RIFTS
Role-Playing Game
The World of Rifts
One
of the central themes of Rifts is human augmentation. You will see over
and over again, man's (fictional) attempts to make himself better; stronger,
faster, smarter, more powreful. Sometimes this would be done with artificial
implants. Other times it would be through the use of chemicals or genetic
mutation. Under the most extreme circumstances, man would completely re-create
himself. Not always for the better. This was the world of the not to distant
future. Then throw in a random element. Rifts.
Rifts are tears in
the very fabric of space and time. They are found at the nexus points where
several "lines" of natural energy (that mankind calls magic)
intersect and create a surge in the lines of power. It is a terrifying
and exciting extrapolation on the concepts of magic and ley lines.
The science of geomancy had vanished centuries before. Only myths and
crackpot practioners of magic had any inkling about ley linse and mystic
energy. Consquently, no one could have aticipated the fate that awaited
humankind.
Nuclear holocaust ignited the destruction of the world
as we know it, but it was not the primary instrument of destruction. The
sudden destruction of a billion people triggered a surge in the ley lines.
All that psychic energy released at once. The sudden influx of psychic
energy (P.P.E.) sent the energy rippling through the mystical crossroads
of earth like an earthquake. Ley lines flowed with energy that had not
been felt for a million years. The energy surged and pulsed and crisscrossed
across the planet at the speed of light. At ley line intersections (nexus
points), rifts in space and time tore open, releasing even more energy.
The earth shuddered and heaved. Millions more died, increasing the energy
level of the rifts.
The continent men called Atlantis leapt
from its watery grave and rose to the light of day for the first time in
a millennia. Its rebirth changing the very face of the planet. In its wake,
the eastern coase of the United States was engulfed by the ocean, sending
the energy of millions more into the relentless rifts.
From the
rifts spewed forth energy that tore through man's citadels of steel and
concrete like a tornado through a city built out of match sticks. For ever
million or billion of lives lost, the ley lines surged and destroyed billions
more; a nightmare in geometric principles.
The ley lines and the
rifts that they opened were not some insidious evil, not a plot of some
malignant intelligence from another world. It was an aspect of nature that
science did not even know, let alone understand. Like a child playing with
matches in a pool of gasoline, humankind dropped a match into the pool
and was instantly engulfed. Once the match lit and dropped, there was nothing
that could be done to undo what had been done. Yet in a strange way, all
this death was a part of the birth of a new age. And through it all, humankind
would persevere. Even the cosmic fury of a world gone mad could not completely
eradicate all human life. However, it would take mankind hundreds of years
to crawl out of the abyss that swallowed him. It is at this moment, as
humankind finally crawls back into the light of a new dawn that our story
unfolds.
Rifts is a role-playing game that explores the earth created
by the rifts. An earth that has been irreparably changed and is still changing.
A world where man must not only conquer himself and the environment, but
a place where the environment is ever changing and the life forms one must
compete against are not human.
 Occupational
Character Classes
Racial Character Classes
A World Overview
Coalition State
|
The Coalition Government
Robots & Power Armor
Magic
Psionic Powers
|
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Copyright © 1996 -
1997
Created by 
Wolf
Pack Inc, Friday, August 29, 1997
Most recent revision Thursday, September 25, 1997