Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition by Alien Rope Burn

"As our story progresses, the leaders of Tolkeen and the Coalition States will be shown to be more alike than different."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Hello Kevin, my old friend
I've come to read with you again


Because a book softly cre-eeping
Broke my brains while I was pe-eeping


And the plot that was planted in my brain


Circled drains


And warned of war and violence




Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 1: "As our story progresses, the leaders of Tolkeen and the Coalition States will be shown to be more alike than different."

So, the elected monarchistic Tolkeen is just as bad as the neo-neo-Nazi Coalition.

No, really, don't laugh, it's true!



You may say "Well, Tolkeen aren't expansionist, genocidal fascists." And that's true. But their sin is different. Their sin is one of self-defense. Siembieda, right off the bat, argues that the people of Tolkeen should just flee. To him, the notion of opposing genocidal fascism at the cost of your own life is an act of blind hatred on the part of Tolkeen's leaders. According to him, they're coldly irresponsible, and more focused on revenge than the well-being of their people by committing to a war that they can't win. How do they know this? Well, it's presumed, since the author knows who wins. I wanted to play coy about who wins this fight, but it's already spoiled in the books leading up to this event. And even if they hadn't, we still have Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States: The Disavowed and Rifts® The Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity Arsenal Sourcebook coming out in 2019... or 2020... or whenever. Yes, we've got a six book series where we know how it ends. And anybody at the time should have known how it would end. In the meantime, prepare for a lot of "maybe the fault is with both sides" bullshit.

And so Siembieda says to cut and run. And we'll hear that refrain throughout the book. It fits with his philosophy that war is only committed by the mad or cruel. But we don't know that much about Tolkeen, and that'll be a problem going forward. And for those that are looking forward to seeing any details on it- well, you'll still have to wait a long while. Yes, though we'll hear a lot about the region, Tolkeen's war plans, and their weapons... Tolkeen as a place, Tolkeen as a people... will remain frustratingly vague.


_{How many licks does it take to get to the Nazi Roll center of a Nazi Pop?}

One thing that is a little confusing - is this series called Coalition Wars or Siege on Tolkeen? The first is the name on the cover, so that's what I'm going with. It's probably better known by the second name, though, since it was solicited under that name. The official name for this book is Rifts® Coalition Wars® 1: Sedition™ (yes, all those ownership marks are official) or Rifts® Coalition Wars® Siege on Tolkeen™ - Chapter One: Sedition, even though the word "sedition" isn't anywhere on the cover! Without catalogs or the interior title, you'd have no idea it was supposed to be called that. Which surely is the purest sign we're going into a Palladium book...

We've come a long way, roughly a full decade of Rifts summaries written, the metaplot inching forward over scores of books to this point in which we get to the Coalition-Tolkeen war. Prepare yourself for the biggest, longest, most overblown and self-indulgent series of Rifts summaries books yet. Primarily written by Kevin Siembieda, this also has a fair amount of writing by Bill Coffin, who will get roped into this largely to his chagrin. Rifts was hardly his favorite game line, but he'll see if there's a way to inject some sense into Siembieda's writing. One of the core issues is that the war doesn't make a world of sense - either through teleportation or nukes, the war should be over one way or the other very quickly. How can they deal with the fact that we're dealing with magic and technology advanced enough to run a wrecking ball over the notion of conventional war?

Well, screw that, it's time for Tarn.

Next: When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled.

"I wish I could say that this is all the Coalition States' doing, but it is with a sad heart that I must warn those willing to listen, that this is not so."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 2: "I wish I could say that this is all the Coalition States' doing, but it is with a sad heart that I must warn those willing to listen, that this is not so."

Erin Tarn's Warning

Erin Tarn is sad.

See, it turns out Tolkeen has been preparing for war. According to Tarn, Tolkeen isn't fighting for freedom or peace, but simply to bloody the Coalition. And this is bad. It turns out Tolkeen reached out for an alliance with Lazlo. Lazlo refused, because... well, she doesn't say. She was actually for an alliance, but was shocked when the Tolkeen representatives considered this a betrayal, and swore they would one day take revenge on Lazlo. Propaganda now circulates in Tolkeen that Lazlo is jealous of Tolkeen and is inclined to see it destroyed.

In any case, Tarn says that Tolkeen is just the other side of the coin from the Coalition, at they've taken on a "with us or against us" philosophy, and that they're encouraging the outright slaughter of the Coalition. Furthermore, apparently Tolkeen is making questionable deals for power. They're bad, and Tarn is never an unreliable narrator!... well, except when Siembieda retcons something from her long text in the corebook. That happens a fair deal.


_{"There's no place like bone... there's no place like bone..."}

Magic vs Technology

Time for fiction chunks.

First, we get a "Tactical Report 00132" by a Major Jan Yoblonsky with Coalition Intel. It seems the Coalition opened up hostilities with a tactical nuclear strike, but Tolkeen responded by opening several rifts, sending the missiles to some unknown place. It seems that Tolkeen had some intel on the launch from an unknown source. Yoblonsky recommends that a ground war will be necessary to take Tolkeen over the course of years, and with a major loss of life.

This is followed by "A video-letter from Corporal Deon Canton", largely speaking on what it's like being a Coalition solider on the front. Sections of this are "CENSORED by the CS Military for security reasons" to both the fictional and real-life reader, but the take away is that they're having to deal with terrifying guerrilla fighting from Tolkeen, as they'll just pop a major spell or summon a monster and run. The Dog Boys and Psi-Stalkers are vital to this conflict, as they're the only ones that can get any sort of forewarning of these attacks. Still, he's proud to fight now that he really knows what a threat Tolkeen is. We'll be seeing more of him, as he'll be our viewpoint character for the conflict. Why, no, there is no viewpoint character for Tolkeen, in case you're wondering...

Then, we exit the realm of fiction, and go into an essay on the relationship between magic and technology. Siembieda goes on at length on how they really achieve similar effects by different means, but that the Coalition and similar "technocrats" have inherited pre-rifts attitudes towards magic as an aberration or deception. Furthermore, disasters and monsters born from the supernatural have poisoned their attitudes. Apparently, while Emperor Prosek has exploited this, he didn't create this attitude.

On the flipside, Tolkeen is mean and bad, haven't you heard? What does this have to do with magic or technology? Nothing, they've just let the Coalition's persecution make them intolerant of the Coalition! And that's bad, son. Oh, right, we were supposed to be talking about the difference between magic and technology, or something...?


_{Magic is not to be used for kancho.}

Magic - The Great Equalizer

Because of the ease in concealing magic and its use to call forth esoteric forces like destructive weather or elementals, the Coalition invaders have become increasingly paranoid. In addition, even the innocent may feed power to spellcasters voluntarily or otherwise. Hence, the Coalition will focus on eliminating border towns and other surrounding communities first, because anybody and anyone can conceivably be a threat (or at least a battery).

Under a subsection entitled "Technology is good", it points out that unlike the Coalition, Tolkeen can use magic. However, it quickly turns the title ironic, discussing about how bionics can reduce one's magic power... because... they can, I guess. Similarly, we get a reiteration of how artificial armor can interfere with magic use from Rifts World Book 16: Federation of Magic, a rule that will be forgotten by the authors within this very series - we'll see spellcasters in all sorts of conventional armor, which means they're in theory fucking up all their spells. It's also emphasized that trying to cast a spell from within a vehicle or power armor will just cause it to bounce back on you; the rubber-glue rule of magic, I guess.

Strategic Use of Ley Lines

Naturally, the Coalition wants to avoid fighting around Ley Lines, and Tolkeen uses them extensively. Use of Ley Lines for transportation is common, either via teleportation or techno-wizard vehicles like wingboards. Furthermore, it's in the interest for Tolkeen to attack any troops having to travel across or near a line.


_{"Man, I almost forgot we have these rifts around."}

Rift & Ley Line Magic

Like it says above, these are specialized spells. It's recommended some spellcasting classes get some of these as bonus spells they "have always known", "but never really had the opportunity or inclination to use them in the past". Ley Line Fade, Ley Line Phantom, and Rift to Limbo let you hide on a Ley Line, whil Ley Line Ghost lets you survive as a 24-hour-only line-limited ghost if you die on a Ley Line. Ley Line Restoration and Ley Line Resurrection are powerful healing spells that require a Ley Line; the latter only has a 40-50% chance of success for your 2000 P.P.E. expenditure. Ley Line Shutdown makes you spend 3000 P.P.E. to shut down a line for... 15 seconds to a minute. Ley Line Storm Defense protects from magic storms, Ley Line Tendril Bolts is a solid multi-target spell that requires a you-know-what, Ley Line Time Capsule lets you time-freeze a container (doesn't work on living animals, humans included), Ley Line Time Flux lets you speed up or slow down time while on a line, Rift Teleportation is Ley-Line only teleportation, Rift Triangular Defense System lets you create a force shield at a Ley Line Nexus of at least three lines, Swallowing Rift sucks targets in and spits them out at a random locale along the line, and Summon Ley Line Storm is self-explanatory.

There isn't much in the way of organization or structure in these books, so just be ready for subjects to be dropped or brought up at a whim.

Next: The Muggles Strike back.

"Additionally, the character will babble — finding it difficult to put together one coherent thought or sentence, as well as suffer from paranoid delusions, be physically weak, and obsessed with removing the noise generating implant causing his suffering ("Pluh ... please make it stop. Please ... oh god, man... make it stop! Make the noise in my head STOP!!!) and may even try to do it himself or attempt suicide."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 3: "Additionally, the character will babble — finding it difficult to put together one coherent thought or sentence, as well as suffer from paranoid delusions, be physically weak, and obsessed with removing the noise generating implant causing his suffering ("Pluh ... please make it stop. Please ... oh god, man... make it stop! Make the noise in my head STOP!!!) and may even try to do it himself or attempt suicide."

CS Countermeasures to Magic

So, we have a brand new skill for Coalition soldiers: Knowledge of Magic (for military applications). It's apparently gained by all Coalition soldiers and their allies on the front for free, which is good, because holy shit, is it not worth taking as a skill pick. It starts 20% when trying to understand basic facts, and 5% for specific info, with +5% per additional level. They can tell what magic fashion is like (Techno-Wizards like bomber jackets, Necromancers wear bones, etc.), recognizing magic symbols / tattoos / pyramids (but not their effect or meaning), what sort of gesticulations might be magic, etc. They can also try to notice or identify mind control with this skill.

I also like how you need this skill to recognize a mummy or zombie. "It's a walking, mummified corpse... could it be magic? Will need to observe further- gurk!"


_{"Actually, it's me who's the wizard, over here, on the left, with the goggles..."}

As aforementioned, Dog Boys are valued deeply by their units, and generally there are at least two assigned to a squad. The higher-ups are not entirely thrilled by the connection Coalition soldiers form to their Psi-Hound members, but recognize it as inevitable at the moment. However, Tolkeen has also recognized their value - as targets. However, units that get attached to their Dog Boys may redouble rather than break as they seek revenge for... their dog!



_{Man's best reason to shit yourself.}

We get a lot of talk on how they can sense P.P.E. and magic, but we already knew all this. But it fills pages, though. We're referred to Rifts World Book 13: Lone Star for full details, as apparently the corebook information is merely "adequate".

Psi-Stalkers are spookier, being bald and inclined to go crazy with their eyeliner, so they're not as beloved. While still valued, they're in the uncanny valley end of things for most Coalition troops. The Coalition also has their own Psychics; we're told only 4% of troops have psionic powers, which defies the old corebook value of about 25% for most humans to have psionics of some sort. Maybe they only mean master psychics, but who knows? Skelebots aren't as useful against Tolkeen since they're predictable and bad at recognizing magical threats, much less properly evaluating them. Though they tried massed Skelebot attacks early on, they've been ineffective for the most part. Generally, their best usage has been to flush out magic-users in raids on towns, which are then followed up by a live unit that can properly counter a wizard. Other times, they work to clear out ruins and lairs without risking human lives.


_{DO NOT WANT}

Anti-Magic Tactics
_{Containing & controlling prisoners who are Practitioners of Magic}

Then, we get into Containment & Restraints. Generally, the Coalition prefers to just execute magical enemies, but sometimes they see a need to extract information. While they almost never bother capturing "monsters" that are mega-damage, humanoid spellcasters are likely targets. One method to capture them is with special restraining body armor meant to lock down the limbs and mouth, as well as restrict them by forcing them to wear armor. Simple gags, blindfolds, handcuffs, etc. are all used as well. In extreme cases, they use bionic implants and devices to wreck a spellcaster's magical power, from monitoring systems to devices that allow them to shut off a spellcaster's ability to speak or see. Others are designed for push-button torture. The weirdest solution is just replacing a prisoner's hands or arms with crappy bionic limbs. Once again, why bionics wreak havoc with magic power when a lost limb doesn't is unclear - the text even refers to some spellcasters hacking a bionic limb off to restore their magic power.

<sub>i super don't get it


After the eleventh loop of Chinese Democracy, she could no longer remember her parents.</sub>

What gets the lion's share of attention - a full page of text - is the White Noise Generator Implant, which is an implant designed to generate sonic torture to wreck a spellcaster's concentration and cause extended sleep deprivation. (Also, for some reason it impedes magical healing, which is a new notion as far as I'm aware.) And it gets a laborious amount of loving detail, from farcical skill penalties to increasing the amount of time it takes to cast spells. The saving throw against insanity is actually used for once - to resist interrogations. After a number of days equal to Mental Endurance, you go permanently insane in the following ways:


Imagine having to roleplay that! I mean, I hope you just have to imagine it and that no GM has actually put a player (and their character) through that set of penalties - that'd be torture for the player. And yes, hilariously, though Mental Endurance plays a factor, the saving throw vs. insanity involved to resist it is only used to resist interrogation, not the insanity itself. So if you should have a bonus on saving throws vs. insanity, it doesn't apply against the insanity. Granted, that seems to be the norm for a lot of insanity-causing effects in Rifts, but it's particularly galling to see the mechanic called upon and then ignored for the very effect it's supposed to apply to.

A number of Coalition items from the Psionic Technology section of Rifts World Book 12: Psyscape are reprinted "for the reader's convenience", but you can refer to that review for those.

Next: Legendary drops.

"Perhaps an acquaintance, hero or stranger dies in their arms (or is too old or infirm to get it himself) and he/she/it entrusts them to get it and use it for some purpose — it's too powerful and must be destroyed or hidden better so nobody can ever use it, or to destroy the Coalition, or to Destroy Tolkeen or the Xiticix or..."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 4: "Perhaps an acquaintance, hero or stranger dies in their arms (or is too old or infirm to get it himself) and he/she/it entrusts them to get it and use it for some purpose — it's too powerful and must be destroyed or hidden better so nobody can ever use it, or to destroy the Coalition, or to Destroy Tolkeen or the Xiticix or..."

It really does just ellipse out like that.

The Magic Weapons of Tolkeen
_{By Bill Coffin and Kevin Siembieda}

Tolkeen, while powerful in magic, isn't really the best at most things magical. We're told Lazlo has better spellcasters, Stormspire is better at Techno-Wizardry, and that the Federation of Magic has stronger magical warriors. However, it does have a diverse group of people, magical professions, and magical creatures. In addition, they have one of the greatest vaults of magical goods. It's said to exceed even the not-previously-mentioned Black Vault of the Coalition, where the fascists lock away magic items they can't destroy or wish to study. (Though treated as a rumor in this book, it'll be revealed and detailed in later material.)

Legendary Artifacts

This details several particularly powerful items held by Tolkeen, or in one case, sought by Tolkeen. The Coalition is trying to destroy them, for obvious reasons.


_{If they translate a new spell, does it become the Book of Eleven?}

The Book of Ten

The Book of Ten is a mysterious spellbook written in at least a dozen languages, and contains a number of "Spells of Legend" within its pages. Scholars at Tolkeen have managed to decrypt ten of these spells, and are hoping to understand more of its text. (I guess tongues doesn't work?) In any case, only the most esteemed instructors get to learn them, though they might be provided as a reward to PCs.

The spells (and their associated costs) are:

• Blight of Ages (600 P.P.E.): This kills plants in an area of around a 400' radius per level of the caster over the course of minutes. However, trees get a saving throw per tree. Imagine having to save for every three in a mile-radius in a forest if an advanced caster tosses it down. We're assured that no, you can't kill a Millennium Tree with this; it even says somebody tried (?!). So much for legendary spells.
  
• Blood and Thunder (770 P.P.E.): This is a spell that makes practioners of magic into buff, mega-damage warriors that can shoot potent magic lightning and get a variety of combat bonuses. However, they become rage-filled berserkers with appetite for destruction, and are weakened for a day afterwards. You can try and save against this with a bonus if you don't want to join in, but overall it makes spellcasters actually pretty nasty, and the 100 ft. radius per level can let you effectively jump-up a whole army of wizards with this.
  
• Hivemind (350 P.P.E.): This lets you force everybody in a pretty large area (200' x level radius, 5 targets x level max) to work together towards a goal chosen by the caster from minutes to an hour, and grants telepathic bonuses. Willing participants get small bonuses, while unwilling participants get huge penalties. Mostly seems best to coordinate a group, trying to use it as a mind control tool gets people shuffling around like zombies, which is comparatively ineffective (though you can still wreck the action economy with, say, 40 controlled Coalition troopers).
  
• Metropolis (1600 P.P.E.): Lets you make a number of buildings in an area into regenerating M.D.C. buildings for a number of days; permanency requires 6,000 P.P.E. (!) and a permanent Physical Endurance point, but apparently a number of Tolkeen's mages have already made the sacrifice. This is, apparently, one reason why just dropping bombs on Tolkeen hasn't worked out so well.
  
• Mystic Quake (420 P.P.E.): This creates a vibration in an area that will cause people to fall over and be nearly helpless (no saving throw) while vehicles will almost certainly crash into something. Flying vehicles are more resistant but still given to some degree of turbulence. You can stand outside the radius and try and shoot at the victims, but there's a notable penalty to do so because everybody's doin' the wobbly walk. The wobbly walk: more effective than dodging!
  
• Sanctuary (1500 P.P.E.): This prevents all violence in an area; attempts to harm another will be immediately become "temporarily paralyzed or rendered unconscious". Which is it? We just don't know. Clever folks that try and cast this, then fire rail guns or missiles into it will find that the projectiles fall inert and fall harmlessly to the ground upon entering the radius.
  
• The Slowness (1,300 P.P.E.): Time freezes in an area around the spellcaster, though if the spellcaster tries to do harm within it, the spell is cancelled. A successful save lets you act within the radius, but at such a slowed pace as to be essentially helpless anyway. However, the spellcaster can still do things like steal items or doodle on targets. Like with Sanctuary, you can't target those within the area from outside of it- most attacks just fail, but explosives and energy blasts "bounce" back at the shooter for 10% damage. So, like, if I throw a grenade, it bounces back at me, then deci-plodes? I don't get it.
  
• Steel Rain (360 P.P.E.): This causes it to rain knives that do mega-damage, either in an area for low damage (that can stack up) or do Glitter-Boy-level damage in a brief "torrent" that affects only a small area. Effective enough but not really worth the cost and casting time.
  
• Vicious Circle (350 P.P.E.): Causes severe pain (essentially crippling anybody in the area) and inflicts damage whenever targets move. A successful save, done at penalty, negates the pain but reduced damage still occurs. The only way to truly escape is to exit the area or wait for the duration to finish.
  
• Warrior Horde (1,100 P.P.E.): Almost tailor-made to break the game into a misery of dice rolls, this lets the spellcaster summon 20 relatively weak mega-damage automatonish warriors per level. Each has three attacks a round, so even a mere fifth-level caster can bog the game to a near-standstill as at least 300 extra attack or defense rolls are added to the round, in addition to parry or damage rolls. Summoning forth an army of stop-motion warriors from the Earth is cool; the withering look the rest of the gaming table will give you as you start your hours-long litany of rolls is not.

_{"My brothers are coming! My brothers are coming!" "You're talking about the Coalition. Skull guys." "No!... yes."}

Poor Yorick was named by wizard who thought he was being clever. It's a stone, mega-damage skull that can be empowered to speak prophecy. However, it's often either vague, smug, or both. It generally doesn't answer questions unless the GM decides otherwise it deigns to, but usually makes wry and cutting observations about its owner. It has to be left out in the open to "see" the world, and if it's hidden away it stops being chatty. Right now it's in the hands of the king of Tolkeen, but is generally intended as an adventure hook dispenser. It also has "The Thirteen Mysteries", which are prophecies he's repeated a number of times, and we get a random table of them to drop on PCs. A lot of these might seem to pertain to the metaplot, but as far as I know they're never followed up on. Most of them are legit interesting plot hooks - like the Marianas Trench becoming a rift, or zombie/vampire apocalypse, or various teasers about a "hero slain" or a "great betrayal" which... nope. However, it was Yorick that allowed Tolkeen to predict the Coalition's nuclear attack and counter it.


_{Damage of one legendary sword = damage of two mini-missiles}

Ironbane is essentially an anti-tech sword found on an alien world, and is pretty strong when used against robots and power-armor. Not much else to it; Tolkeen has used it in skirmishes and the Coalition wants to steal it away to deal a morale blow (given one badass sword isn't going to change the course of the war). We also get a digression about how if the Coalition gets it, they'll put in the Black Vault Which May Not Exist But It Totally Does Maybe You Should Rob It Wait You'll Never Get Away With That What Were We Talking About Anyway.


_{Rock of mages.}

The Founder's Stone is a magic rock that lets you cast four powerful elemental Warlock spells (tornado, earthquake, river of lava, and tidal wave from Rifts Conversion Book, all reprinted here). This can be used even if you're a not a spellcaster, and it has a regenerating P.P.E. reserve to power these spells. Warlocks use it at a reduced cost. It's currently possessed by Mida Elektis, a Warlock who's on the leading council of Tolkeen- technically it's owned by the king, but if he opts to take it back, he's probably‌ in for a fight. There are supposedly three more stones with similar powers but different sets of spells, as well as a "Keystone" that grants grand power over elemental magic and elemental beings.


_{"No way am I drawing nine rings."}

The Nine Rings of Elder are magic rings that greatly enhance a spellcaster's power, increasing the range and duration of their magic while reducing the cost of all spells. Tolkeen is looking to find a way to make more, but is running into an issue where the Splugorth have a near-monopoly on known sources of the materials made to craft these. Meanwhile, the Coalition leadership is pretty freaked out at the notion at these might be reproduced, since it'd absolutely shift things in Tolkeen's favor. It won't happen, but I suppose they don't know that.


_{"But how will we know the Mobius when we find it?"}

The Mobius is a plot device Cosmic Cube sort of thing that numerous people are seeking out, and there are a bunch of legends around it. Everything said about it massively vague - maybe it lets you destroy anything, alter reality, eat your weight in oysters, whatever. As such, we mostly just get some adventure hooks centered around it.

• Search, Recover, and Destroy: Fake Coalition soldiers are looking for the Mobius, and murdering anybody else they think is looking for it. However, they turn out to be amoral treasure seekers using stolen Coalition equipment to eliminate any competition, and then pin it on the fascists.
  
• Give it to us: The PCs have a low-level spellcaster pal around with them, but then it turns out he's on the run from the Coalition, spellcasters, brigands, and others. He tried making a fake version of the Mobius to become famous awhile back, and now has Mobius-seekers gunning for him violently. The PCs could help him escape the region, or "Of course, one might ask, is the jerk worth saving?"
  
• Pillage: An oft-repeated Palladium adventure hook is "a village is in trouble from bandits/monsters/baristas, it's up to the PCs to fight them to the death!" Only, this time, the baristas are seeking the Mobius. It's up to you to save the village of Who The Fuck Cares from The Guys That Don't Matter!
  
• Coalition Siege: As "Pillage", but it's the Coalition who are the baddies attacking a town to get the Mobius, and the village may actually have or have recently had The Mobius.
  
• The Search: A person dies in a PCs' arms, giving them a hint to the Mobius! What does they die of? Plotitus. It can strike at any time. (We just don't know.) Or maybe they're too old to look for it and don't die! And the PCs have to look... somehow... in a place. Wow, Siembieda - yeah, I know it's you - could you be any more vague? Maybe they get it, maybe they don't! It's like the Mad Libs of adventure hooks. "A... _buttface_ _farts_ in your arms, telling you that you have to _kiss_ the Mobius in _a stinky boob_, but it turns out that it's really a _double penis_."

Oh, there's one last hook, "Mobius?". The player characters get a lead on a "collection" of Mobiuses, and track down a pair of scholars who gladly show them the Mobius collection, which turns out to be a collection of comics by the French artist Moebius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfelqZpapZA

Next: TekWar.

"Of course, there is something to be said about having everything in one book, but that would have meant 30-50 pages of reprint (with artwork)."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Siege on Tolkeen, Part 5: "Of course, there is something to be said about having everything in one book, but that would have meant 30-50 pages of reprint (with artwork)."

Techno-Wizard Weapons

So, Tolkeen has built a massive arsenal of Techno-Wizard weapons. And they get numbers!

First we start with TW Melee Weapons, which first refers us to The Rifter #2 for the Techno-Wizard weapons in that issue... but then emphasizes that they're unofficial and that the GM has to allow any weapons from that. You have to be careful, because they might... threaten the tightly-honed game balance... of Rifts. We're referred to a number of other books for TW items, like Atlantis, Splynn Dimensional Market, New West, and Federation of Magic. In addition, a number of the weapons from Federation of Magic are reprinted.


_{Stop hitting yourself.}

Then we get New TW Melee Weapons (By Bill Coffin and Kevin Siembieda), which is to say most like Coffin wrote them and Siembieda nerfed them. A perfect pairing! TW Demon Claws give you supernatural strength to claw people with, but make using the toilet so much harder. TW Knuckledusters let normal people do 1d6 Mega-Damage, and for some reason cost a godawful 250,000 credits. But there's a discount for two - 450,000 credits! I guess it's for those who find their ~$10,000 vibro-blade isn't bespoke enough. TW Spin-Disks Shooters fire frisbee-sized buzz saws, which should be cool, but they're basically just mega-damage crossbows with trash damage and trash reload time. What's magical about them? I really have no idea! TW Sawstaff is a trashy weapon that inflicts Horror Factor, but those who've seen it used enough become immune, so the GM decides whether or not the Coalition guys are scared or just ironically scared. The TW Chainsaw does good damage and has the same Horror Factor effect, but requires a Strength of 30 and still at that point gives a flat 25% chance to hit "someone or someone nearby".


Whoever wrote that can fuck right off. Speaking of which, TW Throwing Irons will charge you 25,000 credits to do 1d6 to 2d6 Mega-Damage, and no, they don't come back. It's like Techno-Wizards just add an extra 00 to the end of any price they charge. And the art is reprinted from the old Palladium Weapons & Castles Compendium.


Except even if a Tolkeen assassin tries to cut down a Coalition soldier, catches them unaware, and gets a critical hit... they won't even knock down the soldier's armor by half. Of course, if they catch them outside the armor, they can finish them easily, but you don't need techno-wizard magic throwing irons for that; a cheap vibro-knife will do at that point.


_{The most arcane of weapons.}

Techno-Wizard Small Arms/Guns

Most of this details - once again - existing weapons from previous books in rapid-fire fashion. They aren't very good save for some specialty anti-monster weapons and save-or-suck effects, as their damage is frequently below par.

Speaking of which, we do have some new times. The TW Rocket Staff is literally rockets on a stick; the only really thing wizardly about them is that apparently the rockets are fueled by magic. Damage is solid, but the magic rockets are hilariously overpriced. The TW Plasma Rifle, TW Telekinetic Rifle, and TW Light Flamethrower do crap damage unless used on a ley line, at which point they become average. The Shard Rifle, TK-60 Light Machinegun, and TK-80 Heavy Machinegun do awful damage wherever you go, and are outclassed by standard-issue Coalition rifles. Only the TW Starfire Rifle and TW "Dragonfire" Flamethrower do good damage, though both suffer from a low ammo capacity.


_{Don't tell Osborn, or he'll sue for copyright infringement.}

Magic explosives have it a little better. While like most TW weapons, they have low damage, many have effects that can take an enemy out out in one hit. Goblin Grenades like blinding flash, carpet of adhesion, or fear can take somebody out, which makes up for niche ones like extinguish fire or fuel flame or trash damage like lightning bomb or orb of cold. Like magic tattoos, each of this has a goblin face on it that tries to imply the function - blinding flash is a goblin wearing sunglasses, smoke has a goblin blowing smoke rings, for example. No word on what goblins think of that. And yes, they're horrifically overpriced - for example, a "TW Smoke Goblin Grenade" is 4,000 credits while a regular smoke grenade is 50 credits. The book even says:


And no, they're not reusable, and yes, they cost (paltry) P.P.E. to activate. Some are useful on account of letting you use busted spells like carpet of adhesion, but others are literally just worse than their technological counterparts. Similarly, though TW Firebombs and TW Flash Freeze Grenades are pretty solid, you're paying 25,000 credits for a one-use boom. Similarly, the TW Shockstorm Landmine does startlingly low damage for a mine (2d6). It might hurt a pixie seriously, but not much more as long as it's mega-damage.

A variety of flares return from Rifts World Book 1: Vampire Kingdoms, the TW Animal Repellent Flare (to ward off bats and wolves), the TW Globe of Daylight Flare, and TW Storm Flare. I only really mention this because we get notes like:


Because if your players try firing a 10,000 credit flare into a vampire for an attempt at a creative use, they deserve to have their hands slapped, NO, bad players.


_{Finally, the ultimate anti-Coalition weapon.}

Finally, we get Other Techno-Wizard Devices, most of which are reprinted from Rifts World Book 12: Psyscape. They're generally useful if (once again) massively overpriced, but I'm sure there will be plenty of dead techno-wizards to loot in the near future. TW Silencers, TW Night Goggles, TW Thieves Gloves (they help with palming and escape artist, not really so great with the actual act of stealing), and TW S.C.U.B.A.. Once again, though, the fact that these can cost over 30x the equivalent of their technological equivalents can be a real downer.

Next: We all float up here.

"Floating chairs are used by the physically impaired, self-styled nobility and those who just like them."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 6: "Floating chairs are used by the physically impaired, self-styled nobility and those who just like them."

Time for shit what floats, and not just on air.

Techno-Wizardry Vehicles

TW Converted Vehicles are vehicles that are usually converted to a magic power source and given a few magic capabilities. For all the time that's spent on them, though, they're the slight minority - mostly Tolkeen uses plain old vehicles. Given the overblown prices involved, it's not hard to see why. We get a clarification that wizards can't draw P.P.E. from vehicles that store it because- well, we just don't know.

Then we get a list of features to add. Chameleon Cloaking System is useful unless you move, which seems like a problem for vehicles. Energy Disrupter Mechanism lets you drive through force fields, Float System, Flight System, Impervious to Fire, Imperious to Energy, and Mystic Alarm are self-explanatory. Weirdly, the Sound Cloaking System won't work if you have a radio built into the vehicle for some reason, and does nothing to cloak the sound passengers make. Does it enhance sneaking rolls at all? We just don't know. Even more weirdly, the Shadow Cloaking System fails if you make any noise (or open the door), even though it's mainly just designed to hide you visibly at night. Super-Stealth Mode lets you miraculously turn invisible and chat at the same time.

For some reason De-Icer as a magical feature will run you 120,000 credits, double for large vehicles. I mean, I hate chipping ice off a windshield too, but probably not to the tune of $240,000 dollars. Oh, yeah, all of these are crazy expensive, running from 100,000 to 3,000,000 credits.

Notable Techno-Wizard Vehicles

We start with Water Vehicles, like the TW Water Sled, which is like a motorized surfboard that'll jet you around at 100 MPH. Don't wipe out. The TW-Self-Propelled Sail Boat is a sailboat with a magically-powered fan that generates wind, which some legit Tooney Lunes imagery. The TW Hover Yacht and TW Underwater Scooter are just magical equivalents of their technological counterparts, of course. The TW Underwater Ley Line Flyer seems to have limited applications, given it'll only work where ley lines and bodies of water intersect, and rivers turn a lot but ley lines don't. But I guess you could cross a lake with it.


_{"Perseus was such a peasant."}

TW Floaters are just flying chariots, boats, etc., magically enchanted to float and them pulled by a flying creature like a pegasus or demon. There are some motorized ones that use technological or magical means to blimp around, but there isn't much to say with commentary like this:



_{"You say I'm just a lazy wizard? Of course I'm lazy! I'm a wizard!"}

Also there are a variety of floating chairs so you can get on the go while remaining on your duff. These get entirely too many words.


_{spin it}

Lastly, we have the Turbo-Wing Board (130 MDC, 120 MPH), which is like the corebook Wing Board (a flying one-man wing designed to fly along ley lines) but have additional magically-powered jets that let you fly it off of ley lines. It gives bonuses when flying it to those trained on it, including an extra attack - clearly a nod to at least allow them to try and compete (badly) with power armor like the SAMAS. Similarly, the Crescent Wing Board (160 MDC, 60 MPH) is designed to be quieter and can shoot lightning, but it's slower as a result. Double speed on ley lines for either of them, though.


_{spin it my friend}

Most of these are fairly generic, and you're supposed to jazz them up with magical features, but you quickly run into the issue that even 3-4 features will push these generally into the 1,000,000+ credit range.

Next: I am Iron Man.

"Inside the Juggernaut is the mortal pilot, typically a human (60%) practitioner of magic or psychic who was low level, elderly or of poor health, but the 'brains' of the Juggernaut may also be a D-Bee (40%) with a similar O.C.C. or high level of P.P.E."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 7: "Inside the Juggernaut is the mortal pilot, typically a human (60%) practitioner of magic or psychic who was low level, elderly or of poor health, but the 'brains' of the Juggernaut may also be a D-Bee (40%) with a similar O.C.C. or high level of P.P.E."

Tolkeen's Machines of Destruction

These are new, golem-ish creations designed to look like giant suits of armor, with smoke or other elemental forces leaking or exhausting out of them. Though they seem to have some intelligence, they can only speak short phrases or single words. Though Techno-Wizardry seems to be involved in their creature, some fear that Bio-Wizardry, Rune Magic, or other eeevil secrets were involved in their creation, possibly provided by a supernatural intelligence, demon lord, or the Splugorth.


When they get blown up, they mostly just burst into elemental force, and a human body and a bunch of wires are left behind. Clearly, somebody is sacrificed / implanted to make these, but whether or not they're consenting or retain their identity is unclear. Despite being intelligent, there's so mention of whether or not you can play one - so presumably not. They have no alignment listed, and only their IQ is defined - their Mental Endurance or Mental Affinity are unknown.


_{No handshakes.}

The Blazing Iron Juggernaut (910 MDC) is fire-themed damage sponge, able to deal rail-gun level damage with its fireballs or fire fists, but its spikes and laser eyes are nothing worth using. It can also shoot steam to blind the unprotected (boiling water in the face is unredeemingly evil, as people may remember from hydrokinesis) and has a bunch of low-level fire spells.


_{The Iron Giant's edgy teenager phase.}

The Thundering Iron Juggernaut (1130 MDC) is air and water themed, being all lightninged, but relies on mini-missiles as its main attack other than its low-level air-themed spells. It has the same steam burst as the Blazing Iron Juggernaut, and can shoot junky lasers and lightning. Once it runs out of missiles, though, its damage is hilariously low (50 damage from a flying kick is its most powerful attack, but uses two attacks) for its MDC value.


_{Don't try to count the spikes. That way lies madness.}

The Fury Iron Juggernaut (1340 MDC) is the current top-of-the-line jugglenut, and though its ion cannons are pretty trash, it can deal decent damage with its forearm blades (average 50 MDC) or stunlock people just be running them over repeatedly (a successful "run over" attack does around 21 MDC and subtracts 3 attacks from the target). It also gets some earth and lightning spells. However, despite being told how terrifying it is, it's also terrifyingly... vulnerable to air attack.


_{"Who puts eyes on a weapon of war and forgets to make them fire lasers? Nobody, that's who!"}

Lastly, the Ram Rocket Wagon (240 MDC) isn't a juggernaut but instead is just a Techno-Wizard creation. But it gets put in the same section, so here it is. It's literally just a trailer, and requires some sort of creature to lug it around. It has a "ram rocket" that does mini-nuke damage and short-range missiles, and also can fire fire bolts from eyes... built into the ram rocket. That seems like an oversight, since once it fires off all its missiles, it's unarmed, but I'm just a simple suburban reader, not some fancy genius Techno-Wizard.

Like the Automatons of Rifts World Book 16: Federation of Magic, most of these suffer from being able to take it, but not dish it out. When your RPG designs can take 27-37 hits from themselves before they fall over, you're in for some massively sloggy fights. Palladium combat is already slow, but these seemed designed to stop the war by making nobody want to play in it. While we'll get to see them a lot, as one of Tolkeen's major new weapons, their origins will never be properly illuminated.

Next: Erin Tarn 2: Pedantic Overview.

"The woman who can make demons stop and listen to her words and make empires like the Coalition States tremble."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 8: "The woman who can make demons stop and listen to her words and make empires like the Coalition States tremble."

It's time for some more Erin Tarn . This time in fiction form!


_{When you're King, you can claim any scraps you find to dress in!}

With the implied cooperation of King Robert Creed's Cyber-Knight bodyguards, Erin Tarn barges into his... throne room? War room? A room he's in. She's arrived to implore that Robbie take his people and flee to the west, but the king won't hear of it. He insists that they need to stand and fight, that they can't run in fear. In it, Robbie is portrayed largely as a petulant maniac, even as he points out Erin Tarn speaks boldly but rarely does anything of substance.


She eventually talks him down, and for a moment he sounds uncertain, and apologizes to her. Despite the fact he finds her concern touching, he will proceed with the war. It's played as tragic, and it's a decent bit of writing towards the end, but later on-


Yeah, just after reading about how he's conflicted, it takes the time to reassure us that he's just as bad as Mega-Hitler.




_{I like Burles' art but using him for both magic and Coalition cities means they essentially look the same.}

We get a very brief overview of Tolkeen - it has a tall fortress wall surrounding it, but also has massive towers and domes. A King's Tower serves as a palace, bureaucratic offices, and has the "University of Learning and Wisdom" at the base. There are three ley lines encircling the city in a triangle, providing potent mystical power.

The king of Tolkeen is, of course, Robert Leonard Creed, an arch-mage appointed by the "Circle of Twelve". He's a skilled leader and strategist, but carries a mad anger against the Coalition because... wait, why? I mean, they're bad, but he doesn't really have a backstory or motivation. There are rumors of him seeking an alliance with the Federation of Magic or Atlantis in case you didn't get the fact that he's turning eeevil.


The Circle of Twelve is the council of mages that appoints the king, but who appoints them? Well, nevermind that. We'll get some details on a few of them here, but given they all get writeups later, we can wait for those. (We'll be waiting a long, long while.) The primary member to mention is the chief villainous personage of Tolkeen, Corin Scard, who is the supreme commander of Tolkeen's armed forces. Also, he's eeevil, which is emphasized by a rumor that he has the spirit of one of Emperor Prosek's deceased sons in a "soul gem". This has, naturally, put him at the top of the Coalition's wanted list, even though it may not be true. Is it true? We just don't know.


_{Knights and Nazis can agree on murdering Dragons?}

We also get some details on Freehold, City of Dragons This is a city ruled by dragons, and other creatures are second-class citizens. While non-dragons aren't necessarily treated badly, they get no authority or participation in government, and the city has a "cold" and "oppressive" feel. They're one of the main allies for Tolkeen, seeking to humble the "impudent humans" of the Coalition. That's literally all we get, despite the fact you'd think this would be one of the key places to define, because...


It's gonna be a looong road ahead.


_{The unwritten cost of evil sorcery is fashion-blindness.}

Crisis Timeline
_{By Kevin Siembieda and Bill Coffin}

NEWS OF THE CENTURY

• 12 PA: The war between the Coalition of Magic and the Federation of Magic makes the Coalition totally anti-magic and they kick out their military mages known as THE VANGUARD and it's rumored THE VANGUARD is still around defending the Coalition with magic and will totally show up in later but that's just a rumor and also Tolkeen tried to make friends with the Coalition once but the Coalition pointed to a sign that said "NO WIZARDS HERE" only the Z and N was backwards and it was adorable.
  
• 20 PA: Joseph Prosek who is the daddy of Karl Prosek and granddaddy to Joseph Prosek II takes over the government after the Coalition's military falls to infighting and declares they're gonna have a democracy and everybody elects him because he's a big hero and a great guy who threw out all the corrupt people and then said you know what we're gonna have a war with Tolkeen someday because wizards are bad and these wizards have to GO.
  
• 25 PA: The Coalition was busy killing wizards in the Magic Zone because seriously fuck those Federation of Magic guys but maybe also he had a illegitimate son with a lady wizard and tried to have her killed but maybe she wasn't killed or didn't exist at all MYSTERY.
  
• 31 PA: Chi-Town decides to the Coalition States even though the section already called them the Coalition States and it's confusing but there you have it they're the Coalition States now and not before.
  
• 33 PA: Chi-Town actually does form the Coalition States in order to preserve humanity and also tell wizards to fuck off wizards and teams up with the other states in Missouri and Iowa who also just hate wizards.
  
• 35 PA: Chi-Town gets big and swole.
  
• 41 PA: Iron Heart in Ontario joins the Coalition and gets the short end of the stick sorry Iron Heart.
  
• 44 PA: The Coalition due to a series of SNAFUs gets into a battle with a small town of wizards known as Red Wing and loses way too many guys before they just bombed the town into dust and the Coalition is like boy we better get good at fighting wizards.
  
• 49 PA: A shifter named Mok Braum opens a rift in Old Chicago to summon monsters to attack Chi-Town but Chi-town found out and stopped the ritual and captured Mok but Mok no talk and the Coalition is like we know the Federation of Magic is behind this in our gut where the truth is.
  
• 60 PA: There are rumors the Federation of Magic has reformed under a new Lord Dunscon and the Coalition is like we gotta kill all the Dunscons but they fail at it.
  
• 65 PA: The Federation Magic terrorizes the Coalition and is like we're baaaack.
  
• 68 PA: The Lone Star Complex is discovered by the Coalition and they make it a new state and start popping out Dog Boys because dogs are cool.
  
• 70 PA: Joseph Prosek is murdered en route to check out Lone Star by an assassin and they're like it's those Federation of Magic bastards but the Federation of Magic is like not us bastards but it turns out that the assassination was made up of independent Coalition-haters and the Coalition is like but we murdered all these D-Bees well General Cabot you're in charge now.
  
• 71 PA: Karl Prosek who is head of Coalition propaganda somehow convinces everybody to make him president because he's a big war hero only he hasn't been in a war so he's more of a skirmish hero and he's like man dad didn't kill enough wizards let's wipe out Tolkeen and Tolkeen is like oh shit we better get good.
  
• 77 PA: A terrorist attack blows up the Chi-Town library but a lot of folks think the terrorist was actually Karl who wants to control information and Chi-Town is like reading is bad now FYI and also fuck Erin Tarn she's a bad writer everybody so she's like double bad and is the worst enemy we have including the people that murder us that's been our Erin Tarn review.
  
• 78 PA: Karl Prosek is like hey let's pay some people to say I should be Emperor and then he's like gosh I guess I should obey those people and become Emperor I'm Emperor now how about that.
  
• 88 PA: King Gravander Henche of Tolkeen becomes ill with a mysterious otherdimensional disease which may have been foul play but that's just a dangler and so he wrote The Book of Ten while he was dying and the Circle of Twelve ruled after him and then the Coalition was like hey we're gonna murder you so Tolkeen said let's elect Robert Creed because he likes fights and so he's like let's fight the Coalition because they are bad and people agreed.
  
• 100 PA: So it turns out Creed was probably evil all along and brought bad guys from other dimensions and people are like that's okay because the Coalition is still worse let's kill the Coalition to the extreme in theory but we don't actually yet.
  
• 101 PA: The Coalition sees that Creed is getting ready for fights and is like oh geez we gotta fight these guys before they're super ready to fight.
  
• 102 PA: Federation of Magic guys murder Emperor Karl's youngest son and wife and it turns out Tolkeen knew about it but did nothing because they're bad guys now and the Coalition got super mad.
  
• 103 PA: Mysterious skeleton raiders attack around Minnesota but it turns out these are actually super-secret tests of new Coalition stuff but the Coalition is like it's not our skull stuff but it totally is.
  
• 104 PA: General Phineas Chalk was a Coalition commander that Emperor Karl thought was a jerk so he assigned him to the Tolkeen front knowing he'd probably get himself killed and Chalk decided he was going to start Operation Fullbore which was an assault on Tolkeen but it mostly got him killed and also over thirty thousand other Coalition soldiers and it was all just a brilliant plot by Emperor Prosek to get an excuse to make war and all it took was over thirty thousand dead guys how brilliant.
  
• 105 PA: The Juicer Uprising happens and you can see that book for that but after the Coalition defeats it a bunch of them go to Tolkeen and join up and Tolkeen's army gets way bigger and Emperor Karl decides he's going to really murder Tolkeen for real this time and tells everybody and also kicks out Free Quebec and decides to murder them too but it doesn't work because Free Quebec is harder to murder than he thought but Karl is like fuck it let's fight a two-front war against Tolkeen two because I'm a tactical genius it says that on my sheet let's start Operation Juggernaut because nothing stops the Juggernaut except Tolkeen because they stop them.
  
• 106 PA: NOW

Some of this will not be true later on because fuck remembering shit you wrote, that's for peasants. Speaking of which...


_{Rifts' Youngblood.}

There are some oddities here: though before the "Book of Ten" was some otherdimensional artifact they had to translate...
... suddenly it's different.


_{Don't worry, there's a bucket of water off-screen for him to rest his tail in... filled with piranhas.}

There's also just a the weird notion that, instead of slowly being corrupted by hatred as implied so far, King Robert Creed is implied to have been corrupted all along with no preamble here, doing deals with demons over a decade before the Coalition seriously threatens invasion. Creed is already wafer-thin as far as characters go, and this seems to rob him of any unique characterization. Of course, that'll all be completely contradicted later, because this is Palladium, and they have a memory of a... shit, what was it?

Next: The Hitler Goof Brigade.

"A volunteer stint in the Coalition Army is six years (with 6-12 year renewals suggested), however, half of these "green" recruits won't last more than six months on the Tolkeen Front, and will come home in body bags as nameless, forgotten heroes who sacrificed their lives for the greater good of the Coalition States."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 9: "A volunteer stint in the Coalition Army is six years (with 6-12 year renewals suggested), however, half of these "green" recruits won't last more than six months on the Tolkeen Front, and will come home in body bags as nameless, forgotten heroes who sacrificed their lives for the greater good of the Coalition States."


_{"Perhaps you would like to stop fighting and realize how this is really both our fault?!"}

Call to Arms
Emperor Prosek Wants You!

So, the Coalition has thrown an army of "nearly one million units and support personnel" of "four massive Battle Groups of roughly 225,000-300,000 troops each", and roughly a half-million Skelebots. How do they afford that many skelebots again? They cost 3 million apiece on the Black Market, we're told, and that's... math... 1.5 trillion dollars. Even if they get some predictable cut rate as manufacturers, it's still at least hundreds of billions of dollars for robo-skeletons. Well, that aside, there are four Coalition battle groups: Relentless, Dauntless, Fearless, and Merciless.

About 60% of the force is actually raw recruits from outside the Coalition States recruited on vague notions that they might give citizenship in return for service. Generally speaking, it's a lie, but apparently a lot of folks are buying it. Granted, the pay is very good for those outside of the Coalition. While rumors of terrible losses on the front have come back, that apparently hasn't affected recruitment because...?


_{"Excuse me, maybe when you stop fleeing you could consider that maybe both sides are wrong?!"}

Generally speaking, the Coalition is aiming to be totally ruthless. Other than capturing people for interrogation, they're taking a scorched earth policy to this offensive. Local communities are given a "join us or die" proposal, unless there are signs of them being associated with magic, then there's just dying. Their hope is that their mobile forces like special forces, SAMAS, and dog boys can counter guerilla attacks, and that they can slowly embargo and cut off Tolkeen's supplies and resources. As such, Tolkeen largely has to rely on ley lines as their remaining import / export routes.

Pretty short this time, but this chunk was squashed between two longer sections with no other easy place to put it. So, one thing I'll point out - and that you'll see above - is that frequently the art will portray the Coalition's invasion in a pretty dim light. Often you'll see the Coalition slaughtering, harassing, or abusing the local populace. However, when it comes to Tolkeen, usually their attacks on soldiers are portrayed within the context of war. Sure, we'll have art of the monsters and jerks they've recruited, but those are usually just illustrative rather than narrative. Granted, there isn't much opportunity for Tolkeen to be portrayed as brutal - they aren't attacking much in the way of civilian communities, after all. But there could be pictures of their monstrous allies being cruel to civilians or tormenting prisoners, and we don't even get much of that. We'll get a little, but not as much as we get literal goose-stepping Coalition soldiers and Coalition mechs burning villages.

It's almost as if most people working on this just presume the Coalition are the baddies and portray them that way.

Next: War is meh.

"Sometimes a puckish child will be so bold as to approach a stranger or soldier, or be lured out of hiding with a bribe of candy, food or plaything."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 10: "Sometimes a puckish child will be so bold as to approach a stranger or soldier, or be lured out of hiding with a bribe of candy, food or plaything."

The Fringes of Tolkeen
_{A brief overview, catalyst for adventure and notable places on the borders of Tolkeen}


Ah, the mischief of war.

So, Wisconsin has largely been steamrolled by the Coalition and either subjugated or annihilated to set up army camps and supply lines. Only psi-stalkers and humans were given the choice of surrender - D-Bees and wizards were just attacked on the spot. However, there is some resistance from disorganized guerrilla forces opposed to the Coalition.

Tolkeen itself has a "Kingdom" mainly in the fact that it's the central community of region and has attracted a fair number of allies, but they're allies more in spirit than organization. Of course, its growing influence is part of the Coalition's justification for war.

Some communities in Minnesota are Coalition Sympathizers, however, and think the Coalition arrival will benefit them because... well, we just don't know. We get a list of communities with no detail, but only Hogswaller, a town of barely over a hundred inhabited by anti-magic human supremacists who snub and upcharge wizards and aliens. We get the sort of number-sorted map reminiscent of Judges' Guild products that Palladium loves so much. I could go over things and tell you about the bar's spiced jerky or the fact the local brothel has "reasonable prices" but there's mainly two things that might actually spark an adventure. One, a local family is a bunch of Coalition spies, including an 11th level "field doctor" (not a class) and a 8th level healing psychic. Yup, an 11th level doctor is slumming around as a spy and not patching up troops during a war, which I could only credit to him pissing some superior off or somesuch. "Billy Bob's Garage" are a bunch of sympathizers who also harbor an agent complete with his own power armor. Leon Sebastian Jones is a drifter and gunslinger who's on the run from the Coalition and got hired on at Billy Bob's before sussing out all the Coalition agents in town, but doesn't know what to do with this information yet.


_{"Oh my god!... I look awful."}

Northfields is another small town built near where Osage once was. The adults are kind of spaced-out and the children are skittish here, and everything seems a bit neglected.


Immediately under that text (there's no space) it says "Possession" and a bunch of other spoiling text which is pretty hard to miss so if you've read that text it's unlikely you won't figure out the rest. "Evil shifters" from Tolkeen have arrived and summoned a bunch of possessing entities to take control of the town due to its Coalition sympathies to set up a trap for Coalition soldiers. The local Reverend is really one of the shifters in disguise, and only one remaining family has avoided possession by "pure coincidence" and takes care of the local children. The children haven't been possessed because... uh, who knows? Stop 'em, PCs. This is one of the few times you'll see Tolkeen (or Tolkeen sympathizers? it's not clear) performing a legit war crime against civilians, so savor that, I suppose.

Borderline was a D-Bee community on the former site of Caledonia that was wiped out by the Coalition a decade ago. It isn't really important except to be able to shout "Remember Borderline!" and hope people around you do remember Borderline and aren't from Newtown or wherever and just say "Huh?"


_{Donning the fallen skull of a robot as a protective shell, Nutters became the first mega-damage squirrel.}

Cochrane in Wisconsin had survived the rifts with the aid of Elemental Magic and Techno-Magic, so early in the conflict the Coalition sent tens of thousands of skelebots to wipe them out. However, the several hundred wizards there were able to wipe out the majority of the skelebots, but were still overrun. Several dozen managed to survive and escape. Since then, it's known as the Skelebot Graveyard. It's rumored to be haunted, and there are a number of entities that have congregated here. There are rumors of skelebots rising from their grave - which may be due to tectonic entities (entities that animate objects from Rifts Conversion Book), but the real story is that the Coalition has dumped a number of skelebots there programmed to act as corpses. They're programmed to attack any non-Coalition target that gets near, and some "rise from their grave" to patrol at night. There are also about a dozen other "skelebot graveyards" we're given locations for but no details.


_{He's purple, just... take my word for it.}

Hill Crest is an idyllic town of freethinkers and sheepherders.


Well, PCs no longer required, moving on! This was the home of the Great Purple Mage NPC, who once opposed the Coalition but has retired and is done with fighting, but will return to extract revenge against the Coalition, no doubt with exciting theme music. This may get him killed or he may turn to helping out refugees once he works all the revenge out of his system. He's a 10th level ley line walker with unrollable mental attributes. He'll appear on the cover of Rifts Coalition Wars 2: Coalition Overkill.

The Hamlet of Vosberg is a small town that's unremarkable, which is to the benefit of a vampire who's settled down to prey on it and the surrounding area (waylaying travelers and soldiers). The war has more or less stripped them of outside contact and local defenders. There's a little mini-adventure about players finding a bloodless corpse in in the woods or other signs of vampires, get a rumor about a local old man who has found mysterious romance, go to his house, find out the romance is a vampire, and kill her. It turns out the old man is really in love with her, so it's tragic and stuff.


_{I guess we're supposed to feel bad for these guys?}

Camp Fatale is seemingly a group of refugees, predominantly female.


Ah, yes, sexiness, the evilest of weapons. It turns out they're psychics who use the camp to ambush Coalition soldiers, using Psi-Nullfiers (from Rifts World Book 12: Psyscape) to baffle the psychic senses of Psi-Stalkers and Dog Boys. They use mental control powers to turn them against each other, Telemechanics to disable vehicles and weapons, and then direct psychic attacks to finish off the rest.


Look out, fellas! She may look like a nice girl, but before you know it, you'll be tipping over for Tolkeen! Remember: if it's cute, shoot!

Next: Emperor Prosek's New Groove.

"Despite the tantalizing scenario outlined in the previous pages, the chance of it ever happening is remote at best."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 11: "Despite the tantalizing scenario outlined in the previous pages, the chance of it ever happening is remote at best."

So, the next scenario is odd and interesting enough that I singled out a single update for it.


_{He isn't in the adventure, he just floats around looking sweet, man.}

The Town of Solomon

This is a town North and out of the way of the immediate invasion, near enough to the Xiticix Hivelands to be endangered- and the Coalition are making a beeline for it. It turns out they're trying to find a mysterious artifact known as the Key of Solomon, located at the Town of Solomon. Tolkeen soldiers have arrived to defend the town, and they have a deadlock. Most of its treasures have been evacuated, but the Key can't be moved because it's in a "temporal stasis".

The Coalition doesn't actually know what the Key is, just that they have intel from a prisoner that the "the Key of Solomon will forever change the Coalition and save Tolkeen" before he committed suicide. They're presuming it's an assassination plot of some kind, and the resistance is only confirming their suspicions.

I turns out there is no magic artifact there- instead, the "Key of Solomon" is actually a mystic gifted with the ability to use the "Orb of Solomon". However, the Orb is an actual orb. While the Key is not a Justice League villain, they are a person given the seemingly arbitrary ability to use the Orb, and they also gain immortality and wisdom how to use it best. Eventually, the Key will sense somebody in need of wisdom (the Wisdom of Solomon, I suppose, getit) to be imparted by the Orb, and can do so by touching the Orb to them. This Key is an (unnamed) woman who has become convinced that Emperor Prosek is the one in need of wisdom. However, she needs the Orb to wisdom-whammy him. If the PCs agree to her plot, they can be sent on the quest to find the Orb. Where one might find the Orb is left up to the GM, but generally locations in Canada are suggested. After all, they just released some books on that place, don'chaknow?

Presuming the PCs can find the Orb, they can come back to recruit the Key and then go on a mission to try and play tag against Emperor Prosek with a magic Orb. They don't need to bring the Key - she can teleport to it once she feels the person in need nearby. The writers can't really decide whether or not the Coalition would kill the Key if they take the town of Solomon, and literally have a table where tails, they blow up the building she's in, heads, they set up a garrison to keep her under guard to research and understand it. If the latter happens, Tolkeen won't retake it - important people in Tolkeen are aware of the plot to enlighten Prosek, but don't really take it seriously enough to throw more troops after it. When the PCs arrive, the Key will recognize that they're the ones she needs because destiny and pop out of the temporal stasis that kept her from being moved.


If the PCs manage to use the Key and the Orb on Prosek, he probably won't spare them the likely imprisonment or execution despite his newfound benevolence and enlightenment. This is justified in that while his newfound wisdom grants him newfound benevolence, he realizes suddenly acting out of character could inspire a coup and likely put his son (Joseph Prosek II) in charge. And given his son is a calculating psychopath, he wants to do anything to avoid that. He'll see the PCs freed if he thinks he can avoid it being traced back to him. Afterwards, he'll seek a quick peace with Free Quebec, and continue with the war against Tolkeen... until he has a proper excuse to pull out, some major loss or disaster that can cause him to end the conflict "for the safety of Chi-Town". After that, he has to face with how to deal with his son. Chances are, he'll simply have to find a means to murder Joseph or otherwise take him out of the picture- as much as it agonizes and pains him to even consider.



_{"Just throw in some leftover art, nobody reads these adventures anyway."}

Another possibility is to try and use the Orb of Solomon on King Robert Creed. If suggested, the Key will agree to this, and it's frankly a much easier sell. King Creed will see it as an honor, as an aid to his war, but accepting it will bestow the realization that his side of the war is doomed. He can't stop the war at this point - the Coalition is already coming and there are enough of his people that won't back down no matter what, but he'll be able to try and get a minority evacuated and try and save as many lives as possible. It says that he'll probably die during the final battles working to preserve as many lives if possible, and if he survives, he'll likely be crippled by guilt over the war.


Though the plot device is more than a little hackneyed, this is perhaps one of the most interesting scenarios we get to see in all of the Coalition Wars books. Giving the players the ability to alter the course of the war - and likely the setting itself - should be what this event was about. Elements like this or the Mobius should be something a high-powered, "epic" game like Rifts should delve into, but we'll see the players forced into bit roles for the most part aside from this.

Next: Don't forget to enjoy the war!

"Ultimately the player characters are participants in a much larger drama."

posted by Alien Rope Burn Original SA post

Rifts Coalition Wars 1: Sedition, Part 12: "Ultimately the player characters are participants in a much larger drama."

How the Player Characters fit into the scheme of things

So, emphasizing both sides are supposed to be morally objectionable, it points out there are a lot of ways the PCs can be involved, voluntarily or otherwise. As if to give us whiplash from the last part, it emphasizes that the PCs are part of a story bigger than they are, and obviously wants to focus on little side war stories rather than the larger conflict. They would be involved on either side or as independent opportunists, of course. And yes, Coalition is actually given more wordage than Tolkeen in that regard, which would definitely result in some either monstrous or horribly conflicted characters by the time Rifts Coalition Wars 2: Coalition Overkill rolls around... if they weren't already.

There's also issues with bandits and other vultures moving in to prey on vulnerable targets that the PCs can try and stop. Similarly, there will be monsters (figurative and literal) who will use the chaos to find victims. And yes, the r-word comes up. Some may have false justifications, some may be just eeevil.


Largely accurate, except for the Brodkil, who will only be mentioned a few times in passing after this.


_{Overcompensation didn't start with Kylo Ren.}

A brief overview of Tolkeen's Allies

The most notable ally of Tolkeen's is the Cyber-Knights. Though the head of the order, Lord Coake (a Cola?) issued a decree banning Cyber-Knights from getting involved - how he got the word out to a bunch of wandering loners without mass media, I dunno - a good number of Cyber-Knights have come to Tolkeen's defense anyway. The consequence is that the Coalition finally declares Cyber-Knights to be enemies of the state. Furthermore, the Cyber-Knights take a PR hit, either from those offended by Lord Coake's decree, or those that wonder if "rogue" Cyber-Knights who broke their oaths can be trusted. Meanwhile, King Creed welcomes the rogue knights and gives them positions of leadership.

Juicers and their allies are also involved, seeing the Coalition as a foe due to the "Juicer Uprising" (of Rifts World Book 10: Juicer Uprising), and though this was once said to "triple" Tolkeen's forces, we only see several thousand Juicers added, because... well, contradictions.

A good number of Simvan Monster Riders have joined because the Coalition is a threat to their existence and they also like fighting. Why they've overcome their general xenophobia (was that ever really a thing with them?) is less clear. Some Psi-Stalkers have joined, but the presence of the Simvan and the fact the Coalition doesn't really persecute them means there's not many involved. Naturally, D-Bees are generally involved because they live in Minnesota, but some more have arrived just to fight the Coalition because.

Free Quebec isn't involved (yet) because they really just hate both sides, and the Federation of Magic stays out due to their rivalry with Tolkeen. Mind, it only discusses the "true" Federation of Magic under Alistair Dunscon (from Rifts World Book 16: Federation of Magic), and no discussion of the other factions of the Federation of Magic is made. You'd think the Lords of Magic or the like would have a reaction, but seemingly not?




_{New art for old monsters.}

A Gathering Evil

Tolkeen has started accepting a lot of questionable allies, like demons and other sinister supernatural creatures, figuring they can deal with the price if they survive to pay it. Their primary new ally is the evil Daemonix, which-


I guess we'll have to wait for the evil sequel monsters. Instead, we get reprints of the Black Faerie, Brodkil, Neuron Beasts, Thornhead Demons, and Witchlings, all originally featured way back in Rifts Sourcebook. Their roles are predictable - Brodkil and Thornheads are troops, Black Faeries and Witchlings are used for covert jobs and torture, and Neuron Beasts are just manipulative assholes, why are they around? Well, somebody thought it was a good idea, no doubt.


_{War of the Gargantua.}

Etc.

We get dispositions for Tolkeen Combat Squads, any one of which will likely outnumber and outpower most PC Coalition groups, to say nothing of Tolkeen Raiding Parties which go into dozens to scores or troops. Once again, how you're supposed to handle any encounter involving any dozen foes within rules as written is beyond me. There are some extremely rough maps of Coalition troop positions and a really hard-to-read ley line map (it includes rivers that obscure most of them), along with a note that there are Coalition troops around Solomon because it's really hard to fuckin' see. It also has some grey blobs on it that I guess are supposed to mean a thing, but I don't know what. Xiticix, I'm guessing.

We also get a complete spell index so you can look up all the magic in other books, which will be handy once we start getting Tolkeen defenders with overwrought spell lists that would make a D&D wizard proud.


Finally, we end with an advert for other Palladium Games.


_{Look out! The triangles are coming! (Note: there is no legend for this map.)}

Conclusions

So, we've got some major problems starting out. Tolkeen is still largely a cipher- we don't know much about the locale, society, or history there, but we're supposed to care whether or not it falls. The book can't decide if King Creed is a fallen idealist or a murderous schemer, which is a real problem when he's a key player. As for the Coalition side, we'll get to some some personalities for them in the next book... which is good, because we have no idea who's commanding them or what their overall plan is other than just slowly encroaching in this one. Too much space is dedicated to stuff and diversions. Yes, a vampire taking over a vulnerable town is a valid little adventure to have, but it doesn't play into any of the themes or plots of the actual invasion. And yet, it gets six pages. We get a whole page on floating chairs. This needed some focus, and to lay down the basic facts you need, and it doesn't do that yet.

Worse, the end is predestined. I wanted to even avoid talking about that at this point, but it's already been spoiled throughout World Books 22 and 23. Do we need six books dedicated to a plot the PCs are discouraged from influencing? The Solomon plot is perhaps one of the more intriguing twists to add, and it's relegated to a "what if" scenario. At least it's there, but it's not going to get much further exploration despite the litany of material we'll get on the conflict.

Moreover, the attempts to villify Tolkeen are awfully ham-handed. Yes, they might be driven by hatred, and yes, they're making sinister alliances, but... they're still just defending their home. It's not like Tolkeen tried to assassinate Prosek (yet) or attacked the Coalition in any sense, or did anything obvious to instigate the war. There is the hint that the soul of Emperor Prosek's deceased son might be in their possession - which could definitely be something to spark a conflict, but it's relegated to a side rumor. Moreover, in most American fiction, we've been trained to think fighting for a worthy cause, even if it's doomed, is worthy. That fighting for freedom and your home is a worthwhile endeavor, even against unthinkable odds, is important. America was founded by wealthy landowners people who were willing to stand up against a seemingly implacable colonial power, after all. Or so we like to mythologize it as such, anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TME0xubdHQc
_{Yes, I know Gibson is a shit, don't @ me about it.}

Instead, Siembieda's like "Wow, what an asshole, William, condemning your people to die? Just for your freedom? What an evil, sinister speech leading people to hatred of the English for your own ego." And hell, he might be right. But without Tolkeen actually committing some villainous or hubristic action, the attempt to "both sides" the war ends up being a false equivalence, especially when the Coalition opens up the war without provocation with a nuclear attack and commits acts of deliberate genocide. Yes, war makes monsters of everyone, but you need to show and not just tell on that part.

In fact, it seems like this plot would work better as a Coalition vs. Dunscon's Federation of Magic, both of which are established as steeped in hatred and evil. But he already wrote the Tolkeen vs. Coalition war as an element as far back as the core rules, and why deviate from that for a plot that might make sense? Hell, maybe you could have Alistair Dunscon take over Tolkeen and that'd fit. But... nah.

And we've only just started.

THE END OF "SEDITION". 672 PAGES REMAIN OF THE COALITION WARS.