Warning! Violence and the Supernatural

The fictional Worlds of Palladium Books® 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 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.

/ ~ "",

. , .... / /////h •... ,

The Rifter™ Number Nine Your guide to the Palladium Megaverse®!

1

Sample

file

First Printing - January, 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®, RECON®, Nightbane®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, After the Bomb® and Megaverse® are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

The Rifter, Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, HU2, BTS, Beyond the Supernatural, Systems Failure, Century Sta­tion, Chaos Earth, Skraypers, Phase World, Wormwood, Baalgor Wastelands, Mount Nimro, Eastern Territory, Coalition Wars, Free Quebec, Xiticix Invasion, Splynn Dimensional Market, Hammer of The Forge, The Siege Against Tolkeen, Siege On Tolkeen, Arzno, Psyscape, Mechanoids Space, ARCHIE-3, NortlIern _Clun, c:()alition States, Erin Tarn, 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. Bio-Leech, Fire-Eater, Kill Crazy, Sym-KiIler, Spatial Magic, Spatial Mage, Mutant Underground, The Anvil Galaxy, Land of the Damned, Wolfen, Astral Junkie, Astral Knight, Living Realm, and other names, titles and likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

Knights of the Dinner Table™ is a trademark of Kenzer Co. and the creation of Jolly Blackburn.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® and TMNT® are registered trademarks of Mirage Studios.

Robotech® is a registered trademark of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.

Palladium On-Line www.palladiumbooks.com

The RifterTM #9 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladium Books Inc., 12455 Universal Drive, Taylor, MI 48180. Printed in the USA.

2

Sample

file

Palladium Books® Presents:

THE

Sourcebook and guide to the Palladium Megaverse®

#9

Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith

Supervising Coordinator & Typesetting:

Maryann Siembieda Contributing Writers:

James M.G. Cannon David Haendler Owen Johnson

Christopher Jones

Shawn Merrow

Mark Sumimoto T odd Sterrett Kevin Siem bieda

Jason Richards Nathan Taylor

Knights of the Dinner Table: Jolly Blackburn

Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein Cover Painting: Simon Bisley Interior Artists:

Apollo Okamura

Ryan Beres

Wayne Breaux Jr.

Michael Dubisch

Paulo Parentes Studio Ramon Perez Scott Johnson 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 the folks at Mirage Studios, and to all of our contributors. Our apologies to any­body who got accidentally left out or their name misspelled.

3

Sample

file

Contents - The Rifter #9 January, 2000 ­

Page 7 - From the Desk

of Kevin Siembieda Publisher Kevin Siembieda announces that Palladium Books

is letting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® role-playing game license go and the reasons why. There won't be a TMNT® RPG, 2nd Edition, and we hope fans are not too dis­appointed.

Readers do get a peek at some of the artwork that was com­missioned for the ill-fated Second Edition - namely the amaz­ing Simon Bisley cover and the artwork that accompanies this fond farewell. The black and white artwork was produced by the Paulo Parentes Studio in Italy waaaay back in the fall of 1997. We thank Mirage Studios for letting us publish the Bisley paint­ing as the cover to this issue of The Rifter™.

Page 9 - TMNT® Role-Playing Game

Liquidation Sale That's right, get the classic Palladium TMN1® Role-Playing

Game and/or supplements while you still can. And at great prices too.

Page 10 - Palladium News, Info,

& Coming Attractions Palladium sales are up, the company is doing well, Bill Cof­

fin joins Palladium's ranks as a full-time writer, new faces to ap­pear in The Rifter™ (starting with #10), Mike Dubisch releases a limited edition comic book, and Kevin Siembieda presents some amusing "Top 10" lists for the coming Millennium.

Page 12 - Coming Attractions Rifts® Novel #3 and Aliens Unlimited™ are at the printer's

and on store shelves in January. Rifts® Free Quebec™, HU2's Century Station™, and Nightbane® Tribes of the Moon™ are slated for February, with lots of other good stuff planned for the coming year.

Page 16 - Knights of the Dinner TabJe™ Another hilarious installment of KoDT by creator Jolly

Blackburn and Steve Johansson.

Don't forget the KoDT comic books are available from Kenzer & Company, 1935 S. Plum Grove Rd., Suite 194, Pala­tine, IL, 60067.

Page 18 - Nightbane® RPG Beyond Between the Shadows™

Todd Sterrett offers a variety of optional new material for ad­venture into the Astral Plane, including: How to get there with new psychic and Astral Lord powers, magic spells, portals and dimensional Rifts; Co-existing with the material world; Cosmol­

4

ogy 101; Creating Astral Domains; Astral O.C.C.s, and much more.

Artwork is by stipple master, Ryan Beres.

Page 39 - Rifts® Lone Star Comic Strip The next rockin' installment of the Rifts Comic Strip. The

plot thickens and trouble mounts as our heroes become more deeply embroiled in the mad scheme of Doctor Desmond Brad­ford and his genetically engineered mutants.

Part Four of six chapters by Ramon Perez (Penciler, lnker, Letterer, and Author) and Kevin Siembieda (editor and story consultant).

Page 47 - Rifts® New Type Bio-BorgsTM

When something had to be edited out of freelance writer, Mark Sumimoto's manuscript for Ilifts® Atlantis Two: Dimensional Market, four frightening, specific types of Bio-Borgs found themselves on the editing room floor. How­ever, they were too imaginative to just be tossed out and forgot­ten, so publisher Kevin Siembieda promised they would appear in The Rifter™. Well, here they are in all their monstrous glory - the Bio-Leech, Fire Eater, Kill Crazy. and Sym-Killer. All "official," but optional characters to include in your Rifts® campaign.

Artwork by monster-maker, Michael Dubisch.

Page 64 - Hammer of the Forge The next chapter in James M. G. Cannon's Phase WorldTM

story.

Artwork by Apollo Okamura.

Page 70 - The Siege Against Tolkeen David Haendler's Siege Against To1.keen story is racing to its

conclusion with these chapters in this Rifls® saga. This epic tale comes to an end in the next issue or two of The Rifter™. Don't miss it!

Artwork by Apollo Okamura.

Page 81 - Rifts®

The Territory of Anno (Part One of Two) Jason Richards and Nathan Taylor present the independent

City of Arzno, Arizona. Built from scratch and defended by the Arzno Mercenary Corp, it has become something of an oasis of civilization in a dangerous wasteland. City history, background, government and key mercenary characters are presented for your enjoyment.

Artwork by the indomitable, Wayne Breaux Jr.

Next issue, Part Two will provide more general information and a number of weapons and vehicles.

Sample

file

Page 105 - General RPG Tips Owen Johnson offers some thoughts and optional tables for

weather conditions.

Page 106 - Rifts® Fiction Benefactors Freelance writer, Christopher Jones, presents a short two and

a half page story set in Rifts® Scotland. Readers may consider this something of a "teaser" for the upcoming Rifts® Scotland World Book scheduled for a Summer 2000 release.

Artwork by Apollo Okamura.

Page 108 - Palladium Fantasy RPG Hook, Line & Sinker™ Adventures

The mischievous, Shawn Merrow, unleashes his imagination to offer 14 adventure ideas for The Palladium Fantasy RPG®. We loved 'em, hope you do too.

Art by Ryan Beres.

The Cover The cover to The Rifter #9 is by the British master of dy­

namic action and vein-popping heroes, Simon Ris/ey. We thought it would be a shame if this outstanding piece of artwork never saw print. The folks at Mirage agreed. The painting was originally commissioned by Palladium as the cover to the (now cancelled) TMNT RPG, Second Edition.

A word about this issue

Hmm, somehow the focus of this issue became Rifts®. Part of the reason was editor Wayne Smith didn't know Mr. Siembieda planned on including the Bio-Borg™ material. Some issues just take on a life of their own - and this was one of them. Readers can COWlt on future issues of The Rifter™ turn­ing its attention on non-Rifts® role-playing games, like Heroes Unlimi/erflM, Palladium Fan/asy and others.

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. For example, the story, Siege Against To/keen, is likely to be very different than Kevin Siembieda's "official" World Books coming in 2000. 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.

This issue, the Bio-BorgsTM are approved as an "official" ad­dition to the Rifts® role-playing game.

www.palladiumbooks.com - Palladium On-Line Congratulations to FOIjx the Maniac (I probably spelled it

wrong) for being the "official" individual to make the one mil­lionth "hit" on Palladium's web page. In honor of this momen­tous occasion, he received a $100 gift certificate for Palladium Product. Palladium's web page offers visitors the opportunity to access up-to-the-minute news, scheduling changes, sneak pre­views, meeting other gamers in our chat rooms, special on-line events, on-line RPG source material and more. Come by and visit, maybe you'll become our two millionth visitor.

Coming Next Issue ... The Rifter™ #10 • The second half of The Territory ofArzno for Rifts®.

• More material for Pal/adium Fantasy RPG®.

• Material for Heroes UnlimitedfM •

• The next chapter of the Hammer ofthe Forge™.

• The continuing saga of Siege Against Tolkeen™.

• More Knights ofthe Dinner Table™.

• More of the Ramon Perez Lone Star com ic strip.

• The latest news and developments at Palladium.

• Source material for the Palladium Megaverse®.

• New contributors and fun.

5

Sample

file

6

Sample

file