System 1

I've heard lots of debate on the subject of Rifts. It's broken, it's complicated, it's just a compilation
of ideas that are unorginized, classes are grossly overpowered, etc. As a GM (Former DM) I've
personally never had more fun with a game. Admittedly, I've only recently joined the multitudes
that have been enjoying this game, but I must say, I was a religious player of Dungeons and
Dragons, and even through my 10 year experience with that game, I've all but abandoned it for
Rifts. Here are my reasons:

1. I absolutely love the combat system.

Not as it appears in the rulebook, however. The basics to combat is that every character has a set
amount of actions they may use in a given round. Some classes/races are faster or more agile than
others, and so have more actions. Now Rifts Ultimate Edition (Hereafter, "RUE") had the audacity
to suggest that combat be played out on a character to character basis. While that may not make
sense, let me elaborate with a quote from RUE itself. "Most gaming groups have 3-6 players, all of
whom are likely to be matched up against their own adversary at the same time. That's 3-6 pairs of
fighters in the same melee round. Some Game Masters play out the entire melee combat between
one set of fighters (i.e., one NPC villain vs one player character) and then move on to the next
player... Instead, I hop from one set of combatants to the other, trying to leave the most dramatic or
decisive clash for last..." I find both approaches equally disgusting, both on an organization basis as
well as fairness to the players, not to mention flow of combat. Combat should be real time, and if
player A gets a lucky shot on Enemy X, Player B should be able to turn his attention to take
advantage of the new development and prey upon Enemy X's weakened state. Instead, you are left
with Player B without any actions to use, all because he was engaged in "climatic" combat with an
NPC. Instead, here is my homecooked formula:

Initiative is rolled, with highest going first. Actions are layed out (Using markers, tally marks, etc.)
and whoever won initiative spends ONE action for that... round? I haven't really come up with a
name for these pseudo-rounds, so I suppose that is what I'll call them; psuedo-rounds. Then combat
proceeds to the bottom, until everyone has acted, then resets at the top, moving down and repeating
until all actions are used up. This may be a little hard to understand, so let me post an example.

Initiative:
Glitter Boy: 7 actions
Mage: 5 actions
CS Grunt: 6 actions
CS Grunt2: 6 actions
SAMAS unit: 8 actions.

The Glitter Boy would be the first to act. Since GBs and SAMAS are known rivals ( ) he fires at
the SAMAS. 1 action down, he has 6 left. NOW, the SAMAS is allowed to use an action to dodge,
so he does. Hit or miss, it doesnt matter, he's down to 7 actions. Now the mage moves, then CS
grunts, etc, until all actions are accounted for. Sometimes this ends up with one character (Most of
the time someone with an ungodly amount of actions, like a juicer or power armor pilot) with many
actions left over. While this may seem unfair, since with no actions one cannot dodge (unless they
take actions from their NEXT round, which is entirely overcomplicated, unrealistic, and I dont use
this rule), this is the core of RIFTS. It may not be very game-savvy, but it makes sense. A
chemically enhanced superman, or robotically assisted power suit is going to make mincemeat out
of you if you arent careful preserving your actions. Rifts is a dangerous place, with dangerous
characters. As for things that take up two or more actions, I have a very simple houserule. If you
dont have enough actions, you can't do it. If however you do have the required actions, I usually use
this sort of formula: Anything that takes more than one action takes effect immediately, but in the
long run reduces your actions for other attacks, dodges, etc. I used to rule out magic as the
exception, making mages wait the amount of actions they used until the effect took place. I stopped
using this rule when mages would begin casting and CS would roflpwn them with volleys of
rockets and other mage-splattering devices. Mages have it hard enough as it is is how I see things.

2. I love the imbalanced classes.

Alright, I said it. I love Glitter Boys. I love Dragons. My players love them. Most people would say
that these classes have an unfair advantage above other classes. I would have to agree completely.
However, the group I mainly play with is less concerned with story, or character development, or
anything that has to do with actual roleplaying. That's fine, less work for me. These guys just want
to trash some Coalition garbage and blast them so badly their mothers back in Chi-Town feel it. It
makes for great action when I have a team of a Glitter Boy Pilot encased in a Techno-Wizard GB, a
Juicer with two vibroswords and the paired weapon skill, and a Royal Frilled Dragon hatchling,
with the Supernatural P.S. comparable to a demigod, The spell capacity of an equal level mage, and
the psionic ability of a lesser (sometimes equal) major psionic. Nothing can touch this party, and
they know it. It's not how many people play, so this reason is only relevant to me and others who
play this way, but that's why I aptly named this "My two cents on Rifts." And besides, it feels nice
to blow a hole in time and space with a boom gun. You can quote that one if you want :P

3. I love the character customization, but not the skills.

Customization goes hand in hand with skills in Rifts, but I just don't appreciate the fact that, given
enough time and energy, a Body Fixer O.C.C. can learn to pilot a giant robot with just about the
same proficiency as a giant robot pilot OCC. The customization is nice, and I suppose it allows for a
querky sort of "multi-classing" but when you apply it to certain situations, it just doesnt work, game
wise.
For example, one of the few times I wasn't GMing, I was playing a Ley-Line Walker. It was actually
my second time playing, the first being my Power Armor Pilot who got his legs blown off from a
Coalition UAR-1. I figured, "Hey, being a mage would be pretty nice, especially since everyone in
the party is a mercenary of some kind. I'd be the only one there who could use magic." While this
was true, it only helped out in a few instances, and I spent most of my time getting pelted with
rockets by the CS and needing my full conversion cyborg friend to run me out of the fight before I
was blown to a fine red mist. It was only my second time, so my understanding of actions and
dodging was rudimentary, and I made some pretty amusing mistakes that cost me my 20 MDC
armor of Ithan and all my body armor MDC (GM, what do you mean I can't dodge when I'm
prone?). Seriously. I had to change out my armor more than my undergarments. Anyway, back to
my original point from which I've strayed tremendously, I remember thinking "Hmm... why is the
Mercenary Soldier doing more damage than me on a constant basis?" The answer was simple.
Heavy M.D. weapons. So after learning a little about how skills worked, I asked my GM, "So next
level I get to pick two new skills right? So could one of those be W.P. Heavy M.D. weapons?" He
said yes, although I'm not sure that's correct for unrelated skills (Citation anyone?) Nevertheless, I
was a Ley Line Walker firing a rocket launcher more than I was using spells. That is, until I picked
up Meteor...

Well I should wrap this up. This started as an organized document meant to convey the pros and
cons of a game I love, but it has become more of a free write and collection of ideas and
experiences. Just like Rifts. Ohhh the irony.

System 2
Time Sliced Initiative
For use with Palladium Books game system

This method is designed to speed up and simplify combat. The basic premise is that each character
takes their action/attack at specific points during a melee based on an initiative count down.

Once combat has been initiated, all characters involved roll their D20 and add or subtract any
bonuses or penalties as they may apply. This will determine what initiative they start the melee on.

Next, each player divides their initiative by their number of attacks rounding up for any remainders.
This number will be how often they go after their first attack. So if a character has an initiative of
15 and 3 attacks, they will take their attacks every five initiative decrements. IE: that character
would attack on 15, 10, and 5 last. An example is below.

Jim and Bob have squared off and are ready to take each other out. So they roll initiative as normal.
Jim totals only 11 for initiative and Bob 16.
Bob has 4 attacks. 16 divided by 4 = 4. So he will start the melee on 16 then he will go on 12
(because 16-4=12), then 8 (as12-4=8), and last on 4 (8-4=4).
Jim has also has 4 attacks. 11 divided by 4 is 2 with a remainder of 3, so we round up to 3. He will
start the melee on 11 then he will go on 8 (because 11-3=8), then 5 (as 8-3=5), and last on 2 (5-
3=2).

The melee round would start by the GM polling the characters (just Jim and Bob in this case) to see
who had the highest initiative. After each attack is complete the GM would continue to count down
the initiative until the next attack, until 0 is reached. Then the process would start over if needed.

So in this case the first attack would be Bob at initiative of 16. Then the melee would continue with
Bob going at 12, Jim at 11, Bob and Jim would have a simultaneous attack at 8, then Jim at 5, Bob
at 4 for his last attack, and finally the melee would end with Jim at 2.

Melee Initiative:
16 = Bob
12 = Bob
11= Jim
8= Bob and Jim
5 = Jim
4 = Bob
2= Jim

One of the nice side effects to this system is that you don’t get to the end of the melee and have one
or two character with 3 attacks to take all in a row very often.

Of course this is the basic framework and there are some special circumstances for combat
maneuvers like dodges, low initiative rolls, and initiative losses to HFs. Below are the details of
how to handle these issues. However, it may be good idea to start with just basics and add the rest
of the rules once you are comfortable with basics.

Special Circumstances:

Losing initiative or attacks: This is actually pretty simple. If a character fails a save vs HF, magic, or
anything else that would cause them to lose initiative or to lose an attack for the melee, they simply
skip their next initiative/attack. If the character who was to take their actions on initiatives 14, 10, 6,
2 where to lose initiative or an attack before they went at 14, they would lose that first attack. If that
character had already taken their attacks at 14 and 10 and then lost an attack, they would skip their
attack at the initiative of 6.

Dodges: There are two ways to handle this. The first is to allow characters to use a dodge at any
point in the melee as long as they have attacks left. If they chose to use a dodge, the dodge uses
their next initiative action/attack. The next method is to have character “hold” an attack for use as
dodges. Holding attacks is explained below. The exception to these two ways of handling dodges is
the auto-dodge. Those with auto-dodge may dodge at any time without holding an attack or using
up their next one.

Simultaneous attacks: These can be handled in the same two ways as dodges. Either the character
uses up their next attack, or they must be holding an attack.

Low initiative rolls: It is also possible for a character’s total initiative roll to be lower than the
number of attacks they have in a melee. In this case the character will take an attack on each
initiative after their first attack until they get to 0. Initiatives below 0 cannot be used. So if a
character has 4 attacks and only totals 2 on initiative, they will attack on 2, 1, and 0; effectively
losing one attack for that melee.

Holding attacks: Is optional for use with dodges and simultaneous attacks. When this rule is
invoked characters may not dodge or make simultaneous attacks unless they are tied for initiative
with their attacker, or they are holding an attack from a higher initiative. Held attacks can only be
used to respond to an attacker with dodges or simultaneous attacks. If a character does not use his
held attack before the next attack, that attack is lost. Using this rule forces characters play a little
more defensively and to plan ahead. It also makes special abilities like auto-dodge, even at the
lower dodge bonus, a very nice ability to have.

System 3
I love Palladium's stuff, but I take a different approach to the combat system.

1) Instead of "attacks per melee", I just make them "actions per round" and everyone has a stack of
poker chips or other tokens for their character.

2) Spells cost 1 action to cast per 3 levels - unless otherwise noted as non-combat ritual style spells
in the text. Thus, 1st-3rd = 1 action, 4th-6th = 2 actions, etc. If you are hit while casting, I usually
allow a Roll with Punch save to determine if your spell still goes off.

3) Initiative is fixed. It's just their Initiative Bonus and ties are broken by Physical Prowess stat.

4) On your initiative, you get your Camera Time. This is your chance to spend how many actions
you want doing cool stuff. Then you keep whatever leftover for defensive actions. Parries are
usually free.

4a) If you want to delay your action or ready a particular action based on the situation, you pay 1
action for the delay and then when you want to act, you pay for that action. Example, if you are a
sniper and waiting to see if the mage casts a spell, then you spend 1 to delay and then when the
mage spends his action to cast, you spend your held actions to shoot.

4b) If you want to make a Simultaneous Attack, that's cool. However, if your PP is lower than your
foe, then you spend 2 actions for the Simo instead of just one.

4c) In general, you spend 1 action to make an basic attack, 2 actions if you want to aim first and get
all your bonuses or 2 actions if you want to make a called shot with a basic attack and then 3 actions
will buy you a called shot that is aimed. Depending on the size of the called shot target, you may get
some penalties, but rarely. I like cleaving skulls.

5) MDC damage to MDC armor shakes the shit out of the guy inside. If you are a SDC creature,
you take SDC damage equal to the MDC your armor soaked up. If you are unarmored in a Powered
Armor, you take half the SDC damage. If you are unarmored in a vehicle, you take 1/10th the SDC
damage.

5a) This allows me to have that Star Trek effect during Phase World. You know the one when the
ship gets hit and the crew gets flung around like muppets. That's what happens when your ship takes
400 MDC from a massive salvo and the unarmored crew suffers 40 SDC each from having their
bodies slammed against bulkheads.

And the Boxing skill, I nerfed it. You can spend 1 skill slot to get the basic bonuses, but you gotta
spend another slot if you want the Bonus Action. Heck, its still overpowered.

In actual play, I have found this works great for pacing among the players. Forcing players to spend
an action to delay is great because it keeps them from always holding out to see what the NPCs do
and then kvetching. Now, its a choice with a price. Also, they get to do a flurry of cool stuff, often
blasting apart an NPC or launching several spells or psychic powers.

Of course, the best part is the mini-game of deciding how much to keep in reserve for defenses
versus spending on offense. Rarely does anyone have any actions left at the end of the round, but
occassionally someone banked too much defense and I let them spend one on a delay action to go
off in the next round, thus there is a way to "beat" the Initiative order.

This does have an interesting effect on strategy as actions/attacks are spaced out more evenly
between characters. It seems to me to reduce the amount of manipulating combat through game
rules and stat advantages by strategy players. Instead actual played out actions have a bigger
impact. I don't really know how to explain it.

As for speed of combat, this actually speeds it up a ton. One thing I didn't clarify is that everyone
figures out what initiatives they will take actions on at the beginning of the round and jots them
down on scratch paper. For each round/melee I run the action simply by counting down one time
from 20, or whatever the highest initiative was, down to 0. As I count down the plays go when I call
their numbers and cross them off the list. By the book you have to do the countdown multiple times
and people lose track of how many actions they have taken or when they go next. This is especially
true once you throw in actions like dodges or things that take multiple actions. It also removes
confusion as to who goes next when aspects of initiative change during the melee, like a lost attack
for some reason, when you are down to just a couple characters with several actions left.