[RPG] find maps of Rifts Earth

Several of my friends are "RIFTS Junkies"...

In general, they look at 3 things when picking which classes to allow, in order:

1. MDC per level, SDC per level, or HP only per level.
2. Magic or not
3. Massive skill list or not

Most classes in Palladium's system are HP only per level. Since taking HP damage can be debilitating (optional, but my friends all use it), this means toughness of characters with HP per level is only increasing resistance to death, not injury, and most characters within take the "full physical package" - all the personal SDC (pSDC) boosting skills they can.

HP per level with MDC armor and weapons are still HP based - and even with the full physical package, 2 MDC damage past armor is lethal to even the toughest. Such campaigns, including Robotech RPG play, often result in insta-death...

Those with SDC per level still get HP per level - there aren't that many that I've seen, but boy, they are tough. Often tough enough to take one or two MDC (remembering that SDC beings/structures take 100 SDC/HP per 1 MDC) at first level. They're big, buff, but killable. I've not actually seen the books with these, but I'll note that I've been told about them, and seen the character sheets...

A variation on this second group is the SDC xX model - Zentradi, from Robotech, for example – where pSDC and HP are generated normally, then multiplied. much tougher than normal SDC beings, often capable of taking multiple MDC, they have all the normal limitations once the HP take hits. They don't have climbing SDC, but they have HPx100, so 1d6x100 HP per level means being able to take 1d6 more MDC per level. With optional debilitation if the HP damage option is in use.

Those with MDC per level are another magnitude entirely - only MDC weapons hurt them. They often do MDC damage unarmed. The only things that really threaten them are other such beings, and people in mecha. Squishies need only be hit once by them, and crunchies (MDC armored SDC beings) usually don't survive the armor destruction.

So the secondary consideration is amount of magic/psi in the class. If they have a lot of ISP or PPE, they're more buff than their type of damage capacity might indicate. A mind mage can neutralize an enemy with MDC... even though he's a HP/Level being. In a group, high magic characters of a lower damage capacity type can "hold their own" by careful tactics.

The tertiary consideration is skill lists. Certain classes have wide and flexible skill lists. This makes them suitable for higher level campaigns than their magic and damage capacity might indicate, at least if the other party members are willing to shelter them from direct harm.

But remember also: good party dynamics can overcome the diversity, and many MDC classes become SDC=MDCx(10 to 100) after crossing some rifts.

As an aside: For me, the power creep was just too much. I quit Palladium almost entirely shortly after Rifts was released. I'll run Mechanoids.

First and most important point: The actual map is actually the least important and interesting part of a treasure map. Remember, the purpose of a treasure map is almost never to make it easy to find a treasure - It's to make it easy for the mapmaker to find the treasure - or possibly one of his relatives, if he doesn't manage it himself. As a result, most treasure maps are deliberately made obscure, misleading, and cryptic. So, to turn that around, the important parts of a treasure map are the clues that let you find the treasure, and the obstacles that make those clues hard to understand; These are what makes a treasure map interesting.

Before that, though, a map should include some trick that ensures that only certain people can even start to understand the map. In the game fiction, this is a way for the mapmaker to ensure that no-one but him (and maybe his descendants and friends) can find his treasure easily; From a narrative perspective, it can provide a dramatic way of introducing the map as a recurring theme in the story; And to a GM, it offers an excellent 'early puzzle encounter' and a chance to introduce backstory related to the map. Typical 'map keys' include: a pendant with a particular design that needs to be placed over the compass rosette, the figurehead of the mapmaker's lost ship, or the blood of one of the mapmaker's descendants. For bonus points, design your map in such a way that it doesn't even appear to be a treasure map until the key is applied. (Note that your player characters will probably learn the map-key without much difficulty, or the adventure won't go anywhere quickly; The really interesting question to ask is "who else worked it out at around the same time?" Treasure map adventures are often races.)

Solving that first puzzle doesn't mean your treasure-hunters are home free, however. The initial hurdle is just that: The first of several. Treasure maps rarely have an 'X' marking the spot - of if they do, 'the spot' will be a trap, trick or warning for would-be treasure hunters, instead of anything useful. (A hole in the ground to make it look like someone else already found the treasure is easy to set up).

Instead, the map should contain clues designed to let treasure hunters navigate by means of landmarks. Often these clues will be written as a series of cryptic riddles that can only be solved when at the location the previous riddle described; In other cases, the directions will be straightforward, but the landmarks themselves will contain riddles or clues that can only be understood in combination with information revealed by riddles on the map. In either case, it's shouldn't be possible to find the treasure with just the found clues or map alone.

So, getting back to your question about how to make each piece of a multi-part treasure map interesting, each piece of the map needs to be pursue-able on its own. Not all the way to the treasure, of course, but each piece should be able to get you a vital clue without needing the others. Fortunately, there's a lot of precedent for this, especially with maps divided into sections to prevent the treasure-hiders from betraying each other: Thus, the riddles and clues the players find need not lead from one to the next in a linear fashion; Paths can branch and merge, and in some cases, the answers to a series of puzzles and riddles might be combine to form an additional, final puzzle. Again, these puzzles will be designed to be solved by the mapmakers-and-their-descendants, and not outsiders; Having access to a journal or biography of the mapmaker can be a big help. For a GM, this is your big chance to establish the personality of the map-maker through the kind of obstacles and puzzles they design; Remember, not all charismatic NPCs need to appear 'On Stage.'

If you're looking for more specific ideas, I remember once following a treasure map where each clue indicated a location in sequence; Then, by 'joining the dots' on the map in the order the locations were visited, an 'X' was drawn. In another case, each section of the maps described a set of directions presented without context; Only when all the map was assembled could the correct order of turns be discerned.