Rifts Ultimate Edition: More Thoughts

I hear some muttering about Rifts Ultimate Edition not meeting some players' expectations. Most notably:

• The original book still has a few resources that were dropped in Ultimate, including the Quick Roll Monsters charts and the enemies presented there.
• Ultimate's organization is confusing for new players.
• There were a few changes to skills and OCCs.
• The meta-plot has been updated to the most current point in the timeline.
• Magic casting times have been changed to make mages more efficient in combat.
• The Ultimate Edition is enormous and is a lot more to take in.
• That miniature missile chart in the back, what were they thinking?

So, the original book is still the preferred way to start a new campaign for some players, especially those who want to run through the books and play in the official timeline events before the current year. You could play using Ultimate as your core rulebook, and pull in the missing content from the original book.

I know I am going to miss that random monster chart. I like those sorts of things. But I have the book and PDF, so I am not missing it.

Rifts Ultimate is a version 1.5E of the original game, a book for experienced GMs that gathers together all the rule changes and tries to present a starting point at the most current place in the timeline. The updated ranged combat rules are the most significant changes, along with lots of minor rules clarifications. Google AI grasps Rifts Ultimate pretty well, so asking questions of that system helps me navigate the changes quickly.

Still, there is a charm to the all-in-one original book. I like how it tried to be a self-contained game rather than a book that feels like a rules compendium. They can be used together as long as you are consistent.

But, as a rules compendium, Rifts Ultimate lives up to its name. I get why some are not as happy, and feel we lost the charm of the original standalone book, which felt more "Palladium" than a larger, all-in-one book that tries to do everything, but omits a lot of GM resources for monsters and other information. The expanded world information at the front of the book is nice and helps me set up a mental framework for the world in my head much more easily than the original book did.

I like them both.

The original book is a classic Palladium self-contained game with a little of everything. It is still an excellent entry point into the game. There are good arguments for starting new players here.

Rifts Ultimate is the ideal book for experienced groups and referees, but it is primarily a rules compendium and update. This book does a better job of "pulling it all together" to present a coherent whole, using the hindsight of all released supplements to offer a more complete world overview.

The original book is like a "Star Wars guide" if all they had was the first movie. Ultimate is like a "Star Wars guide" after several dozen Star Wars movies and TV shows were released, and they needed to present the best of the best information to pull it all together.

You may start with the original and only pull in the books you want without all that hindsight.

Or you may want the whole picture to start with, and then pick and choose from there.