Melding Science, Magic and Mutants in an RPG? A Look at the Palladium and Rifts System From Back in the Day

Greetings gamers from all systems, places and timelines.

Recently, a good friend of mine asked about my experience playing the Palladium/Rifts system. Afterward, he said that it sounds so fantastic that I should run a game using it, and part of me would love to go down that road. The setting is well-crafted, the art in the sourcebooks is fantastic, and its concept is nothing short of amazing.

Just as a little background: Palladium is the publisher and the name of the RPG system. Rifts is the core game in that system. Rifts takes place on a post-apocalyptic version of earth where rifts from other times, places and universes keep unleashing new things into the world. (This also allowed Palladium’s licensed games that used the same system, like Robotech, to show up in your Rifts game. Hence referring to it as Palladium/Rifts). 

Here, magic and super-science meet in one of the most deadly hostile working environments an adventurer could ask for. However, with great risks come equally audacious rewards, as both lost and forgotten magic and technologies could be yours. 

When my group played Rifts/Palladium, we not only had some fantastic games but even played multiple full-length campaigns that were nothing short of epic. Now, you’re probably asking, “Why aren’t you running a campaign in this incredible system right now?” Well, that’s what I’m about to explain.

I Asked What Time It Is, Not for You to Build a Clock 

One of the biggest pain points of Rifts/Palladium is its overly complex character creation. Making characters in this system is not something to be attempted by the faint of heart.

Don’t believe me? Get the original PDF for Rifts and roll up an ordinary human military specialist. I mean, how hard could making a person with some specialized military experience be? Well, strap yourself in and get a box of joe, because you’re gonna be working on that character for a hot minute.

In most TTRPGs, your character might start a game with a handful of things they’re good at, but not in this one. Instead, to put it in D&D terms, it would be like making a first-level character who starts out with 12 proficiencies. 

Having a lot of skills and options from the start can’t be a bad thing, right? However, a lot of the skills you pick can also affect your stats. For example, if you took boxing, you’d get a boost to several ability scores plus an extra attack in hand-to-hand combat. 

I see why that makes sense – you trained in boxing and you’re now tougher and can attack more effectively in hand-to-hand. The problem is, all of these boosts stack, and by the time you’re finished, an absolute ton of adjustments will have been made. So, keep the calculator app on your phone open and get a buddy to check your math. 

Some of the character types start with so many open skills that they can select pretty much all of the physical training perks right at level one. Just like that person you met in high school. You remember the one, that person who boxed, wrestled, practiced Kung Fu, did gymnastics, acrobatics, ran cross country, was on the swim team, the powerlifting team, learned how to use both multiple ancient and modern weapons, and still went on to graduate first in their class at the police academy? Meanwhile, all of these skills can have a different chance of success, which means your computer operations could be 42% while your stealth is at 51% while your hacking is 77%, and so on.

Although this process is pretty involved, it can be more manageable once everything is finally calculated. That is until you level up, and then your skills increase and all bets are off.  

Character Balancing Be Damned 

The character balancing in Palladium/Rifts is rocky at times at best. One of the things I find most attractive about this system is that you can be literally anything, and the system can try and make it work. So, you can create a private eye, a superhero, a ninja, and a dragon, then all those characters could fit into a party together and adventure in this post-apocalyptic world. But, the punchline is that all of those characters don’t exactly fit very well in a party together. I mean, seriously, ninjas are great and all, but if I could be a ninja or a dragon, there really is no contest.

Don’t get me wrong, a player may want to run a private investigator so badly that they won’t mind that their buddy the dragon has 5 times as many hit points as they do. Years back, we ran a superhero game set on modern-day earth using the palladium system. Ironically, the DM NPC I ran in that game was a private investigator. The other players all chose high-powered mutants or aliens right from the same heroes unlimited book. Then, about 2 battles into the campaign, my NPC got creamed by a nasty 20 and spent the next month in the hospital. The NPC didn’t have any special healing powers and neither did the party, so he had to get used to hospital food while his teammates had to bring him any clues they found. 

It would have been helpful if certain available races and classes had ratings to compare them. In that way, the DM could say something to the effect, “The next game is for category 1 heroes.” Then, the players could simply pick from the existing list of choices accordingly. In that way, you aren’t over- or underwhelming your players in encounters before they even get a chance to get into the system. 

Get Ready to Rumble! 

Combat’s a big part of virtually any modern tabletop RPG with few exceptions. (As much as I did enjoy some classic White Wolf back in the day, but I digress.) The problem is that all these characters in the Rifts system could easily start with a ton of multiple attacks. And, if you feel your D&D encounters are running a little slow, wait until one of the party members is a juicer and they can attack 8 times every round. 

Not to mention that, while you’re shooting, punching, or trying to stab someone, the target has defensive options like parrying and dodging. While this sounds pretty intuitive, the problem is that it takes an already slow combat system and brings it to a nearly grinding halt. I’ve sat in D&D 5E sessions where one battle takes the better part of a night.  Then, just imagine fighting one opponent for an entire night. Things quickly turn into an episode of Dragon Ball Z gone bad, where the planet is going to explode in just 5 minutes three game sessions away. While some of these fights are truly epic, not everybody is down for that.

Speaking of long combats, fighting an opponent with a couple hundred hit points can definitely be a long and heated battle. Without boring you with how the Palladium system runs its life totals, just imagine fighting a demon that literally could have tens of thousands of health points. Then thrown into the mix that this opponent also probably has forcefields, can regenerate and casts healing spells.

I mean, seriously, you’re just better off negotiating with this individual because, by the time this battle’s over, your kids are gonna be in college. 

Conclusion 

The Palladium/Rifts system is something I have some extremely fond memories from as its concepts and artwork are nothing short of spectacular. Unfortunately, in some ways, the system had some flaws that are challenging to work around. And while I wouldn’t say the system is outright unplayable, it has some rough points that make it something I wouldn’t suggest to novice gamers.

But, in all fairness it’s like anything you could try to house rule, so feel free to pick up a Rifts PDF and check it out. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from Mexico. There are vampires down there!