The Culture: One Man On Simulationism Leading To Me Talking Application

Alexander Macris talks RPG design.

I'll be taking all of this into account when I resume talking about Palladium over the week. (And yes, you can blame Jeffro for that.)

Before everyone heads to the fainting couches, there is a point to doing so: RIFTS has the greatest campaign potential in the hobby, in terms of what the publisher officially supports as part of the property.

As anyone familiar with the property's setting can confirm, the sheer number of playable Factions just on RIFTS Earth is more than enough for a world-spanning campaign complete with Braunstein events that can easily match #BROvenloft, #Decembork, and #BROrientalAdventures.

The big thing is that RIFTS is tied to not only every other Palladium game in the company's catalog, but to all of time and space- eat that Doctor Who, and there are not only multiple Occupations that take advantage of that fact but entire races whose ability to travel across those boundaries is an inherent racial trait- perfect for those that just have to stick their noses in everything.

And all that Macris talks about in that video can and does end up becoming necessary to successfully running a Palladium game of any sort, but especially RIFTS.

Yes, there's some special sauce that acts as lubrication for such unbridled boyish enthusiasm in imagination, and I have an entire post about that coming up this week. That boyish enthuiasm is the fuel needed for players, and especially the Referee, to apply what Macris talked about to playing and running any successful campaign.

And you'll need it, because Palladium may have raw enthusiasm going for it, but it's lacking so much that makes for a complete product that you need it to cover the gaps. Kevin Siembieda is known to be a nice guy and an enthusiastic man, but that's got limits; you can't wish yourself into flying when you jump off the roof of the hotel, and you can't hope that enthusiasm universally produces the same result to common gameplay issues.