How to Play Rifts
A Rifts® Primer – Adventure & Guide to solid Role-Playing and Rifts®
By Carl Gleba and Kevin Siembieda
This article may sound like it is for new players and Game Mas-
ters, but even experienced gamers are likely to find it interesting
and thought provoking. For some of you, playing Rifts® will be
an entirely new experience, for others it will be a cheerful reminder
about the core elements of role-playing and the elements that make
it so much fun.
Those of you unfamiliar with the epic Rifts® RPG setting
will find this guide to be an easy and fun window into the Rifts®
Megaverse®. If you have played any of Palladium’s games, you
will recognize the Megaversal rule system. If this is your first foray
into the exciting and dangerous world of Rifts® or the Palladium
game system, then welcome and enjoy.
The Rifts® Primer is meant to give new Rifts® Players and
Game Masters a solid footing to start their gaming experience.
Whether you are brand new or you have Game Mastered the RPG
of any game company, all you need is an understanding of Pal-
ladium’s rule system and the setting of Rifts®. As a result, this
guide is one part game advice, one part adventure building, and
one part ready to play adventure – complete with combat and rules
explanations built right into the adventure.
The main focus of the guide and Palladium games is on role-
playing and storytelling, and how the rules are applied in the con-
text of this and any adventure. Character creation is covered very
well in the Rifts® Ultimate Edition and will not be discussed
here. Pre-generated characters are provided so you won’t need the
Rifts® Ultimate Edition to play this adventure, though it is help-
ful.
What follows are a slew of Game Master tips and Game Master
tools to help run your own Rifts® games and create your own
adventures. There are also some player tips, and at the end of the
adventure is a section on crafting your first adventure.
Once you have mastered the basic rules, you are all set to run
your own Rifts® games and have hours of fun creating stories,
laughing with friends, and in general, sharing a social experience
that can’t be duplicated with video games or the Internet. Play-
ers who never considered running a game before, may find this
information insightful and alluring. So read the Game Master tips,
check out the adventure, grab your friends and dice, and prepare to
have a great time.
Two things to keep in the back of your mind as you read
the adventure and tips. I have two rules that are not an outspoken
part of Palladium’s rules, but which I know the game’s creator
wholeheartedly agrees with and incorporates himself. I use these
regardless of what system I run.
1. Keep it simple.
2. Keep it fun.
I always try to keep these two rules in mind when I create and
run my games. So does Kevin Siembieda, the creator of Rifts®
and the Palladium game system. New Game Masters should keep
their games simple at first, especially while they are learning the
rules and art of telling a great story. Have fun with it and keep it
®
moving, keep it lively, and remember, the characters are the stars.
Just like a good movie the characters should be the central point
of your story.
Game on!
– Carl J. Gleba, 2016
Using this Guide
As Palladium Books makes moves to introduce Rifts® into
other mediums and even with other game systems such as Rifts®
for Savage Worlds®, we thought it would be a good time to share
this adventure and tips for Game Mastering and playing the Rifts®
RPG. The tips are rock solid fundamentals of role-playing with an
emphasis on character and story – the Palladium style. The adven-
ture that is included is very basic and set somewhere in Rifts North
America.
I would suggest the Game Master read not just the G.M. tips,
but the entire adventure before running it. Unlike your typical
adventure book, at various points throughout this adventure are
sections on rules and combat. The rules needed at that point in
the adventure are explained and, hopefully in the context of the
game, they will be clear and understandable. Every rule found in
the Rifts® Ultimate Edition is not explained in this guide or the
small adventure, only the essential, but they are enough to enable
you to play through this adventure and have a good time, WITH-
OUT the Rifts® rule book. For a complete list of rules, spells, and
everything else you’ll want to run for an ongoing Rifts® cam-
paign, check out the Rifts® Ultimate Edition and for more setting
and inspiration, any of the world or adventure sourcebooks.
Tools of the Game
Dice. You need a selection of dice to play. Most Game Shops
sell tubes of polyhedral dice or even check with your local chain
bookstore behind the counters. The dice you’ll need and how they
are noted in this book and other Palladium books are a 20-sided
die, or a D20, a twelve-sided die, D12, two ten-sided dice, either
different colors or one with the tens denoted on it (e.g. 10, 20, 30,
40 and so on) instead of 1, 2, 3... You will also need an eight-sided
die, D8, three to four six-sided dice, D6, and a four-sided die, D4.
Below is a list and the notation. If a number is in front of the “D”
then that indicates how many of that kind of dice are needed. For
example, 4D6 means four six-sided dice.
Twenty-sided die – D20
Twelve-sided die – D12
Ten-sided die – D10
Eight-sided die – D8
Six-sided die – D6
Four-sided die – D4
1D20 means one 20-sided die.
3D6 means three 6-sided dice.