Palladium Archives - RPPR Actual Play

You spot a man who obviously does not belong in Denver. His leather jacket and jeans are clean and mended, and his beard is neatly trimmed. More than this, though, is the dangerous grace with which he glides across the ground. Even relaxed, he looks as though he is ready to lash out with deadly blows. His brows are knit with concentration and he never ceases scanning every-thing around him, up and down and side to side. His presence screams deadly competence; you see people move out of his way as he approaches. Far out of his way.You also see the man is a walking arsenal. He has knives strapped to both calves and one forearm, a sword at his hip, a bow and quiver across his back, and a pistol in a holster which slaps quietly against his right thigh as he walks. His pockets bulge with gear, and probably ammunition. He carries his bedroll and the rest of his gear in a dufle, ready to drop out of the way the instant a fight is about to break. Even the bandits who skulk ready to pounce on anyone who might have something of the slightest value, shy away his penetrating gaze and run away if he changes direction towards them.

In a grimdark post-apocalyptic future, where the earth has been devastated by nuclear war, dimensional rifts and Nazi cos-players, only a few gritty heroes stand between a new apocalypse, a post-post apocalypse or a meta apocalypse or an apocalypse squared or a neo-apocalypse or an epic apocalypse or a mega damage apocalypse or a dragon cyborg juicer apocalypse wielding a rune blade with Atlantean tattoos. Yeah. HARDCORE. In other words, I ripped off the plot of a movie called The Eliminators and forced the players into a game of Rifts.  Deal with it.

The mutant heroes have uncovered a nefarious plot by an evil scientist that must be stopped. To complicate matters, delusional 'monster hunters' are tracking the heroes. In order to deal with these threats, the players must recruit aid from unlikely sources, including the reclusive engineer and the monster Zog! Listen in to find which mutant animal hero makes a guest appearance in this episode.

This game system was the first RPG I ever played, so even though it hasn't aged as gracefully as some games, I'm still fond of TMNT & Other Strangeness. So last year, I ran a 2 part game using this system, gleefully maintaining all the quirks of the Palladium rules. The players are all part of the mutant animal underground, living in the forgotten and abandoned parts of The Big Apple. Of course, trouble has a way of finding them...