Savage Rifts and the Tomorrow Legion

Game Master Shadow Bloodmoon

Shakti - that's brilliant! Wish I'd noticed that...

Storm Dragon - so if 2 of your 3 main "always available" items are Quickness and Smite, you could be buffed up in one round (since it's well established that you get a second action on the same turn you activate Quickness).

SBM, would you allow that ret-con so we can get on with the battle?

We'll let Ezekial think on if and how he wants to make some edits, but, yes, I'll allow the changes noted. I even have an idea for a story reason in mind.

I'll have a post up tomorrow taking my actions with those changes in mind.

Went for the smallest number of changes based on suggestions; traded the Sound Burst for Quickness, Infrasound Generator (fear machine thingy) for Smite, and Two-Fisted for master of Magic.

Cool! Ezekial is up in combat, go for it!

Cool! Ezekial is up in combat, go for it!

It looks like both you and the demons are ahead of me, unless I'm mistaken?

Sorry, the posts shifted to a new page almost a week ago, and I never noticed it until just now, I was thinking you hadn't acted in the (now) previous turn yet...

Re: moving to SWADE, I think the only real issue is we'd all lose something. More than things being nerfed, every character seems to get less rolls on the Hero's Journey tables.

All true, but one the whole, I like a lot of the fixes. If you were to bring it into this game, you would almost need a bit of a soft-reboot, where we skip a little time and see the characters as they are now. However, I am in no rush, and if the concensus is to stay put with how things are, I am fine with that too.

IF we move to SWADE (which I'm against, for several various reasons), we could keep the PC's exactly as they are, but run with the SWADE rules for combat, etc.

The only non-RIFTS things that might have to be changed would be Charisma bonuses, etc.

So what are those reasons, exactly? SWADE just seems like a more polished version of SWEX. I'm not even sure what WOULD change if we kept the PCs the same, the combat rules are largely identical as far as I can tell.

Differences I've noticed are mostly polish, and dealing with a few game breaking mechanics like Quickness.

In Rifts, the main changes you notice are way fewer Heroes Journey rolls, fewer MARS rolls, a few cybernetics are nixed, etc. Just about any class that has capacity to do damage on its own (dragon, casters, Bursters, Cyber-Knight, etc) have had that damage reduced, while at the same time, most hand held weapons have been subtly increased. Some things that used to be doable by anyone (doubletap, 3 rd burst) now require an Edge.

There are others, but in general, every class is subtly different, and old builds often don't work, requiring you to find new exploits (or just play vanilla characters...).

The only things there that really bother me are the reduced Hero's Journey rolls (Which I really felt when making that character for Tumbler's game) and the weirdness of moving Doubletap/3 round to an Edge. Everything else is fine to me; as I've probably made clear I'm not very good at exploiting Savage Worlds and honestly have no desire to. I like the system BECAUSE it's a bit simpler than other games I play, and less prone to breaking.

Just to clarify, Doubletap became an Edge, but 3RB still stays with the weapons. Charisma now allows a free re-roll instead of a +2 to the roll.

Combat is subtly different, like now you can only take 3 actions per turn maximum (altho I'd never heard of anyone taking 4 actions for a -6 penalty, but there are probably Edges that could have reduced that), and now you can take the same action more than once in your turn.

I'd suggest that if we start using SWADE, that we just keep our SWD RIFTS characters the same as they are now. We're very used to this power level, and applying all the nerfs from SWADE RIFTS would just feel like a let-down.

Honestly, my main objection to SWADE is they've changed so many things that all the subtle interactions are now completely different. I spent 5 years learning all the subtleties of SWD, and now I'm completely lost. Also, I have a very bad memory, and so the creation of the "states" (Distracted, Vulnerable, Entangled, Bound, etc.) makes things more complicated for me, because I have to look up the definition every time.

But I'm running in SWADE in two other PbP's, so I'm not completely opposed to it.

For my part, I'm good with both. I am happy that SWADE cleaned up a few things, but SWEX wasn't really all that broken to me as it was designed to emulate the high powered hero types that you see in almost every pulpy film. The thing is, my experience with SWEX is probably less than Burgurk's, to be honest. I just like running games and sometimes even I like to just jump right in and learn as I go. The luxury of PbP is that I can look up something if I forget.

That said, now that the system has moved to SWADE and Savage Rifts has done so, they have also started producing more things in the SWADE version and have more in the works. I believe Atlantis is next. While I can and have used some of the newer stuff in the SWADE books, such as the Meditation and Ritual rules, I still run with the SWEX rules because that is what we started with and what we voted to keep.

If you guys vote to change it up, I would be amenable to keeping you guys where you are at in order to maintain established fiction in the game, as I mentioned to Shakti regarding the Shapechanging power. I have all of the currently published Savage Rifts books (and Tuesday can't come fast enough, I'll be Kickstarting the Pathfinder Savage books too!), so I am ready to switch whenever you guys are, should we go that route.

I should also specify that if the first shot kills the Sorc, I'll nail a demon.

I am indeed at 19 XP.

While being the commander is getting easier, and stretching my role-playing abilities, I'm worried that this is not giving anyone else a chance to make posts until we come into combat or something.

Any ideas on how to get the other PC's engaged in the game?

I was just thinking about that. I am happy that you are feeling more comfortable in that position, but yes, I want to make sure everyone is included. I am going to add some other events for them to work on.

We have :

three heavy plasma guns : 30/60/120 3d10+3

and a Wicked 6 launcher with 4 reloads : I couldn't find specs for these in the RIFTS manual or anywhere on-line! What kind of weapon is it (from "launcher", I'm thinking missile launcher?), and what are its Range specs and damage?

a couple of heavy lasers in the turrets : the RIFTS manual doesn't specify "heavy", it has named laser rifle types (but not vehicular). I searched the SFC for heavy lasers, and while it names them as part of spaceships, it didn't give their specs. What are its Range specs and damage?

RIFTS does spec grenade launchers, but I don't think they're vehicular. Do we have the WI-GL4 or the WI-GL20, or something else?

And, what's a "Mark Five" vehicle? I couldn't find anything in RIFTS or the SFC with that name. The closest I found was an Armored Personnel Carrier (holds 16 people), but its weapons were all wrong. So what are the complete specs on the Mark Five?

Also, how many troopers do we have, including the corporal?

Here’s the thing: you will probably be using these guys in Mass Battles, so their total stats won’t matter as much, but for your reference, in case it is needed:

The three plasma guns are correct.

The Wicked 6 is simply a rocket launcher with a six round magazine. It essentially has the same stats as the Portable Rocket Launcher in the TLPG other than the number of shots. You have standard Hi-Ex warheads, so 5d6 MD AP6, SBT.

The APC is a stripped down Coalition APC. It has the same stats but only the laser turrets for weapons. The grenade launchers replace the minimissile launchers in the front. They are essentially a pair of WI-GL20s with Frag grenades.

You have a total of 29 people with the new platoon and Ariel and Casey. 32 if you include yourself, Ezekial and Shakti.

All of this will give you a probable +3 to your battle rolls in Mass Battles, and then whatever you guys generate each round.

SBM - thanks for all the info! Just a few follow-up questions :

I only have the Player's Guide, so I don't have the stats for a Coalition APC. Can you give me its speed and Toughness? And its laser turret specs?

Also, it was able to hold 27 people??? Can it hold 5 more?

I see you're thinking of a Mass Battle, but I have already been thinking of strategies on how best to attack Hollis' camp. If I outline our strategy, could that give a further bonus?

Also, Shakti, can you fly, or transform into some small flying creature?

Alright, the Modified Mark V CS APC has the following stats.

Size 7, ACC/TS 5/30 (3/10 water) Tough 32(17) Crew 2+33 passengers. AllTerrain, Enviro-Systems, MDC Armor, Sensor Suite.
- Twin Medium Lasers- 150/300/600, 3d10+2MD AP 10
- 2x Dual Linked Twin Light Lasers- 150/300/600, 2d10+2MD AP 5
- 2x Forward Arc Grenade Launchers with 40 Frag Grenades each- 3d6MD, LBT, 60/120/240, RoF 3.

Having a battle plan can add to your roll each turn in Mass Battles. That way, if you need to change your plan based on circumstances, you can do that and still get a bonus each turn.

Sorry for my lack of participation lately. I'll try to get caught up and and post this evening.

Ok, so apologies if this is too detailed, but...

First off, I'd like Shakti to turn into an eagle and fly over Hollis' camp, noting which way would be the best way to approach it to get as close as possible without being seen. Also, where he's got guards posted on the perimeter.

With that information (which you don't have to provide the details of), when we attack I'd like Shakti to turn into the biggest, baddest dragon she can, and attack from the side *opposite* to the best approach. After a minute or so of that, most of the men should be concentrating on attacking her. Hopefully they don't have many weapons that can damage her.

Then, with everyone in the APC, we drive like crazy towards Hollis' camp. We stop at 300 feet (50") away to let out a soldier with the rocket launcher. Since all the other long-distance area-damage weapons are in the APC, we'll get as close as we can to the camp, then fire every weapon in the APC every round for several rounds. Once they're softened up and disorganized, we all get out of the APC and pick off individuals.

Also, I'm nominally in charge, but I don't have any Battle skill. How's that going to work?

I do like the sound of "drive like crazy" and "area weapons".

Not that you would know this in character, but strangely enough, as written, Hollis doesn’t have that skill either, and so both of you would be rolling Unskilled. 1d4-2; 1d6-2, plus all of your bonuses based on tactics, etc.

Hollis will have 10 tokens to start and with your team and some fighters from Paragould, you will start with 6. So far, with tactics and using Shakti and the vehicle, you’ll be at a +5 to your rolls, whereas Hollis will be at +5 to start based on numbers. That of course can change based on each round of combat.

For each of your individual skill rolls (Spellcasting, Psionics, Shooting, whatever you choose),your skills will have -4 due to numbers on their side, but a +1 because you are Seasoned. Again, that will change based on the results of that round of combat.

So, in essence, everyone rolls the individual roll, including Burgurk and Hollis, and then after that’s done, Burgurk will roll Battle with bonuses depending on how everyone performed. Then I’ll tally the results, explain the outcome and get ready for the next round.

Ok, shall we begin? To start, every PC rolls whatever skill they're going to use during the fight, right?

Correct. I will roll for Shakti. She will use Spellcasting, as it his her highest skill and makes sense for the situation. Unless of course she jumps in before then...

So to be clear, we're just rolling whatever our highest skill is and justifying it?

Pretty much. That’s what it boils down to is using your best skill in the battle and describing what you do with it.

Survive and Level Rolls

Delta Platoon, Assigned to SET X23
Command Team-
Specialist Ariel Jimenez- Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Private Casey- Life: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Squad 1-
Corporal Jason Gorman- Cowardly Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
PFC Apone- Gung Ho Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
PFC Frost- Clueless Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
PFC Wierzbowski- Bright Life: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Pvt Taylor- Heroic Life: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Pvt Wolfe- Observant Life: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Pvt Barnes- Happy Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Pvt Elias- Crude Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Pvt Gardner- Fearless Life: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Squad 2-
Corporal Michael Hicks- Fearless Life: 1d6 ⇒ 3
PFC Burke- Heroic Life: 1d6 ⇒ 5
PFC Spunkmeyer- Heroic Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
PFC Dietrich- Sneaky Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Pvt Lerner- Observant Life: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Pvt Harris- Crude Life: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Pvt Rhah- Lazy Life: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Pvt Francis- Young Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Pvt O’Neill- Sneaky Life: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Squad 3-
Corporal Andrew Hudson- Lazy Life: 1d6 ⇒ 2
PFC Drake- Experienced Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
PFC Crowe- Agile Life: 1d6 ⇒ 5
PFC Ferrow- Young Life: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Pvt King - Clueless Life: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Pvt Crawford- Cowardly Life: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Pvt Bunny- Old Life: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Pvt Harold- Gung Ho Life: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Pvt Wayne- Artistic Life: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Okay, so Private Taylor, Private Gardner, Private Lerner, Private Harris, Private O’Neill and Corporal Hudson Lost their lives. I will give an in game explanation for what they did.

Private Wierzbowski, PFC Burke, Private Rhah, PFC Crowe, Private King, Private Bunny, Private Harold and Private Wayne all gain an advance. They are the standard ally soldier template, so they have d6s in everything to start. I will let you guys decide how you want to level them up, unless you want me to. I will follow their personality pattern as a guide.

After you report in the results of the battle, you, the players will gain 5 xp. I will double check where that puts you guys.

Sorry I've been absent. I've been going through some marital difficulties and my wife and I are separating. I could use some distraction, so I will try to get reinvested quickly.

Looks like Hollis has been driven off for a second time, and we are waiting to see if he tries to take the town a third time?

Shakti - sorry to hear about your difficulties. Hang in there, things will eventually get better.

BTW, I looked into creating your PC in SWADE RIFTS, and it's just not possible anymore. They nerfed the Mystic's Power list to practically nothing.

SBM - we were at 19 XP after the last scene, so we're now at 24 and Seasoned! Yea! Will post my Advancement soon.

I have no interest in picking Advancements for the Extras. If any other player does, they're welcome to it.

Shakti- Sorry to hear that. I know how tough that can be, so I understand putting your all into family first. No worries. We are still here and Shakti has made quite the impression on Hollis and the troops..

As for recreating Shakti in SWADE, I am thinking a MARS with Arcane Background would be more appropriate for her, if we did that as a theoretical exercise.

I am going to update the Campaign Notes for total Xp and get ready for the next mission.

Okay, so I leveled the troops, so when you guys are ready, we can report in and then move on...

Shakti - a while ago, SBM posted this :

Shakti, fresh from a morning meditation, gets a feeling that there is still some taint coming from the mines, though not near as powerful as it was with the demons there, she feels it could be used for further problems if not dealt with.

That's something you could investigate on your own while Burgurk is running the military end of things...

As for recreating Shakti in SWADE, I am thinking a MARS with Arcane Background would be more appropriate for her, if we did that as a theoretical exercise.

Has there been more discussion of switching to SWADE? I thought you were against the idea? Ya, I'm sure there might be a few ways to mock up a character similar enough to feel like a carryover of Shakti. However, to be honest, I sort of feel like I am getting a bit tired of the character. Sometimes being too good at things is not fun, and the Flame-Dragon-form fixes everything problem isn't going away yet... {though she is a bit of a glass cannon. She is only of pretty typical human toughness in her own shape, so if anyone figured out she was the main threat, a concentrated attack could end her pretty quickly.)

Yes, I am against the idea of switching this game to SWADE, but there was a new RIFTS game opening that required SWADE, so I had to use it.

That’s why I said as a theoretical exercise. We’ve pretty much decided to stay with SWEX, so I’m not going to change it. Suffice to say that IF I get around to starting another one, that will be SWADE though.

As far as Shakti, I understand that having that kind of power can make a lot of things too easy and it can get tiring being able to win almost every battle with that in mind. Then again, you haven’t faced that many magic wielders either, some of whom might be able to shut that down. That said, it is very easy for Shakti to decide she is done with RIFTS Earth and move on to another realm if she so chooses. There is always room for a different type of character in the unit and if you decide to go that route, now is the perfect time to do so with the new company coming to reinforce Paragould.

Ok, soooo.....is Shakti about to take over our universe, and we'll have to fight her? Or is she selling our universe to her sister to take over, and we'll have to fight *her*???

Just exploring all options...

Shakti is a Mystic, and therefore has to abide by a code. Her code is that of the hunter; eat or be eaten. Strength in numbers and loyalty to the pack are things she understands, but honour, or the traditional understanding of it, is not a factor to her.

I don't think she'd sell out this world, but she might abandon it. If she merged with her cousin, whether or not she attacked would depend on what made sense to the new creature (which would be up the GM, as Shakti would no longer be a playable character at that point).

I have been thinking of retiring the character, and this storyline actually provides some very interesting and internally consistent opportunities to do that. Having her merge with the villain and become a potential threat would have all sorts of fun storyline implications though. Fun way to deal with an OP character can be to have them evolve into an enemy, for sure.

However, this baddy is not coming across as particularly trustworthy, so unless they could create some sort of Mystic binding that assured the outcome, Shakti would be unlikely to chance the trade. In that case Unity would be the only offer that would appeal to her. Her ultimate goal is knowledge, so adding her knowledge to that of another creature like herself would be nothing but gain in her eyes, even if the creature she is was technically destroyed in the process. The new creature would have all Shakti's knowledge, as well as all of the emeny's, and any others that might have already been absorbed by her. The new creature would act in accordance with all the knowledge it accumulated from all sources, and therefore by definition be wiser than any of the individuals that joined into it.

This is all quite in line with the Hindu philosophy I based her on (at least my western-non Hindu understanding of it).

So that worked out well, and is a quite satisfactory conclusion to Shakti's storyline.

Guess I need a new character. It might be a good time to try recrouting again, supertumbler's game might be a good place to ask, though that might require switching to SWADE in order to attract interest. Since Burgurk is the only remaining character at this point,that might work pretty well, depending on willingness.

I may give it some time to decide what to make, but I'm working on ideas already. It will probably still be something overpowered, but I think I will try to avoid the mistakes I made with Shakti, who was just too good at everything, and make something more focused.

Let me know what your guys thoughts are on going forward, and I will adjust my ideas as we get a clearer picture of how to proceed.

I am fine with switching to SWADE, as that is what all the newer books are being written for. With Atlantis coming soon, that may spark more interest. I want to hear what Burgurk feels about it first though, as I have told him that I am cool with just going with the few we have at the moment as well. Now to go read the conclusion...

I have mixed feelings about SWADE. It seems to have a lot more "fiddly bits" (exceptions to rules, more rules in general) which are hard for me to remember (I have a very bad memory). And, it's taken me *years* to learn all the intricacies of the SWD rules and how they interact. OTOH, it does fix a lot of imbalances from SWD.

In addition, SWADE RIFTS has seriously nerfed the Mystic, and somewhat nerfed the Cyber-Knight. I haven't looked at the new Burster, but since Burgurk is based off of that, my only request if we do switch to SWADE is that Burgurk's powers can be left as-is, no matter what the new Burster is like (things like Charisma and Athletics can be easily changed).

With all that said, if new players demand SWADE, I'd be fine with that.

Rigor - considering all the changes to SWADE RIFTS, you might want to wait for SBM to decide whether we're changing to SWADE before thinking about making PC's. You might find it a lot harder to make over-powered PC's. ;)

While I'm fine with just 2 players, more players would probably keep things going more consistently (which isn't that important to me).

I'm not dead set on switching, and doing so has more to do with being more attractive for recruitment, but that only matters if we want to recruit. There are things I like better about SWADE, as it fixes a few things that are definitely broken in SWEX. As much as I like making overpowered characters, playing something overly broken quickly loses its fun factor, not to mention has the tendency to ruin other people's fun as well. Besides, I'm good at finding exploits, and do it without thinking. I'm sure I'm up to the challenge.

You mention more fiddly bits, but my read seems to make it appear they have smoothed out more of SWEX's fiddly bits than they have added in new fiddly bits.

I remember you mentioning the Mystic was nerfed, but when I look at the SWADE version, it looks almost unchanged to me. The Techno Wizard is definitely weaker, but having played one of those, I can tell you it may have needed it, though it looks like it might have gone a bit overboard on that class, but, eh.

I think the main advantage with SWADE is that all the new material is being written for it.

So here’s the thing and I agree with Rigor on this one. The new material is being written for SWADE. That alone will draw more attention I believe. With that in mind, if I open up recruitment, it will allow others to join in and let Rigor create a new character within those rules. Besides, I am curious to see how he breaks it. :-). I am not actually as familiar with ALL the little intricacies of the system, but I know it enough to see what they smoothed over and what they added in the RIFTS system that makes it work. Honestly, looking at what they did for Pathfinder helped a bit too. Other than DnD5, SWADE is quickly becoming my main system. I am perfectly fine with just the two of you and being able to just come back to the game when I can makes it a lot easier. As Burgurk said though, more would hopefully keep the game fresh and going forward. Assuming they stick around. I am still not sure what happened to Ezekial.

With all that, story wise, the team is headed back to Castle Refuge. That is a perfect time to pick up new people. So I look at it like we have two main options:

1. Stick with SWEX and stay with the two of you, or
2. Change to SWADE and recruit more.

If we choose option two, I can go over the changes to the character with you Burgurk and we can probably leave most, if not all of it in place.

I don't have a preference between the two options, but if we switch to SWADE I *really* want Burgurk's core powers to stay the same, no matter what SWADE RIFTS says.

I'd swear I saw a SWADE Mystic's power list that was WAY shorter than SWD's, but having just gone back to look at SWADE's, they're pretty much the same. <time passes> Oh, I must have been looking in RIFTS' Savage Foes of North America. Nevermind...

Happens to me all the time... I don't have an updated PsychoK sheet, so I'll leave it the same. If you're cool with that, I will reopen recruiting this weekend and then let you update your character and Rigor can make a new one. Then we'll go from there.