Has anybody just sat down with a stack of RIFTS books and...

[slade the sniper]

Just read them...

This is kind of stupid perhaps, but of all the books and games and systems that I own (3 bookshelves worth) the only books that I will take down and flip through them and read with surprising regularity are RIFTS books (and some of the AD&D 2E books that are my wife's...shhhh, don't tell her...)

I am still amazed that 20 something years after buying the main book that I can still actually look at it and read parts of the setting (not to mention well over half the sourcebooks) and just smile. While it is true that the rules are not good (but nowhere near as bad as some people claim they are...), the setting itself is still fantastic.

Good job, KS.

-STS

[Glistam]

I used to grab books off my shelf and just read or at least peruse them in my spare time. I stopped a few years ago when my books became inaccessible but recently I got them back out and have started doing that again. I love going through them and finding stuff I either missed, overlooked or forgot since my last reading.

[kaid]

Yup I do it all the time in fact just last night I was flipping through rifts underseas again as I had not looked at it in a while.

[Alrik Vas]

Since I'm running a game currently, it's mostly for study, but I do open them from time to time just so I can go "huh...forgot about that..." for like an hour straight, heh.

[Whiskeyjack]

Still do this myself quite frequently. It's amazing how much you forget about over the years.

[Svartalf]

why, I own quite a big lot of books, and have read every one of them... how can I find about interesting characters and locations if I don't?

[Zer0 Kay]

Yup, all the time. Not running a game currently and have 7 of them on my nightstand.

[DhAkael]

Sadly; a LOT of the setting material got cut and garbage canned between the RMB and R:UE to make way for the addverts for the N-gage and "Kevin's personal musings" (usless waste of ink & dead tree on both parts). Which is a damn shame, as the missing bits from RMB really gave both players and GM's a FEEL for the world of Rifts Earth before all these kingdoms started sprouting in each consecutive world book.

Ah well... enough ranting. To go back to original thread topic; yes, I sometimes just grab a random book and refresh my memory of why I love this game SETTING (not so much the book-canon system, but that's a discussion for another thread). Only Shadowrun or the WH40K verse has anything close to the bredth of material and 'verse building of Rifts.

[Mlp7029]

Have to say I do this as well quite frequently.

[sanka]

Rifts and Robotech even more...
Every few months I get the urge... Especialy when not playing. Not to many Rifts players around here.... So games are few and far between...

[Zenvis]

I need to do it with the new grab bags that I purchased in the last three years. I discovered that I bought the same book over and over (Robotech: Genesis Pits). I think that I appreciate it more and more when I take the time to read a book or two.

[taalismn]

All the time, folks, all the time. Sometimes it's because I have a specific interest in mind, other times because the cyclic book heaves in my collection bring stuff I'd forgotten I had up to the surface of the pile...

[Subjugator]

Constantly.

[Tiree]

I do this for other games, not so much with Rifts, or Palladium. I think it's because I take so much time to go through the books when I initiallly get them, that I don't go back except when I'm looking up specifics for something.

Now World of Synnibarr, now that is a game that I go back to. I go through again and again with a fine tooth comb. Looking for tidbits and rulings to go through. I also do the same with Star Wars d20 variations. That is mainly so I can go over some rulings against a friend of mine. And I can pull stunts that he hasn't thought of.

Rifts though.... it's like an old girlfriend with benefits. When your playing it, you might find something new and exciting. Otherwise, you know where all the good points are, and generally left satisfied.

[slade the sniper]

To go back to original thread topic; yes, I sometimes just grab a random book and refresh my memory of why I love this game SETTING (not so much the book-canon system, but that's a discussion for another thread). Only Shadowrun or the WH40K verse has anything close to the bredth of material and 'verse building of Rifts.

I fully agree.

-STS

[Rockwolf66]

One thing about me that annoys my Gms is that when I play any game I will go over the rules with a fine toothed comb and read everything I can about the setting or similar settings so I can get the right feel for the game.

[Mr. Jays]

I love doing this, especially with the early books. Vampire Kingdoms more than any other.

[Shadow Wyrm]

All the time. I just keep picking them up over and over. Rift's has a great world that just keeps drawing me in.

[Shadow Wyrm]

I love doing this, especially with the early books. Vampire Kingdoms more than any other.

Atlantis is the book that hooked me. The Splugorth are my favorite antagonist of all time.

[FatherMorpheus]

I, like a few people I know, buy Rifts books specifically for the stories and ideas in them. Several people I know don't even play Rifts, but buy every book that comes out for the overall story and fun of each book.

[Dog_O_War]

I read them on the toilet.

But that's where I do most of my reading.

[flatline]

I, like a few people I know, buy Rifts books specifically for the stories and ideas in them. Several people I know don't even play Rifts, but buy every book that comes out for the overall story and fun of each book.

I'm kind of like this. I haven't played in years, but still enjoy the books. I don't have all of them by any stretch, but my collection grows as I find used books for sale for less than $10.

I really need to start picking up the fantasy books. Seems like lots of good reading there.

--flatline

[Tor]

I do this all the time, interests shift or deepen as time passes. A person might not initially care to read about setting or certain equipment because they're thinking about designing a PC and might want to ignore stuff to be surprised, but later take interest in thinking up campaigns.

[ikillbugsdead]

It's one of the things I love the most, and the least about Rifts. It's a great setting! It has a good overall tone, it is varied, vast, and vibrant. It's Got a little bit of everything, and at no point, at any level, is a PC just going to walk around like they own the place. The flip side is how few people I know actually read any of it! When I bring up Rifts, I get eye rolls about power gaming, and gun porn, and broken rules. I get at least one story about this guys uber character that is pulling the best possible stuff from the entire line, and making an insane character. This kind of stuff bugs the bejesus out of me! Even in a "relatively" small area like North America, you have myriad cultures, many of which don't like each other. Travel isn't common, communication as we know it simply doesn't exist, and even a well educated person in someplace like Lazlo has very little real knowledge, much less contact, with someone from the Colorado Baronies, much less England, The Silver River Republics, Australia, or Japan!

It's that isolation that, to me, helps balance things to a large extent. Sure, the weapons in the South America books were too powerful, I totally agree. However, as the chances of a player in a game I run ever actually getting near one are slim to none, it doesn't matter. I love that when I start a game in Japan, or Eastern Europe, I'm going to get two very different "feels". Heck, I'm from Southern California, and now living in Washington State. Since the majority of the West coast has been left basically blank, I've spent years fleshing it out for my own games, because I'm familiar with it, and it's fun to say "what if" with places I know and love!

Okay, tangent over

[Arakash]

Ive found much the same thing. Its very easy to start reading some small detail, or go out looking for just one fact then spend hours looking through parts of the books. I like to try to imagine what an average street or an average person/creature would look like in the setting I'm reading at that time.

[Blastaar]

I do this as well. I love the story line and await the next book with glee