Ten New/Upcoming RPGs Worthy of Your Attention in Late 2016

Savage Rifts – Pinnacle Entertainment Group (Available Now)

One of the coolest roleplaying settings has to be Kevin Siembieda’s Rifts, which was released back in 1990 through Palladium Books; I had my first experience with Palladium when the comic sized Mechanoid Invasion came out (1981) and I’ve always had a soft spot for the company ever since. Over the years more than eighty sourcebooks have been published for Rifts, making it one of the best supported products in the industry. Yet, as much as I dug the various releases from Palladium, the core game mechanics were always a bit tricky for me. I’m not saying they were bad by any means, just a different than what I was used to and sometimes I found it a little tough to wrap my head around.

With Savage Worlds, from Pinnacle Entertainment Group, one of the hottest generic core RPG systems on the market fans had been clammoring for Rifts to be ported over. This summer fans got their wish as new Rifts books started to arrive by way of Pinnacle. If you aren’t familiar with Rifts, the game takes place in a post-apocalypic future but it doesn’t stop there as the setting is a wild mash up of SF, cyberpunk, wild west, horror, and more. You’d maybe think all of this would make the game a mess but, in truth, all those ingredients add up to a recipe for awesome.

Currently, you’ll want to start with the The Tomorrow Legion Player’s Guide and Gamemaster’s Handbook to get your juices flowing!

From Pinnacle:

The Tomorrow Legion Player’s Hand Book

A MEGAVERSE GONE MAD!

Prepare yourself for a railgun-shredding, mega-powered magic flinging journey into a post-post-apocalyptic world where supernatural horrors vie with technological empires for mastery of the world.

THIS IS THE WORLD OF RIFTS

Unpredictable holes in the very fabric of space and time open the way to countless creatures, beings, and dangers. Whatever you imagine—whatever you fear—it’s somewhere on this war-and-chaos ravaged world.

THE TOMORROW LEGION IS READY

In the battle for survival the Tomorrow Legion brings together the greatest, the bravest, and the craziest to stand against an infinity of threats. They stand for a better future than the past they’ve known.

The Rifts Tomorrow Legion Player’s Guide contains everything you need to make and equip mega-powered characters for the Rifts Earth setting. Iconic Frameworks load you up with options for well-known concepts (Glitter Boys, Juicers, Ley Line Walkers, Mind Melters), as well as the capacity to craft your own custom ideas. New Setting Rules bring home the gonzo, cranked-to-eleven nature of Rifts, and the gear lists include everything from incredibly powerful weapons and armor to cybernetics to arcana-fueled Techno-Wizard items. New rules for Mega Powers bring magic and psionics to super-powered levels, and Hero’s Journey tables flesh out your characters in exciting and fun ways.

This book requires the Savage Worlds core rules to play.

The Game Master’s Handbook

WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY!

Running Savage Rifts is unlike any game you’ve ever run before: everything is bigger, faster, and over-the-top, with more adventure and threats thanks to the gaping holes in space-time that define the setting. The heroes of the setting are powered up and equipped with the kind of gear you need to fight inter-dimensional wars.

WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK

The Rifts Game Master’s Handbook is packed cover-to-cover with everything you need to master a setting with decades of history and a Megaverse of possibilities. A thorough yet concise overview of the world, with a focus on the North American continent where the Tomorrow Legion is based, adds to information about all the factions and other major known threats the heroes are likely to encounter. All you need to know about the ley lines, the Rifts, how they work, and how to on-the-fly generate them at need is included. You also get a powerful Adventure Generator tailored to the unique qualities of Rifts North America and the foes that plague the Tomorrow Legion, powerful and useful advice on running a Savage Rifts campaign; and much, much more!

This book requires the Savage Worlds core rules and the Rifts: The Tomorrow Legion Player’s Guide to play.

Conan

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Jeff McAleer

Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...

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