Starter Adventure. Totally new players.

[Killer Cyborg]

I'm starting a new adventure locally and all of the players are entirely new to rifts. Most of them are ages 16-20 and have RP experience but i'm wondering about a way to introduce younger people to rifts. I was thinking of a campaign set in north america and have them play as cs soldiers. This is because i want them to truly understand that while the top of the chain is "evil", some at the bottom are only doing their job to earn a better life. The alternatives are New West or Atlantis because that's where they want to end up.

Coalition is a great way to start new players off.
-They get to learn about the world, starting with a simple perspective and slowly gaining more information about the world around them.
-They don't have to worry as much about armor repairs and ammunition.
-They have a CLEAR party motivation (following orders).
-There is a more limited gear selection, so you don't have to worry about the PCs constantly whining that they want the newest Naruni toys.
-You won't have to deal with magic on the side of the players, which means less surprises coming at you.
-Clear character motivation to get along with the other player characters.

That's the way I'd go.
New West is too cartoony for my tastes, and less balanced.
Atlantis could be cool... but it'd be a lot trickier.
Besides, there are plenty of ways for CS soldiers to end up either place.

[Juce734]

As already stated above the CS would be a great way to start them for those reasons.

Also the fact that they will learn that sometimes it's best to run or they will die. This isn't a typical hack and slash type game usually unless that is the type of game you want to run.

[Natasha]

I'm starting a new adventure locally and all of the players are entirely new to rifts. Most of them are ages 16-20 and have RP experience but i'm wondering about a way to introduce younger people to rifts. I was thinking of a campaign set in north america and have them play as cs soldiers. This is because i want them to truly understand that while the top of the chain is "evil", some at the bottom are only doing their job to earn a better life. The alternatives are New West or Atlantis because that's where they want to end up.

Not everyone wants to be a soldier; you can do that and still start in the CS or the New West. On the other hand, if they do not mind be soldiers, then why not go for it?

[Killer Cyborg]

Gear was an issue that I hadn't even thought of. One of the players bought the Gmg so he already saw all the cool stuff but the others are pretty in the dark.(The only one with books is the guy with Rue and Gmg)

If you want to keep them in the CS, I'd start them off with lower-tier gear, that way they still have room to grow.
Just make sure to put them up against low-tier enemies, for the most part.
Remember that the C-12 has an SDC setting; give them reason to use it, from time to time, if only to save on ammo.

In my experience, players tend to think that they have to have the biggest, baddest gear in order to be really happy... but as long as they're usually the biggest, baddest guys in the room/adventure, they're usually happy with whatever I give them.
It's not about power, it's about relative power.
Throw them enough lowball stuff here or there to remind them of how badass they really are, and they shouldn't complain about lack of gear, even if they've seen some of the stuff in the other books.
Not every member of every group of bandits that they face needs to have mega-damage armor at all, and when they do, it doesn't need to be the good stuff.
The more you show them the really low-end of the power spectrum, the more they'll appreciate the part of spectrum they're at.

Also, I'd suggest making sure that they understand that one of the Coalition's big advantages IS the armor repair and ammunition; have them face a foe in one battle, only to have the foe get away (or to force the PCs to retreat), then to have the PCs encounter the same foes days later, but to have the PCs in fresh gear with fully loaded weapons, and to have the enemy still equipped with the shot-up and semi-spend gear from the last encounter. That kind of thing.

Also, if you don't mind trying out some home-brew stuff of varying power levels, I've come up with a bunch of CS-friendly gear under the banner of Patriot Arms Incorporated, and I encourage you to check it out.
My main goals in creating the stuff in that thread were to:
-Give the CS boosts in power, while staying true to the established material, and while keeping things balanced
-Flesh out the CS gear a bit more, to enhance the flavor of the game
-Boost some of the older CS gear to more appropriate levels, compensating for power creep and changes in the rules since Rifts first came out.
-Provide the CS soldiers with a wider variety of capability for dealing with the various threats that they face.

[Bill]

I'm running a similar game. I limited OCCs to non-CS men at arms and scholar adventurers from the core book, excluding Glitterboy pilots. I think it has a lighter tone than an all coalition game would and leaves the players more latitude in what they can choose to do. So far everyone is enjoying themselves.

[ZorValachan]

I agree with KC for all the same reasons.

My own personal experience, is even with experienced gamers, who HAVE done other magic+tech+all worlds (like Shadowrun/TORG) and who have played PB before will find Rifts hard to play at first.

When Rifts came out in 1990, I GMed with experienced players and let them choose anything from any PB book. It went horrible fast.

2 Years later (right before Rifts:England) I did similar, but it was a HU game that transitioned to Rifts. I let people stay their Hero or choose a Rifts character. One guy chose Dog Boy for concept, but with Invulnerable heroes wanting to fight all the time, it disruped things.

I tried a couple after that. The people then always wanted to choose the biggest/baddest.

Finally I got it right a couple years ago. I went with R:UE classes only, No borgs and no dragon hatchlings (allowed the GB pilot, because he promised -and upheld it- he would not stay in the suit 24/7. They were mercs for Tolkeen (a couple weeks after the fall) and the remnants of a CS squad thrown together. It worked VERY well and everyone, AFAIK, was happy with their character and others.

KC is also right on using SDC. The mystic of my successful party used a bow+arrow. had some explosive tips on some for MD fighting, but had a lot of SDC tips for -hunting- this kept the party from running out of MRIs/sarving. Also once the dog boy was on point sniffing (without a helmet) out a cave. An cat sized spider dropped on his head/neck. One guy pulled out a wilk's pistol (cause it is only 1d6 MD. Luckily the others in the party were smart and stopped him, then used SDC knives to kill it.

[DhAkael]

Is it a bad thing when I read the thread title I first read it as 'SHATNER Adventure'

[Ice Dragon]

You could also start with a non CS party - this could be the classic fantasy team (mage, warrior, healer, ranger/scout). But I like the idea to start with a CS party to show them the world of Rifts.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

I agree with KC for all the same reasons.

When Rifts came out in 1990, I GMed with experienced players and let them choose anything from any PB book. It went horrible fast.

Also once the dog boy was on point sniffing (without a helmet) out a cave. An cat sized spider dropped on his head/neck. One guy pulled out a wilk's pistol (cause it is only 1d6 MD. Luckily the others in the party were smart and stopped him, then used SDC knives to kill it.

I'd like to hear more about these. lol

[Shimasaki]

How did the game go? What did you end up going with?

[The Dark Elf]

What game is their RP experience. If its a fantasy game then maybe England is your best bet as the setting/surroundings would be more familiar and you can integrate the technology and MDC slowly.

[Killer Cyborg]

"How did the game go? What did you end up going with?"
"What game is their RP experience. If its a fantasy game then maybe England is your best bet as the setting/surroundings would be more familiar and you can integrate the technology and MDC slowly."

Really sorry for the late replies but so far the game is going well we are 2 sessions in and so far the team is working together really well. I decided to stick with the CS plan and it worked/not worked at the time. the way it not orked is that the group read that the CS is evil and are now ignoring their alignments.
Rp experience is assorted Dnd, pathfider, A cthulu player, and a Dark heresy player (I think thats all?) . It was really all over the place.

Hm.
Well, not everybody in the CS is Evil, so if they're playing out of alignment, I'd dock them XP or something.
OR just change their alignments to Evil, and run an Evil campaign.

[The Dark Elf]

Have them reprimanded by the ISS if they commit acts against CS policy

[Noon]

Or drop alignments for the iron lung they are.

Look, what are they doing - is it 'gross out' evil, which is just about making other players go 'Gross!'

Or have they thought out their characters past and are playing them out the best they can. Which as it turns out, is pretty evil.

Note: There could be a bit of both in the group!

The gross out players basically need to grow up - they can figure a character with a background that makes them ruthless and self serving, with events in his past that made the PC think that's the best way to live. Then when they play, they think how those past events would shape the PC's actions now.

If they can't handle that - well then they just aren't up to playing a character.

They need to get skilled, or you get used to gross out evil, OR you start a new rifts game (perhaps in addition to the current one) when you just invite the players who can play out a character as the character seems to them.

Don't bother docking XP. That wont help. It's like hitting a dog over the head with a rolled up newspaper well after the mess has happened. It doesn't train them.

Edit: Oh, if you instead want to force them to play some kind of character, then just write out a list of what they are allowed to do, in rough terms.

[Lord Z]

Honestly, Rifts is not the best game for players who are brand new to gaming. The rules are moderately complicated, and the setting is very complicated.

If you are determined to run Rifts for new gamers, check out the suggestions that I made earlier tonight in the other thread.

[MaxxSterling]

Like Killer Cyborg said, just change their alignments and run the campaign darker, maybe they enjoy killing D-bee's and Magical stuff... That being said, the Coalition still has laws and rules. Commanding officers aren't going to put up with bathing in the blood of infants and wearing necklaces of eyeballs and stuff... They're still a professional organization and need to save face with the general public.

[hollowecho]

My first game in rifts,we were told no GBs but every thing else was good to go...so we had 2 juicers a robot doc a dog boy and a leyline walker the plot we were captured buy the CS for crimes and we were outfitted with a explosive collar that had a two mile range from out transport... We were a suicide squad sent to Mexico to clean out vampires....simple easy plot that made sense cause we were new we got a CS troop transport fully loaded and our gear was loaded we were forced to RP buy giving updates on our advance and we were given targets to hit. Some times it works. Some times it doesn't .

[Dunia]

Is it a bad thing when I read the thread title I first read it as 'SHATNER Adventure' :erm:

LOL

All you need is a rift to an unknown dimension, monsters to kill for most players, an NPC (dressed in red) to die and an alien woman for the leader of the PC's to have fun with.

...and of course a shifter to yell "Arr! the Rift is collapsing captain, I cant hold it up that much longer!"

[ZorValachan]

SNIP (allowed the GB pilot, because he promised -and upheld it- he would not stay in the suit 24/7.

Well dont forget staying in the GB for longer then 24 hours causes really nasty side affects, Rifts Ultimate edition page 71 3rd paragraph under Glitter Boy Armor, near the end of the paragraph. read that and tada instant fix to those gamers that wish to stay in the GB for longer then 24 hours and if in the armor straight for 3 weeks some really nasty muscle loss:P


and back to the current line of thoughts. Read In Rifts Ultimate Edition page 230 How to use Coalition Characters, This section has alot of good information about the types of soldiers in the coalition army, and remember if they are killing Humans that are with the coalition, that will be a instant Court martial and possible execution. I would suggest picking up world book 11: Coalition War Campaign, if your going to have coalition characters in your game, there is a-lot of good information in there that is Specific to the coalition, Ranks, Crimes and Punishments, Medals and other OCCS, Vehicles, and Robots.

hopefully i didnt ramble

I'll add that while I did not -experience- the following, it was on my mind that a player would try this (and in other games/systems, I did have players who did similar things). Basically 'past-rest'. Such as something happens and the GB is in his suit 'because I rested 2 hours ago when we stopped to eat'. Meaning 'on screen' the GB pilot is always in the GB and 'offscreen' is when he says he is out of it. In the game I talked about in the quote, the player actually had his character spend a lot more onscreen time out of the GB than in the GB, and really contributed to the game-story. It was actually much more than I asked for, and his character did a lot of other things rather just being in the GB.

[Marrowlight]

Hmm. Mind if I ask why you felt you couldn't explain that that was a terribad idea to them?

[Noon]

It doesn't matter if its a bad idea - were they clueless that the skull wearing army would shoot them for quitting? Or did they know?

If they knew, then that's just how those players roll. They died their own way.

If they didn't know - well, it would have been better to just say 'they'll shoot you', but atleast dropping half a dozen hints is something.

It's no good trying to treat players like children, as if they don't have to take any responsibility for their own actions. And if they knew that would be the end of their characters, it'd just be getting in the way of them being protagonists to think something went wrong.