the adventure, which I think is very important, the adventure is still well written.
  
  
• Article Six - Blood Magic
  • Author: Nathan Bingham
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: More spells for the Blood Shaman O.C.C. from The Rifter #2. Twenty Two new spells for Blood Magic is a welcome addition to the Blood Shaman. My favorite spell was the Hemo-Goblin. Not only does the spell have a funny name, it summons a very smart little demon to sit on the shaman's shoulder, eager to answer questions; unfortunately, the thing likes to feed often and the shaman's neck is generally the closest object around.
  
  
• Article Seven - Chaos Earth: Part One (Official)
  • Author: Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: First Chaos Earth was announced as a separate book, but it went no where very quickly so Palladium Books decided to release it in a serialized fashion in The Rifter. I guess this created a great deal of new attention for the project because it has been announced that there will be a book released for it. Prior to that announcement, they released three parts in The Rifter and this is the first. Although part one of Chaos Earth contains no real RPG information, it does provide the back story for the new setting. Personally I love the idea and story behind Chaos Earth and I think the setting is well written. Although very light in page numbers, this article contains a large amount of back story for Chaos Earth, as well as a small timeline for what occurs on Earth during the days following the Great Cataclysm.

The Rifter #18

• Release Date: April 2002
  
  
• Article One - Expanded Unusual Characteristics Table
  • Author: Rob Morrison
  • Setting: Heroes Unlimited
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating: Below Average
  • Description: Not a terribly exciting article by any stretch. Consisting of a series of tables that expand upon the tables in the Heroes Unlimited main book under the mutant section, this article is utterly devoid of anything else. Most of the tables are predictable and contain material easily found in already existing tables. The only thing that saves this article from a Poor rating is the fact that these tables do have some use and could come in handy when a player or a GM just wants to add some mutant detail to their character, but want to bother thinking one up.
  
  
• Article Two - Mysteries of Southeast Asia
  • Author: Russell Brin
  • Setting: Ninjas & Superspies
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: This article has very good material for Ninjas & Superspies, although it helps if the reader has a copy of Heroes Unlimited as well. There are two new interesting OCCs, a new martial art form, and four new monsters, all following the theme of Southeast Asia. The article is well written and although it lacks any background information on Southeast Asia by itself, such information is readily available in Ninjas & Superspies. This is a welcome addition and should fine a home in almost any Ninjas & Superspies game, although the monsters may turn away some people, especially those that do not use the Mystic China sourcebook.
  
  
• Article Three - Planetary Creation Guide
  • Author: Daniel Denis
  • Setting: Rifts - Phase World
  • Page Count: 13
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Rules for creating start systems are almost a dime a dozen in Palladium Books. They are a popular area to begin with, but there are rules in Phase World, Aliens Unlimited, and several other sources, so to be truly noticed, a new guide would have to be exceptional. Unfortunately, this article is not very exceptional, although it certainly is not terrible. The guide is inclusive and includes not only information on creating a single planet, but an entire star system, with spatial abnormalities and other interesting ideas. The guide is divided into several parts and there are rules that allow this guide to be used to create smaller pocket dimensions simply by skipping certain parts of the guide. One thing that did make me laugh was in part one of the guide (building a random star system), under step 4 (star system abnormalities, optional), which allowed a Black Hole to be within a star system. There is no description of how large this black hole is or what affects it has on the star system, in fact it gets no description of any value, which is interesting because almost everything else gets a much larger description.
  
  
• Article Four - Song Magic
  • Author: Joseph Larsen
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: I enjoy new types of magic and this article describes Song Magic and provides the Song Mage OCC that specializes in it. This article is a complete package. It has a good introduction, is well written and the spells are varied and interesting, this is definitely something to look at if a player wants to have a more magically inclined bard-type character.
  
  
• Article Five - The Symbiotic Warrior O.C.C.
  • Author: Eric Thompson
  • Setting: Rifts - Wormwood
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating: Below Average
  • Description: Due to the wide variety of symbiots available in Wormwood and their power, it is not surprising that the Symbiotic Warrior would be a popular choice among players and this article is designed to give those players more options and more power with their warriors. I think the article is a little over the top and makes the Symbiotic Warrior a little too powerful and the "Control Communion" spells that this class has access to are not just related to Symbiots either. For example, the Symbiotic Warrior can select Summon Wind as a Control Communion spell. Also, the warrior can select an additional spell from the Control Communion category for every level of experience, which means that by level 15, they will have all of the spells in that category. Some of the spells I think are good additions, such as Sense Purpose and Sense Symbiotes and even Summon & Use Symbiotes if it was restricted to a higher level, but it is not, a first level Symbiotic Warrior could select a spell that would allow it summon new symbiots, although at a very high PPE cost. After the Control Communion spells, there is a section for new and revised symbiots. This section is nice and provides additional details and options for some existing symbiots. There are only a few new symbiots and this section is not as long or as filled with new symbiots as I would have liked, but it certainly is nice to have.
  
  
• Article Six - A Long, Dark Walk
  • Author: Kimara Bernard
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: A short article on material, but long on detail, this article is based around a new Psychic RCC (or PCC if you prefer), the Wanderer Psychic. The Wanderer Psychic has amazing teleportation and dimensional traveling capabilities, but these powers are based on ISP, not PPE, but to compensate they have very few other psionic powers besides the special abilities of their class. This article contains a nice story involving a high level Wanderer Psychic named Eliara Elan, or The Wanderer, and her stats are provided in the article as well, which is a nice touch. The article finishes off with a small section for Plots and Ideas of how the Wanderer Psychic and Eliara Elan could be used in campaigns. Although I think the ability to travel between dimensions is a little too much, this class is interesting, but it does duplicate a spell that costs 600 PPE to cast a little too easily, although I personally think that the teleporation spell is too expensive.
  
  
• Article Seven - Coalition Biowarfare Division
  • Author: David Liam Moran
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 19
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: This is an interesting article about a nasty topic. This article contains a new OCC, the CS Biowarfare Division Operative, which is along the lines of a Rogue Scientist but specialized in biology and toxins. There is a also a wide variety of biological agents listed in the article, some real and some fictional. The effects of the agents are described in role-playing terms and there is also a section at the end of the article for new equipment, including some nasty delivery equipment for the equally nasty agents. This article is well written although it would not have a place in most campaigns, it certainly is detailed enough. There are no adventure ideas, which would have been an even nicer touch, but there are many movies and books that should provide inspiration to a GM that wants to create an adventure or a campaign using the material in this article.
  
  
• Article Eight - Chaos Earth: Part Two (Official)
  • Author: Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 18
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: With the background information provided in the first part, the second part of Chaos Earth actually has some RPG information in it. In addition to the continuation of the Chaos Earth story, there are a number of OCCs mostly for NEMA, the military group that forms the core defense in the United States against the chaos of the cataclysm. Their is also a number of generic adventure ideas at the end of the article that vary widely, but are made to work with the OCCs that are also in the article.

The Rifter #19

• Release Date: July 2002
  
  
• Article One - Wand Magic
  • Author: Kevin Christensen
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 3
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: I really enjoyed this article. It was simple, short and to the point. It provided rules that allows a mage to create a magical wand. There are also a number of wands to provide examples of what kind of wands can be created using these rules. Each of these sample wands is given a short little history. I find these rules to be very nice and simple to use. The resulting wands are not too powerful in my opinion and are a welcome addition to the scrolls and talismans that a wizard can already create with the necessary spells.
  
  
• Article Two - The Magic of Ophid's Grasslands
  • Author: Nicholas Mueller
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 5
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: This article contains plenty of interesting spells. While the article is geared towards the hard life faced by the people of Ophid's Grasslands for a lot of the spells there doesn't appear to be any particular reason why these spells would be restricted to that area. For example, there is a level one spell called Create Rope. Of course not all spells area like that and there are plenty of spells that play off of the theme of the wide open grasslands, such as Run as a Horse and Animate Grass. I like most of these spells, except the spell Additional Limbs. It is a eighth level spell that costs 50 PPE to create a pair of additional limbs for 1 melee round per level of experience. My problem with this spell is that it can be made permanent by subtracting 1000 PPE for the wizard's permanent base! I mean really, a 1000, If this is not misprint, then this number is so completely silly that making this spell permanent should not be allowed under any circumstances.
  
  
• Article Three - By Lance and Speed of Wing
  • Author: Richard Thomassen
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 4
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: I really liked this article, in fact I liked it so much that I made my own versions of many of the skills that the author created. This article is all about flying mounts, grooming them, feeding them, riding them, and using them in combat. It also has an interesting group of skills for creatures that can fly naturally. These skills provide bonuses to those creatures when they are dodging and I think these bonuses are very nice and make sense.
  
  
• Article Four - Go Mental
  • Author: John Charles Philpott
  • Setting: All
  • Page Count: 6
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: I absolutely love this section! This article adds a wide variety of "bonus" skills, or skills that provide bonuses but generally do not have a percentile associated with them. There is a large section for pure mental skills, that increase a character's IQ, ME, and MA attributes, as well as several for PB too. There are also new bonuses, all mental, for existing skills, such as Art and Public Speaking. The second section contains a wide variety of new physical skills that all make sense but were never included in any of the main books, such as Ballet and Body Sculpting. The author also breaks the Running skill into several different types of running: Cross-Country Running, Running / Jogging, Marathon Running, Sprinting, and Track and Field. The final section of this article talks about diminishing returns or skills that provide bonuses to attributes provide ever decreasing amounts of bonuses, which I think is realistic and very important to prevent people from taking nothing but physical and now mental skills to boost their attributes to ever higher levels.
  
  
• Article Five - We're Not All Mind Readers, You Know!
  • Author: Ed Sauerland
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: In the likeness of the Burster and the Zapper, this article provides us with thee new psychics, the Blaster, the Freezer, and the Soaker. While the idea is not incredibly original, these new classes are quite nice and well written. I found the power levels to be mostly equivalent with the Burster and the Zapper so there should be little problem incorporating them into any Rifts campaign.
  
  
• Article Six - Coalition Support Vehicles
  • Author: Wayne Field
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: I really enjoy military equipment and this article is right up my area of interest. These vehicles are not very glamorous and certainly not built for war, but they would all be present in a real military area in form or another. The only other vehicle in here that is not a ground support vehicle is a gunship variant of the Death's Head Transport. I found the descriptions of all of these vehicles to be well written and they should all be useful in campaigns against the Coalition. Nothing like going after a unit's kitchen to make the soldiers mad at you.
  
  
• Article Seven - Fort Folsom
  • Author: Todd Yoho
  • Setting: Systems Failure
  • Page Count: 9
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Systems Failure was released as a small, post-apocalyptic RPG. It had plenty of humorous elements, but it has still been popular. While there have been no sourcebooks released for the game, the Rifter has seen a few articles for it. This article presents a new location that a GM can easily incorporate into an ongoing campaign. While relatively short, the article has a good description of the location and statistics for the most important NPCs at the fort. Overall, I found the article interesting and a worthwhile addition to the world of Systems Failure, but nothing too exceptional.
  
  
• Article Eight - Demon Hunters
  • Author: Mike Richardson
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 8
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Although the article claims to be written for Nightbane, there is only a small section at the end of the article that details how it can be used in that setting, but there are also descriptions for the other settings supported by Palladium Books as well, so it would be no trouble at all to incorporate the Demon Hunters into a wide variety of settings, but I would say that its best fit would be the world of Nightbane, followed of course of Beyond the Supernatural. The article consists of a good description of what Demon Hunters are, as well as who gives them orders, and there are two classes, one for the Demon Hunter RCC and the other for the Dark Riders, which are basically evil Demon Hunters who have switched sides.
  
  
• Article Nine - Chaos Earth: Part Three (Official)
  • Author: Kevin Siembieda
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 20
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: This is the third part of the Chaos Earth series and it continues the journal of General Lindsey Sawyer. The other focus of the article is on magic and two OCCs are part of the article, the Line Wizard and the Chaos Wizard, I found both original and interesting, especially since both classes seem to be very rough and basic versions of wizards from modern day Rifts Earth. As I have said before, I enjoy the Chaos Earth setting and I have high hopes for the final product when it comes out.

The Rifter #20

• Release Date: October 2002
  
  
• Article One - Dreams of Glory (Adventure)
  • Author: Todd Yoho
  • Setting: Beyond the Supernatural
  • Page Count: 12
  • Rating: Above Average
  • Description: This is an interesting adventure that heavily uses the Last Street location from The Rifter #17. After reading through the adventure a few times I still find it extremely interesting. Although it deals heavily in time travel and has the potential to create time paradoxes, I thought the adventure was not too confusing and even introduced the four Horseman of the Apocalypse from Rifts World Book 4: Africa into the world of Beyond the Supernatural. Even without the Last Street setting, this book would be a very interesting adventure for any game that deals with supernatural and magical elements in a contemporary world, especially Nightbane.
  
  
• Article Two - Themed Nightbane
  • Author: Ed Woodward III
  • Setting: Nightbane
  • Page Count: 34
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: Thirty four pages of new Nightbane Morphus tables. Some of these are quite interesting, but others are quite terrible. All kinds of different tables are presented, tables from the Dark Side to Stench to Fan Boy and everything in between. While many of these tables are presented as part of a "theme," I found no real theme holding with very many of these tables aside from background information. For example, the Dark Side table says that this table represents Nightbane that believe that there powers are from an evil force, whereas the Chosen One table is for Nightbane that believe their powers are from a good, powerful force. There is also a section for what happens when a Nightbane transforms, such as to his clothes and such, which I found interesting to read, but overall not too important. While some of these tables are terrible, enough are good and original, such as the Space Craft table, that this article is ranked too badly.
  
  
• Article Three - From the Shadows
  • Author: Sonny Rice
  • Setting: Palladium Fantasy
  • Page Count: 17
  • Rating: Excellent
  • Description: The Shadow Beast has been a common fixture in wizard spells for a long time, but it appears that the presence of Shadow-based spells in the Library of Bletherad, a sourcebook for the Palladium Fantasy RPG. That book contained a number of spells dealing with shadows and hinted at the existence of a Shadow Mage, but this book delivers on that. While I question the order in which the article is presented, because it starts with the denizens of the Shadow Realm before moving to the Shadow Mage and a host of new shadow spells, the article is very good. Combining the material in this article with the shadow spells from the book mentioned above should create a nice self contained mage, which is good for a villain and even a player character.
  
  
• Article Four - Thunderbolt (Adventure)
  • Author: Owen Johnson
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 11
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: This is an interesting little adventure based around an A-10 Thunderbolt Attack Jet. The adventure has a good level of detail, as well as a few NPCs and a mercenary company for the players to tangle with.
  
  
• Article Five - A Few Hook, Line & Sinkers (Adventure)
  • Author: Jeremy Clements
  • Setting: Rifts
  • Page Count: 7
  • Rating: Average
  • Description: As I have said before, I have always liked these types of adventures. They are short and to the point and they can provide hours of enjoyment with only a little work by the GM.