Rifts Adventure Guide

You may not be a fan of Kevin Siembieda, the Palladium RPG system, or of the Rifts setting… but, if you’re a GM who wants to create really dynamic and exciting adventures, you need to check out this book.

The Rifts Adventure Guide is not what it at first appears. It’s much more than that.

Here’s a primer on what to expect and why you should pick up a copy.

What I Expected

I’m planning to run a one-off intro game to the Rifts setting and the Palladium system in general. When I started reading the Rifts Ultimate Edition rulebook in earnest, I didn’t expect much. But, in truth, the setting has an awful lot to commend it: a blend of magic and technology, horror and fantasy that really grabbed my attention.

My major barrier in prepping a game was that, despite the huge setting and wide range of choices afforded by the game, I was facing a kind of block about where to start. So, in my head, the blurb for the Adventure Guide was inviting:

A step by step guide to creating and running Rifts® adventures (and role-playing games in general). A how to manual by Kevin Siembieda plus viewpoints, suggestions and additional material by other Palladium Game Masters, including Erick Wujcik, Wayne Breaux Jr., and Bill Coffin. Real life playing experiences and lots of examples are presented.

200+ adventure ideas? Yes, please!

But this book is so much more than a menu of suggestions for Rifts: it’s really a fairly comprehensive guide on how to write exciting and engaging adventures – for any of the genres that Palladium covers, which includes pretty much all of them.

In fact, the book isn’t really even aimed at the Palladium GM as much as it’s aimed at the kind of GM who wants to know how to create and run better adventures. Isn’t that pretty much all of us?

What’s Inside?

First caveat: it’s Kevin Siembieda’s book. If you’ve not read his stuff before, then you’ll need to grit your teeth against the ever-so-self-indulgent tone that he likes to adopt.

Love him or no, the thing is that Siembieda is a GM with a very positive reputation at the table and some 25+ years of both gaming and business experience. And so you need to lay aside prejudice and read what he has collected together.

The book opens with a really very illuminating section on players and GM “understandings”: this is about the “job” of both the player and the Gamemaster. It’s a very honest read, and a useful one even for a jaded old grognard like me. But it’s great for players because it reminds them of the attitude they need to adopt to get the most from a game.

The rest is a series of articles on the various aspects of adventure writing. Certainly, the majority of examples refer to the Rifts setting or to past adventures run by Siembieda in his fantasy world. But that should not deflect us from reading what he has to say. And it’s good stuff.

From inspiration, through to story outlining and adventure structure, and leading on to some classic “GM Rules” – well, this is mostly gold. A couple of favourite sections include the advice on “consequences and logical progression” (in which he discusses how to make every player action lead to positive and negative outcomes) and the section on “archetypes”.

Much that is in here has been discussed elsewhere, that is perhaps true, but never quite so plainly put and easy to understand. Siembieda might blow his own trumpet, but he’s not pompous – in fact, he’s an antidote to the somewhat overblown claims of the “serious gamer”.

A real gem is the section entitled “Wujcik Words”. If you’re not aware of Erick Wujcik then you’ve missed much on good roleplaying. That said, an awful lot of great advice is collated here in his discussions on names.

For the Rifts gamer, there is a section introducing the Coalition States ‘Burbs sub-setting. Don’t let this setting-specific material escape your attention, though, because it’s a really great primer on how to “sell” a setting to the reader. The 101 Adventure Ideas and various random tables round out the offering, and all of it is useful inspiration for any type of GM.

Why I Like It

Putting aside the self-promoting style of writing, which could easily irritate, I like this book because the advice is honest and clear. For the new GM, this is gold.

It’s less serious than most GM theory books, by which I mean less turgid and self-important. It’s also authoritative and encouraging, with countless examples worked out on the page, exposing a train of thought process from the author. That makes the Rifts Adventure Guide helpful and interesting.

I couldn’t stop reading. I’m still flipping though it. And yes, I do have several workable ideas for the intro game I want to run.

How many GM theory books keep bringing you back for second helpings? I can think of only one other. Yes, it’s irritating that it’s not available as an official .PDF, but it’s worth every penny to have a read nonetheless.

And you never know: the Rifts Adventure Guide might make you curious about Rifts too.

Game on!