Rifts D20

I first mentioned a D20 conversion of Rifts back in the second post on Outsyder Gaming, but I decided back then to just run the game as printed. Now that the first Rifts campaign I ran with my current group has officially fallen by the wayside, I can't help but consider how I'll run the next one and a D20 conversion sounds better and better the more I think about it.

However, there are always drawbacks to converting Rifts to another system. The most noticeable drawback to a blogger like myself is the fear of Palladium Books breathing down your neck for copyright infringement. However, I'm pretty sure that talking about playing a game in which I converted Rifts material to D20 is okay, but posting conversion rules would probably get me in trouble. I'm not sure if that is exactly where the line is drawn, because sites like this one and this one still exist, but I'm going to err on the side of safety.

In any case, I'm thinking about going with the "everything plus the kitchen sink" D20 conversion. I'll start with a stable of pregenerated characters that emulate classes from Rifts Ultimate Edition and just let my players know that any D20 Modern setting produced by Wizards of the Coast is automatically legal and other publishers can be approved on a case by case basis. This will give me access to:

• D20 Modern (for the core rules)
• D20 Future and D20 Future Tech (for high tech stuff, including the power armor)
• D20 Apocalypse (for that Fallout feel)
• D20 Urban Arcana (for magic and stuff)
  

Come to think of it, I might need more options than those to cover everything. I might heavily supplement Urban Arcana with D&D magic and psionic material. I will eventually list what books I'm allowing access to for the game, but that's about all I intend to say on the conversion itself.

Now, I think it's time to see if I can find some cheap Coalition soldiers (I mean, shadow storm troopers) on eBay... and maybe some of those AT-43 miniatures that Quim pointed out in the comments of this post.