RE: Palladium - this was my experience, too. When I was a kid in the 90's, my local hobby shop stocked two RPG lines: White Wolf and Palladium, and I went all in spending my dad's money on Rifts! I could never find a way to make PLAYING it fun, but READING it was always fun and I spent hundreds of happy hours doing just that. This past month I also pulled out a couple of my old Palladium books, flipped them open, and realized two things: 1) it's not just nostalgia, they are still filled with excitement, inspiration, and enthusiasm in ways that light my brain up like I WISH other games could, and 2) the rules bloat reads differently now that I've learned from the OSR movement and the many other DMs and RPG thinkers that are available to teach us about "rulings, not rules," and simplifying our games. I know how to make Rifts work now. The rules are the same, but I've changed. (I wish I had the ability you and your friends did to go full narrative Rifts way back when! But better late than never.)
So I bought a new copy of Rifts - the hardcover Ultimate Edition with an even MORE awesome cover - and realized some other things: Palladium has been in business for 40 years straight, making money only from selling RPGs (not board games, video games, or anything else); almost every book they've ever sold is STILL available direct from the publisher, STILL for around $20 (for softcover); and most of their stuff is now on DriveThru in PDF form for $7-14. And you can use the official licensed Savage Worlds rules to play Rifts now too, if you really want to.
Rifts is flawed but beautiful. I have nothing but thanks for the Palladium team that fired my imagination when I was young and populated so much of my creative RPG headspace. And, thanks Teeth team for this great tribute and great newsletter. You might check out the Palladium website, they have a really sweet Rifts mug you might enjoy. :)
RE: Palladium - this was my experience, too. When I was a kid in the 90's, my local hobby shop stocked two RPG lines: White Wolf and Palladium, and I went all in spending my dad's money on Rifts! I could never find a way to make PLAYING it fun, but READING it was always fun and I spent hundreds of happy hours doing just that. This past month I also pulled out a couple of my old Palladium books, flipped them open, and realized two things: 1) it's not just nostalgia, they are still filled with excitement, inspiration, and enthusiasm in ways that light my brain up like I WISH other games could, and 2) the rules bloat reads differently now that I've learned from the OSR movement and the many other DMs and RPG thinkers that are available to teach us about "rulings, not rules," and simplifying our games. I know how to make Rifts work now. The rules are the same, but I've changed. (I wish I had the ability you and your friends did to go full narrative Rifts way back when! But better late than never.)
So I bought a new copy of Rifts - the hardcover Ultimate Edition with an even MORE awesome cover - and realized some other things: Palladium has been in business for 40 years straight, making money only from selling RPGs (not board games, video games, or anything else); almost every book they've ever sold is STILL available direct from the publisher, STILL for around $20 (for softcover); and most of their stuff is now on DriveThru in PDF form for $7-14. And you can use the official licensed Savage Worlds rules to play Rifts now too, if you really want to.
Rifts is flawed but beautiful. I have nothing but thanks for the Palladium team that fired my imagination when I was young and populated so much of my creative RPG headspace. And, thanks Teeth team for this great tribute and great newsletter. You might check out the Palladium website, they have a really sweet Rifts mug you might enjoy. :)
RE: Palladium - this was my experience, too. When I was a kid in the 90's, my local hobby shop stocked two RPG lines: White Wolf and Palladium, and I went all in spending my dad's money on Rifts! I could never find a way to make PLAYING it fun, but READING it was always fun and I spent hundreds of happy hours doing just that. This past month I also pulled out a couple of my old Palladium books, flipped them open, and realized two things: 1) it's not just nostalgia, they are still filled with excitement, inspiration, and enthusiasm in ways that light my brain up like I WISH other games could, and 2) the rules bloat reads differently now that I've learned from the OSR movement and the many other DMs and RPG thinkers that are available to teach us about "rulings, not rules," and simplifying our games. I know how to make Rifts work now. The rules are the same, but I've changed. (I wish I had the ability you and your friends did to go full narrative Rifts way back when! But better late than never.)
So I bought a new copy of Rifts - the hardcover Ultimate Edition with an even MORE awesome cover - and realized some other things: Palladium has been in business for 40 years straight, making money only from selling RPGs (not board games, video games, or anything else); almost every book they've ever sold is STILL available direct from the publisher, STILL for around $20 (for softcover); and most of their stuff is now on DriveThru in PDF form for $7-14. And you can use the official licensed Savage Worlds rules to play Rifts now too, if you really want to.
Rifts is flawed but beautiful. I have nothing but thanks for the Palladium team that fired my imagination when I was young and populated so much of my creative RPG headspace. And, thanks Teeth team for this great tribute and great newsletter. You might check out the Palladium website, they have a really sweet Rifts mug you might enjoy. :)
RE: Palladium - this was my experience, too. When I was a kid in the 90's, my local hobby shop stocked two RPG lines: White Wolf and Palladium, and I went all in spending my dad's money on Rifts! I could never find a way to make PLAYING it fun, but READING it was always fun and I spent hundreds of happy hours doing just that. This past month I also pulled out a couple of my old Palladium books, flipped them open, and realized two things: 1) it's not just nostalgia, they are still filled with excitement, inspiration, and enthusiasm in ways that light my brain up like I WISH other games could, and 2) the rules bloat reads differently now that I've learned from the OSR movement and the many other DMs and RPG thinkers that are available to teach us about "rulings, not rules," and simplifying our games. I know how to make Rifts work now. The rules are the same, but I've changed. (I wish I had the ability you and your friends did to go full narrative Rifts way back when! But better late than never.)
So I bought a new copy of Rifts - the hardcover Ultimate Edition with an even MORE awesome cover - and realized some other things: Palladium has been in business for 40 years straight, making money only from selling RPGs (not board games, video games, or anything else); almost every book they've ever sold is STILL available direct from the publisher, STILL for around $20 (for softcover); and most of their stuff is now on DriveThru in PDF form for $7-14. And you can use the official licensed Savage Worlds rules to play Rifts now too, if you really want to.
Rifts is flawed but beautiful. I have nothing but thanks for the Palladium team that fired my imagination when I was young and populated so much of my creative RPG headspace. And, thanks Teeth team for this great tribute and great newsletter. You might check out the Palladium website, they have a really sweet Rifts mug you might enjoy. :)