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copy/paste from latest weekly update

NEW! The Rifter® #59 – Ships in July
The Rifter® is an idea factory that helps players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and keep their games fresh. It provides useful, ready to go, source material gamers can just drop into their ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It offers new monsters, villains, characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, adventure and ideas for your games. It presents new villains, monsters and dangers to battle, and new ideas to consider. Every issue has material for Rifts® and at least two or three other Palladium game lines.

The Rifter® Number 59 examines the deadly, the weird and the magical. Much of the material is suitable for use in multiple settings or easy to adapt. Enjoy.

The Rifter® #59 includes:
•Rifts® Xiticix Hivelands – Josh Sinsapaugh takes a dangerous look at the Xiticix threat, expanding hivelands and new Xiticix menaces.
•Palladium Fantasy® – Olympic-style games, adventure and intrigue on the Island of Lopan, by Paul Herbert.
•Splicers® – The Pack Mentality features the Packmaster and the genetically altered animals at his command. Written by Brandon Aten and Michael Orr.
•All Settings: Rules for Explosives for any Palladium setting – a very helpful article by Thomas Morrison.
•Various Settings: Techno-Wizardry Across the Megaverse® by Anthony Lovato.
•Various Settings: The Kezel™are weird, new superhumans for use in Rifts® Chaos Earth™, Rifts®, Phase World®, Heroes Unlimited™ and even Palladium Fantasy®. Part Two concludes the many super abilities. Written by Joseph Larsen.
•News, coming attractions, and more. Xiticix cover.
•96 pages – still only $11.95 retail – Cat. No. 159. July release.

This has potential to be one of the best Rifters we've seen in a long time, and that I'm not just saying that because my Splicers article is in it. All of the other articles look awesome.

It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

The explosions rules should be interesting.

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Welcome back Josh!

two words i love to see when it comes to additional material is: Splicers & Xiticix

Prysus wrote:

•Palladium Fantasy® – Olympic-style games, adventure and intrigue on the Island of Lopan, by Paul Herbert.

Greetings and Salutations. I have a subscription so I'd have gotten one no matter what, but the above article is sooooo the reason I really want this issue. Also I normally don't read most of the articles (skim some to see if anything catches my eye and just ignore the rest until a player asks to play something from it), but this one will be an exception and I'm definitely going to read it.

Hmm ... strike that. I'm "probably" definitely going to read it. I'm having a flash of another article I thought I was definitely going to read, then in the first paragraph it (basically) said all elves were a bunch of tree loving hippies, at which point I closed the book and haven't touched it since. I feel confident that Paul won't do that to me. Have a great day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

Also the one that has my greatest interest but looks like a real good issue.

Kovoston wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Welcome back Josh!

Thanks, Kovoston.

Hopefully I can stick around longer this go around.

~ Josh

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

Kovoston wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Welcome back Josh!

Thanks, Kovoston.

Hopefully I can stick around longer this go around.

~ Josh

Look forward to it.

Shawn Merrow wrote:

Prysus wrote:

•Palladium Fantasy® – Olympic-style games, adventure and intrigue on the Island of Lopan, by Paul Herbert.

Greetings and Salutations. I have a subscription so I'd have gotten one no matter what, but the above article is sooooo the reason I really want this issue. Also I normally don't read most of the articles (skim some to see if anything catches my eye and just ignore the rest until a player asks to play something from it), but this one will be an exception and I'm definitely going to read it.

Hmm ... strike that. I'm "probably" definitely going to read it. I'm having a flash of another article I thought I was definitely going to read, then in the first paragraph it (basically) said all elves were a bunch of tree loving hippies, at which point I closed the book and haven't touched it since. I feel confident that Paul won't do that to me. Have a great day. Farewell and safe journeys for now.

Also the one that has my greatest interest but looks like a real good issue.

Hope they do the Olympics adventure for the cover.

Great to see more of the Freelancers return to their original stomping grounds. Hope to see a few
more of you guys back in the Rifter as well. I'm betting the Lopan submission from Herbert is
based on his Open House game.

The Dark Elf wrote:Hope they do the Olympics adventure for the cover.

it's going to be a xiticix cover. Already mentioned in last weeks update.

The Galactus Kid wrote:

The Dark Elf wrote:Hope they do the Olympics adventure for the cover.

it's going to be a xiticix cover. Already mentioned in last weeks update.

Reagren Wright wrote:I'm betting the Lopan submission from Herbert is
based on his Open House game.

Yeah, I think Herbie mentioned that earlier in this thread. Maybe somewhere else on the forums, but I know thats where it is coming from.

clockpunk wrote:

Juce734 wrote:The explosions rules should be interesting.

Please let there be a plethora of fireworks detailed/statted out...!

I second this motion.

The Galactus Kid wrote:

The Dark Elf wrote:Hope they do the Olympics adventure for the cover.

it's going to be a xiticix cover. Already mentioned in last weeks update.

And I have to say it is a great cover!

It is a great cover. I think that might be the art for (or a derivative of) the Devouring Swarm CCG card. Its an awesome image.

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

I'm hoping some Red Xiticix get in a fight with some Black Xiticix. Big ol Xiticix swarm fights and stuff. lol

Pepsi Jedi wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

I'm hoping some Red Xiticix get in a fight with some Black Xiticix. Big ol Xiticix swarm fights and stuff. lol

Sim Ant was pretty dang awesome back in the day...

~ Josh

Cover art is SWEET!!!

pblackcrow wrote:Cover art is SWEET!!!

Yeah, its pretty awesome. I've been saying since the content was first mentioned that this will probably end up being the best Rifter ina LONG time.

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

Pepsi Jedi wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

I'm hoping some Red Xiticix get in a fight with some Black Xiticix. Big ol Xiticix swarm fights and stuff. lol

Sim Ant was pretty dang awesome back in the day...

~ Josh

So is that a yes? Are the bugs fighting among themselves??

Pepsi Jedi wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

Pepsi Jedi wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

I'm hoping some Red Xiticix get in a fight with some Black Xiticix. Big ol Xiticix swarm fights and stuff. lol

Sim Ant was pretty dang awesome back in the day...

~ Josh

So is that a yes? Are the bugs fighting among themselves??

Actually, they already do according to Xiticix Invasion. Xiticix from other Hives are just another enemy to the bug men.

~ Josh

Just hope you guys dig the Xiticix interior art.

Got my copies today.

Disappointed with the quantity (not quality) of interior art. Especially for the PFRPG adventure.

bar1scorpio wrote:Just hope you guys dig the Xiticix interior art.

I'm not a huge fan of the thruster bees, but the Vesparix, and Xiticix Eater were cool. (( took me a sec to notice the EYE on the Eater was smaller and towards the muzzel and the bbig round things are ear membranes. Nice stuff there.))

What do you think is the Best part of the Techno-Wizardry Across the Megaverse?

I actually like the fluff text. The history of TW stuff on rifts earth and other places. I thought some of the options were really neat. I'm not so sure about the prospecting rules, the way the read is that you succeed 80% of the times you try. If it were that easy we'd all be billionaires. Lol.

I do like many of the items, but as with many rifts items, many here seem grossly over priced. First item in there is a $30,000 for a canteen that fills with water..... Thirty grand for water? Earth has water everywhere, purification tablets are cheep. $30,000 for a canteen that fills with water might go well on Arakiss, but here?

$500,000 for a kindle/IPad??? HALF A MILLION BUCKS??

$2,000,000 to $5,000,000 for a magical lock pick?

TW crossbow isn't --that-- bad at $30,000 well in comparison, but $500 PER MD SHOT?. That's steep, and it clearly says its one time usage , no gathering your bolts and reusing them.

The fury blade is impressive, but at $15,000,000, it better be! You can buy multiple suits of power armor for that, depending on the pa, you cold get 15-30.

Md fire ball launcher, with +3 to strike? Neat.... But $4,000,000???

I like the transformable knife, but it only does 1d4 md, at $300,000

Shockwave grenade, 2d4 md and a knock down...... $40,000 a pop?? Fourty grand for one relievly weak grenade?

I like many of the ideas, but some of the prices are a bit exorbitant. I mean the cross bow was marketed as a low price alternative... $500 a shot is low priced?

The thing is if you look in other books, mercenaries or Merc ops I forget which, you can find cheaper tw weapons, that do considerable damage.

Not everything needs to be cheep, but at $30,000 for a canteen, or $40,000 a grenade, or $500,000 for a kindle or $15,000,000 a sword? Ouch!

bar1scorpio wrote:Just hope you guys dig the Xiticix interior art.

I, for one, dug the hell out of it (and I am NOT just saying that due to my bias).

Awesome work, Ben.



~ Josh

Love the artwork for the Gorehounds. Herbert's Lopan adventure is very cool. Wish I got a chance
to play it at the Open House. Thomas explosive info is really neat. I wonder how does he know so
much about explosives? Always wondered about Techno Wizards in HU and this Rifter provides
that info. The rest is all great material and welcome addition for the Rifter. In fact it reminds me to
get my act together and get back to work.

krispy wrote:two words i love to see when it comes to additional material is: Splicers & Xiticix

Mine too.

Now waiting for my copy of 59.

There were eight or nine maps/pictures submitted with the Lopanic Games PFRPG adventure but there werent of a high enough resolution to be printed.

Good news they are now and have been sent to PBs to distribute as they see fit!

Panomas wrote:

The Dark Elf wrote:There were eight or nine maps/pictures submitted with the Lopanic Games PFRPG adventure but there werent of a high enough resolution to be printed.

Good news they are now and have been sent to PBs to distribute as they see fit!

I am sorry to hear this-
Did you get any word, for the Text or writing of your submission-

I'm most likely right behind you on the rejection train-lol

Lol wasnt a rejection. Just I couldnt work the programme to meet a high quality enough pixel count for publishing requirements. Havent altered the image just how it is formatted into a JPEG.

Now go scream that you want to see them!!

Theyre actually useful for any fantasy adventure really...

Panomas wrote:

The Dark Elf wrote:Now go scream that you want to see them!!

Theyre actually useful for any fantasy adventure really...

I have been

Keep PMing PB until you see these maps/pictures! everyone

Its only considered spam if the pictures are ****. People who played the adventure at the POH saw them. Need to ask Vek if they were any good.

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Loved the article.

I was really disappoint with the explosives article. We could have gotten things like fireworks, bouncing betties and claymores. All we got was an explanation of the chemicals that go into making explosives and what those chemicals do for damage? And the damage is way out of sync with palladium style? That space could have been better used printing Herbie's maps.

Icefalcon wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Loved the article.

Thanks, IceFalcon. It was a fun article to write.

~ Josh

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

Icefalcon wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Loved the article.

Thanks, IceFalcon. It was a fun article to write.

~ Josh

Keep up the good work. I want to see your name in print a little more often. Maybe give Aten a run for his money.

Icefalcon wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

Icefalcon wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Loved the article.

Thanks, IceFalcon. It was a fun article to write.

~ Josh

Keep up the good work. I want to see your name in print a little more often. Maybe give Aten a run for his money.

Man, if we ever teamed up we would blow your mind...

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Icefalcon wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:

Icefalcon wrote:

Josh Sinsapaugh wrote:It's been awhile for me (been off taking care of that thing called "life"). Good to be back on the horse.

Hope everyone enjoys the Hivelands article. And no, it's not what you think...

~ Josh

Loved the article.

Thanks, IceFalcon. It was a fun article to write.

~ Josh

Keep up the good work. I want to see your name in print a little more often. Maybe give Aten a run for his money.

Man, if we ever teamed up we would blow your mind...

One can hope, as long as the two of you could remain focused on the book.

Ok, I am late to this, sorry. I am just re-reading the issue #59 and it blew my mind even more than it had when I first read it. When I now wanted to add to my older comment I found out I did not lavish the praise the whole issue and especially 3 articles highly deserved:

The Lopanic Games adventure "The Lion, The Ditch & The Warlock" by Paul Herbert is deserving of the highest praise and my favourite of the issue. Well written, exciting and utterly sweet to play. Love the pub "Mystic Marquee". The idea of ordering a drink by speaking to the empty tankard and then it ambles off and gets it for you is AWESOMELY magical. Pity that THIS article did not get at least half of the pictures that form in my mind without further ado. I hate it that I was unable to play in the game at the last OH. I MUST see the Lopanic Games in print now!

This is followed by Brandon's "Pack Mentality" which is just cool and an extremely nifty addition to Splicers. Let's see much more of that, please.

Xiticix are gross. Love 'em, excellent enemies (right, Scott!); wonderful article by Josh, but that is to be expected.

I also liked the explosives article, but alas do not have much use for it and it had too much detail for my needs ... but you never know when it may come in handy.

Now, the Techno-Wizardry article is a joy. Well done.

The Ketzel were not my cup of tea, but that is not down to the quality but merely my lack of feel for space opera at the moment.

Thank you, authors! Well done all! As Brandon said: a must-have epic issue.

Kind regards
Hendrik

Panomas wrote:

Hendrik wrote:The Lopanic Games adventure "The Lion, The Ditch & The Warlock" by Paul Herbert is deserving of the highest praise and my favourite of the issue. Well written, exciting and utterly sweet to play. Love the pub "Mystic Marquee". The idea of ordering a drink by speaking to the empty tankard and then it ambles off and gets it for you is AWESOMELY magical. Pity that THIS article did not get at least half of the pictures that form in my mind without further ado. I hate it that I was unable to play in the game at the last OH. I MUST see the Lopanic Games in print now!

I'm more than a little late as well and I think the adventure is well written; and hopefully a very excellent example of format for future Palladium Books adventures.

Edit: At minumum how about releasing Lopanic Games in PDF? Any opposed?

NJ-

Best posts ever. Can I nominate two poster for this year already?

I am writing a N&S adventure atm so Im glad you liked the format I will keep it for that article.