Age of your average Rifter?

[flatline]

I was probably 22 or 23 the last time I played. I'm 35 now.

Would like to play again, although not necessarily Rifts.

--flatline

[Dustin Fireblade]

40

Last Rifts game I played was several years ago online.

[Lord Death]

I'm 44 an I play every weekend with my kids (16,14,12,11)
but we play Chaos Earth

[Ravenwing]

32. The last time I played Rifts was when I was a Teen. No body around me plays it, and even suggesting playing rifts gets you labelled a munchkin around here. <Shrug> I did do a PbP game of rifts almost ten years ago, but that's about it for me.

Now PBFG, and DR I can get people to play. And Robotech. But like I said mention Rifts, and everyone labels you a munchkin, and they don't wanna play with you anymore.

[Voodoolaw]

I'm 32 and we have a group of guys who have been playing together for 15 plus years. We mostly play TSR Marvel Super Heroes and 2e ADnD but we mix it up with Rifts on and off. Probably been 8 months or so since our last Rifts game but I plan on bringing it back into the mix real soon.

[The Beast]

Well if I did the math correctly, the average age of my Rifter collection should be slightly over 7.46 years old.

[Giant2005]

27 and I only play online. I would have been about 12 the last time I physically played I think.

[Pepsi Jedi]

34 myself. Been playing Palladium since I was 12. Rifts since it came out.

[Grell]

31 and I play with a large group on weekends at our local comic store and also with a small group of my friends once or twice a month at my house.

Was running a PbP Chaos Earth game, but that is on hiatus and I occasionally run a Rifts: Japan PbC.

[Dead Boy]

41, which means I'm conflicted by the free-spirited 13-year-old with boundless imagination I am at heart, and the mean 88-year-old crogedy cuss I am when stuck in traffic (for some reason, I hate everyone when I drive).

I come from a long-lived family, so I don't expect to hit my mid-life crisis till I'm 62. Which is good, because I can't afford a sports car and a hair-implants just now.

[Ravenwing]

Why am I getting the impression that most of us are 30 or over? :lol

[azazel1024]

28, last time I played Rifts was in college when I was 20 my last year (I graduated before I turned 21 fyi). I played DR about 2 years ago with a couple of friends who I had played Rifts and D&D with to give it a spin. Probably had half a dozen gaming sessions. After session 1 we overhauled the zombie damage rules massively and then it was a lot of fun, but we just didn't have the time to meet anymore.

PFRPG was about 3-4 years ago with that same group (3 other people), also about a 2 month long, once a weekend series of gaming sessions.

That has pretty much been it for me. I just don't have the time lately. After college I drifted apart from my friends from my gaming group, mostly because they were still in college quite far away for most of them. Then when they moved back I was in a whirl wind relationship getting married and planning, etc. Then my wife quickly got pregnant, and then again and again

So between the young children and everything else happening in my life I just haven't had the consistent free time to really get my gaming group together and play (and many of them are in somewhat similar family situations). Having a 4, 2 year old and a 1 month old does not leave many 4+hr blocks of evenings or weekends free to do a pen and paper RPG.

I still get the books and love reading them though and one of these days I may have the free time again to start gaming occasionally, but sadly (or not, depends on your point of view) life just doesn't allow me the spare time these days and probably won't for a few more years.

[Kagashi]

Why am I getting the impression that most of us are 30 or over? :lol

Heh, because Palladium still has not figured out new players are an anomaly these days and refuses to embrace new technologies to get their word spread. Instead there is a MMORPG called "Rift" making millions right now. All Palladium needs to do is make a free facebook game with Rifts elements to instantly open the world of Rifts to millions of potential new customers, many of which would be younger than the people posting on these boards who all started playing RPGs well before the computer/internet period of American History.

Anyway, 36. First game of Rifts was in college at age 19 (I think), but we played TMNT and Heroes ever since I was like 12. My last Rifts game was online on www.explorersunlimited.com, started in 2006. Table top? Forget about it. I think that was back in 2001. Nobody around here even carries Palladium products, even at game stores, yet Barnes and Nobles still has the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG on the shelves. With such little exposure, Palladium has to rely on us old people to continue to buy their products since we know it exists. But regardless, my life has become so busy, play by post really is the only format I can be a part of because of the flexibility it maintains for me to be able to post when ever I want. Giving up an entire Saturday really cuts into family time.

[mobuttu]

35, first time I saw Rifts was back in 1990 but we didn't play it (although we played Palladium Fantasy and TNMT a lot and once tried N&S). My first Rifts game was six years ago, and absolutely fell in love with it. I have played several games with my weekly group since then, I have started a blog dedicated to it, I'm about to start a Rifts campaign tonight, and I also run a "bi-monthly" Palladium Fantasy game.

[Ravenwing]

Why am I getting the impression that most of us are 30 or over? :lol

Heh, because Palladium still has not figured out new players are an anomaly these days and refuses to embrace new technologies to get their word spread. Instead there is a MMORPG called "Rift" making millions right now. All Palladium needs to do is make a free facebook game with Rifts elements to instantly open the world of Rifts to millions of potential new customers, many of which would be younger than the people posting on these boards who all started playing RPGs well before the computer/internet period of American History.

Anyway, 36. First game of Rifts was in college at age 19 (I think), but we played TMNT and Heroes ever since I was like 12. My last Rifts game was online on http://www.explorersunlimited.com, started in 2006. Table top? Forget about it. I think that was back in 2001. Nobody around here even carries Palladium products, even at game stores, yet Barnes and Nobles still has the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG on the shelves. With such little exposure, Palladium has to rely on us old people to continue to buy their products since we know it exists. But regardless, my life has become so busy, play by post really is the only format I can be a part of because of the flexibility it maintains for me to be able to post when ever I want. Giving up an entire Saturday really cuts into family time.

I wouldn't say new players are an anomaly. I find new players for other games easily enough such as for White Wolf, D&D, Pathfinder, 40K RPG's, M&M, Savage worlds, and UBER Steampunk amongst others.

No the main problem is, to my mind at least two significant things.
1) The PB system is so out of date, and hasn't kept up with the trends in the industry, both in the game system, and in it's products that no one cares about it anymore. I know a lot of people will probably get very upset about it, but the truth is, D20 and Storytelling systems are just straight up better then PB's system.
I mean face it, D20 is so easily adaptable to any Genre, and so very easy to learn that it isn't hard to get new players to join a game. They can get nearly the entire rules scope down in ten minutes, (d20+modifiers VS Target number.) bam, they're good to go. The Storyteller systems are even easier, take two traits, add them together and roll that many dice VS a Target number, the number of dice that equal that target number the better you did. Simple, and these rules can be applied to anything in an RPG. Yeah it takes them awhile to figure out what everything means, but a lot of the stuff is so intuitive, and the core mechanic for the entire system is so easy that they aren't all that intimidated by it.

2) PB's games, especially Rifts have kinda gotten a name for Munchkinism. I know shocking as it may seem. There's so little game balance between characters, magic VS Tech, MDC Vs SDC that not many people want to even play them. At least in the modern era of RPG's. This reputation for being a munchkin game means that alot of Players don't view PB games as 'serious' RPG's. That kinda hurts things. Ask ten players what a Serious RPG is, and you will typically get an answer that involves some game by White Wolf, or Chaosium, or fill in the blank. Not many will answer with a PB game.

So PB's left with us old guys and gals who remember this system fondly and keep buying the books, even though we can't find a group to play with. Now I'm not trying to cause a flame war, or be harsh, I'm just stating things as I see them. The RPG industry, and the games we play have changed, and changed considerably. Twenty five years ago, when PB's main competitor was TSR things were different. But in today's market, with the number of games that are available, PB's stuff seems mediocre at best, and extremely outdated. It's showing it's age.

[Athos]

45 ! is that the oldest so far?

I play Rifts once a week and run a game with a coGM once a week, both online. Been a rifts fan since it came out.

[camk4evr]

I'm 37 (and a 1/2) but I haven't played Rifts since '96-'97 because of conflicting schedules in my group.

[Pepsi Jedi]

Why am I getting the impression that most of us are 30 or over? :lol

Heh, because Palladium still has not figured out new players are an anomaly these days and refuses to embrace new technologies to get their word spread. Instead there is a MMORPG called "Rift" making millions right now. All Palladium needs to do is make a free facebook game with Rifts elements to instantly open the world of Rifts to millions of potential new customers, many of which would be younger than the people posting on these boards who all started playing RPGs well before the computer/internet period of American History.

Anyway, 36. First game of Rifts was in college at age 19 (I think), but we played TMNT and Heroes ever since I was like 12. My last Rifts game was online on http://www.explorersunlimited.com, started in 2006. Table top? Forget about it. I think that was back in 2001. Nobody around here even carries Palladium products, even at game stores, yet Barnes and Nobles still has the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG on the shelves. With such little exposure, Palladium has to rely on us old people to continue to buy their products since we know it exists. But regardless, my life has become so busy, play by post really is the only format I can be a part of because of the flexibility it maintains for me to be able to post when ever I want. Giving up an entire Saturday really cuts into family time.

I wouldn't say new players are an anomaly. I find new players for other games easily enough such as for White Wolf, D&D, Pathfinder, 40K RPG's, M&M, Savage worlds, and UBER Steampunk amongst others.

No the main problem is, to my mind at least two significant things.
1) The PB system is so out of date, and hasn't kept up with the trends in the industry, both in the game system, and in it's products that no one cares about it anymore. I know a lot of people will probably get very upset about it, but the truth is, D20 and Storytelling systems are just straight up better then PB's system.
I mean face it, D20 is so easily adaptable to any Genre, and so very easy to learn that it isn't hard to get new players to join a game. They can get nearly the entire rules scope down in ten minutes, (d20+modifiers VS Target number.) bam, they're good to go. The Storyteller systems are even easier, take two traits, add them together and roll that many dice VS a Target number, the number of dice that equal that target number the better you did. Simple, and these rules can be applied to anything in an RPG. Yeah it takes them awhile to figure out what everything means, but a lot of the stuff is so intuitive, and the core mechanic for the entire system is so easy that they aren't all that intimidated by it.

2) PB's games, especially Rifts have kinda gotten a name for Munchkinism. I know shocking as it may seem. There's so little game balance between characters, magic VS Tech, MDC Vs SDC that not many people want to even play them. At least in the modern era of RPG's. This reputation for being a munchkin game means that alot of Players don't view PB games as 'serious' RPG's. That kinda hurts things. Ask ten players what a Serious RPG is, and you will typically get an answer that involves some game by White Wolf, or Chaosium, or fill in the blank. Not many will answer with a PB game.

So PB's left with us old guys and gals who remember this system fondly and keep buying the books, even though we can't find a group to play with. Now I'm not trying to cause a flame war, or be harsh, I'm just stating things as I see them. The RPG industry, and the games we play have changed, and changed considerably. Twenty five years ago, when PB's main competitor was TSR things were different. But in today's market, with the number of games that are available, PB's stuff seems mediocre at best, and extremely outdated. It's showing it's age.

Not to mention

3) Lack of advertising out of house in 10+Years. The only place Palladium advertises is in the rifter or it's own site.

4) Shops/Distributors not carrying product due to inability to hit release dates. I know that one has been pounded into the ground but it's very very important and one thing that's consistently off. Even Endless dead, which is coming out soon, is still late. Some people on facebook have been like 'OMG! If you keep hitting release dates like this people will have to shut up!" Well... not putting too fine a point on it. They didn't. Endless dead was promised in April. (And before, but most recently in April) It's not coming out till May. And Lemuria was a year late, even if you ignore the announcement 12 years ago. Distributors aren't going to place orders to have them consistantly late and stores won't either. When people come in to try and buy and the store has to tell them "Nope not out yet" For a year + after books are supposed to be, Palladium gives up sales to those books that are on the shelf. Fans get frustrated and wander away, or spend their money on other games they can get on time.

All these factor in. I've gotten some teens and 20somethings into the games but that's with a real effort on my part. They'd never know about them if it wern't for me pimping them (( For free mind you. )) I've not seen someone, more than a couple years younger than me KNOW about palladium in 10 years or so. They'll listen if I try and pimp the product but no one is like 'Oh you play Rifts? Me too!!"

[Ravenwing]

Why am I getting the impression that most of us are 30 or over? :lol

Heh, because Palladium still has not figured out new players are an anomaly these days and refuses to embrace new technologies to get their word spread. Instead there is a MMORPG called "Rift" making millions right now. All Palladium needs to do is make a free facebook game with Rifts elements to instantly open the world of Rifts to millions of potential new customers, many of which would be younger than the people posting on these boards who all started playing RPGs well before the computer/internet period of American History.

Anyway, 36. First game of Rifts was in college at age 19 (I think), but we played TMNT and Heroes ever since I was like 12. My last Rifts game was online on http://www.explorersunlimited.com, started in 2006. Table top? Forget about it. I think that was back in 2001. Nobody around here even carries Palladium products, even at game stores, yet Barnes and Nobles still has the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG on the shelves. With such little exposure, Palladium has to rely on us old people to continue to buy their products since we know it exists. But regardless, my life has become so busy, play by post really is the only format I can be a part of because of the flexibility it maintains for me to be able to post when ever I want. Giving up an entire Saturday really cuts into family time.

I wouldn't say new players are an anomaly. I find new players for other games easily enough such as for White Wolf, D&D, Pathfinder, 40K RPG's, M&M, Savage worlds, and UBER Steampunk amongst others.

No the main problem is, to my mind at least two significant things.
1) The PB system is so out of date, and hasn't kept up with the trends in the industry, both in the game system, and in it's products that no one cares about it anymore. I know a lot of people will probably get very upset about it, but the truth is, D20 and Storytelling systems are just straight up better then PB's system.
I mean face it, D20 is so easily adaptable to any Genre, and so very easy to learn that it isn't hard to get new players to join a game. They can get nearly the entire rules scope down in ten minutes, (d20+modifiers VS Target number.) bam, they're good to go. The Storyteller systems are even easier, take two traits, add them together and roll that many dice VS a Target number, the number of dice that equal that target number the better you did. Simple, and these rules can be applied to anything in an RPG. Yeah it takes them awhile to figure out what everything means, but a lot of the stuff is so intuitive, and the core mechanic for the entire system is so easy that they aren't all that intimidated by it.

2) PB's games, especially Rifts have kinda gotten a name for Munchkinism. I know shocking as it may seem. There's so little game balance between characters, magic VS Tech, MDC Vs SDC that not many people want to even play them. At least in the modern era of RPG's. This reputation for being a munchkin game means that alot of Players don't view PB games as 'serious' RPG's. That kinda hurts things. Ask ten players what a Serious RPG is, and you will typically get an answer that involves some game by White Wolf, or Chaosium, or fill in the blank. Not many will answer with a PB game.

So PB's left with us old guys and gals who remember this system fondly and keep buying the books, even though we can't find a group to play with. Now I'm not trying to cause a flame war, or be harsh, I'm just stating things as I see them. The RPG industry, and the games we play have changed, and changed considerably. Twenty five years ago, when PB's main competitor was TSR things were different. But in today's market, with the number of games that are available, PB's stuff seems mediocre at best, and extremely outdated. It's showing it's age.

Not to mention

3) Lack of advertising out of house in 10+Years. The only place Palladium advertises is in the rifter or it's own site.

4) Shops/Distributors not carrying product due to inability to hit release dates. I know that one has been pounded into the ground but it's very very important and one thing that's consistently off. Even Endless dead, which is coming out soon, is still late. Some people on facebook have been like 'OMG! If you keep hitting release dates like this people will have to shut up!" Well... not putting too fine a point on it. They didn't. Endless dead was promised in April. (And before, but most recently in April) It's not coming out till May. And Lemuria was a year late, even if you ignore the announcement 12 years ago. Distributors aren't going to place orders to have them consistantly late and stores won't either. When people come in to try and buy and the store has to tell them "Nope not out yet" For a year + after books are supposed to be, Palladium gives up sales to those books that are on the shelf. Fans get frustrated and wander away, or spend their money on other games they can get on time.

All these factor in. I've gotten some teens and 20somethings into the games but that's with a real effort on my part. They'd never know about them if it wern't for me pimping them (( For free mind you. )) I've not seen someone, more than a couple years younger than me KNOW about palladium in 10 years or so. They'll listen if I try and pimp the product but no one is like 'Oh you play Rifts? Me too!!"

All very good points as well!

[Hystrix]

38.

I played D&D around when I was 12 or 13. Got into Robotech, and TMNT shortly thereafter. I started playing Rifts since '91... I was 17. I played a PbP game about 9 or 10 years ago. Last time I played Rifts was at least 7 years ago. We played 2 sessions and the group broke up. Haven't played since I joined the Army almoast 6 years ago.

[flatline]

I've never liked the Palladium system, but I love the Palladium settings (rifts, wormwood, phase world, etc). If I ever get back into a regular group, if they're up for it, I'll port these great settings over to a better system.

Of course, that'll probably never happen.

--flatline

[Razzinold]

What are you a cop or something ? j/k

I'll be 33 next month and I started playing as a teenager. Last time I played was a couple months ago. (hopefully the game will be starting up again this weekend, too many busy schedules lately) Right now everyone in my group is my age or a few years older, wife is one year younger than me. My former GM is now 34 and his younger brother (now 28) used to be in the group as well. Other guys are like 35 - 37. One of our friend's son keeps bugging to play (15 going on 16) and my daughter's have heard us talk about it for years, but too young to play IMO. Obviously the 4 year old is too young (goes without saying) but I think my 9 year old is too young to play as well.

Also like a lot of people it's hard to find players in my area, there is a few guys in Toronto (I live in Oshawa) but you don't find too many guys who want to travel an hour or so to game. One reason my old GM doesn't play anymore, with a busy work schedule (and changing shifts) didn't want to drive 40 minutes each way from Port Hope.

[Zer0 Kay]

37 last played in person... in Oct '09. Last played '11. And by play I mean GM. I haven't played since...... uh, I can't remember. Really wish I had time to get a live group around a table.

[SpiritInterface]

45 ! is that the oldest so far?

I play Rifts once a week and run a game with a coGM once a week, both online. Been a rifts fan since it came out.

49 and I am the youngest of the group I game with.

We started playing Palladium games with Heroes Unlimited, then revised Heroes Unlimited. I remember when Teenage Mutant Turtles came out, Robotech, Rifts.

[Giant2005]

45 ! is that the oldest so far?

I play Rifts once a week and run a game with a coGM once a week, both online. Been a rifts fan since it came out.

49 and I am the youngest of the group I game with.

We started playing Palladium games with Heroes Unlimited, then revised Heroes Unlimited. I remember when Teenage Mutant Turtles came out, Robotech, Rifts.

I have a character that is in his 60s, that counts right?

[Balabanto]

I am 42. I run Champions, Pathfinder, and Rifts, and I write Hero System adventures under the Blackwyrm label. I still find time to game despite working 75 hours a week as an assistant manager at a positively funded retail company.. When we play a game, it's based on who shows up. I also have a literary agent and am trying to sell my novel titled Alison L. I'm a busy guy.

We have a ton of them. Mainly, I just want to have some fun in my few off-hours.

[Ravenwing]

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I'm sad to see the pen and paper RPG'ing is dying...with the advent of MMORPGS and things like Skyrim. The first time I played Rifts was in 6th grade, and we all had such a great time for the following ~3 or 4 years. Haven't really played at all since then, but I'd love to find a group in my area.

There was a comic book shop that used to stock mad Rifts/PB stuff, but they went out of business in 2007 >:/

Pen and Paper RPG's aren't dying in my area so much, you can find tons of players for other games, just not PB games.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The age of my ave. rifter.... Since I have all but the latest .... about 7.5 years old.

[Ravenwing]

I'm 32 and I GM a group of Rifts once a month with 3 players whose ages are all within 2 years of my own.

On a side note to the people siting the shortcomings of Palladium: While I do agree to some extent that PB doesn't do enough advertising or crossing their IP to other mediums, I disagree with the assessment of the system.

I have always said that a good GM and a good group of players are far more important than the actual rules.

Play a game with the most innovative system in the world with a GM who has no imagination or who actively tries to kill his players and you won't have a good time. Play with players who don't play in character, try to create friction with other players, or throw tantrums when they don't get their way and again you have a recipe for a lousy game.

On the other hand, play an old, outdated system, or an overly simple or complex system with a great GM and great players and everyone will have a good time.

I agree with your comment about a good GM and Players making a game. I've played under good GM's, and I've played under bad ones. I consider myself a good GM to be honest. Yes, there are area's I can improve on, but thats true for anyone.

But I still stand by my comments on PB's system. It's seriously outdated and needs to not only be brought up to date, but overhauled as well.

[Gamer]

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I'm sad to see the pen and paper RPG'ing is dying...with the advent of MMORPGS and things like Skyrim. The first time I played Rifts was in 6th grade, and we all had such a great time for the following ~3 or 4 years. Haven't really played at all since then, but I'd love to find a group in my area.

There was a comic book shop that used to stock mad Rifts/PB stuff, but they went out of business in 2007 >:/

Pen and Paper RPG's aren't dying in my area so much, you can find tons of players for other games, just not PB games.

Same here, lots of gamers just nobody will touch PB games, can't find it on shelves for at least 200 miles.
Always get a been there done that, you missed the boat type answer.

[Ravenwing]

Awesome, thanks for the replies. I'm sad to see the pen and paper RPG'ing is dying...with the advent of MMORPGS and things like Skyrim. The first time I played Rifts was in 6th grade, and we all had such a great time for the following ~3 or 4 years. Haven't really played at all since then, but I'd love to find a group in my area.

There was a comic book shop that used to stock mad Rifts/PB stuff, but they went out of business in 2007 >:/

Pen and Paper RPG's aren't dying in my area so much, you can find tons of players for other games, just not PB games.

Same here, lots of gamers just nobody will touch PB games, can't find it on shelves for at least 200 miles.
Always get a been there done that, you missed the boat type answer.

In my area I get a stunned look, and everyone starts asking me if I've went Munchkin and how this new mentality will effect my long running WoD Chronicle. When I tell them it might be a fun change of pace, and we'll keep it toned down some they just shake their heads and reply.....
" Can't we just play D20 Future or Shadowrun or M&M?"
Now my WoD groups twenty people( Four groups of five doing Vampire/Werewolf/Mage/Changling) with the youngest in the group being 28.

Now admittedly I don't hang around with a lot of younger people then myself. I run a D&D3.5 game on saturdays for some kids(My daughter and her friends) but while they look over the Rifts/DR/PBFRPG/HU/Robotech books, they haven't got any desire to play it. The girls would rather play Shadowrun(4th Ed),D&D3.5/Pathfinder, D20 Apocalypse, M&M(love the 3rd edition of that game!), and BESM d20.

Of the other younger players, or kids as I call them( God I feel old when I realized I consider anyone under the age of 25 to be a kid!) they've never heard of PB games. When I show them the books, they look things over, and then shake their heads, not interested. They say the settings seem interesting, but that the systems just to backwards for them. It doesn't help when other older players tell the kids you have to house rule three fourths of the system to make it run smoothly like a d20 game.

Thats my experience, and why I think PB needs to upgrade their system to a more modern standard.

[EmeraldToucanet]

I'm 29, currently play once a week in person.
I love it how WoD players consider Rifts to be munchkinny, it's definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black. I've played quite a bit of Rifts and lots of WoD games, they are both really easy to get insanely munchkinny with. I think WoD might also care even less about game balance than Rifts (though personally this hasn't really bothered me, since in both WoD and PB games it's really simple to place limits on what people can play, or tone down things a bit as needed if balance is a concern).

[Balabanto]

Yeah. World of Darkness has dozens of attacks with NO DEFENSE AT ALL. You can't dodge Dominate, all you can do is spend a point of willpower to get a resistance test. Even the mightiest elder is powerless against multiple dominate attempts and becomes a vegetable.

And Dementation 3? Forget it. This power is just plain ridiculous. If you give someone enough insanities, and have enough smarts to know what they are, they'll become a vegetable in seconds, too.

If I had to choose between playing only Rifts or only playing WOD for the rest of my life, I would pick Rifts in a second.

[Ravenwing]

Yeah. World of Darkness has dozens of attacks with NO DEFENSE AT ALL. You can't dodge Dominate, all you can do is spend a point of willpower to get a resistance test. Even the mightiest elder is powerless against multiple dominate attempts and becomes a vegetable.

And Dementation 3? Forget it. This power is just plain ridiculous. If you give someone enough insanities, and have enough smarts to know what they are, they'll become a vegetable in seconds, too.

If I had to choose between playing only Rifts or only playing WOD for the rest of my life, I would pick Rifts in a second.

Ummm not to thread jack but...

Dominate is resisted by willpower. It's also limited by Generation, IE you can't dominate an Earlier Generation Vampire. Unless you've somehow bloodbound them. And if all else, if dominate bothers you so much just take the amazing two point merit....Iron will. It makes you immune to Dominate/Presence/Dementation and other fun mental Disc.

Infact having played WoD games since 93' I can't think of a single power that allows no defense at all.

And Dementation isn't much different then Dominate. I know the powers read as pretty powerful, but the truth is in play they aren't so.

If made to choose between only Rifts, or only WoD for the rest of my life, I'd chose WoD in a second. The systems simpler and better IMHO.

But luckily we live in a world where I'm free to play any game I can find the players to play with, so I'll never have to make that choice.

[Dr Megaverse]

27 here. Last time I played I was 19 or so. Sadly I don't hang with that group of friends anymore, however I'm hoping to play again someday soon!

[Cyrano de Maniac]

Age? Let's just say that the last man who walked on the Moon departed that celestial sphere mere months before I was born.

The last time I played a Palladium game (Rifts), I believe I was right around 20 or 21 years old. To this day it's still the game that best captures my imagination. There's a good reason I collect Palladium material.

It's probably been 5 years since I last I played anything at all. The most recent few games I played were Shadowrun, Star Wars D20, and D20 Modern, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The first two games I ever played were GURPS (I had no idea what I was doing with that as I'd bought the boxed set not even knowing what it really was), and Champions (great GM, after whom I named my first and only Rifts character). I've had some serious fun with Gamma World, old Shadowrun, a little AD&D, Firefly, Paranoia, and HERO along the way as well, and own copies of core books or even complete systems of several other games which I've never played (e.g. Buffy, Angel, HoL, Battlestar Galactica, some indies, etc).

Each one of these games has had strengths and weaknesses, some moreso than others. But above all they've all been fun! (Well, maybe except that old Shadowrun system -- man was combat ever a tedious boring-ass drag in that.)

Brent

[Pepsi Jedi]

Yeah. World of Darkness has dozens of attacks with NO DEFENSE AT ALL. You can't dodge Dominate, all you can do is spend a point of willpower to get a resistance test. Even the mightiest elder is powerless against multiple dominate attempts and becomes a vegetable.

Or.. you know.. you can simply..... not look um in the eyes. *GASP* I know.. it seems silly, but.... that's all you gotta do. Why do you think so many vampires wear shades? It's not because they love the 'I wear my sunglasses at night" song.. butt so they can point their face at who they're talking to, while looking at their chin or something.

And Dementation 3? Forget it. This power is just plain ridiculous. If you give someone enough insanities, and have enough smarts to know what they are, they'll become a vegetable in seconds, too.

Demontation 3 is "Eyes of Chaos".. It allows you to assertain someone's nature and 'hidden insight'.

You might be meaning "Demontation 5" Total insanity.. and like many lvl 5 disiplines it's strong but it's not unstopable. 1: the attacker can't choose what degrangements are given 2) The victim can spend wp to cut them off earily.

If I had to choose between playing only Rifts or only playing WOD for the rest of my life, I would pick Rifts in a second.

Can whitewolf be twinky? yeah, it can be, but your examples were .. well really incorrect. lol

[MikelAmroni]

37, been playing RPGs sinc I was 18. Started with MERP and Rolemaster - so Palladium isn't even the most complicated or obtuse system I actually like to play, then into Robotech, and then Rifts (Because of the Terrain Hopper Power armor in one of the back of the book adds for Robotech- I thought it was the neatest thing EVAR)

Of course since then I've hit the gamut from Red Box, 1st, 3rd, and 4th editin DnD, Rolemaster and Spacemaster (one of the most awesome sci fi settings ever - the catholic church as AT&T in space), BattleTech, GURPS, Champions, Villains and Vigilantes, Shadowrun (3rd and 4th only, except for the video games), D20 everything, and of Course Old and New WOD (still have folks asking me to run old school Werewolf). And I'm forgetting other major systems, but short version is most everything, at least once. I've been called a "Mikey" of gaming far too many times for it not to be true.

[cchopps]

Almost 35 and I played my first Rifts game when I was 15. These last 5 years I've probably played in-person with my high school group an average of 2-3 times a year. We've also played a handful of times in the last 2 years using group video chat through "oovoo" or skype.

I'm a member of a local gaming group and in the past I've run a Rifts game for some of them and I'd like to do it again in the future when I have a little more free time (my wife has one more year in law school and we have a toddler).

C. Chopps