To me, South America seems too powerful. Originally I had thought it worse than it was, but having re-read a few sections and glancing at others, I've decided that it's not as bad. However, I still have a few problems. It's actually much easier to simply go through each area, section by section, describe the problem briefly and propose a quick fix. Now, you may notice that I have more problems with books that were written by C.J. Carella. That's normal. His style of writing was great., but it would have been nice if he would have had an inkling of game mechanics. About 99% of the races he created for the books he wrote were M.D.C. races. Now, as with everything on this page, you don't have to agree with my views or use my ideas, but I'm going to give you the ideas just the same. Here goes…

The Incan Empire: This was originally my biggest concern. I had read this section once, back when I first bought South America 2, and misinterpreted what it said. I initially interpreted the Incan Empire as an empire of Godlings and Demi-Gods, not including many humans. I now understand the misconception, however, there are still 10,000 demi-gods located in one, concentrated area. That is a little excessive. The Godlings only number 300, but even that is a little excessive. And thus, my solution. Solution: Drop the number of Godlings to 20, perhaps 25. This gives you enough for the ruling body. However, they must all remain as NPCs, never player characters. Drop the number of Demi-gods completely, except for the occasional Demi-god who is wandering through. This is much more plausible. It results in an empire of "gods and magic," however, the empire is ruled over by Godlings, and populated by humans.

The Arkhons: The Arkhons are actually very low power race, suitable for play as a player character. Looking at their other O.C.C.s, the Spectral Hunter is not quite as suitable, considering the amount of M.D.C. they start with (320 M.D.C. from the reconstruction and 380 M.D.C. for the armor for a total of 700 M.D.C.). The Arkhon ESP Specialist is a relatively low-level psionicist, despite the fact that they are considered master psychics. However, they progress at a slow rate, giving them the potential to become powerful, but not until levels above fifth. The Arkhon minions/slave races are a bit more powerful and it's actually surprising that they haven't overthrown their masters. Solution: One of the few (there are others that I like) races that are not munchkinized in this book. I would suggest allowing the Arkhons in any game, with the exception of the Spectral Hunter. They are especially suited for a Phase World campaign. The Fallam, one of the minion races, are only minor M.D.C. beings in their "natural" state. Probably would not be so bad as a player character, however the Battlemaster would certainly overpower most starting player groups.

The Megaversal Legion: I have come to see this as one of the most powerful human kingdoms/groups ever put into Rifts and it sickens me to think that almost nothing can hurt these people. I know this from experience, as my old, pre-college, munchkin group liked to use their technology. First of all, you have the Human Megaversal Trooper. Not overly powerful, however, no partially bionic reconstructed creature would have as much M.D.C. as listed. This contradicts everything in the Cybernetics/Bionics section of the Rifts Main Book. I place the Ojahee in a similar category as the Human Troopers. They have far too high an M.D.C. rating for them to be decent player races. These two quibbles are quite minor compared with the number of M.D.C. given to the cyborgs. 300 M.D.C. for the main body, a 150 M.D.C. Force Field, and on top of this, an Inertial Shield (for those of you who don't know, an Inertial Shield can stop any incoming physical attack (including bullets, arrows, and rail gun rounds) with a simple successful parry. The player even gets a bonus of +3 to do this successfully (in addition to any other P.P. and Hand to Hand bonuses). The Ojahee Cyborg is a veritable tank with a minimum of 465 M.D.C. in the main body, before any armor is applied. My solution to the power of the Megaversal Legion is a bit more drastic than my others. Solution: Reduce all the M.D.C. by half when playing one of the O.C.C.s from the Megaversal Legion. Also, pretend the Inertial Shield doesn't exist. This gives players far too much power against most of the power armor and robots in the Rifts world. Almost every power armor is armed primarily with a rail gun, not an energy weapon. The inertial shields even work on incoming missiles, making the character even more deadly and immune to damage.

The Silver River Republics: The SRRs are the last of the areas in South America Two that do not require any changes. The TW Crazy is even a minor menace when compared to the rest of South America. However, it never amazes me how a Glitter Boy Power Armor managed to make it into almost ever book released after Mutants in Orbit. The one described in South America, however, is quite light when compared to it's North American and Triax manufactured cousins.

The Republic of Colombia: The Republic of Colombia is a bit of an aberration in the first South America book. It has the potential to be a great place for role-playing, and would probably inspire it, if it weren't for the one O.C.C. used within its borders. This O.C.C. is the Anti-Monster. Amazingly, the Republic of Colombia is a perfect setting, except for this one blemish. Solution: Reduce the M.D.C. of the Anti-Monster by half (instead of 1D6 x 10 + 400, use 1D6 x 10 + 200). In addition, the Anti-Monster is labeled a "towering, metallic brute." So why is it that this brute is allowed such a high P.P. bonus? Reduce the P.P. attribute to 14 + 1D6, to better represent the massive size. Lastly, the M.A. attribute is used to gain a percentage to trust or intimidate someone with an exceptional attribute. It is unlikely that an Anti-Monster would be able to get someone to trust him/her. Thus, rather than have the ability to trust or intimidate, change the M.A. to only allow intimidation.

Manoa: The Atlantean Amazons of Manoa are well thought out and not truly munchkin. I have only one proposal for this area. The Atlantean Monster Hunter is capable of giving himself an outer shell of 3000 M.D.C. for a mere 200 P.P.E. This is not a difficult task. An average roll for P.P.E. of 60, plus 6 for each tattoo (17 at first level) gives a firs level Monster Hunter 174 P.P.E. and the ability to create a 1000 M.D.C. shell around their body. The Monster Hunter gains 10 P.P.E. per level, meaning that by third level, they are able to create a 3000 M.D.C. shell around their body. This may drain them completely, but Atlanteans are able to meditate overnight and gain most of the P.P.E. back in a single night. Solution: Never allow Monster Hunters as player characters. If you do, do not allow the player characters tattoos of monsters with M.D.C. greater than 200. This will put them on par with most power armor suits.

Well, there you have it. My solutions for reducing the power of the South American continent. Hopefully, you don't think I went too overboard, I'm giving you what I plan on doing for my own games in the future. Anything I didn't mention here probably means I didn't have any problems with it, or there wasn't much information provided about the area for me to be able to make any assumptions.

Article Written By: Thoth
31 January 1999