Warning! Violence and the Supernatural

The fictional worlds of Palladium Books® are violent, deadly and filled with supernatural monsters. Other-dimensional beings, often referred to as "demons," torment, stalk and prey on humans. Other alien life forms, monsters, gods and demigods, as well as magic, insanity, and war are all elements in these books.

Some parents may find the violence, magic and supernatural elements of the games inappropriate for young readers/players. We suggest parental discretion.

Please note that none of us at Palladium Books® condone or encourage the occult, the practice of magic, the use of drugs, or violence.

The Rifter® Number 25 Your guide to the Palladium Megaverse®!

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First Printing - January, 2004

Copyright 2004 Palladium Books Inc. & Kevin Siembieda

All rights reserved, world wide, under the Universal Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced in part or whole, in any fonn or by any means, without pennission from the publisher, except for brief quotes for use in reviews. All incidents, situations, institutions, governments and people are fictional and any similarity, without satiric intent, of characters or persons living or dead, is strictly coincidental.

Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, Coalition Wars®, RECON®, Nightbane®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, After the Bomb®, Phase World® and Megaverse® are registered trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

Beyond the Supernatural Two, Chaos Earth, NEMA, Merctown, Dimension Builder, Dragonlands, Triax, Gargoyle Empire, United World of Warlock, Chaos Wizard, Zone Wizard, D-Shifter, Chaos Witch, Demonbringer, Demon Caller, NEMA, Mechanoid Space, Heroes Unlimited, HU2, Powers Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Aliens Unlimited, Mutant Underground, The Nursery, Hardware Unlimited, Gadgets Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, BTS-2, Three Galaxies, Void Runners, Gramercy Island, Skraypers, Atorian Empire, Wonnwood, Land of the Damned, The Citadel, Wolfen Wars, Wolfen, Cosmo-Knights, Cyber-Knight, Free Quebec, Xiticix Invasion, Fadetown, Hammer of the Forge, Siege On Tolkeen, Psyscape, Dweomer, ARCHIE-3, Northern Gun, Coalition States, Erin Tam, Emperor Prosek, Splugorth, Splynncryth, Mega-Damage, Skelebot, SAMAS, Glitter Boy, Dog Boys, Dog Pack, Techno-Wiz­ard, Ley Line Walker, Shifter, Bio-Wizardry, Psi-Stalker, Brodkil, Juicer, Crazy, 'Burbs, 'Borg, 'Bot, D-Bee, Chi-Town, Triax, NGR, and other names, titles and likenesses of characters are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.

Palladium Online www.palladiumbooks.com

The Rifter® #25 RPG sourcebook series is published by Palladium Books Inc., 12455 Universal Drive, Taylor, MI 48180. Printed in the USA.

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Palladium Books® Presents:

#25 Sourcebook and guide to the Palladium Megaverse®

Coordinator & Editor in Chief: Wayne Smith

Contributing Writers:

James M.G. Cannon

Mark Hall

Levi Johnstone

Michael Long

Shawn Merrow

John C. Philpott

Sonny Rice

Rodney Stott

Kevin Siem bieda

Proofreader: Julius Rosenstein

Cover Illustration: Apollo Okamura

Keylining: Kevin Siembieda

Based on the RPG rules, characters,

concepts and Megaverse® created by Kevin Siembieda.

Interior Artists:

Kent Buries

Drunken Style Studios (DSS)

Brandon C. Clark (DSS)

Mark Dudley (DSS)

Allen Manning

Brian Manning

Apollo Okamura

Freddie Williams II

Michael Wilson

and other Palladium Madmen

Cover Logo Design: Steve Edwards

Credits Page Logo: Niklas Brandt

Typesetting: Wayne Smith

Special Thanks to all our contributors, writers and artists - and a special welcome on board to the artists and writers making their debut in this issue. Our apologies to anybody who got accidentally left out or their name misspelled.

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Contents - The Rifter® #25 - January, 2004

Page 6 -Art Brandon C. Clark of Drunken Style Studio was just playing

around with this illustration. He's been experimenting with dif­ferent effects, toning and art techniques on paper and with the computer. When Kevin Siembieda saw this illustration he wanted it for The Rifter® even though it was unfmished. We hope you like this Page Six artwork as much as he did. You can see more of Brandon's artwork along with Mark Dudley and other DSS artists elsewhere in this issue as well as Chaos Earth™: Creatures o/Chaos and Rifls® China Two. These tal­ented gentlemen just keep getting better and better.

Page 7 - From the Desk of Kevin Siembieda The boss reflects a bit on the past, where Palladium's going

and his take on his place in the gaming business. A promising future lays ahead.

Page 8 - Palladium News Issues #1-13 of The Rifter® are soon to be discontinued,

Erick Wujcik has hung his hat at Palladium Books for a little while, Palladium may be moving down the street, Rifts® China One is fmally at the printers, recent releases and other stuff is part of this issue's news.

Palladium hopes to make the Origins® Game Expo the place for Palladium fans to gather, meet, game and have fun. Check it out on page 9.

Page 10 - Coming Attractions Rifts® China One is at the printers. It has a ton '0 good stuff

in it and work is in progress on China 2, Powers Unlimited™ Two (for HU2), Beyond the SupernaturaJTM 2, the Rifts® Di­mension Builder and several other titles. Big things are brew­ing at Palladium Books, and you can catch a glimpse of what's to come right here.

Page 14 - Ninjas & Superspies™ (or Heroes UnlimitedTM) Guns for Hire

Optional rules, skills, Skill Programs and ideas by John C. Philpott for rulU1ing modem day military campaigns using Ninjas & Superspies™ and adaptable to Heroes Unlimited™. John's stint in the military helps give him a unique perspective and an attention to detail. Includes a wide range of new and modified Skill Programs, Real World Special Forces Units, and other material for those looking for more realistic military-style campaigns.

Artwork by Brian & Allan Manning.

Page 40 - The Palladium Fantasy RPG® The Lost Art of Golemancy

Sonny Rice presents optional rules and tables that expand on the Golem as a monster and villain, presenting unique features and characteristics, bizarre traits and self-awareness.

Artwork by Apollo Okamura.

Page 45 - Palladium Fantasy RPG® The Fires of Korath, Part One

Michael Long has gone all out to provide us with an epic fan­tasy adventure involving the dreaded Old Ones, ancient arti­facts, dragons, gods and intrigue. The adventure carries characters across land and sea, to ancient ruins, hidden temples, and places of danger where they must face Frost Giants, Will-o-the-Wisps, monsters, sorcerers and numerous obstacles and enemies - some lurking in the shadows where they least ex­pect them. Best suited for mid- to high-range characters with the hearts of lions and the cUlU1ing of vipers.

Artwork by Kent BurIes. Maps by Michael Long and cleaned up by Wayne Smith.

Page 67 - Rifts® Enthralled (psionics)

Optional source material by Levi Johnstone as he presents several new psionic powers and psychic character classes for the Rifts Earth setting. We've been told one can never have enough psionic powers, so fans should have fun with abilities like Shared Perception, Hypnotic Control, Enhance Reflexes and Al­ter Memory. New optional characters include the Enthral/er, In­tuitive Warrior, Kinetic Master and Te/epath.

Artwork is by Mark Dudley and Brandon C. Clark of Drunken Style Studio.

Page 83 - Rifts® Phase World® The Hammer of the Forge

Chapter 25 of James M.G. CalU1on's epic saga. This chapter has more surprises.

Artwork by Apollo Okamura.

Page 89 - Rifts® Phage World

Mark Hall presents Psi-Stalkers turned into vampires by a mysterious virus. Characters the author sees as more subtle, menacing and different than the traditional vampire. You be the judge. Optional characters and rules.

Artwork by Apollo Okamura.

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Page 92 - Questions & Answers Rodney Stott, Shawn Merrow and Kevin Siembieda tackle a

diverse selection of questions about magic before diving into Second Edition Fantasy conversions for "Lost Magic" and the Yin-Sloth Jungles . Most of the material consists of spells found in earlier printings and editions of the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing game that, for one reason or another, got left out of the latest edition. Well, they're back. Enjoy. Next issue, con­versions for Yin-Sloth Jungles continue.

Page 94 - The Rifter® Super-Subscription Offer

It's subscription renewal time for The Rifter®, and due to popular demand, we're making another unbeatable subscription offer as an incentive for long-time subscribers to renew and new folks to subscribe for the first time ever. Hey, if you enjoy The Rifter®, why take the chance of missing a single issue? Sub­scribe to make sure your collection is complete. This offer is worth your while - check it out.

No BTS Preview Space limitations and timing prevented us from offering the

sneak preview to the new Beyond the Supernatural 2TM

role-playing game. The good news is the game, in its entirety, should be hitting store shelves sometime in March. Watch for it, you won't be disappointed.

The theme for issue 25 Adventure and magic are the themes of this issue with mate­

rial for character creation and gaming for Ninjas & Superspies™, Palladium Fantasy® and Rifts®. There is plenty of material here for building adventures, introducing new pow­ers, O.C.C.s and villains into existing campaigns to take them into new directions or to offer a few surprises, as well as a fleshed out fantasy adventure.

The Cover The cover is artist, Apollo Okamura's experiment in a com­

puter generated color rendering. People who ordered Palla­dium's Collector's Super Grab Bag got a sneak peak at it, but here it is in glorious color. Not bad for one of Apollo's first at­tempts at color. You can be sure to see more of his black and white and color work gracing the pages and covers of future Pal­ladium products.

Optional and Unofficial Rules & Source Material Please note that most of the material presented in The

Rifter® is "unofficial" or "optional" rules and source material.

They are alternative ideas, homespun adventures and material mostly created by fellow garners and fans like you, the reader. Things one can elect to include in one's own campaign or sim­ply enjoy reading about. They are not "official" to the main games or world settings.

As for optional tables and adventures, if they sound cool or fun, use them. If they sound funky, too high-powered or inap­

propriate for your game, modify them or ignore them completely.

All the material in The Rifter® has been included for two reasons: One, because we thought it was imaginative and fun, and two, we thought it would stimulate your imagination with fun ideas and concepts that you can use (if you want to), or which might inspire you to create your own wonders.

www.palladiumbooks.com - Palladium Online

Coming Next Issue

The Rifter™ #26 • Part Two of Fires of Korath for Palladium Fan­

tasy®.

• Material for Nightbane® and/or Heroes Unlim­ite(/fM.

• Material for Beyond the Supernatura(fM.

• Material for Systems Failure™.

• More material for Rifts®, including a closer look at mutants.

• Questions and Answers.

• The next chapter of The Hammer of the Forge™.

• The latest news and developments at Palladium Books.

• Source material for the entire Palladium Megaverse®.

• New contributors and fun. So please join us.

Palladium Books® role-playing games ... infinite possibilities, limited only by your imagination™

Palladium's games are found in stores everywhere

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