Traversing our Dangerous World 1.5: Faithful to the Fallen

[shadrak]

Adventure Plot:
Character Backgrounds:
The player characters are likely members of the Coalition States Armed Forces. If they are not, then change the locations from C.S. Lone Star to locations in the Pecos Empire.

If the players are members of a C.S. military unit, the gamemaster should create a plausible situation regarding why they are separated from their unit (deserters, unit destroyed, scouts separated from parent unit, special operations group on an independent patrol, etc.). It might be plausible, though unlikely, that a higher-level commander has actually directed them to make a casualty notification and an offer of full citizenship to the Martinez’s.

If the players are mercenaries or are not a part of a formal military structure, they can participate in this adventure simply because it is something they want to do.

Until the Last One Comes Home:
Sergeant Martinez was a great soldier. You would have never thought a guy like him would need to become a Juicer to become a C.S. citizen…I mean, he was an asset…one of the best, certainly better than most of the guys on the team! You would have never known he was a product of a po-dunk, no-wheres-ville near Lone Star.
He was one of the best of us, and we all loved him. He was damn lucky, too! When we went into Tolkeen, he was the first to volunteer for every patrol, and after six patrols, more than anyone in the platoon, he was the only one who hadn’t been hit. And it wasn’t for lack of trying, neither! He was always in the thick of it; I saw him go toe-to-toe with a Brodkil and come out with only the Brodkil’s blood on his armor…
I was never so lucky, but I was lucky enough to have him with me when I got hit. It was crazy-we were just on a routine patrol, checking out a little farming village outside of Markeen. We had patrolled this route at least three times before, no problem. I stopped to talk to one of the farm kids-you know how it is, even if they ARE D-Bee loving scum, those kids are pretty nice. And who knows, maybe I could influence this kid for good? That’s when it happened. This tattooed freak punched me from behind! Three times in rapid succession…and I know what you are thinking, how does some tattooed madman hurt a Coalition Soldier in full armor with a punch…I don’t know, but he did! Luckily, Martinez was there. He shot the guy in the head with his giant particle beam and then drug me out when that Tattooed Freak’s friends started lighting us up.
But sometimes even the luckiest bastard’s luck runs out…and it has the tendency to run out all at once. And it always happens in the most absurd ways. We survived the Juicer Liberation Army, the Sorcerer’s Revenge, we survived what should have killed us numerous times. What got Sergeant Martinez was just a stupid kid in a car. Seriously! Some new knucklehead, fresh up from the Chi-Town burbs, decided to get drunk and drove a truck around our bivouac site. Ran Martinez right over. Martinez always was a tough S.O.B., though, but when he came up coughing blood we both knew he was done. I gave him first aid and we called the medic…they had him evaced to the clinic in just a few minutes…his bio-comp was working overtime…
The doc called me in and said “Javier has something he wants to tell you.” The look on his face…it was so – sad. You never want to have the doc tell you something with his sad face. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows and he shook his head “no”…
And so I went in to see Javier, my teammate and my friend.
He looked at me and he handed me his credit chit.
“My mother…she, my sister, and my niece…this will get them started in Chi-Town…make sure they get my military record…they can live there now!”
He coughed and it became clear…Martinez stuck it out in this crazy army so they could get their citizenship too!
I had not idea how to make it happen. I only knew Martinez was somewhere around Lone Star…and Lone Star is a pretty big place.
Then some of Martinez’s luck must have rubbed off on me; while I inventoried his belongings, I ran across a holotape and, I don’t know why, I started to play it.
There was this GORGEOUS Hispanic woman and a cute little girl in the video…
“Hey Javier! Mija! Come here! Can you say a hi to your uncle?”
“Hi Javi!” The girl’s bright eyes were practically glowing …mesmorizing!
“Well, Javier, we hope you are doing well. Marcie is learning to read, can you believe it? Mom has been a pain lately, but I can tell she misses you. It been three years Javi! When are you coming back?”
The woman looked towards the back of the room. “Mama, come say hi to Javi”
An older, handsome, Hispanic woman stepped into the frame. “Javier, what are you up to? We heard you will be in Tolkeen…”
The older woman turned to the younger.
“Alicia, are you sure this will get all the way up there from here in Roberts? Are you going all the way to Lone Star City to send it, or can you just go to Wichita Falls?”
Well, that was enough for me…no need to pry any further into Sergeant Martinez’s life.
I’m not sure where Roberts is, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find... just head toward Wichita Falls and start asking around.

A Quick Walkthrough:

First Stop, Wichita Falls
The players can ask around in Wichita Falls, but no one is going to be able to give very specific directions to Roberts. It is pretty clear that Roberts is not actually in Coalition Territory and it is actually to the east between Wichita Falls and the Kingdom of Worth. Some soldiers and ranchers will recall groups going to trade in Roberts, but that was months and years ago, before half of the territory moved to C.S. El Dorado.
Their best recommendation is to head out on an old cattle trail that services most of the communities in the area and ask out that way.

Waypoint One, Hancock
Hancock is on the way, but the inhabitants don’t know much about Roberts. They can point the characters in the general direction, though.

Home, At Last? Roberts
The players reach Roberts, but it is clear the town has been destroyed by a bandit group called the Night Huntsmen. There a few residents left, but they will tell the players that Mrs. Martinez has moved to Valley View to the North.

Finally….? Valley View
Valley View is a commune that is relatively well-armed where the inhabitants have traded their freedom for security. The players will have to deal with the mayor who will give them a hard time, but the community will come under attack in the evening by bandits searching for the Night Huntsmen, providing the players an opportunity to build rapport with the leaders. If any of the attackers are captured, they will claim they tracked members of the Night Huntsmen to Valley View. The snipers come from Collin and are members of Rinny’s Rats.

On the Road Again
The players can get to the Rinny’s Rats hideout with directions from the snipers, and the snipers indicate that Rinny’s Rats are likely to give up the women if the players show up heavily armed and armored.
On the way to Collins, the players will pass a Mean Green Patrol. If they pursue the Mean Green patrol, it will lead them to Denyon. If they ignore the patrol, they will remain unmolested.
When the players get to Rinny’s Rats hideout, they will discover the Rats Nest is almost completely wiped out already. Only the weakest remain, survivors of an attack by the Mean Green. When the players question the survivors, they will say that the Mean Green killed Mrs. Martinez and kidnapped the girls. The survivors will advocate that the players attack the Mean Green in their fortress and rescue the women.

Demeaning the Mean Green
The Mean Green have a well-fortified base in the town of Denyon. A recon of the area will turn up occupied buildings and will provide an understanding of the layout of the fortifications, but no evidence of the Martinez women.
If the players decide to speak with the Mean Green to negotiate the release of the women, they will find the Mean Green willing to talk – and the players will be captured by a local commander from the Kingdom of Worth who is convinced the players are spies for the Coalition.
If the players assault Denyon, a commando raid is probably the best option. Any attack will elicit a strong response from the Mean Green as well as their Kingdom of Worth allies. If the players capture the Mean Green leader or the Kingdom of Worth commander, they can escape alive. In fact, the Mean Green will allow the players to search the grounds in return for the safe relief of either man.
Regardless of whether the players fight or negotiate, the women are not in Denyon. Looks like the players need to go back to the Rats and find out what is going on.

The Big Show is in the Atrium!
After leaving (or fleeing from) the Mean Green, Rinny’s Rats will confess that they lied. The women have been kidnapped by the 5th Street Players. For real this time! The Rats will actually guide the players to the 5th Street Players compound in Granville.
The 5th Street Players did raid the Rats right after the Raiders attack, and one of the 5th Street Players took the Jimenez women – and he is not going to give them up without a fight.
The Rats leader arranges a duel of champions between the champion of the player characters and the champion of the 5th Street Players. This will be a hand to hand combat fight to the death! While the leader of the Rats leads the players to believe the fight is for the women, but he tells the 5th Street Players that it is for weapons and vehicles – winner take all!
Clearly, the Rats would like to see the 5th Street Players punished, but it is not a big loss if the player characters lose. In the chaos, the Circus Café Gang raids the 5th Street Players and carries off as much as they can.
In the confusion, the Martinez women are lost again.

Chaos in the Café
The Circus Café Gang is operating out of a large building in Fireside in the Haunted Ruins of Dallas. The Circus Café Gang actually happens to be six Soulharvesters operating in the area, as well as their Souless Zombies.
By the time the players make it to the Martinez women, the Sergeant Martinez’s sister, Alicia, will not be alive; only Marcie remains to be rescued (spared the horrible fate of her mother only because her PPE level makes her highly desirable!

Night Huntsmen on the Prowl
After leaving Fireside the characters will find that they must face the Mean Green and the northern forces of the Kingdom of Worth, both of whom are determined to destroy the players because they believe the players are the lead elements of a Coalition force sent to wipe out Worth. Outnumbered, the players outlook is bleak until the Night Huntsmen appear with heavy weapons to smash the Mean Green/Kingdom of Worth force from the rear, routing the poorly led coalition.
The Night Huntsmen are revealed to be forces from Valley View, led by Bob Ranello’s deputy. He invites the players to join Ranello in his goal to unite the small communities north of the Kingdom of Worth and to petition for inclusion in the Coalition States. He has offered the players positions in the new government until they are formally absorbed by the Coalition.

Northern Texas, Outside the C.S.
In northern Texas, south of Oklahoma, the Pecos bandits aren’t quite as bad as deeper into the country. This is for two reasons. First, the C.S. is a very legitimate threat towards the raiders. Second, there isn’t much left of value in these northern towns and farmsteads.
There are four or five dozen towns in the land between Wichita Falls and the Kingdom of Worth. Most are just a few dirt farmers trying to scratch out a living. Some might have one or two hundred folks. Very few have more than 300.
The area will likely be a killing ground in the next few months as the Coaltion States face off against the Kingdom of Worth. Right now, the Kingdom of Worth is seeking to expand its area to create a better buffer between it and the Coalition State of Lone Star. Even so, the Coalition patrols ever more assertively throughout the region as it seeks to extend its influence all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
The dirt farmers have suffered in this environment for some time, and it has only gotten worse. Many of the towns in the area lost citizens; first to Lone Star, then to El Dorado. More recently, they have lost crops to the Kingdom of Worth. Through it all, their property has been stolen by the roving bands of Pecos Raiders.
In this environment, the C.S. hunts the bandits and the Kingdom of Worth demands their fealty. Both major powers regularly clash with the bandits in the surrounding area. This has led to the farmers and townsfolk gaining the one resource that is most important on Rifts: Earth. GUNS!
Often, Bandits hide out in town after a and either Coalition or Fort Worth forces come to clear them out. Or the bandits are cut down in their encampments in a farmer’s field. The Coalition forces regularly leave the dead bandits where they lay, and even the Kingdom of Worth is not too concerned with policing up their own dead, let alone some random bandit crew.
Eventually, the farms and villages have either acquired the firepower necessary to survive, or they have been wiped out. Still, the larger bandit forces (small compared to the Pecos Bandits in the interior of Texas) can threaten even the most fortified village.

[shadrak]

Encounters in Northeast Texas:
01-20% Derelict Vehicle
21-35% Armed Party
36-45% Game/Food
46-55% Animal
56-65% Monster
66-78% Refugee(s)
79-90% Settlement
91-100% Military Patrol

Derelict Vehicle: Derelict vehicles are relatively common across Northwestern Texas, and they can include horse drawn coaches, Techno-Wizard devices, and high technology.
Most of the time, a derelict vehicle is nothing more than a burned-out hull, a rusted piece of metal, or a couple of weeks-dead horses attached to a dry-rotting wagon.
Occasionally, they are the site of travelers in need or a potential ambush site, and, if players are really lucky, they can be a place where something is salvageable.
Most often (1-60% of the time) the vehicle in question is low-tech or requires the use of beasts of burden. More rarely, the vehicle is an SDC vehicle equivalent to a 20th century automobile (61-75% of the time), a common civilian MDC vehicle (76%-90% of the time), a TW vehicle (91-96% of the time) or a military vehicle or robot (97-100% of the time).
On a percentile roll, there is a 1-50% chance that the derelict is simply a rotting piece of junk of no value, a 51-70% chance that someone (travelers in need or bandits waiting in ambush) are at the vehicle), there is a 71-90% change that the vehicle contains minor salvageable equipment (an E-clip, some food, ammunition, or water, a couple of parts, and SDC weapon), a 91-97% chance that the vehicle contains an item of significant value (a dead driver with an M.D. weapon, a credit chit with a fair amount of credits, some other items of value), and there is a 98-100% chance that the vehicle is repairable.

Armed Party: Unlike a military patrol (see below), armed parties are not likely to be engaged in a military activity like conducting reconnaissance, patrolling, or engaging in an offensive operation. They could be hunting, foraging, scavenging, or just traveling from one location to another. They will be less well armed and will be less organized than a formal military patrol. Their weapons are less likely to be military grade and any armor is more likely to be cheap or homemade.
01-60% Armed civilians; these could be a band of hunters, a group traveling from one settlement to another, farmers transporting crops, or a merchant party traveling through the area. GM’s should create the party that makes sense; it doesn’t make sense for a group of 6 farmers to be toting C-27’s and wearing dragonskin armor.
61-80% A small band of armed persons from a group outlined in this adventure (e.g. Trinity River Buccaneers). The location of the encounter should correspond with the group. These groups will have decent weapons and armor (see organization descriptions), and they will probably be hunting for prey.
81-90% Random group of Pecos Bandits or wandering band of adventures. They may come from a formal mercenary group or bandit group, but they may also be a few random armed men that are traveling together. Could even be Simvan, Commanche, or Psi-Stalker.
91-100% Armed persons from the Kingdom of Worth. Not necessarily members of the military, and not currently on a military mission. Perhaps they are escorting trade goods or are simply traveling through the area.

Game/Food: This represents an encounter with (01-20%) wild growing fruits, grains, or vegetables; (21-45%) an encounter with an untended farmer’s field, orchard, etc.; (46-60%) an encounter with livestock (feral or domestic, cow, pig, fowl, sheep, goat, etc.); (61-90%) an encounter with one or several small game animals (turkey, rabbit, pheasant, duck, etc.); or (91-100%) an encounter with large game (Deer, American Bison, Pronghorn, etc.)

Animal: This represents an animal that would not normally be considered game or food animals for the players, nor a “monster”. Most often (01-55%) of the time, this will be a smaller predator like a fox, raccoon, badger, etc.; less often, (56-85%) this encounter will represent an encounter with a pack of wild dogs or wolves. Though not a rare occurrence, there is only an 86-100% chance that this encounter represents an encounter with a larger animal (Mountain Lion, Bear, Alligator, etc.).

Monster: Monsters are fearsome creatures that may or may not be Mega-Damage creatures that might have high animal or even human-level or better intelligence. This could be a group of desert sleepers, a duckbilled honker, Teepowka, Brodkill, etc.

Refugees: Refugees are normally unarmed or, if they are armed, will have only SDC or very light MD weapons. They can often provide intelligence and they can be very appreciative of any aid that the players render.

Settlement: Most settlements in the area will be Ghost Towns (1-50%) because of the migration to C.S. territory and/or the deprivations of the local banditry. There may be squatters in the town (never more than 2D6+2) and there might be some items worthy of salvage, but it will be unusual. Food, liquor, clothing, furniture, and building materials are the most likely items of salvage, although an occasional safe or desk might contain money, jewels, or weapons.
There are also (51-70%) a few large ranches and farms spread throughout the area; most smaller farmers packed up shop and moved long ago. These ranches and farms normally contain 1D4 families and have 2D4+8 residents that include family members and farmhands. They will at least have some limited means of defense and most have a defensive perimeter (fencing or walls) surrounding a group of dwellings.
The remaining settlements will either be small villages (71-90%; 3D6+12 inhabitants) or larger villages (91-100%; 1D6x10+30 inhabitants) that are at least semi-defensible, and the inhabitants will have at least some limited arms and armor.

Military Patrol: This represents a dedicated patrol by either forces of C.S. Lone Star, the Kingdom of Worth, or members of a local or non-local bandit group. In this area, the CS is less likely (01-25%) to have a patrol operating, although it is possible 2D6+6 soldiers will be travelling through the area to provide a show of force, to deliver supplies to an outpost in the area, or on their way to the Gulf of Mexico. Most C.S. patrols will include Robots, Power Armor, or Vehicles. Coalition patrols are unlikely to engage the player group unless there are obvious practitioners of magic or D-Bees; the Coalition is far more disciplined than people give them credit and they don’t like to attack a target they know little about.
It is more likely (26-70%) that any patrol will be members of the Kingdom of Worth defense forces, and in the areas north of the Kingdom of Worth this will likely be from one of the components of Braxton’s Brigade; Rough Bend Partisan Rangers and Valero’s Cabellaros the most likely elements to have patrols the players will encounter. Most outposts are responsible for conducting patrols to secure their areas as well as courtesy/security patrols through areas where settlements the Kingdom is wooing are known to exist. Occasionally, though not infrequently, the Kingdom of Worth will conduct a clearing or clear and hold patrol through the northern area in order to wipe out other Pecos Bandit groups or to engage Coalition Troops. More regular Worth patrols will consist of 2D4+4 troops, but search and destroy teams will consist of at least 3D6+10 members and will normally include some kind of armored vehicle or two with a heavy weapon system. If the players do not look dangerous and do not look like they have anything of value, regular patrols will ignore them and seek and destroy patrols will investigate and might engage them. If the player group appears to have items of value and do not look like they can put up much of a fight, the patrol will probably attempt to attack the players and take their gear. If the players look too strong to the patrol, they will report the players back to their headquarters. The headquarters may send a dedicated response.
The remaining (71-100%) military patrols the players will run across in the area will be from established settlements and bandit groups in the area. These patrols will normally be operating in response to a direct threat from another bandit group. If these patrols believe they can easily overpower the players, they will probably attack. If they do not believe they can over power the players, they may avoid the players or they may wish to negotiate with the players to seek their aid. This is much more likely if the patrol is from a settlement.

[taalismn]

Interesting...sort of a post-apocalyptic -post-mortem Saving Private Ryan.

[shadrak]

Kind of...hopefully it will get there...

It will justify the low-powered MDC stuff of the early books and put the higher-power MDC stuff into context as I flesh this out.

My intent is to produce a few adventures for my group that allows them to experience a synthesis of different aspects of Rifts...and to adapt some other RPG materials from sources I really respect for their immersive effects for use in Rifts.

And, since I am doing it for my group, I figured I will post it for others...

This is adventure 1.5

Next adventure is 2.0 set in the Brownsville area...where a local horse rancher/former Tampico or Veracruz rancher has had his son and daughter in law kidnapped by Pecos Bandits wanting to build a new Oil Rig.

3.0 will be set in Florida/Dinosaur Swamp and will involve a growing threat of a super powerful (ok not "super" powerful) New Awakening cell that has overthrown Horune/Splugorth Overlords and free the slaves -- the leaders of this cell will be humans with the ability to conduct BioWizard experiments and give magic tattoos...so players (normally CS or Mercenary) can expect a lower tech (with some TW) post apocalyptic environment of former slaves, the most elite of which have augmentation.

Between my modules, I will be running published Rifts adventures...

For example, my first module is in the Ozarks north of El Dorado. After or during that module, players will have the opportunity to do the adventure with the lesser alien intelligence on the border of Missouri/Kansas and the adventure to uncover the U.S. military equipment in Kansas/Oklahoma.

Before, during, or after this adventure (1.5 is not a full sandbox-y module), the player will be able to do the Phase Weapons/Armageddon Unlimited adventure.

[shadrak]

Fighting Forces of the Texas North:
The area north of the Kingdom of Worth and east of the Coalition State of Lone Star is in a near-constant state of anarchy. Gangs and small, armed communities survive, and the strongest forces seek to dominate the area. The strongest force in the area is Braxton’s Brigade, a military force from the Kingdom of Worth.

The Kingdom of Worth:
Braxton’s Brigade
Braxton’s Brigade is the blocking force that the Kingdom of Worth has established between the Coalition military outpost of Wichita Falls. The force is intended to blunt any Coalition attack and to provide enough time for the Kingdom of Worth to rally additional forces to stop the Coalition’s attack.
Braxton’s Brigade is not technically a military organization in the sense that Coalition characters will be familiar with. Essentially, three different bandit gangs under King Macklin’s command make up this organization with Colonel Brian Braxton the senior commander and responsible for the operation. Subordinate commanders have total control of their forces, but they should be fully supportive of Colonel Braxton.
The rear elements of this force, Valero’s Cabelleros (the organization the players will likely deal with), are located in Taylor, a village of more than 3,000 allied with the Kingdom of Worth. Bricker’s Brigade is responsible for security in the northwest sector of the area surrounding the Kingdom of Worth.

Braxton’s Horde:
The bulk of the Kingdom of Worth’s forces in Braxton’s Brigade, Braxton’s Horde is concentrated in Ringgold and the organization is commanded by Colonel Brian Braxton. He has his hands full trying to maintain a security perimeter that can prevent C.S. movement through his area. His troops do not actively patrol. Instead, they generally man established outposts and check points with the bulk of Braxton’s Horde prepared to confront any C.S. assault moving through the area as soon as it is detected.
Personnel: 500 (mostly level 4-7 Bandits; Branaghan Armor, Wilk’s Remi 150 “Volcanics” and Wilk’s Remi 157 “Judgement Day” )
Vehicles:
15 MDC Modified Jeeps with light MG and explosive bullets [1D6 MD per 20 round burst; 200 round drums] (see Mercenaries Sourcebook – GAW section)
25 x MDC Medium (1 ton) Trucks with Heavy MG mounts and explosive bullets [2D6 MD per burst instead of 1D4 MD; 100 round belts]
15 x Big Boss ATV with NG-101 Rail Gun
10 x Mountaineer ATV with NG-202 Rail Gun
2 x NG Badger
6 x Cavalry War Wagons
4 x Iron Fist Medium Tank
2 x Hunter Mobile Gun
The Rough Bend Partisans:
The Rough Bend Partisans are based out of Germane (Jermyn) and are commanded by Lieutenant Colonel “Big Bill” Rodgers. The Rough Bend Partisans constantly patrol the area south of the Lake Bridgeport and the West Fork of the Trinity River and north of the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. This group is spread thinly through the area.
Personnel: 300 (mostly level 3-6 Mercenaries; equipment includes medium MDC armor and medium weapons – T-41 Riot Suits and T-42 Commando Scout, TX-42 Laser Pulse Rifles)
Vehicles:
10 x MDC Jeeps
18 x MDC Light (1/2 ton) Trucks with Heavy MG mounts
11 x Big Boss ATV’s with NG-101 Rail Gun
4 x Mountaineer ATV with NG-202 Rail Gun
5 x Iron Fist Medium Tank
2 x Iron Maiden APCs
The Three Rivers Regulators:
The Three Rivers Regulators are a blocking force on the main avenue of approach into the Kingdom of Worth. It is under the direct command of Colonel Braxton and it consists of elements of Colonel Braxton’s original bandit group. This organization is led by Jenny “Grasshopper” Lakes, and it has the duty of stopping any C.S. penetration attempts through the flat areas just north of Bowdie, and to backstop Braxton’s Horde, and also to provide indirect fires in support of Braxton’s Horde. The Three Rivers Regulators maintain a firebase in Bowdie, and they can reach Hancock with their 4 M777 howitzers (See Merc Ops GAW 198; M777 is 4 tons instead of 8 and has 35 MDC), and can reach to Ringgold with its single FW155 Vanquisher Self-Propelled Gun (essentially an Iron Maiden APC with a GAW-155 electromagnetic howitzer mounted – stats follow at the end of the adventure).
Personnel: 350 (mostly level 2-5 Bandits; equipment includes light MDC armor and light weapons – Plastic-Man or Urban Warrior, NG-L5 or L-20 rifle)
Vehicles:
11 x MDC Jeeps (w/LMG)
8 x MDC Medium (1 ton) trucks (w/HMG)
3 x Big Boss ATV with NG-101 rail gun
2 x Mountaineer ATV with NG-202 rail gun
1 x Iron Fist Medium Tank
4 x M777 Howitzers (normally towed by a Big Boss or Medium truck)
1 x FW155 Vanquisher (Iron Maiden with GAW-155)
Valero’s Cabelleros
An independent unit Commanded by Colonel Reynard Valero, the Cabelleros are headquartered in Taylor and are held in reserve to support the rest of Braxton’s Brigade and to prevent any thrust from the Coalition towards The Kingdom of Worth from entering the Kingdom. Despite the relative safety of this tactical reserve, Colonel Valero is a nervous fellow and is constantly on guard against the C.S troops that he is sure have infiltrated past the rest of Braxton’s Horde.
Personnel: 200 (mostly level 2-4 Bandits; equipment includes Bushman Troop armor and NG-EX10 Gladius suits, NG-LG6 Laser Rifle and GL and NG-IP7 Ion Pulse Rifle)
Vehicles:
24 x SDC Light Trucks (w/LMG)
6 x SDC Medium Trucks (w/General Purpose MG)
12 x MDC Jeeps (w/LMG)
4 x MDC Medium Trucks (w/ HMG)
5 x Big Boss ATV w/ NG-101 Rail Gun
1 x Mountaineer ATV v/NG-202 Rail Gun
1 x Iron Fist Medium Tank
3 x Iron Maiden APC
1 x NG Samson (Mk I) Power Armor

The Bandit Gangs and Fortified Settlements:
There are a lot of bandit gangs operating in the area north of the Kingdom of Worth, and the Kingdom is often alternating between trying to wipe them out or to bring them into the fold. Some of the gangs are exceptionally small and don’t represent a significant threat to anyone other than the settlements that are unallied with Worth. In any case, these groups tend to be lightly armed and armor and will rely on speed and numbers to overwhelm their opponents.
There are also armed settlements. These group are also relatively lightly armed, but they general focus on defensive measure and fortifications that can make them much tougher opponents than one would normally anticipate.

Dealing with the Bandits:
The bandits tend to be very ego-driven and are often thin-skinned. They are exceptionally proud and can be very sensitive to insults.
Insults and put-downs can represent a challenge to authority or a challenge to a gang-member’s position in the gang. If the gang is insulted, this often demands retribution. Personal insults are treated similarly; a gang member that is insulted is expected to either defend his honor or to be seen a coward. Deliberate insults often require the individuals in conflict to duel, often to the death.
While most of these men are criminals, they believe a man’s word is his bond and if you say you are going to do something, you better do it. Lying will get you killed.

Dealing with the settlements:
For the settlements, they have been dealing with adversity forever. Their key to survival has been: 1- Never trust anyone and 2- Safety is survival. They tend to be paranoid and can shoot first and ask questions later. The best way to deal with them is to remain calm and be friendly. Boasting and threats are not appreciated, and these kinds of behaviors often anger people that live in the rural settlements.
They often don’t have much, so they aren’t willing to volunteer much without getting something in return, and once you make an enemy of them, you probably have an enemy for life.

Bandit Gangs:

The Mean Green:
The Mean Green are one of the strongest bandit groups that are not officially affiliated with the Kingdom of Worth. It is not enough for this group to dominate the environment outside of Worth by their numbers, they also have to be great a statescraft and building alliances! The Mean Green has agreed to augment Valero’s Cabellaros in the event that the Coalition attacks, and the Mean Green often shares information, scouts for, and will man checkpoints for Valero’s Cabellaros.
Operating out of Denyon, the Mean Green are well established with a small community behind them.
Because of the alliance, the Mean Green has been able to access all sorts of Northern Gun equipment that is not normally available to other Bandit Gangs.
They also have a fair amount of other equipment including MDC-converted cars with LMG’s and a prized M67 Recoilless Rifle mounted in an MDC converted heavy truck. See the M67 entry at the end of this document for capabilities and features.
Personnel: 100 (mostly Vagabonds and City Rats level 3-5; equipment includes Plastic-Man armor, NG-56 Light Ion Pistol and NG Super Laser Pistol and Grenade Launcher)
Vehicles:
13 x SDC civilian cars
3 x MDC converted civilian cars w/LMG mounts
1 x MDC converted Heavy Truck w/M67 Recoilless Rifle

Rinny’s Rats:
Rinny’s Rats operate out of Collin and they are strong enough to run over many of the other gangs operating north of the Kingdom of Worth. They are constantly in conflict with their neighbors in an attempt to keep their neighbors weak and to loot anything of value.
Rinny’s Rats have very few vehicles, but they have decent supplies and equipment relative to other bandit groups in the area including access to designer drugs and they can be fairly mobile since many of them are involved in physical activities and use performance enhancing drugs that enable them to travel vast distanced by foot.
Most of Rinny’s Rats are mutant rats with some humans, ratlings, and dwarves. They are led by a level 7 Juicer Wannabe Ratling,
Personnel: 60 (mostly Juicer Wannabes level 2-4; JBA33 Juicer Plate, JA-11 Juicer Assassin’s Energy Rifle and JA-9 Juicer Assassin Variable Laser Rifle)
Vehicles:
4 x SDC civilian cars

5th Street Players:
The 5th Street Players operate out of the pre-Rifts arts center in Granville. The building is well fortified and defended, and the 5th Street Players can resist most other bandit gangs despite their lack of modern arms.
The 5th Street Players have a flair for the dramatic (they are children of the Theatre, after all!), and they wear flashy costumes and drive glitzy vehicles. Somehow, many (almost 50%) of the 5th Street Players are minor psychics.
The leader of the 5th Street Players is a level 6 Coyle Crazy that sees himself as the reincarnation of Errol Flynn and has everyone around him convinced he was an experiment from Lone Star that was discarded as a failed experiment. There are quite a few Dog Boys and Killhounds in the gang, but most of the rest of the gang are Ogres, Orcs, and Goblins.
Personnel: 50 (mostly level 2-4 Vagabonds; equipped with makeshift armor and SDC pistols and rifles with RamJet ammunition or TW TK Rifles and MD melee weapons; guards stationed at the Art Center will be in Crusader or Gladiator armor and will be using one of the group’s few tripod-mounted NG-P7 Particle Beam Rifles.)
Vehicles:
14 x SDC motorcycles
6 x SDC civilian cars

The Circus Café Gang:
No one really knows who the Circus Café Gang is or where they operate out of. They just seemed to appear a year ago and they have attacked the various gangs and settlements repeatedly when the groups are at their most vulnerable. When they return, the Circus Café Gang seems to have recruited some of the bandits from various gangs throughout the area (though these recruits always seem drugged or out of sorts). The gang now seems to consist of about 20 members and they always seem to use magic and can command demons or the dead to do their bidding.
Members of the other gangs and even people in the settlements have heard rumors of cannibalism or other depraved acts that occur where ever the Circus Café Gang hides out.
Personnel: 30 (Most of the Circus Café Gang goes about unarmed, but they tend to wear piecemeal MD armor, the less afflicted members wear complete sets of common, light MDC armor and light energy pistols).
Vehicles:
6 x SDC civilian cars
NOTE: The Circus Café Gang is actually a group of Harvesters and Soulless Zombies. There are six Harvesters (2 x level 6, 1 x level 5, 2 x level 3, and 1 x level 1) and another 24-28 Soulless Zombies. They are eager to attack the 5th Street Players because they recognize the players as their greatest threat due to the Players’ psychic abilities.

Trinity River Buccaneers:
The Trinity River Buccaneers are a group of bandits that consist primarily of aquatic and amphibious D-Bees that use the Trinity River as their highway where they can spread mayhem and pursue their banditry.
The Trinity River Buccaneers do not have a formal headquarters, but they operate out of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. In fact, it is strongly suspected that most of the gang members only come together occasionally, with the rest of the time spent hang out in their own dwellings.
The Trinity River Buccaneers are mostly Lizardmen with some Bayou Ursines, Kraks, Indie Swamp Men, and Crabmen
Personnel: 30; (Primarily level 2-4 Wilderness Scouts; equipped with melee weapons including vibroknives. They also have bows equipped with modern arrowheads)
Vehicles:
6 x SDC Motorcycles
4 x SDC Motorboats

The Three River Warriors:
The Three River Warrior are a band of male Ogres that escaped from enslavement in the Louisiana area and travelled deeper into Texas before finally settling into Crandall. The Ogres feasted upon the previous residents and then proceeded to turn Crandall into their own private amusement park.
Not entirely lazy, these Ogres avoid work as much as they can and spend most of their time fishing or raiding other bandit groups. They are fairly well protected from other Bandit groups, although they continuously have run-ins with the Blind Girls of Parsons, a group of Altera Warrior Women that they absolutely hate (they are generally misogynist to begin with, hate pretty humanoids, and they were previously enslaved by the Splugorth…the bad blood runs deep!).
The group has accepted humans and other members, but the initiation ritual involves capturing an Altera Warrior Woman so that the group can “have their way with her.” Once the Three River Warriors are done, they normally eat the Altera or cut her up for fish bait.
Personnel: 25 (Mostly level 2-5 Barbarian Warriors from Palladium Northern Hinterlands; equipped with dinosaur leather armor and melee weapons)
Vehicles:
3 x Small row/sail boats

Blind Girls of Parsons:
The Blind Girls of Parsons is a name that was given to this group of bandits by a trader that sold the group food and supplies shortly after they first arrived in Parsons.
No one outside of the group knows their story, but people familiar with Splugorth Slavers will recognize the women as Blind Altera Warrior Women.
When the Warrior Women first arrived in the area, they found the broken down remains of a four-story building to use as their dwelling. Somehow, they must have known that the building contained valuable items! The building was home to the Texas Guard prior to the coming of the Rifts and the Women were able to salvage two 155mm Howitzers. There were other weapons and items as well, but the women have since sold all of that to purchase ammunition for the howitzers.
The Blind Women of Parsons generally survive by hunting local wildlife and they keep to themselves. It could be that they are spies for the Splugorth or that they are escaped slaves.
Personnel: 20 (Level 5-8 Altera Warriors; equipped with Talismans and light TW weaponry including laser wrist blasters)
Vehicles: None

The Nomadic Horde:
The Nomadic Horde is a vehicle-borne group operating across the northeastern area of Texas, north of the Kingdom of Worth. They have SDC vehicles that they have converted into MDC weapons and living spaces.
Every member of the group is some kind of mechanic, and they are always battling with other groups.
The nomads will use their vehicles as weapons (see horsemanship: knight and cyberknight; the Nomads will ride with lances!). The nomads do not have a permanent base of operations.
The Nomadic Horde is racially mixed. Though it is predominately human, there are at least 10 Orcs in the group.
Personnel: 40; (mostly level 1-4 operators; equipped with makeshift armor, lances, SDC firearms, and bows)
Vehicles:
14 x SDC motorcycles
10 x SDC cars that have been “armored” with concrete, metal, and spikes (treat as though vehicles have 1000 more SDC).

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The Ghost Riders:
The Ghost Riders are a mystery. The Riders use horses rather than vehicles to get around, and they always go masked and almost always attack during the night. Their weapons are light, but they are high quality and relatively modern. Most of the Ghost Riders WI-SR15mm Sniper Rifles. In groups of five or more Ghost Riders, there is always one Rider that carries a WI-MG15 “Viper” 15mm Anti-Infantry MG; the Viper is never (or at least, very rarely) fired from horseback. It is primarily used as a support weapon when the Riders are dismounted. In either case, it appears that the Ghost Riders use a variety of types of ammunition, from standard rounds, to explosive rounds to ram-jet rounds depending on the target. Someone even witnessed an encounter between a pair of Ghost Riders and a vampire and they swore that the Ghost Riders quickly loaded a new magazine into their weapons and shot the vampire full of silver. (see special ammunition at the end of this document for some of the non-standard ammunition the Ghost Riders use).
The Ghost Riders are also fairly uniform in the wear and appearance of their armor as well. They wear a light gray (almost white) NG-A8 Scout Armor, and their horses are always barded in armor of a similar color.
The Ghost Riders have bested almost every other bandit group and settlement they have come into contact with except Valley View. At Valley View, the defenders have successfully repulsed two major Ghost Rider attacks, and members of many smaller settlements are flocking to Valley View for the security it provides or are asking the Mayor of Valley View to provide security for their villages.

Personnel: 25 (Mostly level 4-7 Paratroopers; equipment is previously described)
Vehicles:
70 horses; The Ghost Riders primarily use high-quality, regular SDC horses to carry out their raids and they normally conduct their raids with two horses per party member so they can switch mounts or carry their loot.

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SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Light Machineguns: These SDC light machineguns are capable of firing four to six 20-round bursts per melee. Characters must have a PS of 14+ or must brace the weapon to fire bursts without a penalty to strike, otherwise, burst suffer an additional -2 to-hit penalty.
Damage: 5D6 SDC; using normal ammunition, these weapons are incapable of inflicting MD unless on a critical hit (1D6/2 MD, round down). Using explosive rounds, these weapons are capable of inflicting 1D6 MD per 20-round burst
Range: 1500 feet
Payload: Depending on the make, 20-50 round boxes or 100-200 round belts.

Medium/General Purpose Machineguns: These Machineguns are capable of firing three to five 20-round bursts per melee. Characters must have a PS of 18+ or must brace the weapon to fire bursts without a penalty to strike, otherwise, burst suffer an additional -2 to-hit penalty.
Damage: 6D6 SDC; using normal ammunition, these weapons are incapable of inflicting MD unless on a critical hit during a 20-round burst (1D4 MD). Using explosive rounds, these weapons are capable of inflicting 2D4 MD per 20-round burst.
Range: 3000 feet
Payload: Depending on the make, normally 100-round, linkable belts.

Heavy Machineguns: These machineguns are capable of firing three to four 20-round bursts per melee. Characters that are shorter than 8 feet tall and that lack Robotic of SN strength cannot fire these weapons without using a mount or a harness. Characters that meet these requirements but have a supernatural PS of less than 16 or a robotic PS of less than 20 fire these weapons with a -2 to-hit penalty.
Damage: 1D6x10+10 (1 MD with a critical hit); using normal ammunition, these weapons are capable of inflicting 1D4 MD per 20-round burst (no critical hit needed) – critical hits from a 20-round burst will do 2D4 MD. Using explosive rounds, these weapons are capable of inflicting 2D6 MD per 20-round burst.
Range: 4000’
Payload: 100 round belts

M67 Recoilless Rifle: The M67 was ancient before the time of the Rifts, and it was ancient even before then. There probably aren’t many operating around Rifts Earth, but it can be pretty effective if the munitions are converted into a modern explosive. Still, it is really only capable of firing a single round every 3-4 melees.
Damage: Frag: 1D4x100 SDC to 70-foot diameter, HEAT: 2D6 x 100 SDC. Modern Fragmentary Rounds will do 1D4 x10 MD to all targets in a blast radius of 40 feet. Armor Piercing MD rounds will do 2D6x10+20 MD to a single target.
Range: 1200’ (minimum range is 100’)
Payload: Single Shot

Nomad Motorcycle Lances:
Nomad Motorcycle Lances are composed of a variety of materials (including MDC materials) that enable a wielder to inflict MDC damage with the lance with little fear that it will break. When used as a hand weapon, they are -4 to strike as a polearm and -2 to parry.
Damage: 2D4 SDC or by SN PS; when used in a charge on horseback or on a motorcycle, they do 1D6 MD.

Home-made bombs and grenades:
Many of the bandit gangs create their own home-made bombs because, even as SDC weapons, they can inflict damage to MD structures. The strength of the bomb is dependent upon the skill of the bomb maker and the materials the bomb maker has access to.
A character with a demolitions skill can attempt to make a bomb with commonly available materials that does 1D4/2 MD if they make a successful Demolition’s skill check at -20% for each bomb they make, or may use Field Armor and Munitions Expert at -40%, or a straight Weapon’s Engineer roll. Failure means that the bomb will not work. Catastrophic failure (missing the to-hit by more than 30%) results in the bomb’s explosion doing 4D6x10 SDC to everything in a 10-foot radius.
A character with a background in chemistry can attempt to make stronger bombs and grenades out of more exotic materials. In this case, the character must make a Chemistry: Analytical roll at -20% to identify effective materials for making a bomb (no penalty if the character is trying to use a previous recipe, just a straight roll against Chemistry: Analytical as the character simply seeks to source his original components). The character must then make a regular Chemistry roll with no penalty to extract all necessary compounds from whatever he is sourcing his material from. If the character has the Chemical Engineering skill, they can choose to roll directly against that skill with no penalty.
Once the more exotic components are sourced and extracted, the character can attempt to make the bomb or grenade using his Demolitions skill (-30%) or his Weapons Engineer Skill (-10%). If the character is successful, they will have created a device capable of exploding for 2D4 MD. Failure will result in a non-working explosive device. Catastrophic failure will result in an explosion that does (1D6+2) x 100 SDC damage to everything within a 10 foot radius.
The higher the success, the smaller the device can be made; standard devices are about 2 ½ lbs and are about ¾ the size of a brick.
Damage: 1D4/2 MD for simple devices; 2D4 MD for complex devices.

Ghost Rider Specialty Munitions:
The Ghost Riders apparently have the ability to reload their 15mm ammunition, and they have also produced their own munitions for use in their weapons.
Most Ghost Riders will carry out a raid with 4-6 magazines of standard ammunition, 2-3 magazines of explosive ammunition, and one magazine each of Ram-Jet and silver ammunition.
During their raids on settlements however, it appears that the Ghost Riders use a lower powered “soft” round and stun rounds to either limit the damage to the settlements or to make their attack more silent.
Stun Rounds: Stun rounds are 15mm rounds that are fired with reduced propellent and have a dramatically reduced muzzle velocity and range. They also contain a specialized battery and taser to disable any target hit with the round.
Damage: 2D6 SDC; targets struck with this round that are not in environmental armor will suffer the same effects as the NG-T6 Taser Neural Disrupter.
Range: Range is 300’.
Soft Rounds: Soft rounds are intended to disable targets without damaging property around them. The “soft” round is actually a very hard, heavy plastic that is jacketed with a copper jacket. When the firing pin impacts the primer, not only does it ignite the propellant, it also breaks a small container of chemicals in the plastic round that turns the round into a gel-like substance that distributes the force of the round across the target. Unfortunately, the chemical reaction, though fast, does not convert the plastic to a gel instantaneously, and targets that are within fifty feet of the shooter will suffer significantly greater damage. Like the Stun Round, the Soft Round reaches a muzzle velocity of about 500-600 feet per second.
Damage: 4D6 SDC to targets closer than 50 feet. 1D6+2 SDC damage to targets beyond 50 feet. KO/Stun on a natural to-hit roll of 16+.
Range: Range is 500’ after which the rounds are ineffective.

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Broken Ridge Custom Double Barrel Rifles
These rifles are custom made for each user and have two barrels mounted side-by-side like a double-barrel shotgun rather than most double barrel rifles. The craftsmanship of this weapon is astounding for the primitive conditions in which it is made. It is possible to fire both rounds at once, but the shot is made with a -3 to-hit penalty and unarmored users or users that do not have the weapon braced will take 2 S.D.C. damage when a double blast is fired.
Damage: 1D6x10 for a single shot. The weapons are so well crafted that a double-barrel blast will strike the same target. These shots will do 1D6x10+30 damage or a single point of M.D. depending on the nature of the target. Explosive rounds do 2D6x10+20 damage or 1 M.D. or a double blast will do 3 M.D.
Range: 350’
Payload: 2

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NOTES ON THE GHOST RIDERS (GM’S EYES ONLY): The Ghost Riders are actually based out of Valley View and are intended to serve two purposes. 1: Provide an offensive capability with plausible deniability so that Valley View can actively engage the bandit groups in the area.
2: Inject a little terror into the surrounding settlements and deplete their resources while increasing Valley View’s resources so that those settlements will be more willing to join in an alliance with Valley View

Communities:

Ray: A small group of Luddites live out near the banks of Ray lake, not far from Denyon. They live on the hills overlooking a reservoir (like many pre-Rifts reservoirs, they are less a matter of engineering and dams and more a matter of silting as dams fell into disrepair), and they are relatively remote and inaccessible. It takes a lot to get to this location.
Most of the people here farm and they generally produce far more than they could consume on their own. Still, they don’t do a lot of trading with outside groups as they are rather insular. They aren’t aggressive towards outsiders, though, so they are willing to trade with traveling merchants that make the effort to see them.
The community is pretty anti-technology. Most of the inhabitants of this community are vagabonds that have experience with agriculture, and the warriors tend to be very similar to the barbarians of the Dinosaur Swamp with many members of the warrior class wielding magic weapons and using psionic abilities.
Population: 130

Valley View: Valley View is a fortified community that is swelling with new residents that are abandoning their old homes. Despite this fact, the mayor, Tyson Bird, appears eager and welcoming towards newcomers.
Mayor Bird appears to be an effective administrator and most of the residents seem happy and prosperous.
Valley View is not outright hostile towards non-humans, but the community is careful in who it welcomes into its gates. Humans, of course, are welcomed as are mutant animals like dog boys. Psychics, provided they agree to behave, are welcome as well.
Mayor Bird is openly admiring of the Coalition States and, if asked, will state that he is eager to have his community become a part of the Coalition States.
Population: 210
Vehicles:
2 x civilian SDC cars
30 x horses

Hancock:
Hancock is on the very eastern edge of the Coalition area. The Coalition does not consider Hancock to be a Coalition community, and Hancock does not consider itself to be Coalition either.
Still, it is a robust community that is capable of defending itself and has enough self-identity to not bleed away completely into C.S. Lone Star or El Dorado.
This community will likely be one of the first communities the players encounter. It consists of more than 100 mobile home trailers on an old trailer park. These trailers, despite the repeated repairs, are all old, SDC trailers. The average level of SDC is 200 per trailer, but there is a ring of trailers that encircle the encampment. These trailers have been reinforced and each of them have 100 MDC from MDC concrete and MDC metal sheeting.
Hancock surrounds a field of grain and an orchard, and the inhabitants produce a great deal of alcohol. They trade for other supplies from the surrounding communities.
Population: 50
Vehicles: 2 SDC Trucks

Broken Ridge (near modern Graham, Texas):
Located 60 miles south of Wichita Falls and 90 miles west of the Kingdom of Worth, Broken Ridge is a tight-knit hunting community. The people here are noteworthy for three things: paranoia, wilderness craft, and their accuracy with their hunting rifles. Most of the male inhabitants (level 3-7) have large bore (.700) SDC, double-barrel rifles that can fire explosive rounds that do 2D6x10+20 SDC damage. Non-explosive rounds do They also use compound and flat bows that fire arrows that have the same explosive capability. See the new weapons section for more details.
Population: 60

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Beginning the Journey:

As the players begin their journey to find Ms. Martinez, they will most likely leave out from Coalition territory and begin to travel overland towards the Kingdom of Worth. There are a few dirt roads and, whether the characters choose to travel them or not, the characters will come upon a group of people laboring in a field. If the players look hard (a regular check against perception or detect concealment check), they will see a camouflaged, earthen bunker in the middle of the field that can overwatch all of the workers. The field is 800 feet by 800 feet, so the bunker is likely 400 feet away from the characters when they approach.
If the players approach the workers without carrying visible weapons, the guards will allow them to approach to within 200 feet of the field. If the characters approach with weapons, the guards will fire into the air and they will use an amplification system to demand the players put their weapons in their vehicles or that the players stack them on the ground. The guards will not allow more than two, unarmed players to approach within 100 feet of the field.
If the players act aggressively, the workers will flee in all directions and the two men in the bunker will engage the players.
If the players are not aggressive, they will be able to speak with the workers. The workers will inform the players that this field is owned by the people of Hancock and that they have heard of Roberts. The workers can provide general directions to the town of Roberts, but they do not know Ms. Martinez. The workers will let the players know that, while the town will not give out charity, the town will be willing to trade for weapons, ammunition, or medicine and the leader of the town or some other residents may know Mrs. Martinez.
In the event that the players start a battle with the guards, the guards are level 3 and 4 Vagabonds that are wearing makeshift MDC leather armor (8 MDC main body, 2 MDC all other locations). The guards will use the bunker for cover and fire on the players. The bunker consists of MDC leather draped and pinned over earthen berms and it provides 30 MDC per 5-foot by 5-foot section. The guards are able to fire on the characters from nearly any angle without exposing themselves, so firing back requires a successful called shot with -4 to-hit. The guards are using semi-automatic, 7.62mm hunting rifles with an 8-round internal magazine that use explosive bullets that do 1 M.D. per hit. There is an area with a 75-foot radius around the bunker that is filled with mines; players attempting to cross this area must roll a D20 for every movement action. On a roll of 5 or less, the player sets off a landmine that does 2D4 MD.

Fort Hancock:
Hancock is a town that consists of trailers and mobile homes pulled in to a ring like a wagon train that has circled the wagons. The outside trailers are reinforced structures with 10,000 SDC per 10-foot by 10-foot section. The trailers inside the town are all SDC trailers.
Anyone who visits Hancock is left waiting at the gate until the town leader, Nancy “Big Red” Hancock, is the matriarch and namesake of the community. The ancient woman (she appears to be a 70+ year old human but is actually in her late 50’s) is all business and wants to get weapons and ammo for a fair trade (use list prices in Rifts books). She will want to trade alcohol and food; fuel alcohol is valued at 1 credit per gallon and higher-quality liquor is valued at 2 credits per bottle (this liquor is actually very good quality and could fetch 3 or 4 credits per bottle if it was sold to a Coalition or Kingdom of Worth bar). She values food at about 1 credit per two pounds. If the players pass an MA check against Big Red (she has an MA of 12), she will be a little kinder and will offer the players a couple of suits of padded leather armor for 300 credits apiece.
The town is protected by 1D4+3 guards over watching the area from prepared fortifications (treat just like the bunker in the field) on top of the outer ring of trailers. There is one WI-23 Missile Launcher with four boxes of missiles (mostly armor piercing, but one box is plasma) and two WI-GL4 Revolving Grenade Launchers loaded with fragmentary grenades and with an additional twelve grenades for each grenade launcher located at their firing positions (split evenly between fragmentary and armor piercing grenades). The guards all of the guards are carrying semi-automatic hunting rifles with explosive bullets and are wearing the same makeshift leather armor as the guards in the field. The three guards that are using the missile launcher and grenade launchers will have their hunting rifles slung.
Once the characters have concluded their business, “Big Red” will ask them to leave.

Roberts:
When the players arrive in Roberts, they will see that there is not much left of the community. At one point, there were about fifteen buildings in the community, and the community was surrounded concertina wire strung between burnt out SDC vehicles.
It appears that Roberts was attacked and destroyed. There are bullet holes in most of the buildings, and a few buildings look like holes were blown in them with explosives. It looks like everything is deserted.
The damage is fairly old based on the weathering; the town was attacked at least a month ago.
As the characters walk through the town, it is an easy perception roll to discover that there are at least SOME inhabitants that continue to call Roberts home.
On the door of one of the first buildings, the players will find a note nailed to the door from one Grace Haverly to her cousing Greta: Greta, most of the town is moving to Valley View since they can’t deal with the raiders any more. I am pretty sure the Havershams, Martinez’s, Cruz’s and Devonshires have decided to go to a town to the east called Valley View – it’s supposed to be safer. The Anteroth’s are going to try to go to Worth. I am not sure were Bribridge and I will go…Valley View is not too welcoming towards our kind and even if their invitation applied to us, I think they would HATE having a Roane Piper in their midst, let alone two. I know you are touring the area and you were going to visit when you came through, but Bribridge and I are going to try to head north to see what is across the river. We will leave word for you with any town we cross on our way. Love – Grace.
One of the buildings has had repairs made since the attack. If the players check the house, they will discover a human family hiding in the house. The family is fearful and hungry, and they believe the players are there to attack them. The father, Rigurd Wold has a CFT “Peacebringer” revolver loaded with six CFT rounds and has another three CFT rounds in his pocket. He will fire on anyone entering the house, but he is not wearing any armor and can easily be subdued without being killed. He is a level 2 Vagabond.
If the players remain outside and call into the building, Rigurd will demand they put away their weapons. If they put away their weapons, he will immediately become more confident and assertive, but he will let them enter the building, and he will have his pistol in his hand. The players need to make a normal MA roll to calm him down.
If the players ask what happened, he will tell them: “We were buskwacked! It was the Ghost Riders that did it! They came at night and shot the town up. They had a cannon that they used on the houses, and they were just blasting away at people and buildings. We were doing pretty good before then! We had lost a lot of people to the Coalition (traitors!!!), but we were finally able to defend ourselves. We ran off four other bandit gangs when they attacked, but the Ghost Riders were just too many and just too strong. Look around! This has all happened because of the Coalition!”
If the players ask about survivors or Mrs. Martinez, Rigurd will say “The morning after we were attacked, people from Valley View came by and said they heard the gunfire. They seemed like pretty nice people, and they invited most of the survivors except the D-Bees to come live with them. They don’t like D-Bees up there. Mrs. Martinez decided to go with them. He laughs and looks at the players You are wonderin’ why I didn’t go? Well, as nice as they are, Valley View takes everything from you if you want to live with them. They call it a “community chest” and you have to get permission to use it. You don’t even keep your own crops that you grow. I don’t like it! It’s wrong! What is mine is mine!”
If the players are calm, the family (a mother, a teenage son, and a small girl) will open up to the players. The family is under nourished and needs some medical attention (the mother and the teenager have diarrhea from improperly treated water). Any help the players provide is appreciated (purifying water, giving food, etc.), but the family has nothing to offer in return except a map of the area that Rigurd took from the body of one of the bandits from a previous attack. The map will show the locations of Fort Hancock, Valley View, Roberts, Denyon, Granville, and the locations of the headquarters of the various components of Braxton’s Brigade along with a short note on the threat in those communities from the perspective of a bandit riding in a group of 12 Pecos bandits and a little bit about the surrounding areas and avenues of approach for those communities.

Valley View
Valley View is easy to find if the players have directions or the map. In those cases, it will take 12 hours of travel by foot or 4 hours of travel by vehicle to come to Valley View.
Otherwise, the players will need to search for a while and will likely have multiple encounters. For every four hours of searching the players add one to a to-hit number to find Valley View. The first 4 hours of searching, the players will locate Valley View on a roll of 1. The second 4 hours the players will locate Valley View on a roll of 1 or 2. The third 4 hours the players will locate Valley View on a roll of 1, 2, or 3 and so on.
Valley View is nestled in a heavily forested area that is impassible by ground vehicles larger than a family sedan unless the vehicle uses one of four paths that lead towards the town. These four paths roughly correspond to the cardinal points on a compass – a northern, a southern, an eastern, and a western road.
Every trail into Valley View is guarded by lookouts hidden in fortified, camouflaged tree stands that are very difficult to spot in the heavily wooded environment (-30% detect concealment or difficult perception roll). The stands are located every 2000 feet around the perimeter of the community and they have visibility with at least two stands to their immediate right and left. Each lookout has a walkie-talkie and a vibroknife.
Two to three hundred feet beyond the perimeter, the woods open up to tilled fields, and the fields are patrolled by pairs of armed men on horseback. The horses wear MDC leather “barding” (15 MDC mainbody) and the riders are wearing NG Patrol Armor and are carrying BigBore “Homesteader” Light Shotguns. Any gunfire will draw another 6 men wielding the same weapons and having the same armor. These men are the equivalent of level 3-5 paratroopers (see Mercenary Adventures).
As soon as the players’ vehicles are seen traveling towards Valley View, the lookouts will signal the settlement. A six-man horse patrol will move to meet the players (same stats as above). They will tell the players to halt and demand that the players identify themselves. If the players declare that they want to speak with whoever is in charge, the horsemen will escort them to the settlement walls.
Anyone that wishes to enter Valley View must enter the large sally-port, dismount, and have their vehicles and weapons secured before entering the town. There will be at least two guards per player manning the wall above the players, and there will be four guards searching the players before the players are allowed to enter the town.
Players will be allowed to retain SDC knives and tools, but not even an SDC firearm or sword may be brought into the town. The town has a Psi-hound posted to check the players for psychic or magical powers. Anyone with either Psychic or magic power will be asked to remain with the vehicles. The rest of the party will be free to enter the town.
Valley View has walls that are composed of MDC mesh “boxes” with lightweight MDC “cloth” bags inside (similar to 20th – 21st century “HESCO” barriers). The wall is 12 feet high and has 100 MDC per 10-foot by 10-foot section. About every 100 feet there is a sandbag fighting position.
There are a couple dozen buildings inside the enclosure (see attached diagram for Valley View).
Any players that enter Valley View will be escorted by guards that have exchanged their Homesteaders for SDC revolvers.

Meeting the Boss Man
Tyson Bird is not a hyper man, but it is clear that he is all about speed and efficiency. When he sees the players he wants to get right to business; he doesn’t have time to spare for distractions. He wants to know who they are and what their interests are in Valley View. If they players mention Mrs. Martinez, Tyson will smile sadly and say “Ahhh…Theresa Martinez…she was here. A very strong, independent woman. Very protective of her daughter and granddaughter! She left us after bandits kidnapped Alicia and Marcie a month ago. She said she wanted to be with her children and she left. She thought that this gang, Rinny’s Rats, did it. We had found jackets on two of the bandits we killed that had markings that matched Rinny’s Rats.
If asked about the raiders or the Ghost Riders, Tyson will reply “The Ghost Riders don’t bother us. We’re too strong and ready for any attack and they aren’t stupid enough to attack us. The only people dumb enough to attack us are the bandit groups. Even those morons aren’t stupid enough to directly attack our walls. They sneak in past our lookouts and try to kidnap people out of the field. We lost Alicia and Marcie that way. The gangs are always on the lookout for healthy women. If we every catch those guys, they are dead.
Tyson will invite the players to stay the night. Psychics and practitioners of magic will be allowed to stay with the vehicles. “It’s not safe out there, at night is when the gangs are most bold.”
If the players wish to trade, he’ll gladly exchange food for goods or services. Weapons and ammunition are very valuable to Valley View, so they will be willing to pay a good deal. The same is true of medicine and medial care.

Tyson Bird:
Tyson used to be a run a company that provided maintenance and engineering services to mercenaries in MercTown, but he resettled in Valley View years ago. Valley View was particularly hard hit in recent years. Many of the town’s residents a few years ago were practitioners of magic and D-Bees and many of them took the town’s best weapons and equipment and went north to Tolkeen during the trouble, leaving the remaining inhabitants to fend for themselves.
Tyson stepped into the void and was able to build the defenses that allowed the town to survive after their greatest champions left, but Tyson and many of the inhabitants are still resentful to magic users and D-Bees to this day.
Tyson believes that force is the ultimate way to make sure that Valley View realizes his dreams for the community. He is much more open to violence when he is sure that he has a power asymmetry. When he is unsure, though, he prefers to negotiate. Right now, he feels powerful.
Tyson would like to become a senior administrator in the C.S. similar to the former King in El Dorado. He thinks he can make this happen if he unites northeastern Texas under his rule. Even if it takes years for the C.S. to annex the communities and to elevate his status, at least people will be safer and will have access to a better life...all thanks to him!
Level 8 Operator
Alignment: Aberrant
IQ: 13 ME: 12 MA: 19 PS: 15 PE: 14 PP: 12 PB: 11 Spd: 15
HP: 54 SDC: 47 PPE: 8
Hand to Hand: Expert Number of Attacks: 6
Initiative: +0 Strike: 2 Parry: 3 Dodge: 3
Critical Strike: 18-20
Special Abilities:
Skills of Note: WP Pistol, WP Knife, WP: Paired weapons
Weapons and Equipment:
Urban Warrior EBA
NG Heavy Ion Blaster

[shadrak]

Inside Valley View:
Non-Psychics, Non-Borgs, and Non-Magic players are free to walk around Valley View. At least two guards will hang out with any players that remain with the vehicles in the sally port and they will invite them to play cards and participate in generally revelry.
For the players that are allowed to enter Valley View and do decide to look around, they will discover that Valley View has massive stores of fuel (mostly ethanol, but also some gasoline, diesel, and coal) as well as huge stockpiles of fuel. There is even a significant collection of preserved and canned food.
Residents will express general happiness with the system, though they will be somewhat guarded in their responses to the players. Most will have an air of patriotism in their responses. The “community chest”, they will say, is a great idea! It maximizes the use of a tool while ensuring that the tools are maintained!
There are residents that aren’t happy, but they know to keep their head down and not complain. If the players have someone who is a medic, the can assist in aiding the sick where they will hear a different story. The sick residents will complain openly about how their private property has been “donated” to the community chest and that they haven’t been able to get adequate medical attention because medicine is being saved for those who “really need it”. To a trained medic, it will be clear that many of these sick individuals started with rather minor ailments that have gotten progressively worst because they have not been treated.
The stables in Valley View are unusual. There is room for at least 100 horses, but the town can’t have more than 30 horses in the stalls. Characters that make a successful horsemanship skill roll will recognize that none of the horses that are stabled are riding horses. All of the horses that Valley View maintains are workhorses.

Night Attack
The night that the players arrive, Valley View comes under attack by a group of snipers wielding crossbows with explosive boltheads and a sniper firing a NG-SSL20 Laser Sniper Rifle. The crossbows are highly effective because the bows are virtually silent and there is no discernable flash to identify the shooter’s location, and the snipers are using all the concealment they can find in the field surrounding Valley View. The bowmen are easily identifiable with the use of infrared or other optical enhancements, but the defenders in Valley View are using MDC leather armor and body armor that lacks visual enhancements. For anyone not using optical enhancement, they must make a difficult perception roll each melee.
The sniper using the NG-SSL20, however, is firing from the weapon’s maximum effective range in the woods surrounding the town. He has only a single E-clip and he will only target heavily armed or heavily armored individuals. Once he has fired all six of his shots, he will return to the vehicles and take one back to his home base. He is IMPOSSIBLE to see without visual enhancement or special visual abilities. He is a level 8 Juicer Wannabe with WP: Energy Rifle and WP: Sniper.
There are 5 level 4 Juicer Wannabe bowmen in JBA-33 armor with WP: Archery (4 shots per melee). They are wielding light crossbows and, despite being able to fire four shots per melee, they will generally make a single, aimed shot per melee and reload or will move as necessary if they take fire. They have 4 heavy explosive bolts (3D6 MD) and twelve medium explosive bolts (2D6 MD) each.
If any of the snipers are captured alive and are interrogated, they will say that they are looking for the Ghost Riders to pay them back. They found this place with the horses and they figured it was good enough. They are members of Rinny’s Rats.

The Aftermath
In the morning Tyson will thank the players for any help they offered and will offer them a place to stay if they want to join the town. He will make clear, though, that he cannot offer assistance in seeking out Mrs. Martinez.
If the players take Tyson up on the offer, their weapons and equipment will be added to the communal stores and they will be issued a room in one of the buildings.

Seeking out the Dirty Rats
Any captured attackers from the night before can be interrogated to get a general idea of where the Rat’s hideout is. If no Rat’s survived, then Tyson can give the players some rough directions to the Rat’s since Valley View has encountered them before. Generally, the players will need to head south parallel to the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. There will be a bridge they can cross just south of Denyon. If they head directly east, the land is open and they should see the town of Collins where the Rats hide out.
The group of Rats that attacked Valley View had two cars and, provided the snipers did not escape with them, those cars are parked off the side of a trail not too far from Valley View. The players will certainly see the cars if they pursue the sniper using the laser rifle. Otherwise, if the captured Rats don’t tell the players about the cars, they are likely to run across them since the cars are just south of Valley View.
If Tyson Bird learns of the vehicles, he will want to add them to what Valley View already controls.

Run for the Hills!
On their way to the Rat’s location, the players will be spotted by a patrol. The players can spot the patrol themselves on a difficult perception roll. The patrol consists of a jeep that is hidden in the trees on a rise about 2500 feet off the path the players are using. If the players take any action that indicates they have spotted the jeep, the jeep will speed over the rise and will flee to the southwest. The jeep is capable of maximum speeds of 80 miles per hour on the terrain with sustained speeds of 45 miles per hour and the driver has a Pilot: Auto skill of 98%. If the characters pursue the jeep and stop it or they destroy it, it will impact the players experience in Denyon. If the players stop the patrol, the patrol will be unable to warn Denyon and the players will encounter the Mean Green. If they players are unsuccessful in stopping the patrol, the patrol will warn the Mean Green and the Mean Green will hide while the players pass.

Denyon 1 (If the Jeep does not warn the Mean Green)
The players come upon the town of Denyon just before they get to the bridge over the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, they will see the town of Denyon to the west. The streets are clear and there are a few buildings among rubble that has been swallowed by the wilderness. Moving among the trees and between the buildings, there are groups of people working on vehicles and conducting normal tasks that could be expected in a village this size.
The northern road into the inhabited part of the town are blocked with 200 barrels filled with concrete (50% 400 SDC, 50% 40 MDC) about a mile out from the town. About 150 feet behind the barrels, three guards (Mean Green personnel) man a strong point with barrels (all 40 MDC) providing cover.
If the players wish to bypass the town, it is easy…there is a path off of the road that parallels the road and follows the river until it comes back up to the fill that the bridge across the river is on. This pass is muddy and robots will sink deep and may have to be extricated.
If the players approach the barrels to talk to the guards, there is a 50% chance the guards will open fire on them. If the guards do not open fire, the players can try to convince the guards to move the barrels to let them through. In this case, the guards will call Devon Morales (see below) to speak with the players. In order to convince the guards to let them talk to someone, players must make three consecutive MA checks. If they fail a single one, they must start over. If they get frustrated, the guards may open fire.
Alternatively, the players can just attempt to blast their way through. They will need to destroy or move three barrels (about 800 lbs each) to allow for a small vehicle to pass, or they can destroy/move six barrels to allow larger vehicles to pass. Hovercraft, hovercycles, power armor, and robots can generally move around or walk over the barrels.
If the players avoid the barrels and guards or destroy the barrels and guards, they can fly down the rest of the road into the middle of town; the road is well maintained and consists of concreted from beyond the barrel barricade to the center of town.
The Mean Green will be caught by surprise and they can only get 4D6 men to challenge the players. They will all be wearing Plastic Man armor and will wield a mix of NG-56 light ion pistols and NG Laser/Grenade pistols. Two of the men will have that standard armament but will also be using GAW RPG-70 and will have 4 SDC fragmentary grenades, 4 Armor piercing grenades, and 2 HE MD grenades.
There are no roadblocks on the southern or eastern ends of town, so the players can move straight through the town, or can move to the center of town and turn east to take the bridge across the river.
There are roadblocks in the center of the town that cover half of the road at uneven intervals so that vehicles in that area must turn their flanks to defenders and must slow down to navigate the slolum. Any vehicle traveling above 40 miles per hour will need to make piloting skill rolls for every heading change. Horsemen will need to make horsemanship rolls to navigate or jump them. Failure means a collision with the barrels that make up the barricade.
If the players convinced the guards to parlay, the guards will have their leader, Devon Morales, come to the barricade.
Devon Morales
Morales is a former Deadball contender from Los Alamo. After losing his fortune when he bet on himself in his final game of the season where he challenged the previous season winner (which he obviously lost), he had no friends and nowhere to go, and no way to pay for his drugs. Luckily, a body fixer that ran a free clinic helped him detox and, since it was early in his conversion, he survived pretty easily. In fact, he is still an amazing physical specimen in spite of losing the juicer abilities.
He went north. After running into one of the local gangs, he rallied them behind him and took on missions to raid other gangs. In their exploration of the area, they ran across a very old military building. The equipment inside was ancient and most had rusted or rotted away. There was, however, an ancient recoilless rifle in the building as well as an assortment of SDC firearms. Using the recoilless rifle, the Mean Green, as they became known, terrorized other gangs and settlements and, through a combination of intimidation and cajoling, the Mean Green absorbed gangs and civilians alike into their organization.
When Braxton’s Brigade moved into the area, Devon struct a deal with Valero to provide security and reconnaissance for his element. As a part of this bargain, they have been able to secure advanced equipment compared to most gangs (every member wears Plastic Man and uses either an NG Light Ion Blaster or a Laser/Grenade Pistol).
Devon Morales, Level 4 retired Juicer and Level 8 City Rat
Alignment: Aberrant
IQ: 10 ME: 15 MA: 17 PS: 24 PE: 19 PP: 23 PB: 15 Spd: 27
HP: 56 SDC: 135 PPE: 13
Hand to Hand: Expert Number of Attacks: 6
Initiative: +1 Strike: +7 Parry: +9 Dodge: +11
Critical Strike: 18-20
Special Abilities: Trust/Intimidate: 45%
Karate Kick: 2D6+9; Roundhouse Kick: 3D6+9; Axe Kick: 2D8+9
Bionics: Gyro-Compass, Radio Bandit’s Ear
Skills of Note: WP: Deadball (Level , WP: Targeting (Level , WP: Knife (Level , WP: E. Pistol (Level , WP: E. Rifle (Level
Weapons and Equipment:
Usually has 1D4 doses of “Juice”
Does not personally wield it, but his pride and joy is his recoilless rifle.
NG Super Laser Pistol
Bushman EBA
1D4 Grenades
Vibro-knife

Hanging out with the Green
Morales is happy to trade with the players. They have alcohol for fuel, and they have some solar rechargers and will exchange E-Clips for a fee. The Mean Green doesn’t act hostile, but they are cautious around the players.
If they players ask about Rinny’s Rats, Morales is happy do give them directions and will point out their location on the players map. The rest of the Mean Green will laugh and joke about the Rat’s. It is clear that the Mean Green do not respect the Rat’s.
Even as the players are trading, Morales and the Mean Green try to speed the players on their way. As soon as the players are out of visual contact, Morales sends a messenger to Valero letting him know that the lead elements of the Coalition force have come through the area.

Denyon 2 (If the Jeep escapes the players and warns the Mean Green)
If the Mean Green have been warned, they will remove all barricades and hide in the town. Almost all of the buildings are falling into ruins, but the streets are very clear and there are a few buildings in surprisingly good shape.
Players can each make a Difficult Perception Roll to determine if they feel like anything is out of place. If they have Detect Ambush, they can make a regular roll against this skill as well.
Even perceptive players will not see anything beyond movement and shadows, but if the players fire at the movement or shadows or initiate a “recon by fire”, the entire situation will devolve into a fire fight where 25 of the Mean Green will attack the players from fortified positions on roofs and through windows. Most will be armed with their light Ion Blasters and Laser/Grenade Pistols, but one pair will wield the RPG and a group of 3 will have a General Purpose Machine Gun mounted on a Tripod on a roof and can effectively fire up to five bursts of explosive rounds per melee on the players.

[shadrak]

Into Collin
Rinny’s Rats’ lair is about thirty-two miles east of Denyon in the ruins of Collin. The road is almost entirely unimproved and recent rain has made the ground soggy so that the players will not be able to travel faster than twenty miles per hour with land vehicles. Hovercyles and flying power armor will be unimpeded.
Collin must have once been a large and sprawling town. Probably not as large as Worth or Dallas, but its ruins appear less than fifteen miles after the players leave the Mean Green fortifications.
The road runs right through the middle of Collin with two and three story wooden buildings clawing up from the ground on either side of the road. Ancient, concrete buildings litter the field the town is planted into, and the forest creeps into what was once probably a vibrant pre-Rifts city. Even at the edge of the city, where the tumbled down buildings could never have been taller than one or two stories, the road is covered with ancient debris. Travel is slower. A building wall laying across a street can impede a wheeled vehicle or can catch the air skirt of a hovercraft (-15% pilot; just about anything can happen on a failure; a vehicle can get stuck, a tire can get blown, etc.).
Robots and power armor may find that the debris crumbles when the robot or power armor crosses it (-15% pilot robots and power armor every five minutes; failure indicates unstable ground and necessitates a second pilot roll at -30%. Failing this roll results in a fall). About one mile in, the debris is so heavy that, unless the players are using a flying vehicle or a large robot, the pathways are only traversable by giant robots (30-feet+ tall) or man-sized robots and power armor. Robots that are taller than 15-feet but less than 30 feet will find that they are too short to step over debris, but too large to jump and navigate the debris without damaging themselves. The players may find they need to hide their large vehicles or leave a guard...if the routes from the north, east or south are the same as this, there is no way you can get a ground vehicle to the Rats' lair.
There is an eerie feeling about the town. It is dirty and full of trash. Pathways that seem open narrow and become constrained. Every pile of garbage appears sinister. The entire area is still and nothing moves…except the things that do move…
Perhaps the players see a shadow move across a roof, or they hear something walking in the next alley over. It is not constant, and even thought the players’ minds are sure that something is there, nothing appears. Players must roll against their mental endurance attribute and/or their intelligence attribute at random intervals. No player rolls at the same time, and the rolls occur spaced at three to five-minute intervals in game time. In the event the players successfully roll against their ME or IQ, they must make a perception roll. Passing the perception roll, they will see that there is nothing there. Failing their perception roll they will see—there is nothing there; psychic players with the power of sixth sense that fail their perception roll must roll vs. psychic attack. If they fail, they will immediately experience the effects of sixth sense for one combat turn. Hyper-vigilant characters (high perception, high skill with detect ambush, Juicers, etc.) must roll against their skills occasionally. Success or failure, the players see something, but can’t tell what it is. Perhaps it is a shadow of a man or men. Perhaps they see something fall from a building. Perhaps they hear crunching.
The GM should encourage players to shoot at the threats. The players should expend ISP, PPE, and ammunition trying to identify and eliminate these ghostly (perhaps non-existent?) threats.
This continues until the players are sufficiently on edge or bored. Nothing happens, but it seems that something is going on just at the edge of their perception.


SUDDENLY! Every player must roll for perception.