Nebraska Campaign

[renfield]

So I started running my new Rifts Campaign a few weeks ago but I've been working on writing it for over a year. I chose to set it in the old state of Nebraska because I wanted the game to have a low-powered feel and set it in a small town in the middle of BFE but filled the area with NPC's, monstrous threats and a small Coalition Base I called "Fort Jericho".
Now I'm looking over the map(s) of Rifts Earth and I noticed that, depsite a lack of anything in the RUE, that there were already two coalition bases in eastern Nevade, and one of them is coincentally named "Jericho".
Can anyone tell me what book those Baser are mentioend in? I'd like to be able to look them up and see what is supposed to be there. I'd also like to know if there is any more information on the state of towns and such in Nebraska. As of now I have Omaha listed as a ruined crater and the rest filled up with ghost-towns or towns occupied by people desperatley scrabbling out an existence. But if there is more information I'd like to be able to look through it and decide if I'm going to ignore canon or not.

[Dustin Fireblade]

What map are looking at that has a CS base in Nevada??

The only "Fort Jericho" I know of is owned by the 1st Apocalyptic Cavalry and is based near Norfolk South Dakota (according to New West)

[renfield]

There were two highly detailed maps of Rifts Earth posted somewhere on these forumns.
It may have been the South Dakota Base I was thinking of but I don't have th emap to look at right now. I know there was at least one of the two within Nebraska itself.

[Dustin Fireblade]

The 1st Apocalyptic Cavalry has their home base in Nebraska, with a secondary base built near the border with Iowa (Fort Charles). Pages 28-29 of New West.

To the best of my knowledge, the CS has no bases of any kind in Nebraska, and no base called Fort Jericho either.


I would guess either maybe the author has mislabeled his maps or you might just be misremembering yourself.

[Mack]

The map you mention is stickied at the top of this forum.

I suspect you've misread the map and mistook a couple of the 1st Apocalyptic Cavalry bases for that of the CS. I also suspect you didn't mean to refer to Nevada either...only thing out there is Bandito Arms.

[dragonfett]

Well it is his campaign, if he says that what's there, who are his players to dispute this fact. All the rule books do is have game designer suggestions of what is where. I use the settings as more of a yard stick of where stuff is so that I don't have to worry to much over world building and the like.

[Dustin Fireblade]

Well it is his campaign, if he says that what's there, who are his players to dispute this fact. All the rule books do is have game designer suggestions of what is where. I use the settings as more of a yard stick of where stuff is so that I don't have to worry to much over world building and the like.

Well yeah. But he did ask for a canon reference, that way he can decide to ignore it or not...

[dragonfett]

Well, the I am looking at the map that Mobutto (I think that is how his screen name is spelled) had made and the only things I am seeing in the former Nebraska area are 5 1st Apocalyptic Calvary bases.

[renfield]

If you look at that map of Nebraska there are to marked squares; one on the Elkhorn River in the North east Portion that is Labeled "Fort Jericho" South and Further West along I-80 is a square marked "Fort Prospect". If those are 1st Apocalyptic Calvary bases then fine I'll probably just ignore them.

I'm more curious why there is nothing mentioned in any of the books about the state of Nebraska, is it supposed to be a gaping void of nothing? Either way it seems I accidentally chose a state I can fill up as I see fit!

[Dustin Fireblade]

I don't have the maps/or books in front of me at the moment, but there's a reason why the 1st Apocalyptic Calvary has bases there. That's basically to protect the human inhabitants of the area. Whatever information there is on the state would be in New West.

It should be relatively simple to replace your CS base with those guys instead though. Might make things much more interesting than using the CS.

[mobuttu]

I confirm Fort Jericho is a 1st Apocalyptic Calvary base in the NA map Rifts. According to WB14 New West, pg. 29 it is located near Norfolk (South Dakota).

[renfield]

Thanks that does help. I may have the local base taken over by the 1st Apocalyptic after certain events unfold.

[renfield]

On a different note; so I have this middling length campaign planned out and one of the centerpieces of the finale involves a pre-rifts R&D facility hidden under a place called "Giant Hill" near Thedford Nebraska. In my game the facility was researching Dimensional Travel and had succesfully open a Rift...which accidentally triggered the Great Cataclysm . I know it sound sa little grandiose and I'm thinking I may scale it back to say it was simply an R&D facility, possibly from NEMA, that was studying the rifts to attempt control the Surging Rifts of the time. The facility was over-run by invaders from the Rift and everyone was slaughtered. Now the facility is virtually defunct and unused except for the rift which occasionally opens randomly and occasionally something comes through (Though in my game they randomly appear outside of the Hill for reasons I have yet to determine.). Most recently a Xiticix young queen and several helpers ported through and have begun to turn the old facility into the beginnings of a new hive.

Now for my storyline I had planned to have the finale take place within the complex with the characters fighting the growing hive forces (alongside some help). I had planned this to occur several months down the road real-time, but in our last session I made two mistakes that are chaning that plan, or could anyway;
One I had allowed the Party Shifter to learn a new form of Magic; Stone Magic, as part of a deal he had made with an Alien Intelligence he had contacted (in this case the Goddess Athena, though I may try and get him to change that.). The reason this is a problem is that the group has decided that their campaign goal is to establish a secured trade route between Valentine and North Platte (both in Nebraska). As part of that the Shifter is going to use his Stone to build a series of Pyramids on the Leyline that runs from Near Valentine thorugh (and under) Giant Hill and stops at North Platte, which will make the Pyramids incredibly strong structures and useful for quick transportation up and down the ley line.
Problem two was the description of the Ley Line that runs THROUGH the hill (More of a Mountain) rather than OVER as most Ley Lines do. My logic for doing so was that they ley line was partially created by the Facility and because most of the mountain had been hollowed out to make the facility so it was mostly a man-made structure. The Shifter knows this is NOT natural and badly wants to investigate.
The reasons these are a problem is that they decided that Giant Hill would need investigation before they started building the Pyramid there that they want to build. I had not planned on them doing so this early in the game and I'm not quite sure how to handle it. My current plan is to keep them busy with some back-to-back missions with no time to settle down. Though they seem to be keen on a faster-paced game as far as leveling and such goes so I may just go ahead and let them investigate if they really like...but make it really painful to do so. Though I will still keep them busy for a bit with the stuff I already have planned.

[Shark_Force]

actually, ley lines passing through the ground is pretty standard as far as i can tell. but it's probably too late to put that cat back in the bag, so i don't know that i'd worry excessively about the group going there early while the threat is minimal. i mean, they were going to need support if they tried to tackle it later, right? so now, instead they may have a shot at tackling it on their own, if they plan it carefully (iirc, the queen's guards are definitely too numerous to atack head-on and expect good results)

[dragonfett]

A pyramid would take a very long time to build and take a lot of resources besides just money. Give them a series of mini-adventures that help them build that up while accomplishing your goals at the same time.

[renfield]

Part of my intention for the story is that they were goign to have to work with the Coalition even if they don't like them. And prior to this they are supposed to uncover a Coalition plot to lure the Bugs to town so the Coalition can swoop in and "Heroically Save the Day" thus earning the trust of Locals who will beg them for protection from there on...and expand the Coalition influence yet again.

[Shark_Force]

Part of my intention for the story is that they were goign to have to work with the Coalition even if they don't like them. And prior to this they are supposed to uncover a Coalition plot to lure the Bugs to town so the Coalition can swoop in and "Heroically Save the Day" thus earning the trust of Locals who will beg them for protection from there on...and expand the Coalition influence yet again.

you could always pretend like your original plan was for the xiticix to be a little further along than your original plan?

[renfield]

Its a good suggestion and I already have some things in place to cover that, though I actually have the Base commander as being a fairly decent guy who has been balking at the plan, but there is a Ringer to take command if he utterly refuses to follow through; a Psi-Stalker who has no qualms about using the Commander's family as leverage. Conveniently enough their current mission is to rescue the commander's family, whom he was getting smuggled out of Chi-Town due to their being under threat from an organized crime cartel, and will soon be with the commander at the Base...I could step up that plan a bit, but I wanted to end the game with them being forced to pass through the Rift to somewhere else. Still pondering my options.

[renfield]

*sigh* So ended up doing the end-game stuff and because I wasn't fully prepared I ended up going overboard on some stuff. I have a retconn ready to go but I need to figure out what to do next. Want to keep to as low-power and episodic a campaign as posisble but with one of the main plots and greatest threats already over...a bit lost now...8P
Need to find a random plot generator...

[mobuttu]

Need to find a random plot generator...

Check this one out. It may spark your imagination.

[renfield]

Well its all moot now. The guy who owns the house we play at has decided he no longer wants to play the system so it looks like the plug is getting pulled...8P