Welcome to Yellow Bend.
Let me give you the Dime Tour:

Yellow Bend

Built on the ruins of the Glen Canyon Dam, Yellow Bend is home to about 60 souls. Most "Yellow Bender's" are human farmers, working a narrow strip of land along the Colorado River. The river floods every winter, bringing a new layer of fertile soil.

The sun shines mercilessly on Yellow Bend. Temperatures reach as high as 130 degrees Fahrenheit. To the east Glen Canyon is layered with silt, left by the draining of Lake Powell. The "Yellow Winds," dust storms that come in late July and August, literally fill the air with fine yellow dust and reduce visibility to just a few feet. Ley line storms are also common.

The people of Yellow Bend are sunburned and hardy. They accept the brutality of the high desert with quiet good humor. The Coalition, Bandit Kingdoms and other menaces seem far removed from their simple lives. Visitors are always welcome, so long as they behave themselves.

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Important places in Yellow Bend

Most of the buildings in Yellow Bend are made of adobe brick or concrete from the ruined Dam. Walls are thick and sturdy, repelling both the ferocious heat and powerful wind, but very few are mega-damage structures. A modern water-powered generator supplies electricity for the entire town.

Salt Rock Railway Station
Built on the largest surviving section of the dam. Also houses Kettle's General Store. Once a minor station on the Salt Rock TW Railway. The ley line nexus overhead has faded significantly and most Yellow Benders have never seen a train. Travellers can rent rooms at the RR station.
Kettle's General Store
Combination mercantile, court house, post office and city hall. Kettle's has Yellow Bend's only long range radio and travellers often stop here for information or a chat with Kettle herself. Player characters have likely seen a lot of the general store.
Whistling Bridge
Spanning the gap in Glen Canyon Dam, the Whistling Bridge is wide enough for two horses to cross side by side. The wind howls through the bridge's supports during dust storms and it's towers have been stuck repeatedly by lightning.
The Henry Powell
The Henry Powell was once a tour boat on Lake Powell. Now it serves as the town's saloon and a three room inn. MD cables lash it to the down-river side of the dam and a dock allows river travellers to stop for food and commerce. Most of Yellow Bend's river trade is conducted at the Henry Powell. A manually operated elevator and a pre-rifts steel ladder are the only means of travel between the Henry Powell and Whistling Bridge, 70 stories above.
"Oz"
One of the few mega-damage structures in Yellow Bend, Oz is the workshop of the town's bizarre psi-tech. Player characters have never been inside. The building is massive by local standards, covering more than an acre. Its crenellated walls rattle ominously in the wind. Oz is also the only structure in Yellow Bend with an independent nuclear power-source.

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Residents of Yellow Bend

Duke v2.0 (Artificial Intelligence, Sheriff)
A creation of Ozzie, Duke v2.0 is the imposing "lawman" of Yellow Bend and several other Arizona towns. "The Duke's" personality is an amalgamation of many pre-rifts movie lawmen and his justice is a bizarre mixture of jurisprudence and Hollywood logic. "He" comes to Yellow Bend twice a year. Residents advise strangers to be cautious during his visits, "That Sheriff, he's a HARD man."
"Captain Powell" (Fennodi Male, Body-Fixer)
Inquisitive proprietor of the Henry Powell. He will serve drinks all night to travellers with a story to tell. The Captain also provides medical services to the residents of Yellow Bend.
"The Kettle" (Human Female, no OCC)
Mayor of Yellow Bend and owner of Kettle's General store. The Kettle is a round, imposing woman with a keen eye for a bargain. She manages the town and her businesses with a combination of shrewdness and bluster. Although she has no real enemies in Yellow Bend most people treat the Kettle with a sort of friendly skepticism. Player characters who live at the RR Station deal with her frequently.
Skeleton Pete (Human Male, Techno-Wizard)
Conductor of the Salt Rock Railway and possibly the oldest living human in Yellow Bend, Skeleton Pete "haunts" the RR station. He stands at the edge of the platform from dawn until dusk, gazing impatiently towards the horizon. It's unlikely the PC's have ever heard him speak unless they've asked him directly about the Railway.
"The Night Watch"
Undead slayers and frequent guests at The Henry Powell. The Night Watch travel throughout the New West and into the Vampire Kingdoms. Most Benders believe they are connected to the legendary Reid's Rangers.

William Brody, aka. "Lonesome Billy" (True Atlantean Male, Vampire Slayer)
The leader of the Night Watch often travels as a musician. He comes to the Henry Powell about once a year.
"Gorgeous" (Human Male, Mask Shaman)
Flamboyant magic user of the Night Watch. Usually travels with Lonesome Billy.
Cyrano (Feral Dogboy [Bloodhound] Male, Gunfighter)
Cyrano is the only member of the Night Watch to live in Yellow Bend. He works as cook in the Henry Powell, hunting for fresh game himself. Patrons of the saloon claim his meals are excellent. Cyrano tends to fade into the background, he speaks to no one but his fellow Night Watchmen. He sleeps in the kitchen of the Henry Powell.
Cody Law (Nega-Psychic Female)
Loud and brassy, Cody Law has resided at the Henry Powell since the Night Watch's last visit. She has offered fifty dollars to the man who can "whup" her in a bare knuckles fight. The fifty dollar gold piece is still nailed to the Henry Powell's bar.

Ozzie (Psi-X Alien Male, Psi-Tech) The player characters have never met the elusive psi-tech. Glimpses from afar reveal a huge white head with eyes that look almost insectile and a massive robotic body. Benders who approach the workshop for equipment repairs are asked by a booming voice to leave their items on the doorstep. The items are always repaired in an odd but efficient manner and usually perform better than they did before.

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NEW Cacti and Critters of the Arizona Desert.

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First Adventure: The Kilowatt Kid

The "Kilowatt Kid" is currently underway at RPGHost. You're welcome to visit.

This is a short adventure that's been highly successful in live play. It allows players to develop low-level characters and provides a good introduction to the New West world book.

The adventure begins late in the summer in front of "Kettle's General Store." The Kilowatt Kid is a highly unlikely bandit. The characters will meet him in the game's opening post.

That's all the detail I can give you. Check out the rest of this site for more information on the town of Yellow Bend.

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Character Creation

I'm looking for a very specific group of characters for "The Kilowatt Kid." Here they are:

Character Races

I prefer that the party be predominantly human but if you have a D-Bee character with a good history I will certainly consider it. Unless you're submitting a "wild-card" character please stick to races in the New West, Spirit West and Lone Star world books.

Alignments

Be ready to really role-play your character's personality. Alignment should be chosen carefully and must influence your character's actions.

All good and unprincipled alignments are fine. If you create an anarchist character make sure that you provide him with a good set of motivations (simply "looking out for number one" is not a good motivation).

No diabolic or miscreant characters, please. I will consider aberrant characters but they must have a well defined (if twisted) set of values. Be sure to include them in you character's description.

Character Attributes

Character attributes are a little tricky. Here are the rules so far:

For humans and other races that use the "3d6 rule" (plus 1d6 for exceptional rolls) follow this procedure:

  1. Start with 100 points and distribute them among your attributes. At least one must be a 16 or higher. No attribute may be higher than 18 or lower than 3.
  2. Take six more points and add them to your highest attribute score. (If you have more than 1 exceptional score you may divide your six points among them). At this point your exceptional attributes may be higher than 18.
  3. Your final point total should equal 106.
  4. Do not add OCC, RCC or Skill bonuses to your attributes when you submit a character. I will do it after you've been accepted.

For Racial Character Classes that use special die rolls to determine their attributes follow this procedure (I'll use a Fennodi character for an example):

  1. Determine your number of "free points"
    1. Divide the number of sides of each die roll by 2 and add one. (Our Fennodi rolls 3d6 for IQ so 6/2+1=4)
    2. Multiply the result by the number of dies rolled (3d6 means 4x3=12, our Fennodi has 12 "free points" from intelligence)
    3. Do this for each attribute and add them all together.
  2. Distribute your free points among your character's attributes. Stay within the maximum and minimum scores you would achieve by rolling the dice (At this stage our Fennodi's IQ must be between 3 and 18).
  3. Add any fixed points to your character's attributes (+2 for Fennodi IQ). If your character's attributes look like this: "4d6" rather than this: "3d6+6" ignore this step.
  4. Do not add OCC or Skill bonuses to your attributes when you submit a character. I will do it after you've been accepted.

Experience Level

All characters start at first level with zero experience points.

Skills

Please list all your character's skills in your character submission. Be sure to divide them into RCC, OCC, OCC Related and Secondary skill classes (Note: some RCC's, like the Fennodi, have special RCC skills in addition to the skills they receive for their OCC. Unless your character has these special skills, OCC and RCC skills should not appear on the same character submission.) Don't list the skill percentages until after we've determined your character's final attribute scores.

I will change half of your character's Secondary Skills and between one and three of your character's OCC Related Skills to better fit the adventure. Dont worry! If if give your character a different skill I will also give him chances to use it. You may designate one Secondary Skill and two OCC Related skills as "sacred" by following them with an asterisk(*). I will not change sacred skills.

Character Special Abilities

Please list all of your character's special abilities and divide them into RCC and OCC sections. You don't need to copy from the book but clear descriptions would be helpful. Letting me know which world book you're using and supplying page numbers will also help the process go a lot faster.

Spells and Psionics

Characters start with the maximum number of PPE's and ISP's. I will change up to half of your character's spells and psionic powers. You may make up to one quarter of them "sacred."

If your OCC/RCC is not normally psionic, let me roll for psionic powers.

Money and Starting Equipment

Characters start with the maximum amount of money and equipment. Certain new weapons from the Coalition and magic items are extremely powerful and should play a significant part in a character's history. If you think your character is ready to go 15 rounds with the Almighty Himself, step back and tone him down. I will choose a creative character over an invincible one every time.

Also remember that Rifts may be a mega-damage world but most of its inhabitants are not. There will be times when your character must "shoot to wound" or capture another character alive. Even a "flesh wound" from a mega-damage plasma cannon is still enough to obliterate most characters. Choose a variety of SDC and MDC weapons.

Characters may purchase whatever they want with their starting money but they may not "sell back" items from their character description. Also note that "good quality horse" means the flesh and blood model, not a robotic mount. Unless it's listed in the book's character description starting vehicles are not armed. Robotic horses have nuclear power sources but other vehicles must begin with electric or gas power.

Spirit West Traditionalists may use bolt-action rifles and revolvers as well as one item of technology that imitates traditional items (A Wilke's-Remi laser pistol or a robotic horse). These items aren't automatic, PC's must still purchase them. Pure Ones may not use any items of technology.

All transactions in the vicinity of Yellow Bend are cash only. The most common unit of currency is the "dollar." Dollars come in coins of varying denominations but not in bills. PC's start the game with either dollar coins or barter goods instead of credits. One dollar equals one credit in regions where both currencies are used.

Be thorough. If it isn't in your equipment list, your character doesn't have it.

Character Description and Personality

This and history are the two most important pieces of your character. Let your creativity shine! Include anything that sets your character apart from the crowd. Don't forget your transportation, weapons or magic items, are they something special too?

Good characters have weaknesses to balance their strengths. What are yours?

Character History

I will make most of my selections from this section. Your history doesn't have to be exotic or outlandish but it must be interesting. Include friends, family and important magic items or equipment. Your history should also explain why your character chose his profession and how he acquired his "sacred" skills.

Player characters have been in Yellow bend for at least three months before the adventure begins. Why are they here and what have they done? What are their relationships to some of the townsfolk?

Here are a few questions for you to consider:

Once the characters are selected we may need to add to their histories. We will work together to create a collective background for the party.

Special History Section: Along with your character's history please include a brief episode from his life. This episode should be written in third person and in the past tense. I would like to get a sense of your writing ability as well as your character's voice and personality so be sure to include some dialog.

The special history section can be anything so long as it stars your character. Combat is acceptable but there are many other ways to develop a character. There is no correct length for this section provided it's well written.

Miscellaneous Character Information

Feel free to bend the rules if it makes a better character. Perhaps you have a "Spirit Warrior" with an excellent story but he isn't a Native American. Go for it! But remember changes should be made for the sake of better role-playing and not combat strength.

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Submitting Your Character

I"m sorry, but I'm not accepting character submissions at this time.

Take your time. I will not make any decisions until April 1st. This is not a first-come-first-serve PBeM.

Almost every computer has a spell-checker. Take advantage of it. One or two mistakes are fine, but careless writing is very difficult to understand.

Make sure all your character information is clearly formatted and clearly labelled. Paste it into the body of an e-mail and send it to me at Yellow_Bend@geocities.com. I will accept character submissions until the 31st of March and make my decisions by the 7th of April. I will notify everyone who applies, whether or not they are accepted.

Make sure you include all the necessary information discussed in the character creation section. Your character's description, personality, history and the Special History Section are very important. Send only the information asked for in the character creation section. No extra information (HP, SDC etc), please, We will work that out once you are accepted.

Also in the body of your e-mail message, please include the following personal information:

It's not that I want to pry. I just want to know who the players are.

When you send your submisson please put this information in the subject line: Yellow Bend [Character Submission] Character Name

Good luck, everyone.

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About the Gamemaster

My name is Scott Reeves and I am a freelance illustrator living in Phoenix, Arizona (You can visit my on-line portfolio at http://home.att.net/~great_scott). I have been role-playing for about 10 years and Gamemastering for five. my games of choice are Rifts, AD&D and Paranoia.

I've been fascinated with the Rifts New West worldbook even before it was written. My first character was a Crazy bandit and train robber. The OCC's, characters and world development in the New West worldbook open a lot of possibilities.

Currently I am involved as a player in three excellent PBeM games. I have searched for a Rifts PBeM since discovering this format but have been unable to find one. My hope is that we can build a network of Rifts Players and Gamemasters (a surprisingly rare breed) starting with this adventure.

Thank you for reading all the way to the bottom.

Scott

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This page and all its contents are Copyright© 1999 by J. Scott Reeves
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