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Rifts World Books #2
Rifts World Book 2: Atlantis
Rifts® Atlantis is an alien civilization transplanted to Earth.
It is a multi-dimensional kingdom inhabited by monstrous aliens dominated by the Splugorth. Ley lines are tapped by giant, mystic pyramids. Anything and anybody can be bought or sold at the Dimensional Market at Splynn, while the city of Dragcona serves as a haven for dragons and supernatural beings. Located in the southern mountains is the Gargoyle Kingdom and to the north is the Valley of Wonders. Alien creatures lay claim to the land and others are sold at the trans-dimensional slave markets.
The Splugorth and their minions are described, complete with attributes and full statistics. They include the High Lords, Conservators (bio-borg), Overlords, Powerlords, Slavers, Sunaj Assassins and others. There are new magic O.C.C.s, new player character races, ancient Atlanteans, bio-wizardry, and much more.
Highlights Include:
Over 20 optional player characters, including Tattooed Men, True Atlanteans, Undead Slayers, Sunaj Assassins, Stone Masters, aliens, and others.
Stone Magic: The manipulation of rock, drawing power from gems, and the wonders of pyramid technology.
Tattoo Magic enables T-Men to bring their tattoos to life, creating mystic weapons, animals and monsters.
Bio-Wizardry is the magic of the Splugorth. It is both incredible and horrible, using transmutation, microbes, parasites and symbiotic organisms to enslave, augment or mutate other beings. A truly unique and alien magic.
Rune Magic revealed! Its history, how it works, general types of weapons and a dozen specific rune items of great power. Magic weapons, statues, gems, creatures and creations of all kinds.
Complete stats on the Splugorth and their many minions.
Atlantis, briefly described, including the Gargoyle Kingdom, The Asylum, The Refuge, Dragcona The City of Dragons, Splynn - the capital of Atlantis, The Demon Sea, ley line storms and more.
Illustrated by Parkinson, Long, Ewell, and Siembieda.
160 pages - written by Kevin Siembieda.
It is a multi-dimensional kingdom inhabited by monstrous aliens dominated by the Splugorth. Ley lines are tapped by giant, mystic pyramids. Anything and anybody can be bought or sold at the Dimensional Market at Splynn, while the city of Dragcona serves as a haven for dragons and supernatural beings. Located in the southern mountains is the Gargoyle Kingdom and to the north is the Valley of Wonders. Alien creatures lay claim to the land and others are sold at the trans-dimensional slave markets.
The Splugorth and their minions are described, complete with attributes and full statistics. They include the High Lords, Conservators (bio-borg), Overlords, Powerlords, Slavers, Sunaj Assassins and others. There are new magic O.C.C.s, new player character races, ancient Atlanteans, bio-wizardry, and much more.
Highlights Include:
Over 20 optional player characters, including Tattooed Men, True Atlanteans, Undead Slayers, Sunaj Assassins, Stone Masters, aliens, and others.
Stone Magic: The manipulation of rock, drawing power from gems, and the wonders of pyramid technology.
Tattoo Magic enables T-Men to bring their tattoos to life, creating mystic weapons, animals and monsters.
Bio-Wizardry is the magic of the Splugorth. It is both incredible and horrible, using transmutation, microbes, parasites and symbiotic organisms to enslave, augment or mutate other beings. A truly unique and alien magic.
Rune Magic revealed! Its history, how it works, general types of weapons and a dozen specific rune items of great power. Magic weapons, statues, gems, creatures and creations of all kinds.
Complete stats on the Splugorth and their many minions.
Atlantis, briefly described, including the Gargoyle Kingdom, The Asylum, The Refuge, Dragcona The City of Dragons, Splynn - the capital of Atlantis, The Demon Sea, ley line storms and more.
Illustrated by Parkinson, Long, Ewell, and Siembieda.
160 pages - written by Kevin Siembieda.
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Siembieda
206 books52 followersKevin Siembieda (born April 2, 1956) is an American artist, writer, designer, and publisher of role-playing games, as well as being the founder and president of Palladium Books.
Palladium Books, founded in southeast Michigan, claims to be the first to implement a role-playing system intended to work for all genres and to introduce the perfect-bound trade paperback format to the RPG industry.
Some of the role-playing games Siembieda helped produce include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (1985), Robotech RPG (1986), After The Bomb (1986), and Rifts (1990).
Siembieda is also an artist, best known for occasionally illustrating Palladium Books' products. In 1978, he started the now-defunct Megaton Publications in Detroit, publishing a digest style title called A+ Plus and several other titles. He also contributed art and cartography to several early Judges Guild products (for both their Traveller and Dungeons & Dragons lines).
Palladium Books, founded in southeast Michigan, claims to be the first to implement a role-playing system intended to work for all genres and to introduce the perfect-bound trade paperback format to the RPG industry.
Some of the role-playing games Siembieda helped produce include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness (1985), Robotech RPG (1986), After The Bomb (1986), and Rifts (1990).
Siembieda is also an artist, best known for occasionally illustrating Palladium Books' products. In 1978, he started the now-defunct Megaton Publications in Detroit, publishing a digest style title called A+ Plus and several other titles. He also contributed art and cartography to several early Judges Guild products (for both their Traveller and Dungeons & Dragons lines).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 13, 2024
The citizens of Atlantis, way back in prehistory made a whoopsie, their magical experiments led to hordes of demons and monsters being dumped on an unsuspecting Earth, the source of much of our modern mythology. It got sent to another dimension for a bit and was wiped clean.
On a related note, unknown reasons, a being's magical life energy is doubled at the moment of death, making Human Sacrifice an attractive option for evil spell casters looking to power an energy-hungry ritual.
When Atlantis returned returned, it's previous residents were evicted and now it's ruled by squid aliens calledS plynncryth that look like giant slug/lizard eyeball monsters, trying to conquer the world with magic and enslave all before them with the cosmopolitan buffet of alien species from across the universe: dragons, scientist-apes, gargoyles, bee-people etc. (They soon realized they couldn't take over the planet and it was easier to just turn Atlantis into an interdimensional version of a shopping mall to recoup the losses.)
Funnily enough, the Splugorth, dimensional conquerors and slavers extraordinaire, of all people, are genuinely nice to their Minions. They saved many of their species from extinction, and now treat them with respect and honor while providing a high standard of living and rewards for service. Plus you get free magical tattoos.
So... like a lot of the RIFTS rpg, if you fixed what made it so broken, it wouldn't be RIFTS.
****
Interesting note, there's the Preserve, a vast jungle covering nearly a quarter of Atlantis and fading into temperate forests to its north, is kept as a vast hunting reserve for the Splugorth and their demonic and monstrous allies and minions.
Consequently, it's deliberately kept stocked with creatures such as dinosaurs, dragons, hydras, manticores, gryphons, perytons and the like to serve as exciting quarries, although the main game kept there are the sapient humanoids — chiefly humans, orcs, ogres, goblins and wolfen — who are either released there as hunting stock or runaway slaves who were allowed to "escape" into the jungle to be hunted down at a later date. Periodic arrivals from The Bermuda Triangle just off the coast also keep the Preserve's game nice and varied. Good opportunity location for your players to actually escape atlantis with plot hooks.
On a related note, unknown reasons, a being's magical life energy is doubled at the moment of death, making Human Sacrifice an attractive option for evil spell casters looking to power an energy-hungry ritual.
When Atlantis returned returned, it's previous residents were evicted and now it's ruled by squid aliens calledS plynncryth that look like giant slug/lizard eyeball monsters, trying to conquer the world with magic and enslave all before them with the cosmopolitan buffet of alien species from across the universe: dragons, scientist-apes, gargoyles, bee-people etc. (They soon realized they couldn't take over the planet and it was easier to just turn Atlantis into an interdimensional version of a shopping mall to recoup the losses.)
Funnily enough, the Splugorth, dimensional conquerors and slavers extraordinaire, of all people, are genuinely nice to their Minions. They saved many of their species from extinction, and now treat them with respect and honor while providing a high standard of living and rewards for service. Plus you get free magical tattoos.
So... like a lot of the RIFTS rpg, if you fixed what made it so broken, it wouldn't be RIFTS.
****
Interesting note, there's the Preserve, a vast jungle covering nearly a quarter of Atlantis and fading into temperate forests to its north, is kept as a vast hunting reserve for the Splugorth and their demonic and monstrous allies and minions.
Consequently, it's deliberately kept stocked with creatures such as dinosaurs, dragons, hydras, manticores, gryphons, perytons and the like to serve as exciting quarries, although the main game kept there are the sapient humanoids — chiefly humans, orcs, ogres, goblins and wolfen — who are either released there as hunting stock or runaway slaves who were allowed to "escape" into the jungle to be hunted down at a later date. Periodic arrivals from The Bermuda Triangle just off the coast also keep the Preserve's game nice and varied. Good opportunity location for your players to actually escape atlantis with plot hooks.
September 30, 2017
Atlantis is one of the earliest World Books for Rifts, and unlike Vampire Kingdoms, it hasn't been updated other than an inconsistent inserting of page references for the Ultimate Rifts rather than the original. It's a book full of pretty cool concepts, but I feel like it falls down a bit by not sufficiently exploring any of them. Atlantis is the classic lost continent straight out of Plato, fantasy tales, and 20th century occult books. The Atlanteans were a proud people who had mastery of magic over ten thousand years ago when Earth was magic rich. In their hubris, they ripped open vast Rifts to other worlds, the practical upshot of which was leading many of them to flee and become interdimensional travelers, not to mention Atlantis vanishing until the Coming of the Rifts restored it alongside magic. The Atlanteans are sort of like Time Lords minus any need for a TARDIS, and make use of Stone Magic and/or magic tattoos, two of the new magic systems in this book. They're divided into clans, and of course as is revealed later there's the obligatory bad boy clan that channel Elric and Drizzt. They're developed enough to be playable, but it's only recently that they've gotten a proper book devoted to them.
That's because, in modern Rifts Earth, Atlantis is a kingdom of evil ruled by the Splugorth, generic Cthuhlhoid tentacly dudes. Specifically, Lord Splynncryth rules from the Graeco-Roman Evil Washington DC of Splynn, while his Org Chart of Doom has various other city states. I'm not kidding about the Org Chart, by the way. There's literally a big hierarchy of the Splugorth and their minions, and yet that's about all that describes how the various new gribblies interact with each other. There's a kingdom of gargoyles probably related to the one in Europe (annoying, there's no gargoyle stats here - those are in a different book), a race of ape-men that build really cool mechs, and some sort of biomechanical horror insect things that I still don't quite understand. Modern Atlantis is clearly meant to be a land of horrors, but Siembieda doesn't put in much effort actually defining this. I get that the World Books are all like that, and that the intention is probably for the GM to make their own specific bits of content, but I'd still like some general guidelines. I do like the idea of nature and hunting preserves on the western half of the continent, since that's where players can get into a lot of trouble.
And there are some neat new magic concepts, even if none of them feel fleshed out enough. There's Stone Magic, which is basically Earthbending from Avatar only a decade or so early. A Stone Mage can manipulate earth in all sorts of ways that'd be so much fun in a fantasy dungeon crawl, can use gems to cast spells, and knows how to build pyramids on ley lines to do cool things. Yes, of course the pyramids are thanks to Atlantean magic, and yes of course Splynn has a giant one in the center. There's Tattoo Magic, which is exactly what it says on the tin and is nice because it feels like a powerset that gives the player the sort of choice feats in modern D&Ds do. All tattoos are open regardless of level, though getting new ones is tricky and if you're not a few special classes, having too many will mess you up. Some of them do cool stuff, like let you summon monsters or flaming megadamage swords, and some are goofy given Rifts high power level, like making a normal sword or an elephant. Again, there's too few of these, but I think the new Atlanteans book will have plenty more and fix that.
The Splugorth get Biowizardry and Rune Magic. The latter is basically just how to make Stormbringer or a Holy Avenger from D&D, though it does nicely speculate whether the Splugorth are related to Palladium Fantasy's Old Ones. Biowizardry gets a special disclaimer on top of the one included in all Palladium books, and thus I expected some truly grisly bit of biotech horror. Instead it's basically just evil Bacta tanks and a smattering of disease and parasites. Yeah, some of them will kill you in nasty ways, but first they'll give you cool powers, so really, how is it any different from Juicers or Crazies in the core rulebook? An imaginative GM who has players that are willing to take things dark places could draw on body horror tropes and do some great stuff with this material, but as it stands I found it underwhelming. Honestly, perhaps the best theme to explore with the Splugorth's evil is their love of slavery, which is on full display in the final section on Splynn's interdimensional bazaar of the bizarre. There are rules for how much different characters will sell for on the slave market, and it means there's good potential for adventuring and tough moral choices. Plus, you can do the classic move of dropping characters into a gladiatorial arena. The book peters out with some descriptions of cool new mechs and vehicles, including two hovercars that turn into robots, Veritech style.
It's not particularly a bad book, and there are really a number of cool ideas here. I just feel disappointed that so many of them aren't properly expanded upon. Later books do rectify this, and of course there's nothing stopping imaginative GMs and players from making up new content, but given how some of Palladium's books, even when this was published, were rather longer, I'm disappointed that there isn't more content to expand on the cool stuff. Plus, a few things got held back for the England book, which is a weird thematic choice and means you need to buy a whole other book to get all the secrets from this one. But hey, that's Palladium's business strategy for you. If you're into Rifts and want to know what's up with Atlantis or want some new cool magic stuff, this is a good book to get. Just go into this knowing you'll need a lot of imagination or some more cash.
That's because, in modern Rifts Earth, Atlantis is a kingdom of evil ruled by the Splugorth, generic Cthuhlhoid tentacly dudes. Specifically, Lord Splynncryth rules from the Graeco-Roman Evil Washington DC of Splynn, while his Org Chart of Doom has various other city states. I'm not kidding about the Org Chart, by the way. There's literally a big hierarchy of the Splugorth and their minions, and yet that's about all that describes how the various new gribblies interact with each other. There's a kingdom of gargoyles probably related to the one in Europe (annoying, there's no gargoyle stats here - those are in a different book), a race of ape-men that build really cool mechs, and some sort of biomechanical horror insect things that I still don't quite understand. Modern Atlantis is clearly meant to be a land of horrors, but Siembieda doesn't put in much effort actually defining this. I get that the World Books are all like that, and that the intention is probably for the GM to make their own specific bits of content, but I'd still like some general guidelines. I do like the idea of nature and hunting preserves on the western half of the continent, since that's where players can get into a lot of trouble.
And there are some neat new magic concepts, even if none of them feel fleshed out enough. There's Stone Magic, which is basically Earthbending from Avatar only a decade or so early. A Stone Mage can manipulate earth in all sorts of ways that'd be so much fun in a fantasy dungeon crawl, can use gems to cast spells, and knows how to build pyramids on ley lines to do cool things. Yes, of course the pyramids are thanks to Atlantean magic, and yes of course Splynn has a giant one in the center. There's Tattoo Magic, which is exactly what it says on the tin and is nice because it feels like a powerset that gives the player the sort of choice feats in modern D&Ds do. All tattoos are open regardless of level, though getting new ones is tricky and if you're not a few special classes, having too many will mess you up. Some of them do cool stuff, like let you summon monsters or flaming megadamage swords, and some are goofy given Rifts high power level, like making a normal sword or an elephant. Again, there's too few of these, but I think the new Atlanteans book will have plenty more and fix that.
The Splugorth get Biowizardry and Rune Magic. The latter is basically just how to make Stormbringer or a Holy Avenger from D&D, though it does nicely speculate whether the Splugorth are related to Palladium Fantasy's Old Ones. Biowizardry gets a special disclaimer on top of the one included in all Palladium books, and thus I expected some truly grisly bit of biotech horror. Instead it's basically just evil Bacta tanks and a smattering of disease and parasites. Yeah, some of them will kill you in nasty ways, but first they'll give you cool powers, so really, how is it any different from Juicers or Crazies in the core rulebook? An imaginative GM who has players that are willing to take things dark places could draw on body horror tropes and do some great stuff with this material, but as it stands I found it underwhelming. Honestly, perhaps the best theme to explore with the Splugorth's evil is their love of slavery, which is on full display in the final section on Splynn's interdimensional bazaar of the bizarre. There are rules for how much different characters will sell for on the slave market, and it means there's good potential for adventuring and tough moral choices. Plus, you can do the classic move of dropping characters into a gladiatorial arena. The book peters out with some descriptions of cool new mechs and vehicles, including two hovercars that turn into robots, Veritech style.
It's not particularly a bad book, and there are really a number of cool ideas here. I just feel disappointed that so many of them aren't properly expanded upon. Later books do rectify this, and of course there's nothing stopping imaginative GMs and players from making up new content, but given how some of Palladium's books, even when this was published, were rather longer, I'm disappointed that there isn't more content to expand on the cool stuff. Plus, a few things got held back for the England book, which is a weird thematic choice and means you need to buy a whole other book to get all the secrets from this one. But hey, that's Palladium's business strategy for you. If you're into Rifts and want to know what's up with Atlantis or want some new cool magic stuff, this is a good book to get. Just go into this knowing you'll need a lot of imagination or some more cash.
February 13, 2016
Even though the Palladium role-playing system is not the one I use in my games the source books are fantastic. Tons of great ideas and characters are scattered throughout the books. Very recommended for any gamer.
February 19, 2025
There is something rather unique about RIFTS books. This one does not even have an adventure section, and the background of the geography of this newest continent is rather sparse. There are plenty of numbers though, but even when my intention is to eventually play Savage Worlds: Rifts, I more or less read them all. That, I believe, is the magic of Rifts. There is a lot of things that I would never use, even if I were to use this game with its original setting, and I has been a long time since I got excited about fictional guns, vehicles, or even monsters. And yet, it is a fun book to read. Now I finally know what the Splugorth is.
April 23, 2016
This is a total nostalgia trip--I played a lot of Palladium's games, notably "Rifts" while in high school and collected nearly all of the sourcebooks, even though I never used any of them for gaming. I always found them fun to read, though, and enjoyed the world building that went into each installment.
"Rifts World Book 2: Atlantis" is one of the better offerings, looking at an Atlantis that's risen again in the wake of a cataclysm that's remade the globe. It's ruled by interdimensional monsters and their minions, serving as a place for trade, cruelty and powerful magic. The sections of the book detailing Atlantis' layout and inhabitants are fun, evoking a monstrous society. There are details about the True Atlanteans and their tattoo magic--and even a grand conspiracy to mix things up.
Of course, there are also a lot of statistics for monsters and blasters and robots, which I typically skimmed over when I read these books in my more invested days, and which I certainly skim over now. There's also a pretty lengthy section about stone magic that never caught my interest--it seems it would only be useful if you wanted to roleplay being an architect, and hey, that's what Legos are for.
I can't really say how useful the book is from a gaming perspective--it feels like the monsters are too powerful and too numerous for player characters to really have much to do here. The art is good throughout, though, with some nicely horrific renderings. Fun for a fan of the medium.
"Rifts World Book 2: Atlantis" is one of the better offerings, looking at an Atlantis that's risen again in the wake of a cataclysm that's remade the globe. It's ruled by interdimensional monsters and their minions, serving as a place for trade, cruelty and powerful magic. The sections of the book detailing Atlantis' layout and inhabitants are fun, evoking a monstrous society. There are details about the True Atlanteans and their tattoo magic--and even a grand conspiracy to mix things up.
Of course, there are also a lot of statistics for monsters and blasters and robots, which I typically skimmed over when I read these books in my more invested days, and which I certainly skim over now. There's also a pretty lengthy section about stone magic that never caught my interest--it seems it would only be useful if you wanted to roleplay being an architect, and hey, that's what Legos are for.
I can't really say how useful the book is from a gaming perspective--it feels like the monsters are too powerful and too numerous for player characters to really have much to do here. The art is good throughout, though, with some nicely horrific renderings. Fun for a fan of the medium.
May 1, 2015
good rpg book about atlantis!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews