Warning Violence and the Supernatural

The fictional worlds of Palladium Booksreg 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 forms monsters gods and demigods as well as magic insanity and war are all elements in these books

Some parents may find the violence magic and supernatural elements of the games inappropriate for young readersplayers We suggest parental discretion

Please note that none of us at Palladium Booksreg condone or encourage the occult the practice of magic the use of drugs or violence

The Rifterreg Number 22 Your guide to the Palladium Megaversereg

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First Printing - April 2003

Copyright 2003 Palladium Books Inc amp 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 fonn or by any means without pennission 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 Booksreg Riftsreg The Rifterreg Coalition Warsreg RECONreg Nightbanereg The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Gamereg The Mechanoidsreg The Mechanoid Invasionreg After the Bombreg Phase Worldreg and Megaversereg are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc

Chaos Earth Mechanoid Space Heroes Unlimited HV2 Powers Unlimited Ninjas amp Superspies Aliens Unlimited Mutant Underground The Nursery Hardware Unlimited Gadgets Unlimited RECON Modem Combat Beyond the Supernatural BTS Three Galaxies RiftsworkZ Systems Failure Gramercy Island Skraypers Atorian Empire Wonnwood Land of the Damned The Citadel Wolfen Wars Wolfen Cosmo-Knights Cyber-Knight Free Quebec Xiticix Invasion Hammer of the Forge Siege On Tolkeen Psyscape Dweomer ARCHIE-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 Psi-Stalker Brodkil Juicer Crazy Burbs Borg Bot D-Bee Chi-Town Triax NGR Shifter The Anvil Galaxy and other names titles and likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc

Palladium Online wwwpalladiumbookscom

The Rifterreg 22 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladium Books Inc 12455 Universal Drive Taylor Ml48180 Printed in the USA

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Sam

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First Printing - April 2003

Copyright 2003 Palladium Books Inc amp 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 fonn or by any means without pennission 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 Booksreg Riftsreg The Rifterreg Coalition Warsreg RECONreg Nightbanereg The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Gamereg The Mechanoidsreg The Mechanoid Invasionreg After the Bombreg Phase Worldreg and Megaversereg are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc

Chaos Earth Mechanoid Space Heroes Unlimited HV2 Powers Unlimited Ninjas amp Superspies Aliens Unlimited Mutant Underground The Nursery Hardware Unlimited Gadgets Unlimited RECON Modem Combat Beyond the Supernatural BTS Three Galaxies RiftsworkZ Systems Failure Gramercy Island Skraypers Atorian Empire Wonnwood Land of the Damned The Citadel Wolfen Wars Wolfen Cosmo-Knights Cyber-Knight Free Quebec Xiticix Invasion Hammer of the Forge Siege On Tolkeen Psyscape Dweomer ARCHIE-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 Psi-Stalker Brodkil Juicer Crazy Burbs Borg Bot D-Bee Chi-Town Triax NGR Shifter The Anvil Galaxy and other names titles and likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc

Palladium Online wwwpalladiumbookscom

The Rifterreg 22 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladium Books Inc 12455 Universal Drive Taylor Ml48180 Printed in the USA

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Palladium Booksreg Presents

22 Sourcebook and guide to the Palladium Megaversereg

Coordinator amp Editor in Chief Wayne Smith

Contributing Writers

Wayne Breaux Jr

James MG Cannon Daniel Denis

Dan Felkins

Carl Gleba

Shawn Merrow

Robin L Newman

John Polojac

Kevin Siembieda

Rodney Stott

Richard Thomassen

Proofreaders

Al Marciniszyn

Julius Rosenstein

Cover Illustration Kevin Siembieda

Based on the RPG rules characters

concepts and Megaversereg created by Kevin Siembieda

Interior Artists

Kent Buries

Brian Manning

Apollo Okamura

Brendan Smith

Freddie Williams II

Drunken Style Studios

and other Palladium Madmen

Cover Logo Design Steve Edwards

Credits Page Logo Niklas Brandt

Typesetting Wayne Smith

Keylining Kevin Siembieda

Special Thanks to all our contributors writers and artists - and a special welcome onboard to the artists and writers making their debut in this issue Our apologies to anybody who got accidentally left out or their name misspelled

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Contents - The Rifterreg 22 - April 2003

Page 6 - Art A sequential page of action by artist Freddie Williams II We

thought it fit current events and this issues editorial Is this guy a butt-kickin artist or what

Page 7 - From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Strange times and war days - a few words about the conflict

in the Middle East followed by whats happening at Palladium So what is happening at Palladium Were meeting our release dates have a ton of great new products coming out were trying new things using new free lancers and hey go read the darn thing for yourself

Page 8 - Pal1adium News Palladium Books will have a booth at Origins 2003 and

Kevin Siembiedas schedule is so demanding that this may be the only game convention he (or Palladium Books) attends this year We hope to see a lot of garners there More info on page 8

In other news Riflsreg Chaos Earthtrade has been delayed till May the new Nightbanereg sourcebook is on schedule Riflsreg Conversion Book Two Pantheons of the Megaversereg is out of print but Riftsreg Conversion Book One (revised) and Dark Conshyversionstrade are selling like theres no tomorrow Plus a notice about galactic source-material online and more

Page 10 - Coming Attractions The updated and expanded 2003 Spring and Summer schedshy

ule of releases descriptions for Shadows of Lighttrade Powers Unlimited I amp 2 Beyond the Supernaturaltrade 2nd Edition and new stuff coming for Riflsreg Hey if you havent heard about Palladiums new Riflsreg Adventure Sourcebook series get the lowdown on page 12 The first book is already in the stores the second one will be out in May and the third in June Each is a stand-alone sourcebook

Page 13 - Chaos Earth In case you missed it last issue check out the hype for Riftsreg

Chaos Earth tradeand tell your local stores that youll be wanting a copy We have a sneaking hunch demand may be greater than some stores and distributors are anticipating and that we may be sold out quickly

Page 14 - Questions and Answers Rodney Shawn and Kevin are back to answer your quesshy

tions This columns theme Children Their heightened PPE levels ability to use magic age restrictions (and death) for getshyting Juicer and MOM augmentation bionics and kids and other good stuff

Page 17 - Riftsreg

Mage Armor What does the well dressed practitioner of magic wear while

traversing the wilds of Rifts Earth Find out right here as Brian and Kevin present the latest in Mega-Damage body armor for spell casters and sorcerers of every stripe

Art and original concept by Brian Manning Finished text and stats by Kevin Siembieda

Page 18 - Heroes Unlimitedtrade 2nd Ed

Building a Betfer Super-Soldier John Polojac presents optional rules for expanding and develshy

oping different types of Super-Soldiers for use in HU2 Some have super abilities others bionic augmentation Includes Sucshycess Level Table side effects and other stuff

Art Page 18 is by Kent the Gent Buries the rest is by the talented supermen at Drunken Style Studios Mike is his last name really Majestic and Ka the man Xiong

Page 25 - Riftsreg

New Ludicrous Magic Daniel Denis the lunatic who first introduced the Ludicrous

Mage and his wacky brand of magic in the now legendary The Rifler 9 IJ is back with more Ludicrous magic spells Great stuff like Boo Butter Fingers Create (and Play) Theme Song Ugly Kid Joe Balloon Flight Bigger Guns Create Dough-Boy Golem and more

Artwork by Brian Im Gaming Again Manning

Page 47 - The Pal1adium Fantasy RPGreg

Medieval Army Combat Rules --shyDan Felkins presents optional rules for creating and running

entire armies using archers and cavalry companies defending fortified positions breaching enemy defenses typical training and an example of army units

In addition Dan the Man Felkins presents a short guide on how to use the Riftsreg Mercenary Company Creation Rules to construct armies in any setting See page 59

Art by Drunken Style Studios Mark Spudley Dudley and Ka the golden one Xiong (sorry Mark Ka slipped me 20 bucks for that one)

Page 62 - The Palladium Fantasy RPGreg

Flashing Blades Fencing in Palladium Fantasy Richard Thomassen offers optional rules for a host of fencing

skills rules bonuses dueling and more

Artwork by Drunken Style Studios Ryan Csaszar

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Page 67- Nightbanereg and Heroes Unlimitedtrade

Flynn and Company RL Newman presents a unique short story that combines the

worlds and characters of Nightbanereg and Heroes Unlimitedtrade Another example of the endless possibilities of the Palladium Megaversereg

Artwork by Brian Manning

Page 82 - Heroes U nlimitedtrade

The Games Palladium Plays Wayne Breaux Jr has suggested a series of articles in which

Palladium creators feature one of their own campaign characters as an example of the thought processes we go through in creatshying our own characters In fact this is an open challenge from Wayne to the rest of us Is this something as gamers and fans you the readers of The Rifter would like to see more of

Art by Wayne Breaux Jr duh

Page 89 - Riftsreg Phase Worldreg

The Hammer of the Forge Chapter 22 of James MG Cannons epic saga

Artwork by Apollo Mr Transfonner Okamura

The theme for issue 22 Potpourri - a mixed bag of material to say Life is rich and

diverse Try to sample as much of it as you can and enjoy the dishyversity The Ludicrous Magic is in tribute to April Fools Day my birthday (April 2nd a truly ludicrous event) and the third year anniversary of legendary The Rifler 9 ~ (well we like to think of it as legendary) Then theres some Riftsreg material a bunch of fantasy combat material some super-hero stuff horror kids and fun all around

The Cover Palladium Fantasy Anniversary Believe it or not The Pallashy

dium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is TWENTY years old Twenty years and it has never been out of print or changed pubshylisher Not bad eh

To help commemorate this impressive event Kevin Siembieda dug up one of his old concept paintings depicting a pair of Goblins (one nasty one dim-witted and actuaIly the dim-witted one is a Hob-Goblin) The painting is watercolor and this is the first time it has ever seen print

Help us please It seems like Palladium should do something special to commemorate the Fantasy games 20 year history but what We re going to release three or four fantasy sourcebooks this year but dont you think we should be doing something else Some kind of give-away or special promo item Give it some thought and send us your suggestions via the web site (wwwpalladiumbookscom) US postal service telephone or smoke signals Thanks

Optional and Unofficial Rules amp Source Material Please note that most of the material presented in The

Rifterreg is unofficial or optional rules and source material

They are alternative ideas homespun adventures and material mostly created by feIlow gamers and fans like you the reader Things one can elect to include in ones own campaign or simshyply enjoy reading about 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 inapshypropriate for your game modifY them or ignore them comshypletely

All the material in The Rifterreg 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 ideas and concepts that you can use (if you want to) or which might inspire you to create your own wonders

wwwpalladiumbookscom - Palladium Online

Coming Next Issue The Riftertrade 23 bull Material for Nightbanereg andor Heroes Unlimshy

itedfM bull

bull More material for Palladium Fantasyreg

bull More material for Riftsreg

bull Questions and Answers bull The next chapter of The Hammer ofthe Forgetrade

bull The latest news and developments at Palladium Books

bull Source material for the entire PaJladium Megaversereg

bull New contributors and fun So please join us

Palladium Booksreg role-playing games infinite possibilities limited only by your imagination trade

Palladiums games are found in stores everywhere

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Contents - The Rifterreg 22 - April 2003

Page 6 - Art A sequential page of action by artist Freddie Williams II We

thought it fit current events and this issues editorial Is this guy a butt-kickin artist or what

Page 7 - From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda Strange times and war days - a few words about the conflict

in the Middle East followed by whats happening at Palladium So what is happening at Palladium Were meeting our release dates have a ton of great new products coming out were trying new things using new free lancers and hey go read the darn thing for yourself

Page 8 - Pal1adium News Palladium Books will have a booth at Origins 2003 and

Kevin Siembiedas schedule is so demanding that this may be the only game convention he (or Palladium Books) attends this year We hope to see a lot of garners there More info on page 8

In other news Riflsreg Chaos Earthtrade has been delayed till May the new Nightbanereg sourcebook is on schedule Riflsreg Conversion Book Two Pantheons of the Megaversereg is out of print but Riftsreg Conversion Book One (revised) and Dark Conshyversionstrade are selling like theres no tomorrow Plus a notice about galactic source-material online and more

Page 10 - Coming Attractions The updated and expanded 2003 Spring and Summer schedshy

ule of releases descriptions for Shadows of Lighttrade Powers Unlimited I amp 2 Beyond the Supernaturaltrade 2nd Edition and new stuff coming for Riflsreg Hey if you havent heard about Palladiums new Riflsreg Adventure Sourcebook series get the lowdown on page 12 The first book is already in the stores the second one will be out in May and the third in June Each is a stand-alone sourcebook

Page 13 - Chaos Earth In case you missed it last issue check out the hype for Riftsreg

Chaos Earth tradeand tell your local stores that youll be wanting a copy We have a sneaking hunch demand may be greater than some stores and distributors are anticipating and that we may be sold out quickly

Page 14 - Questions and Answers Rodney Shawn and Kevin are back to answer your quesshy

tions This columns theme Children Their heightened PPE levels ability to use magic age restrictions (and death) for getshyting Juicer and MOM augmentation bionics and kids and other good stuff

Page 17 - Riftsreg

Mage Armor What does the well dressed practitioner of magic wear while

traversing the wilds of Rifts Earth Find out right here as Brian and Kevin present the latest in Mega-Damage body armor for spell casters and sorcerers of every stripe

Art and original concept by Brian Manning Finished text and stats by Kevin Siembieda

Page 18 - Heroes Unlimitedtrade 2nd Ed

Building a Betfer Super-Soldier John Polojac presents optional rules for expanding and develshy

oping different types of Super-Soldiers for use in HU2 Some have super abilities others bionic augmentation Includes Sucshycess Level Table side effects and other stuff

Art Page 18 is by Kent the Gent Buries the rest is by the talented supermen at Drunken Style Studios Mike is his last name really Majestic and Ka the man Xiong

Page 25 - Riftsreg

New Ludicrous Magic Daniel Denis the lunatic who first introduced the Ludicrous

Mage and his wacky brand of magic in the now legendary The Rifler 9 IJ is back with more Ludicrous magic spells Great stuff like Boo Butter Fingers Create (and Play) Theme Song Ugly Kid Joe Balloon Flight Bigger Guns Create Dough-Boy Golem and more

Artwork by Brian Im Gaming Again Manning

Page 47 - The Pal1adium Fantasy RPGreg

Medieval Army Combat Rules --shyDan Felkins presents optional rules for creating and running

entire armies using archers and cavalry companies defending fortified positions breaching enemy defenses typical training and an example of army units

In addition Dan the Man Felkins presents a short guide on how to use the Riftsreg Mercenary Company Creation Rules to construct armies in any setting See page 59

Art by Drunken Style Studios Mark Spudley Dudley and Ka the golden one Xiong (sorry Mark Ka slipped me 20 bucks for that one)

Page 62 - The Palladium Fantasy RPGreg

Flashing Blades Fencing in Palladium Fantasy Richard Thomassen offers optional rules for a host of fencing

skills rules bonuses dueling and more

Artwork by Drunken Style Studios Ryan Csaszar

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Page 67- Nightbanereg and Heroes Unlimitedtrade

Flynn and Company RL Newman presents a unique short story that combines the

worlds and characters of Nightbanereg and Heroes Unlimitedtrade Another example of the endless possibilities of the Palladium Megaversereg

Artwork by Brian Manning

Page 82 - Heroes U nlimitedtrade

The Games Palladium Plays Wayne Breaux Jr has suggested a series of articles in which

Palladium creators feature one of their own campaign characters as an example of the thought processes we go through in creatshying our own characters In fact this is an open challenge from Wayne to the rest of us Is this something as gamers and fans you the readers of The Rifter would like to see more of

Art by Wayne Breaux Jr duh

Page 89 - Riftsreg Phase Worldreg

The Hammer of the Forge Chapter 22 of James MG Cannons epic saga

Artwork by Apollo Mr Transfonner Okamura

The theme for issue 22 Potpourri - a mixed bag of material to say Life is rich and

diverse Try to sample as much of it as you can and enjoy the dishyversity The Ludicrous Magic is in tribute to April Fools Day my birthday (April 2nd a truly ludicrous event) and the third year anniversary of legendary The Rifler 9 ~ (well we like to think of it as legendary) Then theres some Riftsreg material a bunch of fantasy combat material some super-hero stuff horror kids and fun all around

The Cover Palladium Fantasy Anniversary Believe it or not The Pallashy

dium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is TWENTY years old Twenty years and it has never been out of print or changed pubshylisher Not bad eh

To help commemorate this impressive event Kevin Siembieda dug up one of his old concept paintings depicting a pair of Goblins (one nasty one dim-witted and actuaIly the dim-witted one is a Hob-Goblin) The painting is watercolor and this is the first time it has ever seen print

Help us please It seems like Palladium should do something special to commemorate the Fantasy games 20 year history but what We re going to release three or four fantasy sourcebooks this year but dont you think we should be doing something else Some kind of give-away or special promo item Give it some thought and send us your suggestions via the web site (wwwpalladiumbookscom) US postal service telephone or smoke signals Thanks

Optional and Unofficial Rules amp Source Material Please note that most of the material presented in The

Rifterreg is unofficial or optional rules and source material

They are alternative ideas homespun adventures and material mostly created by feIlow gamers and fans like you the reader Things one can elect to include in ones own campaign or simshyply enjoy reading about 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 inapshypropriate for your game modifY them or ignore them comshypletely

All the material in The Rifterreg 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 ideas and concepts that you can use (if you want to) or which might inspire you to create your own wonders

wwwpalladiumbookscom - Palladium Online

Coming Next Issue The Riftertrade 23 bull Material for Nightbanereg andor Heroes Unlimshy

itedfM bull

bull More material for Palladium Fantasyreg

bull More material for Riftsreg

bull Questions and Answers bull The next chapter of The Hammer ofthe Forgetrade

bull The latest news and developments at Palladium Books

bull Source material for the entire PaJladium Megaversereg

bull New contributors and fun So please join us

Palladium Booksreg role-playing games infinite possibilities limited only by your imagination trade

Palladiums games are found in stores everywhere

5

Sam

ple

file

Page 67- Nightbanereg and Heroes Unlimitedtrade

Flynn and Company RL Newman presents a unique short story that combines the

worlds and characters of Nightbanereg and Heroes Unlimitedtrade Another example of the endless possibilities of the Palladium Megaversereg

Artwork by Brian Manning

Page 82 - Heroes U nlimitedtrade

The Games Palladium Plays Wayne Breaux Jr has suggested a series of articles in which

Palladium creators feature one of their own campaign characters as an example of the thought processes we go through in creatshying our own characters In fact this is an open challenge from Wayne to the rest of us Is this something as gamers and fans you the readers of The Rifter would like to see more of

Art by Wayne Breaux Jr duh

Page 89 - Riftsreg Phase Worldreg

The Hammer of the Forge Chapter 22 of James MG Cannons epic saga

Artwork by Apollo Mr Transfonner Okamura

The theme for issue 22 Potpourri - a mixed bag of material to say Life is rich and

diverse Try to sample as much of it as you can and enjoy the dishyversity The Ludicrous Magic is in tribute to April Fools Day my birthday (April 2nd a truly ludicrous event) and the third year anniversary of legendary The Rifler 9 ~ (well we like to think of it as legendary) Then theres some Riftsreg material a bunch of fantasy combat material some super-hero stuff horror kids and fun all around

The Cover Palladium Fantasy Anniversary Believe it or not The Pallashy

dium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is TWENTY years old Twenty years and it has never been out of print or changed pubshylisher Not bad eh

To help commemorate this impressive event Kevin Siembieda dug up one of his old concept paintings depicting a pair of Goblins (one nasty one dim-witted and actuaIly the dim-witted one is a Hob-Goblin) The painting is watercolor and this is the first time it has ever seen print

Help us please It seems like Palladium should do something special to commemorate the Fantasy games 20 year history but what We re going to release three or four fantasy sourcebooks this year but dont you think we should be doing something else Some kind of give-away or special promo item Give it some thought and send us your suggestions via the web site (wwwpalladiumbookscom) US postal service telephone or smoke signals Thanks

Optional and Unofficial Rules amp Source Material Please note that most of the material presented in The

Rifterreg is unofficial or optional rules and source material

They are alternative ideas homespun adventures and material mostly created by feIlow gamers and fans like you the reader Things one can elect to include in ones own campaign or simshyply enjoy reading about 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 inapshypropriate for your game modifY them or ignore them comshypletely

All the material in The Rifterreg 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 ideas and concepts that you can use (if you want to) or which might inspire you to create your own wonders

wwwpalladiumbookscom - Palladium Online

Coming Next Issue The Riftertrade 23 bull Material for Nightbanereg andor Heroes Unlimshy

itedfM bull

bull More material for Palladium Fantasyreg

bull More material for Riftsreg

bull Questions and Answers bull The next chapter of The Hammer ofthe Forgetrade

bull The latest news and developments at Palladium Books

bull Source material for the entire PaJladium Megaversereg

bull New contributors and fun So please join us

Palladium Booksreg role-playing games infinite possibilities limited only by your imagination trade

Palladiums games are found in stores everywhere

5

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ple

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• PAL-Rifter22pdf