Back to the Rifter (2021)

In 1990, Palladium Books launched Rifts, a post-apocalyptic-science-fantasy-horror-mecha-role-playing game using a game system from 1981. In 2021, two guys who played it a bunch revisited the game and, armed with hindsight, set about mocking, parodying, and critiquing the game. It turned into this embarrassingly long book. Coverage of the basic rules, the nearly 30 (i.e. 27) classes, psionics, magic, the Rifts Earth setting, gear, and what passes for the gamemaster section. Insights into the game's history and inner workings. Snarky jokes and humorous tables and lists, like a class generator, random skull armor, bests and worsts, plus a Palladium Bingo card! The Glitterskull R.C.C. and playbook, letting you play as the "mascot" of the game at long last. Magic & Missiles, a fully playable one-page RPG! Over 200 superfluous footnotes. An in-depth criticism of the game's Nazi apologism. It's worse than you think, and we brought receipts.