Dice Rifts Adventure OOC

[Sherwood]

Heh! Don't be. You know better than most, good Sherwood, that I'm not here to imbalance anyone's games. =)

I know. I was just being silly.

 

[Psychie]

Understandable. I guess that before I get too locked onto the idea of getting one, we need to decide on how many of what mecha we are selling.

The two Ulti-Max Armor will get you 20 million each.
The six Glitter Boy 7's will get you 25 million each.
The four Hunter Mobile Gun mecha will bring you 25 million each.
The two Super Hunters will bring in 30 million each.

Eron has one of the GB7s already, and Snowfall wants one, too. I say we dump all but a total of four of the GB suits (two kept as spares in case we run into some serious damage), and hire a good mechanic to ride with us in our Badger to keep the suits running smooth.

If we do that, it nets us 251 million. Divided three ways, that gives each player 83.6 million to play with. Does anyone have an objection to this?

 

[Purr]

The gemstones have their values already; you can get face value for your gems. For the wheeled vehicles, you can add another million credits for them.

And just to let you know, the prices that Moloch is quoting for the mecha and powered armor is under the book list price of each; he's giving you a good deal, but not the full market price.

With this much money, you can pretty much afford to get whatever you want in the way of stuff to add to your collection of goodies. Think of something you may want, be it from one of the books out there or even from other systems like DnD or Exalted for magic stuff, or from more sci-fi style games like Shadowrun or Cyberpunk, and I can work out a Palladium game version for you.

Sherwood Psychie Silanon I find this idea both fascinating and potentially game-changing.

Think about it. Here we have an Atlantean Battle Magus, a human TW Crazy, and a Kitsune Tattooed Voyager. One limitation we've got is our lowered number of PCs (once 5, now down to 3). I think each of us might start thinking of how to make up for our lack of numbers by expanding what each of us can do.

Furthermore, the idea of Cyberpunk-like technology is a terrific one, however I don't believe any of our Characters can receive even the smallest of cybernetic/bionic implants without seriously screwing ourselves in the magic and psionic departments. Snowfall certainly can't have any implants. There's a reason the Coalition States sometimes capture magic-users and replace some of their body parts with mechanical devices - they can't cast anymore. They make for great slaves, too. So cybernetics and bionics as far as I can see appear to be out. But the rest of the non-cybernetic technology? Take cyberdecks for example. If it's possible to go Netrunning without the use of a cybernetic datajack (say an external counterpart), we might be able to screw the Coalition in the security and information departments like no other. The Coalition States have no technology like Night City in Cyberpunk (a deep dive of RPing I dove into years ago when I was running Rifts). Imagine what a Netrunner could do here!

In other words folks, I see this is as a potential opportunity to use all of the gaming skills each of us as Players has developed.

Another limitation is are our Character Classes and the education (Skills) that come with each. While Sherwood said sometime ago (and correct me if I'm wrong) that any of our Characters can pilot power armor, it's our lack of Skills in that direction that kind of stop us from going in that direction. For example, had I known Snowfall might one day qualify as a Power Armor pilot (even a basic pilot), I would have reserved a Skill to select that Skill. Can we somehow pay for that option using credits? I don't know. But I think we have one heck of an opportunity here. We can, with what's left of Terra's Terminators, become a cross-trained team like few others.

More later.

 

[Sherwood]

I might be open to the idea of having you pay for specialized training to get the skills needed for the MECT operation of the powered armor. In fact, that's not a bad idea at all.

Also, Psychie , you might consider some environmental body armor to keep you safe in caustic environments. Just a thought. You could also look at the possibility of getting some TW enhancements to a suit of body armor. That is well within your reach with the funds you have.

 

[Psychie]

Hmmm. TW body armor doesn't sound like a bad idea. I'll look into it.

 

[Purr]

You'd be willing to give us access to MECT? Wow. I thought just being able to use Power Armor on a basic level was kick-butt. =)

What I don't know is the Exalted universe. What's there? The closest game I've played was Sherwood's fun Scion game. Good times! But yeah. What does the Exalted universe have to offer in a game like Rifts? For Characters like ours?

 

[Sherwood]

The MECT will obviously cost more than the Basic level, but its not like you can't afford it.

Exalted has the typical magic sword and armor, but it also has stuff like the Cloak of Shadow Walking, where you turn into a dematerialized being of shadow, able to slip in and out of enclosed spaces with ease, and it allows you to wrap yourself in shadows to help you hide.

 

[Psychie]

Snowfall might not need something like that, since he can already turn into magical mist, but I might like that. Use it to help us sneak into the Lone Star Complex and find this Omega Project that they are working on.

 

[Purr]

Snowfall might not need something like that, since he can already turn into magical mist, but I might like that. Use it to help us sneak into the Lone Star Complex and find this Omega Project that they are working on.

That depends. If the CS can detect magical creatures with Psi-Hounds and Psi-Stalkers, then Snowfall might not be able to hide from them with the same confidence as he does from most other creatures. That Cloak of Shadow Walking, if all three of our Characters had them, would with practice, allow us to move the same manner as a unit. And if that kind of magic is perhaps hard to detect in the Exalted game, who is to say that the CS's Psi-Division would be able to detect them at all?

 

[Psychie]

Well, we are already picking up the talismans that will (hopefully) reduce the range that a Dog Boy can sniff us out. If we combine that with the Cloak of Shadow Walking, we may not need the camouflage cloaks at all.

 

[Sherwood]

The shadow cloak can work inside the complex, but you can be seen with normal visible detection abilities unless you are in an existing shadow. If you are in a well lit room, you will be more obvious to be spotted since you'll stand out much clearer.

 

[Psychie]

Can the camo cloak and the shadow cloak be used at the same time?

 

[Sherwood]

No. It would be one or the other.

 

[Psychie]

I had guessed as much.

 

[Purr]

Which would provide better benefits against CS's Psi-Division? They've gotta be at Lone Star in force.

 

[Sherwood]

Probably the technological camo cloak. Any active magic that you use will be like sending up a signal flare in the dark, making it possible to 'sniff' you out even with the talismans.

 

[Purr]

So in Exalted, there isn't any kind of magic that tries to hide from magic-users?

If that's the case, how else might a team like ours be aided by Exalted-style... stuff?

 

[Silanon]

Silly thought: How does one become immortal, in Rifts? The usual way would probably be to slowly replace body parts with tech one by one, but that's not a path that the TW crazy allows - no cybernetics, other than the M. O. M.

The reason I'm asking: I believe Eron is fully aware that he'll only live so many years - and that some creatures plan their evil deeds decades in advance. If there'd be a way to always be able to fight evil, whenever he's needed - he'd do it. With enough funds, maybe there's a way? Just thought about the Eldar in the Warhammer 40k universe. If I understand correctly, they all carry a soul stone with them, a thing that absorbs the soul when they die. Then later, other Eldar can ask them for insight - and in desperate situations, they have constructs that can be empowered by the soul stones to go to war and support the regular troops. Or that's my take on it, anyway. Point being: If something like that is available, it might not be the most efficient way to use Eron's money - but pretty flavorful, I'd say.

Other than that: Eron is, right now, pretty much what he'll always be. Maybe there are better swords with more dice out there, but that won't fundamentally change how he works. He also doesn't get the skills to broaden his expertise, and he's not the kind to sit down and learn (he tried that before, but didn't become a cyber knight for a reason). What I could see is an investment in some kind of assisting VI.

Question: is there available cyber knight tech that's compatible with the implants? I.e. something that's not cybernetics? Because that kind of thing would fulfill his childhood dreams, pretty much...

 

[Purr]

Silanon Here's my take on it for what it's worth, Sil. In my experience GMing and PCing Rifts, there are a number of ways because there are a number of definitions for "immortal" depending on who you are and how you are going about it.

Immortal as in cannot die and will live until the end of time? Probably become a god of some kind. Enter epic adventures here. Immortal as in cannot die from old age and having a brain that will far outlast one's original form (say, human)? Perhaps digitize yourself into a cybernetic body like a full-blown Lt. Ridge (minus the addled parts, one hopes). How about immortality in the sense of having one's original form be invulnerable to harm? Well, there's even Palladium's own take on comic book heroes for that. Or Mystic China and Ninjas & Superspies if you want to go that route. It's Rifts! Just about anything goes!

In Eron's case, if memory serves, there are a number of Crazies (and Juicers for that matter) that, upon their own flesh and blood going bye-bye, do indeed become full conversion cyborgs, enlisting with some government, military power, or even private individual for years to pay off the debt.

I have to ask - what do you mean by Cyber-Knight tech that's compatible with his M.O.M. implants? A great deal of what a Cyber-Knight can do is not really drawn from their cybernetics and bionics, but their martial and spiritual training (hence being a cybernetic being that can manifest a Psi-Weapon at will).

 

[Silanon]

Immortal as in "if the body doesn't serve its purpose any longer, then there's a way to move forward regardless of that". As for the conversion into a cyborg - the specific problem with that might be that the implants he uses are magical - but it's roughly the direction I had in mind. I just don't know what's possible (I mean, it's Rifts, so everything's possible, but the TW implants make him a pretty special case.
As for the cyber knights: Their spiritual training is off-limits for Eron (and I don't want that to change), their martial training is not too special (he's picked up his own fair share of tricks by now, though I considered sending him over to the knights' place in the city for a bit of sparring at some point). I was wondering if they have any fancy tech that's mostly used by them and thus of a certain sentimental value for Eron, even though it's freely available (at least given our contacts and reputation as of now).

 

[Purr]

Oh! Well, how about their armor? I don't know of a Cyber-Knight that doesn't come with their Cyber-armor. =)

 

[Silanon]

I always thought that part of it is implant-like - maybe I remember that wrong? Can't check it right now. But maybe some of the defensive measures could be replicated for the glitter boy armor? With only three of us, it will be tested more than ever before...

 

[Purr]

Oh, it's very much implanted. I've never heard of a Cyber-Knight having gotten their Cyber-armor removed once it's in. It's part of their body (hence the extremely rare Armor Rating).

 

[Sherwood]

So are you guys going to go ahead and try to get Moloch to buy the mecha and battlesuits like Psy suggested?

 

[Silanon]

Good question - I don't know where we'd store all that stuff safely, and I also don't know if it's worth waiting for a potentially better deal somewhere down the line. Question is: Do we need the money, and does someone else need them more urgently? Bramazal didn't say a thing about that, so I'd assume he doesdn't have any plans to equip another task force of his (not that there's need, while we're available). Any other allies who might need them? Not the were-jaguars, I'd assume...