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An update on this from the Staff would be great on this. at least let us know if its been canceled.

Pretty sure the most recent news we've had on it is that it was re-optioned. Meaning studio still has an interest in it.

I doubt that has changed. If they were starting filming or had a finished script I'm sure someone official would be on here spreading the good word to the fans.

Well thats sort of true, until JB Films and Disney give the go ahead they can't release any info on the going on with the film. When the time comes this board will be full of fun stuff about the fill but until the go ahead is given its hush hush.

Which reminds me, I have some professional Pictures of me in my completed Dress Uniform I need to get mailed into JB Films. KS already gave me the ok on this. I just have been super busy with my life as of late. Ill get right on mailing it out as soon as possible.

What will the title be? Because there are already 2 movies within the last 5 years called "Rifts"

I think they'll be fine with "Rifts" or "Rifts: _____". The two movies you mention barely have a presence on IMDB, one was a film festival film and the other one looks like nothing happened with it, I can't confirm either one ever even saw distribution among theaters or on home video.

checked on imdb and the rifts movies up there were both shorts

BUMP for 2013: Well, here's to hoping something is going to be happening soon. I've heard some rumors, about the script having been renewed, about an indie company having it handed to them for completion, etc., but nothing is confirmed, as far as I've seen.

I would love to see Rifts as a movie, but I have concerns about how the general public might perceive some of the story elements in the Rifts megaverse.

To the fans, they would clearly love to see hollywood quality visuals of stuff that relates to them, such as rifts opening up, OCCs/RCCs of stuff they have played, and even some of the power armor. This issue is that many of these things have been done to death, and in many cases, would bare a striking resemblance to several dozen blockbuster movies that have come out over the past two decades or so.

Some examples of stuff that would be stand a high chance of being in a film that have similarities to other movies:

- War of the worlds ships are an almost completely identical (go look at the artwork from the side) copy of spider skull walkers, except they have tentacles instead of solid metal legs. They even share some of the same engine and hull contours.

- Xiticix - Can you say Starship troopers?

- Glitterboys - Ironman 2 pretty much (IMHO) covered these, right down to the foot locks (tweaked albeit to give visual indication to the audience, instead of GB invisible laser pylons) and shoulder mounted weapons, and even did land/sea/air variants to be similar to all of the variations of the GB line of power armor. In fact, Ironman 2 even had a whole in story discussion about the general problem with power armor; there is no room to fit a person in there!

- Cosmo knights - Thor, enough said Although green latern insta-suit would probably be a good way to visualize these

- Cosmic forge - The anvil from Thor reminded me of one possible visual interpretation of this. Even though an anvil isn't a forge, it is along the same lines as far as the type of work it is used in

- Cyborgs - Pretty much all the terminator movies

- Phantom RCC - Based on the artwork from the Phase World dimension book, I would have to say that the girl in X-Men that turned to shards of glass reminds me of this RCC

- Prometheans - Their ability to be out of phase and warp around reminds me of Lord Marshal in The Chronicles of Riddick

- Psi-swords - Light sabers?

Then you have the fact that some of the other creatures in Rifts have been done to death in movies; vampires, dragons, and werewolfs (Oh my!) etc. After you factor in all of these things that I am sure fans would love to see, I don't know how much of this you could actually do in an original fashion that wouldn't remind fans of 50 other movies that have already done the same thing already to some degree.

Although I am curious if more is happening in secret to deal with some of these issues. For example, as someone that dabbles in 3D, I have always wanted to model the Glitterboy, but I don't think that the original artwork would allow for a human to fit inside of it without snapping his legs in two the second he took a step forward in it. Yet on the newer artwork for the GB done in gold leaf on one of the newer books, it would appear that someone was at least taking this into consideration by giving the GB more girth, and re-sizing it to be plausible at least to actually fit a person inside of it.

Heck, given that Marvel and Palladium and others are all into comics and RPG's, I wonder if you couldn't be able to use Rifts as a universe/dimensional story connecting plot device somehow and mix everything together in some way. Either way, I think that if Rifts ever does get realized, it will be absolutely stunning!

Anyways, I just thought that I would put some of these things that I have noticed out there to see what others thought. This is one of the threads that I have followed for a while now, even though only recently joining the forum. I hope this happens soon, the general public will love it, and we definitely have the talent and software these days to make just about anything in Rifts come to life! Good luck Kevin and the gang!

As long as it's all put into a coherent story with some modicum of description and/or explanation, what does it matter where they have been seen, before? Truth be told, there are no new stories in Hollywood, but I think a Rifts movie would give all of them a run for their money.

Were it up to me, since he only keeps renewing the movie option year after year, I would drop Bruckheimer like a bad habit and go with someone who would at least try and put some work into this. A movie script has already been written, we know the visuals, and everything in Rifts is off a little bit, just enough, from other movies that have borrowed from Rifts, and it's time to get this thing shopped around and done. Try and go to Annapurna Pictures and/or Electric Entertainment, for pete's sake, but get something on the big screen.

True, as long as the story rocks, what does it matter! In addition to pointing out similarities, I was also kind of hinting at some of the awe inspiring types of scenes that I would like to see, with elements borrowed if you will, from the stuff I listed.

As for a feel, I don't honestly know what to expect. Rifts could go so many different ways as far as art direction and story. I was actually just going over some examples of how I personally envision, art and style wise, in another thread I posted to about music. Check it out of you are bored:

viewtopic.php?p=2641447&sid=a72b5483c93100b7b869671be5ee04da#p2641447

I guess all any of us want to see is just what in the world some of these places and weapons/spells/vehicles/etc look like or work. I can't wait! I do hope that they can snag that guy that did the cyborgs and CS grunt armor though. Guy has some amazing skills!

Anyways, rambling on, cheer! o/

I like what Paul Anderson did for Resident Evil 2. I think that was the right atmosphere, and it would be the right direction to go for a Rifts movie. He would need an amazing script, though, something to offset some of his weaknesses in directing.

I just watched the RE:2 trailer again for a refresher. I could see Rifts going down a route like that and being pretty good. As you put it though, it comes down to the script. When you have a whole mega verse of content at your finger tips, you could literally do an entire movie with only some content from one or two books, and still have enough steam left for another 10 movies

I guess in the end, I just hope that it is heavily influenced by the gaming sessions of people like Kevin, and his marry band of writers

Unfortunately, if it is, I'm pretty sure it will have a very select audience, indeed. You have to keep the story human, have some ties to the real world, and then make it boom-bang enough for people to relate, or you'll lose them outright.

My idea was for a Dog Packer, maybe a Terrier of some brand, to have just escaped Coalition forces, only it's relatable to Bourne in the idea this Terrier was meant to be a delivery boy -one of several- for secret plans from Chi-Town to... well, it's been a long time since I looked at the map, so I wouldn't know. The story would be him getting away from the Coalition forces who want those plans back, but it could also be Howard the Duck -sans the super-corny- where he's taken in by a beautiful young Human Techno-Wizard, shown what life could be all about, and then they have to fight the Coalition to get him away.

Simple, straight-forward, you get to show of the post-apocalyptia of the world, maybe the Xiticix, several Coalition CG vehicles, and the potential for lots and lots of explosions. As much as I hate it, and would love to see an actual story in the movie, if you don't throw in the sexuality, the violence, and make it all relatable to the real world, your box-office will be flatter than the original release of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

RHPS, heh, I remember that

You know, I looked at some of the art that Tom, I think his name was, did for the Hitman game intro. Plus he's done all the Rifts 3D art. I wonder how such an "escape" type intro would be for introducing the CS. I thought it could work very well when I typecast Rifts into Hitman (the escape from the Library). Perhaps that is only because I could relate since my GM put me through a CS escape from the sewers as a D-Bee once I wonder though how non Rifts gamers would receive a bunch of walking dogs (relating to your terrier idea).

When it comes to the CS, I personally love the idea of seeing them go to war, or at least flexing some muscle. Just enough to get a feel of just how much weight they can throw around. When I sit and do my "doodles" (which includes music and short animations and other fun/funny "what if's"), and one of the ones I thought of that would be awesome to see, was a fight from Free Quebec with a massive GB legion that warped in via a Rift to the doorstep of CS (Played to AC/DC - Thunderstruck) Now of course, this isn't about an actual attack under such a random set of circumstances, as much as it is about replaying the fight over and over in my head to get a feel for the scale and the atmosphere. I suppose I would have to fully describe that particular fight, but maybe another day since it would take a few pages

As for showing post apocalypse stuff, I suppose you could, but it had better out do all of the other apocalypses from movies The Xiticix just makes me think star wars or starship troopers. Although I think that they should at least have a cameo in the movie. Explosions I think go without saying Now with the sexuality and violence, I am concerned. Something like Rifts needs to be very....hmmm..."unbound", as far as the extremes go, but what kind of market are you aiming for? You can literally go from something like Hellraiser, all the way up to a Disney film (with regard to tone of the film), each which will upset or please everyone in some way.

I think multiple movies is a good thing to plan for in general though with something with this much content. I would personally like to see stuff from the three galaxies, but it seems like it would be very hard to cover everything from earth first, and then get to get to the other books without an insane amount of skipping through good old earth content. To me, phase world type stuff would make for a good 2nd or 3rd movie. But problem with that is you don't know if the first movie will even take off.

I will say though that I had an awesome animation in mind to go with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWkSjlyw0Zs of some famous suit of power armor being constructed from the ground up using advanced manufacturing techniques (was thinking of the "blue" type transparent->solid with glow/light scattering look I got with that car/ship landing video I did, combined with full assembly that starts filling production of a multi square mile "storage" area for the GB's to make up the legions of them from FQ). Nothing like a good long intro of a movie that gets right to the point and shows us all what we want to see; Mechs! Although, that particular vision was namely since it went with some of my other ideas (the attack on CS). Idea being they show discovering the underground base with the first "boomer" suits, the massive room being empty, but with a facility to make them. So someone presses "Start" and....well, you get the idea I guess the discovery of "mega damage" materials is what my idea focused on.

Anyways, until next reply

This I'm not entirely sure about. I don't think we've had CG/Live Action anthropomorphics in a regular cinematic film yet, have we?

It's funny you should mention this... my brother, Shane, who is also MY GM, if you will, and who introduced me to Rifts, and Palladium in general, says the best song, especially for highlighting Spider Skull Walkers towards the beginning of the battle, would be Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Hehe, yeah. Describing anything for a Rifts movie is going to take a story board the size of the Chrysler Building, hehe.

I'm talking about using it as a backdrop, perhaps at the very beginning of the movie, describing the world, and why it is the way it is, at the present time.

Absolutely. That's what I meant was a cameo, perhaps a short fight with a scout patrol just outside one of their zones.

Don't be... I think strong innuendo, dependent on the rating sought -frankly, I know there has been a lot of speculation this should be rated R, period, but I think this one could benefit from PG-13- would do the trick, more than anything. To go back to Howard the Duck, the movie is rated PG, and yet they have Lea Thompson's amazing backside aimed at the camera for 10 or more seconds, and she's only wearing panties. That made the movie for me... however, back on topic... there is a lot that can be done cleanly, but still give the impression the GM, ah... I mean Director... hehe, is looking for.

I would plan, yes, but I wouldn't beginning filming on the second movie until the first month of Box Office comes back, to tell me if the time is even worth it. The Wachowski Brothers filmed all three Matrix movies at the same time, and I know WHY they had to, but to be honest, I don't think Revolutions would have made anywhere near the amount of money it did had they filmed it separately. So, yes, if you're going to film a "story connector" for the first and last movie, you need to film them concurrently. However, if the strength of your second movie will be slightly better to completely better, ratcheting up the "risk" the movie-goer faces, then it's still best to wait and see if the Box Office from the first will be enough to warrant production of the second.

Precisely. Will and Jaden Smith's coming After Earth is going to prove how popular post-apocalypse alternate Earth movies will be. I was going to say the new Mad Max movie would do that, but they're still in the very beginnings of post-apocalyptic Earth in that movie, and the Earth has not begun to recover, as yet, so that one's out, in my opinion. Even if After Earth turns out to be a flop, I think any movie in the Rifts universe would HAVE to begin on Earth. I believe it's important for folks to understand the changes wrought in these movies, and anything too far out would not be a good thing. Perhaps for a second movie, introduce the Mechanoids and A.R.C.H.I.E. for a transition fest into space, and go from there.

Call me strange, but I have this idea you have been working on impressions for this for a very long time, are talented in art, music, and have a pretty great imagination.

I, on the other hand am pretty much a nobody on these forums, haven't visited for a long time; I write, that's about all I do, hehe, but I certainly have had my ideas for a Rifts movie.

Perhaps we'll see one with some of your designs and/or ideas in it. I think that would be pretty cool.

Maybe if include werewolves?



Ah, love Metallica as well. I gamed to it very frequently, in fact. Keep in mind that with Thunderstruck, it was more about landing on a random song and then thinking up an action sequence. I find that combining a song with a mental image of a situation, allows me to more easily retrace, and later refine, my imagination by simply starting the song from the beginning. If the song works well, you can use the cadence of the music as a form of key framing of important actions in your vision. So while AC/DC may have worked well for a stand alone "doodle" (such as my attack on CS via rift), the song was more about timing, emotion of the situation, and in this particular case, environmental queues (lightning!).



Well, we are already on page 7 of this building...err forum!



I like the idea of a narrated or guided tour of the then and the now. It could be used to give some nice eye candy, and still tell enough of the story to not loose the viewer. Question I guess would be one of timing. Do you save the "story" until part way through the movie? Do you start with it? For example, in the Matrix, it wasn't until a good deal through the movie that you actually have the question of what the matrix is, answered.



Perhaps just make this part of the above point of when to enlighten the viewer with the story of how things came to be. You could then show the true scope of their numbers, and not have to make up some impossible random temporary situation simply to introduce an alien invasion force that occupies a good chunk of the continent?



Lea Thompsons amazing backside made a lot of movies for a lot of people, I suspect Point taken though!



Agreed. As for story connector, I think there could be many good choices here. So many dimensions and worlds that you can tie in! But serious thought should probably be given to any type of story connector involving time distortion or travel. Having a good twist from the very first movie could be story teller gold by the final act of the last one, IMHO.



hmm, I like the general idea of Mechanoids and ARCHIE for a second part. Perhaps elude to it after a first movie gives the viewer a feel for the various armies of north america, and some of the control mechanisms behind all of the different factions, and how someone is always pulling strings somewhere for someone. Secret pacts bewteen CS and other states "for the species", and other back room shenanigans are all good story devices I think. Unfortunately, I am not up on the Siege of Tolkeen, so I may be missing some important story on just how CS fight at large scale. Must read up!



Well, I don't know if you could say "very long" I actually have an old render of the start of a glitter boy forarm I did in 3Dr4 for DOS about mid 90's, but that was hardly where all of these ideas started from. I am into 3D though, and have a desire to try my hand at some quality renders/fan art, and if render time isn't too great, maybe some animations. As for music, I am just a consumer And thanks for the great imagination! But alas, I am just an ordinary person who had some great times in his day playing Rifts, and love the idea of seeing some of this stuff come alive on the big screen (and to be able to use some of the fantastic concept art for my 3D endeavors here and there!).

I would love to see any of the ideas in this forum used! So many people with many great ideas (just look at all the books!). The best I can do though is toss a few ideas out into the wind, hope they can be useful to someone, and see what comes of them. Who knows, maybe the inspiration Palladium writers and artists have given to me, can in turn inspire them back

I apologize for the late answer, but I've been dealing with college all day, attempting to get my financial aid and books squared away. Oh, I need to add perseverance to my skills list on LinkedIn, hehe.

Hehe, maybe. I forget about those because I am not, in particular, a horror movie guy.

I'm thinking that any metal or hard rock song would go well with a Rifts combat sequence.

Well, with the Matrix, it wasn't until the middle of Revolutions that you get that, and that's more than an hour into the film. For my part, I would interweave the past, as necessary and possible, with the story. Give the basics of the coming of the Rifts, what caused the world to become what it is, the fact that souls exploding doubled their energy and caused an inter-dimensional permanent world-wide cross-rip, something the Necromongers from Riddick would absolutely LOVE, I'm sure, and then the world went through about three-hundred years of picking up the pieces before any solid organizations formed, again. Also have a very basic history of whatever the main character is about, and then have the story literally fade into that character running for their life. If something needs to be explained, and it can be woven through the story so there's no break, or brake, in the telling, then put it in. If it's story-breaking, however, it's out.

Agreed.

You could always begin the story with a cop, a la Men in Black, and then have them zapped into the middle of a nasty situation, a la Timeline, only without the pre-planning, hehe.

Nor am I. One would need to be careful about placing too much of an assault on the senses of gamers who've not played Rifts, though they would surely support a gamer's movie, as we have always done with D&D movies, and of course for mundanes. Too much, like Legend, and not only will the critics despise it, but those who listen to the critics, and those who type and/or speak word of mouth will get the box-office dropped quick, fast, and in a hurry.

I just realized whom should do this movie... Peter Jackson. The LotR movies are not an assault on the senses, they were perfectly pleasing for me, and helped me to be transported to Middle Earth, a place I desperately wish I resided, now.

It would also be nice if Ol' Jerry, pretty much at the top of my Director/Producer list, is paying attention, and he can be inspired, as well. I love the world in which Rifts is placed, the idea that it can be connected in so many ways, to so many other worlds, but the game system has basically driven me off. I've tried a couple of times to adapt my games to other systems, but there's just too much to design out of. I love Beyond the Supernatural, Dead Reign, and Robotech, as well, but they're just too complicated for me to want to mess with. So, I haven't played in some time.

Regardless of all that, I believe that, with some appropriate tweaks, Rifts would be the perfect MMORPG and it should be released immediately after the first movie is. All of that being said, we've discussed the first movie, introducing the basic world history and background and starting the story with someone and something believable, if detached from reality, we've discussed an interim movie with A.R.C.H.I.E. and the Mechanoids, as well. What for a third one, if we're to have a properly rounded beginning trilogy?

No worries! I like to spread out replies a bit anyways. Otherwise we might as well just go to irc or pick up a phone for a realtime conversation



Pretty much ya Besides, I just watched Battlefield last night for the first time and noticed they not only used AC/DC Thunderstruck, but also had a pilot with "Boomer" on his helmet, but also had a "thumbs up" moment at the end, which pretty much covered all of my ideas from that other thread. I need to stop pumping so many points into psychic powers hehe



Well, in the middle of Revolutions you get the whole picture, but I was referring to the middle of part 1 when you find out about them being in a simulation. As for narration and someone running for their live, the stories of Erin Tarn came to mind (spelling?).



That was a nice start, but I don't know about using the time line as a magical plot device at the start of a movie is a good idea for rifts. That is more the kind of thing you would expect a GM to pull to introduce a new player into a group



Spoken like a MERP player I don't know how well PJ would do with something like Rifts though.



I am sure Jerry has a small army of people to draw inspiration from! I haven't played any of the other games you listed though, but Robotech would be nice to see just cause of mechs.

As for an MMORPG, I wonder how well they would fly, especially when you already have an MMORPG game called "Rift" out there. For story order, I would say intro/CS war for a part one. A part two maybe being ARCHIE and some other book content thrown in (Atlantis perhaps?), and then tie Splugorth into a third and bring everyone to Phase world. That is just my personal preference of things that I would like to see though. In all honesty, I would love to see the 4 hourseman from Africa too, but that could be a little tricky to weave in without going against existing book content perhaps?

LOL

Ahh, okay... I understand what you meant, now.

Poof-Bamph, baby!!! LOL. What other means of introducing mundane's, and those who don't play the type of game Rifts really is, could be devised, though? Or, would you just toss them in?

Actually, I've never touched the game... never thought of it. However... (rubs chin), hehe. I don't know how well PJ would do, either, but I think he would have a much greater ability to handle the details, the feel of the world, than most -if not all- other directors.

Yes, playing a Beta Fighter would be really damn cool. My once-favorite character of all time was a half-Human half-Garudan -I know, I know, but story trumps rules, hehe- Beta Fighter Pilot; I love that character still.

It's something that would need to be handled delicately. Mr. Siembieda has espoused his love of story, what he would like to see in something like an MMORPG and, frankly, I love story as well, though I also recognize there's a massive potential for combat and conflict in a game like this. Someone taking on this game could NOT do it in such a way that it's a bunch of grinding. For example, rather than "Go kill ten(10) of these creatures you've never seen before", it would actually need to be, "There's a creature in the woods causing problems for the local farmers, it comes and goes at will, and it is very dangerous for them, indeed." The initial encounter would need to be the creature taking an interest in the PCs, making an initial attack, or stalking them into a trap and then pouncing, and the character(s) would need to take a beating. Then, they take time to do their research, to track the creature to a lair or to a place where they can begin to recognize how the creature moves and breathes, and then there would need to be a conflict or resolution of some sort. That's just ONE example.

How would it be accepted? If it's built carefully, thoughtfully, by role-players and those passionate about Rifts, rather than console gamers whose idea of fun is instant gratification, I think it would kill many other MMOs.

Wow, that's a pretty wide swath to cover in a total of 6 hours. This COULD happen by introducing a series of shorts with individuals geographically spread out, but acting within their geographical locations, but working together to figure out something that needs to be solved. The last half of the third movie could be this group coming together and putting down the problem.

Otherwise, with such a wide swath of ideas to cover, I think we're begging for that information overload, again. It's enough that people would be seeing a completely foreign, post-apocalyptic world, which world has begun to restore itself through growth of plants and animals, and which has these massively explosive tears in space and time taking place, introducing new and horribly dangerous creatures to the world; I think introducing too many locations among 6 hours of films is going to be so much of an assault on the senses, already, that many folks would not go and see the second movie. That's just my personal opinion; there is not a mundane out there who actually likes to think a lot, but many of those also like to go to movies and have their imaginations stimulated, meaning the lion's share of any money would come from them. Stimulating their imagination too much leaves them confused, un-comprehending, un-accepting, and that's not good for box office.

The only other alternative would be to go with a television series on Spike or SyFy, perhaps even a web series, and then beginning to proliferate shows slowly into the rest of the world community. Perhaps start it off with a two-hour movie, including a rather long explanation of the world so people have more puzzle pieces they can deal with, and then wind 'er up and let 'er go.

Oh, and you asked about using Rifts when there is a Rift out there, and my answer is this: Trion Worlds can kiss my big brown bahookie!!! Palladium, and Rifts, were here first and, once the game were on the open market, if Trion Worlds tried to sue, the difference in title, the extra 's', and the fact that Palladium had been planning on an MMO for some time by then, would see Trion Worlds put out of business for theft.

I'm still reading and pondering a reply for the previous message, but let me say right now that I am with you 100% here! I was rather peeved to see theme come out with this title

Speaking of which, all of that AC/DC and recent talks makes me wonder if psychics could make for a good story tie in leading up to the time of the cataclysm. To clear up, when I started continuously listening Thunderstruck, not long after, we got hit by lightning here. Then you and I had the chuckle over being related to an after the fact post I made here having similarities to a movie I hadn't seen, which got me to thinking (based on movie/plot discussions here etc.); Could you use new found psychic powers and paradoxical explanations involving power surges as some tie in to the war and eruptions of ley lines themselves? More specifically, something where psychics actually cause massive shorts in space/time that create energy disruptions, that aren't apparent until the future event occurs, like shorting out of universal style electrical contacts (curse you Zurvan! )

Could make for interesting viewing on the grounds that people probably like to have weird occurrances in life somehow explained (regardless of being fictional/made up of course) in movies. For example, a movie that has aliens might explain crop circles, or maybe a movie that has hurricanes explained by gravity drives affecting the weather from orbit etc.



hmm, not sure. Although I know I would get a chuckle out of plot device in the form of an inside joke of a GM tossing someone randomly into a story, I just don't know if other people would "get it".



Well, I think he could handle the details well, I just am not sure how well he is when it comes to futuristic stuff. Clearly he knows how to deal with large scale fights though



To be honest, I am a retired WoW player myself and I gotta admit that the grind is....tedious The best part of something like WoW is the team work and raids. 40 man + teamspeak raid on molten core back in the day was awesome fun, especially for us tanks!



Ya, it is quite the amount to put into a trilogy (assuming it would ever get that far). I was just trying to think of some of the cool types of characters that could translate well to big screen. In the case of Atlantis, for example, I could see the whole bermuda triangle lore being a good tie in to story of the rifts, and think a muscular character with glowing tattoos being neat to see in a fight. Remember, glowing blue (or whatever color) stuff seems to sell!

As for your mini series idea, I think that could be interesting, but I think it would have to come after a movie, otherwise you end up having to explain all of the cool story with sub-par effects due to a minimal budget, compared to say a movie. I think stargate started off with a movie first, didn't it? But problem there is that a second movie that depends on everyone having kept up with the series to know what the heck is going on since the first movie.

Ummmm, yeah... now, THAT could be different, but welcome I think.

Yes. The Stargate movie came in '94, followed by SG-1 from '97 to '07, and having now three movies after it, that are played off the series, not the original movie. That's 220 hours of television, followed by 4.5 hours of movies, all because of one two-hour and one-minute long movie. And, that 220 hours is ONLY the first series.

Another idea about a trilogy of movies OR a television program -and don't string me up, here, just hear me out- is to play it from a CS point-of-view. Think about it... they get to see some territory while on patrol, they deal with the political and inter-service rivalry, they see a wider variation of monsters, D-Bee's, and the other C.C.s than non-CS folks. Also, as a military element, and all-Human, they're going to be the most readily identifiable to any audience. I hate to say it, but telling the story from the CS point of view might -pardon the pun- Humanize them, as well.

So, as much as I would LOVE to see the really cool stuff from the front of it all, it may not be the best way to go, right off.

Just think of some of the artistic ways you could visualize a figure in pitch darkness with glowing tattoos.



Wow, thank you Mr. Trivia! That is quite a bit of content to make. I would love to see Palladium writers have such an opportunity though.



So let me get this straight. You want to make a CS version of COPS? heh "Bad D-Bee, bad D-Bee. Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you" I do like your idea of telling from the CS pov though. Something that portrays mankind's fight for survival is appealing.

PS - I had nothing to do with the power outage at the Superbowl, even though it is like the first time I've ever watched one in years, or that one of the commentators was "Boomer" Esiason (I'm telling ya, some story/plot gold here with the paradoxical psychics!)

That's actually kind of a scary thought, and something that, to the best of my knowledge, has NEVER been visualized before. I think it would be cool looking.

Well?!?!?! I got curious, so I had to look it up, hehe. And, agreed about Palladium writers.

Funny... but, yeah, I guess so, hehe.

Uh-huh!!! Tell me another one, hehe. Y'know, even though the Ravens took that game, what happened with that outage almost turned it over to the 49'ers, and I don't think that would have been quite fair. They worked hard, they pulled their butts out of the fire, and they won the game, though, so the underdogs came through, and that's good.

I have to tell you, though, that we didn't actually watch the game for the sake of the game; we watched it for the commercials. It's funny the sort of pain we're willing to put up with in this household to see something amusing. That almost sounds like a Monty Python skit, doesn't it?

Actually, we sort of see a similar effect in tron with glowing lines in low lit scenes, which I think looked great. Although of course this is very symmetrical and thick compared to tattoos.



TBH, I didn't particularly care who won since it is all USA and I am Canadian, but still good fun to watch all around. And yes I love the commercials too!

But back on topic, I was wondering, who do you think would make for good actors for such a movie(s)? I've heard Martin sheen for emperor Prosek before I think (and not a bad idea, IMHO).

Okay, combined with glowing eyes, though? And, you're right, the asymmetrical nature would be astounding to show off.

The guy that played Agamemnon in The Scorpion King would be better for Prosek, I think. For the tattoo'd guy I would love to have Ryan Reynolds. For my girl the Techno-Wizard... who's fairly tall, ungainly, has really long legs, and could pull off wearing regular glasses, maybe even transition lenses?

For the dog packer, I don't know...

Alternately, if we go with the CS... Wow, I think... Jaden Smith.

Alright, I'm off to college, fifteen minutes before I jet. Have a great evening.

Maybe 24/7 glowing wouldn't be all the greatest when you need stealth, but surely you could work something to give the impression that the tats are more important than just ink Maybe something like they have a glittery tint to them when inactive, but have them give off an effect when activated/used? Guess I need to read up on Atlantis a bit again :/



Agamemnon, as in Steven Brand? I gotta admit, he has the hair for it

As for Jaden Smith, isn't he a little young (15 I think?) to be in the CS army? Or did you mean as like a kid role in the burbs or Chi-Town or something?

No no no..., I didn't mean all the time, just when it's dramatically appropriate, hehe.

Yes, Steven Brand... that's the guy.

Anton Yelchin played Chekov in Star Trek, at only three years older than his character in the movie, as some sort of "wiz kid", and pulled it off pretty well. If you've not seen Jaden in a while, you might try taking a look at the trailer for After Earth. He's gettin' big, and yeah, why couldn't he play a younger CS trooper, maybe even a SAMAS?

When appropriate? Hmm, in a world of dangerous creatures, megadamage and constant death, that could be 24/7 anyways



Sadly I can't remember what he was like for his role. It's been so long since I've seen that movie.



Good point about Chekov (who was awesome btw) in Star Trek. Also +1 for SAMAS pilot being someone small framed instead of some iron pumping Arlnold Cantspellhisnameineggar, trying to squeeze into a tiny suit of flying metal

Also, about that time/paradox plot idea, I think Star Trek TNG beat me to the punch 15 years ago. Check this out. Last night I flipped open my DVR recordings to one of my several dozen recorded ST:TNG, episodes and randomly picked one to watch (no reading of which episode it was, just pressed play on a random one). It was the Time's Arrow episode! It is the one where they find the head of Data in a cave on Earth from 500 years prior. What is funny is that when I watched it again, I noticed not only were the creatures in the show "phased", but when Data goes back in time, there is an old man that asked for money for a "49'er". Rewinded and noticed that the newspaper was indeed showing San Francisco. I am also not entirely sure, but during the poker scene with Data when they speak french, I could have sworn that the guy sounded almost like he said "New Orleans" in French (not entirely sure though) (zomg, did ST:TNG call the superbowl game location and one of the teams? lol). And to top it all off, the recorded show number was #49 of 99 on my DVR hehe >< Also weird since I just happened to watch the Avro Arrow movie on youtube a few days ago! I officially blame Star Trek for all the shinanigans! Although I did like the quote Picard gave to Twain in the end: "I wish time would have allowed me to know you better". Would be an interesting episode to "borrow" plot from

Edit: Ok, I can confirm from closed captioning. The guy said: "Ah, mes parents sont originaires de bourgogne. Je suis ne a la New Orleans". ha! Also be sure to notice that the description they give the aliens are that of a phazed "silver-gray entities" (prometheans are described as purplish gray, iirc?). Anyways, just thought I would mention the similarities o/

Point taken, hehe. That actually leads me to my next question: would a Rifts movie have to be a non-stop roller-coaster ride, or would the action be so extreme that a break would be necessary every so often?

I will say that I found him to be appropriately sinister, his leadership qualities in-place, if not great, and he was able to rule through impression as much as by force.

Yes, I cannot wait to see the next Trek movie. Yes, we nominally think of our heroes as huge, very intelligent, muscular individuals; I'm glad to know that we're beginning to come out of that in cinema, but I fear it will be another few years before we start to see realistic heroes regularly.

There's not a thing wrong with borrowing plot, as writers have been doing that for centuries, and as long as you change it significantly enough, it's not plagiarism. The idea, however, is to tweak the idea enough to make something new from it, not just to keep from plagiarizing it, hehe.

LOL

I guess that just depends on the writers? I know you wouldn't want it to be too much action though.



Very true. For something like Rifts, I would imagine that since you would probably use mostly human actors to portray gods/demigods/etc (like Thor), you would probably want to limit the extremely fit people to roles that are at the top of the strength scale.



Well, I wasn't suggesting to just remake the entire episode under a different movie I was just thinking that, if part of this plot is appealing, that taking some notes and exploring it (as we are here) a bit could be useful. Who knows where it will lead a writer to brainstorm along these lines.



I know right! lol

I don't know, something like Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows is delicious enough; I happen to be watching it at this moment, and absolutely love this movie. Now, imagine something like that in Rifts?

Certainly.

Certainly, and I do love the themes dealt with in those episodes, but do you have a more specific form any one or more would take?

hmm, you mean a mystery solving plot? I suppose you could use a bit of this style if you wanted to introduce A.R.C.H.I.E. somehow. I don't know about the style they use though where they slow down and/or stop time to explain thinking. Perhaps if you were to use an RCC that has temporal abilities, you could use some sort of slow motion and temporal effects, like maybe Satan from Constantine where he moves through frozen time by walking through the glass?



What do you mean by a form any one would take? I assume you are referring specifically to time/space style plot devices, and any particular ideas that could be woven into a Rifts movie/trilogy?

No, not necessarily, just the pacing of the stories. Actually, pacing like that was covered very well in a game called Dream Park, where it was evidence/cliffhanger/evidence/cliffhanger. The use of a combat or action scene lead inevitably into a scene with exploration, deduction, realization, etc., which in turn lead back to a scene with combat or action, and on. That's how Robert Downey's Holmes movies have done it, and for my part, done quite well.

No, not only the space/time plot devices, but the way the Devidians got around and did their things. Let's introduce a person from Beyond the Supernatual, a Latent Psychic, for instance, in the process of helping the police find a serial killer. However, this killer is a mage who has disguised, as much as possible, his abilities, but has stumbled on a terrible secret, which twisted his mind and turned him into a killer recently, anyway. The superior intellect is already there, tainted with Moriarty-style insanity. The Psychic has been tracking this guy, in darkness, rain, and no small amount of distractions caused by the mage, whose PPE is enhanced by the presence of the psychic, and vice-versa with the Psychic's ISP.

The mage maneuvers the Psychic into a carefully laid trap, for the sake of getting rid of the Psychic so s/he can continue with their nefarious plans. When the trap is sprung, the Psychic somehow resists, expanding the trap significantly, allowing the mage to fall into it, but falling into it themself, as planned. The Psychic wakes up on a clifftop overlooking a steep valley and is rescued by a passing group of survivors or messengers, or even mercenaries. The mage wakes up on the ledge beneath the lip of the clifftop and concealed from sight, and extricate's themself, the understanding the Psychic pulled them into this new world, crazier and bolder than ever, and ready to end the Psychic.

There's a beginning.

Never heard of Dream Park unfortunately, but I agree that Holmes was done well.



hmm, not familiar with the Devidians. The story you laid out so far though almost sounds like the magic and oddities of Rifts are already in play though, rather than something that is pre apocalyptic. I also question whether modern day police would even believe in the skills of a latent psychic, or if they would just write him off as a nut job

Although, a rather interesting start in that it got my interest peaked as to who/what/where/when/why.

It wasn't terribly popular, I'm afraid, though it was based off a series of novels.

What? The episode you were describing earlier in this conversation... the name of the alien race was Devidians. I'm surprised you could like an episode and not remember that name.

Maybe I'm just old enough to remember, but Psychic's have been used by a lot of police departments in the past; they're sort of kept on the down-low, but in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, in particular, you'll find Psychic's helping the police with missing person's cases, in particular.

Oh hehe, my bad! Watching ST:TNG, isn't quite the same as reading it, I'm afraid.



Point taken. Perhaps what threw me off the most was when it went from a everyday Joe with unusual powers chasing down a criminal, to being insta-warped into what sounded like another dimension. Seems a little quick to jump from present day to P.A., perhaps?

To further other areas of exploration in this thread, I was wondering what you think of the "mood" of some of these ideas (remember, subtract the music after you use it to visualize the timing and feel of the scene):

[Put your mindset in movie trailer mode]
* Listen to: Smashing Pumpkins - The End is the Beginning of the End
- At the start, each "thump" of the base fades from black to a brief shot of some random Rift scene/character/etc, then back to black frame
- After the first ~16 seconds when the music starts picking up, fade out to a show of a spider skull walker and acompianing bots, spider walking in rhythm (with the same the timing) through some warn torn area (stuff destroyed, falling down/apart, etc.). Perhaps a pair of borgs from the front cover of the Bionics sourcebook, attached/interfaced to the front legs of the walker through the legs interlocking with the borgs back spikes in a way that allows the borg to control the leg it's attached to
- "Is it bright you are" --> shot of a cosmo/cyber knight(s), or other "hero" character (ie: anything that inspires hope)
- "In your darkest hour" --> some epic war/destruction scene (ie: chi-town or something equally awe inspiring)
- "We can watch the world devour in its hate" --> something feeding, perhaps evil villian at lay line or so? (famous lay line walker from artwork is good or evil? hmmm)

After removing the music, what I like that was taken away from the visual, was the idea of the borg/spider skull walker hybrid design. Could make for some interesting fight strategy. It could also make for interesting borg construction visuals, having machinery picking them up and moving them around for fabfrication. You know, combine with intro video ideas with glitterboy earlier, and you could split that song into 2 distinct fabrications, one GB and the other of the Coalition borgs. Although i suppose that would only make sense based on an actual story/plot.

Here is another one that I use to help me develop what I picture of a second stager:
* Listen to: Radiohead - Paranoid Android
- Skip to 3:27 in the song
- Setting is in some _massive_ structure, blue in hue and design, like Phase world cover. In the room, a bunch of glowing aparition like second stagers, but one in the middle of the room, standing near some yet to be determined looking important device of sorts, connected via large walkways that extend to the outter perimiters of the room. A large creature (splugorth perhaps?) is fighting 3 cosmo knights (and loosing) at the door, at the same time he fires off a shot. The translucent looking second stagers were in running towards the door to join the fight, some attacking with spells as they run. A 4th fallen cosmo knight observing the fight from inside the room watches as his old commrades are loosing. The creature lets of a massive release of energy/spell towards the non translucent second stager in middle of the walk way, about half way between the door where the main fight is happening, and the center of the room with the "device".
- Start music from queue mark (3:27) and slow down time/fight slightly
- The second stager falls to his knees, clenching himself is a combination of agony, confusion and disbelief, shortly thereafter, the translucent second stagers start to disappear one by one
- The fallen knight (sitting idle since the fight appears to be a sure win for the creature/his side) watches the second stager fall from his wounds and has flash backs to when he was knighted by the very same second stager that empowered him (well, this could very well be against all rules and written text, so maybe, maybe not). He looks over to see the 3 other knights being strangled and pinned against the walls from the creatures large tentacles as they are repeatedly hit with magic.
- The fallen knight, with sword drawn, flies over and lands in front of the second stager, who looks up at him with sorrow in his eyes
- The creature at the doorway, devilishly happy in this apparent end of the second stager, turns his attention away from the fallen knight and second stager, and back to the 3 knights and other stuff at the door
- The fallen knight, looks up again at his old friends being slowly defeated, then back down at the second stager. He returns his slightly crusted and warn looking sword and grabs hold of the second stager, wrapping his enormous arm over his shoulder
- With all his might, he manages to levitate himself only inches off the ground due to the sheer weight, and slowly starts dragging his near unconscious passenger towards the middle of the room
- In only a few seconds, the fallen knight manages to pick up enough speed to cause them both to slam into the device in the middle of the chamber
- The fallen knight helps the second stager place his hand on the device, and with a look on his face that can only be described as someone about to make a life sacrifice, nods at the second stager and turns to the fight at the door
- At this point, I tried changing the scene from the fight, flashed to another location on phase world where a known first stager is "going walkabout" for a few decades/centuries/etc (perhaps?), giving his farewell to everyone that gathered while standing in front of a swirling portal (thinking maybe like a wattery vortex a la Stargate)
- Flash back to the second stager in the room at the device. He looks back at the fight, stumbles a bit while fighting to remain concious, and grimaces as he firms his grip on the device. Closing his eyes and concentrating for a few moments, the room lights up in a brief blinding flash, followed by a loud "snap" of electricity. After the effects of the flash have subsided, the creature at the door, along with everyone in the room, look towards the middle of the room, only to see the device and the second stager, gone.
- The creature, partially confused and stunned by the missing plot devices (hehe), glares at the fallen knight with growing anger as he realizes the mistake he made in trusting him
- The fallen knight starts walking up the walkway towards the creature, pulling his sword out as he goes. With his attention on the creature, he becomes distracted by a bright light coming from the corner of his eye. He looks down and stops. All 3 other knights stop there struggle against the tentacles of the creature, who for the moment appears to have forgotten about them as well, and focus their attention on the fallen knights sword. The crusty coating from the sword begins to electrify and fall off of the blade, slowly revealing a crisp bright metal, laced with intricate designs. Out of the other corner of his eye, the fallen knight notices that the effect isn't limited to his sword, as he watches the electricity slowly crawl throughout his armor. Tears pouring, he extends his arms before him to reveal a pristine suit of armor and falls to his knees. He slowly starts coughing up bile, the blackness of which can only be described as toxic looking tar.
- After a moment or two on the ground, he picks himself up off the ground and begins summoning an inner strength as he rises off the ground, his armor starting to radiate more and more
- With a look of terror, the creature at the door releases his victims and starts to move back out of the entrance towards a disturbance that is forming out of thin air
- The knights attack...
- Flash back to the first stager leaving through a rift, as he walks through the rift, the camera focuses on his foot. At the very last second before leaving exiting into the rift, a snap of electricity arcs out of the floor into his foot

Damn, okay that was long Sorry, the visual/song only takes like 2 minutes, but it takes like 30 minutes just to try verbalize it While I like this particular visual, I think that it kind of goes too much against the written text. For starters, knights see whatever they subconciously want to see iirc. Second, I think some would consider the portrayal of a second stagers as being ghostly clones of a single second stager to be....stupid?

Anyways, this is getting long and I want to relax. I figured I might as well share and see what you thought of some of my personal interpretations of the rifts megaverse. I know some of it goes against what is written, along with implausible situations, so be gentle

PS - I'll proof read, correct and spellcheck later maybe in another edit to this post

I'm afraid you caught me at exactly the moment everything with school, the house, and the various web sites I run exploded... I haven't had any time to read what you've written, and for that I apologize. I will likely not have time tomorrow, either, but perhaps Thursday. I'll keep the email in my inbox, and I promise to read it. My apologies.

Yes, you're right about that. Being a different kind of learner, though, I find that multiple stimuli are best for me.

But that was the point... the "criminal" is not an every day joe, he's a sort of magic user, perhaps a cultist with unusual abilities, being chased by a psychic, perhaps even a cop that is psychic. The bad guy opens some manner of portal to trap the psychic, but doesn't count on the psychic's abilities -in accordance with Palladium's newer rules- being thoroughly expanded, which in turn expands and "twists" the portal to end with both of them on Rifts Earth.

The song is a bit overused (Batman & Robin and, of course, Watchmen; and then snippets have been used in a myriad of commercials); I love the song, slow as it is, and believe it would be perfect for any apocalyptic setting. I think the visuals you put forward for a movie trailer would be astounding, though for my part it would feel more like a MMORPG trailer than a movie trailer, I'm afraid. The images would be somewhat unbelievable for this one, though I suppose if the surprise that, indeed, this will be a movie, is strategically built up throughout the trailer, it would definitely get my heart pumping.

Now, would this actually be for a music video, or a trailer, or part of the film? That's a LOT to cram into a tiny space, hehe. It's excellent, very well-written, but again that's enormously long.

No. This is a role-playing game, a fantastical universe, and we have to remember the most important thing of all in this regard... these rules are only guidelines. Oh, and one more thing, from Gamers 2, "story trumps rules".

Most of my knowledge of the Megaverse comes from the concepts I read out of the old main book, the first five or so books that came after that, and what I've seen and read across the internet. So, the vision you've put here is as good as I can think it might be, especially for a movie. If directors stayed within the rules all the time, or if writers or game producers insisted on sticking within the rules all the time, we wouldn't have the many awesome movies we have.

I apologize this took so long to get to, but I've been exhausted for the last two weeks, no energy whatsoever, and I have a LOT more to keep up with, these days.

Ah I see. Hmm, you know, the idea of a cop AND a psychic both being warped could be interesting. There are plenty of law type roles available in a post apocalyptic period. I also wonder what items on them could be used. Say, a person with an iPhone with a music collection, for example, and how it could influence the story. I bet there are plenty of GM's and players here that have experience with such situations where old items were used. Think like selling a nice fresh pack of cigarettes for modern weapons or something.


Sadly, I had the same thoughts about it being used in Watchmen as well. Although in an actual movie, I figure you would have plenty of professional sound people around to pick something with a similar mood or tempo. Worst case, you always have an orchestra Perhaps I just like the idea of finally seeing a spider skull walker in action.


Well, I was originally envisioning a final moment in a story (this is an animation I was considering for a "fan art" type animation). As for the song, I had an alternate version using the same audio clip in mind, but limited to when it starts. So instead of playing it from the start, take the same fight sequence with the second stager falling to his knees and stuff, and fast forward to the point where the fallen CK notices his powers returning, then queue the music at the point mentioned for the duration of his return. So then the music that I used as "scaffolding" to construct the visual is still used, but it localized to the scene of the fallen CK instead of the whole scene.


Point taken I guess what concerned me the most was that this fell in the realm of our previous discussion about offending people who know Palladium inside and out with inaccurate details, or things that conflict in subtle ways with written text.


Thanks by the way (for not stomping on the ideas!). I can relate to how much of your knowledge comes from a subset of the books. There is just so much stuff to read on Palladium Rifts, that I feel like I would be doing an injustice to even suggest stuff without having read everything (which would take months I bet!). I envy just how much people like Kevin know about this stuff.


No worries, take your time! This is just a friendly discussion between two fans, not work!

Who knows, maybe I could sit down one of these nights and block out some of these ideas instead. ie: Render out a simple GL preview with blocks/cubes, basic lighting etc. While I would love to fully model, texture, rig, light and animate a full blown scene, it just takes soooo much time. Not to mention that rendering (even with my GPU) would take a few weeks straight for even a 2min 720p clip. Plus I don't think i could do it the justice that the digital gods at Pixar and such could do for something like this (they have an army of artists!). That being said, I personally prefer simple stills that bring some of the art in Rifts to life. Much easier

I do, too. Admittedly, as much as I like the idea of D-Bees, mages, psychics, and Glitter Boys, I want to see a full army of CS just blow crap up. Do you remember the scene in Predator where they were blowing away the jungle, literally clearing it with bullets? I would love to see something like a Xiticix hive get blown to smithereens, hehe.

So, would the scene actually change to the single CK fighting the Splugorth, then? I think what you've written seems more like a climactic scene, something really hard to get by, the defining moment as it were, and so the way you've got it set up could be well-done, indeed. However, do you now build the story around that?

Those sorts of fanboi's bother me, and they need to understand that, although we're not trying to dismantle the universe they love so well, that even I like a lot, we also can't stick 100% to concept, or there will be no audience, and thus no further movies. So, if these folks, typically not known for thinking with logic, can turn their mind for one minute and understand their fanboi urges are to their detriment and not the benefit of many more who could turn out to grace this genre, this game, and potential future movie premieres, perhaps they can keep something they love, even if it doesn't look 100% as they pictured it.

Look, I used to consider myself a fanboi of Star Trek, loved it to the core, could quote or spew out any number of rules or lines for the universe. However, when the latest movie came out and I went to see it, I was so totally blown away that the inner fanboi just sort of evaporated, and I enjoyed the movie. I still enjoy it about once every other month... we just watched it weekend-before-last, and we still enjoy a good Star Trek movie marathon at least once per year... and we love those just as well. Frankly, I can't WAIT for the new movie to come out, despite the fact it is NOT on the same dimensional thread the other series' have been on. I find myself able to enjoy both. Now, the way Kevin and crew have written Rifts, and all of their games, thus far, you will NOT find the same interpretation for any one item, character class, armor, weapon, spell, special ability or anything else, between any two gamers. That's the beauty of a tabletop role-playing game; all perceptions are different, but united by how the GM runs the game.

It would be the same with a movie... just help the players going to see it understand that it is NOT the universe they see in their minds, it is the vision and interpretation of the director and actors and animators in the film, and all will be well. Otherwise, they really need to loosen their sphincters, get a life, and then try to come back and see the film NOT as a fanboi, but as a viewer, simply there to enjoy the movie.

Recently, a friend of mine from New Zealand, asked me to write an adventure. I asked him what the rules were, and he said there were none, but there would be editors to help me along with it. I thought that was great, and I wrote a starter generic fantasy adventure (I've been a player since '83 and a GM since '91-2), and sent it to him. His editor buddy added three pages of blood to the first three pages I had written. Every single word, every sentence I had constructed, was touched, and I promptly told my friend and his editor buddy (who most likely was a kid fresh out of college, anyway), where they could stick their adventure idea. That, if they didn't actually want me to write anything, that they should have told me that from the outset. He came back with the idea that it was my fault for being too sensitive, and that this is the way things are done in real-world publishing, and yada-yada-yada, for which I promptly raised the BS flag and proceeded to explain to him what was wrong with the way things were being edited:

1) You don't re-write the story through editing. Either you like the story or you don't but, as an editor, it is not your story, and you should not be attempting to re-write it;

2) You don't double the page count with editing practices because: A) this is a game, not a college APA or MLA paper, and the rules should remain very loose, so you don't look like the Empire to my Rebellion, and B) you will turn off an individual from ever wanting to write anything again. I don't have a problem with basic criticism, as long as it's constructive. It is destructive to double someone's page count with edits.

3) If you want to expand the community of gaming material producers, you're going to have to loosen your sphincter and take a look at everyone who is willing to contribute; you can't paper and red-ink bash them, because they'll quit. Their talent will never develop, if they don't already have good talent, and your sources of available writers will dry up. It is foolish to treat someone the way I was treated, and I've been trying to shed light on this abhorrent practice ever since.

So, to get back to our conversation... I will not poo-poo an idea until I've had a good look at it, and I've been able to get with the author and gauge their potential reactions to how I edit things. I will always work with someone, especially if it's obvious they have talent, even if it's rough talent. For you, I think you have excellent visualizations, you are able to put things to music that I've not been able to do in a long time, and it's obvious to me you're talented. If you have the same reasoning about me that I do about you -and it's fairly obvious we can respect one-another's work-, then why would we not continue to bounce ideas off one-another as we have been, and try to come to a better view of the whole, rather than tear one-another down and get ANYTHING accomplished at all?

Well, that's another thing... I'm in a Sociology course (blech!) right now, and I'm reading through the most boring book I've ever had to endure in my life, so when I find something of note to write my assigned journals on, I go with it and drop the rest. My recommendation would be to have the books handy, but NOT read everything. For my Rifts MMORPG document, I went through the original print first edition book I have and tried to get some things down, like I did with my 220 page Earthdawn MMORPG document, and came to the conclusion that there's a lot about Rifts that cannot be quantified readily, distilled into a single story.

Rather, it's more necessary to get the appropriate use and activity of the game-play down, and then tell the stories around that. The difference is this... the Palladium system and, by extension, Rifts the Role-Playing Game are systematic games, not actual role-playing, and 90% of games are the very same way, whereas Earthdawn IS a true role-playing game, where the mechanics are PART of the role-playing, not just systems.

All of that being said, it's NOT necessary to read through absolutely everything in Rifts to make sure you get it right. Get the basics right, first, and THEN worry about the development of each element.

I know, but I also know how frustrating it can be to not receive an answer for something you've worked hard to complete, and for the sake of seeing how your ideas bounce.

So, yeah, story-board these things, then... see what you come up with art-wise, and may the creative juices dampen your floor, hehe.

+1! Actually, I was just reading up on the Xiticix thread lately. I must say that the idea of a big bug battle started to sound pretty good when they toss in the word "legion"

I bet that many GB firing must kick up once hell of a dust storm though! I picture the shockwave effect of an M1A1/M1A2 Abrams, multiplied a few hundred times!


Well, what I had in mind was that the 4th knight in the scene (the fallen CK), would regain his full stats/benefits, and combined with the distraction of the moment and the aide of the other 3 CK that were tangled up in the Splugorths tentacles, could turn the tables and break loose to force a retreat. The point where the fallen CK rises up and starts to glow, I was going to use as him initiating a (at least partial) jump to light speed (well, maybe not light speed since he is in atmosphere), and have him shoot at a tremendous speed at the eye of the splugorth as the main reason for forcing a retreat. IIRC, a jump to light speed in space required a period of concentration or something similar, which seemed like it could fit to the point where he was hovering mid air and gathering his energy. Also, since the device (the forge btw, in case you hadn't guessed, and why I left undescribed) disappeared with the second stager, the Splugorth would have no reason to stay anyways.

As for building a story, many of the other ideas were tied into this already. This was why I was mentioning earlier that I would probably have Atlantis (for the Splugorth) in a second story, and phase world as a final third part. The part where the first stager leaves in the rift was related in the sense that he would be the same first stager that took the humans to the party in center, trying to get in some party time before leaving to ride out eternity by visiting some beach on a planet somewhere, thus was saying his goodbyes before he left. I figured that to a potential immortal, this would probably a pretty normal thing to do (get together with old friends, party, then say goodbye again, just in case). Ultimately I would have ended with the first stager that left phase world via the rift sitting down on some shoreline, and looking up at the sky (he potentially has eternity to ponder the universe, right?), then rolling credits as the camera zooms out more and more into space while played to Led Zeppelin - Kashmir (remember the space and time lyrics I mentioned from the other thread?). The part I haven't figured is how to put meaning or connection between the electricity that leaped into him when he left via the rift to this "vacation" planet. Any suggestions?

Story wise, I guess that I was starting from the end (3rd story), and working backwards. I should be clear though; I am not suggesting that these mini stories be a movie, but am just sharing a fan-art style story I have slowly developed over time (since it is "movie like"), with the attitude of "here, see anything you like that can be useful?"

Curious though, do you think this is too off topic now for this thread? I hate to waste the time of everyone that gets notified to my postings here that are only interested in stuff that is actually relevant to the optioned movie. Perhaps we should move to an off topic forum? While I haven't seen any objections, I worry that people here are just too polite to say otherwise If anything, just start a new thread and drop me a url to follow so that we can continue without worrying about being off topic. And my formal apologies to everyone subscribing to this thread for all of my noise, I'm still kinda new here!


Some very interesting points. Star Trek makes for a great example for sure.


Thank you very much, I appreciate it, really! I admit I was a little nervous at first even posting my own personal ideas to the same forums where the very writers and artists I have come to admire over the years dwell. It is rather intimidating, especially since their skills in art and writing are decades above anything I can do, and the fact that every post I make here reaches the inbox of a lot of people far more tied to the community than I (hey guys btw, love the work! o/). That being said, I figured, what can it hurt to share back some short stories/ideas for the community to sit back and enjoy, since I have done the same to their works


Sorry to hear that


No doubt about not reading everything, but I wonder what people consider to be the most important/influential books as far as story goes.


Well, I wouldn't say that I have worked hard to complete, since at this point it is just ideas in my head. But it does take a lot of typing to share them on the forums here But yes, it is nice to bounce ideas with you (thanks btw).


hehe. Sadly, 2D art/storyboarding isn't something I have even attempted before. Perhaps 3D has made me lazy since you can just move cameras and press a few buttons and experiment with a change in realtime.

Unfortunately, no. I think, honestly, I've come to the end of my thinking on this, for the time being, hehe.

Frankly, we haven't had a Heavy Metal style movie in some time... why not?

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it all that much. I've been running forums for a LONG time, and first off if someone doesn't look at or answer a thread, they generally won't get a new notification unless they decide to look in, subscribe to the thread, or answer an email. Besides, I think it would be best to leave it here, if for no other reason than a record, and the ability of others to answer, should they decide to.

Consider, for a moment, that every single one of these folks were children at one time, they grew up with hopes, dreams, and ideas, and then actually managed to make them happen. However, even now, they get up and put on their pants one leg at a time, they still have their doubts, their problems in life, like all of us do. Mr. Siembieda has been extremely open with those of us in this community, about things that have taken place in his life, his losses, the issues that have plagues Palladium, himself, and those who we do admire for the work they've done. We are all a part of this family of gamers. Look, I don't even play Palladium anything on a regular basis, none of these games are my favorites, the last Palladium product I was able to afford was a direct-order copy of Dead Reign, which my sons have cracked open far more than I have. I love Beyond the Supernatural, I love Dead Reign, I love Rifts, I despise the Palladium game system. Still, this is my favorite gamer community in the universe, and I believe these games have a crap-ton of potential for game-play, if I could bring myself to either convert to another system I can actually use, or get over my problems with the present system. They are MY problems, by the way.

Anyway, if we, as gamers, are not allowed to introduce new information, even information that may never be used by anyone for any purpose, then we can't inspire others, and we won't grow ourselves into folks that can actually break into gaming. Were the economic climate of this nation in the same condition it was when Palladium opened its doors, perhaps I could start my own game company and put together my own rules, that anyone else in the world might despise, hehe. Anyway, if we don't try to put ourselves out there, and understand those who've had the balls to make and publish games are just like us, but with moxy, it's our own faults. So, scream it out...

You will never get consensus on that subject, either, just like viewpoints about the universes we play in.

You have all the time in the world to start.

Brain... fried.
Logoff... complete.


tee-hee

Now there is a movie I haven't seen in a while! Any particular aspect of this that you were thinking? Mini stories? Cartoon/comic book style? The concept of a single evil entity linking all of the stories togethere?


Fair enough.


Point taken, and thanks for sharing your problems As for screaming it out, I guess I can continue yelling in CAPS for the rest of the posts


True! Speaking of starting, I was thinking yesterday (while listening to some Queensryche - Silent Lucidity, if you must know, hehe) what a forge would look like. I decided to give the Anvil Galaxy a read over again, and wondered what you think of the idea of some 100 sided dice like looking mechanical contraption?

I had some other thoughts of what advanced alien computers might be like, and came up with the idea of a field of racks (think rack mounted computers in a datacenter) that eject from the floor glowing red hot (since they operator at such mind boggling speed), and instantly cool to something white ice hot when they hit the air. I was wondering of something like this for the 100 faces of the device ejecting in the direction of the face normals (in 3D, normals just mean with direction the face of a poly/tri/ngon is pointing). Although a D100 may not be visually as good as a D1000 or maybe more, I starting thinking "you know, could you have a Rift story without at least paying homage to the genre with something gaming/dice related in it?"

While I had no intentions to make something to this song, I did like how some of the lyrics make reference to "a doorway that I run through in the night", that reminded me of how the forge ran away and hid in the Three Galaxies. During some of the other lyrics, I had thoughts of either a second stager knighting a CK (in the sense of being silent in a dream and "protecting him in the night" and some of the other lines about giving him a chance blah blah), which made me think that maybe the conversion could involve spawning a new star in the galaxy, which is directly linked/fused into the CK as the base of his powers (and thus a fallen CK is linked to a star going nova and thus past its prime). Interestingly enough, if stars were created and linked to the CK's, it could explain why the galaxy is heating up and limited in how many CK there are etc.

A second version I had was a second stager deciding to end himself after loosing a loved one or something (queue flashbacks of some female I guess hehe), and commiting self to destruction by flying a solar sail like device into a star, only to discover the device hiding inside. Unfortunately, this would have to be during the near begining of time after the First and the One etc. But the key idea that I wanted to share was, what would happen when the second stager (or maybe just a first back then?) grabbed hold and was allowed to operate it? I had visuals of some energy ripping through him and leaving progressively different looking "prometean like" creatures in some illusionary (ie: the force of time and space "blasting" his DNA backwards a bit to reveal different looking creatures) races, thus giving birth to Dominators (promeatheans with nostrals, and non phased), then after that humans (similar but smaller and with hair etc). I had some other other thoughts here as well, like how the forge changes reality by instantly destroying everything and recreating it after alterations of its design in a pure white like pergatory/nothingness, but would appear instant due to creatures in it experiencing time relative to it etc. Not sure I like this game mechanic as much though. Although I figured the device itself should effectively grant an order of several hundred/thousand/million in magnitude when it comes to how it amplifies a time masters spells like a second stager, for example. Also, the song sounded neat since the lyrics mention "if you open your mind to mind" etc, which reminded me that the forge is alive.

Anyways, just another partially developed idea I thought I would share.

I think the mini-stories with, not necessarily the single evil entity, but a singular thread running through. I think that might give the best possible overall view, through either a singular movie, or a trilogy, etc.

Not having read Anvil Galaxy, I'm afraid, I'm not even sure what the forge is supposed to be. As for the music, I love that entire album, though I must say that Jet City Woman has ever been my favorite. I hope to get that on CD one day; right now, I have it on cassette, and I've no way to play it. However, YouTube and Vimeo have the videos.

Oh, I need to share a quick story... I don't know how you feel about Prodigy/Breathe, but I love that tune, as silly as the words are. The video for that song, of course, is terribly odd, but I put my oldest son (who is going to be 16 on April 4th) onto it, and he was able to watch the first twenty seconds of the video before he shut it and asked me, "What in the world am I watching, here!?" I feel a pang of joy at this, because it means that I have, yet again, out-wierded him with something that's ACTUALLY cool, or not just out-of-date cool-to-me, hehe. That was fun... and I'm OLD, huh?

I don't see why something like that couldn't be one of the amazing visuals in the movie; unfortunately, I'm not sure what the colors would look like. Okay, so you have the rack -or something more contiguous than that, which ejects when it's reached its processing limit, but another one immediately fills its place, perhaps something almost like hair leaving a head. Rather than having a bunch of wires, perhaps it's one giant mass hovering in the air, no wires, the power source and a factory to continue producing new "racks" inside. Around where each of these racks is positioned, the little circle that would represent a number on a d100 would actually be some manner of gelatinous mess, which gel is ultimately conductive and used to transfer power as well as data in a seamless fashion.

You really love the idea of the Cyber-Knights, don't you? hehe. I've read what they're about in the main book but, again, nothing beyond that, I'm afraid.

I imagine there being all sorts of various ways that were devised between the cataclysm and PA 101 in which all sorts of technology developed. My question is, how could we develop each item to seem organic to the world, and just alien enough for an audience to ask questions they soon have the answers to?

Could be interesting, but maybe only for a single one off thing. It would probably have a nice mini game session feel to it. Just not sure how well I would like such a thing, unless it were a comic in Rifts, in which case, bring it on!


Don't know what the forge is?! Okay, no worries, but it was kind of central to everything I've been talking about hehe. The Phase world book I think briefly touched on it, but the Anvil Galaxy dimension book goes into more detail. Although it doesn't really go so far as to nail it down to one definition, but instead lays out a bunch of rumours from different races and what they think it to be.

Basically you can think of everything in the universe starting with a race only known through lore as "The first", which had ultimate powers and abilities etc. They created a device called the Forge which they empowered with their souls or similar. Then, the "One" (typical angry loner who was jealous etc), got hold of it, and with a thought, wiped out the First and I think the entire megaverse or so, causing the forge to kill him, restore things, and then go into hiding somewhere (allegedly) in the Three Galaxies. Definitely worth grabbing a copy if you enjoy some back story. It covers more of the cosmo knights as well, and the hunt for the forge by other races.


Yup, know the song, great one too! Btw, if you ever wondered how Prodigy does some of their stuff, you may want to take a look at this.


Well, I wasn't thinking that they eject when they reach any sort of limit or something per se, but was just trying to describe what each of the 100 faces act like when then eject outwards (red hot to ice cold looking). But I was envisioning it as something that floats though, as you mention. Power wise, the forge is probably the type of device that is run by something with the energy levels of (several) black holes or so. Think something along the lines of a universe/star/planet creating/destroying machine (which is pretty much what the forge is thought to be, but again, never actually described feature wise beyond how the first used it, and what other races believe it "might" be capable of).


No no no, hehe, but this was related to that fight scene (since I had to describe what was in the middle of the room, ie: the "device"). In all honesty, I played a Promethean, but never a CK. I just figure that if I were to do anything Phase World, you can't skip out the cosmo knights. That being said, Green Latern pretty much pilfered this idea a bit (see what happens the longer you wait!).


Well, the idea of showing advanced construction techniques and possibly the fabrication of GB's and/or Borgs at the start could answer some questions. Although I don't know if non-gamer viewers really care how you measure damage capacity (SDC vs. MDC), only that stuff looks cool and blows up! I bet you could sneak in a few scenes of a mega damage shot on an old M1A2 tank, versus a modern suit of power armor.

Well, Harold Ramis, John Candy, and the others were able to make a fairly successful cult classic. Perhaps sticking with a main-stream movie would be better the trick.

Thank you for the brief explanation; I'm grateful. Yeah, I've not been buying a lot of any sort of books lately, due to unemployment, but that's one I intend to purchase the moment I have money, again.

It's crazy how that all works together, but I love that tune.

I agree... the blowing things up with really cool looking machines is absolutely a requirement, hehe.