Alpharius wrote: Painted miniatures, unless they are REALLY well painted, usually bring less money than unpainted and unbuilt miniatures.
yeah but did not expect my bit lots of RRT to sell but they did, also when ever I see people listing painted and assembled RRT figs they are asking a lot for them even twice as much as my stuff, now some have sold awhile back but lately not much listed or sold.
and yes usually painted assembled minis unless done right don't do so well, but we are talking RRT here which is a pain in the behind to assemble to begin with.
Anyone here have any experience ordering the Frosted Extreme Detail 1/1250 veritechs on shapeways?
They're obviously not in scale for RRPGT but for use in other things/games like on SDF-1 scale models. I'm curious how they look painted up as it's hard to make out the detail except on edges. The cutting matt markings are 1cm for reference.
Dear Kevin Christmas,
All I want in my grab bag this year are the following items
1 Resin SDF-1
1 box VEF-1/Vf1-d add-on
1 box YF-4 add-on
1 base pledge "A new Dawn"
1 character model Roy Fokker
1 character model Miriya
1 character model Khyron.
If there is any value left over, please feel free to include either
1 MAC-II monster [as I know there are people also wanting these.
or
2 as much kindling as possible in the form of old "Rifter" magazines.
warboss wrote: Anyone here have any experience ordering the Frosted Extreme Detail 1/1250 veritechs on shapeways?
They're obviously not in scale for RRPGT but for use in other things/games like on SDF-1 scale models. I'm curious how they look painted up as it's hard to make out the detail except on edges. The cutting matt markings are 1cm for reference.
Yup! He's got regular VF-1 and VF-2SS at 1/1250 scale in 10/5 splits out of 15 models (jet/gerwalk for VF-1 and normal/gunpack for VF-2SS). If you search VF-2SS on shapeways, his items should pop up at the top.
"View 14 more comments"
*click*
*counts only 7 more comments*
There was a fairly hearty "I waited 10 years for book X, so quit complaining"/"Did you pay for it in advance?" argument that was 5 or so replies long that's been snipped out, if I remember correctly.
"View 14 more comments"
*click*
*counts only 7 more comments*
There was a fairly hearty "I waited 10 years for book X, so quit complaining"/"Did you pay for it in advance?" argument that was 5 or so replies long that's been snipped out, if I remember correctly.
The forums probably were purged as well. I usually only peek in when I get the weekly "update" and last week there was an active thread (iirc an old one about 2017 bumped recently) discussing the uncomfortable truth regarding this project. Looking right now, it's been purged and Nov 1st is the last post. Did a white knight plod in to save Maiden Kevin's honor and it got heated?
Kevin would rather give us an updated about a sick friend / neighbor he knows; I doubt that 0.0001% of people receiving the update has an idea whom he is even talking about.
It shows that he is not trying to run a business, They need to be giving real product information updates but instead just sending out random thoughts to everyone..
That is why we will never see RRT wave 2; Kevin is more involved with what is neighbors are doing and Halloween than to do the job he was PAID to do.
I wish I had something new to report, but nothing at the moment. Soon, we hope. Wave Two a 2017 release.
Two things.
One, as bad as it might sound, Kevin need to get sick more often. That way, we get more honest, direct dialogue.
Two, it's not Kevin's job to wish he had something new to report, it's his job to MAKE SURE he had something new to report.
At least a 4~5 month lead from cutting the block to shipment of plastics to the States. Chinese New Year is early for 2017, end Jan. Which means, at the best, if he had something to report, it would be mid-2017. More practical, fall 2017. If.
Some old action figures, mostly on the cards, some not.
Old Rifter magazines, some from first printing, most signed, some PHOTOCOPIES of old, signed rifters, and some original art, including cells from old Disney movies and of course some original art from PB publications.
All in all, if he gets what he is asking for these items, he MAY breach a few grand, which could keep the lights on another week or so?
Or does he need this income to pay for the next RRT 'update'?
Full Siembieda here for those who are WB'd, spoilered due to health reasons. So much salt is not good for you!
Spoiler:
Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Nov. 10, 2016
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By Kevin Siembieda
Guhhh. A monster head cold hit me yesterday. You know, the kind where you feel like your head is trapped inside a tight box filled with cotton. Can’t breathe, ears itch, nose won’t stop running, slight fever, scratchy throat, and it is difficult trying to concentrate, so I am going to keep this Update short and to the point. Forgive me if there are a few clumsy sentences.
The Rifter® #75 is a great issue waiting for your orders. Wayne has been working on several things, including The Rifter® #76. He’s recovering from a nasty cold of his own, probably where I got it from.
Palladium’s famous Christmas Surprise Packages are truly awesome gifts for your gaming friends or for yourself. I’ve been packing most of them with $92-$100 worth of gaming fun – sometimes more – and we sign them all if you want signatures. Do not miss out!
The Hell Followed™ sourcebook for Dead Reign® is, a) fabulous, and b) in the layout stage. I’ve been approving artwork for the Rifts® boardgame coming from Rogue Heroes LLC and I am about to dive into Rifts® CS Arsenal™. And I just corrected seven typos trying to write these first few paragraphs. Whaahhh. I guess my fingers are not working very well today either. It has been suggested I go home, but we have books to finish. Besides, it’s just a cold, right?
Christmas Grab Bags
UPDATE: Christmas Surprise Packages
I have been loading up most Surprise Packages in the $94-$100 dollar range and loving it. We are happy to make the holidays more fun for our supportive fans and give you a tremendous deal and signed books while we are at it. You keep ordering, we’ll keep shipping.
What is a Palladium Christmas Surprise Package?
A bargain and fun for you, and our way of saying thank you to our loyal fans. We love delivering a little Christmas cheer and putting smiles on the faces of some big kids around the world. For you, it is a great way to get presents for your gaming pals, fill holes in your collection, or try new games and settings. For us it’s being Santa Claus to the greatest fans on the planet.
$90-$100 (or more!) worth of Palladium Books products for only $45 plus shipping and handling. You are guaranteed to get an absolute minimum of ninety dollars ($90) retail value in your Surprise Package. Most of the time you get $92-$96, often more! Santa Kevin likes to make gamers squeal with delight and often packs $96-$105 worth of goodies into many Surprise Packages.
It’s a surprise package because you never know exactly what you’re going to get or who will sign your books. We try to include many of the items on your “wish list,” but we will surprise you with stuff you are not expecting. Things like a special print(s), or issues of The Rifter®, or a Palladium RPG or sourcebook(s), special edition comic book, or other items that we think you might enjoy. Plus you can ask for unusual items, or special gold editions, art prints, and maybe even some original art. All items are “hand-picked” by Kevin Siembieda from YOUR “wish list.” ALL with autographs IF you request them. For many of you, this is the only way to get autographs from Palladium’s staff, artists and writers! And you can order right now!
Your “Wish List” – The Palladium Surprise Packages are designed to simulate the fun, joy and surprise of the Christmas Season of Giving. To do this, you submit a list of 10-15 Palladium products (or more) FOR EACH Surprise Package you order. This list of 10-15 items for EACH Grab Bag is critical, because you will not know which items you’ll be getting. That makes it just like a Christmas gift because it’s a surprise! Plus, Santa Kevin, who personally hand-picks every item for every Grab Bag, may toss in something extra like a limited edition print or T-shirt, or issue of The Rifter®, or something else he thinks you’ll enjoy.
Available now! You can order right now thru December 24, 2016. And Christmas Surprise Packages are not just for Christmas. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice, or you’re looking for a gift for a birthday, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or any special occasion that falls between now and February, a Surprise Package may be the ideal way to go. You get a ton of stuff on the cheap, you can get a bunch of autographs, and you look like you spent a fortune.
Click here for more details and to place your order.
Please spread the word to gamers everywhere. A great way to introduce Palladium’s settings to new gamers is with a Christmas Surprise Package. I mean, for the price of what most core rule books cost, you can get one Surprise Package ($45 plus shipping) with 3-5 different titles (depending on the value of each book). It’s hard to beat that kind of deal. The Christmas Surprise Package is only publicized by word of mouth, to readers of The Rifter® and on Palladium's website – www.palladiumbooks.com – so please tell everyone you know, post a link on your Facebook page, twitter and... well, everywhere. And pick one up one for every gamer you know and have a joyful holiday season.
Surprise Package mitigates overseas shipping costs – take advantage of this while you can
The low cost of the Surprise Package mitigates the cost of shipping. It is, in effect, the equivalent of getting the books you want at retail, plus autographs, and paying the equivalent of only $5-$20 for overseas shipping!
How can that be? Well, if you factor in that you are getting say, $100 in product, but only paying $45 for them, and shipping is, say $60 or $70, that’s $105 or $115 total – which is like $5-$15 in shipping for $100+ worth of product. And I always load up foreign Surprise Packages, so make sure you send a long Wish List! Of course, the purchaser is responsible for any Customs fees, taxes and other fees, but since we are selling you a $45 Surprise Package (not $100+ in books) you should only pay on a $45 purchase.
MANY overseas customers take advantage of the Surprise Packages for this reason! And it is likely the ONLY way for you to get autographs. Give it a try, we don’t think you will be disappointed. This is the time for our friends and fans overseas to load up on the Palladium products they have been wanting! Enjoy.
Please note that Palladium Books has NO control over the cost of shipping/postage, nor the brokerage fees, Customs charges or any other related fees charged by other countries. Within the USA, Media Mail is the least expensive method of shipping, but also the least reliable and slowest. To our Canadian customers, we have no idea why it costs so much to mail books and product to you. So much for NAFTA making things easier. Game on.
UPDATE: Hell Followed™ – 160 page sourcebook for Dead Reign® – going to press anytime now
Wayne is probably typesetting and laying out Hell Followed even as you read this. Will go to the printer next Monday or Tuesday. We’ll give an exact ship date as soon as we have one from the printer. Order yours now. Or give Dead Reign® a try by asking for the RPG and some sourcebooks in a Christmas Surprise Package!
Hell Followed™ is a fun and impressive sourcebook for the Dead Reign® setting. It offers a slew of adventure ideas and story arcs, new NPC villains, new NPC heroes, new zombies, new O.C.C.s, disasters to complicate survival, masked lunatics, and expanding adventure and gaming options for the Zombie Apocalypse that you have not seen in movies and television.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #75 – Available now
The Rifter® #75 is available now. It is almost entirely “official” source material and jam-packed with adventures, gaming and G.M. advice, and rules clarifications by Carl Gleba and me, Kevin Siembieda, about creating adventures, running Rifts® and the joy of role-playing games. Plus the next chapter in the sweeping Splicers® adventure and source material by Charles Walton II and company, a Rifts® setting in Canada, a preview of Rifts® for Savage Worlds, news, and coming attractions. If you don’t subscribe to The Rifter®, I recommend getting this issue. Hey, ask for one in the Surprise Package.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #76 – November release
Working on The Rifter® #76 now. It contains Primordians™ by Greg Diaczyk, official source material for use with Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts®, Phase World® and the Three Galaxies™, as well as other settings, along with Brett Caron’s Rifts® Pecos Empire™ adventure setting, the next chapter in the epic Splicers®: I am Legion™ mega-adventure, some Heroes Unlimited™ material and other good stuff. At least half of this issue is “official” source material. A nice suspense- and monster-filled issue. Cover by Nicholas Bradshaw.
UPDATE: Rifts® CS Arsenal™
As soon as my head clears I am finishing the writing for Rifts® CS Arsenal™ and The Disavowed™.
UPDATE: Rifts® The Disavowed™
Rifts® The Disavowed™ and Rifts® CS Arsenal™ set the stage for big things coming in 2017.
UPDATE: Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™
More artwork is being assigned and editing being completed. Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ presents background on the Atlantean tribes and the addition of Crystal Magic and Shadow Magic.
UPDATE: Rifts® World Book: The Sovietski™
The art is being worked on, but I need to assign more. You can see the complete, submitted manuscript in Rifts® World Book: The Sovietski™ Raw Preview Edition, available now on a first-come, first-served basis. Only 150 copies were printed as a limited edition advance preview of the complete, submitted manuscript for this book. The Sovietski™ Raw Preview is a hefty, 160 pages of source material, cyborgs, gear and combat vehicles. Be the first to know what’s coming in Rifts® Sovietski™, planned for release early next year. Sold on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. Get yours before it is gone.
UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
I wish I had something new to report, but nothing at the moment. Soon, we hope. Wave Two a 2017 release.
NEW on DriveThruRPG.com – Rifts® Mercenary Adventures™ and ALL Robotech® RPG Tactics™ cards available now
Rifts® Mercenary Adventures™ completes the Rifts® Mercenaries, MercTown™, and Merc Ops™ series, all available now, as well as ALL Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game cards, Robotech® and Rifts® Paper Miniatures along with Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Triax Two, The Rifter® #1-69, Rifts® World Books 1-30 and many other Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy®, Nightbane® and other game line titles. New Robotech® RPG Tactics™ material will be made available in the weeks ahead. All of it adds to the growing list of Rifts®, Robotech® and other Palladium RPG game titles available as PDF books, cards and support. A new title should be getting added every week or two through the end of the year, so watch for them.
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave 2 Paper Game Pieces, and all RRT game cards, join Rifts® Ultimate Edition and 160+ other PDF Palladium titles, RRT stuff, G.M. helper kits and free material on DriveThruRPG.com right now! More Rifts®, Robotech® and other Palladium game titles, paper miniatures and fun are coming to PDF in the weeks and months ahead. Watch for them.
Recent PDF titles include Rifts® Ultimate Edition, Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Triax 2, Rifts® Mercenaries, MercTown™ and Merc Ops™, Rifts® World Book 30: D-Bees of North America™, Rifts® World Book 29: Madhaven™, Rifts® World Book 28: Arzno™, Rifts® World Book 27: Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp, Rifts® World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp, World Book 25: Rifts® China Two, and World Book 24: Rifts® China One, among many, many others. There are also previews of Rifts® CS Heroes of Humanity™, The Rifter® #73, Northern Gun 1 & 2, Lemuria, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms, Bizantium and many other Palladium titles. Check back every week to see which new PDFs of Rifts® World Books and other titles have been added!
In addition to the titles listed above, The Minion War™ series of books, the Rifts® Coalition Wars®/Tolkeen series, Chaos Earth® Resurrection, all of the Dead Reign® (Zombie Apocalypse) titles, Splicers® RPG and most issues of The Rifter® are available NOW! So are first edition rules of the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG and sourcebooks, Palladium Fantasy RPG® and sourcebooks, The Mechanoids®, and much more, available on DriveThruRPG.com.
Available right now:
•Rifts® Ultimate Edition, Rifts® Mercenaries, MercTown™, Merc Ops™ and Rifts® Mercenary Adventures™, Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Triax 2, Rifts® World Book 30: D-Bees of North America™, Rifts® World Book 29: Madhaven™, Rifts® World Book 28: Arzno™, Rifts® World Book 27: Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp™, Rifts® World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp, Rifts® World Book 25: China Two, Rifts® World Book 24: China One, Rifts® World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion, Rifts® World Book 22: Free Quebec, Rifts® World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market, Rifts® World Book 20: Canada, Rifts® World Book 19: Australia, Rifts® World Book 18: Mystic Russia, Rifts® World Book 17: Warlords of Russia, Rifts® World Book 16: Federation of Magic, Rifts® World Book 15: Spirit West, Rifts® World Book 14: New West™, Rifts® World Book 13: Lone Star™, Rifts® World Book 12: Psyscape™, Rifts® World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign™, Rifts® World Book 10: Juicer Uprising™, and Rifts® World Book 9: South America 2 along with World Books #1-8 and various other Rifts® titles.
•Rifts® Chaos Earth® RPG, Chaos Earth®: Rise of Magic™, Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ and Creatures of Chaos™ are all available now.
•Two free Chaos Earth® Resurrection previews and many other previews.
•Rifts® Coalition Wars®: Siege on Tolkeen series – all six titles.
•Rifts® The Minion War™ series – six current books – consisting of Dimension Book 10: Hades, Dimension Book 11: Dyval, Dimension Book 12: Dimensional Outbreak, HU2 adventure sourcebook: Armageddon Unlimited™, Heroes of the Megaverse®, and Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames available now! Suitable for ALL settings, including Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™ and The Palladium Fantasy RPG®.
•Dead Reign® RPG titles. The Zombie Apocalypse is yours to role-play with the Dead Reign® RPG. The core rule book and all sourcebooks are available now.
•The Rifter® issues #1-69.
•FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ paper game pieces, force organization tables, stat cards, rules and special items – with more coming soon!
•FREE 12 highly-detailed, comprehensive Robotech® RPG Tactics™ assembly instructions for all the Wave One mecha – available now.
•FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ color guides are available now.
•Palladium Fantasy RPG® Paper Miniatures – Volumes #1-6 are available now. More are coming in the weeks ahead.
•160+ Palladium titles, plus G.M. kits, and more.
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Men at Arms – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Coalition Dead Boys – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Adventurers – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Practitioners of Magic (new) – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Extras (new) – $2.99
•And more to come in the weeks ahead.
Palladium Collectibles Available in Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles Store
I am selling my entire, personal Star Wars collection, including vintage Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi vehicles and action figures, and more recent Star Wars items too. Most are still in their original packaging. The store also offers more original Palladium Books artwork, out of print books, proofreader copies and other toys. Keep checking as we are adding new items every week, sometimes a few times a week. I have several new, iconic Kevin Long Rifts® illustrations to be offered. I just need to find the time to write the descriptions.
All sorts of Palladium collectibles, hardcovers (BTS, Lemuria, Rifts® Silver, RUE Gold, etc.), out-of-print titles, original artwork, and toys and items from my personal collection are on my ebay store. We add items on a regular basis and offer sales, so check it out from time to time. Includes one-of-a-kind original artwork, prints, Rifts® and Robotech® artwork by Kevin Long, me and others. There is also a range of limited editions, rare book titles and limited edition hardcovers, toys and more available with frequent new items added. Items include original art, out-of-print titles, redlined proofreader photocopies signed by me and the staff, signed manuscripts with editors’ corrections, some original art, hardcover books (including Rifts® Lemuria, Northern Gun™ One, Northern Gun™ Two, Megaverse® in Flames™, Beyond the Supernatural™ Gold, Rifts® Machinations of Doom™ Gold and Rifts® Ultimate Gold), hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal archives and collection. Take a look every weekend or two for new items added.
I will continue to pull things out of my personal collection and Palladium archives and make them available. A bunch of toys have already been added to my online store with more to come.
Our love and prayers go out to the family of our friends Carmen, Christina and Robyn Bellaire. The family is going through a very rough time. They are dealing with the hard decision of removing their beloved mother-in-law/mother/grandmother from life support. The poor woman took an unexpected turn for the worse after a fall several weeks ago. Very sad and unexpected. It is always terrible to deal with the loss of a parent. And when that loss is sudden and unexpected, it is all the worse. Be strong and know you have us all in your corner.
A nice time with a visitor
I forgot to mention in the last Weekly Update that we had a surprise visit from a gentleman from Italy. He spoke English wonderfully and was a very nice guy and fun to talk with. We chatted for awhile, gave him a tour of the Palladium office and warehouse, and signed some books for him. It was a very pleasant reminder of the kindness and generosity of Palladium fans worldwide.
I also want to give a shout out to Sean Parker. Enjoy the package and stay strong. You are one of the good guys and we appreciate you.
That’s it for now. Get the holiday spirit burning, order your Christmas Surprise Package now before the holiday rush, and game on!
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer, Game Designer
The Rifter #75
NEW! The Rifter® #75 – Available now!
The Rifter® #75 is shipping now!
Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters alike – but his issue is especially packed with material for building and running adventures, and discovering – or rediscovering – the joy of role-playing games. Everyone should get this issue.
Rifter® #75 Highlights:
•Rifts® Primer – G.M. and Player Tips, and a Rifts® Adventure, by Carl Gleba and Kevin Siembieda – “official” source material. The Rifts® Primer is jam-packed with G.M. advice, player tips, personal experiences, and examples of game play, explanation of rules, a step by step outline for creating your own adventures, and two adventures to get you started. The sample adventure is written in such a way that new players who have never played Rifts®, or are completely unfamiliar with the Palladium game system, can run it with just the information presented in this article! New Game Masters and experienced G.M.s alike will enjoy the discussion about the art of role-playing and being a Game Master.
•Splicers® – I am Legion, Part Four, by Charles Walton II, Chris Kluge and Lance Colley – “official” source material. The adventure continues as Legion reveals part of her sinister plans to your heroes which brings this adventure to a fever pitch. Your heroes must make difficult decisions and must find a way to stop her and her array of deadly machines. Plenty of psychological and horrific terrors to face. Includes a horrifying new machine and more. Do not miss this new chapter as heroes fight against Legion and her army of deadly machines.
•Rifts® for Savage Worlds® Preview®. Get a look at the cool Rifts® RPG that uses Savage Worlds® rules. The game was a smash Kickstarter hit, and will be arriving on store shelves in the beginning of 2017.
•News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more.
•Rifts® cover by Garrie Gastonny and Chris Bivins (Rifts® Savage Worlds).
•96 pages – $13.95 retail – Cat. No. 175. Now available!
Hell Followed
NEW! Hell Followed™ – Ships in November
A Dead Reign® Zombie Apocalypse Sourcebook
At 160 pages, Hell Followed™ is the largest Dead Reign® sourcebook yet. Artist Nick Bradshaw is already fast at work on the art. Cover by E.M. Gist is finished.
Can you survive the Zombie Apocalypse? Find out by playing the Dead Reign® RPG series. This post-apocalypse setting is only picking up steam and is about much more than just killing the walking dead. And future sourcebooks are about to get scarier as they delve deeper into the survivor camps, Death Cults, the new world order, and human heroes and villains.
•10 new types of zombies.
•New O.C.C.s and skills.
•Running zombie horde battles.
•Disasters and other dangers.
•US government’s response to the Zombie Apocalypse.
•Government enclaves and survivor camps.
•More world information, new dangers and new adventures.
•Cover by E.M. Gist.
•Interior art Nick Bradshaw.
•Written by Taylor White. The biggest Dead Reign® sourcebook yet.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 236. In final production.
Surprise Package comments from fans like you
Every year there is a section where the customer can offer comments and suggestions with his or her Surprise Package order. Every year, in acknowledgment of our fans, and because they are fun to read, we offer a sampling in the Weekly Updates. Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who have stuck with Palladium through thick and thin. Keep those imaginations burning bright, have a joyous holiday season and game on.
You have no idea how much your comments and support mean to all of us. Everyone at Palladium enjoys reading your brief comments. They always brighten our day. Thank you. I have tried to write a short response [in brackets] when applicable.
A.H. in San Rafael, California, writes: I always look forward to the X-Mas Grab Bag! It is always a special treat to see what items I can pick up that I have been lacking and/or falling behind.
[I think you’ll enjoy this Surprise Package as much as usual, A.H. Thank you for the years of support. – KS]
J.H. in Old Monroes, Missouri, writes (in part): I am ordering 7 Surprise Packages for the people in my [gaming] group ... As you can tell from the list, we play just about everything except Dead Reign®. Each of us with our own favorites.
[Wow, J.H., it is nice to see someone else with such a generous Christmas spirit. I think everyone will enjoy their Christmas Surprise Package. Looking back at this order, I wonder if I should have slipped in a copy of Dead Reign® for you guys to try, but I wanted to send items I knew they wanted. Enjoy. Ho, ho, ho. – KS]
A.Z. in Phoenix, Arizona, writes (in part): ... I came across Rifts® books. We used to play when I was younger and brought back some good memories. Thank you for bringing Rifts® to the world. My brother was a fan of the Glitter Boy, where I liked all the dragons and Atlantis Rune Weapons.
[Hi A.Z., I hope you don’t mind me using your comment here. I wanted to thank you, publicly, as well as privately, for sharing your thoughts with me. It served to remind me how special role-playing games are, and the joy and camaraderie they bring to so many around the world. I am humbled to be a contributor to that joy and delighted that your coming across some Rifts® books brought you happy memories during your time of loss. Take care and keep that imagination burning bright. – KS]
B.C. in Walland, Tennessee, writes: Thank you for all of the wonderful creativity your games have helped to create. I have been an avid player of Rifts® for about 23 years now and love every minute, twist and turn that “we” present to our players. It makes for a game that breathes and lives on its own merits.
[You are very welcome, B.C. I am thrilled you have been enjoying Rifts® for decades! Yeah, I love the stories, twists, turns and excitement of the games I run and the multitude of others that we inspire. Awesome. Game on and happy holidays! – KS]
W.A.M. in Centreville, Virginia, writes (in part): Long time PB fan, first time Surprise Package guy, here. I really can’t get enough of the awesome mecha art in Rifts® and Robotech®. The incredibly detailed sci-fi/fantasy settings and the in-depth character creation process... P.S.: I saw the Rifts® miniature game in a Weekly Update a while back. The first render looked amazing and I’ll be ready to take out a second mortgage when the game is released.
[Hi W.A.M., thanks for the high praise. You haven’t seen anything yet. The Rifts® boardgame and miniatures being developed under license by Carmen Bellaire and his Rogue Heroes company, are nothing short of spectacular. I think something like half of them are already sculpted and look incredible. Carmen is an uber-fan, so he is making the game he would love to see as a fan, himself. We have been nothing but wowed by everything we have seen. Watch for his Kickstarter, probably in March, 2017. – KS]
S.K. in Comox, British Columbia, Canada, writes: I have been with you since I picked up the Robotech main book with my paper route money in 1986. I’m now 41 and still going strong!
[Awesome, S.K. Glad you have stuck with us all these years and still enjoy our games. We have some huge things coming in 2017, so keep your eyes peeled. Things that are going to blow your mind and keep you buying Palladium for another 30 years. Oh yeah. – KS]
A Note to Everyone Ordering: UPS Ground arrives to most locations in the USA in 2-3 days, or 4-5 days to the Southwest and West Coast, plus a day or two for us to process the order. Priority Mail is 3-7 days to most locations. Media Mail is by far the least expensive method of shipping and, this time of year, fairly safe to use, but takes 4-7 days for delivery, is the least reliable shipping method and is difficult to track and trace. That is why Palladium does not replace any lost packages sent via Media Mail. We do NOT recommend Media Mail after Thanksgiving – if you want guaranteed delivery before Christmas – when it can take 7-21 days, sometimes longer, to reach you. We cannot guarantee a delivery time for packages shipped via military post to an APO. Ordering your Christmas Surprise Package in November means you avoid the Christmas rush and its increased chance of the package getting lost or delayed. Happy Holidays. – KS
Christmas Grab Bags
The 2016 Palladium Christmas Surprise Package Offer begins now!
Every holiday season, starting in October, for the last 18 or 19 years now, Palladium has been offering the Christmas Surprise Package. Our humble efforts to show our appreciation of you and help make your Christmas filled with a little more fun and games.
What is a Palladium Christmas Surprise Package?
It is our way of saying thank you to our loyal fans, deliver a little Christmas cheer, and put smiles on the faces of some big kids around the world. For you, it is a bargain, a great way to get presents for yourself and your gaming pals, fill holes in your collection, try new games and world settings, and to get autographs from Kevin Siembieda and available Palladium staff and freelancers.
$89-$95+ worth of Palladium Books products for only $45 plus shipping and handling. You are guaranteed to get an absolute minimum of eighty-nine dollars ($89) retail value in your Surprise Package. Often you get $89-$95. Sometimes more! Santa Kevin likes to make gamers squeal with delight and often packs in $95-$100 worth of goodies into many Surprise Packages.
It’s a surprise package because you never know exactly what you are going to get or exactly who will sign your books. We try to include many of the items on your “wish list,” but we will surprise you with stuff you are not expecting. Things like a special print(s), or issues of The Rifter®, or a Palladium RPG or sourcebook(s), a special edition publication, or other items that we think you might enjoy. Plus you can ask for unusual items, or special gold editions, art prints, miniatures and maybe even some original art. All items are “hand-picked” by Kevin Siembieda from YOUR “wish list.” ALL with autographs IF you request them. For many of you, this is the only way to get autographs from Palladium’s staff, artists and writers!
The best deal in gaming. For the price of what you would pay for ONE core rule book, you can get an X-Mas Surprise Package with 3-5 different titles (depending on the value of each book) worth $89-$95, maybe more! And if you want them signed, Kevin and the available staff and freelancers will sign each one. It is impossible to beat that kind of deal. Please spread the word because Palladium’s Christmas Surprise Package is only publicized by word of mouth, to readers of The Rifter® and on Palladium's website – www.palladiumbooks.com – so please tell everyone you know. Buy one for every gamer you know and have a joyful holiday season.
Your “Wish List” – The Palladium Surprise Packages are designed to simulate the fun, joy and surprise of the Christmas Season of Giving. To do this, you submit a list of 10-15 Palladium products (or more) FOR EACH Surprise Package you order. This list of 10-15 items for EACH Grab Bag is critical, because you will not know which items you’ll be getting. That makes it just like a Christmas gift because it’s a surprise! Plus, Santa Kevin, who personally hand-picks every item for every Grab Bag, may toss in something extra like a limited edition print or T-shirt, or issue of The Rifter®, or something else he thinks you’ll enjoy.
You can order right now. Ordering now gives you ample time to try out a Surprise Package if you are new to them, and you avoid the holiday rush. We always try to make each one truly special, as the thousands of you who have ordered in the past know well. If you have never ordered a Surprise Package before, give it a try early, because you’ll be blown away and probably want to order a few more!
Christmas Surprise Packages are not just for Christmas. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice, or you’re looking for a gift for a birthday, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or any special occasion that falls between now and February, a Surprise Package may be the ideal way to go. You get a ton of stuff on the cheap, you can get a bunch of autographs, and you look like you spent a fortune.
This is also a great way to try that game setting you’ve wondered about (Robotech® RPG Tactics™ core box set, Robotech® RPG, Rifts®, Splicers®, Dead Reign®, Chaos Earth®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, etc.), or to get something for your favorite Game Master, or perhaps to get your player group to consider a new game or setting.
Click here to see the entire Surprise Package description and to place your order!
Back in stock for the Holidays
•Rifts® World Book One: Vampire Kingdoms™ – 224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 802-E – Updated descriptions on the Vampire Kingdoms and the vampires, 40+ vampire abilities, vampire combat, Hero Vampires, Deluded Vampires, vampire-slaying weapons, Vampire Hunter O.C.C., Reid’s Rangers (famed vampire hunters), the cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, town creation rules, monsters, dinosaurs and many adventure ideas. Also see the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, with even more stuff about vampires, werebeasts, and the Soul Forge!
•Rifts® Shemarrian Nation sourcebook – 96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 878 – 7 Shemarrian warriors, Shemarrian society and secrets, new Archie Three androids and robots, more about Archie Three, his secret war against the Minions of Splugorth in North America, adventure ideas and more.
•Monsters & Animals™, a Palladium Fantasy® sourcebook – 240 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 454 – 120+ monsters, 200+ animals, all described, statted and accompanied by maps showing exactly where they can be found in the world. Plus Game Master tips and conversion notes for Mega-Damage settings. Suitable for Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts® and Phase World® (as alien creatures), Heroes Unlimited™ and other settings.
•Rifts® Dimension Book 6: Three Galaxies™ – 160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 851 – 16 alien O.C.C.s and R.C.C.s, dozens of solar systems and adventure hooks, notable worlds, people and monsters, the Necrol and Demon Magic, spaceships and more.
•Rifts® World Book 29: Rifts® Madhaven™ – 128 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 869 – There may be no place in North America more dangerous than the haunted ruins of New York City. The ruins of Manhattan, ghosts and monsters, mutants and other dangers, the Knights of the White Rose and the incredible healing power of the mystical White Rose found only in Madhaven. Plus Techno-Wizard devices, weapons and adventure hooks.
•Rifts® Black Market™ sourcebook – 192 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 886 – Notable Black Market factions, 10 Black Market O.C.C.s and their special abilities, 29 weapons, plus vehicles, power armor, TW weapons, robots, Traveling Show creation tables, and more, including the TW Ironmage Glitter Boy! An awesome resource for players and G.M.s alike.
The Rifter #76
NEW! The Rifter® #76 – Ships November, 2016
The Rifter® #76 is already in production. Articles are being selected, artwork is being assigned and editing begun.
Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and find new avenues of adventure. It provides useful, ready to go source material you can just drop into your ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. And the many new characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, villains, monsters, adventures and ideas for one setting can be easily adapted to any Palladium setting. Every issue has material for Rifts® and usually 2-3 other Palladium game lines. And don’t forget, most source material and adventures can be adapted to ANY of Palladium’s RPG settings.
Rifter® #76 Highlights:
•Rifts® for Savage Worlds® Preview®. Get another look at what’s coming this winter.
•Rifts® Pecos Badlands Town – by Brett Caron. Thinking about doing some adventuring in the Rifts American Southwest? Mosey on over to Gohjjunk.
•Rifts®, Three Galaxies and Palladium Fantasy RPG® – Primordians, by Greg Diaczyk with additional text and ideas by Kevin Siembieda – “official” source material. New type of Elemental beings that can be used as player characters or NPCs. These strange beings are believed to be some kind of human-Elemental hybrid. They possess curious minds and seem to be exploring the Megaverse® for reasons unknown. Are they emissaries of Greater Elementals or Elemental Intelligences, or something else completely? Do they come in peace, or are they a new potential menace? Get your first glimpse of them in The Rifter® #76. Plus there are some new alien beasts used by Promordians.
•Splicers® – I am Legion, Part Five, by Charles Walton II, Chris Kluge and Lance Colley – “official” source material. The adventure continues and more secrets and dangers are revealed.
•Heroes Unlimited™ source material.
•Source material for other RPG settings.
•News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more.
•Rifts® cover by Nicholas Bradshaw.
•96 pages – $13.95 retail – Cat. No. 176. In production. Ships around November 21, 2016.
Rifts Poker Deck 1
NEW! Rifts® Poker Deck One (Color) – available now
For the first time ever, Rifts® is captured in a deck of playing cards. Each card a powerful image. Perfect for playing cards, collecting, gifts and use as an Action Deck for Pinnacle’s Rifts® Savage Worlds game line.
Gen Con gamers went wild over the two Rifts® Poker Decks and you will too. Both contain iconic Rifts® artwork and characters, and look gorgeous. The color and design of both poker decks makes the artwork pop and a joy to use. Available now.
•Premium card stock.
•Standard US Poker size deck of playing cards.
•Rifts® specific symbols for each suit.
•52 full color playing cards, plus 2 Jokers.
•Diamonds are magic. Clubs are D-Bees. Hearts are heroes. Spades are the Coalition States.
•Each card is a unique, color image. Artists include John Zeleznik, Scott Johnson, Kevin Long, David Dorman, Charles Walton II, Mark Evans, and others.
•The back of the cards is the artwork from the cover of Rifts® Ultimate Edition depicting a Ley Line Walker with an Alien Intelligence emerging from the Rift opening behind him, energy swirling. Art by Scott Johnson.
•Customized, full color, Rifts® tuck box.
•$11.99 retail – Cat. No. 2575 – available now.
Rifts Poker Deck 2
New! Rifts® Poker Deck Two (black & white illustrations) – available now
52 iconic images and characters by your favorite artists. This second deck of playing cards captures Rifts® in a different light. Each card features a different iconic, black and white illustration set in a color border of rippling magic energy from the Rifts. Illustrations are by a wide range of fan favorite artists. A fun and attractive item for playing cards, collecting, and other uses.
•Premium card stock.
•Standard US Poker size deck of playing cards.
•Rifts® specific symbols for each suit.
•Color border and suits.
•52 playing cards featuring iconic illustrations, plus 2 Jokers.
•Diamonds are monsters. Clubs are heroes. Hearts are robots and power armor. Spades are the Coalition Army.
•Each card has a unique illustration of a famous Rifts® hero, monster, mech or agent of the Coalition. Artists include Kevin Long, Ramon K. Perez, Freddie Williams II, Michael Wilson, Jeffery Russell, Apollo Okamura, and others.
•Customized, full color, Rifts® tuck box.
•The back of the cards is the artwork from the cover of Rifts® Psyscape™ depicting a beautiful female psychic warrior, triumphant over a robotic enemy. Art by John Zeleznik.
•$11.99 retail – Cat. No. 2576 – available now.
Rifts Sovietski Raw Preview
New! Rifts® Sovietski™ – Raw Preview Limited Edition – available now
The Raw Preview Edition of Rifts® Sovietski™ is an advance copy of the unedited, unillustrated, final working manuscript for this exciting new sourcebook. You get to see the unfinished book months before the final title is released. A rare look at the raw manuscript before publication. Limited to a total of 150 copies.
Contains background information on the fledgling Sovietski and notable cities and people, bunker creation tables, Deadzone Tables, Spetznaz Special Forces, the Soviet Army and its weapons, cyborgs, new bionics, 21 new combat vehicles, Russian D-Bees and more. Note: The finished Rifts® Sovietski™ is anticipated to ship by the end of this year. However, with all the art that is needed, it might slip into an early 2017 release. But you can start playing right now with this special edition!
•Limited collector’s edition – only 150 total copies made – half of those already sold!
•Sold on a first come, first served basis, while supplies last.
•A rare glimpse at the virgin manuscript and a work in progress.
•By Brandon Aten and Matthew Orr.
•$24.99 – Cat. No. 891-RAW – available now, while supplies last. Do not miss out.
Robotech RPG Tactics
Robotech® RPG Tactics™
Robotech® is getting hotter and hotter. It is the Number One Anime on Crackle, the Robotech® movie from Sony Pictures sounds like it is going to be become a reality, more Robotech® licensed products are appearing, and Palladium is gearing up toward the release of Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two and more Robotech® products. Ah, but the core game and expansion packs to get you started are available right now.
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is a fast-paced, tabletop combat game that captures the action and adventure of the Robotech® anime. Two or more players can engage in small squad skirmishes or scale up to massive battles. Relive the clashes of the First Robotech War, engage in stand-alone tactical games, or use the dynamic game pieces to enhance your Robotech® RPG experience. Or simply collect your favorite mecha from an expanding range of top-notch game pieces. Get yours now.
•Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Core Box Set (Main Game) – 34 detailed game pieces – 53 game cards, 24 custom battle dice, decal sheets, rule book and more – $99.95 – Cat. No. 55100 – Available now.
•UEDF Valkyrie Wing (6 game pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55201 – Available now.
•UEDF Tomahawk/Defender Destroids (4 game pieces) – $32.95 – Cat. No. 55202 – Available now.
•UEDF Spartan/Phalanx Destroids (4 game pieces) – $32.95 retail – Cat. No. 55203 – Available now.
•Zentraedi Regult Battlepods (4 game pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55401 – Available now.
•Zentraedi Artillery Battlepods (6 game pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55402 – Available now.
•Zentraedi Glaug Command (3 pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55403 – Available now.
Robotech The Masters Saga Sourcebook
Robotech®: The Masters Saga™ Sourcebook – New, large format 8½ x 11 sourcebook – Now available!
Robotech®: The Masters Saga™ Sourcebook has been enlarged to the standard 8½ x 11 inch format and 160 pages. Artwork was given the deluxe treatment – large, clear, and detailed to go along with the wealth of information about the Second Robotech War, the Army of the Southern Cross, its combat forces, mecha, weapons, and vehicles. The same comprehensive treatment was given to the invading Robotech Masters.
Forget the corny drama, the emphasis of this sourcebook is on the Second Robotech War and the equipment on both sides. Making the Masters Saga a big mecha and equipment book that you will want in your collection. Did you know the Army of the Southern Cross used power armor and Battloids in addition to their famous mecha? You’ll find out all about it in this comprehensive 160 page sourcebook. Much of it described and statted out in an “official” capacity for the very first time in this sourcebook. Note: Only the size, size of artwork and layout has changed. The text and data are the same as the manga-sized edition, apart from eratta and minor additions.
•40+ weapons; pistols, rifles, grenade launchers.
•15 O.C.C.s and MOS skill packages for the 8 main branches of the ASC and the 7 Special Forces Divisions operating under the Tactical Corps.
•14 ASC vehicles of the Army of the Southern Cross (ASC).
•ASC Tactical battle shields, jet packs and other gear.
•ASC Veritech Mecha including the Ajax, Logan, Spartas Hover Tank, Myrmidon Light Hover Tank.
•6 ASC power armor suits.
•4 ASC Battloids.
•The Golem Autonomous Patrol Robot.
•The Robotech Masters and their legions.
•6 different Bioroids, as well as the Bioroid Terminator, the Bioroid Invid Fighter, hover sled & more.
•Tirolians, spacecraft and other gear and info.
•Cover by Apollo Okamura. Interior art by the Mannings and others.
•Written by Jason Marker.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 552. Available now.
The Rifter #74
NEW! The Rifter® #74 – Now available!
Rifts®, Splicers® and more awaits you in The Rifter® #74. And some material is official.
Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and find new avenues of adventure. It provides useful, ready-to-go source material you can just drop into your ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. And the many new characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, villains, monsters, adventures and ideas for one setting can be easily adapted to any Palladium setting. Every issue has material for Rifts® and at least 2-3 other Palladium game lines. And don’t forget, most of the material can be easily adapted for use in ANY Palladium game setting.
Rifter® #74 Highlights:
•Rifts® – The Town of Moorcroft™, by Julius Rosenstein – “official” source material. The Town of Moorcroft is not on most maps for a reason: most people don’t even know it exists, or that it rests on a Hidden Rift. Read about the town’s unique history, its Nexus Born, and key places and people. Makes a great location for player groups to rest, trade goods and find adventure.
•Splicers® – I am Legion, Part Three, by Charles Walton II, Chris Kluge and Lance Colley – adventure plus “official” source material. The adventure continues as your heroes must deal with the new Machine personality known as Legion. In this adventure, the player group discovers a secret weapon facility of the Resistence. They will be introduced to a wide array of new Bio-Tech Weapons and Enhancements to prepare them for the ultimate showdown with Legion!
•Rifts® – A Town in the Pecos Empire™, by Brett Caron.
•Heroes Unlimited – The Ancient Weapon Master: Specialist, by Robert Daley Jr.
•Rifts® short story – Acceptance, by S.E. Gibbons.
•News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more.
•A Rifts® cover by Apollo Okamura.
•96 pages – $13.95 retail – Cat. No. 174. Available now.
Coalition States Heroes of Humanity
NEW! Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States™ – Heroes of Humanity™ – Available now!
Rifts® CS Heroes of Humanity™ changes the landscape of Rifts North America and beyond, presents ways to upgrade and improve existing Men-At-Arms characters with Advanced Training, and includes new character classes, weapons, equipment, alliances and conflict to inspire epic new adventures.
Rifts® Heroes of Humanity™ outlines the battle for the soul of humanity. The Minion War™ has spilled onto Rifts Earth. At the epicenter of the invasion is North America. If either of the two rival demonic forces succeeds in conquering the continent, the rest of the world shall follow and Earth will be annexed to Hell. The demon hordes believe no one can stop them. The Coalition States has something to say about that.
For the first time in history, the Coalition States, Northern Gun, the Manistique Imperium, Lazlo, New Lazlo, Free Quebec, the Cyber-Knights, Lemurians, True Atlanteans, D-Bees, mages, mercs and many, many others stand together against a common enemy. Meanwhile, the Splugorth of Atlantis, Archie Three, the Republicans and the Vanguard engage in their own shadow war against the invading demon hordes, and each other.
•Heroes of Humanity™ lets unprecedented types of characters gather in mixed groups that would otherwise be ideologically opposed. Together they fight side-by-side for the greater good.
•New ways to upgrade your existing Men-at-Arms characters.
•Coalition Demon Hunter school and advanced training programs.
•New Coalition O.C.C.s like the Death Knight and Skelebot Specialist.
•Coalition military O.C.C.s expanded such as the CS Juicers, CS Combat Cyborgs, Psycho-Stalkers, Coalition psychics and more.
•New CS gear such as the Hellbuster and Falcon Death Wing.
•CS battle plans, world information and many adventure ideas.
•The strategies and tactics of the demons against humanity.
•The strategies and tactics of the Coalition States and its allies.
•Summary of Demon and Deevil vulnerabilities.
•One Xiticix battle plan and who really pays the price.
•Plenty of guidelines, tables and rules to help you run it all.
•Art by Charles “Chuck” Walton II, Amy L. Ashbaugh, Nick Bradshaw, Mark Dudley, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Mike Mumah, Apollo Okamura, Tanya Ramsey, Benjamin Rodriguez, and Kevin Siembieda.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda, Carl Gleba, Matthew Clements and others.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 889. Available now!
Heroes of Humanity Arsenal
NEW! Secrets of the Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity™ Arsenal Sourcebook – Fall
The name, CS Heroes of Humanity™ Arsenal says it all. New Coalition armor, power armor, robots, combat vehicles, and related material.
•New CS gear and weapons
•New CS SAMAS and power armor.
•New CS robots and combat vehicles.
•More ways to upgrade and improve your characters.
•More secrets and information about the Coalition States.
•Wild adventure opportunities, fun and more.
•Part of the Minion War™ “Crossover” series.
•Art by Charles “Chuck” Walton II, Amy L. Ashbaugh, Nick Bradshaw, Mark Dudley, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Apollo Okamura, Benjamin Rodriguez, and others.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda, Carl Gleba, Matthew Clements and others.
•96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 893. Fall release. In final production.
The Rifter #73
NEW! Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ – Fall
True Atlanteans are descendants from Earth’s past. The survivors of the sinking of Atlantis (really a dimensional mishap) and travelers of the Megaverse, wielders of Tattoo Magic and other lost mystic arts. Most people regard them as heroes, but are they? The Sunaj Assassins are mythic villains feared by all, yet they too are True Atlanteans who serve dark forces.
For the first time, much of the story behind True Atlanteans and their secrets are revealed.
•True Atlanteans revisited.
•Optional Atlantean character creation tables including clan heritage and other factors.
•Secrets of the stone pyramids, different types/purposes and powers.
•Many new magic tattoos, magic spells, weapons and armor.
•Atlantean hideouts and secret communities across the Megaverse.
•The Sunaj Assassins, their secrets, history and plans for the future.
•Atlantean Monster Hunter O.C.C., Atlantean Defender O.C.C. and much more. And this is just the tip of what this book contains.
•Written by Carl Gleba. Additional text and ideas by Kevin Siembieda.
•Final page count and price yet to be determined, but probably 160-192 pages – $20.95-$24.95 retail – Cat. No. 890. Fall release.
Rifts The Disavowed
Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States: The Disavowed™ – Fall
“Desperate times require desperate measures. War has nothing to do with morality or justice. It’s all about winning or dying. We cannot bind our hands with high ideals, even our own, or worry about the laws of renegade nations or the rights of alien people. We must fight fire with fire. And you are the match.” – Colonel Lyboc addressing a Disavowed team
The Disavowed are so Top Secret that their existence is known only to a handful of the Coalition States’ most elite, top echelon, with Joseph Prosek II the mastermind behind the Disavowed operation, and Colonel Lyboc its shadowy face. Find out who these men and women are. How the Disavowed get away with using magic, traveling to other parts of Rifts Earth and even to other dimensions in pursuit of enemies and strategic information that cannot be had through conventional means. Learn about the secret parameters in which these hard-boiled warriors, secretly hand-picked by Joseph Prosek II, operate, why almost every mission is considered a suicide mission, and why they must forever be the Disavowed.
•CS operatives so secret that even the top military and political leaders right up to Emperor Prosek know nothing about them. And if they did know, would they condone their activity or condemn it?
•Are the Disavowed heroes or renegades? Assassins or soldiers? Madmen or super-patriots? Or a little of them all?
•Unsung heroes who keep the CS safe, or thugs and pawns of a shadow agency within the Coalition government?
•What role does the Vanguard play in this group?
•How do they reward their D-Bee “teammates” when the mission is over?
•What happens to the Disavowed when they have seen or learned too much? Adventure ideas galore and so much more.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda and Matthew Clements.
•Final page count and price yet to be determined, but probably 96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 892. Fall release.
NEW! Rifts® Haunted Tech™ – Fall
The Republicans decide to make their move while Archie Three is waging his own shadow war against the demonic invaders. The result unleashes a menace Archie has kept contained and locked away for 300 years. And he is not happy about it.
•Haunted Technology.
•New weapons and gear.
•More secrets and information about the Republicans.
•More insane adventure opportunities, strangeness and fun.
•The new rules, powers and abilities for Haunted Tech will blow your mind.
•Haunted Tech gives new meaning to “ghost in the machine.” But are they a godsend or a Pandora’s Box of new dangers?
•The Republicans reveal themselves and take action! Yes, that means Chaos Earth® NEMA O.C.C.s, robots and technology in Rifts® Earth.
•Archie Three takes action behind the scenes, in a big way.
•Part of the Minion War™ “Crossover” series.
•Art by Charles “Chuck” Walton II, Mark Dudley, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Benjamin Rodriguez, and others.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda with help from Charles Walton II.
•96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 894. Fall release.
Garden of the Gods™ – a Palladium Fantasy RPG® Sourcebook – Fall
This has been a secret project of Kevin Siembieda’s that he has been plotting and writing in what little spare time he has. The Garden of the Gods is said to be a holy place watched over and even frequented by the avatars of the gods. According to legend, the god may visit heroes and followers in dreams or in person by an avatar of the god, to be given guidance, inspiration, heroic quests, and gifts of knowledge and magic. More details about this title will follow.
•The Garden of the Gods described in detail.
•Godly insight and visitations.
•Gifts of magic and knowledge.
•Sanctuary and more.
•The Black Pit, a place of evil and dark secrets. Is it a counterbalance to the good of the Garden or a trick of the Old Ones?
•Written by Kevin Siembieda.
•Final page count and price yet to be determined, but probably 96 pages – $16.95 retail. Cat. No. 475. A Fall release.
Rifts® Chaos Earth® Sourcebook: First Responders – Winter
The Great Cataclysm has devastated civilization, but humanity fights for survival. The struggles of civilian law enforcement, fire and rescue, and everyday men and women are some of the most epic tales to be told in a world gone to hell. They fight monsters, aliens, the paranormal, the elements, and each other, all with the hope of reclaiming their lives from the Chaos.
•New D-Bees and monsters from the Rifts.
•First Responder O.C.C.s, skills and special equipment.
•New “average citizen” Occupational Character Classes (O.C.C.s).
•New equipment for NEMA “Roscoes” and other emergency personnel.
•Notable rescue vehicles, robot drones, and technology.
•Source information and stats for common Golden Age technology (weapons, vehicles, medical tech, etc.).
•Apocalypse Plagues brought from other worlds to Chaos Earth.
•Adventure ideas and more.
•Written by Jason Richards. Additional text by Clements & Siembieda.
•96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 665. Winter release (tentative).
Wolfen Empire
BACK in STOCK: Wolfen Empire™ for Palladium Fantasy
The Wolfen Empire is growing. And that means trouble for humans, Dwarves, and other people as the Wolfen flex their military might and begin to study magic in earnest.
The Wolfen Empire™ sourcebook provides insight and history about the Wolfen, their past, present and goals for the future. The Wolfen are poised to become the next great civilization, but at what cost? Six fleshed out adventures plus a 101 adventure ideas table give players and Game Masters plenty of material for exploring the Great Northern Wilderness and encounters with the Wolfen.
•The 12 Wolfen Tribes, their history and legends.
•The Wolfen Empire, its economy and civilization.
•Wolfen Military, rank, position and plans.
•Geography of the Wolfen Empire.
•13 notable creatures of the North.
•101 Adventures Table and numerous other Random Encounter Tables.
•6 fleshed out adventures across the Great Northern Wilderness.
•A few infamous towns, villains and notable people.
•Cover by Ramon K. Perez. Art by Perez, Johnson, Talbot, Williams and others.
•Written by Erick Wujcik, Kevin Siembieda & Bill Coffin.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 471. Back in stock.
Villains Unlimited
BACK in STOCK: Villains Unlimited™ for the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG series
It’s the reference book that never gets old – 80+ superhuman villains, a secret organization that supplies villains and criminals, another that hunts superhumans, plus rules and tables for creating your own super-organizations, Game Master playing tips, and more.
All of it provides Game Masters with bad guys and ideas for adventure, because each description presents the villain’s origin, motivation and goals. Just drop ‘em into your campaign and watch the super abilities fly. That’s why Villains Unlimited™ has been a fan favorite for years.
•80+ villains completely stated out.
•A few villain teams and organizations and their evil agendas.
•S.C.R.E.T. stands for Superbeing Control Retrieval and Elimination Teams who are part of a multi-national organization to handle the “superhuman problem.” Are they hunting your heroes?
•Fabricators Inc. is an international arms dealer whose exclusive clientele is superhuman bad guys and the criminal underworld.
•Magic Tattoos, weapons, cyborgs, a crazed world conqueror, madmen and adventure ideas galore await.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda and Kevin Long. Art by Kevin Long.
•224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 501. Back in stock.
Century Station
BACK in STOCK: Century Station™
City, Villain & Heroes Sourcebook for Heroes Unlimited™ RPG
Century Station™ is a compelling cityscape described and mapped. It is a great location to base a Heroes Unlimited™ campaign or a place to visit. The 51 superhuman villains, some of whom are members of villain teams, provide instant antagonists that can be dropped into any game at any time. Likewise, the 40 dynamic heroes can be used as NPCs (Non-Player Characters) or as pre-generated player characters, plus there are weapons, equipment and adventure ideas galore. All ready for you to incorporate into your campaign in an instant.
Each villain and hero provides Game Masters with ideas for adventure, because each description presents the villain’s or hero’s origin, motivation and goals. Century Station™ and Villains Unlimited™ are both excellent resources for gadgets, weapons and inspiration for creating your own heroes, villains and conflicts.
•51 villains completely statted out.
•40 heroes and lawmen to use as NPCs or pre-generated player characters.
•The District of Century Station, its history, purpose, problems, and notable locations mapped and described.
•Dozens of gadgets and weapons.
•Endless adventure.
•Cover by John Zeleznik. Interior art by Wilson and others.
•Written by Bill Coffin. Additional text by Siembieda.
•224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 517. Back in stock.
After the Bomb RPG
BACK in STOCK: After the Bomb® RPG
– Stand alone game and suitable for Heroes Unlimited™ RPG
Ever wonder what it would be like to play an intelligent, humanoid eagle? What about a sword wielding turtle or ninja rodent, or heroic wolfman, or a flying pig? In After the Bomb® you can turn a mouse into the size of a gorilla, or keep him small and sneaky, but with special animal powers, psychic abilities and human speech and intelligence. Or create that winged humanoid eagle who preys upon criminals. Or maybe that giant hamster, let alone mutant lion or tiger, is an animalistic brute who hunts other mutants (humans and animals!) and feasts upon them like a monstrous predator. The choices are yours.
After the Bomb® lets you mutate any animal you can think of, into a heroic crime-fighter set in our modern world or a mutant animal survivor of post-apocalyptic Earth — think Planet of the Apes on steroids. An environment where humans struggle to survive in a devastated (nuked?) world, and intelligent mutant animals appear to be the inheritors of the planet. Fun. Wild. Imaginative stories await.
The After the Bomb® RPG and its future world setting is one of the late, great, Erick Wujcik’s most fun and lasting creations. Play it as a stand-alone game or use AtB as a resource to create mutant animals that can be dropped into your Heroes Unlimited™ game, Aliens Unlimited™, Rifts®, Phase World®, Robotech® or just about any game setting. Play them as mutant animals or aliens from another world, heroes or villains, victims and fugitives, but get After the Bomb® because its mutant creations can fit many roles and are a blast to play in any setting.
•100+ intelligent mutant animals already described, statted and ready for you to play.
•Mutant animal creation rules that lets you turn ANY animal into a mutant with human intelligence, a humanoid body (or not), and super animal powers and/or animal psionics.
•Mutant humans who sacrifice their humanity for super abilities.
•The blasted, post-apocalyptic setting and villains.
•Six post-apocalyptic After the Bomb® adventures.
•A complete role-playing game with core rules, skills, weapons and equipment, apocalyptic world setting and playing tips.
•Suitable for use with the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG and other RPG settings.
•Art by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Jim Lawson, Ramon K. Perez, Freddie Williams II, Tyler Walpole and others.
•Cover by Scott Johnson.
•Written by Erick Wujcik.
•224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 503. Back in print.
Heroes Unlimited RPG
Heroes Unlimited™ RPG – Reminder
Want to play superhumans and caped heroes, mutants and aliens, power armor clad champions and super soldiers? The Heroes Unlimited™ RPG lets you create them all and more.
The game is called Heroes Unlimited™ because it enables you to create every type of superhuman and comic book hero you can imagine. Bring your favorite comic book heroes to life or create an entirely hero of you own design. Then weave adventure adventures set in our modern world but one where superhumans, heroes and villains make our world even more exciting and dangerous. If you know and love comic books, you know what happens next.
A complete game, all you need to get started is this 352 page rule book, a few friends, dice and an imagination. With several sourcebooks back in stock, and comic book heroes the rage in film and TV, we thought we would remind people about just how awesome the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG really is. Order yours today.
•101 super abilities. And many have a variety of sub-powers within them, plus bonuses and special combat capabilities.
•100+ magic spells plus enchanted weapons and objects.
•Wizards and those enchanted and empowered by magic.
•72 psychic powers.
•Mutants with super abilities and mutant animals.
•Mega-Heroes and immortals.
•Bionic and power armor creation rules.
•Robots and super-vehicle creation rules.
•Super-Soldiers and martial arts masters.
•Cover by comic book legend, Jim Steranko.
•Art by Ramon K. Perez, Paulo Parente, Mike Gustovich, Kevin Long and others.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda.
•352 pages for a complete RPG – $26.95 retail – Cat. No. 500.
Coalition States Heroes of Humanity
Rifts® World Book 28: Arzno™
Looking for vampire slayers and anti-vampire TW devices? You need to visit Arzno. Arno is a mercenary city built on the edge of the Grand Canyon. It is a force for good, but threatened by the encroaching vampire menace from Mexico who have marked the mercs for destruction. Arzno™ has plenty of fun source material, Techno-Wizard power armor and weapons, a vampire invasion adventure scenario and other adventure ideas. Available from Palladium in book form and as a PDF from DriveThruRPG.com.
•The City and Territory of Arzno™ described and mapped. A good place for adventurers to trade goods and resupply.
•The Arzno Mercenary Corps, notable heroes and people of Arzno.
•36 Techno-Wizard creations including TW weapons, power armor, vehicles and devices, most designed for combating vampires!
•The vampire legions of General Zavier Stuart, and the sinister Blood Cult.
•The ghost-filled forest known as the Waste and some of the monsters found there.
•The Great Trade Road and many other notable locations.
•Looking for adventure? Arzno brings it.
•Cover by John Zeleznik. Art by Walton, Dubish, Breaux and others.
•Written by Jason Richards. Additional text by Kevin Siembieda.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 868. Now available in PDF form as well as the printed book!
DriveThruRPG
Palladium PDF Books – download from DriveThruRPG.com
This is a great resource for getting out of print Palladium titles and other select books. We’ve made hundreds of PDF products available for digital download from DriveThruRPG.com, as well as Fantasy Paper Miniatures, Game Master resources and other good things with more to come. This is a great way to try Palladium products and get access to out of print RPG source material. Some notable titles include:
◾Splicers® RPG ◾Rifts® Chaos Earth® Resurrection, with all other Chaos Earth® titles to be added in the next week or two.
◾Rifts® RPG, First Edition
◾Rifts® Coalition Wars series, the Siege on Tolkeen (all).
◾Rifts® Minion War Crossover series (all to date).
◾Rifts® World Books 1-32 with more coming soon.
◾Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook and other Rifts® titles.
◾Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG and Boxed Nightmares™, 1st Edition rules.
◾Dead Reign® RPG (all titles) – The Zombie Apocalypse.
◾Nightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™
◾The Mechanoids® RPG and The Mechanoid Invasion® RPG Trilogy.
◾Palladium Fantasy RPG® First Edition Rules and select 1st Edition sourcebooks.
◾After the Bomb® RPG and sourcebooks.
◾The Rifter® issues 1-69 with more coming.
◾The Best of The Rifter®
◾Palladium Weapon Book Series
◾Deluxe Revised RECON® RPG and Advanced RECON® Sourcebook.
◾FREE highly-detailed, comprehensive Robotech® RPG Tactics™ assembly instructions for all the Wave One mecha – available now.
◾FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ color guides are available now.
◾FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ paper game pieces, force organization tables, stat cards, rules and special items – and more coming soon!
◾Palladium Fantasy RPG® Paper Miniatures – Volumes #1-6 are available now. More are coming.
◾Game Master kits and other resources.
◾120+ Palladium titles and more, with many more books to come.
◾Go to DriveThruRPG.com to see the full selection. But come back every month to see what new books have been added. We are planning to do a lot.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Powers Unlimited®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars®, Chaos Earth®, Dead Reign®, and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Coalition States, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, Savage Rifts®, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.
Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.
This press release may be reprinted, reposted, linked and shared for the sole purpose of advertising, promotion and sales solicitation.
Conrad Turner wrote: Full Siembieda here for those who are WB'd, spoilered due to health reasons. So much salt is not good for you!
Spoiler:
Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Nov. 10, 2016
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By Kevin Siembieda
Guhhh. A monster head cold hit me yesterday. You know, the kind where you feel like your head is trapped inside a tight box filled with cotton. Can’t breathe, ears itch, nose won’t stop running, slight fever, scratchy throat, and it is difficult trying to concentrate, so I am going to keep this Update short and to the point. Forgive me if there are a few clumsy sentences.
The Rifter® #75 is a great issue waiting for your orders. Wayne has been working on several things, including The Rifter® #76. He’s recovering from a nasty cold of his own, probably where I got it from.
Palladium’s famous Christmas Surprise Packages are truly awesome gifts for your gaming friends or for yourself. I’ve been packing most of them with $92-$100 worth of gaming fun – sometimes more – and we sign them all if you want signatures. Do not miss out!
The Hell Followed™ sourcebook for Dead Reign® is, a) fabulous, and b) in the layout stage. I’ve been approving artwork for the Rifts® boardgame coming from Rogue Heroes LLC and I am about to dive into Rifts® CS Arsenal™. And I just corrected seven typos trying to write these first few paragraphs. Whaahhh. I guess my fingers are not working very well today either. It has been suggested I go home, but we have books to finish. Besides, it’s just a cold, right?
Christmas Grab Bags
UPDATE: Christmas Surprise Packages
I have been loading up most Surprise Packages in the $94-$100 dollar range and loving it. We are happy to make the holidays more fun for our supportive fans and give you a tremendous deal and signed books while we are at it. You keep ordering, we’ll keep shipping.
What is a Palladium Christmas Surprise Package?
A bargain and fun for you, and our way of saying thank you to our loyal fans. We love delivering a little Christmas cheer and putting smiles on the faces of some big kids around the world. For you, it is a great way to get presents for your gaming pals, fill holes in your collection, or try new games and settings. For us it’s being Santa Claus to the greatest fans on the planet.
$90-$100 (or more!) worth of Palladium Books products for only $45 plus shipping and handling. You are guaranteed to get an absolute minimum of ninety dollars ($90) retail value in your Surprise Package. Most of the time you get $92-$96, often more! Santa Kevin likes to make gamers squeal with delight and often packs $96-$105 worth of goodies into many Surprise Packages.
It’s a surprise package because you never know exactly what you’re going to get or who will sign your books. We try to include many of the items on your “wish list,” but we will surprise you with stuff you are not expecting. Things like a special print(s), or issues of The Rifter®, or a Palladium RPG or sourcebook(s), special edition comic book, or other items that we think you might enjoy. Plus you can ask for unusual items, or special gold editions, art prints, and maybe even some original art. All items are “hand-picked” by Kevin Siembieda from YOUR “wish list.” ALL with autographs IF you request them. For many of you, this is the only way to get autographs from Palladium’s staff, artists and writers! And you can order right now!
Your “Wish List” – The Palladium Surprise Packages are designed to simulate the fun, joy and surprise of the Christmas Season of Giving. To do this, you submit a list of 10-15 Palladium products (or more) FOR EACH Surprise Package you order. This list of 10-15 items for EACH Grab Bag is critical, because you will not know which items you’ll be getting. That makes it just like a Christmas gift because it’s a surprise! Plus, Santa Kevin, who personally hand-picks every item for every Grab Bag, may toss in something extra like a limited edition print or T-shirt, or issue of The Rifter®, or something else he thinks you’ll enjoy.
Available now! You can order right now thru December 24, 2016. And Christmas Surprise Packages are not just for Christmas. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice, or you’re looking for a gift for a birthday, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or any special occasion that falls between now and February, a Surprise Package may be the ideal way to go. You get a ton of stuff on the cheap, you can get a bunch of autographs, and you look like you spent a fortune.
Click here for more details and to place your order.
Please spread the word to gamers everywhere. A great way to introduce Palladium’s settings to new gamers is with a Christmas Surprise Package. I mean, for the price of what most core rule books cost, you can get one Surprise Package ($45 plus shipping) with 3-5 different titles (depending on the value of each book). It’s hard to beat that kind of deal. The Christmas Surprise Package is only publicized by word of mouth, to readers of The Rifter® and on Palladium's website – www.palladiumbooks.com – so please tell everyone you know, post a link on your Facebook page, twitter and... well, everywhere. And pick one up one for every gamer you know and have a joyful holiday season.
Surprise Package mitigates overseas shipping costs – take advantage of this while you can
The low cost of the Surprise Package mitigates the cost of shipping. It is, in effect, the equivalent of getting the books you want at retail, plus autographs, and paying the equivalent of only $5-$20 for overseas shipping!
How can that be? Well, if you factor in that you are getting say, $100 in product, but only paying $45 for them, and shipping is, say $60 or $70, that’s $105 or $115 total – which is like $5-$15 in shipping for $100+ worth of product. And I always load up foreign Surprise Packages, so make sure you send a long Wish List! Of course, the purchaser is responsible for any Customs fees, taxes and other fees, but since we are selling you a $45 Surprise Package (not $100+ in books) you should only pay on a $45 purchase.
MANY overseas customers take advantage of the Surprise Packages for this reason! And it is likely the ONLY way for you to get autographs. Give it a try, we don’t think you will be disappointed. This is the time for our friends and fans overseas to load up on the Palladium products they have been wanting! Enjoy.
Please note that Palladium Books has NO control over the cost of shipping/postage, nor the brokerage fees, Customs charges or any other related fees charged by other countries. Within the USA, Media Mail is the least expensive method of shipping, but also the least reliable and slowest. To our Canadian customers, we have no idea why it costs so much to mail books and product to you. So much for NAFTA making things easier. Game on.
UPDATE: Hell Followed™ – 160 page sourcebook for Dead Reign® – going to press anytime now
Wayne is probably typesetting and laying out Hell Followed even as you read this. Will go to the printer next Monday or Tuesday. We’ll give an exact ship date as soon as we have one from the printer. Order yours now. Or give Dead Reign® a try by asking for the RPG and some sourcebooks in a Christmas Surprise Package!
Hell Followed™ is a fun and impressive sourcebook for the Dead Reign® setting. It offers a slew of adventure ideas and story arcs, new NPC villains, new NPC heroes, new zombies, new O.C.C.s, disasters to complicate survival, masked lunatics, and expanding adventure and gaming options for the Zombie Apocalypse that you have not seen in movies and television.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #75 – Available now
The Rifter® #75 is available now. It is almost entirely “official” source material and jam-packed with adventures, gaming and G.M. advice, and rules clarifications by Carl Gleba and me, Kevin Siembieda, about creating adventures, running Rifts® and the joy of role-playing games. Plus the next chapter in the sweeping Splicers® adventure and source material by Charles Walton II and company, a Rifts® setting in Canada, a preview of Rifts® for Savage Worlds, news, and coming attractions. If you don’t subscribe to The Rifter®, I recommend getting this issue. Hey, ask for one in the Surprise Package.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #76 – November release
Working on The Rifter® #76 now. It contains Primordians™ by Greg Diaczyk, official source material for use with Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts®, Phase World® and the Three Galaxies™, as well as other settings, along with Brett Caron’s Rifts® Pecos Empire™ adventure setting, the next chapter in the epic Splicers®: I am Legion™ mega-adventure, some Heroes Unlimited™ material and other good stuff. At least half of this issue is “official” source material. A nice suspense- and monster-filled issue. Cover by Nicholas Bradshaw.
UPDATE: Rifts® CS Arsenal™
As soon as my head clears I am finishing the writing for Rifts® CS Arsenal™ and The Disavowed™.
UPDATE: Rifts® The Disavowed™
Rifts® The Disavowed™ and Rifts® CS Arsenal™ set the stage for big things coming in 2017.
UPDATE: Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™
More artwork is being assigned and editing being completed. Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ presents background on the Atlantean tribes and the addition of Crystal Magic and Shadow Magic.
UPDATE: Rifts® World Book: The Sovietski™
The art is being worked on, but I need to assign more. You can see the complete, submitted manuscript in Rifts® World Book: The Sovietski™ Raw Preview Edition, available now on a first-come, first-served basis. Only 150 copies were printed as a limited edition advance preview of the complete, submitted manuscript for this book. The Sovietski™ Raw Preview is a hefty, 160 pages of source material, cyborgs, gear and combat vehicles. Be the first to know what’s coming in Rifts® Sovietski™, planned for release early next year. Sold on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. Get yours before it is gone.
UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
I wish I had something new to report, but nothing at the moment. Soon, we hope. Wave Two a 2017 release.
NEW on DriveThruRPG.com – Rifts® Mercenary Adventures™ and ALL Robotech® RPG Tactics™ cards available now
Rifts® Mercenary Adventures™ completes the Rifts® Mercenaries, MercTown™, and Merc Ops™ series, all available now, as well as ALL Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game cards, Robotech® and Rifts® Paper Miniatures along with Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Triax Two, The Rifter® #1-69, Rifts® World Books 1-30 and many other Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy®, Nightbane® and other game line titles. New Robotech® RPG Tactics™ material will be made available in the weeks ahead. All of it adds to the growing list of Rifts®, Robotech® and other Palladium RPG game titles available as PDF books, cards and support. A new title should be getting added every week or two through the end of the year, so watch for them.
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave 2 Paper Game Pieces, and all RRT game cards, join Rifts® Ultimate Edition and 160+ other PDF Palladium titles, RRT stuff, G.M. helper kits and free material on DriveThruRPG.com right now! More Rifts®, Robotech® and other Palladium game titles, paper miniatures and fun are coming to PDF in the weeks and months ahead. Watch for them.
Recent PDF titles include Rifts® Ultimate Edition, Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Triax 2, Rifts® Mercenaries, MercTown™ and Merc Ops™, Rifts® World Book 30: D-Bees of North America™, Rifts® World Book 29: Madhaven™, Rifts® World Book 28: Arzno™, Rifts® World Book 27: Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp, Rifts® World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp, World Book 25: Rifts® China Two, and World Book 24: Rifts® China One, among many, many others. There are also previews of Rifts® CS Heroes of Humanity™, The Rifter® #73, Northern Gun 1 & 2, Lemuria, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms, Bizantium and many other Palladium titles. Check back every week to see which new PDFs of Rifts® World Books and other titles have been added!
In addition to the titles listed above, The Minion War™ series of books, the Rifts® Coalition Wars®/Tolkeen series, Chaos Earth® Resurrection, all of the Dead Reign® (Zombie Apocalypse) titles, Splicers® RPG and most issues of The Rifter® are available NOW! So are first edition rules of the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG and sourcebooks, Palladium Fantasy RPG® and sourcebooks, The Mechanoids®, and much more, available on DriveThruRPG.com.
Available right now:
•Rifts® Ultimate Edition, Rifts® Mercenaries, MercTown™, Merc Ops™ and Rifts® Mercenary Adventures™, Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Triax 2, Rifts® World Book 30: D-Bees of North America™, Rifts® World Book 29: Madhaven™, Rifts® World Book 28: Arzno™, Rifts® World Book 27: Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp™, Rifts® World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp, Rifts® World Book 25: China Two, Rifts® World Book 24: China One, Rifts® World Book 23: Xiticix Invasion, Rifts® World Book 22: Free Quebec, Rifts® World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market, Rifts® World Book 20: Canada, Rifts® World Book 19: Australia, Rifts® World Book 18: Mystic Russia, Rifts® World Book 17: Warlords of Russia, Rifts® World Book 16: Federation of Magic, Rifts® World Book 15: Spirit West, Rifts® World Book 14: New West™, Rifts® World Book 13: Lone Star™, Rifts® World Book 12: Psyscape™, Rifts® World Book 11: Coalition War Campaign™, Rifts® World Book 10: Juicer Uprising™, and Rifts® World Book 9: South America 2 along with World Books #1-8 and various other Rifts® titles.
•Rifts® Chaos Earth® RPG, Chaos Earth®: Rise of Magic™, Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ and Creatures of Chaos™ are all available now.
•Two free Chaos Earth® Resurrection previews and many other previews.
•Rifts® Coalition Wars®: Siege on Tolkeen series – all six titles.
•Rifts® The Minion War™ series – six current books – consisting of Dimension Book 10: Hades, Dimension Book 11: Dyval, Dimension Book 12: Dimensional Outbreak, HU2 adventure sourcebook: Armageddon Unlimited™, Heroes of the Megaverse®, and Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames available now! Suitable for ALL settings, including Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™ and The Palladium Fantasy RPG®.
•Dead Reign® RPG titles. The Zombie Apocalypse is yours to role-play with the Dead Reign® RPG. The core rule book and all sourcebooks are available now.
•The Rifter® issues #1-69.
•FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ paper game pieces, force organization tables, stat cards, rules and special items – with more coming soon!
•FREE 12 highly-detailed, comprehensive Robotech® RPG Tactics™ assembly instructions for all the Wave One mecha – available now.
•FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ color guides are available now.
•Palladium Fantasy RPG® Paper Miniatures – Volumes #1-6 are available now. More are coming in the weeks ahead.
•160+ Palladium titles, plus G.M. kits, and more.
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Men at Arms – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Coalition Dead Boys – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Adventurers – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Practitioners of Magic (new) – $2.99
•Rifts® Paper Miniatures: Extras (new) – $2.99
•And more to come in the weeks ahead.
Palladium Collectibles Available in Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles Store
I am selling my entire, personal Star Wars collection, including vintage Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi vehicles and action figures, and more recent Star Wars items too. Most are still in their original packaging. The store also offers more original Palladium Books artwork, out of print books, proofreader copies and other toys. Keep checking as we are adding new items every week, sometimes a few times a week. I have several new, iconic Kevin Long Rifts® illustrations to be offered. I just need to find the time to write the descriptions.
All sorts of Palladium collectibles, hardcovers (BTS, Lemuria, Rifts® Silver, RUE Gold, etc.), out-of-print titles, original artwork, and toys and items from my personal collection are on my ebay store. We add items on a regular basis and offer sales, so check it out from time to time. Includes one-of-a-kind original artwork, prints, Rifts® and Robotech® artwork by Kevin Long, me and others. There is also a range of limited editions, rare book titles and limited edition hardcovers, toys and more available with frequent new items added. Items include original art, out-of-print titles, redlined proofreader photocopies signed by me and the staff, signed manuscripts with editors’ corrections, some original art, hardcover books (including Rifts® Lemuria, Northern Gun™ One, Northern Gun™ Two, Megaverse® in Flames™, Beyond the Supernatural™ Gold, Rifts® Machinations of Doom™ Gold and Rifts® Ultimate Gold), hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal archives and collection. Take a look every weekend or two for new items added.
I will continue to pull things out of my personal collection and Palladium archives and make them available. A bunch of toys have already been added to my online store with more to come.
Our love and prayers go out to the family of our friends Carmen, Christina and Robyn Bellaire. The family is going through a very rough time. They are dealing with the hard decision of removing their beloved mother-in-law/mother/grandmother from life support. The poor woman took an unexpected turn for the worse after a fall several weeks ago. Very sad and unexpected. It is always terrible to deal with the loss of a parent. And when that loss is sudden and unexpected, it is all the worse. Be strong and know you have us all in your corner.
A nice time with a visitor
I forgot to mention in the last Weekly Update that we had a surprise visit from a gentleman from Italy. He spoke English wonderfully and was a very nice guy and fun to talk with. We chatted for awhile, gave him a tour of the Palladium office and warehouse, and signed some books for him. It was a very pleasant reminder of the kindness and generosity of Palladium fans worldwide.
I also want to give a shout out to Sean Parker. Enjoy the package and stay strong. You are one of the good guys and we appreciate you.
That’s it for now. Get the holiday spirit burning, order your Christmas Surprise Package now before the holiday rush, and game on!
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer, Game Designer
The Rifter #75
NEW! The Rifter® #75 – Available now!
The Rifter® #75 is shipping now!
Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters alike – but his issue is especially packed with material for building and running adventures, and discovering – or rediscovering – the joy of role-playing games. Everyone should get this issue.
Rifter® #75 Highlights:
•Rifts® Primer – G.M. and Player Tips, and a Rifts® Adventure, by Carl Gleba and Kevin Siembieda – “official” source material. The Rifts® Primer is jam-packed with G.M. advice, player tips, personal experiences, and examples of game play, explanation of rules, a step by step outline for creating your own adventures, and two adventures to get you started. The sample adventure is written in such a way that new players who have never played Rifts®, or are completely unfamiliar with the Palladium game system, can run it with just the information presented in this article! New Game Masters and experienced G.M.s alike will enjoy the discussion about the art of role-playing and being a Game Master.
•Splicers® – I am Legion, Part Four, by Charles Walton II, Chris Kluge and Lance Colley – “official” source material. The adventure continues as Legion reveals part of her sinister plans to your heroes which brings this adventure to a fever pitch. Your heroes must make difficult decisions and must find a way to stop her and her array of deadly machines. Plenty of psychological and horrific terrors to face. Includes a horrifying new machine and more. Do not miss this new chapter as heroes fight against Legion and her army of deadly machines.
•Rifts® for Savage Worlds® Preview®. Get a look at the cool Rifts® RPG that uses Savage Worlds® rules. The game was a smash Kickstarter hit, and will be arriving on store shelves in the beginning of 2017.
•News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more.
•Rifts® cover by Garrie Gastonny and Chris Bivins (Rifts® Savage Worlds).
•96 pages – $13.95 retail – Cat. No. 175. Now available!
Hell Followed
NEW! Hell Followed™ – Ships in November
A Dead Reign® Zombie Apocalypse Sourcebook
At 160 pages, Hell Followed™ is the largest Dead Reign® sourcebook yet. Artist Nick Bradshaw is already fast at work on the art. Cover by E.M. Gist is finished.
Can you survive the Zombie Apocalypse? Find out by playing the Dead Reign® RPG series. This post-apocalypse setting is only picking up steam and is about much more than just killing the walking dead. And future sourcebooks are about to get scarier as they delve deeper into the survivor camps, Death Cults, the new world order, and human heroes and villains.
•10 new types of zombies.
•New O.C.C.s and skills.
•Running zombie horde battles.
•Disasters and other dangers.
•US government’s response to the Zombie Apocalypse.
•Government enclaves and survivor camps.
•More world information, new dangers and new adventures.
•Cover by E.M. Gist.
•Interior art Nick Bradshaw.
•Written by Taylor White. The biggest Dead Reign® sourcebook yet.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 236. In final production.
Surprise Package comments from fans like you
Every year there is a section where the customer can offer comments and suggestions with his or her Surprise Package order. Every year, in acknowledgment of our fans, and because they are fun to read, we offer a sampling in the Weekly Updates. Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who have stuck with Palladium through thick and thin. Keep those imaginations burning bright, have a joyous holiday season and game on.
You have no idea how much your comments and support mean to all of us. Everyone at Palladium enjoys reading your brief comments. They always brighten our day. Thank you. I have tried to write a short response [in brackets] when applicable.
A.H. in San Rafael, California, writes: I always look forward to the X-Mas Grab Bag! It is always a special treat to see what items I can pick up that I have been lacking and/or falling behind.
[I think you’ll enjoy this Surprise Package as much as usual, A.H. Thank you for the years of support. – KS]
J.H. in Old Monroes, Missouri, writes (in part): I am ordering 7 Surprise Packages for the people in my [gaming] group ... As you can tell from the list, we play just about everything except Dead Reign®. Each of us with our own favorites.
[Wow, J.H., it is nice to see someone else with such a generous Christmas spirit. I think everyone will enjoy their Christmas Surprise Package. Looking back at this order, I wonder if I should have slipped in a copy of Dead Reign® for you guys to try, but I wanted to send items I knew they wanted. Enjoy. Ho, ho, ho. – KS]
A.Z. in Phoenix, Arizona, writes (in part): ... I came across Rifts® books. We used to play when I was younger and brought back some good memories. Thank you for bringing Rifts® to the world. My brother was a fan of the Glitter Boy, where I liked all the dragons and Atlantis Rune Weapons.
[Hi A.Z., I hope you don’t mind me using your comment here. I wanted to thank you, publicly, as well as privately, for sharing your thoughts with me. It served to remind me how special role-playing games are, and the joy and camaraderie they bring to so many around the world. I am humbled to be a contributor to that joy and delighted that your coming across some Rifts® books brought you happy memories during your time of loss. Take care and keep that imagination burning bright. – KS]
B.C. in Walland, Tennessee, writes: Thank you for all of the wonderful creativity your games have helped to create. I have been an avid player of Rifts® for about 23 years now and love every minute, twist and turn that “we” present to our players. It makes for a game that breathes and lives on its own merits.
[You are very welcome, B.C. I am thrilled you have been enjoying Rifts® for decades! Yeah, I love the stories, twists, turns and excitement of the games I run and the multitude of others that we inspire. Awesome. Game on and happy holidays! – KS]
W.A.M. in Centreville, Virginia, writes (in part): Long time PB fan, first time Surprise Package guy, here. I really can’t get enough of the awesome mecha art in Rifts® and Robotech®. The incredibly detailed sci-fi/fantasy settings and the in-depth character creation process... P.S.: I saw the Rifts® miniature game in a Weekly Update a while back. The first render looked amazing and I’ll be ready to take out a second mortgage when the game is released.
[Hi W.A.M., thanks for the high praise. You haven’t seen anything yet. The Rifts® boardgame and miniatures being developed under license by Carmen Bellaire and his Rogue Heroes company, are nothing short of spectacular. I think something like half of them are already sculpted and look incredible. Carmen is an uber-fan, so he is making the game he would love to see as a fan, himself. We have been nothing but wowed by everything we have seen. Watch for his Kickstarter, probably in March, 2017. – KS]
S.K. in Comox, British Columbia, Canada, writes: I have been with you since I picked up the Robotech main book with my paper route money in 1986. I’m now 41 and still going strong!
[Awesome, S.K. Glad you have stuck with us all these years and still enjoy our games. We have some huge things coming in 2017, so keep your eyes peeled. Things that are going to blow your mind and keep you buying Palladium for another 30 years. Oh yeah. – KS]
A Note to Everyone Ordering: UPS Ground arrives to most locations in the USA in 2-3 days, or 4-5 days to the Southwest and West Coast, plus a day or two for us to process the order. Priority Mail is 3-7 days to most locations. Media Mail is by far the least expensive method of shipping and, this time of year, fairly safe to use, but takes 4-7 days for delivery, is the least reliable shipping method and is difficult to track and trace. That is why Palladium does not replace any lost packages sent via Media Mail. We do NOT recommend Media Mail after Thanksgiving – if you want guaranteed delivery before Christmas – when it can take 7-21 days, sometimes longer, to reach you. We cannot guarantee a delivery time for packages shipped via military post to an APO. Ordering your Christmas Surprise Package in November means you avoid the Christmas rush and its increased chance of the package getting lost or delayed. Happy Holidays. – KS
Christmas Grab Bags
The 2016 Palladium Christmas Surprise Package Offer begins now!
Every holiday season, starting in October, for the last 18 or 19 years now, Palladium has been offering the Christmas Surprise Package. Our humble efforts to show our appreciation of you and help make your Christmas filled with a little more fun and games.
What is a Palladium Christmas Surprise Package?
It is our way of saying thank you to our loyal fans, deliver a little Christmas cheer, and put smiles on the faces of some big kids around the world. For you, it is a bargain, a great way to get presents for yourself and your gaming pals, fill holes in your collection, try new games and world settings, and to get autographs from Kevin Siembieda and available Palladium staff and freelancers.
$89-$95+ worth of Palladium Books products for only $45 plus shipping and handling. You are guaranteed to get an absolute minimum of eighty-nine dollars ($89) retail value in your Surprise Package. Often you get $89-$95. Sometimes more! Santa Kevin likes to make gamers squeal with delight and often packs in $95-$100 worth of goodies into many Surprise Packages.
It’s a surprise package because you never know exactly what you are going to get or exactly who will sign your books. We try to include many of the items on your “wish list,” but we will surprise you with stuff you are not expecting. Things like a special print(s), or issues of The Rifter®, or a Palladium RPG or sourcebook(s), a special edition publication, or other items that we think you might enjoy. Plus you can ask for unusual items, or special gold editions, art prints, miniatures and maybe even some original art. All items are “hand-picked” by Kevin Siembieda from YOUR “wish list.” ALL with autographs IF you request them. For many of you, this is the only way to get autographs from Palladium’s staff, artists and writers!
The best deal in gaming. For the price of what you would pay for ONE core rule book, you can get an X-Mas Surprise Package with 3-5 different titles (depending on the value of each book) worth $89-$95, maybe more! And if you want them signed, Kevin and the available staff and freelancers will sign each one. It is impossible to beat that kind of deal. Please spread the word because Palladium’s Christmas Surprise Package is only publicized by word of mouth, to readers of The Rifter® and on Palladium's website – www.palladiumbooks.com – so please tell everyone you know. Buy one for every gamer you know and have a joyful holiday season.
Your “Wish List” – The Palladium Surprise Packages are designed to simulate the fun, joy and surprise of the Christmas Season of Giving. To do this, you submit a list of 10-15 Palladium products (or more) FOR EACH Surprise Package you order. This list of 10-15 items for EACH Grab Bag is critical, because you will not know which items you’ll be getting. That makes it just like a Christmas gift because it’s a surprise! Plus, Santa Kevin, who personally hand-picks every item for every Grab Bag, may toss in something extra like a limited edition print or T-shirt, or issue of The Rifter®, or something else he thinks you’ll enjoy.
You can order right now. Ordering now gives you ample time to try out a Surprise Package if you are new to them, and you avoid the holiday rush. We always try to make each one truly special, as the thousands of you who have ordered in the past know well. If you have never ordered a Surprise Package before, give it a try early, because you’ll be blown away and probably want to order a few more!
Christmas Surprise Packages are not just for Christmas. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice, or you’re looking for a gift for a birthday, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, or any special occasion that falls between now and February, a Surprise Package may be the ideal way to go. You get a ton of stuff on the cheap, you can get a bunch of autographs, and you look like you spent a fortune.
This is also a great way to try that game setting you’ve wondered about (Robotech® RPG Tactics™ core box set, Robotech® RPG, Rifts®, Splicers®, Dead Reign®, Chaos Earth®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, etc.), or to get something for your favorite Game Master, or perhaps to get your player group to consider a new game or setting.
Click here to see the entire Surprise Package description and to place your order!
Back in stock for the Holidays
•Rifts® World Book One: Vampire Kingdoms™ – 224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 802-E – Updated descriptions on the Vampire Kingdoms and the vampires, 40+ vampire abilities, vampire combat, Hero Vampires, Deluded Vampires, vampire-slaying weapons, Vampire Hunter O.C.C., Reid’s Rangers (famed vampire hunters), the cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, town creation rules, monsters, dinosaurs and many adventure ideas. Also see the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, with even more stuff about vampires, werebeasts, and the Soul Forge!
•Rifts® Shemarrian Nation sourcebook – 96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 878 – 7 Shemarrian warriors, Shemarrian society and secrets, new Archie Three androids and robots, more about Archie Three, his secret war against the Minions of Splugorth in North America, adventure ideas and more.
•Monsters & Animals™, a Palladium Fantasy® sourcebook – 240 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 454 – 120+ monsters, 200+ animals, all described, statted and accompanied by maps showing exactly where they can be found in the world. Plus Game Master tips and conversion notes for Mega-Damage settings. Suitable for Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts® and Phase World® (as alien creatures), Heroes Unlimited™ and other settings.
•Rifts® Dimension Book 6: Three Galaxies™ – 160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 851 – 16 alien O.C.C.s and R.C.C.s, dozens of solar systems and adventure hooks, notable worlds, people and monsters, the Necrol and Demon Magic, spaceships and more.
•Rifts® World Book 29: Rifts® Madhaven™ – 128 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 869 – There may be no place in North America more dangerous than the haunted ruins of New York City. The ruins of Manhattan, ghosts and monsters, mutants and other dangers, the Knights of the White Rose and the incredible healing power of the mystical White Rose found only in Madhaven. Plus Techno-Wizard devices, weapons and adventure hooks.
•Rifts® Black Market™ sourcebook – 192 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 886 – Notable Black Market factions, 10 Black Market O.C.C.s and their special abilities, 29 weapons, plus vehicles, power armor, TW weapons, robots, Traveling Show creation tables, and more, including the TW Ironmage Glitter Boy! An awesome resource for players and G.M.s alike.
The Rifter #76
NEW! The Rifter® #76 – Ships November, 2016
The Rifter® #76 is already in production. Articles are being selected, artwork is being assigned and editing begun.
Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and find new avenues of adventure. It provides useful, ready to go source material you can just drop into your ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. And the many new characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, villains, monsters, adventures and ideas for one setting can be easily adapted to any Palladium setting. Every issue has material for Rifts® and usually 2-3 other Palladium game lines. And don’t forget, most source material and adventures can be adapted to ANY of Palladium’s RPG settings.
Rifter® #76 Highlights:
•Rifts® for Savage Worlds® Preview®. Get another look at what’s coming this winter.
•Rifts® Pecos Badlands Town – by Brett Caron. Thinking about doing some adventuring in the Rifts American Southwest? Mosey on over to Gohjjunk.
•Rifts®, Three Galaxies and Palladium Fantasy RPG® – Primordians, by Greg Diaczyk with additional text and ideas by Kevin Siembieda – “official” source material. New type of Elemental beings that can be used as player characters or NPCs. These strange beings are believed to be some kind of human-Elemental hybrid. They possess curious minds and seem to be exploring the Megaverse® for reasons unknown. Are they emissaries of Greater Elementals or Elemental Intelligences, or something else completely? Do they come in peace, or are they a new potential menace? Get your first glimpse of them in The Rifter® #76. Plus there are some new alien beasts used by Promordians.
•Splicers® – I am Legion, Part Five, by Charles Walton II, Chris Kluge and Lance Colley – “official” source material. The adventure continues and more secrets and dangers are revealed.
•Heroes Unlimited™ source material.
•Source material for other RPG settings.
•News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more.
•Rifts® cover by Nicholas Bradshaw.
•96 pages – $13.95 retail – Cat. No. 176. In production. Ships around November 21, 2016.
Rifts Poker Deck 1
NEW! Rifts® Poker Deck One (Color) – available now
For the first time ever, Rifts® is captured in a deck of playing cards. Each card a powerful image. Perfect for playing cards, collecting, gifts and use as an Action Deck for Pinnacle’s Rifts® Savage Worlds game line.
Gen Con gamers went wild over the two Rifts® Poker Decks and you will too. Both contain iconic Rifts® artwork and characters, and look gorgeous. The color and design of both poker decks makes the artwork pop and a joy to use. Available now.
•Premium card stock.
•Standard US Poker size deck of playing cards.
•Rifts® specific symbols for each suit.
•52 full color playing cards, plus 2 Jokers.
•Diamonds are magic. Clubs are D-Bees. Hearts are heroes. Spades are the Coalition States.
•Each card is a unique, color image. Artists include John Zeleznik, Scott Johnson, Kevin Long, David Dorman, Charles Walton II, Mark Evans, and others.
•The back of the cards is the artwork from the cover of Rifts® Ultimate Edition depicting a Ley Line Walker with an Alien Intelligence emerging from the Rift opening behind him, energy swirling. Art by Scott Johnson.
•Customized, full color, Rifts® tuck box.
•$11.99 retail – Cat. No. 2575 – available now.
Rifts Poker Deck 2
New! Rifts® Poker Deck Two (black & white illustrations) – available now
52 iconic images and characters by your favorite artists. This second deck of playing cards captures Rifts® in a different light. Each card features a different iconic, black and white illustration set in a color border of rippling magic energy from the Rifts. Illustrations are by a wide range of fan favorite artists. A fun and attractive item for playing cards, collecting, and other uses.
•Premium card stock.
•Standard US Poker size deck of playing cards.
•Rifts® specific symbols for each suit.
•Color border and suits.
•52 playing cards featuring iconic illustrations, plus 2 Jokers.
•Diamonds are monsters. Clubs are heroes. Hearts are robots and power armor. Spades are the Coalition Army.
•Each card has a unique illustration of a famous Rifts® hero, monster, mech or agent of the Coalition. Artists include Kevin Long, Ramon K. Perez, Freddie Williams II, Michael Wilson, Jeffery Russell, Apollo Okamura, and others.
•Customized, full color, Rifts® tuck box.
•The back of the cards is the artwork from the cover of Rifts® Psyscape™ depicting a beautiful female psychic warrior, triumphant over a robotic enemy. Art by John Zeleznik.
•$11.99 retail – Cat. No. 2576 – available now.
Rifts Sovietski Raw Preview
New! Rifts® Sovietski™ – Raw Preview Limited Edition – available now
The Raw Preview Edition of Rifts® Sovietski™ is an advance copy of the unedited, unillustrated, final working manuscript for this exciting new sourcebook. You get to see the unfinished book months before the final title is released. A rare look at the raw manuscript before publication. Limited to a total of 150 copies.
Contains background information on the fledgling Sovietski and notable cities and people, bunker creation tables, Deadzone Tables, Spetznaz Special Forces, the Soviet Army and its weapons, cyborgs, new bionics, 21 new combat vehicles, Russian D-Bees and more. Note: The finished Rifts® Sovietski™ is anticipated to ship by the end of this year. However, with all the art that is needed, it might slip into an early 2017 release. But you can start playing right now with this special edition!
•Limited collector’s edition – only 150 total copies made – half of those already sold!
•Sold on a first come, first served basis, while supplies last.
•A rare glimpse at the virgin manuscript and a work in progress.
•By Brandon Aten and Matthew Orr.
•$24.99 – Cat. No. 891-RAW – available now, while supplies last. Do not miss out.
Robotech RPG Tactics
Robotech® RPG Tactics™
Robotech® is getting hotter and hotter. It is the Number One Anime on Crackle, the Robotech® movie from Sony Pictures sounds like it is going to be become a reality, more Robotech® licensed products are appearing, and Palladium is gearing up toward the release of Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two and more Robotech® products. Ah, but the core game and expansion packs to get you started are available right now.
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is a fast-paced, tabletop combat game that captures the action and adventure of the Robotech® anime. Two or more players can engage in small squad skirmishes or scale up to massive battles. Relive the clashes of the First Robotech War, engage in stand-alone tactical games, or use the dynamic game pieces to enhance your Robotech® RPG experience. Or simply collect your favorite mecha from an expanding range of top-notch game pieces. Get yours now.
•Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Core Box Set (Main Game) – 34 detailed game pieces – 53 game cards, 24 custom battle dice, decal sheets, rule book and more – $99.95 – Cat. No. 55100 – Available now.
•UEDF Valkyrie Wing (6 game pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55201 – Available now.
•UEDF Tomahawk/Defender Destroids (4 game pieces) – $32.95 – Cat. No. 55202 – Available now.
•UEDF Spartan/Phalanx Destroids (4 game pieces) – $32.95 retail – Cat. No. 55203 – Available now.
•Zentraedi Regult Battlepods (4 game pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55401 – Available now.
•Zentraedi Artillery Battlepods (6 game pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55402 – Available now.
•Zentraedi Glaug Command (3 pieces) – $36.95 retail – Cat. No. 55403 – Available now.
Robotech The Masters Saga Sourcebook
Robotech®: The Masters Saga™ Sourcebook – New, large format 8½ x 11 sourcebook – Now available!
Robotech®: The Masters Saga™ Sourcebook has been enlarged to the standard 8½ x 11 inch format and 160 pages. Artwork was given the deluxe treatment – large, clear, and detailed to go along with the wealth of information about the Second Robotech War, the Army of the Southern Cross, its combat forces, mecha, weapons, and vehicles. The same comprehensive treatment was given to the invading Robotech Masters.
Forget the corny drama, the emphasis of this sourcebook is on the Second Robotech War and the equipment on both sides. Making the Masters Saga a big mecha and equipment book that you will want in your collection. Did you know the Army of the Southern Cross used power armor and Battloids in addition to their famous mecha? You’ll find out all about it in this comprehensive 160 page sourcebook. Much of it described and statted out in an “official” capacity for the very first time in this sourcebook. Note: Only the size, size of artwork and layout has changed. The text and data are the same as the manga-sized edition, apart from eratta and minor additions.
•40+ weapons; pistols, rifles, grenade launchers.
•15 O.C.C.s and MOS skill packages for the 8 main branches of the ASC and the 7 Special Forces Divisions operating under the Tactical Corps.
•14 ASC vehicles of the Army of the Southern Cross (ASC).
•ASC Tactical battle shields, jet packs and other gear.
•ASC Veritech Mecha including the Ajax, Logan, Spartas Hover Tank, Myrmidon Light Hover Tank.
•6 ASC power armor suits.
•4 ASC Battloids.
•The Golem Autonomous Patrol Robot.
•The Robotech Masters and their legions.
•6 different Bioroids, as well as the Bioroid Terminator, the Bioroid Invid Fighter, hover sled & more.
•Tirolians, spacecraft and other gear and info.
•Cover by Apollo Okamura. Interior art by the Mannings and others.
•Written by Jason Marker.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 552. Available now.
The Rifter #74
NEW! The Rifter® #74 – Now available!
Rifts®, Splicers® and more awaits you in The Rifter® #74. And some material is official.
Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and find new avenues of adventure. It provides useful, ready-to-go source material you can just drop into your ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. And the many new characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, villains, monsters, adventures and ideas for one setting can be easily adapted to any Palladium setting. Every issue has material for Rifts® and at least 2-3 other Palladium game lines. And don’t forget, most of the material can be easily adapted for use in ANY Palladium game setting.
Rifter® #74 Highlights:
•Rifts® – The Town of Moorcroft™, by Julius Rosenstein – “official” source material. The Town of Moorcroft is not on most maps for a reason: most people don’t even know it exists, or that it rests on a Hidden Rift. Read about the town’s unique history, its Nexus Born, and key places and people. Makes a great location for player groups to rest, trade goods and find adventure.
•Splicers® – I am Legion, Part Three, by Charles Walton II, Chris Kluge and Lance Colley – adventure plus “official” source material. The adventure continues as your heroes must deal with the new Machine personality known as Legion. In this adventure, the player group discovers a secret weapon facility of the Resistence. They will be introduced to a wide array of new Bio-Tech Weapons and Enhancements to prepare them for the ultimate showdown with Legion!
•Rifts® – A Town in the Pecos Empire™, by Brett Caron.
•Heroes Unlimited – The Ancient Weapon Master: Specialist, by Robert Daley Jr.
•Rifts® short story – Acceptance, by S.E. Gibbons.
•News, coming attractions, product descriptions and more.
•A Rifts® cover by Apollo Okamura.
•96 pages – $13.95 retail – Cat. No. 174. Available now.
Coalition States Heroes of Humanity
NEW! Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States™ – Heroes of Humanity™ – Available now!
Rifts® CS Heroes of Humanity™ changes the landscape of Rifts North America and beyond, presents ways to upgrade and improve existing Men-At-Arms characters with Advanced Training, and includes new character classes, weapons, equipment, alliances and conflict to inspire epic new adventures.
Rifts® Heroes of Humanity™ outlines the battle for the soul of humanity. The Minion War™ has spilled onto Rifts Earth. At the epicenter of the invasion is North America. If either of the two rival demonic forces succeeds in conquering the continent, the rest of the world shall follow and Earth will be annexed to Hell. The demon hordes believe no one can stop them. The Coalition States has something to say about that.
For the first time in history, the Coalition States, Northern Gun, the Manistique Imperium, Lazlo, New Lazlo, Free Quebec, the Cyber-Knights, Lemurians, True Atlanteans, D-Bees, mages, mercs and many, many others stand together against a common enemy. Meanwhile, the Splugorth of Atlantis, Archie Three, the Republicans and the Vanguard engage in their own shadow war against the invading demon hordes, and each other.
•Heroes of Humanity™ lets unprecedented types of characters gather in mixed groups that would otherwise be ideologically opposed. Together they fight side-by-side for the greater good.
•New ways to upgrade your existing Men-at-Arms characters.
•Coalition Demon Hunter school and advanced training programs.
•New Coalition O.C.C.s like the Death Knight and Skelebot Specialist.
•Coalition military O.C.C.s expanded such as the CS Juicers, CS Combat Cyborgs, Psycho-Stalkers, Coalition psychics and more.
•New CS gear such as the Hellbuster and Falcon Death Wing.
•CS battle plans, world information and many adventure ideas.
•The strategies and tactics of the demons against humanity.
•The strategies and tactics of the Coalition States and its allies.
•Summary of Demon and Deevil vulnerabilities.
•One Xiticix battle plan and who really pays the price.
•Plenty of guidelines, tables and rules to help you run it all.
•Art by Charles “Chuck” Walton II, Amy L. Ashbaugh, Nick Bradshaw, Mark Dudley, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Mike Mumah, Apollo Okamura, Tanya Ramsey, Benjamin Rodriguez, and Kevin Siembieda.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda, Carl Gleba, Matthew Clements and others.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 889. Available now!
Heroes of Humanity Arsenal
NEW! Secrets of the Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity™ Arsenal Sourcebook – Fall
The name, CS Heroes of Humanity™ Arsenal says it all. New Coalition armor, power armor, robots, combat vehicles, and related material.
•New CS gear and weapons
•New CS SAMAS and power armor.
•New CS robots and combat vehicles.
•More ways to upgrade and improve your characters.
•More secrets and information about the Coalition States.
•Wild adventure opportunities, fun and more.
•Part of the Minion War™ “Crossover” series.
•Art by Charles “Chuck” Walton II, Amy L. Ashbaugh, Nick Bradshaw, Mark Dudley, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Apollo Okamura, Benjamin Rodriguez, and others.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda, Carl Gleba, Matthew Clements and others.
•96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 893. Fall release. In final production.
The Rifter #73
NEW! Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ – Fall
True Atlanteans are descendants from Earth’s past. The survivors of the sinking of Atlantis (really a dimensional mishap) and travelers of the Megaverse, wielders of Tattoo Magic and other lost mystic arts. Most people regard them as heroes, but are they? The Sunaj Assassins are mythic villains feared by all, yet they too are True Atlanteans who serve dark forces.
For the first time, much of the story behind True Atlanteans and their secrets are revealed.
•True Atlanteans revisited.
•Optional Atlantean character creation tables including clan heritage and other factors.
•Secrets of the stone pyramids, different types/purposes and powers.
•Many new magic tattoos, magic spells, weapons and armor.
•Atlantean hideouts and secret communities across the Megaverse.
•The Sunaj Assassins, their secrets, history and plans for the future.
•Atlantean Monster Hunter O.C.C., Atlantean Defender O.C.C. and much more. And this is just the tip of what this book contains.
•Written by Carl Gleba. Additional text and ideas by Kevin Siembieda.
•Final page count and price yet to be determined, but probably 160-192 pages – $20.95-$24.95 retail – Cat. No. 890. Fall release.
Rifts The Disavowed
Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States: The Disavowed™ – Fall
“Desperate times require desperate measures. War has nothing to do with morality or justice. It’s all about winning or dying. We cannot bind our hands with high ideals, even our own, or worry about the laws of renegade nations or the rights of alien people. We must fight fire with fire. And you are the match.” – Colonel Lyboc addressing a Disavowed team
The Disavowed are so Top Secret that their existence is known only to a handful of the Coalition States’ most elite, top echelon, with Joseph Prosek II the mastermind behind the Disavowed operation, and Colonel Lyboc its shadowy face. Find out who these men and women are. How the Disavowed get away with using magic, traveling to other parts of Rifts Earth and even to other dimensions in pursuit of enemies and strategic information that cannot be had through conventional means. Learn about the secret parameters in which these hard-boiled warriors, secretly hand-picked by Joseph Prosek II, operate, why almost every mission is considered a suicide mission, and why they must forever be the Disavowed.
•CS operatives so secret that even the top military and political leaders right up to Emperor Prosek know nothing about them. And if they did know, would they condone their activity or condemn it?
•Are the Disavowed heroes or renegades? Assassins or soldiers? Madmen or super-patriots? Or a little of them all?
•Unsung heroes who keep the CS safe, or thugs and pawns of a shadow agency within the Coalition government?
•What role does the Vanguard play in this group?
•How do they reward their D-Bee “teammates” when the mission is over?
•What happens to the Disavowed when they have seen or learned too much? Adventure ideas galore and so much more.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda and Matthew Clements.
•Final page count and price yet to be determined, but probably 96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 892. Fall release.
NEW! Rifts® Haunted Tech™ – Fall
The Republicans decide to make their move while Archie Three is waging his own shadow war against the demonic invaders. The result unleashes a menace Archie has kept contained and locked away for 300 years. And he is not happy about it.
•Haunted Technology.
•New weapons and gear.
•More secrets and information about the Republicans.
•More insane adventure opportunities, strangeness and fun.
•The new rules, powers and abilities for Haunted Tech will blow your mind.
•Haunted Tech gives new meaning to “ghost in the machine.” But are they a godsend or a Pandora’s Box of new dangers?
•The Republicans reveal themselves and take action! Yes, that means Chaos Earth® NEMA O.C.C.s, robots and technology in Rifts® Earth.
•Archie Three takes action behind the scenes, in a big way.
•Part of the Minion War™ “Crossover” series.
•Art by Charles “Chuck” Walton II, Mark Dudley, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Benjamin Rodriguez, and others.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda with help from Charles Walton II.
•96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 894. Fall release.
Garden of the Gods™ – a Palladium Fantasy RPG® Sourcebook – Fall
This has been a secret project of Kevin Siembieda’s that he has been plotting and writing in what little spare time he has. The Garden of the Gods is said to be a holy place watched over and even frequented by the avatars of the gods. According to legend, the god may visit heroes and followers in dreams or in person by an avatar of the god, to be given guidance, inspiration, heroic quests, and gifts of knowledge and magic. More details about this title will follow.
•The Garden of the Gods described in detail.
•Godly insight and visitations.
•Gifts of magic and knowledge.
•Sanctuary and more.
•The Black Pit, a place of evil and dark secrets. Is it a counterbalance to the good of the Garden or a trick of the Old Ones?
•Written by Kevin Siembieda.
•Final page count and price yet to be determined, but probably 96 pages – $16.95 retail. Cat. No. 475. A Fall release.
Rifts® Chaos Earth® Sourcebook: First Responders – Winter
The Great Cataclysm has devastated civilization, but humanity fights for survival. The struggles of civilian law enforcement, fire and rescue, and everyday men and women are some of the most epic tales to be told in a world gone to hell. They fight monsters, aliens, the paranormal, the elements, and each other, all with the hope of reclaiming their lives from the Chaos.
•New D-Bees and monsters from the Rifts.
•First Responder O.C.C.s, skills and special equipment.
•New “average citizen” Occupational Character Classes (O.C.C.s).
•New equipment for NEMA “Roscoes” and other emergency personnel.
•Notable rescue vehicles, robot drones, and technology.
•Source information and stats for common Golden Age technology (weapons, vehicles, medical tech, etc.).
•Apocalypse Plagues brought from other worlds to Chaos Earth.
•Adventure ideas and more.
•Written by Jason Richards. Additional text by Clements & Siembieda.
•96 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 665. Winter release (tentative).
Wolfen Empire
BACK in STOCK: Wolfen Empire™ for Palladium Fantasy
The Wolfen Empire is growing. And that means trouble for humans, Dwarves, and other people as the Wolfen flex their military might and begin to study magic in earnest.
The Wolfen Empire™ sourcebook provides insight and history about the Wolfen, their past, present and goals for the future. The Wolfen are poised to become the next great civilization, but at what cost? Six fleshed out adventures plus a 101 adventure ideas table give players and Game Masters plenty of material for exploring the Great Northern Wilderness and encounters with the Wolfen.
•The 12 Wolfen Tribes, their history and legends.
•The Wolfen Empire, its economy and civilization.
•Wolfen Military, rank, position and plans.
•Geography of the Wolfen Empire.
•13 notable creatures of the North.
•101 Adventures Table and numerous other Random Encounter Tables.
•6 fleshed out adventures across the Great Northern Wilderness.
•A few infamous towns, villains and notable people.
•Cover by Ramon K. Perez. Art by Perez, Johnson, Talbot, Williams and others.
•Written by Erick Wujcik, Kevin Siembieda & Bill Coffin.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 471. Back in stock.
Villains Unlimited
BACK in STOCK: Villains Unlimited™ for the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG series
It’s the reference book that never gets old – 80+ superhuman villains, a secret organization that supplies villains and criminals, another that hunts superhumans, plus rules and tables for creating your own super-organizations, Game Master playing tips, and more.
All of it provides Game Masters with bad guys and ideas for adventure, because each description presents the villain’s origin, motivation and goals. Just drop ‘em into your campaign and watch the super abilities fly. That’s why Villains Unlimited™ has been a fan favorite for years.
•80+ villains completely stated out.
•A few villain teams and organizations and their evil agendas.
•S.C.R.E.T. stands for Superbeing Control Retrieval and Elimination Teams who are part of a multi-national organization to handle the “superhuman problem.” Are they hunting your heroes?
•Fabricators Inc. is an international arms dealer whose exclusive clientele is superhuman bad guys and the criminal underworld.
•Magic Tattoos, weapons, cyborgs, a crazed world conqueror, madmen and adventure ideas galore await.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda and Kevin Long. Art by Kevin Long.
•224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 501. Back in stock.
Century Station
BACK in STOCK: Century Station™
City, Villain & Heroes Sourcebook for Heroes Unlimited™ RPG
Century Station™ is a compelling cityscape described and mapped. It is a great location to base a Heroes Unlimited™ campaign or a place to visit. The 51 superhuman villains, some of whom are members of villain teams, provide instant antagonists that can be dropped into any game at any time. Likewise, the 40 dynamic heroes can be used as NPCs (Non-Player Characters) or as pre-generated player characters, plus there are weapons, equipment and adventure ideas galore. All ready for you to incorporate into your campaign in an instant.
Each villain and hero provides Game Masters with ideas for adventure, because each description presents the villain’s or hero’s origin, motivation and goals. Century Station™ and Villains Unlimited™ are both excellent resources for gadgets, weapons and inspiration for creating your own heroes, villains and conflicts.
•51 villains completely statted out.
•40 heroes and lawmen to use as NPCs or pre-generated player characters.
•The District of Century Station, its history, purpose, problems, and notable locations mapped and described.
•Dozens of gadgets and weapons.
•Endless adventure.
•Cover by John Zeleznik. Interior art by Wilson and others.
•Written by Bill Coffin. Additional text by Siembieda.
•224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 517. Back in stock.
After the Bomb RPG
BACK in STOCK: After the Bomb® RPG
– Stand alone game and suitable for Heroes Unlimited™ RPG
Ever wonder what it would be like to play an intelligent, humanoid eagle? What about a sword wielding turtle or ninja rodent, or heroic wolfman, or a flying pig? In After the Bomb® you can turn a mouse into the size of a gorilla, or keep him small and sneaky, but with special animal powers, psychic abilities and human speech and intelligence. Or create that winged humanoid eagle who preys upon criminals. Or maybe that giant hamster, let alone mutant lion or tiger, is an animalistic brute who hunts other mutants (humans and animals!) and feasts upon them like a monstrous predator. The choices are yours.
After the Bomb® lets you mutate any animal you can think of, into a heroic crime-fighter set in our modern world or a mutant animal survivor of post-apocalyptic Earth — think Planet of the Apes on steroids. An environment where humans struggle to survive in a devastated (nuked?) world, and intelligent mutant animals appear to be the inheritors of the planet. Fun. Wild. Imaginative stories await.
The After the Bomb® RPG and its future world setting is one of the late, great, Erick Wujcik’s most fun and lasting creations. Play it as a stand-alone game or use AtB as a resource to create mutant animals that can be dropped into your Heroes Unlimited™ game, Aliens Unlimited™, Rifts®, Phase World®, Robotech® or just about any game setting. Play them as mutant animals or aliens from another world, heroes or villains, victims and fugitives, but get After the Bomb® because its mutant creations can fit many roles and are a blast to play in any setting.
•100+ intelligent mutant animals already described, statted and ready for you to play.
•Mutant animal creation rules that lets you turn ANY animal into a mutant with human intelligence, a humanoid body (or not), and super animal powers and/or animal psionics.
•Mutant humans who sacrifice their humanity for super abilities.
•The blasted, post-apocalyptic setting and villains.
•Six post-apocalyptic After the Bomb® adventures.
•A complete role-playing game with core rules, skills, weapons and equipment, apocalyptic world setting and playing tips.
•Suitable for use with the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG and other RPG settings.
•Art by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Jim Lawson, Ramon K. Perez, Freddie Williams II, Tyler Walpole and others.
•Cover by Scott Johnson.
•Written by Erick Wujcik.
•224 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 503. Back in print.
Heroes Unlimited RPG
Heroes Unlimited™ RPG – Reminder
Want to play superhumans and caped heroes, mutants and aliens, power armor clad champions and super soldiers? The Heroes Unlimited™ RPG lets you create them all and more.
The game is called Heroes Unlimited™ because it enables you to create every type of superhuman and comic book hero you can imagine. Bring your favorite comic book heroes to life or create an entirely hero of you own design. Then weave adventure adventures set in our modern world but one where superhumans, heroes and villains make our world even more exciting and dangerous. If you know and love comic books, you know what happens next.
A complete game, all you need to get started is this 352 page rule book, a few friends, dice and an imagination. With several sourcebooks back in stock, and comic book heroes the rage in film and TV, we thought we would remind people about just how awesome the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG really is. Order yours today.
•101 super abilities. And many have a variety of sub-powers within them, plus bonuses and special combat capabilities.
•100+ magic spells plus enchanted weapons and objects.
•Wizards and those enchanted and empowered by magic.
•72 psychic powers.
•Mutants with super abilities and mutant animals.
•Mega-Heroes and immortals.
•Bionic and power armor creation rules.
•Robots and super-vehicle creation rules.
•Super-Soldiers and martial arts masters.
•Cover by comic book legend, Jim Steranko.
•Art by Ramon K. Perez, Paulo Parente, Mike Gustovich, Kevin Long and others.
•Written by Kevin Siembieda.
•352 pages for a complete RPG – $26.95 retail – Cat. No. 500.
Coalition States Heroes of Humanity
Rifts® World Book 28: Arzno™
Looking for vampire slayers and anti-vampire TW devices? You need to visit Arzno. Arno is a mercenary city built on the edge of the Grand Canyon. It is a force for good, but threatened by the encroaching vampire menace from Mexico who have marked the mercs for destruction. Arzno™ has plenty of fun source material, Techno-Wizard power armor and weapons, a vampire invasion adventure scenario and other adventure ideas. Available from Palladium in book form and as a PDF from DriveThruRPG.com.
•The City and Territory of Arzno™ described and mapped. A good place for adventurers to trade goods and resupply.
•The Arzno Mercenary Corps, notable heroes and people of Arzno.
•36 Techno-Wizard creations including TW weapons, power armor, vehicles and devices, most designed for combating vampires!
•The vampire legions of General Zavier Stuart, and the sinister Blood Cult.
•The ghost-filled forest known as the Waste and some of the monsters found there.
•The Great Trade Road and many other notable locations.
•Looking for adventure? Arzno brings it.
•Cover by John Zeleznik. Art by Walton, Dubish, Breaux and others.
•Written by Jason Richards. Additional text by Kevin Siembieda.
•160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 868. Now available in PDF form as well as the printed book!
DriveThruRPG
Palladium PDF Books – download from DriveThruRPG.com
This is a great resource for getting out of print Palladium titles and other select books. We’ve made hundreds of PDF products available for digital download from DriveThruRPG.com, as well as Fantasy Paper Miniatures, Game Master resources and other good things with more to come. This is a great way to try Palladium products and get access to out of print RPG source material. Some notable titles include:
◾Splicers® RPG ◾Rifts® Chaos Earth® Resurrection, with all other Chaos Earth® titles to be added in the next week or two.
◾Rifts® RPG, First Edition
◾Rifts® Coalition Wars series, the Siege on Tolkeen (all).
◾Rifts® Minion War Crossover series (all to date).
◾Rifts® World Books 1-32 with more coming soon.
◾Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook and other Rifts® titles.
◾Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG and Boxed Nightmares™, 1st Edition rules.
◾Dead Reign® RPG (all titles) – The Zombie Apocalypse.
◾Nightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™
◾The Mechanoids® RPG and The Mechanoid Invasion® RPG Trilogy.
◾Palladium Fantasy RPG® First Edition Rules and select 1st Edition sourcebooks.
◾After the Bomb® RPG and sourcebooks.
◾The Rifter® issues 1-69 with more coming.
◾The Best of The Rifter®
◾Palladium Weapon Book Series
◾Deluxe Revised RECON® RPG and Advanced RECON® Sourcebook.
◾FREE highly-detailed, comprehensive Robotech® RPG Tactics™ assembly instructions for all the Wave One mecha – available now.
◾FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ color guides are available now.
◾FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ paper game pieces, force organization tables, stat cards, rules and special items – and more coming soon!
◾Palladium Fantasy RPG® Paper Miniatures – Volumes #1-6 are available now. More are coming.
◾Game Master kits and other resources.
◾120+ Palladium titles and more, with many more books to come.
◾Go to DriveThruRPG.com to see the full selection. But come back every month to see what new books have been added. We are planning to do a lot.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Powers Unlimited®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars®, Chaos Earth®, Dead Reign®, and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Coalition States, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, Savage Rifts®, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.
Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.
This press release may be reprinted, reposted, linked and shared for the sole purpose of advertising, promotion and sales solicitation.
RRT -- I noticed that is says free Force Orgs.......I don't think they ever posted those. I did some and so did Thom and they sat on them for months, now years.
Automatically Appended Next Post: rules and special items? Completely clueless to what they have and have not done. Probably forgot himself since it has been so long.....
Mike1975 wrote: RRT -- I noticed that is says free Force Orgs.......I don't think they ever posted those. I did some and so did Thom and they sat on them for months, now years.
Automatically Appended Next Post: rules and special items? Completely clueless to what they have and have not done. Probably forgot himself since it has been so long.....
Yup. I went looking for them when you posted the combined PDF's not all that long ago (late last month?), and couldn't find them. I went and tried to grab the ones from the frontpage of the Kickstarter, and they're broken links (and have been for a while). And the rulebook only covers the initial basic rules.
Min 2 Cores regardless of game size. Min 1 Core per 150 pts (which they clarify is the reason for the first limit, with a "standard game" being 300pts) Any number of Cores. Up to two Support attached to each Core. Up to one Special attached to each Core.
And that's it. I mean, that's all you need if that's all you want (Mali is just 1 Master, and whatever Faction things you want, up to their Rare limit, plus anything the Master specifically allows). Doesn't have to be overly complicated. But it IS something that's been promised since at least August 27th, with it supposedly to be done in "the weeks ahead".
And here are the force organization charts that PB is going to upload. One per week. Or month. Or year. Making sure they are working on RRT wave 2, yay!
Nesbet wrote: And here are the force organization charts that PB is going to upload. One per week. Or month. Or year. Making sure they are working on RRT wave 2, yay!
Guys, Kevin is busy and so are the staff. They published the first murmur since rougly April Fool's recently and it sounds like the employees hands must be chaffed from stroking ol' Kevin's ego. I recommend copious amounts of petroleum based moisturizer possibly made of excess retail dead stock Robotech plastic sprues next time.
I have had a tremendous amount of fun writing Hell Followed for Dead Reign. And it shows in the final product. So much so, that editor, Alex Marciniszyn, who is absolutely not into the zombie genre said the following:
“Kev, honestly, I thought I was going to be bored. Just another book about killing more zombies. This book is not what I expected, at all. It redefines the zombie genre. It broadens the field of possibilities and expands upon the modern zombie mythos. This sourcebook is full of twists and surprises, and ideas I had never imagined. It is truly inspired writing.”
Yes, another truly inspired writing proclamation after yet another totally conviently timed completely spontaneous discovery of sheer writing genius on the part of Kevin regarding the book he is working on months to years late. I wonder if there is a schedule of ego stroking or if they just draw lots when the time comes. Normally I'd guess a rock paper scissors game to decide the winner but it's the Palladium RPG staff so they'd probably mess up the rules so bad that there would be no clear winner. Rock beats scissorsTM, scissorsTM beat paper, and paper beats grabbletoothed megagrocknikTM... and they all think they're outsmarting each other by taking rock every time. Also, I think another thread disappeared in the RRPGT suforum but I'm not entirely sure.
I wonder if this genre changing zombie book is an autobiography of being a Palladium employee? It'd certainly account for their work speed, lack of brains and the constant presence of plague about the building.
There are only so many people in the company that are available to tell him how he has completely reinvented a genre they weren't interested in by stealing ideas from movies and television shows.
warboss wrote: Guys, Kevin is busy and so are the staff. They published the first murmur since rougly April Fool's recently and it sounds like the employees hands must be chaffed from stroking ol' Kevin's ego. I recommend copious amounts of petroleum based moisturizer possibly made of excess retail dead stock Robotech plastic sprues next time.
I have had a tremendous amount of fun writing Hell Followed for Dead Reign. And it shows in the final product. So much so, that editor, Alex Marciniszyn, who is absolutely not into the zombie genre said the following:
“Kev, honestly, I thought I was going to be bored. Just another book about killing more zombies. This book is not what I expected, at all. It redefines the zombie genre. It broadens the field of possibilities and expands upon the modern zombie mythos. This sourcebook is full of twists and surprises, and ideas I had never imagined. It is truly inspired writing.”
thinking about Kevin copypasting those delusions is hilarious.
Anyways, I'm not an expert about psychology/psychiatrichy, but... when you talk with someone/s that is/are not there it's called chizophrenia, isn´t it?
thinking about Kevin copypasting those delusions is hilarious.
Anyways, I'm not an expert about psychology/psychiatrichy, but... when you talk with someone/s that is/are not there it's called chizophrenia, isn´t it?
Schizophrenia - but I assume your spelling is a language issue.
I think it is just a poor attempt at marketing. A way of saying 'somebody other than me thinks this is great so you should go buy it'.
It ends up making him look like he's surrounded by sycophants (he is) and seems like his ego is very fragile (it is), but I think the intention is to generate interest.
He has the worst marketing ('my staff tells me it's great', 'tell all your friends about us', 'it's up to you -- the fans -- to get the word out and support the game', 'nobody at the convention heard of us, you aren't doing your job as fans to spread the word about us').
thinking about Kevin copypasting those delusions is hilarious.
Anyways, I'm not an expert about psychology/psychiatrichy, but... when you talk with someone/s that is/are not there it's called chizophrenia, isn´t it?
Technically it's a hallucination which is a hallmark feature of schizophrenia. That said... I don't think that is the case here. I do believe that Alex did say something similar to that and that most of the reports are true when Kevin says it happens because they know that it promotes job security. If you don't engage in the cult of personality and praise Dear Leader Eternal President Kevin regularly enough, you are sent for reducation at the local unemployment office. I suspect working at Palladium feels like a little slice of North Korea in Michigan (which matched NMI's moderation style perfectly at least when I used to post years ago).
Didn't he have a cold around this time of the year last year? I'm beginning to think it's just an excuse to try and make us feel sorry for his butt.
Hmm...Masters Sourcebook in 8½ X 11 format. I'd like to get rid of my magna size copy, but then again, I'd never use the book anyways...and I'd be giving money to this scumbag.
Stormonu wrote: Didn't he have a cold around this time of the year last year? I'm beginning to think it's just an excuse to try and make us feel sorry for his butt.
Hmm...Masters Sourcebook in 8½ X 11 format. I'd like to get rid of my magna size copy, but then again, I'd never use the book anyways...and I'd be giving money to this scumbag.
I'm in the same boat exactly. The year the kickstarter funded I got my first and only grab bag requesting only robotech items. I got the full size core and macross and new gen books and sold my two manga sized ones. I debated getting the marines and full size masters book but Palladium's continued dishonesty about the kickstarter stopped me. I never used any of the books btw either.
n815e wrote: I think it is just a poor attempt at marketing. A way of saying 'somebody other than me thinks this is great so you should go buy it'.
It ends up making him look like he's surrounded by sycophants (he is) and seems like his ego is very fragile (it is), but I think the intention is to generate interest.
He has the worst marketing ('my staff tells me it's great', 'tell all your friends about us', 'it's up to you -- the fans -- to get the word out and support the game', 'nobody at the convention heard of us, you aren't doing your job as fans to spread the word about us').
The scary thing is I am certain he is upset with the fans with how lazy and unsupportive they are.
His sense of entitlement is astounding.
It is funny that what he points to for trying to motivate us as consumers is rather telling about his character: all influence begins and ends with his "friends".
I am unsure if his understanding of the word "friend" is the same as ours.
His product falls very far from the mark of "selling itself" and I think he has no idea how large his fan echo-chamber base is... 30 people tops?? (others just casual consumers)
Only conjecture.
However large, it's been enough to keep them in business, albeit in slow decline.
A company that sees failing sales, no brand recognition despite longevity, product sitting idle in warehouses has got to look at itself and make corrections. If your only solution to these problems is to ask your dwindling customer base to promote you and get others to buy in, you're going to keep looking at those downward trending graphs.
We all know that the fan base is actually part of the problem -- its insular and unwelcoming of new people; instead of promoting creativity it looks for a largely absent authority; rather than encouraging positive changes, they are are actually hostile towards it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The fact that it is a company that produces role playing games -- a product line that functions entirely on imagination and creativity -- and actively discourages people from being creative and imaginative with those games, tells you everything you need to know about them.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I mean, look at this. This is what they thought would get a Rifts movie made:
n815e wrote: We all know that the fan base is actually part of the problem -- its insular and unwelcoming of new people; instead of promoting creativity it looks for a largely absent authority; rather than encouraging positive changes, they are are actually hostile towards it.
The Savage Worlds Rifts was embraced well enough so some change is tolerated.
The feeling of selfishness and not wanting to be bothered by facts however was evident when bringing up RRT at the SWR kickstarter.
The fact that it is a company that produces role playing games -- a product line that functions entirely on imagination and creativity -- and actively discourages people from being creative and imaginative with those games, tells you everything you need to know about them.
Live in a fantasy world of our making and don't deviate?
Sounds like the standard playbook of dictatorships.
That was back in 2009: 7 years ago.
Looked like something I would read in the 80's, possibly 70's.
I love that last little bit he wrote: "Seriously. Please don’t let me (and the crew at Palladium) look like goofs because we are the only six people to mail letters." Yes Kevin, my main motivation to write is so you do not look like a goof or your employees.
So he assumes realizes that many people want to write a letter to push for a movie "but they don't know how".
Yep, I really should call him Papa Kevin, he really does treat us like his step-kid that rides on the short-bus.
And, typically, Kevin's threads are immediately locked and a new thread created for people to comment on. This makes sense in nobody's world.
Well, you do not want the great unwashed to be directly associate with the Kevin name.
It makes perfect sense to have a proper wall between his posting and "comments".
It is also safer if you link your post and not have any surprises in the comments there.
As a company the sad thing is.. most of the industry now are either friends that take pity on Kevin or avoid him at all cost.
Was looking at the Kingdom Death web page and saw this about their Lantern Kickstarter..
As per the Terms of Service agreed to by Kingdom Death, Kickstarter, and the project's backers:
Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill.
Project Creators may cancel or refund a Backer's pledge at any time and for any reason, and if they do so, are not required to fulfill the reward.
I think that is why Kevin keeps sending out updates with we are working on it... they can do that for eternity. Until the State Attorney gets involved
we will continue to get "we're working on it" knowing that he is just lying to us and himself.. And we all know a backer refund would be the only thing would
make the problem better if they are never going to do the product..
Yeah, that line in the TOS changed the month or so before the Heavy Gear Kickstarter started (I looked it up when they started unilaterally changing stretch goals for the worse and recall it missed the cutoff by a few weeks). Newer projects don't have to refund but rather just explain how they wasted the money.
Genoside07 wrote: As a company the sad thing is.. most of the industry now are either friends that take pity on Kevin or avoid him at all cost.
Was looking at the Kingdom Death web page and saw this about their Lantern Kickstarter..
As per the Terms of Service agreed to by Kingdom Death, Kickstarter, and the project's backers:
Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill.
Project Creators may cancel or refund a Backer's pledge at any time and for any reason, and if they do so, are not required to fulfill the reward.
I think that is why Kevin keeps sending out updates with we are working on it... they can do that for eternity. Until the State Attorney gets involved
we will continue to get "we're working on it" knowing that he is just lying to us and himself.. And we all know a backer refund would be the only thing would
make the problem better if they are never going to do the product..
Kingdom Death refunded all of the cancelled / unfulfilled pledges.
If Palladium refunded the undelivered Wave 2 content, esp the Monsters, that'd be a great start!
Yep, it surely would, because they've already spent the money.. Despite their feeble claims they haven't.
It's pretty telling their company is out of money because the only time new product comes out of their posterior is when they get an influx from a kickstarter. And this last time around it went to fulfill some Rifts books that are about 10 years behind.
The great Newsletter is upon us! Let us see what tidings it brings!
"UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
Far from forgotten. Working on some cool things. More later. A 2017 release."
This quote doesn't really do it justice; due to the large font size/bold the title uses, the *TITLE* is nearly the same size as the 'update'. Like, 80% or so.
Forar wrote: The great Newsletter is upon us! Let us see what tidings it brings!
"UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
Far from forgotten. Working on some cool things. More later. A 2017 release."
This quote doesn't really do it justice; due to the large font size/bold the title uses, the *TITLE* is nearly the same size as the 'update'. Like, 80% or so.
I initially thought Forar was doing a parody/being sarcastic, and just summarizing things. Nope. That's a literal copy/paste. That's all PB think it deserves. They're either intentionally trolling, or they're really out of feth's to give as it relates to how they want to be perceived.
n815e wrote: Perhaps, if they don't do it by 2017, then HG won't renew the license.
While I don't think Harmony Gold are happy with the current situation, I think you're assuming that Harmony Gold thinks that the current situation is not only harming their product significantly, but that it exceeds the royalties licensing provides AND they'd get a similar amount from another company.
I don't see that happening. But it's possible that PB are hedging on that. Given PB's tendency to overextend on their promises (they're still promising 5 more books during Fall, which is what, a month away), that there is no non-reprint Robotech sourcebook listed in the PBWU, might be a sign they're not wanting to do something if the license is in jeopardy.
One other thing I noticed with regards the PBWU...
"Available right now:
FREE Robotech® RPG Tactics™ paper game pieces, force organization tables, stat cards, rules and special items – with more coming soon!"
I just checked. No Force Orgs are up, so that's a lie. And unless "rules" means the Faction Cards, and "special items" mean the Special Characters (and I consider both stat cards), then those are full of crap too.
@Nesbit - at least someone around here is doing a happy dance (QR #4).
The good news is, at some point PB will completely run out of money again to pay HG for the license, and then everything will come crashing down for PB.
Right now, as long as HG gets a $1, it's more than the nothing they would get from other companies who would not be interested in a game line that has a millstone tied to its neck.
Also what saddens me is to see hobbyist building models knowing the game is dead about everywhere with little chance of finding a game..
Think of any other game company they will try to release something for a game to keep it in the public eye.. what has showed up in the game
stores since the original release.. nothing.. A few print and play on rpgnow.. is it..
Genoside07 wrote: Also what saddens me is to see hobbyist building models knowing the game is dead about everywhere with little chance of finding a game..
Think of any other game company they will try to release something for a game to keep it in the public eye.. what has showed up in the game
stores since the original release.. nothing.. A few print and play on rpgnow.. is it..
meh I built about 99% of my models then said feth it and listed them on eBay
Forar wrote: The great Newsletter is upon us! Let us see what tidings it brings!
"UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
Far from forgotten. Working on some cool things. More later. A 2017 release."
This quote doesn't really do it justice; due to the large font size/bold the title uses, the *TITLE* is nearly the same size as the 'update'. Like, 80% or so.
You forgot almost 25% of the Robotech content although admittedly that amounts to less than one line.
"Other work is moving along too, most notably art for other projects. Next on my plate is Rifts® CS Arsenal, The Disavowed and Robotech®."
Yes, it's on his plate right after two books that were part of the GreatTM PalladiumTM BookTM ReleaseTM PushTM of earlyTM 2016TM. Yup, he'll get to it right after those two books that were already delayed when he announced late last year that iirc they would be coming out along with a few others in the first 6 months of this year. (hint: only one book out of 6 actually got released and that was in the last month of that time period).
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Nesbet wrote: Well, if I say anything about today PBWU, it will be longer and more consistent that the update itself...
So, lets post some WIPs instead
LOL! In all this time I never thought about a dancing Zentraedi xD
It's supposed to be landing in a not so comfortable position... not dancing! damnit! xD
Maybe I should put it back with the shoulders parallel to the ground, to look like flying backwards??
:/
@Genoside07: today one of my friends mocked me because of warhammer fantasy. We are in a hobby/toys/collectos exposition these days and I wanted to showcase some of my warhammer fantasy miniatures in the showcase. He laughed about fantasy being dead dead DEAD. And I thought, yeah, and we both are playing RRT, trying to get new players, regarding RRT being a fcking zombie corpse!! I found really more embarrasing to try to teach and promote RRT than anything WHFB related. At least the WHFB players hate AoS, but there are several indie projects going on. RRT? Yeah, I copypasted him the 2 sentences that Kevin just published regarding RRT. With a middle finger emoji.
@Genoside07: today one of my friends mocked me because of warhammer fantasy. We are in a hobby/toys/collections exposition these days and I wanted to showcase some of my warhammer fantasy miniatures in the showcase. He laughed about fantasy being dead dead DEAD. And I thought, yeah, and we both are playing RRT, trying to get new players, regarding RRT being a fcking zombie corpse!!
I found really more embarrassing to try to teach and promote RRT than anything WHFB related. At least the WHFB players hate AoS, but there are several indie projects going on. RRT? Yeah, I copypasted him the 2 sentences that Kevin just published regarding RRT. With a middle finger emoji.
How did you know about me disliking Age of Sigmar?? I played WHFB for years and feel the same way.. But truth be told you are completely right. It just now shows the signs
of upper management in game companies that don't know their products or their consumers. Palladium had a chance to make a great game with a known company (Ninja Division)
but I feel Kevin wanted to micro manage everything .. this would allow him to take more of the million dollars sitting on the table. He got his money upfront instead of making a game
that everyone would want with increase sales over years; so blaming the customer for it not selling... On top of trying to sale copies at Gen Con before backers got their copies is
just a single data point on a large chart that he doesn't really care about his customers. And no matter where you are in life.. If someone treats you badly, more than likely you treat the badly in return..
I guess Kevin doesn't understand this at all.. Instead he thinks he is a untouchable super famous Author, Artist and publisher.. that is also borderline bankrupt because of it.
Genoside07 wrote: Also what saddens me is to see hobbyist building models knowing the game is dead about everywhere with little chance of finding a game..
Think of any other game company they will try to release something for a game to keep it in the public eye.. what has showed up in the game
stores since the original release.. nothing.. A few print and play on rpgnow.. is it..
Hence why I finally broke from PB completely and started writing my own rules so that I can use my minis.
OK! I want thank nesbet and others for the pic of painted minis of this game. I jump around to alot of sites to see what going on with this game. I'll say this their more painted minis RTT is here. Thanks to nesbet and Asterios minis. I know at the BT site was only 2 pics that it. I have not seen any painted minis at the PB site at all, which I wonder if I'm looking at the right spot? Deep down I know Kev not doing wave 2 at all that my feelin. So sad for amount of backer and money for this game should been completed long ago not waiting for 2017 or 2018. PB wasted a lot the money for this game and now they little to none left . later
Automatically Appended Next Post: GREAT!!!! I just check PB site and wilycoyote latest thread have been deleted. The Evil PB whitehat are at it again. Really!
warboss wrote: Wasn't there a pointless "official request for update" thread on Palladium's forum last week? It seems to have gone missing.
Yup. Another PB purge. Dunno if it got heated recently. That's usually the excuse, deleting the thread, instead of the post, in the name of "keeping decorum" or some such crap. It's so obvious about "keeping out criticism, deserved or not". Can't have Kevin mebee seeing that not everyone worships at the feet of his genius.
For those interested, here's the first post, by Wiley, and my initial followup. I've taken to saving my posts, cause normally, like here, if I need to find something I've researched, I can just look it up. On PB's Forums, that's rarely the case. So, feth them. "Print as PDF".
Thanks Morgan, that was my thread under my alter ego and it managed tio last all of four days. I made the last post thanking you for correcting some timeline mistakes I made, but apart from that there was no name calling or anything heated. I reread their forum rules and it broke none of these
I know it is Palladium's site/forum, but it there surely for discussion of the game and other related issues. I find it sad that someone there cannot be bothered to address the real concerns of the backers even when they are politely put and would rather delete posts without any reasons being given.
Who are they protecting? These query posts and resultant threads make up the vasst majority of taffic and generally are reasonably behaved discussions. It obviously is plain and simple censoring ((NMI/Jeff Ruiz I wonder if that is your role to stifle the truth) so that Palladium can carry on telling themselves - but noone else of course-that everything is great.
I am determined to carry on posting similar polite threads over there, simply as I want PB tp be aware that we as backers are not going away. Likliehood is that some enlightened soul over there will ban /suspend my access soon.
Thank god for sites like Dakka were people can express their opinions freely.
wilycoyote wrote: Thanks Morgan, that was my thread under my alter ego and it managed tio last all of four days. I made the last post thanking you for correcting some timeline mistakes I made, but apart from that there was no name calling or anything heated. I reread their forum rules and it broke none of these
I know it is Palladium's site/forum, but it there surely for discussion of the game and other related issues. I find it sad that someone there cannot be bothered to address the real concerns of the backers even when they are politely put and would rather delete posts without any reasons being given.
Who are they protecting? These query posts and resultant threads make up the vasst majority of taffic and generally are reasonably behaved discussions. It obviously is plain and simple censoring ((NMI/Jeff Ruiz I wonder if that is your role to stifle the truth) so that Palladium can carry on telling themselves - but noone else of course-that everything is great.
I am determined to carry on posting similar polite threads over there, simply as I want PB tp be aware that we as backers are not going away. Likliehood is that some enlightened soul over there will ban /suspend my access soon.
Thank god for sites like Dakka were people can express their opinions freely.
The thing is, PB seem to prefer having a silent void there, over an active, if critical forum. With all the thread pruning, there have been two posts there in the last three weeks. Not two threads. Two posts. And that was someone asking for clarification of the PB rules committee being dysfunctional, and Dakka's Jaymz confirming it was so.
The thing is, there ARE things to talk about, that aren't openly critical. They've just finished off the DTRPG cards. Which brings up the ability to discuss tactics, or army compositions, or which characters give the best bang for the buck. But noone from PB (including MA's) are inclined to give a rat's ass to encourage discussion, instead leaving it up to a seemingly non-existent player base.
So, when the top three Google Results are the KS (filled with vitriol), the webstore (literally buy this), and BGG (where it's rated mediocre, and the commentary is fairly negative), having a Forum where it's not a ghost-town is kind of necessary if you want any kind of community. But it's clear PB would rather just forget about this project, and just wish the backers would too. I don't see that happening, moving forward. Sure, some backers appear to have written it off, and some have just gotten quiet. But there are enough, screaming into that void, that'll keep it from ever fading away like Kevin hopes.
The thread was there early in the morning today. Beast was the last poster. I think forar ,ser something and then the beast. Right after the post left by wilycoyote and Morgan Vening. I was shock it gone that fast.
I wouldn't say "shock" as it happens every time there is a thread that asks pertinent questions about the kickstarter and not just fluff pieces on rules. It's the second thread in as many weeks that went missing and the most common fate for new threads in the Robotech Tactics subforum.
Alpharius wrote: So even politely worded threads that ask the, let's be generous and call them, the hard questions, they're deleted too?
Yup. There is no acceptable way to point out the uncomfortable facts and discuss the project with any honesty on the official forums (and that includes offering advice on how to remedy the situation because that invariably means describing the incredibly bad situation first as a prerequisite).
Be reasonable guys, that website is paid for by Palladium Books, using funds that could easily have gone towards glue sticks or rubber bands.
By using it for means other than to express how wonderful you think Kevin's work is you are stealing from Palladium Books. Don't blame the moderators, they're just saving you from yourselves.
DEZOAT wrote: OK! I want thank nesbet and others for the pic of painted minis of this game. I jump around to alot of sites to see what going on with this game. I'll say this their more painted minis RTT is here. Thanks to nesbet and Asterios minis. I know at the BT site was only 2 pics that it. I have not seen any painted minis at the PB site at all, which I wonder if I'm looking at the right spot? Deep down I know Kev not doing wave 2 at all that my feelin. So sad for amount of backer and money for this game should been completed long ago not waiting for 2017 or 2018. PB wasted a lot the money for this game and now they little to none left . later
I do think I remember seeing a URL there, that no longer is. I'm pretty sure it's the "goat named Kevin" video. Which, given the full title of the video, would explain why it was removed.
You make a good point Morgan about there should be other stuff we could be discussing and to be fair there was and still is a nice thread full of suggestions to PB on possible ways forward (they are ignoring it though it seems). However, their apathy to my mind only generates hostility , especially towards their oh so righteous mods
Problem is the game as it stands is dead in the water and the lack of new models has totally stifled progressing gameplay. There are ony so many ways you can dress the Zent rush up.
Of course this means that unless PB do something out of character and really push the relaunch, then they know that any money they fork out on wave 2 is essentially bringing them no income and indeed after all this time - especially if you factor in postage costs - I suggest actually would represent a significant loss to them and perhaps one they are no longer in a position to cover.
It will be interesting (albeit annoying) to see how hard PB push the Rifts boardgame and its mins probably early next year? I have a gut feeling that Kev and co will be far more interested in this than the battered remains of RTT, afterall this could mean direct cash in and more sales of the core rpg
I responded to that thread, by writing that the best thing that they could do to help the game is to communicate with us better. That got immediately deleted with a warning.
As we are frequently reminded on there, nobody at Palladium actually visits or reads their own forums. The only way, one is told, to get them to read or listen to you is to send them a snail mail letter or call them up.
Their social media is run entirely by volunteer fan friends. Enthusiastic fans that take criticism as an offense and care more about punishing non-believers than they are in promoting a positive company image.
Occasionally, you'll see a post "by" Kevin or company. These are probably given to NMI to post on his behalf, then the thread is immediately locked so that nobody can comment on them.
They aren't worth the $.40 stamp and $.25 photocopy, in my opinion. We all know Wayne will file it under File 13 before it can bring tears to Kevin's eyes.
Stormonu wrote: They aren't worth the $.40 stamp and $.25 photocopy, in my opinion. We all know Wayne will file it under File 13 before it can bring tears to Kevin's eyes.
Not wasting another dime on these fools.
25 cent photocopy? Are you firing up the DeLorean and travelling back in time to the 80s when Palladium was relevant to send that?
Stormonu wrote: They aren't worth the $.40 stamp and $.25 photocopy, in my opinion. We all know Wayne will file it under File 13 before it can bring tears to Kevin's eyes.
Not wasting another dime on these fools.
It would surely cost me more to send PB letters from Chile, but hell, I would do it if it helps to annoy Kevin and make him move his ass.
Stormonu wrote: They aren't worth the $.40 stamp and $.25 photocopy, in my opinion. We all know Wayne will file it under File 13 before it can bring tears to Kevin's eyes.
Not wasting another dime on these fools.
It would surely cost me more to send PB letters from Chile, but hell, I would do it if it helps to annoy Kevin and make him move his ass.
That's the thing, it won't. At worst, it will feed his narcissistic complex that he's getting attention (again, if the letters got past his ego strokers). He'll still do nothing, except maybe a "tut, tut - be patient. It's coming, I'm promise!" The best revenge against him is to ignore him and his company - short of taking them to court, that is.
Stormonu wrote: They aren't worth the $.40 stamp and $.25 photocopy, in my opinion. We all know Wayne will file it under File 13 before it can bring tears to Kevin's eyes.
Not wasting another dime on these fools.
25 cent photocopy? Are you firing up the DeLorean and travelling back in time to the 80s when Palladium was relevant to send that?
I'm digital these days, that was the cost the last time I had to photocopy something. I wonder if PB is advanced enough to have a fax at their office...
God this all reminds me how our company went paperless years ago, and now every employee has a printer at their desk.
Nobody is buying the game, they can discount it massively or even start giving it away for free and it'll still be a dead game. PB dropped the ball and with all the delays they totally lost any chance of having a successful game. At this point no amount of life support is ever going to bring it back from being anything other than a rotting corpse. They should just tell people it's never going to happen and just move on with selling their other brands of snake oil.
Swabby wrote: Just saying if you wanted some cheap artillery pods, there are some cheap artillery pods.
Some of us are insane and nostalgia is still there.
At least it is one of the lesser means of PB getting money in their pocket (I am sure miniature market will not restock).
Cheap artillery pods is my thoughts as well: why magnetize when you can build them straight-up as they are?
Yes, yes, the game is dead but at the FLGS or at some convention like HotLead people pull out all kinds of old wooly games and people still have fun.
My gaming friends and I started looking at our "Car Wars" stuff again... that game is as dead as it gets but still can be found.
At the very least a $13 Qty 2 Warhammers and 2x Rifleman for Battletech are not to be unseen.
Magnets still make some sense if the inexpensive base model itself is difficult / time-consuming. I mean, would you rather build a 2nd full squadron of Valkyries (in all 3 modes) just to physrep the "proper" missiles? I wouldn't...
BTW, supposedly, SJG will relaunch Car Wars next year. I still have my pocket boxes, but having tried to play CW not so long ago, after more than a decade not, I just can't. It's so dated.
At first I thought about magnetizing. Then I said f*ck that sh*t! and just bought moar boxes xD
In the end I built 8 of each type of zent artillery, with the help of regular Regults (pun intended) and cloning the missile support shared by the Gluuhaug and Serauhaug Regults
Hmm... Looks like Facebook restructured itself? I initially thought it was PB's doing, but I checked out a couple other places, and they all seem to be formatted the same.
I'm sure PB hate that Posts no longer have the last two comments visible without clicking to see them. Must really frustrate them. No, that's not the word. Elate. That's the one.
Nesbet wrote: At first I thought about magnetizing. Then I said f*ck that sh*t! and just bought moar boxes xD
In the end I built 8 of each type of zent artillery, with the help of regular Regults (pun intended) and cloning the missile support shared by the Gluuhaug and Serauhaug Regults
Yeah, the join is too exposed so I have the same sentiment: I might as well have MOAR rather than less artillery options.
With swappable load-outs you still set an upper limit on how much artillery you can have in general.
Wait a minute, 24 artillery pods (you did the big guns too?)?? Oh you are a madman.
JohnHwangDD: Uh, actually, I do prefer to make the models to the "physrep proper" load-out for each VT wing.
I like the "standard" loadout, the shorter range missile pack with the nose lasers and a special squadron with the gravity bombs (thinking of putting nose art on like the old bombers).
I like the idea of squadrons being unique and not just the mass of fodder like the Zents.
I have no shortage of VTs and the build is not that hard for me... the painting however...
For us, 2017 is a must release deadline for Wave Two. We are still waiting on a few new quotes before we can offer anything concrete. Working on a few new Robotech® books, too. Brand new stuff that would create new factions and fun, as well as plotting organized play. More when details are hammered out.
If you need to change/update your address in BackerKit, please send us a message through Kickstarter, or an email to kickstarter@palladiumbooks.com, and we’ll take care of it. And please, definitely send in those address changes.
And ...
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Convention Exclusives – now available to anyone
Now that our Kickstarter backers have had plenty of time to order these items, we are making them available to anyone who may want them. They are beautiful, fun and only have 4-6 parts, so they are easy to put together. They look awesome on your shelf or in your game. Get yours while supplies last.
Obviously. No FPA avaliable. And obviously, no restock. PB screwed their relationship with GHQ already.
Thanks for the update. I took a peek and another interesting note is that the core set is officially 50% off (plus expensive Palladium shipping) for 5 days for the Black Friday shopping extended weekend. As for updating addresses in backerkit, I'm pretty sure there is *NO* rush necessary to do so since they're trotting out the "waiting for quotes" line yet again just like all of 2016 and most of 2015. I guess someone forgot to add some more wood to the fire when Robotech was "boiling" a few months back.
Yup, that's a lot of wankery in a Thanksgiving post.
Of course, I didn't expect PB to keep their word on "exclusivity". I don't think Kevin understands the meaning of the word. And if Nesbet is right about them burning the bridge with GHQ, there'll be a weird irony if backers want them to be included when Wave 2 is ready to deliver (HA!), and they're not available because Kevin keeps them open for anyone. Most are easily subbed with the plastics, but Breetai might be important.
And yeah, the address change thing is just such pure crap. Though, it'd be living up to the utter incompetence of PB if they DID get Wave 2 in (HA! again), and immediately shipped it without getting address changes. "But we told you to do so in November last year! Not our fault!". Cause noone stretches the boundary of unmitigated jackassery like Palladium Books.
EDIT: They still have the five books listed as Fall release up. 28 days to go, before a huge influx of new material! Oh, they're saying the one book they've completed, will take 3 weeks (at the Printer now, expected Dec 14). So, by that math, this time next week, they'll be announcing completion on all those projects. Because Kevin wouldn't lie about a release date.
In fbk somene asked why I was saying that PB has thrown GHQ under the bus... if I knew something official.
I replied that I did not. But I asked PB directly (with that gakky token system) if a restock was going to happen eventually. And they answered that it will not happen.
Add this to the conventional forces rules not being posted (and being promised loooong ago) and you could not think about GHQ waiting patiently to PB to release the rules in order to sell models. Rules that are already done years ago and models that are mostly done by GHQ that would only need repacking...
Careful! One of our resident White Knights will be in to scold you for slander and they'll know it's slander because they have super secret information from Kevin and Kevin would never lie because it's Kevin!
It's not like that's the only figure of an FPA that can ever exist.
Even if GHQ won't play ball, surely they aren't the only company capable of making a mold of a similar figure and pumping out a couple hundred to meet 'global demand' now that the reins have been taken off. (yes yes 'but they only do free' and assorted other pithy reflexes, get it out of your system)
It remains funny to me in hindsight that I argued at length for the opportunity to pay for some LE figures in 2013, and then they opened them up to purchase whenever I wanted (to pay full price plus obnoxious shipping) and now it's just 'anyone, anyone want to take these off our hands? Not just at Gencon and these mini-cons we attend!'
What a difference a year or three makes. They could've probably gotten at least another $100 out of my group with those originally, now it's just mockery and scorn (that and two bucks'll get you a cup of coffee).
Nesbet wrote: In fbk somene asked why I was saying that PB has thrown GHQ under the bus... if I knew something official.
I replied that I did not. But I asked PB directly (with that gakky token system) if a restock was going to happen eventually. And they answered that it will not happen.
Add this to the conventional forces rules not being posted (and being promised loooong ago) and you could not think about GHQ waiting patiently to PB to release the rules in order to sell models. Rules that are already done years ago and models that are mostly done by GHQ that would only need repacking...
It's not official. But IMHO is like doing 1+1.
Well technically not years yet on the conventional forces. 16 months ago. Done in the format wayne demanded and had in his hand on july 21 2015 iirc. I know because i got a copy of ut as well seeing i was one the peoole vetting it.
JohnHwangDD wrote:@Tal - OK, no problem.
It's nice to have a huge pile of minis!
Spoken like a true miniature collector! It is OK, I never claimed to be entirely sane...
n815e wrote:Basically, people stopped buying the "exclusives", so now anyone can.
At the prices they were selling them, they could have been gold.
jaymz wrote:Well technically not years yet on the conventional forces. 16 months ago. Done in the format wayne demanded and had in his hand on july 21 2015 iirc. I know because i got a copy of ut as well seeing i was one the people vetting it.
Mike1975 can correct me on the date if its wrong.
Oh well, missed opportunity.
It would be interesting how many would have wanted some conventional forces rules.
I really only could see them being used as some fodder for the Zent pods to laugh at if they are using real world units.
There are so many miniatures that we could have had for a well rounded conventional force.
I keep feeling like the "Monster" could be used as an "Ogre" and have at it with the conventional forces.
Someone on FB asked for Rifts to be balanced. The fan friends tell him they don't want balanced rules.
What is it that makes people so loyal to this company that they want to shut down discussions of improving the systems, or completing financial obligations?
I can't say that any company that makes products I enjoy are above reproach or improvement. It makes no sense. It chases other customers away, to the point where product lines become unprofitable because your beloved company can't sell them, thanks to your aggression and refusing to change.
Let's be realistic, after this many years of telling the emperor his new clothes look so good, are they just supposed to suddenly go hey, actually youre naked and always were?
n815e wrote: Someone on FB asked for Rifts to be balanced. The fan friends tell him they don't want balanced rules.
What is it that makes people so loyal to this company that they want to shut down discussions of improving the systems, or completing financial obligations?
I can't say that any company that makes products I enjoy are above reproach or improvement. It makes no sense. It chases other customers away, to the point where product lines become unprofitable because your beloved company can't sell them, thanks to your aggression and refusing to change.
Balance is not as much of a concern when you have a GM moderating or supposed to create that balance.
I would be interested what the person's intent or method for "balance".
I agree the actual system was painful to run but the ideas for the time were good.
I think I have a spreadsheet I made to navigate the pain of character creation (you cried not because your character died but because you had to make a new one).
This is why I have mixed feelings for the Savage Worlds Rifts, it would give the RPG folks a more playable game and preserve some of the good ideas of the Rifts world.
Giving royalties to PB is unacceptable however! Many of us have been conditioned by GW to "Forge the Narrative", which means to create the house rules to make the IP holder's product more playable.
Well, changing the subject (to stop dealing with PB until next Friday): Ivan Golyjenkov just released a new battlemat design.
I don't know you, but I love that design. i'm willing to do some martian scenery pieces now. Would be cool to recreate the martian battles in the future, of course. There are lots of other inmediate projects that require my attention ^^u
Also, ivan released lots of cool stuff designed for RRT and other 6mm games in the last months:
Spoiler:
among other mats not specifically designed for small scales, but that also be cool to use for RRT:
Spoiler:
Seroiusly, take a look. His designs look awesome when printed.
I already printed like 8 in pvc and look wonderful!
Those buildings look useful, as does the cloverleaf map - reminds me of a Battlefield 2 map I really enjoyed.
Just as an aside, I've gotten so disgusted with this whole thing I've pulled out my Robotech RPG books and have finally started to delve into redoing it for Savage Worlds. Anyone interested in a "Savaged" RRT version of the RRT rules? It'll probably take a month or two to have a working ruleset...
Stormonu wrote: Those buildings look useful, as does the cloverleaf map - reminds me of a Battlefield 2 map I really enjoyed.
Just as an aside, I've gotten so disgusted with this whole thing I've pulled out my Robotech RPG books and have finally started to delve into redoing it for Savage Worlds. Anyone interested in a "Savaged" RRT version of the RRT rules? It'll probably take a month or two to have a working ruleset...
Isn't SWR supposed to be released either Dec or Jan? Why not wait till then?
n815e wrote: Someone on FB asked for Rifts to be balanced. The fan friends tell him they don't want balanced rules.
What is it that makes people so loyal to this company that they want to shut down discussions of improving the systems, or completing financial obligations?
I can't say that any company that makes products I enjoy are above reproach or improvement. It makes no sense. It chases other customers away, to the point where product lines become unprofitable because your beloved company can't sell them, thanks to your aggression and refusing to change.
Yes, this is so very common. Anyone new who joins and comes up with anything fresh and innovative is quickly dogpiled on and literally run out of town. Im not joking about the last part. They are talked down to, treated like theyre stupid and hounded till they stop posting heresy.
Part of the appeal of Rifts IS that it's unbalanced. That you can be a Werewolf Juicer Demi-god that pilots a giant robot made of the bones of a dead god and wields a sword containing its soul, or you can be Bob, a vagabond with a cloak, a gakky pistol, and a belly full of the cheapest liquor available.
Once a group has been playing long enough, finding a *rough, general* balance isn't too terribly hard, and with a 'gentleman's agreement' to keep it around there, my group made it work for over half a decade (closer to a decade when including online only gameplay; play by email and play by post options).
But it's a BIG 'ask' of a game master and group as well. It isn't something where you just roll up new characters and within a reasonable margin of error they're all at least going to start off about the same. If one guy is a Glitter Boy pilot or a Hatchling Dragon, and the other is Bob up above, that's going to be a bit tough; anything that challenged the heavy hitters is going to paste Bob, and anything that's a fair fight for Bob is going to get pasted if the HH's so much as glance his way. But with a little work (see above on the gentleman's agreement) you can have a sort of Avengers style arrangement, with challenges aimed at the appropriate people and make it work as best as possible.
It's a mess of a system, and no, asking for it to be balanced is not going to draw out anything positive from most of the community, but not just because it's an insular and toxic swamp, but because That's A Feature, Not A Bug, at least to a lot of them.
Was thinking over the holiday.. what if you look at the RRT kickstarter as ordering a pizza.. (a very expensive pizza). You decided to go with the mega awesome dinner deal, having to pay right after ordering from a list of items that are said to be quick and ready.. but you only get a single topping pizza sent to your door after being over an hour late. Asking where the rest of the deal is .. the pizza restaurant says the meat supplier was no good and having difficulty getting crust made.. But they advertise everything is great and wonder why business is dead...
I would love for Kevin to end up on the short end of a deal.. just like he has done to us... maybe that would help him understand his wrongs... or maybe not.. there are people out there that will never learn..
Stormonu wrote: Those buildings look useful, as does the cloverleaf map - reminds me of a Battlefield 2 map I really enjoyed.
Just as an aside, I've gotten so disgusted with this whole thing I've pulled out my Robotech RPG books and have finally started to delve into redoing it for Savage Worlds. Anyone interested in a "Savaged" RRT version of the RRT rules? It'll probably take a month or two to have a working ruleset...
Isn't SWR supposed to be released either Dec or Jan? Why not wait till then?
Do you mean Savage Worlds Rifts? Not putting another dime into Kevin's pockets, even if it's second hand. Pinnacle should be ashamed for dealing with PB. At some point, they'll be sorry they ever did - they just don't see the bus coming yet.
I did just use the Amazon discount code though to get the SW Sci-Fi supplement, hopefully it will have some sample mechs in it to build off of.
Though I'd like to change the scale a bit (d4 range = civilian vehicle grade toughness/damage, d6 = military grade vehicle toughness/damage, d8 = Zent mecha toughness/damage, d10 UEDF mech toughness/damage, d12 MAC II toughness/damage, etc.)
I would love for Kevin to end up on the short end of a deal.. just like he has done to us... maybe that would help him understand his wrongs... or maybe not.. there are people out there that will never learn..
He has been and it doesn't make him feel empathetic to others, only sorry for himself.
Do you mean Savage Worlds Rifts? Not putting another dime into Kevin's pockets, even if it's second hand. Pinnacle should be ashamed for dealing with PB. At some point, they'll be sorry they ever did - they just don't see the bus coming yet.
Quoted for truth, but I think the reason they can't see the bus is because their vision is just totally yellow.
So... with four more weekends between now and Christmas, what do people think are the chances PB will drop a Kickstarter Update between now and then? I say weekends, because PB seem to have an aversion about posting mid-week. It's not unprecedented, but it's uncommon enough that it's unlikely. Because as it stands, Christmas Eve marks the date on which, should it not happen, that it will be the longest absence without an Update since the campaign began, at 105 days. The previous record of 104 was earlier this year, mid April through end of July. Since that EoJuly Update, there's been one Update, mid September, only the second for the second half of 2016.
I bring it up, because from what we've heard from the PBWU's, there literally appears to be nothing to report. Knowing there's nothing to report, and with this arguably being the worst time of year to try and get things done, there's not likely to be any MORE news, and so is an Update that's the usual pablum after months of nothing, worth the ire it will invariably bring, for PB to poke that hornet's nest? But can they afford not to, if it risks exposing them as incapable of completing their campaign by abandonment, for potential legal reasons? Yes, I'm making assumptions that PB are both willing AND capable of completing this project. I know those are big assumptions, but I'm playing along with PB's fantasy world here.
So, what do people think it'll be? And do you think it'd be the wrong choice by PB (because given two choices, PB do tend to make the wrong one).
Just as a reminder, in late December 2013, we started seeing the Pre Production Prototypes, which are the first step towards actual manufacturing. 3D printing of a 3D sculpt (ie, the AValk and the YF-4) are nice, but not the same thing. From that point, it took just over 9 months to deliver. Yes, print runs will be smaller this time, but IIRC there are about twice as many remaining sculpts to be made (even with the expected shortcuts on Roy and Rick). So, if we don't see actual progress by Adepticon, you can probably rule out 2017 too.
I think we will see an update around Christmas with some pity images thrown our way of renders untouched in years but never previously released plus maybe some sort of free DTRPG content. I also suspect they'll start laying the groundwork for blaming Chinese New Year yet again for part of the delay. You have to start lining up the bus ahead of time after all if you want to run over your target.
Chance of KS update? -1. We won't hear anything until Kevin does his January "state of PB union", which will be cut-n-pasted from the PBWU version. Said PBWU will also contain 7-9 NEW books to be released 1st quarter 2017, and a promise to "get back on track with RRT". However, he won't be able to give any details, though things are still percolating.
(Seriously, I happen to run across a Ritter from 2003 last evening, and these are the Exact. Same. Words. He's been using since then, including harping on the "Jerry Bruckheimer" movie of Rifts)
We should all cut and paste our own version of his state of the union with ridiculous substitutions over in the Kickstarter comments and see which one comes closest next year.
$90-$100 (or more!) worth of Palladium Books products for only $45 plus shipping and handling. You are guaranteed to get an absolute minimum of ninety dollars ($90) retail value in your Surprise Package. Most of the time you get $92-$96, often more! Santa Kevin likes to make gamers squeal with delight and often packs $96-$105 worth of goodies into many Surprise Packages.
I have been packing Surprise Packages with $94-$100+ worth of goodies.
I always find these value ranges amusing.
Please spread the word to gamers everywhere. People only learn about the Palladium Christmas Surprise Package offer by word of mouth, The Rifter® and our website, so please post and spread the word everywhere. Seriously, post everywhere. The Grab Bags are a great way to try Robotech® RPG Tactics, Rifts® and any of our games. Let Savage Worlds gamers and others know about this great deal, too. Pick up one for yourself and for every gamer you know!
Give us free advertising, we are too cheap to pay for it!
The spurious accuracy he/they use for these things raises more questions than answers. ffs, just say "90-100" and leave it at that. The "maybe you get 92-96" thing is superfluous, it's included in the original amount!
And people wonder where the money went, when these clowns can't work out "$92-$96", "($90)", and "$96-$105" can all be replaced by "$90-$100 (or more!)".
After all, if a supplier of theirs were to be that woolly, they'd be shouting that they were told the MAC II would cost "($90)"K, and then their account goes down by "$96-$105"K.
And if they budget these things at $90, and Kev keeps putting $105 in them, they are giving away 1/6 of their product, no wonder they can't work out what people are actually supporting.
After all this, they need to get a hold of what has gone out. What of that was requested, and what GGK threw in out of [spite] the kindness of his heart.
Accountant: "So, what has gone from the warehouse?"
Storesman: "Half a ton of old rifters, some of Kev's 'art' from the fridge door, a few odds and ends from the RPG catalogue, and 200 RRT starter boxes."
Accountant: "Well, Kevin was dead on the money, it has picked up rapidly. I'd best order a new production run "soon" before we run out!"
Forar wrote: The spurious accuracy he/they use for these things raises more questions than answers. ffs, just say "90-100" and leave it at that. The "maybe you get 92-96" thing is superfluous, it's included in the original amount!
90-100+? Fine. Leave it at that.
So, if they find a Rifter(c)(tm)(r) that fell behind a filing cabinet, and it's 15 years old, so the cover price is $6.95 and the current cost of a Rifter(c)(tm)(r) is $12.95...what does that count as, value-wise?
So, if they find a Rifter(c)(tm)(r) that fell behind a filing cabinet, and it's 15 years old, so the cover price is $6.95 and the current cost of a Rifter(c)(tm)(r) is $12.95...what does that count as, value-wise?
A massively valueable collector's item that belongs in the Smithsonian but Kevin is generously willing to part with it (you know... for the fans!) on his ebay store after he, Alex, and the pizza delivery guy sign it. The extra sausage grease stain on page two makes it truly a one of a kind piece of gaming history. I'm 98% sure of that.
Merijeek wrote: So, if they find a Rifter(c)(tm)(r) that fell behind a filing cabinet, and it's 15 years old, so the cover price is $6.95 and the current cost of a Rifter(c)(tm)(r) is $12.95...what does that count as, value-wise?
n815e wrote: My absolute favorite is the art print he is offering, which is signed by the artist Mike Mumah... and Kevin... who was not the artist.
I think that might actually devalue the print. Imagine trying to resell that on ebay. "Art print signed by the artist and some schmuck."
I think that more writing has gone into the surprise package advertisement than any actual books this year.
He's not just some schmuck. Like the Kim dynasty in North Korea, those beholden to him have bestowed unto him many a grand title.. You may refer to him as the Bringer of AnimeTM or the Genius of Metro Detroit GamingTM or most recently Zombie Genre Redefined VisionaryTM.
Merijeek wrote: And Conrad? An accountant? You're hilarious.
No, I'm just saying I don't know what their fan-friends do to make a living. One of them may be an accountant, another a storesman, but I do know they don't have either on their actual staff, or they wouldn't have lasted this long!
I approved the cover for the first RRT scenario book and we are plotting new adventure sourcebooks that will create new factions, aliens and mecha for Robotech®. We are exploring more manufacturing options and await final quotes. We know it is frustrating without solid, specific news. We are working on it, but do not want to announce anything until we have things firmly in place.
If you need to change/update your address in BackerKit, please send us a message through Kickstarter, or an email to kickstarter@palladiumbooks.com, and we’ll take care of it. And please, definitely send in those address changes.
Great news... I have approved only the cover of the book.. and have no other updates... we had the cover art before the kick starter started... but it was never approved...
took us three years.. but we finally go it..
Also reading the rest of the update.. Is it just me or does the new improved now in stock glitter boy miniature look like someone cast the thing in their garage in the 80s??..
There are people doing better looking miniatures that are not even a company.. they are literally working out of their garage.. and have better looking product than that..
Oh... clean of the casting and mold lines.. maybe assemble the miniature for the example picture... just a hint..
I'm going to mail them a future shipping address and tell them this will be where I think I will live in 5 years as that is when I believe they will complete Wave 2.
TalonZahn wrote: I'm going to mail them a future shipping address and tell them this will be where I think I will live in 5 years as that is when I believe they will complete Wave 2.
TalonZahn wrote: I'm going to mail them a future shipping address and tell them this will be where I think I will live in 5 years as that is when I believe they will complete Wave 2.
I admire your optimism sir!
I try not to poison the thread too much.
I have no words for the things I would love to enact upon them. My ire is great and anger palpable.
Also reading the rest of the update.. Is it just me or does the new improved now in stock glitter boy miniature look like someone cast the thing in their garage in the 80s??..
There are people doing better looking miniatures that are not even a company.. they are literally working out of their garage.. and have better looking product than that..
Oh... clean of the casting and mold lines.. maybe assemble the miniature for the example picture... just a hint..
IIRC it came out originally in the very early 1990's and hasn't been changed since. You don't mess with Palladium "perfection"! (see: Rifts RPG rules).
Perhaps that was the reason for the pictures of geese that we thought were more important than actual news of Wave Two.
Kevin Simbieda(c)(r)(tm) had once again completely reinvented(c)(r)(tm) something else - carrier birds!
Yes, friends. They were prepping their first wave of Carrier Canadian Geese(c)(r)(tm)! The first wave still hasn't returned from China with quotes (for some reason they all flew north), but confidence is high!
I'm sure they've hit all the plastics miniature companies that they can see from their windows or by shouting for bids from the parking lot.
As someone else has pointed out, they are going to develop a reputation as time-wasters, constantly asking for quotes.
From FB:
I bought a xmas package. My first one ever. The talk is how you get cool stuff like artwork or the like. I agree its a good deal for the boojs you get, but my package was just the books on my list, a rifter and thats all.
I guess i need to spend more money on a larger order.
A good deal but nothing to bounce around squeling like a teen girl at a boy band concert about.
I guess he got one of the 89-91 or 92-95 dollar packages and not a 96-100 or 100+ (sometimes as high as 105 dollars!) dollar package.
No, the mistake he made was getting one from PB. He also didn't realise that if he hadn't asked for anything, he'd either have been sent some very dogged Rifters or a RRT starter!
I approved the cover for the first RRT scenario book and we are plotting new adventure sourcebooks that will create new factions, aliens and mecha for Robotech®. We are exploring more manufacturing options and await final quotes. We know it is frustrating without solid, specific news. We are working on it, but do not want to announce anything until we have things firmly in place.
If you need to change/update your address in BackerKit, please send us a message through Kickstarter, or an email to kickstarter@palladiumbooks.com, and we’ll take care of it. And please, definitely send in those address changes.
This is the scenario book we saw posted around Gencon/August wasn't it? I wonder which 80's Robotech RPG cover art he reused for this fan-created, "edditud" by Kevin book?
I almost want to update my shipping address right to the Michigan Attorney General...
I don't doubt that he approved some a new single piece off art... the robotech rulebook is full of (for its time) new art. I simply suspect that is *ALL* of his company's real effort in regards to robotech.
For us, 2017 is a must release deadline for Wave Two. We are still waiting on a few new quotes before we can offer anything concrete. Working on a few new Robotech® books, too. Brand new stuff that would create new factions and fun, as well as plotting organized play. More when details are hammered out.
If you need to change/update your address in BackerKit, please send us a message through Kickstarter, or an email to kickstarter@palladiumbooks.com, and we’ll take care of it. And please, definitely send in those address changes.
And ...
Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Convention Exclusives – now available to anyone
Now that our Kickstarter backers have had plenty of time to order these items, we are making them available to anyone who may want them. They are beautiful, fun and only have 4-6 parts, so they are easy to put together. They look awesome on your shelf or in your game. Get yours while supplies last.
Obviously. No FPA avaliable. And obviously, no restock. PB screwed their relationship with GHQ already.
I wonder how long it will be until I get a phone call asking for the UEDF Marines Factions and the other Zentraedi Factions that I suggested a long ways back. Shoot, I still have those archived. I already shared some of them out. At the end of the day, what use are new factions if you do not have minis for the base factions? I think they forgot the differences between RPG and a Minis game AGAIN.
"We are exploring more manufacturing options and await final quotes. We know it is frustrating without solid, specific news. We are working on it, but do not want to announce anything until we have things firmly in place. "
How about you announce when the quote is due? Because I've never gotten a quote from anyone, or anything, that if it wasn't immediate, didn't at least come with a timeframe. "We'll get back to you next week", etc. Obviously this is a more complicated situation, but given they've been playing the "getting quotes" bullgak for almost 4 months (August 12th) in this iteration, some kind of date for when they get pricing, should NOT be an unrealistic expectation. It's one thing to not be able to know when manufacturing would start, too many variables for that.
I had to specify "this iteration", because they were talking quotes in April, but were silent until the 'recent' series of excuses.
I see they finally removed the delusional "Fall Release" on the six books that were slated for the first half of 2016. That they got one of eight done in that time, and a second due to make it in just under the wire for the entire year (the genre redefining Zombie one that was for sure going to be a Halloween release), seems to be par for the course. Though I don't think anyone expects anything more than a promise from Kevin that 2017 will be a banner year for PB. 8+ books in the first half, more in the second half, and the reboot of RRT. Just like last year, and just as likely to happen. It's like Groundhog Day, but done on a yearly timeframe. Or Bullwinkle's "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!". But he'll have his throng of adoring fans, and his absolutely independently minded employees. So he's all set.
That won't happen because it introduces accountability and they want to avoid that. They prefer to just fap around in the dark with zero progress being made publicly thinking that we're none the wiser. If they announce that a quote is due by 12/XX/2016 then the question on 12/XX+1/2016 is instantly and obviously "So... what happened with the quote?".
I saw this tonight and it seemed appropriate...just replace chair with RRPGT wave 2. And, yes, I know KS isn't a store yet its treated exactly like one by both ends of the equation. At least the cartoon villain had the integrity to be 98% honest about her intentions upfront unlike in real life.
warboss wrote: Wasn't there a pointless "official request for update" thread on Palladium's forum last week? It seems to have gone missing.
It's not the only one lol
That thread's back up. Shall we start taking bets on how long it will stick around this time?
It doesn't take two weeks to prune a thread of the 2-3 posts that followed the last one there, most of which that I remember were only one or two lines. As for "threats" not being tolerated, the only "threat" that I see posted there occasionally is that folks refuse to buy more Palladium crap until they deliver what they promised in 2013. Simply stating that is grounds for a permanent or semi-permanent vacation. feth that. Sorry, Jefffar, but there was absolutely nothing there that met your criteria that I saw (and posts that I saw were deleted despite only checking in once or twice a week).
I have never heard of any 'quote' taking this long. Seriously, especially if the salesperson is handling it they will try to be as quick as possible in order to get your money. So theyre not going to leave him waiting. They want his dollars.
"Hi, would you guys do this for some lint and change we found in our pocket? How about now? How about in a few months? Maybe half a year? I'll put you down as a maybe..."
Merijeek wrote: Has anyone who participated in the FFG Christmas sale seen any shipping notification? Or...anything for that matter?
Got my notification yesterday - I had ordered the 16th.
It was the same sort of delays last year, you will get your stuff, unlike from these putzs.
Yes, well, I'm confident of that. It's just when almost 3 weeks go by and there isn't any sort of indication of anything happening (ironic, I know), I start to wonder.
Forar wrote: "Hi, would you guys do this for some lint and change we found in our pocket? How about now? How about in a few months? Maybe half a year? I'll put you down as a maybe..."
How about some artwork from another artist but signed by me....
Well that was a surprise, I thought my thread was condemned and purged.
To be fair it looks like Jeffar is doing the "modding" at the moment and he does appear to be more open to reasonable debate and comment, compared to some others on that board.
Anyway , given the next three month cycle is nearly up , I believe our friends at Palladium are scheduled to post their regular non informative update - including a sales pitch for the con exclusives - soon, perhaps this week?
bah I'm so disgusted with this project I can't sell my RRT stuff fast enough, been selling it here and there but still load of minis and even lowered my prices on my lots to $90 (or B/O)for 8-12 models assembled and painted in a foam tray, lets see if they sell faster now
Alpharius wrote: Those prices still sound really high, but good luck!
and yet still selling, trust me if you had to assemble and paint and adhere those teensy tiny decals you wouldn't think price was expensive, albeit my Veritech squads selling faster then my pods are (only one battlepod set and all my arty pods have sold) while about 4 Veritech squads have sold or so. but not a single Destroid lot, go figure, but all my lots have watchers big time but no bidding go figure.
Crisis of Treachery was in 2006. That began the age of Palladium bailouts and it seems to be the standard means of operating for them, now.
The NG preorders was probably the second one. But that put them on the line for producing something. RRT became the bailout for the bailout. SW is keeping the lights on, along with any interest from whatever leftover RRT funds they still have. Rifts boardgame is planned to bail them out of their RRT mess, but what is to follow to cover their board game failure in the future?
n815e wrote: Crisis of Treachery was in 2006. That began the age of Palladium bailouts and it seems to be the standard means of operating for them, now.
The NG preorders was probably the second one. But that put them on the line for producing something. RRT became the bailout for the bailout. SW is keeping the lights on, along with any interest from whatever leftover RRT funds they still have. Rifts boardgame is planned to bail them out of their RRT mess, but what is to follow to cover their board game failure in the future?
n815e wrote: Rifts boardgame is planned to bail them out of their RRT mess, but what is to follow to cover their board game failure in the future?
In the words of all the donkey-cave SW backers, who cares? That's someone else's problem. That said... I don't think palladium is willing to put any of their own money into the project; if they were, they would have done so long ago. I do however see them trying to do another RRPGT kickstarter for wave 2 or other eras in order to use other chumps' money for completing wave 2.
n815e wrote: Rifts boardgame is planned to bail them out of their RRT mess, but what is to follow to cover their board game failure in the future?
In the words of all the donkey-cave SW backers, who cares? That's someone else's problem. That said... I don't think palladium is willing to put any of their own money into the project; if they were, they would have done so long ago. I do however see them trying to do another RRPGT kickstarter for wave 2 or other eras in order to use other chumps' money for completing wave 2.
and I repeat i do not see PB putting anymore money into RRT since it is a loss, any money they put into it they have no chance of getting back or such, so why put money into something where they will lose that money ?
n815e wrote: Rifts boardgame is planned to bail them out of their RRT mess, but what is to follow to cover their board game failure in the future?
In the words of all the donkey-cave SW backers, who cares? That's someone else's problem.
Exactly. RRT bailed out RIFTS NG, so it's only fair for RIFTS to bail out RRT.
But they can't do that, and for several reasons.
1. It won't be enough Even if they spent every cent of every dime from Rifts on RRT, it wouldn't be enough. They'd then be left with 2 floundering, dead projects rather than one.
2. If it was ever proved that did that to bail out this project, the next question to immediately raise it's ugly head would be "What did you bail out with the money for RRT?".
3. They have already lost so many sales from bad publicity - whether Kev recognises the phrase or not - that they have no international credence at all. Any sales they make in America surely can't keep them going any longer. I firmly believe the only reason they went international in the first place was to get themselves into markets that hadn't heard what they were like.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh, I apologise.
I have brought PB's nemesis back into the conversation where it has no place to be - and indeed gets a headache if it stays too long - LOGIC!
1. It won't be enough Even if they spent every cent of every dime from Rifts on RRT, it wouldn't be enough. They'd then be left with 2 floundering, dead projects rather than one.
2. If it was ever proved that did that to bail out this project, the next question to immediately raise it's ugly head would be "What did you bail out with the money for RRT?".
Correction on 1: two MORE foundering projects. Morgan is probably keeping track more, but honestly PB is basically a trail of floundering, dead projects with the odd successful print runs.
Opinion on 2: Does it even matter? It'd be some oddball, foundering dead project that in all likelihood, didn't make back the invested amount. PB has a history of that it seems: plow money into some venture that has such a slow ROI that... well...
Yes, but the fact still remains that any proof that PB used Rifts money to make progress on RRT, is enough malfeasance on it's own, but they would also be under legal scrutiny for RRT as well once that had got out. They would then be forced to legally account for every cent spent, or declare the project failed and refund us all - probably both.
And the point was that IF they use rifts money for RRT, it can't possibly finish RRT, so there would definitely be an extra dead project. If they do the proper thing and ring-fence the money, as they say they have done up to now, then they can hold on to the chance that Rifts will be a success [even if only in their minds.]
Palladium wouldn't be "forced" to do anything without a lawsuit and it simply isn't worth it for backers to initiate that given the average pledge. Spending $10,000+ to recoup $200 on average isn't a win for most folks. Palladium has definitively shown that they're completely willing to weather scathing criticism of their incompetence and dishonesty if it means they get to keep the what is left of the money after they squander large parts of it.
I mean, that's a nice dream and all, but so far AG's and everyone else we've contacted apparently doesn't give a feth.
Using dollars from Rifts to help finish this off would be charmingly quaint in comparison, plus if they were to double up it might not be so easy as pointing to a bill marked "RRT Stuff: Paid With Rift KS Funds, MWAHAHAHAHA".
Use a larger amount of stuff to get a better deal on shipping, or a better price on molds, or figures, or the production run, or whatever. IF they were to proceed with a mixed order, the line where one price begins and another ends and exactly what funds were used for what, especially when discounts might be present.
I think they will be in "we are working on it" until HG pulls the licence or Kevin Dies.. The money we now "donated" was enough to cover the cost of the project, but when it is used
for other things, like other production.. paying bills way over due.. then it starts the game of robbing Peter to pay Paul. If the money wasn't enough and he was clueless at the process
and under priced everything.. how is that our problem? That is just poor management skills and no matter what the business will always end the same.
warboss wrote: Palladium wouldn't be "forced" to do anything without a lawsuit and it simply isn't worth it for backers to initiate that given the average pledge. Spending $10,000+ to recoup $200 on average isn't a win for most folks. Palladium has definitively shown that they're completely willing to weather scathing criticism of their incompetence and dishonesty if it means they get to keep the what is left of the money after they squander large parts of it.
thats why I told peeps they need to get about a thousand backers and all put in about $10-20 for a class action suit against PB. not much per backer but a large amount overall.
Genoside07 wrote: If the money wasn't enough and he was clueless at the process and under priced everything.. how is that our problem?
That is why he is passing the lack of money onto you!
Why try to deal with your own problems like an adult when you can wait until your customers can donate/"buy"/fund/throw more money your way and then continue with whatever is the next most pressing financial matter.
That is just poor management skills and no matter what the business will always end the same.
Yes, poor management that is accustomed to consumer "patience" and/or handouts.
The money is spent by management (Kevin) as he sees fit and nothing really has dissuaded them from doing otherwise.
I like how they are accustomed to calling their customers "fan-friends" neither name I would consider to be a part of.
It seems to convey a level of trust that they are completely unworthy of.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Asterios wrote: thats why I told peeps they need to get about a thousand backers and all put in about $10-20 for a class action suit against PB. not much per backer but a large amount overall.
Yep and still some person needs to take some time and steer that little matter in a direction to legally challenge PB.
Many would still consider it throwing good money after bad.
As stated, there is the vocal few and the rest you can feel the apathy flow...
Given how few people chatted with any regularity, and then adding a substantial number to account for regular/irregular lurkers, it has always been unrealistic to get '1000' backers behind anything, simply for lack of communication opportunities.
That's the stopping point. And the problem referenced here and on the comments; people don't care. They've tossed their stuff in a closet, or thrown it out entirely, or sold it, or whatever, they don't care enough to check in regularly (especially with how toxic the comments have been for years). No such effort would get 100% turnout, and the couple dozen of us regulars plus some lurkers isn't 1000+ by any stretch of the imagination. The big gencon vote got, what, 20 or 30% of the backers voting, and that was a clusterfeth of their own making with repeated updates reaching out to every backer.
But I seem to recall some efforts to demand that Kickstarter provide contact information, lest they be in breach of such and such law and subject to some End Of Days style penalties or something.
Whatever happened to that?
Also, I recall there being talk about not needing other backers, that some legal attack dog was going to tear PB apart and how the rest of us plebes would be lucky to get some leftover scraps when it was done. Obviously that story has changed dramatically, but I'm still disappointed that the Mighty Legal Tsunami was just a thin puddle that evaporated before our very eyes.
Like many things with RRT I have learned to let much go.
The Legal Tsunami was one of them but now that it is mentioned...
Well, there is always Anime North for next year so I can go to their booth and mention just how irrelevant they are and are doing a FANTASTIC job at it, with each passing year.
Well, a stuck clock can be correct twice in one day, I am sure they will "surprise" us occasionally, it may not be what we want, but surprise all the same.
If anyone is going to Gencon next year, we should do a brief meet and greet. Grab a pint (or water/pop/whatever for those so inclined) and reminisce over this long, strange journey.
What about a solemn and silent group finger wag and accusatory stinkeye as you walk by the palladium booth to the pub dressed wearing Robotech t-shirts/paraphernalia?
How about paying the booth across from them and put a large print out billboard of the current kickstarter time line.. (how many days since update...etc)
I am sure Palladium would complain to their buddies on the Gen Con staff that it bothers them and need to take it down..
But I would put a Las Vegas bet down the we will still be at the "we are working on it" and "still waiting on quotes" at Gen Con ..
Asterios wrote: thats why I told peeps they need to get about a thousand backers and all put in about $10-20 for a class action suit against PB. not much per backer but a large amount overall.
Yep and still some person needs to take some time and steer that little matter in a direction to legally challenge PB.
Many would still consider it throwing good money after bad.
As stated, there is the vocal few and the rest you can feel the apathy flow...
well it will have to be somebody else leading the charge since I cannot.
Asterios wrote: well it will have to be somebody else leading the charge since I cannot.
I was not inferring you should.
You seemed to be rather clear you would not / should not / shall not.
Frankly I would not expect anyone to do the heavy lifting any more than I would expect of myself.
I have my attempts at being an irritant or my apathy to PB, that is about all the tools available at this time.
But Christmas is coming and I have somehow managed to not order one of those surprise grab bags that PB loves so much.
I am just wondering when financial matters will get dire enough that Kevin will feel moved to tell us not to be Grinches and to give generously to his company charity.
I am just wondering when financial matters will get dire enough that Kevin will feel moved to tell us not to be Grinches and to give generously to his company charity.
Oh, I'd say about Thursday or Friday when the next PBWU comes out...
The man has no qualms about begging for money, but serious issues when it comes to earning it.
Sometimes I wonder if when Kevin arrives at work he immediately goes to holding up the collapsing ceiling of the company on his back, as if he were Atlas.
Talizvar wrote: I have my attempts at being an irritant or my apathy to PB, that is about all the tools available at this time.
I also have my wallet. Which will be locked in a vault somewhere on Pluto so far as PB will be aware. A very easy (for me) promise to make is that they will not get another cent from me until and unless they either finish off wave 2 and send me what they owe me, or refund me everything bar the postage and the cost of the decal sheet.
Until that happy day, the apathy is strong with me!
Stormonu wrote: Sometimes I wonder if when Kevin arrives at work he immediately goes to holding up the collapsing ceiling of the company on his back, as if he were Atlas.
In the dark.
I shake my head at the stories of Kev giving heck for leaving lights on.
I feel like sending them motion sensor light switches but due to the lack of activity, they would shut off all the time.
Speaking of no activity, I suppose I should check on the Kickstarter page.
And motion detector lights are something they would love. Who knows what could go on in the dark, and all they'd have to do would be to glue a VF paper standee onto a rod and occasionally wave it around. It keeps the lights on, and gives them another excuse [not that they need one] to say "Wer're totally working on it, guys!"
I find it humorous and sad at the thought that the PB staff sit quietly at their desks, in the dark, staring at outdated computers while waiting for anything that resembles work to pass from Kevin's desk.
I'm sure that, in the winter, the heat is kept to the legal bare minimum, so sweaters and finger-less gloves it is. Perhaps employees must bring their own toilet paper; and water costs money too, so don't flush so often.
They may wonder why their lives have led them to the point where they had to ask their pal Kevin for a job and, in the process, have gained no marketable skills while working there.
Kevin touts the company's longevity, but just surviving (and with slimmer margins every year) isn't success. It does, however, create a corporate mentality that promotes further decline, as every cost in innovation is an unacceptable risk to someone who is afraid the doors will close.
n815e wrote: I find it humorous and sad at the thought that the PB staff sit quietly at their desks, in the dark, staring at outdated computers while waiting for anything that resembles work to pass from Kevin's desk.
I'm sure that, in the winter, the heat is kept to the legal bare minimum, so sweaters and finger-less gloves it is. Perhaps employees must bring their own toilet paper; and water costs money too, so don't flush so often.
They may wonder why their lives have led them to the point where they had to ask their pal Kevin for a job and, in the process, have gained no marketable skills while working there.
Kevin touts the company's longevity, but just surviving (and with slimmer margins every year) isn't success. It does, however, create a corporate mentality that promotes further decline, as every cost in innovation is an unacceptable risk to someone who is afraid the doors will close.
PB probably doesn't have any full time employees. And I highly doubt they even have desks or an "office" to work in. And I bet no one is on salary, but hourly, so Kevin can basically kick people out of the office and not pay them anything when there is no work. It's a horrible situation to be in, and yet is typical for the gaming industry. You never know if you have work from week to week, so you get a second job to pay the bills, or work on commission for other game companies (if Kevin allows that- I'd be surprised if it wasn't written into the employee contract that they could freelance or get a second job). And of course, If you have a second job trying to pay the bills, and a project comes up or you get a call out of the blue to come to work and you can't because you are at your other job... well, you could be fired. Horrible, horrible situation to be in.
PB probably doesn't have any full time employees. And I highly doubt they even have desks or an "office" to work in. And I bet no one is on salary, but hourly, so Kevin can basically kick people out of the office and not pay them anything when there is no work. It's a horrible situation to be in, and yet is typical for the gaming industry. You never know if you have work from week to week, so you get a second job to pay the bills, or work on commission for other game companies (if Kevin allows that- I'd be surprised if it wasn't written into the employee contract that they could freelance or get a second job). And of course, If you have a second job trying to pay the bills, and a project comes up or you get a call out of the blue to come to work and you can't because you are at your other job... well, you could be fired. Horrible, horrible situation to be in.
There are videos and photographs of people touring the Palladium offices, and whatever is being shown in those videos and photos does look pretty office-like. Wikipedia lists the company address as 39074 Webb Court
Westland, Michigan 48185-7606. Checking Google Maps reveals a sort of set of industrial office/warehouse type buildings.
As for how anyone is compensated, I'd guess Alex is on salary. It's impossible to even hazard a guess on the rest as to how they're compensated. It is on record that Kevin regularly requires employees to work without pay. They're called full time, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Stories from most writers and artists indicate they're all paid per unit of work at a rate determined by Kevin when the manuscript or art is delivered. Kevin also regularly requests "fan friends" to work for free in the warehouse.
Some insight from a former employee in regards to how palladium operates. His employment was a good 6 years post bill coffin rant which i will add that while bill regrets the rant he has never recanted it and even his wife has said he was being reserved even in his rant about it.
Spoiler:
he was asked about the editing process at palladium. His response:
Yeah, the "editing" is a joke. If Kevin writes it, Alex and Julius (both of whom are incredible sperglords and total yes-men) "edit" it, all the while telling Kevin that it's awesome and the best thing they've ever read. If someone else writes it, then Kevin re-writes it, gives it to Alex and Julius who then "edit" the manuscript, all the while telling Kevin that it's awesome and the best thing they've ever read and only he could have fixed the obviously deeply flawed original manuscript.
This is, as you can imagine, a total joke. I one time went through a manuscript after Alex and caught a ton of super basic spelling and grammar mistakes, not to mention a couple of structural problems with the manuscript. This is after it'd gone through two sets of eyes and about a month on various desks. I brought this up to Himself and his answer was, Well, you have to remember, he's not a professional editor... He's been an Editor for twenty goddamned years! For money! That's the loving definition of a professional!
Anyway, there's also zero editorial guidance. There's no styleguide (just read any of our books and do it that way!), Everything seemed, to me at least, to be a guessing game as to what Kevin wanted, and the sum total of his editorial direction usually amounts to little more than, That's a great idea! Just write it!. Kevin doesn't believe that writers can edit/re-write their own work, nor can they follow directions. He told me that to my face. I didn't get a single re-write or piece of editorial direction until after I got laid off and started working for Fantasy Flight in '09.
when asked about the environment his answer:
Well, one thing I can talk about is the general office atmosphere. I worked from home mostly since the office is about thirty miles away from my house (I'm in NE Detroit), but once a week I'd go in for various things and it was always weird. The office is dead quiet, all the doors are closed, most of the lights are kept off (to save electricity)... it's like a tomb in there. Also, Kevin has no personal boundaries, wants everyone to be BFFs, and will tell you the most intimate details of his personal life at a moment's notice. The man has no filter. It's a pretty strange, inappropriate, and toxic environment.
he spoke of working on a rifter and having 3 dbess in it:
I've got three d-bees in that book. That whole thing was one of the rare collaborative efforts between freelancers. Kevin discouraged us from collaborating.
The he when asked why kevin discouraged collaborating:
Because someone might either actually steal or be accused of stealing some else's idea and there would be lawsuits. Seriously. I was part of a non-sanctioned freelancer incubator way back at the beginning of the 2000s called the Think-Tank. It was me, Jason Richards, Todd Yoho, Carl Gleba, and a bunch of other guys you've probably heard of. We did peer review, helped eachother out, had sounding board forums, it was really cool and a lot of the books that came out in the mid-to-late 00s came directly from that project. Kevin shut us down because he didn't want us collaborating for the above reasons.
commenting n Palladium's grasp of technology...
You guys realize that Kevin's grasp of technology, not just modern technology but any technology, is pretty much informed by comics, movies, and the Discovery Channel, right? When I was there the man didn't know how to attach files to emails. Wayne had to do it for him. I had to drag him out of his office one day to the parking lot to where I'd parked my 30 year old motorcycle so I could show him my battery to prove that no, Kevin, motorcycles don't have 6-volt charging systems and haven't since the 60s. He grudgingly admitted that yes, maybe some modern bikes may have 12-volt systems. This to a guy who restores old bikes as a hobby.
He's like functionally illiterate when it comes to technology. Alex isn't much better, since I think he believes that we have a lot of technology around from those, "Secret Weapons of WWII" books he likes so much.
It's even simpler than "had a picture lying around". It's, "These are the tanks that were in the Sergeant Rock comics I read as a kid. I bet they still use them!"
Other things Kevin had never heard of/couldn't understand: Carbines, logistics, motorcycles other than dirtbikes, harleys, or sport bikes, power/weight ratio, and many, many other things I can't remember off the top of my head. Those dudes are stuck in the late 70s, early 80s which, honestly, is more a "SE Michigan" problem and less a "Palladium Books" problem.
his comments o in regards to savage rifts:
Man, I've been out of the Palladium loop since Kevin laid me off in '09, but I'm glad to see some things never change. I'd heard that Robotech Tactics was a shitshow, but the depths of that poo poo are just stunning. Also, speaking of tremendous shitshows, I know the people involved in Savage Rifts. Hooo boy, that's gonna be a fun one to watch.
Basically it's two successful writers who are used to dealing with people who operate in good faith working with someone constitutionally incapable of working in good faith. I've been staying far away from it, but I don't really expect it to see the light of day, and the guys working on it will surely see the underside of a bus at some point in the project.
and comments in regards to a blam shift update on rrt a while back:
Of course it is. Kevin is the champion blamethrower. Nothing is ever his fault. He is the martyr, the constantly aggrieved, and the nicest guy. How can you tell? He'll tell you all about it!
Also, dude has no personal and professional boundaries. It got to the point where I'd kick him out of my office because he'd come in and want to tell me about his girl troubles. The man is pushing sixty. You're my boss, I don't want to hear about your "girl troubles", especially when you're the goddamned problem.
More about kevins editorial style etc:
It's all true. I was there for two years, and I was officially/unofficially in charge of the Robotech RPG (meaning that it wasn't in an official capacity, Kevin doesn't delegate, but he didn't care about Robotech and I did, so I took it over on my own). There is no editorial feedback, there are no rewrites, there is no guidance. There's no styleguide. Kevin believes that writers can't re-write their own material with editorial guidance. I've been doing this for sixteen goddamned years, and I've worked with a lot of writers. You know what? Writers can rewrite their own work with editorial guidance. That's what being a writer is about.
Also, someone mentioned upthread (in a conversation about poser covers) that he draws from the fanbase as opposed to industry professionals for his artists. True story. You know why? Because industry professionals expect to get paid. You know what Kevin says when a freelancer finally demands that he be paid after two years of excuses or the next step is getting the law involved? "That's not fair. He has a real job. He's not writing for a living, he doesn't need that money."
Let me get a few more beers in me and I can tell you some real good stories.
You know what Kevin says when a freelancer finally demands that he be paid after two years of excuses or the next step is getting the law involved? "That's not fair. He has a real job. He's not writing for a living, he doesn't need that money."
Yep. Perhaps I should have clarified that in my post. Oftentimes the rate Uncle Kev decides on is zero.
Speaking of Savage Rifts, what the status of that KS? In the interest of keeping things mod-friendly, I'm just curious if they are still On-Time, On-Target.
jaymz wrote: Some insight from a former employee in regards to how palladium operates. His employment was a good 6 years post bill coffin rant which i will add that while bill regrets the rant he has never recanted it and even his wife has said he was being reserved even in his rant about it.
Spoiler:
he was asked about the editing process at palladium. His response:
Yeah, the "editing" is a joke. If Kevin writes it, Alex and Julius (both of whom are incredible sperglords and total yes-men) "edit" it, all the while telling Kevin that it's awesome and the best thing they've ever read. If someone else writes it, then Kevin re-writes it, gives it to Alex and Julius who then "edit" the manuscript, all the while telling Kevin that it's awesome and the best thing they've ever read and only he could have fixed the obviously deeply flawed original manuscript. This is, as you can imagine, a total joke. I one time went through a manuscript after Alex and caught a ton of super basic spelling and grammar mistakes, not to mention a couple of structural problems with the manuscript. This is after it'd gone through two sets of eyes and about a month on various desks. I brought this up to Himself and his answer was, Well, you have to remember, he's not a professional editor... He's been an Editor for twenty goddamned years! For money! That's the loving definition of a professional! Anyway, there's also zero editorial guidance. There's no styleguide (just read any of our books and do it that way!), Everything seemed, to me at least, to be a guessing game as to what Kevin wanted, and the sum total of his editorial direction usually amounts to little more than, That's a great idea! Just write it!. Kevin doesn't believe that writers can edit/re-write their own work, nor can they follow directions. He told me that to my face. I didn't get a single re-write or piece of editorial direction until after I got laid off and started working for Fantasy Flight in '09.
when asked about the environment his answer:
Well, one thing I can talk about is the general office atmosphere. I worked from home mostly since the office is about thirty miles away from my house (I'm in NE Detroit), but once a week I'd go in for various things and it was always weird. The office is dead quiet, all the doors are closed, most of the lights are kept off (to save electricity)... it's like a tomb in there. Also, Kevin has no personal boundaries, wants everyone to be BFFs, and will tell you the most intimate details of his personal life at a moment's notice. The man has no filter. It's a pretty strange, inappropriate, and toxic environment.
he spoke of working on a rifter and having 3 dbess in it:
I've got three d-bees in that book. That whole thing was one of the rare collaborative efforts between freelancers. Kevin discouraged us from collaborating.
The he when asked why kevin discouraged collaborating:
Because someone might either actually steal or be accused of stealing some else's idea and there would be lawsuits. Seriously. I was part of a non-sanctioned freelancer incubator way back at the beginning of the 2000s called the Think-Tank. It was me, Jason Richards, Todd Yoho, Carl Gleba, and a bunch of other guys you've probably heard of. We did peer review, helped eachother out, had sounding board forums, it was really cool and a lot of the books that came out in the mid-to-late 00s came directly from that project. Kevin shut us down because he didn't want us collaborating for the above reasons.
commenting n Palladium's grasp of technology...
You guys realize that Kevin's grasp of technology, not just modern technology but any technology, is pretty much informed by comics, movies, and the Discovery Channel, right? When I was there the man didn't know how to attach files to emails. Wayne had to do it for him. I had to drag him out of his office one day to the parking lot to where I'd parked my 30 year old motorcycle so I could show him my battery to prove that no, Kevin, motorcycles don't have 6-volt charging systems and haven't since the 60s. He grudgingly admitted that yes, maybe some modern bikes may have 12-volt systems. This to a guy who restores old bikes as a hobby. He's like functionally illiterate when it comes to technology. Alex isn't much better, since I think he believes that we have a lot of technology around from those, "Secret Weapons of WWII" books he likes so much.
It's even simpler than "had a picture lying around". It's, "These are the tanks that were in the Sergeant Rock comics I read as a kid. I bet they still use them!" Other things Kevin had never heard of/couldn't understand: Carbines, logistics, motorcycles other than dirtbikes, harleys, or sport bikes, power/weight ratio, and many, many other things I can't remember off the top of my head. Those dudes are stuck in the late 70s, early 80s which, honestly, is more a "SE Michigan" problem and less a "Palladium Books" problem.
his comments o in regards to savage rifts:
Man, I've been out of the Palladium loop since Kevin laid me off in '09, but I'm glad to see some things never change. I'd heard that Robotech Tactics was a shitshow, but the depths of that poo poo are just stunning. Also, speaking of tremendous shitshows, I know the people involved in Savage Rifts. Hooo boy, that's gonna be a fun one to watch.
Basically it's two successful writers who are used to dealing with people who operate in good faith working with someone constitutionally incapable of working in good faith. I've been staying far away from it, but I don't really expect it to see the light of day, and the guys working on it will surely see the underside of a bus at some point in the project.
and comments in regards to a blam shift update on rrt a while back:
Of course it is. Kevin is the champion blamethrower. Nothing is ever his fault. He is the martyr, the constantly aggrieved, and the nicest guy. How can you tell? He'll tell you all about it! Also, dude has no personal and professional boundaries. It got to the point where I'd kick him out of my office because he'd come in and want to tell me about his girl troubles. The man is pushing sixty. You're my boss, I don't want to hear about your "girl troubles", especially when you're the goddamned problem.
More about kevins editorial style etc:
It's all true. I was there for two years, and I was officially/unofficially in charge of the Robotech RPG (meaning that it wasn't in an official capacity, Kevin doesn't delegate, but he didn't care about Robotech and I did, so I took it over on my own). There is no editorial feedback, there are no rewrites, there is no guidance. There's no styleguide. Kevin believes that writers can't re-write their own material with editorial guidance. I've been doing this for sixteen goddamned years, and I've worked with a lot of writers. You know what? Writers can rewrite their own work with editorial guidance. That's what being a writer is about.
Also, someone mentioned upthread (in a conversation about poser covers) that he draws from the fanbase as opposed to industry professionals for his artists. True story. You know why? Because industry professionals expect to get paid. You know what Kevin says when a freelancer finally demands that he be paid after two years of excuses or the next step is getting the law involved? "That's not fair. He has a real job. He's not writing for a living, he doesn't need that money." Let me get a few more beers in me and I can tell you some real good stories.
IIRC he had another post were he lamented the process of assigning projects to writers. Basically, unless the project was pitched and approved by an individual writer, it was a cattle call like rushing for a good seat on a budget airline or elbowing for the a fresh plate of newly brought out crabs at a cheap chinese buffet. Kevin apparently sends out a mass email and it's first come, first served. He contrasted that to FFG where the editors or line creative director (can't recall the exact title) assigned work to writers based on his evaluation of their proven prior abilities/work as well as their own interests.
Back in December and January after the KS ended, when I spoke to Kevin, he seemed like a really great guys at first and was very enthusiastic about RRT but there were a few WTF moments on that call. He spoke of a lawsuit for $200 from one of the artists or writers and several other things that really made me think since nobody I have ever met immediately gets into some of the things like the lawsuit that he spoke of during that call. Out of respect I won't mention anything more than that in any detail.....but geez......
Lol, looks like that part of the account is corroborated. Of course, this is no surprise as we got in depth coverage of his colonoscopy a few years back (seriously.... we did... in murmurs).
Lynx7725 wrote: Speaking of Savage Rifts, what the status of that KS? In the interest of keeping things mod-friendly, I'm just curious if they are still On-Time, On-Target.
it is currently past due with some digital items going out.
Lynx7725 wrote: Speaking of Savage Rifts, what the status of that KS? In the interest of keeping things mod-friendly, I'm just curious if they are still On-Time, On-Target.
They have done extremely well.
I kept my $1 in and they seem to have hit this one out of the park.
They have been putting out a ton of materials and errata as well as bonus stuff.
They have been running pretty much on time but the physical items were slated for Nov 2016 but looks like tail end of December will happen (I think due to fixes to the big books).
All electronic copies / versions are all available.
Too bad I do not do RPG anymore, in a prior life I would have been quite excited about their material.
I think PB figured the fan-boys would come back for the "original" product but from what I see, Savage Worlds has completely taken over the subject and brought it forward a fair bit.
I almost want the stuff just to have better memories about the subject.
It is a fine example of a good company that managed to do what they wanted, too bad we were not so lucky.
I too am mixed in my feelings about that. I would have killed to fund something like that a few years ago (prior to Dec 2013 for instance!) but I won't give Palladium another penny whether directly or indirectly until I get what they owe me already. I'm glad that something nice seems to apparently be shaking out the other end (god knows the official RPG stagnated around 2000ish) but it's bittersweet looking at the compete lack of progress on this front especially once you consider their complete lack of sympathy let alone solidarity with their fellow backers.
Well this still going with reading the last two pages of post. Tailivar I like to wonder if ND had full control of this game we be done by now on to the next KS for RRTSC. I really wonder what PB did to ND to piss them off to leave. I think they had something in their contract that if PB mess with this game they were gone. But now we just looking at crap of game . Its funning that I told a friend mine who ran a Game Hobby shop in Detroit a long time ago. BTW he warn me about PB and Kevin. I apologize to him for not listen to his warning. He forgave me and hated Kevin with passion.
Lynx7725 wrote: Speaking of Savage Rifts, what the status of that KS? In the interest of keeping things mod-friendly, I'm just curious if they are still On-Time, On-Target.
Cursory examination has them late, but arguably within the margin of error (due November, looking to be ready to start shipping December for the physical rewards, the PDF's seem to have been done. On Nov 5 they did a mini status report, saying the delays weren't PB related, and it was mostly convention related (ie, time spent at cons). It also seems that the Creator of the Kickstarter (Shane Hensley) has parted ways, though that's a different person to the Creator of the product (Sean Patrick Fannon)
In another post it's mentioned that one of the bigger manuscript delays is the conversion book. Because the two "game plays are so different", it's apparently a difficult task.
Speaking of conversions, I tried to do a search to find out if PB had clarified their conversion policy. As expected, the PB Forums are borked when it comes to ease of searching. Best I could find was this thread, which had some discussion back in July, with a quote from PBWU of July 8th
"Excitement continues to run high for Savage Rifts® from Pinnacle Entertainment for the Savage Worlds game system. Palladium is working with Pinnacle to allow fans to create conversions and fan materials on the Palladium website and elsewhere. The official policy will be coming soon.".
One Forum poster expressed disappointment at the last two words. A link to Pinnacle's policy, which is essentiially "Ask PB, not us". Dakka's own Forar gets into an argument with a PB zealot, and NMI posted in late July,
"In regards to Savage Rifts, I am waiting on feedback from Kevin. Once I have the ok, I will be putting together a disclaimer of sorts - what sort of conversions can/cannot be posted, questions, etc...". Nothing has been updated since, at least not in an easy to find location. Shocking, right? I know I was.
TLDR: Pinnacle seem to be doing their job in a reasonable fashion, and PB and their flunkies keep Palladiumbing it up. So, nothing unexpected.
ND were no angels at that time either having screwed up their first kickstarter (the anime PVC minis game whose name I can't recall at the moment); I live in the same town as CMON/newwave (again.. themselves not spotless either!) and I heard some admittedly one sided very negative things about what went down with that game leading to the delay.
I doubt ND had a catch clause like that in the contract; Kevin covers his own ass (usually on pedantic unimportant things) but I've never heard of his letting others do the same. My own suspicion is that Palladium simply wanted them to work BEYOND what they actually specified in the contract for no additional pay (because that is apparently the status quo at PB which Kevin expects from underlings... see posts above)... and Ninja Division (again being no angels themselves) probably just said "no" and washed their hands of a fellow manipulator/incompetent after they fulfilled the letter of the contract.
The difference though is that both CMON and ND seemed to have learned from their mistakes and have improved (especially CMON)... whereas Palladium is perfectly content to wallow in their own gak filled pig pen for as long as our money will let them.
Thanks Warboss for the information. What funning is ND people were still posting up to July 03 2013 and then July 07 2013 it was PB after that. The only question HG going to dump PB from Robotech license?
Thanks all. I wish no ill to the Savage Rifts project, was just wondering if a certain disease spread out. It's good to hear that things are smoother there.
DEZOAT wrote: Thanks Warboss for the information. What funning is ND people were still posting up to July 03 2013 and then July 07 2013 it was PB after that. The only question HG going to dump PB from Robotech license?
IIRC Palladium posted that they expected ND to handle everything post campaign whereas ND (and apparently the letter of the contract otherwise Palladium would have publicly said so) thought otherwise. IIRC, there was a few months of silence on updates and palladium's first post after that was to say they didn't know that *THEY* were the ones who were supposed to be doing that. It took them quite a while to care enough to bother checking in on the kickstarter and see that NO ONE was officially posting. Yup, they cashed that big ol' $1.4 million payment (minus fees) and never checked back apparently for weeks or possibly months. It was and continues to be an amateur hour gak show.
HG's not going to dump Palladium. They've said publicly that Palladium was and is one of their longest running licensees and they respect that and can only "nudge" wayward licensees along the path back to not screwing up. In any case, HG is no better than Palladium anyways which is probably why they traditionally got along so well; for years, their anime con panels featured Palladium prominently (mainly because there for all intents and purposes was no one else to show other than some toy figs and skateboards). If they pull the RPG license from Palladium, there likely isn't anyone else that would pick it up.
Over the last years since my first personal contact with PB, then introducing them to other entities to work on minis and more, I have found that they make huge assumptions that others are going to do all or most of the heavy lifting and that they simply need to reel in the rewards due to the license.
Sad, but this has been the pattern for a long time as I hear more and more from people who have known PB for a much longer time than I have.
You tow the line or are counted as a blemish or even worse, a threat.
DEZOAT wrote: Well this still going with reading the last two pages of post. Tailivar I like to wonder if ND had full control of this game we be done by now on to the next KS for RRTSC. I really wonder what PB did to ND to piss them off to leave. I think they had something in their contract that if PB mess with this game they were gone. But now we just looking at crap of game . Its funning that I told a friend mine who ran a Game Hobby shop in Detroit a long time ago. BTW he warn me about PB and Kevin. I apologize to him for not listen to his warning. He forgave me and hated Kevin with passion.
Well, I appreciate your thoughts on this matter but I think we are firmly into "what do we do now?" stage of things.
As long as various 3D models are available for purchase, I will try to complete to some reasonable standard my RRT miniature collection and pretend Palladium does not exist.
I am surprised how unwilling I am to let some $100+ go from the backer kit purchases I made.
I think it is because it allows them to stay in business that little bit longer.
warboss wrote: Mike, any inside rumors from the aborted GZG deal? (or whoever it was that was supposed to do the conventional units, not sure if it was GZG)
It was GHQ. Seems like PB expected them to basically do most the work while they added some Conventional Unit cards into the box and then marked it up a buck or so and walked away with that extra buck or so. Since all you need is the stats.....why would anyone pay more for the minis? That was the major issue that was pointed out by some fans right away. There is more but out of respect for both parties I really shouldn't say more than that.
warboss wrote: Mike, any inside rumors from the aborted GZG deal? (or whoever it was that was supposed to do the conventional units, not sure if it was GZG)
It was GHQ. Seems like PB expected them to basically do most the work while they added some Conventional Unit cards into the box and then marked it up a buck or so and walked away with that extra buck or so. Since all you need is the stats.....why would anyone pay more for the minis? That was the major issue that was pointed out by some fans right away. There is more but out of respect for both parties I really shouldn't say more than that.
I can respect that but figured I'd ask just in case. It just seemed like just backer anger/angst couldn't be the only reason since with Palladium there usually is some kind of interpersonal drama behind the scenes.
warboss wrote: ND were no angels at that time either having screwed up their first kickstarter (the anime PVC minis game whose name I can't recall at the moment);
Relic Knights. I didn't back, nor have I ever picked up any of those models. I just remembered the name.
They will change the scale and material for wave 2; end up being the same as the stuff you get out of bubble gum machines..
That way Palladium can save on cost.. I am sure Kevin still needs more animation cells..
The stuff on the top banner is chibi but it's not relic knights. Relic knights is more cheesecake to borrow a term I've seen here on Dakka for the oversexualized faux innocent female figs. I'm not a fan of either in minis games personally. Ymmv.
Relic Knights. I didn't back, nor have I ever picked up any of those models. I just remembered the name.
Yup, that's the one. Thanks!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Alpharius wrote: Relic Knights wasn't chibi - but what it was was a rather poor use of 'restic' and, IMO, really failed to deliver quality models.
I think they've since gone to 'real resin' for all of the Relic Knights line?
A good cautionary tale, maybe?
If wave 2 goes PVC, well, it might not be all that good.
But at least it would be...something?
At this point, I'd take it over another 3 years of nothing. I did see an announcement about them switching back to resin (iirc they started some of the line in resin originally pre kickstarter).
Sure, I am confident enough to make a "silk purse out of sow's ear" with whatever model material and sculpt they choose, I would take whatever they can scrounge.
It may even take less work prettying up something resin over a lower quality 3D printed model.
I am just wondering how Kevin will make his problem, ours.
Lower quality models would certainly convey his level of commitment to the "future" of RRT.
Probably about as innovative and progressive as his latest other published works.
What gets me is Shane leaving the Rifts Savage World kick starter.. He is the main guy behind Savage Worlds and seems to be the one that did most of the work on Rifts SW..
I know Kevin has gave RRT backers the royal shaft.. but Shane was someone that was trying to help right the boat, but then I think Kevin is the scorpion on the frogs back.
Also my prediction for 2017 is a nice letter from Palladium game stating their bankruptcy and a not so detailed line items for where the money went for RRT.
I completely understand most people don't realize when making a kick stater that most cost are more than they money raise, Sometimes as small as 10% of total project
It is a way to generate interest and see the number of people willing to buy the product, They should plan all the costs and risks before even going to kick starter.
Some time back, the cost estimate I had worked out was that over $800,000 had been spent on Wave 1 stock alone.
It was well over a year ago, so I don't remember most of the calculations, but it was based on numbers pulled from PBWU updates and KS information/updates.
Genoside07 wrote: What gets me is Shane leaving the Rifts Savage World kick starter.. He is the main guy behind Savage Worlds and seems to be the one that did most of the work on Rifts SW.. I know Kevin has gave RRT backers the royal shaft.. but Shane was someone that was trying to help right the boat, but then I think Kevin is the scorpion on the frogs back.
Also my prediction for 2017 is a nice letter from Palladium game stating their bankruptcy and a not so detailed line items for where the money went for RRT.
Nah, they have no reason to declare bankruptcy. No one is going after them for kickstarter funds and they can just keep living off of the remaining amount whatever it is (whether interest or slowing chipping away at the principal) as the project "boils" over yet paradoxically has nothing to report for years.
As for rifts SW, do you have a link to Shane leaving? I don't doubt you but I just don't follow it. Is he leaving PEG or just that project? Is someone from Palladium taking over like with Robotech and Ninja Division?
As for rifts SW, do you have a link to Shane leaving? I don't doubt you but I just don't follow it. Is he leaving PEG or just that project? Is someone from Palladium taking over like with Robotech and Ninja Division?
No.. just what information Morgan Vening had posted
I have had a few good conversations with Harmony Gold USA over the last two weeks, as we start to move toward new Robotech® RPG and Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two releases for 2017. Harmony Gold approved our proposal and art concepts for the first RRT Scenario Book and our plans for the Ghost Fleet Saga™ series. The latter is being designed to create new RRT factions and a new location and time period to game in. It incorporates Shadow Technology and UEEF covert operations against the Regent, Invid, Inorganics, space pirates and renegade Zentraedi. This is a book we have been developing over the last year.
It is starting to look like our manufacturing plan to make Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two game pieces with much lower part counts is not going to pan out. We should know by the end of January, 2017. Very disappointing for us. We thought we had a huge surprise coming, but we are already making contingency plans for the 2017 release.
If you need to change/update your address in BackerKit, please send us a message through Kickstarter, or an email to kickstarter@palladiumbooks.com, and we’ll take care of it. A lot of people have been submitting address changes. Excellent! Please, keep those address changes coming in. Thank you.
So, first para is putting cart before the horse.
Second para is putting the horse down.
I find it hilarious they're making all these big plans for the future, and yet they have nothing close to concrete before end of January. Meaning that even if they get GOOD news, it looks like anything before the end of next year is probably out of the question. And if it's bad news as they expect, 2017's a write off too.
EDIT: Oh, and third para, yeah, update your addresses for something that we don't even have a timeline for. Why update addresses before it starts manufacturing? I know several people have moved multiple times in the last three years. I expect some people will move multiple times before Wave 2 starts.
Genoside07 wrote: What gets me is Shane leaving the Rifts Savage World kick starter.. He is the main guy behind Savage Worlds and seems to be the one that did most of the work on Rifts SW..
I know Kevin has gave RRT backers the royal shaft.. but Shane was someone that was trying to help right the boat, but then I think Kevin is the scorpion on the frogs back.
Also my prediction for 2017 is a nice letter from Palladium game stating their bankruptcy and a not so detailed line items for where the money went for RRT.
Nah, they have no reason to declare bankruptcy. No one is going after them for kickstarter funds and they can just keep living off of the remaining amount whatever it is (whether interest or slowing chipping away at the principal) as the project "boils" over yet paradoxically has nothing to report for years.
As for rifts SW, do you have a link to Shane leaving? I don't doubt you but I just don't follow it. Is he leaving PEG or just that project? Is someone from Palladium taking over like with Robotech and Ninja Division?
Note, Shane Hensley is the creator of the KS Campaign, but Sean Fannon appears to be the person behind the design. And AFAIK, Sean is still working on things, and Jodi appears to have taken over Shane's role.
And agreed re bankruptcy. Unless someone wins big in a lawsuit against PB, or the entropy of support finally forces PB to close it's doors, Kevin is going to stave off bankruptcy until he's drained PB of everything of value. There's no way he'd want to leave any money in the coffers to pay back creditors (including and especially, Kickstarter Backers). Just doesn't seem like it'd be in his nature.
From a business perspective, going to the Ghost Fleet/ Haydonite era makes sense because it's the IP in the entire Robotech series that's the least likely to be challenged. It gives HG and PB a clearer canvas to work on things. Inorganics and some of the REF Destroids would be good to see as miniatures.
But there are a few issues with this.
1. I don't necessarily want to see Haydonite era mecha. I definitely want Macross era, Southern Cross Hovertanks and Bioroids, New Generations Alpha, Beta and Cyclones before talking about even newer stuff.
2. Talking about Haydonite era mecha leads back to the scale problem which was, IIRC, not quite definitively resolved.
There's nothing wrong with writing new content, especially when they got pretty much zero going on elsewhere for RRT. It can be even seen as a good thing, if pitched right. Unfortunately, given the stupidity of the past few years, it's damn near impossible for PB to pitch correctly any more.
I don't even know what to say about the obsession with lower part count.
EDIT: Hmm. They have no concrete quotes yet. Assuming -- badly -- that PB has all the design files ready to go... End Jan firm a contract, runs into the Chinese New Year, which basically means nothing gets done in Feb (PRC tends to go on long break over the CNY period).
March 2017 to start things moving again, about a month to cut steel and test (assuming things go smoothly), verification work and then production run... April and May are shot. Shipment by sea would take a month or so from PRC to US, so Jun, Jul 2017 to reach US... if trade routes hold, which given the political climate, might not.
Admin, paperwork, sorting and parceling out, would consume Aug and likely Sep 2017. That's best case. A bit of SNAFU problems, and weeks would roll by. Pragmatic optimist? Like Morgan says, end 2017, early 2018. Odds are not good for that.. for any delivery, to be honest. We've long since entered the "long shots" category on whether PB can even fulfill this.
"It is starting to look like our manufacturing plan to make Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two game pieces with much lower part counts is not going to pan out. We should know by the end of January, "
Haha... On man I can't even say the words I want to say about this on this forum.
Swabby wrote: "It is starting to look like our manufacturing plan to make Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two game pieces with much lower part counts is not going to pan out. We should know by the end of January, "
Haha... On man I can't even say the words I want to say about this on this forum.
The dakka bad language filter is quite creative as long as you don't try to adapt or change words.
I find it hilarious they're making all these big plans for the future, and yet they have nothing close to concrete before end of January. Meaning that even if they get GOOD news, it looks like anything before the end of next year is probably out of the question. And if it's bad news as they expect, 2017's a write off too.
EDIT: Oh, and third para, yeah, update your addresses for something that we don't even have a timeline for. Why update addresses before it starts manufacturing? I know several people have moved multiple times in the last three years. I expect some people will move multiple times before Wave 2 starts.
They think it makes them look proactive when they're actually just stalling while simulatenously covering their butts for the future. Maybe even someone in the office saw prior to psoting and told Kevin that he's a genius who is reinventing the crowdfunding huckster genre!
As for the first two parts, nothing unexpected. We've been calling that here since it became obvious that their claimed work towards that goal was just smoke and mirrors. I'm guessing that Prodos didn't work out as in their thread they're perennially late on AVP but also now causing other campaigns to be late that they've been contracted to cast for.
Note, Shane Hensley is the creator of the KS Campaign, but Sean Fannon appears to be the person behind the design. And AFAIK, Sean is still working on things, and Jodi appears to have taken over Shane's role.
My bad. I confused Shane with Sean. Thanks for the clarification.
Swabby wrote: "It is starting to look like our manufacturing plan to make Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two game pieces with much lower part counts is not going to pan out. We should know by the end of January, "
Haha... On man I can't even say the words I want to say about this on this forum.
The dakka bad language filter is quite creative as long as you don't try to adapt or change words.
Exactly!
It is just the novel compound words that could get you into trouble...
Lynx7725 wrote: I don't even know what to say about the obsession with lower part count.
It's a misdirect, plain and simple.
Context for those who might not know the full story: In the lead up to wave 1 going to production, they showed off a Spartan that had a simply ridiculous parts count. This set off a portion of the backers, and became known as "Spartangate" (because naming conventions are usually simple and stupid).
There was a great deal of digital ink spilled back and forth (apparently this was how it MUST be done, except for all the companies who don't do it that way, and some bull about the designs not being made with minis in mind, as though an anime from the 80's involved eldritch lovecraftian non-euclidean shapes no metal mold could capture).
Anyway, wave 1 was made, shipped, and lo, while some figures are less obnoxious than others (the Battlepods usually get less ire than the VTs/Destroids), those boxes were filled with 2-3 inch tall figures that had 12-24+ pieces (the VT arms are 4 pieces EACH, so 8-9 bits to trim and/or assemble based on gunpod choice).
As the delays mounted and the months ticked by, they began (at some point, I don't remember exactly when) to use the excuse that they were 'investigating ways to trim the parts count'. This has gone on for, what, quarters now? A year? They've allegedly (from what Ninja Division has said) had all of the digital models for 2 years or more, as I recall, but have apparently spent massive amounts of time "trimming the parts count". There are allegations that the 'file type isn't compatible' or something, but A) that's silly, and B) tangential to the 'parts count' matter.
Which, to bring us back to my original statement; they took a complaint some backers had (many, but not all) and have used it as an excuse for why wave 2 has sat with all but negligible progress for nearly 2.5 years (assuming that work would have begun on it in earnest once wave 1 went from design to production).
Like their ongoing alleged quarters (weeks and months and more) of 'waiting on quotes' from potential factories, it's just an easy cop out, and all the better it throws the blame on the backers in a thinly veiled manner. "Oh, we'd be so much further ahead but we have to worry about the parts count, you see" is the subtext I get from their copy/paste missives.
warboss wrote: As for rifts SW, do you have a link to Shane leaving? I don't doubt you but I just don't follow it. Is he leaving PEG or just that project? Is someone from Palladium taking over like with Robotech and Ninja Division?
Automatically Appended Next Post: I think I was going to do a line by line commentary on PB's latest missive, I will spare you the snark.
Wasn't the scenario book developed by a "fan-friend"?
Seems a bit of a lie saying they were developing it over the last year. I am almost interested just to find out if it remains the same or Kevin does some unholy editing of the document.
The "plans" for the Ghost Fleet Saga I would say goes into the "any year now" normal PB cue so I would not get all that excited. I would chalk that up to a similar misdirection as the "low parts count" comment on wave 2.
So we are into contingency plans for wave 2.
Yup.
Any year then.
Colour me surprised.
Way to go chasing squirrels PB. As if they could even put out one non-Rifts book in a year as-is. Isn't the Dead Reign or whatever Zombie-genre redefining book (in "raw" form) they were supposed to have out in "Fall" still a no show, putting their new book count out at 1 - or 0, I forget which?
I don't think the Great Wave 2 Piece Reduction Quest was even smoke and mirrors. The magician was trying to get off the stage and forget to even make an attempt to cover his exit.
PB, just shoot the damn cow at this point; the bull stopped giving milk over two years ago.
"It is starting to look like our manufacturing plan to make Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Wave Two game pieces with much lower part counts is not going to pan out. We should know by the end of January"
Oh darn... it looks like the master plan to work with Prodos Unicast fell through. But fear not true believers there's plenty of other companies that make rubbery gumball machine toys. Brace yourselves because we might have word about a possible Robotech® RPG Tactics™ quote sometime late 2019®™.
Stormonu wrote: Way to go chasing squirrels PB. As if they could even put out one non-Rifts book in a year as-is. Isn't the Dead Reign or whatever Zombie-genre redefining book (in "raw" form) they were supposed to have out in "Fall" still a no show, putting their new book count out at 1 - or 0, I forget which?
The book is "Hell Followed", and is due to ship out next week. It apparently arrived about lunchtime, Michigan local time.
Making it the second book of the EIGHT announced at the start of the year that would be finished by mid-year. So, a quarter of the books, in twice the time. Par for the course, in Palladium-World.
Also, for those who want more RRT Core Sets, they're on sale at half-MSRP this weekend (also available through CGB's if you ask nicely, apparently). I'm sure that's because they're so benevolent, and not because they're still wanting to shift the craploads they have.
That might arguably be the remaining reason for the Wave 2 charade, beyond the obvious refund issue. If they announce failure, they can't sell people on the promise of a future for the game. Which might impact their ability to sell more of it. As long as they can sell it above clearance costs, that's more money going into PB's coffers, which looks like it's necessary to keep the lights (but not the heat) on, and the doors open.
I can't imagine the core sets are flying off of the shelves, even at 50% off. They must be stuck with a heck of a huge amount of inventory. I wonder if they have to pay an inventory tax on their stock of unsold games.
PB is in Michigan, which has a partial inventory tax, but I wonder what the specifics are. At some point, they may be better off liquidating or destroying their unsold stock.
Stormonu wrote: Way to go chasing squirrels PB. As if they could even put out one non-Rifts book in a year as-is. Isn't the Dead Reign or whatever Zombie-genre redefining book (in "raw" form) they were supposed to have out in "Fall" still a no show, putting their new book count out at 1 - or 0, I forget which?
The book is "Hell Followed", and is due to ship out next week. It apparently arrived about lunchtime, Michigan local time.
Making it the second book of the EIGHT announced at the start of the year that would be finished by mid-year. So, a quarter of the books, in twice the time. Par for the course, in Palladium-World.
Well PB update is up . I like to know if PB and Kev are really doing anything at all with Robotech and RRT. I myself see a no show for 2017 on both. It looks like on face book and KSRRT site , people are calling out for class action lawsuit. But longer this go on maybe more will jump on I don't know we shall see.
The sad truth about the excuse about changing the files or files not working is.. Most computer program systems; graphic (Photoshop, illustrator), CAD, Zbrush or Otherwise.. Most have a import and export feature
to another file type.. they want to be compatible with other programs knowing the files may need to be changed from customer to supplier or vise versa, because not everyone has the same program and usage preferences..
If Palladium just came out as said they have no money left .. no one would be surprised. but then Kevin would need to explain what he did with it..
And that is way harder than converting files.
Well, now that Kevin has torpedoed his primary excuse for the lateness of RRT, what will he do to keep delaying it indefinitely now? Bring up the scale issue?
never knew eBay of all places ever put a limit on things, also I see those hatchimal things all over the place in stores so not sure what this run on them is about
Wasting our money in wave 1 stock that he can't get a return on (due to his lousy handling of the products) is the obvious one.
But also that he has "invested" his own and PB's money in collectibles, like action figures and animation cels, that he thought would make him rich, only to have that stuff stolen by staff or struggling to sell it on ebay... Foolishness.
On one hand, it's something of a catch 22. Even they might be coming to (or at, or long past) a point where they'd happily even take a loss to move their remaining stock. Inventory tax aside, just having pallet upon pallet of unsold and barely moving stock must be a such a waste of space, and demoralizing to look at. They can lie to us, but walking past thousands of boxes in there has to hit home eventually.
On the other hand, having a deep down 'fire sale' level slash would probably just confirm outright that they were desperate for cash and/or that the game has no future, very limited demand, etc.
Not that what we all think has ever really mattered to their business practices, but even at half off, anyone in the US would likely get a better deal buying from CSI with free shipping on two cores. Obviously, even moreso when CSI has a sale going beyond their usual 1/3 off MSRP.
I assume it'll take something catastrophic to bypass their usual barriers and filters for the Palladium Truth(tm), as seen by Him, Kevin, Visionary, for Us, The Fans.
It would be funny to see some big retailers just Nope right out though. Like CSI putting cores down to whatever their cost was or less, just to try to get rid of the things. Something steep enough to indicate they're washing their hands of this mess.
Because petty as it may be, at this point I'm onboard with 'actions and inaction have consequences', and 2 years of bullgak with no end in sight could use a little shaking up. I doubt anyone will be jumping through legal channels over a couple hundred bucks, and even with Facebook and the KS Comments and other venues like here, something like 2% or less of the backers seem to give a feth about pursuing larger scale litigation.
And I can't fault them for that; why throw good money after bad? Nobody can guarantee a success (either recouping money or shuttering PB's doors for good; recompense or revenge), so why kick in more cash to continue not to get anything?
I don't think Kevin understands that. People do talk and every day his product (name/respect) looses ground by his actions or non actions..
If a new gamer will ask about Rifts.. The game is very generic to allow anyone to play anything.. but the rules have never been updated
and running on decades old system that is in dire need of a over haul. Character in the game are broken with levels of heroes never being close to even.
Then you need to buy a number of books to keep up with things.Most gamers will use the game only as a stepping block to other rpgs
A new gamer will ask about Robotech tactics, The system feels like it needs to be worked on and there is only the main box set of miniatures.
the expansions are only more miniatures from the main box set. The current community is lacking because of no real support form Palladium games
and unknown future of upcoming models. Once a promising game.. now a dumpster fire
Even with Games Workshop the newer game/comic shop is wary of dealing with them because of so many people say their order requirements are
crazy and not worth dealing with them direct unless you plan to buy crazy amounts each week.
Also, to copy from the comments; It's been a long time, let's go over the numbers, shall we? Thanks to Talizvar for sensibly setting up some timer links.
- RRT Funded: 3 years, 6 months, 23 days ago. - Was supposed to ship in full: 3 years ago. - Wave 1 shipped between 2 years 1 month ago (for North America) and 1 year, 7 months ago (the last shipments finally going out) - The last update was 3 months, 2 days ago.
- Days until June 12th, 2017: 184 days - Days until Black Friday 2017: 349 days - Days until the end of 2017: 386 days
Some might be asking "why June 12th?" Because that was when wave 1 went into production, and they barely managed to get it out to retailers for that tasty Black Friday money (oh and started shipping to backers in early October).
"But there was that longshoreman's strike! And the fire at the port!" I know. And Wave Two doesn't contain a book or dice production like Wave One did, but Wave One had roughly 1/2 the figures, and it didn't have the dozen'ish resin components. So let's call that a wash (it probably isn't, but I'm not interested in arguing whether they're a month or two ahead or behind, for now it'll suffice until we're closer to them missing 2017).
That's the benchmark; it took them roughly 4 months from starting production to start shipping to backers. Obviously if they're getting 'final confirmation' or whatever in January, then Chinese New Year would impede them from launching right into things (insert snark/scorn here, yes, I know they probably won't be producing at all, just stop, you know who you are), but all else being equal (even if it isn't), that's the starting point. Give or take X weeks or months, CNY doesn't necessary have to be the do or die point, as it wasn't for wave 1.
So to give them undeserved benefit of the doubt, mid 2017 is the canary in the coal mine.
And I can't fault them for that; why throw good money after bad? Nobody can guarantee a success (either recouping money or shuttering PB's doors for good; recompense or revenge), so why kick in more cash to continue not to get anything?
I can't fault them for making that kind of a business decision but the issue for me is that they won't admit that they made it. You (Palladium, not Forar) realize that Robotech Tactics isn't a sustainable long term product line? Fine... I can accept that... but they need to publicly state that and accept the completely justifiable flak that goes along with the decision as well as refund ALL the money that remained after wave 1 shipped. The truly despicable part about Palladium is that they want to have their cake and eat it too. That's what makes Kevin Siembieda and his employees scumbags. Wayne reorganizing the old outdated Robotech file folder in reverse alphabetical order instead of alphabetical or making one cold call to a manufacturer doesn't justify dragging this failed project out another 3 months until their next "effort". I know I'm preaching to the choir, Forar, but figured I'd add that.
Sorry Warboss, it seems I was unclear, that part was aimed towards the 'omg legal action woooo!' sorts of commentary that crops up.
How many people who got ripped off for a couple hundred bucks are going to be excited about paying more money to probably not get anything or the revenge they might seek.
So to give them undeserved benefit of the doubt, mid 2017 is the canary in the coal mine.
And 6 fething months passes pretty quickly.
Yup, and they should know by January supposedly (but whether or not they share any information is another story). We all know they don't give a rat's ass about getting anything (whether information or product, both promised) to backers in a timely fashion but rather that they care about making it for Gencon or not. If they can't make gencon then their next goal would be Black Friday/2017 holiday shopping season. After that, they're back to not caring. As you said, it took them last time months between starting production and starting shipping so if they don't start production in January then the motivation/likelihood of 2017 at all decreases significantly if they can't sell at gencon for 100% msrp.
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