Happy April Fools, bitches...
Giga-Damage (G.D.C.)
The next BIG thing from Palladium Books (a.k.a. "We Need Bigger Guns")
In the beginning, there were just Structural Damage Capacity (S.D.C.) weapons and armor in the Palladium Megaverse, relatively wimpy fare capable of only blowing to pieces an average person or a very light vehicle with a single, high-powered attack. If you kept up an attack for a whole melee round or more, maybe you could take out a tank with S.D.C. rocket launchers or high level superpowers, but really, this wasn't much fun at all, since it slowed the players down from racking up major amounts of experience points in as short a time as possible.
Then came Mega-Damage. Pure, sweet, Mega-Damage, oh how we loved thee! Now, even with an M.D. peashooter, a character can punch a hole through the biggest S.D.C. tank! It was awesome! There was just nothing cooler than you and your buddies flanking a skyscraper, shooting out its corner foundations and watching the sucker fall. (Of course, in Rifts, this honorable pastime was marred only because most skyscrapers generally don't have any people in them. Oh, well.). Yeah, baby, a giant (or not so giant) robot could level a town or battle a dragon, maybe even take on a demigod! The sense of power and wonder. it was a power garner's dream come true.
But have you noticed how everybody's got Mega-Damage stuff nowadays? It's totally not any fun! I mean, what's the point of having Mega-Damage weapons and armor if the guy you're trying to turn into pâté is packing the same hardware? I mean, that requires you to think up strategies and tactics for your character, and where's the fun in that? It becomes too much like work, since you have to hit him a bunch of times, and if he hits you, you can take damage too! Why Palladium let everybody else get Mega-Stuff is beyond me, but I tell you, it's going to be the downfall of that company yet.
But there is a way to fix things! No. really, there is! It’s a great new concept, and it's finally going to put the power back into power gaming! Friends, Romans. countrymen, lend me your ears, for I bring to you the new face of ultimate destruction for fun and profit! I bring you, Giga-Damage!!!
The concept behind Giga-Damage is simple. What Mega-Damage was to S.D.C., Giga-Damage is to Mega-Damage! Except, it’s been made better to get rid of some of the really annoying things about Mega-Damage that have ruined so many of my games over the years. Like first, it always bugged me that 100 S.D.C. essentially equaled 1 point of M.D.C. Sure, S.D.C. weapons can’t hurt Mega-Damage structures, but come on! That 100:1 ratio is just way too wimpy, and it gives S.D.C. gamers the delusion that maybe, just maybe, they could take out a Mega-Dude if they used their brains and came up with a really good plan. As if that has anything to do with role-playing!
To prevent this same trend from happening with Giga-Damage, l have upped the G.D.C./M.D.C. ratio to 1,000,000:1. That means one point of Giga-Damage equals one million points (that‘s 1,000,000) of M,D.C. And, Mega-Damage weapons simply can not hurt Giga-Damage structures... ever. Only Giga-Weapons can harm Giga-Structures. Exactly what constitutes a Giga-Structure is something I’ll get to later in this article, but for now, let’s just say that things like small planets and specially outfitted suits of power armor are two good examples.
The best way to incorporate Giga-Damage into your campaign is when only you and your buddies’ characters have Giga-Stuff, and nobody else. That way, you won't have any annoying Giga-Battles to figure out. And if you have any intra-party conflict, do yourselves a favor and cut your fellow character's throat while he‘s sleeping to spare your character a nasty battle in the morning. Besides, then your chararcter can keep all of his stuff undamaged for resale.
Giga-Stuff
Sometimes, articles like this put the weapons and armor stats in the back, so you have to flip through the whole thing to get to the good part. I hate that. That’s why I’m puttirtg it here, so you can grab what you came here for and retum to gaming. For those of you boring people who actually want to know the history behind these things, Giga-Stuff is native to Rifts Earth, and was designed by the Coalition to totally kick everybody else’s butt. The scientist behind the effort was Doctor Leopold Jupiter, a 53rd level Rogue Scholar/Scientist I used to run when Rifts first came out. Jupiter is himself a Giga-Damage creature with the Giga-Psionic power of Annihilate Enemies, so don’t even think about trying to take him out,
because you can’t.
G-1 Derringer
Giga-Damage: 1D4.
Rate of Fire: Once a melee round.
Range: One mile (1.6 km),
Payload: 10 shots per Giga-Clip.
Weight: One pound (0.45 kg).
Cost: 10,000 Credits for the gun, another 1,000 for each Giga-Clip.
Notes: This weapon is so stupid. I don’t know why it even invented it. I mean, it hardly does any damage, but I guess it’s cool to hide in your shoe or something or to prove your superiority by frying a Glitter Boy with it.
G-5 Light Laser Pistol
Giga-Damage: 3D6.
Rate of Fire: As many times as you have attacks in a melee round.
Range: 10 miles (16 km).
Payload: 100 shots per Giga-Clip.
Weight: One pound (0.45 kg).
Cost: 100,000 credits for the gun, and 10,000 credits for each Giga-Clip.
Notes: Still too weak a weapon.
G-10 Heavy Energy Pistol
Giga-Damage: 1D4x10.
Rate of Fire: As many times as you can attack in a melee round. Don‘t worry, this single-fire crap is about to end.
Range: 20 miles/32 km.
Payload: 200 shots per Giga-Clip. Don‘t worry about this limited ammo thing, either. That too is about to go the way of the dodo bird. Or the Simvan, for that matter, since my crew took out the last of them back in February, That campaign was so sweet.
Weight: One pound (0.45 kg).
Cost: 200,000 credits for the gun, and 20,000 credits for each Giga-Clip.
Notes: The only thing that makes this gun really worthwhile is that it looks just like a bigger, kewler version of that blaster gun used by that smuggler guy in the old space movie about some whiny kid with a laser sword (probably only Mega-Damage), some old dude who was always trying to teach him stuff, some chick with goofy hair and way too much clothing, a robot butler and an automated trashcan. I can‘t remember the movie’s name.
G-25 Particle Beam Rifle
Giga-Damage: 1D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Full auto only. Burst firing is for elitists who have delusions of accuracy and ammo conservation.
Range: 50 miles (80 km).
Payload: Unlimited! The gun has an internal generator that gives the weapon the limitless ammo capacity that all Giga-Guns rightfully deserve.
Weight: Two pounds (0.9 kg).
Cost: 500,000 credits.
Notes: I thought about putting a Giga-Grenade Launcher on the underside of this but l decided that you're better off attaching another G-25 and firing them both at the same time. And if you wire the triggers together, you can do it without losing a melee action, too.
Giga-Damage: 1D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Full auto only. Burst firing is for elitists who have delusions of accuracy and ammo conservation.
Range: 50 miles (80 km).
Payload: Unlimited! The gun has an internal generator that gives the weapon the limitless ammo capacity that all Giga-Guns rightfully deserve.
Weight: Two pounds (0.9 kg).
Cost: 500,000 credits.
Notes: I thought about putting a Giga-Grenade Launcher on the underside of this but l decided that you're better off attaching another G-25 and firing them both at the same time. And if you wire the triggers together, you can do it without losing a melee action, too.
G-60 Machinegun
Giga-Damage: 3D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Double Auto! The weapon fires on full auto, but so fast, it’s like firing two full auto spreads at once. For a 1,000 credit upgrade fee, all Giga-Guns may be fitted with this feature.
Range: 100 miles (I60 km).
Payload: Unlimited, like the G-25. Only the generator is bigger and resembles a big ammo drum, mostly because this gun didn‘t look right without it.
Weight: Three pounds (1 ,4 kg).
Cost: 1 million credits. Or, if we play together and you do my characters some favors, I might just give you one with a built-in expiration date of one month on the generator. Any efforts to remove the expiration date will result in the weapon’s explosion, removing you and your pitiful friends from the Megaversal continuity, which means I will have gotten your credits for nothing!
Notes: This weapon is designed to be fired from the hip. To get the perfect effect, the character should have no shirt on (female characters especially) and have a really good war face.
Giga-Damage: 3D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Double Auto! The weapon fires on full auto, but so fast, it’s like firing two full auto spreads at once. For a 1,000 credit upgrade fee, all Giga-Guns may be fitted with this feature.
Range: 100 miles (I60 km).
Payload: Unlimited, like the G-25. Only the generator is bigger and resembles a big ammo drum, mostly because this gun didn‘t look right without it.
Weight: Three pounds (1 ,4 kg).
Cost: 1 million credits. Or, if we play together and you do my characters some favors, I might just give you one with a built-in expiration date of one month on the generator. Any efforts to remove the expiration date will result in the weapon’s explosion, removing you and your pitiful friends from the Megaversal continuity, which means I will have gotten your credits for nothing!
Notes: This weapon is designed to be fired from the hip. To get the perfect effect, the character should have no shirt on (female characters especially) and have a really good war face.
G-999 Giga-Missile Launcher
Giga-Darnage: Varies by warhead, but all do 10D10x100, except for smoke warheads, which inflict only 1D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 10, 25, 50 or 100.
Range: 26,000 miles (41,600 km). This puts those rumored “killer satellites" that prevent anybody from leaving Ritts Earth just within range. But, since you’ve probably already launched your own Killer Satellite Satellite Killers into orbit yourself, this whole exercise is moot.
Payload: Ammo drums of 100 missiles or a disintegrating link belt that can accommodate up to 10,000 missiles. You might want to pay a professional illustrator to draw a picture of your character firing the G-999 in one hand, and feeding the ammo belt with the other hand. I did. And believe me when I say it looks great mounted on my wall, next to my framed restraining order filed by Kevin Siembieda, Steve Jackson (ever notice how much he and Kev look alike?) and some old RPG guy named Gary.
Weight: Four pounds (1.8 kg), because the missiles add to the weight.
Cost: Half million credits, plus 50 credits for each missile.
Notes: This unit can be hidden in a guitar case for covert operations, but mini-missiles are carried in a backpack or briefcase. That‘s the problem with missile launchers; they and their missiles are bulky.
Giga-Darnage: Varies by warhead, but all do 10D10x100, except for smoke warheads, which inflict only 1D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 10, 25, 50 or 100.
Range: 26,000 miles (41,600 km). This puts those rumored “killer satellites" that prevent anybody from leaving Ritts Earth just within range. But, since you’ve probably already launched your own Killer Satellite Satellite Killers into orbit yourself, this whole exercise is moot.
Payload: Ammo drums of 100 missiles or a disintegrating link belt that can accommodate up to 10,000 missiles. You might want to pay a professional illustrator to draw a picture of your character firing the G-999 in one hand, and feeding the ammo belt with the other hand. I did. And believe me when I say it looks great mounted on my wall, next to my framed restraining order filed by Kevin Siembieda, Steve Jackson (ever notice how much he and Kev look alike?) and some old RPG guy named Gary.
Weight: Four pounds (1.8 kg), because the missiles add to the weight.
Cost: Half million credits, plus 50 credits for each missile.
Notes: This unit can be hidden in a guitar case for covert operations, but mini-missiles are carried in a backpack or briefcase. That‘s the problem with missile launchers; they and their missiles are bulky.
G-69 Support Cannon
Giga-Damage: 6D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Triple Auto! Like Double Auto, only Triple.
Range: From Los Angeles, California, to Santiago, Chile, however far that is (gotta be at least 2000 miles, eh).
Payload: Special! This weapon regenerates ammo so fast that if you don’t shoot it every 10 minutes, it begins having an energy build up that will eventually melt the weapon!!! The only way to prevent this is to tape the trigger back so it is always firing, Then you can just mount the weapon on a turret mount and slave it to a motion tracker or something, but tricked out so it won’t hit anybody you like.
Weight: Five pounds (225 kg), because this baby is really big.
Cost: One million credits, plus 50 credits for the mount and 500 for the slaving system. In certain weapons trading areas, a successful Streetwise roll will get you the peripherals for free.
Notes: This is what I'm talking about!
Giga-Damage: 6D6x10.
Rate of Fire: Triple Auto! Like Double Auto, only Triple.
Range: From Los Angeles, California, to Santiago, Chile, however far that is (gotta be at least 2000 miles, eh).
Payload: Special! This weapon regenerates ammo so fast that if you don’t shoot it every 10 minutes, it begins having an energy build up that will eventually melt the weapon!!! The only way to prevent this is to tape the trigger back so it is always firing, Then you can just mount the weapon on a turret mount and slave it to a motion tracker or something, but tricked out so it won’t hit anybody you like.
Weight: Five pounds (225 kg), because this baby is really big.
Cost: One million credits, plus 50 credits for the mount and 500 for the slaving system. In certain weapons trading areas, a successful Streetwise roll will get you the peripherals for free.
Notes: This is what I'm talking about!
G-1000 Gigasaurus Rex (energy cannon)
Giga-Damage: 3D6x50,000!
Rate of Fire: Unlimited!
Range: Unlimited!
Payload: Unlimited!
Weight: 8 pounds (3.6 kg); sorry it’s so heavy.
Cost: Unlimited!
Notes: This weapon is a massive, shoulder-fired bazooka-style weapon like the G-999, except it is a beam weapon and looks way kewler. You can fire it one-handed, but shooting two G-Rexes like paired weapons will incur a -1 to strike. Characters generally should not get access to this particular weapon until at least 2nd level.
Additional Notes: As I wrote up this weapon, I got an idea for a Heroes Unlimited sourcebook called Giga-Unlimited, in
which i will introduce the Giga-Hero.
Giga-Damage: 3D6x50,000!
Rate of Fire: Unlimited!
Range: Unlimited!
Payload: Unlimited!
Weight: 8 pounds (3.6 kg); sorry it’s so heavy.
Cost: Unlimited!
Notes: This weapon is a massive, shoulder-fired bazooka-style weapon like the G-999, except it is a beam weapon and looks way kewler. You can fire it one-handed, but shooting two G-Rexes like paired weapons will incur a -1 to strike. Characters generally should not get access to this particular weapon until at least 2nd level.
Additional Notes: As I wrote up this weapon, I got an idea for a Heroes Unlimited sourcebook called Giga-Unlimited, in
which i will introduce the Giga-Hero.
G-123 Giga-Boomer
Giga-Damage: 3D12x10:
Rate of Fire: As many times as you can attack in the melee round This stupid rule got snuck in by an old GM because I owed him some money. Still, you can get around this bobble by adding up to five more barrels to the weapon, making it a true six-shooter. Multi-barreled Giga-Boomers can either fire all barrels at once in single-shot setting (for six times the normal damage, of course), or can fire gatling-gun style, on Giga-Auto mode, which equates to the entire payload shooting out in a single attack.
Range: All the way around the world minus 10 feet (3 m), This way, you can fire a shot and it will kill everybody in its path on the entire planet! But don't worry, because I made the range just a little off so the slugs will fall to the ground before they hit you in the back,
Payload: Ammo dnuns of 1,000 to 100,000 flechette rounds. All ammo drums are the same size, though, thanks to the incredible flechette miniaturization technologies pioneered by Top o’ the World Industries, a cutting-edge weapons designer featured prominently in my soon-to-be written Rifts Greenland manuscript.
Weight: Five pounds (2.25 kg), because it is really big too.
Cost: All the money you have.
Notes: This weapon is a typical Glitter Boy’s Boom Gun up-graded for Giga-Damage purposes. The great thing about this is that since it has no recoil (a side effect of the Giga-Upgrade), you don’t have to fire your heel spikes into the ground when you fire, freeing your legs for some sweet roundhouse kicks/Giga-Boomer combinations
Giga-Damage: 3D12x10:
Rate of Fire: As many times as you can attack in the melee round This stupid rule got snuck in by an old GM because I owed him some money. Still, you can get around this bobble by adding up to five more barrels to the weapon, making it a true six-shooter. Multi-barreled Giga-Boomers can either fire all barrels at once in single-shot setting (for six times the normal damage, of course), or can fire gatling-gun style, on Giga-Auto mode, which equates to the entire payload shooting out in a single attack.
Range: All the way around the world minus 10 feet (3 m), This way, you can fire a shot and it will kill everybody in its path on the entire planet! But don't worry, because I made the range just a little off so the slugs will fall to the ground before they hit you in the back,
Payload: Ammo dnuns of 1,000 to 100,000 flechette rounds. All ammo drums are the same size, though, thanks to the incredible flechette miniaturization technologies pioneered by Top o’ the World Industries, a cutting-edge weapons designer featured prominently in my soon-to-be written Rifts Greenland manuscript.
Weight: Five pounds (2.25 kg), because it is really big too.
Cost: All the money you have.
Notes: This weapon is a typical Glitter Boy’s Boom Gun up-graded for Giga-Damage purposes. The great thing about this is that since it has no recoil (a side effect of the Giga-Upgrade), you don’t have to fire your heel spikes into the ground when you fire, freeing your legs for some sweet roundhouse kicks/Giga-Boomer combinations
Giga-Damage Q&A
Since l've introduced this great new concept on the lntemet, l have received over 2,350 flames and death threats via email, and I even had a few guys hack into my website in order to erase my original Giga-Damage rules! Nice try, you guys. But now that Giga-Damage is in print, it’s official and you have to deal with it!
Anyway, those people who AREN'T totally immature and who APPRECIATE what I'm trying to do have sent me a lot of really good questions on Giga-Damage. To better explain this concept (which will totally revolutionize role-playing, BTW), here are some of the better questions and answers on this uber-kewl topic.
Q: How come there is no Giga-Armor yet?
A: When I began writing this article, I thought I would include some Giga-Stats for Giga-Armor, but you know what? I like it better with people just having Giga-Guns. It makes it easier to blow stuff up. Besides, the time I spend writing up Giga-Armor could be much better spent playing Giga-Bots and Giga-Babes, my awesome new collectible card game. (Editor’s Note: Be afraid. Be very afraid)
Q: Okay, if you blast some hoser in M.D.C. armor with a Giga-Gun, he‘s pretty much toast. But what happens if you hit some S.D.C. guy with a Giga-Gun?
A: Good question! You can play it two ways. One, that the S.D.C. guy is completely vaporized. I mean, not even his boots are left standing! Nothing, nada. Zero. Poof. Gone. The same is pretty much true of S.D.C. walls and vehicles. You can figure a blast punches a hole in a wall the size of a Volkswagon Beetle. And probably the wall behind it, too! Little cars, motorcycles, hover cycles, and man-sized robots are zapped into nothingness, too,
The second way to play is my personal favorite. Not only is the target 1,000,000% vaporized, but he is erased from the entire continuity of the Megaverse! Everything that person said or did is as if it never existed! This is really cool for rewriting history or for making things easier on yourself when you have some annoying S.D.C. political figure who keeps messing with you. Find his parents and Giga-Blast them, and erase the dude from existence. It works! S.D.C. structures are likewise erased from the Megaversal continuity. This one time, my character actually found pieces from the original Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, and I Giga-Blasted them, which meant that those ships never existed, so Christopher Columbus never came to the New World, so the US. was never founded, so the Coalition was never founded after the Apocalypse. That‘s why my character is Overlord of Illinois right now.
Q: If I have a Giga-Gun, then what is the point of using Mega-Stuff anymore?
A: Just because Giga-Stuff totally blows away Mega-Stuff doesn’t mean there is no more use for Mega-Stuff. For example, say your character needs to hunt for food (hypothetical, since real heroes don’t eat). If you Giga-Blast a dinosaur, there won’t be anything left to fill your stomach. Now if you Mega-Blast that same dinosaur, then not only will you have plenty left over for dinner, but it‘ll be cooked to a nice, juicy medium well done, too.
Here's an even better example. You want to capture an important building. If you Giga-Blast it, there won’t be much of anything left to plunder afterwards, But if you only Mega-Blast it, you should have big hunks of it left to plunder at will. That’s how my character got so rich. If I had laid siege to the First Bank of Iron Heart with my Giga-Guns, then I would never have been able to sack the bank of the 77 trillion credits that now sit in my character’s private Giga-Vault along with his collection of woe weapons.
Q: One of my friends said he fired a Giga-Gun at the fabric of space and time and created a Rift. I told him that was stupid. Isnt it?
A: It’s not stupid. lt's brilliant! Just think, now your mecha pilot can control beings from another dimension without having to learn all that magic crap! One look at your Giga-Guns, and any creature from another world will be licking your boots so clean they shine! That‘s why my character currently has the Legion of Dragons as his house cleaners. Never underestimate the presence of overwhelming firepower to get other people to do what you want.
Q: I took a bunch of characters with Giga-Stuff over to the Palladium Fantasy game setting, and we totally blew the place up! Is that kewl or what?
A: Dude. that's totally kewl! My advice for bringing Giga-Stuff to less powerful gaming environments (namely, anything in which Giga-Stuff is not prevalent) is to say that 25% of the world will be totally destroyed by your characters within 1D6 months, after which you will be lord of that realm. That‘s for handling this quickly, in case you don‘t have the time to actually role-play the domination of the world. If you have the time, then I’d suggest you actually play out the Giga-Combat scenarios. They’re uber-fun.
Q: Sometimes, Mega-Stuff isn‘t Mega anymore when it goes to a S.D.C. world, though. Does that happen with Giga-Stuff?
A: Of course not! If that were the case, then my characters could never have taken over the Nightbane world the way that they did. Let me tell you, having Nightlords serve you dinner on a nightly basis is well worth the hassle of reducing their realm to utter ruin with a few well-placed Giga-Blasts.
Q: Can you upgrade Mega-Stuff into Giga-Stuff?
A: Yes, but only Rollo Masamune, my 100th level Operator, can do it, and he charges one million credits for every point of G.D.C. he bestows upon your equipment. Don‘t try killing him or making threats either, or his fully automated G.D.C, Ulti-Max will put the smack down on you faster than that time Bronkus Hogsworth, my 80th level Mega-Cyber-Juicer-Cosmo-Headhunter, smoked the Four Horsemen in less than a melee round. Masamune’s workshop is in the Kingdom of Ferkopolis, which is where the Coalition States of Chi-Town would be if Bronkus hadn’t taken it over already.
Q: Are there any spells capable of Giga-Damage?
A: I suppose if you really wanted to, you could make a spell with Giga-Damage in it, but why would you want to? The only way I could see this being any fun at all is if you had a guy with a big suit of mecha that could cast spells. Hey, that’s a pretty good idea, come to think of it. I think Rollo‘s Ulti-Max is gonna get an upgrade. Thanks for the suggestion!
Q: Can a Giga-Damage weapon kill a mythological god? What about Superman?
A: Heck yeah! Figure any G.D. weapon that does at least 1D4x10 G.D. per blast can kill a god (any weapon that does less takes triple the amount of attacks and wastes time). Figure a demigod or godling like Hercules can get taken out with 1 or 2 blasts. A full~fledged, but lesser god in 3 or 4. and a big-shot god like Zeus, Jupiter, Odin or Ra, even Thor, in 6 or 8. Same thing goes for Alien Intelligences and the Splugorth, 6 or 8 (only one or two from the ultra-rare Gigasaurus Rex) blasts and they are history! Oh, as for Superman, figure him to be like Zeus, I guess.
Giga-Adventures
So you say you‘ve destroyed everything you can think of with your Giga-Stuff and now you’re bored and don‘t know what to do? Well, chances are you haven’t thought of these uber-kewl Giga-Adventures yet. Try these on for size, and you’ll be singing my praises as best adventure maker of all time. In the unlikely event that these don’t keep you amused long enough, don‘t worry. I hear Palladium’s coming out with some new Palladium Fantasy RPG, Heroes Unlimited, Systems Failure, and Nightbane stuff this year, so you can always “Rift” over there and take that stuff out, too. Oh, and don’t forget about adapting your favorite movies and TV shows: With Giga-Damage gizmos you can terminate the Terminators, destroy the Death-Star, and boldly go wherever the heck YOU want! Get the idea?
Tolkeen Must Die!
Tolkeen is very annoying to the Lords of Ferkopolis, and they have ordered you to destroy it immediately and return for lunch. Failure to do this will result in your agonizing death. (And my characters are totally powerful enough to do it, too. So you better take this seriously.)
You wouldn’t mind taking all the valuable stuff Tolkeen has hidden in its treasure vaults, but if you simply Giga-Blast everything, there will be no pay-off for you.
Ah, screw it. Warm up the Giga-Blasters and have fun. You can always treasure hunt later by visiting Diamond World, my upcoming Megaversal sourcebook about an uninhabited world made up completely of a huge flawless diamond worth over one decillion credits. If you crack the planet in smaller pieces with a few well-placed Giga-Blasts, you can bring the stuff home and be as rich as sin.
Atlantis Must Die!
You have decided to conquer Atlantis single-handedly. Without any Gigs-Stuff to defend it, the island is doomed.
If you Giga-Blast the Splynn Dimensional Market, you won‘t have anywhere to sell the fragments of Diamond World! What do you do?
No problem. First you Giga-Blast the City of Splynn into submission. This should take 2D6 melee rounds if you’re not a total loser. Then either force Lord Splynncryth to accept you as the true leader of Atlantis (you might want to leave Splynncryth as a figurehead) or blast him to atoms and proclaim yourself new Lord of Atlantis. Once you control the island, you give those Diamond World pieces to those blind hotties that are on the cover of the original Rifts main rule book. The island is practically crawling with those chicks, so if you give them big diamonds, they’ll totally fall for your character. After that, it won‘t matter if the place is a smoking ruin or not.
The NGR Must Die!
Now that you control Atlantis, you’ve decided to reveal to the world that the New German Republic is just a big collection of wimps and sissies, after all.
This one is no contest, especially if you set up a Giga-Sniping station on Mount Everest. If you want to do this the hard way, actually fly to Germany and Giga-Blast the country along its borders with the rest of Europe. Once the nation is set adrift on the open sea, the inhabitants will totally lose their cool and will submit to you as their rightful Overlord.
Hey, that’s a good idea. Send it to Davy Jones’ locker with a nice Giga-Blast right in the center. Just make sure you don’t do this before you‘ve taken everything you want from the country first.
All Cosmo-Knights Must Die!
Everybody keeps saying how Cosmo-Knights are way too tough, This exercise in true power will end that little debate once and for all.
The big pain here is the Cosmo-Knights are all the way on Phase World, which means you’d have to Giga-Blast a Rift open and actually go there. Since you probably just got back from Germany, the last thing you need is another boring road trip. So, fire a few Giga-Blasts into the Sun and blast it apart. That will get their attention, and they’ll be coming to your doorstep in no time. Before you do this, make sure you’ve got a scroll with the Replace Sun Spell of Legend on it or else you’ll have to move to another planet or parallel dimension. But, if you prefer cinematic campaigns that aren’t so annoyingly obsessed with realism, then overlook this part.
No Cosmo-Knight can stand up to a meaty barrage of Giga-Damage, so the big question is how many of these suckheads you want to take prisoner. Since you’ve already got about half the Splugorth race waiting on you hand and foot, having more flunkies is only going to clutter up your Giga-Fortress, so you might as well waste ‘em.
Optional: Instead of putting out your own sun, you could actually go to Phase World, steal a spaceship, mount it with a couple hundred Giga-Turrets and go around putting out everybody else’s suns. Now that I think about it, I‘m going to have my characters do it instead. Forget about this last part.
Repeat your Favorite Adventures
This really isn’t an Adventure idea, just some worldly advice. If you really had a great time, say, taking over Atlantis or blasting Tolkeen to kingdom come. you can do it again by Rifting to a parallel world. You know, an alternate reality. This way, you can relive your greatest adventures over and over again.
Coming Soon... (in Y3K)
The next evolution in gaming: Tera-Damage!!!
Since l've introduced this great new concept on the lntemet, l have received over 2,350 flames and death threats via email, and I even had a few guys hack into my website in order to erase my original Giga-Damage rules! Nice try, you guys. But now that Giga-Damage is in print, it’s official and you have to deal with it!
Anyway, those people who AREN'T totally immature and who APPRECIATE what I'm trying to do have sent me a lot of really good questions on Giga-Damage. To better explain this concept (which will totally revolutionize role-playing, BTW), here are some of the better questions and answers on this uber-kewl topic.
Q: How come there is no Giga-Armor yet?
A: When I began writing this article, I thought I would include some Giga-Stats for Giga-Armor, but you know what? I like it better with people just having Giga-Guns. It makes it easier to blow stuff up. Besides, the time I spend writing up Giga-Armor could be much better spent playing Giga-Bots and Giga-Babes, my awesome new collectible card game. (Editor’s Note: Be afraid. Be very afraid)
Q: Okay, if you blast some hoser in M.D.C. armor with a Giga-Gun, he‘s pretty much toast. But what happens if you hit some S.D.C. guy with a Giga-Gun?
A: Good question! You can play it two ways. One, that the S.D.C. guy is completely vaporized. I mean, not even his boots are left standing! Nothing, nada. Zero. Poof. Gone. The same is pretty much true of S.D.C. walls and vehicles. You can figure a blast punches a hole in a wall the size of a Volkswagon Beetle. And probably the wall behind it, too! Little cars, motorcycles, hover cycles, and man-sized robots are zapped into nothingness, too,
The second way to play is my personal favorite. Not only is the target 1,000,000% vaporized, but he is erased from the entire continuity of the Megaverse! Everything that person said or did is as if it never existed! This is really cool for rewriting history or for making things easier on yourself when you have some annoying S.D.C. political figure who keeps messing with you. Find his parents and Giga-Blast them, and erase the dude from existence. It works! S.D.C. structures are likewise erased from the Megaversal continuity. This one time, my character actually found pieces from the original Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, and I Giga-Blasted them, which meant that those ships never existed, so Christopher Columbus never came to the New World, so the US. was never founded, so the Coalition was never founded after the Apocalypse. That‘s why my character is Overlord of Illinois right now.
Q: If I have a Giga-Gun, then what is the point of using Mega-Stuff anymore?
A: Just because Giga-Stuff totally blows away Mega-Stuff doesn’t mean there is no more use for Mega-Stuff. For example, say your character needs to hunt for food (hypothetical, since real heroes don’t eat). If you Giga-Blast a dinosaur, there won’t be anything left to fill your stomach. Now if you Mega-Blast that same dinosaur, then not only will you have plenty left over for dinner, but it‘ll be cooked to a nice, juicy medium well done, too.
Here's an even better example. You want to capture an important building. If you Giga-Blast it, there won’t be much of anything left to plunder afterwards, But if you only Mega-Blast it, you should have big hunks of it left to plunder at will. That’s how my character got so rich. If I had laid siege to the First Bank of Iron Heart with my Giga-Guns, then I would never have been able to sack the bank of the 77 trillion credits that now sit in my character’s private Giga-Vault along with his collection of woe weapons.
Q: One of my friends said he fired a Giga-Gun at the fabric of space and time and created a Rift. I told him that was stupid. Isnt it?
A: It’s not stupid. lt's brilliant! Just think, now your mecha pilot can control beings from another dimension without having to learn all that magic crap! One look at your Giga-Guns, and any creature from another world will be licking your boots so clean they shine! That‘s why my character currently has the Legion of Dragons as his house cleaners. Never underestimate the presence of overwhelming firepower to get other people to do what you want.
Q: I took a bunch of characters with Giga-Stuff over to the Palladium Fantasy game setting, and we totally blew the place up! Is that kewl or what?
A: Dude. that's totally kewl! My advice for bringing Giga-Stuff to less powerful gaming environments (namely, anything in which Giga-Stuff is not prevalent) is to say that 25% of the world will be totally destroyed by your characters within 1D6 months, after which you will be lord of that realm. That‘s for handling this quickly, in case you don‘t have the time to actually role-play the domination of the world. If you have the time, then I’d suggest you actually play out the Giga-Combat scenarios. They’re uber-fun.
Q: Sometimes, Mega-Stuff isn‘t Mega anymore when it goes to a S.D.C. world, though. Does that happen with Giga-Stuff?
A: Of course not! If that were the case, then my characters could never have taken over the Nightbane world the way that they did. Let me tell you, having Nightlords serve you dinner on a nightly basis is well worth the hassle of reducing their realm to utter ruin with a few well-placed Giga-Blasts.
Q: Can you upgrade Mega-Stuff into Giga-Stuff?
A: Yes, but only Rollo Masamune, my 100th level Operator, can do it, and he charges one million credits for every point of G.D.C. he bestows upon your equipment. Don‘t try killing him or making threats either, or his fully automated G.D.C, Ulti-Max will put the smack down on you faster than that time Bronkus Hogsworth, my 80th level Mega-Cyber-Juicer-Cosmo-Headhunter, smoked the Four Horsemen in less than a melee round. Masamune’s workshop is in the Kingdom of Ferkopolis, which is where the Coalition States of Chi-Town would be if Bronkus hadn’t taken it over already.
Q: Are there any spells capable of Giga-Damage?
A: I suppose if you really wanted to, you could make a spell with Giga-Damage in it, but why would you want to? The only way I could see this being any fun at all is if you had a guy with a big suit of mecha that could cast spells. Hey, that’s a pretty good idea, come to think of it. I think Rollo‘s Ulti-Max is gonna get an upgrade. Thanks for the suggestion!
Q: Can a Giga-Damage weapon kill a mythological god? What about Superman?
A: Heck yeah! Figure any G.D. weapon that does at least 1D4x10 G.D. per blast can kill a god (any weapon that does less takes triple the amount of attacks and wastes time). Figure a demigod or godling like Hercules can get taken out with 1 or 2 blasts. A full~fledged, but lesser god in 3 or 4. and a big-shot god like Zeus, Jupiter, Odin or Ra, even Thor, in 6 or 8. Same thing goes for Alien Intelligences and the Splugorth, 6 or 8 (only one or two from the ultra-rare Gigasaurus Rex) blasts and they are history! Oh, as for Superman, figure him to be like Zeus, I guess.
Giga-Adventures
So you say you‘ve destroyed everything you can think of with your Giga-Stuff and now you’re bored and don‘t know what to do? Well, chances are you haven’t thought of these uber-kewl Giga-Adventures yet. Try these on for size, and you’ll be singing my praises as best adventure maker of all time. In the unlikely event that these don’t keep you amused long enough, don‘t worry. I hear Palladium’s coming out with some new Palladium Fantasy RPG, Heroes Unlimited, Systems Failure, and Nightbane stuff this year, so you can always “Rift” over there and take that stuff out, too. Oh, and don’t forget about adapting your favorite movies and TV shows: With Giga-Damage gizmos you can terminate the Terminators, destroy the Death-Star, and boldly go wherever the heck YOU want! Get the idea?
Tolkeen Must Die!
Tolkeen is very annoying to the Lords of Ferkopolis, and they have ordered you to destroy it immediately and return for lunch. Failure to do this will result in your agonizing death. (And my characters are totally powerful enough to do it, too. So you better take this seriously.)
You wouldn’t mind taking all the valuable stuff Tolkeen has hidden in its treasure vaults, but if you simply Giga-Blast everything, there will be no pay-off for you.
Ah, screw it. Warm up the Giga-Blasters and have fun. You can always treasure hunt later by visiting Diamond World, my upcoming Megaversal sourcebook about an uninhabited world made up completely of a huge flawless diamond worth over one decillion credits. If you crack the planet in smaller pieces with a few well-placed Giga-Blasts, you can bring the stuff home and be as rich as sin.
Atlantis Must Die!
You have decided to conquer Atlantis single-handedly. Without any Gigs-Stuff to defend it, the island is doomed.
If you Giga-Blast the Splynn Dimensional Market, you won‘t have anywhere to sell the fragments of Diamond World! What do you do?
No problem. First you Giga-Blast the City of Splynn into submission. This should take 2D6 melee rounds if you’re not a total loser. Then either force Lord Splynncryth to accept you as the true leader of Atlantis (you might want to leave Splynncryth as a figurehead) or blast him to atoms and proclaim yourself new Lord of Atlantis. Once you control the island, you give those Diamond World pieces to those blind hotties that are on the cover of the original Rifts main rule book. The island is practically crawling with those chicks, so if you give them big diamonds, they’ll totally fall for your character. After that, it won‘t matter if the place is a smoking ruin or not.
The NGR Must Die!
Now that you control Atlantis, you’ve decided to reveal to the world that the New German Republic is just a big collection of wimps and sissies, after all.
This one is no contest, especially if you set up a Giga-Sniping station on Mount Everest. If you want to do this the hard way, actually fly to Germany and Giga-Blast the country along its borders with the rest of Europe. Once the nation is set adrift on the open sea, the inhabitants will totally lose their cool and will submit to you as their rightful Overlord.
Hey, that’s a good idea. Send it to Davy Jones’ locker with a nice Giga-Blast right in the center. Just make sure you don’t do this before you‘ve taken everything you want from the country first.
All Cosmo-Knights Must Die!
Everybody keeps saying how Cosmo-Knights are way too tough, This exercise in true power will end that little debate once and for all.
The big pain here is the Cosmo-Knights are all the way on Phase World, which means you’d have to Giga-Blast a Rift open and actually go there. Since you probably just got back from Germany, the last thing you need is another boring road trip. So, fire a few Giga-Blasts into the Sun and blast it apart. That will get their attention, and they’ll be coming to your doorstep in no time. Before you do this, make sure you’ve got a scroll with the Replace Sun Spell of Legend on it or else you’ll have to move to another planet or parallel dimension. But, if you prefer cinematic campaigns that aren’t so annoyingly obsessed with realism, then overlook this part.
No Cosmo-Knight can stand up to a meaty barrage of Giga-Damage, so the big question is how many of these suckheads you want to take prisoner. Since you’ve already got about half the Splugorth race waiting on you hand and foot, having more flunkies is only going to clutter up your Giga-Fortress, so you might as well waste ‘em.
Optional: Instead of putting out your own sun, you could actually go to Phase World, steal a spaceship, mount it with a couple hundred Giga-Turrets and go around putting out everybody else’s suns. Now that I think about it, I‘m going to have my characters do it instead. Forget about this last part.
Repeat your Favorite Adventures
This really isn’t an Adventure idea, just some worldly advice. If you really had a great time, say, taking over Atlantis or blasting Tolkeen to kingdom come. you can do it again by Rifting to a parallel world. You know, an alternate reality. This way, you can relive your greatest adventures over and over again.
Coming Soon... (in Y3K)
The next evolution in gaming: Tera-Damage!!!