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Wise_Owl

That is kinda neat, and adresses a need that has existed in Rifts for quite some time. We it 10 years ago I would have found such a book Mondo-Cool(as it is I've created my own cornicopia of D-Bee's). There are two ways this book might be done, and to be honest, I might buy either way 1)The Likely w...

Wise_Owl

I'm not sure there is an easy fix for this. The Problem isn't the potential lethality of M.D.C., but that with other aspects of the system it's simply FAR too easy to die instantly. You are living in a world were every streat-punk can be armed with a Howister that he can hide in his back-pocket, and...

Wise_Owl

The Thing is, given that most of Rifts Society is illiterate, the pronounciation might not be 'wierd' to them. They don't have to deal with English(or American) orthography, just the sounds they hear, so it's quite reasonable that something which is awkward for the average north american now to Read...

Wise_Owl

Well my players and me have whats called a GM-Player Concord. Sort of like the Social Contract. It grants each side unrealistic cliche's fo genre for the sake of game-play and everybodies fun. The aforementioend 'We don't shoot right away' doctrine works both ways. It also pulls into my "I don'...

Wise_Owl

The Central problem, which I touched on in another tread, is that 'Chi' means something very central to Chinese mythology which is kinda like P.P.E., a very little like I.S.P., but not especially like either of them. Chi is breath, life-force, etc. It's lose or destruction is devistating. The Block ...

Wise_Owl

Ah, one of my long-standing issue's re-emerges. Now, I can handle the concept of 3 'different' power sources for Psionics, Magic and 'Chi-Based Powers'. Funky, whatever. I can also handle the entwining of 'Chi' into P.P.E. All in all it makes a fair ammount of sense. P.P.E. 'does' alot of what Chi t...

Wise_Owl

I just figured since darkmax can read and write Chinese fluently, he'd be qualified to work on the list is all, unless you are also fluent in written Chinese. Fluent enough to read a newspaper, though my conversational Mandarin is terrible. As darkmax says and I said, the problem with the list is i...

Wise_Owl

hey darkmax, could you work on the hundred name list in Mystic China? I am wondering how accurate that is and if there's a way to improve the list. You mean the percentage thing in Mystic China? Well as far as I can tell there is no standard romanization form utilized in it, so it's difficult to te...

Wise_Owl

Ah Yes... it goes both ways my friends. There are times I've seen shirts and such in English that have made my double-over they are so funny. Sometimes I wonder if some smuck isn't just printing rude T-Shirts to Sell Cheap in China. But the reverse also happens all the time, Tattoo's are the funiest...

Wise_Owl

It's relatively easy to do, but beware, the Victorian Era is defined largely by Change. The Era of 1840 is VERY different from the era of 1890(to give you but a few examples, in that stretch of time London Bridge was rebuilt, the city went from pitch black to lamp-lights to gas-light to electric in ...

Wise_Owl

Even if it started with a limited Nuclear Exchange, it would end that way. Assuming NORAD or it's descendent agency reacts the same way it does now, the Launch Orders would likely be given after the first 10-15 minutes(teh assumption being some-kind of mass Hallucinagenic Chemical attack is underway...

Wise_Owl

I solved this problem by simply looking at M.D.C. as a game mechanic, rather than a physical aspect of the world, it solved alot of my problems. The Problem with M.D.C. is it lumps together the ability of an object to take damage and the ability of the object to resist damage into one category. To p...

Wise_Owl

though of course with the ridiculousness of Gurps Technology it will oft-times be dificult. Hrm....does GURPS tech really get that much worse than other games? I've always followed their historical books but never really dabbled in their future line stuff. Sorry, typo, Should have said 'Rifts Tech'...

Wise_Owl

This is one of those times your Narrative Impulses should over-come your Gamist impulses or your in for a head-ache. So the question is, what are you trying to achieve game-wise in this huge battle. I suspect what you really want is a way for the PC's to influence said battle and for it not to be se...

Wise_Owl

The Short answer is that it would be an idiotic move. Sure the Norse and Greek Pantheons may like to see Atlantis toppled. I'm sure the US would have liked to See Stalingrad be an Market Economy City in the 70's, but in both cases the Big Picture is ignored. Atlantis is important as a trade debot to...

Wise_Owl

Complex question, but predicated on the assumption that the Mind is Software, a belief which might be true, but is unsubtainiated as of yet(we have no evidence of mind without hardware as of yet). In My Opinion Archie is a complex computer Brain that exists in a semi-higher state based on the compos...

Wise_Owl

I'll bring this up only because I feel obligated, and hoepfully not contribute to another endless 'Is the Coalition Evil Thread'. The TYpe of argument you are having is semantical. The Coalition States are not the only human friendly organization even in the local area, let alone the continent or th...

Wise_Owl

Um... yeah Thinny already gave me the leacture. Is the IR off of creatures from the EM or actually from the heat released from the motion of the matter? Never mind if it was from the motion of the matter than rocks and trees would give off larger IR. But it could be from the higher body temp that w...

Wise_Owl

Two Things-LADAR would not detect some-one who is invisible? Why do you ask? One little word, Magic. Magic doesn't operate on Physical principals but on 'magical' principals. Don't think of invisibility as 'removes one from the visible light spectrum', but rather 'makes you undetectable by a variet...

Wise_Owl

D20 does not model modern combat well(well neither does Palladium, which is why I voted in the neither category, but I digress). D20 does functionally well at Fantasy Games, because that's what it was created to do. It implodes as any attempt at a Universal Sytem for much the same reasons Palladium ...

Wise_Owl

I still say my answer's better. Well it truth it's actually pretty good, save that the Chinese didn't classical think of it as a 'Field', that's a latter invention of 19th century Occultists. Qi is classicaly described either as Breath, Lightning or Liquid. Also Qi doesn't have the 'Good/Bad' duali...

Wise_Owl

It really depends on circumstances. In general roads for me are one of three things; 1)Trader Trails or clear dirt roads made by local communities 2)The Remnants of Pre-Rifts Roads that haven't overgrown on been destroy by time 3)Mysteries. In my experience getting 'grit' across comes best by making...

Wise_Owl

Largely it would depend on who you ask. For a Classical Chinese Answer something along the lines of; The Essential Energy of Life which permeates your body, is released and rejuvenated as Breath, and which disipates into the world when you die. It is vitality. The Sketpic page was largely correct, Q...

Wise_Owl

As an aside, please remember that in real life, strippers are not necessarily hookers...and there's plenty of hookers who couldn't cut it as strippers.... In other words, they aren't the same thing. So far the answers have been pretty good though, and I'd got with about any of the above in this cas...

Wise_Owl

Woah there wise one, kinetic energy is not considered heat and heat is not considered kinetic energy even if heat is defined as the vibration/movement of atoms/molecules. Heat is internal energy, kinetic energy is external energy (from motion). Also heating and cooling have no effect AT ALL on mass...

Wise_Owl

Hmm... tough question, mostly because they aren't necisarily related, and the term 'hooker' is hopelessly broad. Okay, for a stripper Dance is an obvious requisite, and probably Seduction. Gymnastics, Acrobatics and similar skills are a good addition as well. The Strippers who end up being the 'Spec...

Wise_Owl

The Problem with the Rifts alignment system is that it isn't based on real-world ethics but on a quasi-comic book sort of ethics. Self-perception of Morality depends alot on ones moral orientation. For Example a Principal character may view himself as trying to be good, but he would view his failure...

Wise_Owl

Two Things-LADAR would not detect some-one who is invisible? Why do you ask? One little word, Magic. Magic doesn't operate on Physical principals but on 'magical' principals. Don't think of invisibility as 'removes one from the visible light spectrum', but rather 'makes you undetectable by a variety...

Wise_Owl

Though this brings up an interesting question about force-fields. We know you can move very-slowly through one, does that mean if your careful, you can tie a Grenade to a stick and push it slowly through the forcefield? I mean ocne it's through you don't really have to worry about it do you?

Wise_Owl

Well it's a highly complex question, more-over because simply Put, globally Archie and the CS aren't 'Major Players' they are local players. It's sort of like asking what happens when Zimbabwe starts it's campaign to take over the world, how will Nigeria respond. Both are local regional powers. That...

Wise_Owl

Force fields in rifts seem to be aprox. of Dune-Like Technology, that is they stop particles above a certain base kinetic energy threshhold(to toss around nerdy science). If ignoring 'real-world' physics, their defined attributes include allowing gases to pass through them. You might ajudicate wheat...

Wise_Owl

Hmmm..... you mean after he had them arrested by the Military and executed for Treason? Saying 'Civilian Leaders' in the Coalition is like saying 'Civilian Leaders' in North Korea. Your death with an absolutist dictatorship, an Oligarchy at best made up of sycophants and those whose power depends on...

Wise_Owl

Alright, time for a rant, feel free to ignore; I've always HATED the Nega-Psychic. It just made little to no sense. The Problem I've always had is, sure you can have a being who uses it's psychic energy, focused through disbelief, to 'dampen' others powers. But what happens when he encounters a powe...

Wise_Owl

Okay, this is an immensly broad question, and I hope for Broad and specific answers. What was the time immediately preceding the Rifts like? What do we know canonically. What can we extrapolate, and what do we need to discard because it just don't make any sense. After all that, what do you think it...

Wise_Owl

I'll agree with the picture of the people in the wilderness looking down at the Ley Line. For Me that has always been the iconic picture of Rifts, a group of disparate humans in a strange wilderness goverened by magic. Though the other things people have mentioned are also very Iconic to my mind, bu...

Wise_Owl

I'm not a big fan of typifying 'Evil' as something that can have a source other than sentient perceptions. I mean I've done tonnes of games where that was the case(where saying I had a vile of liquid evil wasn't nonsensical) but for the most part I like a sort of Love-Craftian Idea of Alien Intellig...

Wise_Owl

Yeah I gotta agree this would be a good idea. I loved the Size Comparison chart from Call of Cthulhu, gave you a feel for what 'Big' really means. I mean how many of us truly think in terms of heights, I mean if I say 'something is about 30 feet tall' it has less emphasis than if I say "It's th...

Wise_Owl

Interesting potential take Deadboy, sort of a Neo-Neo-Confucianism.... Anyways, going purely on what the CS 'Should' be, no religioun of any kind. Any of the worlds organized religiouns are dangerous magic-worshiping cults. Strict Athiesm, sort of a hyper-vamped 18th Century ENlightenment Style Huma...

Wise_Owl

Well it appears your question has been answered. The CS was written as a Comic-Book Villian, not a real-world or simulationist military force, so it's military doctrine is 'whatever works in the plot'. Realistically of course one questions what kind of doctrine they really could have? I mean how do ...

Wise_Owl

For my part all the Tech Kingdoms are out for purely economic reasons. The CS is simply ridiculous, you cannot construct and modernize an army in the way they did in the real world, and certainly not keep is secret from opponents with access to Psionics, it's just not feasible. The Warlords are simp...

Wise_Owl

That kinda sounds like a step back, from how its explained in the RMB and RUE. I thought all sorts of bigotry, rascism and the like was more or less wiped out amongst the human race with the coming of the rifts. I think it was put like: It is sort of pointless hating someone who has a different ski...

Wise_Owl

Well the first question one must ask is; What will the facilities purpose be in the late 21st century, according to rifts cannon. I'm not sure radar monitored northern defensive iniatives are going to be the order of the day. NORAD in fact may just be seen as a relic of a past generation. But presum...

Wise_Owl

Radar is electromagnetic radiation, it's simply on a slightly higher bandwidth than Radio or Microwave radiation. Look up 'Electromagnetic' spectrum for a full list(the frequencies involved are also lower than those of visible light, I believe the wave-lengths are larger if I recall my physics). I n...

Wise_Owl

Hmmm.... most likely? Technological singularity. Archie-3 and his 'children'(future AI's) would exceed human intelligence, without the limitation of his insanity Archie would be able to develope computers superior to himself(able to 'imagine') these computers would than be able to create technology...

Wise_Owl

Hmmm.... most likely? Technological singularity. Archie-3 and his 'children'(future AI's) would exceed human intelligence, without the limitation of his insanity Archie would be able to develope computers superior to himself(able to 'imagine') these computers would than be able to create technology...

Wise_Owl

Scaling is one thing that really, really makes you look at rifts and go 'what the?!?'. I mean an obvious problem is the way the technology is structured a target that is 6 ft tall wearing body armour can potentially have say, a third the potential damage capacity of a target 20ft tall and weighing s...

Wise_Owl

Hmmm.... most likely? Technological singularity. Archie-3 and his 'children'(future AI's) would exceed human intelligence, without the limitation of his insanity Archie would be able to develope computers superior to himself(able to 'imagine') these computers would than be able to create technology ...

Wise_Owl

Those were from the Books of Lost Swords by Fred Saberhagen, Wise_owl. Great series for inspiration on magical blades of "unusual" properties, as are the Darksword and Shannarah series by Weis and Hickman. That's it, I have them all away in storage right now and I couldn't remember the ti...

Wise_Owl

I think the problem for rifts would be coming up with some-thing consistent that didn't end up in pure ridiculous on one end. Sure it is logical for concussive producing explosive to knock most regular human-sized targets over, but they would probably only rock most robots. And what happens when you...

Wise_Owl

Why is anybody trying to use logic, I asked a Rifts question. Because not everybody is of the opinion that Rifts and Logic are mutually exclusive. Mutually exclusive... no... but they aren't on each others pre-dial lists either... Firstly, a .45, as deadboy so aptly pointed out, won't cause 'knock-...

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Before the Coming of the Rifts