bonuses. If the attacker wins, the target is knocked sideways and
loses -60% of his speed in that round. If the attacker' s roll is
over 10 points higher than the target, the victim is knocked down
(loses -80% of his speed that round). On a tie or if the defender
wins, nothing happens to the person being attacked but the move
will cost the attacker -20% of his speed for that round.
Trip: This is resolved like a normal attack, but can only be
dodged; if the attacker wins, the victim falls down (speed is re
duced by -80% that melee round). If there is a tie, roll percen
tiles: 0 1 -50% both the attacker and defender fall down, 5 1 -00%
both the attacker and defender are staggered and the speed of
each is reduced by half for that melee round.
Example:
The El Paso Championship Race has six contest
ants: Blue (Speed 1 1 0, can cover 550 meters/round), Zapper
(Speed 97, 485 meters/round), Morgana (Speed 89, 445 me
ters/round), Larry (Speed 1 06, 530 meters/round), Lightning
(Speed 1 3 1 , 655 meters/round) and Sloan (Speed 78, 390 me
ters/round). The characters take off!
During the first round, nobody attacks anybody and every
body covers their maximum possible distance. During the sec
ond round, Lightning is actually passing Sloan for the second
time, and Sloan decides to attack (this reduces his speed by -
20%, from 78 to 63). He tries a sideswipe; his attack roll (with
P.S. bonuses) is a 3 1 ; Lightning ' s defense roll is only a 20,
which means Lightning is knocked down! Lightning gets up and
keeps running, but his speed is down by -80%, to a mere Spd. 26
( 1 30 meters); even so, Lightning manages to get up and pass
Sloan. The Game Master also rules that Lightning' s fall also af
fected Larry who was on his other side running neck and neck.
Larry had to dodge Lightning ' s body, so he lost -20% of his
Speed! So, at the end of the second round, the totals are as fol
lows:
Blue: 1 , 1 00 meters; Zapper: 970 meters; Morgana: 890 me
ters; Larry: 790 meters; Lightning: 786 m,; Sloan: 705 m.
And so on.
Some rounds, nobody might attack anybody, while in others,
people could attack opponents that are passing them. In any
case, speed may not make a difference ! If Sloan keeps attacking
people as they overtake him, he might be the first one to cover
1 0,000 meters ( 1 0 km or a little under 6 miles).
Prizes and Purses:
Most arenas will charge I D4x l O0 credits
for somebody to participate in a Murderthon event. Prize mon
eys are paid to the first, second and third place winners. Typical
prizes are 2D4x l ,000 credits for first place, 3D4x l O0 for sec
ond, and I D4x l O0 credits for third. Championships may pay
even more, usually an additional 20% to 1 00%, depending on
the size of the run and the wealth of the city or town sponsoring
it. The sponsor makes most of his money from charging specta
tors, pay-for-view television, video sale rights and concession
stands.
Juicer Football
Like its name indicates, this is the Juicer version of American
football, with a few rules variations, such as allowing full-con
tact fighting ! This sport is only beginning to become popular
throughout North America (due to the expense necessary in
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maintaining teams of Juicers and its newness), but in the last
three years it has been catching on like wildfire.
The early versions of this sport were played purely for enter
tainment purposes by bored Juicers looking for some clean fun.
Of course, their version of fun included getting clobbered with
enough force to kill a normal human being. Eventually, their an
tics attracted attention and somebody thought of charging admis
sion. The first "official" rules were devised in Los Alamo in 98
P.A., and soon the idea spread. Although more expensive than
any other organized Juicer sports, it has earned a great deal of
popularity. Betting on the outcome of the games has become a
widespread vice even in the Coalition States, and videos of some
games are a prized trade item. To reduce expenses, many team
members also double as mercenaries, bodyguards and soldiers.
Rules for Juicer Football:
Many of the rudimentaries of pre
Rifts football remain. The official game is played in a field 50
yards by 1 50 yards ( 1 50 feet/46 m by 450 feet/1 37 m); teams
can have up to eleven people on the field. The objective is to
carry the pigskin across the goal line; kicking the ball is not al
lowed, but passes are. No weapons are allowed.
The initial stages of the game are similar to pre-Rifts football,
with quarterbacks, receivers, kickoffs (the only time the ball can
be kicked; field goals are too easy for Juicers to make, so they
were disallowed), etc. After the ball is in play, however, things
get uglier, and a player is as likely to be drop-kicked in the face,
clotheslined, punched and tripped as he is to be tackled.
The offense has four tries to carry the ball to the goal line, af
ter which the ball passes on to the other team. Beyond that, there
are few other rules. Both sides can attack the opposing players at
will. A common tactic is to clobber the receiver into submission
and then take his ball away. The players are given plastic body
armor with A.R. 14 and S.D.C. 200 (2 M.D.C.), but even so, in
juries and the occasional death are very common. Titan Juicers
are allowed to play, but will be removed from play if they use
their full strength (restrained punches only).
Prizes and Purses:
The average game of Juicer Football is
played in a prosperous town or kingdom, and is usually played
by "amateurs" whose real jobs include being mercenaries, sol
diers, adventurers, bandits, guards, or similar occupations. In
those contests, each player is paid 1 D4x 1 00 credits, plus a 200
credit bonus to each of the winning team ' s players.
JFL players get a much higher salary, although not as high as
their 20th Century counterparts. Average pay for a professional
Juicer Football player is 40,000 credits, with bonuses that can
add up to another 4,000 to 1 0,000 credits per season. Valuable
players can make as much as five times this amount. The wealth
ier kingdoms often get into bidding wars for the best players.
The JFL League Championship
On 1 02 P.A., entrepreneurs in Los Alamo made a proposal to
other kingdoms where Juicer sports were legal. The idea was to
create an "international" league whose members would pit their
teams against one another until a championship was won. In
come would be earned by ticket sales, video sales, advertising
and concessions. El Paso, Ciudad Juarez, Fort El Dorado and
about half a dozen smaller kingdoms joined in.
The Championship games started in P.A. 1 02, in Los Alamo,
and since then there have been two more Championships, in 1 03
(Ciudad Juarez, the Maulers won 7-3), and P.A. 1 05 (El Paso,
the Assassins won 1 2-6). The 1 04 Championship was canceled
when the convoy taking the Juarez Juicers to El Paso was am
bushed by wild vampires: although the Juicers managed to beat
off the attackers, they lost nearly one-third of their players, and
had to forfeit the game.
Games are televised locally in the city or town where they are
played if the technology is available; lack of communication sat
ellites makes transmission beyond city borders impossible. After
the game, recorded versions are taken and played in the other
city participating in the League (takes anywhere from a few
hours to several days, carried by courier, assuming nothing hap
pens to the courier). Several large companies take the opportu
nity to pay for advertisement space, both in the live and recorded
transmission. Afterwards, the tape is offered to other communi
ties on a pay-for-view basis and later sold as a video disk, collec
tor's edition. Naruni Enterprises (see Rifts Mercenaries)
produces the best commercials, selling anything from advanced
weapon systems to toys and T-shirts featuring Naruni weapons
and armor.
Other Sports
The three sports described previously are the most popular,
but there are a few others that also have some support in certain
areas.
Combat Racing:
Several forms of combat racing have ap
peared in the more developed but less civilized city-states of
North America. Rules vary from place to place, but it usually in
volves Juicers or other daredevils in fast motorcycles, cars or
hover vehicles. In some cases, using weapons is allowed; in oth-
29
ers, vehicles can ram each other but weapons are not allowed.
Prizes and purses vary, but often they are not enough to cover
the cost of repairing vehicles after the grueling race, so pilots are
usually sponsored by local millionaires or corporations, or are
just crazy Juicers who do it for the fun and absorb the costs the
best they can.
Free-For-All:
The most brutal of all Juicer sports, Free-For
All is the Juicer version of the medieval Grand Melee; a fight
between several Juicers, everyone against everyone, with the
winner being the last man (or woman) left standing. The rules,
such as they are, are simple and straightforward. The game is
played in arenas of varying size, as small as a Deadball court or
as large as a football field. The players (typically 4-24, but
sometimes as many as 1 00) place themselves in a rough circle.
When the starting shot is fired, they can attack at will. No weap
ons or armor are allowed, and tests are given to ensure that char
acters with supernatural strength are not allowed in the arena
(Titan Juicers are not allowed to compete except in the Unlim
ited League). The last person left standing is the winner. The
fighting is usually not the death. Juicers will go into a healing
trance after taking extensive injuries (reduced to 5 Hit Points or
less), so killings are less frequent than one might think, so long
as only Juicers, Crazies and enhanced humans are the only con
testants.
Free-For-Fall contestants are usually paid 1 D6x 1 00 credits
for participating. Winners get a purse of 3D6x 1 OO0 credits. In
some places, people who qualify get additional prices:
2D6x 1 oo+250 credits for being the next-to-last person left stand
ing, and 1 D6x 1 00 for being the third-to-last.
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