New to Rifts - creating monsters and npcs

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lather
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Unread post by lather »

The theme and location of your campaign would have a lot to do with it.
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Unread post by Killer Cyborg »

The two best resources for creating random monsters are:

1. The tables in the original Rifts Book, in the GM's section at the back.
2. Creatures of Chaos, which is a Chaos Earth supplement that is compatible with Rifts.
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Unread post by asajosh »

Ardath Jay wrote:But what do most Rifts GMs do, rely on antagonists from other Rifts books or stat-out their own?


Depends on how many books you have :D Seriously tho, when I GM I stat out a few key NPCs and critters as appropriate. Then I'll use pre-generated material to fill in gpas where needed. When Looking at pregenerated critters, just run it think "Is this best for my campaign?" If the answer is yes, then use it (modify as necessary). Good Luck!
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lather
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Unread post by lather »

I make my own usually.
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Unread post by lather »

Nulsyn wrote:
lather wrote:I make my own usually.


I think most do!

Heh, I guess I was a little ambiguous. I know who to blame.

Either road, what I meant was that I do not really follow anything in the books, unless it is a gremlin or a vampire.

It is odd that I never noticed the utter lack 'Monsters and Animals" for Rifts. But we play Rifts once a blue moon or less frequent.
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Unread post by Warwolf »

First of all, Ardath, welcome to the megaverse!

No, since you currently have access only to RUE, I would recommend going one of two ways. First, you can use the Coalition as antagonists if your players want to play an adventuring group. If you are looking for a more military styled campaign, you can actually have your players play AS the CS and use magic users, psychics, and other rebellious types as antagonists.

KC mad a good suggestion with DoNA, but I might even suggest Revised SB1 and the revised Conversion Book (as well as Dark Conversions) for antagonists. This is especially the case if you are looking for monstrous antagonists, as Dark Conversions is the closest you'll come to a Rifts "Monster Manual". :)
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Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

Killer Cyborg wrote:The two best resources for creating random monsters are:

1. The tables in the original Rifts Book, in the GM's section at the back.
2. Creatures of Chaos, which is a Chaos Earth supplement that is compatible with Rifts.


These are two of the best moster creation tables. The best is located in Land of the Damed 2. I noted a comment about low powered monsters created by the rifts main book table....what do you think he will throw at 1st level char? hummmmm?

Now if you want to throw aliens as your chars then there is the aliens section in HU2, all the aliens in AU, and the alien creation table in PW. And the new D-Bees of N. Am.

If more Dogboy like mutanint animals can be made from HU2 & ATB2. Or TMNT & HU1r & ATB1.

Other mosters can be found in any of the convertion books.

As to the books I would sujest you getting: Landf of the Damned 2 (moster creation tables and listings of new undead that DC converts) and HU2 (alien creation tables & mutant animal creation tables) The reason why I sugest non-rifts books....1) they are better then the rifts books, 2) they can still be used for rifts, and 3) if you don't buy them, they will dissapper as a resorce to use.

When was the last time you remmeber PB cancling a Rifts book?

Wormwood.....and they brought it back. (manhunter wasn't a PB book, so it doesn't count)
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Unread post by lather »

Probably one of my favourite features of the Australia book. Thumbed through it a few times and really like the range of power there from scavenging SDC to hitech urban military complexes.
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Unread post by Killer Cyborg »

EPIC wrote:
NulSyn wrote:
lather wrote:I make my own usually.


I think most do! The table in the RMB created very very very low level monsters that IMHO was a big why bother. I would say the closest thing to a monster manual would be the Conversion book and Dark Conversions. Though conversion book is pretty much all Palladium Fantasy monsters statted for Rifts.


Welcome to the world Of Rifts!! And be careful once you buy a sourcebook or two, you'll want em all!!!


well they are certainly low powered monsters now ... thanx to power creep.


Exactly.

to get them up to speed (or at least get them to a moderate level) you basically need to quadruple all of the stats the table generates.


Not necessarily, since you can get groups up to 36 of them.
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lather
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Unread post by lather »

Killer Cyborg wrote:
to get them up to speed (or at least get them to a moderate level) you basically need to quadruple all of the stats the table generates.


Not necessarily, since you can get groups up to 36 of them.

Then just quadruple that :D
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Unread post by Xar »

Rifts Monsters for Newbies

If I didn't have access to cool charts and tables from a bunch of books, here's what I'd do:



Find a cool monster's picture on teh interwebz.
Write a cool description.

Figure out how much average damage your party can do in 1 set of action each. Make the monster's damage capacity equal to 3 times that amount.

Take the amount of damage that the weakest player in your party can sustain and not die. Make the monster's average damage equal to 1/3 of that.

Give them 4 or 5 attacks per melee.

Show picture in game and describe.
Shake and stir.

Then adjust.
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lather
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Unread post by lather »

For what it's worth, I have used the random monster generation tables from BtS-1.
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lather
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Unread post by lather »

It is the carnage and sense of accomplishment.

Although destroying a city block or more on one monster can be pretty sweet, too.
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oni no won
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Unread post by oni no won »

The closest thing to a monster manual would be the RIFTS Conversion Book. It has many of the creatures found in Palladium Fantasy and Beyond the Supernatural converted to the RIFTS setting.
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Re: New to Rifts - creating monsters and npcs

Unread post by panzerfaust »

Ardath Jay wrote:Howdy y'all! Just picked up my first Rifts book (Unlimited) this week. A quick comment and then a question.

I'm a frequent reader of the rpgnet forums. That's were I heard about Palladium's financial problems and the various sales and projects to help move the company past this difficult time. I just want to say kuddos to any of you who post over there about your love of Rifts and the other Palladium games. It was the enthusiasm and passion with which you spoke that made me pick up a copy of Rifts. And what a game it is! I've played quite a few systems over the years and read many more. The recent versions of my favorite games (which I won't name - no finger pointing) have left me wanting. Sure, the rules may have been "streamlined," but the excitement and sense of adventure got lost in the process. The Rifts book I bought has that sense of excitement and adventure (and utter madness!). That's what I need in my gaming again.

Just wanted to say count me in.

Now for my question. I'm looking for some talk about creating npcs and monsters. From what I can tell, correct me if I'm wrong, there is no "monster book" for Rifts. Instead, they're introduced in the various world books. I'm looking to run a game right away, so I'll probably look to the O.C.C.'s in the core book to help me make NPCs. But is there a specific Rifts book (or thread on these forums) that gives advice for creating monsters and NPCs?

Thanks in advance.
Howdy, sir! :-D And Welcome to the world of Rifts! :ok: A book I HEARTLY recomend is the Palladium Fantasy 2nd Edition Book, Monsters and Animals, since it has lots 'O Critters, some repeated in Conversion Book One (but many of 'em are NOT) and has oodles of REAL LIFE S.D.C. animals suitable any palladium game and most of the monsters in this book have M.D.C. conversions along with S.D.C. stats: It's a truly overlooked (by too many Palladium fans) resource for ALL palladium games, not just Palladium Fantasy. :wink: 8-) :)
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Unread post by Shorty Lickens »

Well its already been stated but just in case you missed it or forgot already:
Conversion Book 1 and 3 (Dark Conversions)
D-bees of North America
Sourcebook 1, especially the revised version
Online

I found a few decent monster and NPC generators online over the years. Most of them dont do much more than stats and maybe a couple of special powers. But they give you a good foundation to build on.
http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
Create and print dozens of different graph papers.
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