Why I’m Starting a “New to RIFTS? Start Here” Series

 

One of the questions I've been asked more than any other since bringing RIFTS back to the channel is surprisingly simple.

"Where do I start?"

At first, I thought the answer was obvious. Buy the main RIFTS rulebook and just start reading. Then I stopped and thought about it. That was easy advice for someone like me because I've been around RIFTS for decades. I already know the Coalition States. I know what a Glitter Boy is. I know why Mega Damage matters. I know what a ley line is. I know what happens when a Rift opens. 

A brand new player doesn't know any of that.

They're opening a massive rulebook filled with strange terms, unfamiliar technology, dozens of character classes, magic systems, psychic powers, alien races, monsters, and two hundred years of history that the book largely assumes already happened. That's asking a lot. It made me realize something. Maybe we've been introducing people to RIFTS the wrong way. That's why I'm starting this new podcast series.

New to RIFTS? Start Here.

The goal isn't to explain every rule or summarize every sourcebook. The goal is much simpler. I want to make RIFTS approachable. I know there a few podcasts out there, that are discussion based, and there is plenty of Youtube videos out there, going over things with a "how-to" approach, but I wanted to do a podcast that just simply says "START HERE!" and gives someone a littler newer to RIFTS a jumping on point. 

IF you open almost any RIFTS book and you'll find robots standing next to dragons. Power armor fighting vampires. Magic, cybernetics, ancient gods, dimensional travelers, demons, psychics, giant robots, and civilizations separated by hundreds or even thousands of years. That's why so many of us fell in love with it. It's also why new players sometimes close the book after thirty minutes. They're not confused because the ideas are bad. They're confused because they're trying to absorb everything at once. Imagine introducing someone to Star Wars by handing them every movie, every television show, every novel, every comic book, and telling them, "You'll figure it out." That's what learning RIFTS can feel like. There's simply too much information competing for your attention. I don't think that's the best way to introduce one of the greatest settings ever created.

SO THIS IS WHY I chose Chaos Earth...

Expect the episode to drop this Friday, and every couple of days.