I soured on Rifts World Books after England. Vampire Kingdoms and Atlantis are so fun, and then it all ground to a halt, to the point that I’ve not really gone back in four years. I am pleased to report, though, that World Book Four, Africa (1993) is, once again, a banger.

There’s the basic stuff you’d expect from a book like this, of course. Regional information, (so many) new character classes, monsters. Various types of African mysticism and magic get a lot of attention, as do the gods of Egypt. The latter are important for the Phoenix Empire, which is a techno/theocratic resurgence of the ancient Egyptian culture. All this stuff, off course, mashes together the usual melange of extradimensional hijinx. The Phoenix Empire is extremely similar to Torg’s Nile Empire, but the twist is either silly or bizarre, depending on your temperament: Pharaoh Rama-Set looks like a man, but is actually a Celestial Dragon in disguise? I, for one, approve.

The real star of the show, though, is the introduction of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are all presented in typically over-the-top fashion (though given plausible weight thanks to Kevin Long’s illustrations). They’re spread out on the African continent, doing their individual things while also seeking each other. Should all four meet, they will fuse into a giant apocalypse beast that will destroy the world, so the book suggests that the players find and destroy the horsemen before that happens. Truly, a wild scaling of power going on here.