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I am starting a RPG in a Pre-Rifts setting, no MDC, as a Zombie Plague ravages the world. The Setting is Riverside, Califonia, as the charicters attempt to survive in this setting with Zombies of all types trying to eat them. Stipulation is all players must role them self's up as a level 3-5 charicter. I did this at a Gaming Con in LA a few years back and everyone loved it.

Why not just use the palladium zombie game rules instead of Rifts? MDC is one of the key mechanics that defines Rifts.

Warboss is probably correct. Stripping the 'Rift' related stuff from RIFTS is going to take a lot of work. You lose maybe 3/4 of the classes outright (maybe only 1/4 from the core book) and of those that remain, many are going to be either limited or overpowering (Doing ANY MDC is going to blow through SDC like crazy... Or possibly be pointless if you sue the ugly (1 MDC = 1 SDC workaround I've seen.)

Admittedly, Palladium is one of the last systems I have any interest in playing or running, but I respect that's just my opinion.

... oorrrrr All Flesh Must Be Eaten?

Ummm guess you all forgot that I mentioned Pre-Rifts and there are rules in the Palladium system that allow you to not use the MDC system. I have dome this before and everyone loved it I had 12 players as there was no more sitting room at the table. I have always been a great GM for Palladium any one who has played it with me will attest to my skills. I only wanted opions about the story line not about other Palladium game systems or why MDC is not used.

Then you might want to include more than two generic lines about the story line as the only unique info you gave was that its set in a specific California town. Characters attempting to survive a post apocalyptic world where zombies are trying to eat them is a part of almost every zombie rpg/movie/novel and is about as different as doing a futuristic RPG setting... in space! A paragraph or two about the specifics of the setting and differentiates it from every other zombie setting might get you comments/critiques/advice you're expecting.

You didn't really set any expectations for replies at all. You told us a set-up for a game... and that was it. No specific request for comments or anything else, really.

We can't read minds. We don't know what you want, so we said whatever sounded interesting to us.

LordWynne wrote:I only wanted opions about the story line

It sounds generic and boring.

LordWynne wrote:I am starting a RPG in a Pre-Rifts setting, no MDC, as a Zombie Plague ravages the world. The Setting is Riverside, Califonia, as the charicters attempt to survive in this setting with Zombies of all types trying to eat them. Stipulation is all players must role them self's up as a level 3-5 charicter. I did this at a Gaming Con in LA a few years back and everyone loved it.

I find zombie themed games to be painfully one-dimensional. Get away from the zombies and survive. Wow...real fun at first, but real dull after weeks of the same thing.

I've also played in Zom-pocalypse games where we made characters as ourselves and while it was neat it was also stressful as characters were hurt or killed. No one likes the concept of dying. It did make people play their characters better though since they were more personally invested they didn't have the gamer "Oh I can take it!" mentality going which was a nice change of pace. Once real world friends started getting hurt in the game, though, game sessions started to get less fun and it was very painfully emotional when one of the characters had to go and rescue his wife and son, but couldn't get there due to barricades and so on calling to mind all the personal feelings you would feel if you were experiencing such a scene in real life.

Since that experience I avoid having the PCs be the actual players. The idea behind playing the game in the first place is escape and playing a role. I don't want to be myself. I play myself every day of my life.

Skriker

I'm not all that familiar with Rifts, but am familiar with RPGs..

Obviously, the things to come up with here are:

WHY are we in Riverside, CA? Were "we" born and raised, or moved as adults and worked/lived there?

WHAT is so important about Riverside? Is there some 'secret' or alluded to rumor that there is something that will help end this zombie problem here?

HOW do "we" know each other? If we knew each other well before all the crap hit the fan will determine how our group fares together in the game. I mean, a group of people who were complete strangers but ended up banding together are going to have more trust issues than a group of "best friends" who have known each other for a good while.