So I have decided to run some Rifts. Over the years I have seen a fair amount of criticism of the palladium system. I don't believe any system is perfect. And I find a lot of criticism of palladium is very nit-picky. But one area that has always sat weird with me and a lot of palladium GMs is how it handles MagaDamage (or MD) in Rifts.
Over the years I have seen a lot of house rules when dealing with MagaDamage. I want to go over some of the most common ones I have seen, And how I plan to use MagaDamage.
By the book: In my early days days I simply ran Rifts as written. Most situations this is no problem. 1 MagaDamage is equal to 100 S.D.C. (Structural damage points) This can lead to some odd situations with a 1d6MD weapon "vaporizing" a person in a single shot. Something that shoots a laser the size of a pencil yet it does 100 points of damage.
Converted: Some GMs just covert all MagaDamage to S.D.C. some just keep the die the same but make it S.D.C. The only problem with this is it makes expensive MagaDamage weapons barely as good as, and some times worse than cheap S.D.C. weapons.
Converted & Changed: In this option MagaDamage is converted to S.D.C. but all M.D. weapons are reworked and rescaled to make them more powerful S.D.C. weapons.
Rescaled: This is a very popular option. Instead of 1 MDC to 100 SDC. The conversion is scaled 1 M.D. to 10 MD. This still throws off a few damage values off when compared to some S.D.C. weapons.
My personal way of doing M.D. in the past was by the book but with rules for blow through for personal weapons. Basically how it works is I use M.D. as is but any time a S.D.C. structure or body is hit with M.D. there is a limit to the amount of damage it can do in a single shot. Any time a M.D. weapon hits a S.D.C. body or object damage is rolled at the rate of 1M.D. to 10 S.D.C. This rule applies to only personal weapons. That way a hand laser or M.D. bullet doesn't "vaporizing" a whole body but instead passes through. This of course doesn't apply to large and vehicle mounded weapon. And doesn't apply to explosives.
Any one else have a favorite way of using MagaDamage? Or do you use one of the examples above?
My preferred version is borrowed from Savage World's Heavy Weapons & Armor. Only MDC armor can block MDC damage, if I don't possess MDC armor than I take full damage, but its not boosted in anyway. E.G. If I have 60 SDC armor & get hit for 12 MDC, I take the full 12 MDC but there is no boost. You can also add the wrinkle that it goes straight to Hit Points & ignored even my body's SDC.
ReplyDeleteI have nothing but great memories playing this game. I've looked for meetups over the years but sadly hadn't found anything (I'm in NJ). Anyways, glad I found this blog and that this game is still being enjoyed. For whatever it's worth, I have a stack of about 8 game books I'm no longer using and would love to see them in the right hands.
ReplyDeleteTake care..
Bryan
bryan.kleinman@gmail.com