RE: [BNW] New game for me

[Scott Raby <sraby@asymtek.com>]

>hehe you ever played vampire the masquerade? I always wanted to play that
>with some of the more annyoning 'ahhh but ewan my poor fool! now ;you own
me
>a BOON! MUHUHUHUHHAHAHAHA'  players but, and hers the cool part, instead of
>a vampire I would be playing a rifts character! picture the scene.....

Not lately, but I did drop an amnesiac Firelord (TM Marvel Comics) on my
Rifts party that had grown to big for their own good. The impact took out a
Tank they had acquired and another small fast hover vehicle while they were
in Mexico. Their greedy Juicer leader grabbed Firelords staff and nearly
burned his hand off. HEHE. 

The problem with Rifts (IMHO) is that the difference in PC's abilities can
really mess things up. It's hard to strike a balance in Rifts, IF you have a
Juicer (super fast martial artist), a Heavy Borg (Think Terminator who
traded his skin for armor and big guns), and a Scout (Mad Max without the
car). Now the Juicer is always (just about) going first the borg will stand
around forever and the smallest pistol can vaporize the poor Scout if he is
not careful. If you send opposition to take on the borg the scout is kinda
left out (Unless the player is smart or resourceful, but that is up to the
player not the rules) and if you send small stuff for the scout the borg and
juicer can make short work of them.

Balance is in the setting as well as the object (in this case the PC's)
Alpha PC's are alright as long as you balance the world around them. If
Alphas are the norm then Buildings would be made stronger to withstand the
abuse. The Military would develop more powerful weapons, or more accurate
versions of what they have so as to minimize collateral damage.
More effort would go into power dampers (IMO).

A disparity would happen if say all Deltas became Alphas overnight yes.
Which is why I chose to keep the players closer to what is in print (by
stopping at 2 powers). This saves me more work so that I can still use what
is in print and just add a power to up a villain to the PC's level or add
2-3 thugs more. I have no problem with PC Alphas, except that I don't have
the time to refigure all the other effects to account for the Alpha
dominated game, and hey I can always stick them in new alcatraz (sp) and run
a Suicide Squad game. :)