Graduation Day
Somewhere in the Desert Southwest...
“Well it’s been a long, tough road but you few have managed to pass all the trials.” The speaker said in a raspy dry voice that you long since gotten accustomed to. An aged nattily-dressed man in a white button shirt, black vest and bowtie wearing silver round rimmed glasses, stroked his closely trimmed beard. Both his hair and beard were frosty with the grey of age. He coughed and then. “I, Doctor Stein, am proud to hereby grant all the status of graduates of the Vampire Slaying education exchange program. Don’t forget to stop by Fort Reid if you are ever in the area.“ Eying the class of assorted beings, the Doctor reached into his podium and pulled out a stack of papers...that he held closely to his plain black vest. “Whether you hailed from the Coalition, the Federation of Magic, Psyscape, or wherever doesn’t matter. As of today you are now Vampire Hunters. I have your certificates right here. Please come up as your name is called...” With a loud thump the side of the mobile classroom shook and the entire room rocked, interrupting your teacher. The overhead lighting flickered, dimmed and then brightened back to normal. A split second later a series of explosions go off outside...and screams can be heard. With a stoic expression, Dr. Stein reached under his podium and pulled out a shotgun. Racking the firearm with a practiced stroke he headed to the door. The old man, walking a bit straighter now paused and turned by the door, looking at all of you.
“What are you waiting for? It’s time to go to work!” Around you are the sounds of weapons being loaded and racked, powerplants being activated and mystical powers engaged as your fellow graduates rise up to the challenge. The scoop: I was toying with the idea of a monster of the week (powered by the apocalypse, PBTA) when I picked up an old friend, Vampire Kingdoms and decided why not? The PCs would essentially be a cell that's assigned to deal with various vampire threats. The PCs have to operate (perhaps a bit disfunctional at times given the nature of the RIFTs universe) as a team. Sources/restrictions: aside from no e vil alignments and no loner/lone-wolf types most options are available.
Sourcebooks: would be RIFTS UE, Vampire Kingdoms, Vampire Sourcebook, most official Worldbooks, etc. . Due to the way KS doesn't put everything in one book other sources that are referenced (eg Mystic Russia for the Necromancer, or Book of Magic for more TW weapons/vehicles) would be allowed for completeness. A good aligned Necro Vampire Hunter would be allowed for example. OCC/RCC's that are not strictly templated out as a VH (Vampire Hunter) OCC will still have access to certain Vampire Hunter abilities. And yes that means you can play a baby dragon. Or even a demi-god. Though probably not godlings. Sourcebooks not explicitly quoted above would have to be allowed provisionally (that is, I don't own them all). In the end, every player character will have their moment in the spotlight. While MDC races/OCCs would be probably a good idea the nature of vampire resistances in Palladium means non-MDC classes (with the right skillset or tools) can get by as well. There's a few other details I was going to iron out later (starting levels would not be 1) but I was curious if there was any interest. Sessions would most likely be every other week (I run a bunch of other games) and would be episodic 'villain of the week' in nature with a main arc aka 'big bad evil guy' that would have to be eventually discovered, tracked down and dealt with. Times/days TBD on interest, etc. Note we'd start as a one-shot and if the group hits it off, we'll keep going :) Anyone interested? If yes, please post here. If I get enough interest I'll set up a game page with a more formal application process.
