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The next step to save Palladium
“Is Palladium saved yet?”

It’s the nagging question we are asked 100 times a week. Common business formula is that a three year plan for recovery is a fast turn around. Five years would be reasonable.

I think we can do it in one year or a year and half.

When I first told freelancers and insiders about the Crisis of Treachery, most surprised me saying, “Kev, we have faith in you. You'll keep Palladium going. We’re with you all the way.” A small number of pragmatists hung their heads low with sadness and asked, “So when are you going to give up and let go?”

“Never!” was my knee jerk reaction.

But Palladium’s situation was dire and extreme. It would take a miracle to survive to the end of the year, let alone get back on our feet.

That miracle was you, Palladium’s legion of fans from around the world. You came to our aid in thronging multitudes. Thousands of you bought books, T-shirts, prints and specialty items. You insisted on our taking cash donations too. We only agreed to donations because we thought it would allow fans with low budgets but a burning desire to help too, contribute to the cause with two or five dollars. However, we've gotten our share of 20s, 50s and 100s. Just last week, an incredibly generous soul sent us one thousand. It is the third $1000 donation we've gotten. Wow.

Just as importantly, Palladium was deluged with on-line testimonials, letters and telephone calls from people pledging their support, offering encouragement, and speaking about the joy and inspiration Palladium’s role-playing games have brought them over the years. This outpouring of love bolstered our battered spirits and inspired us to press on against seemingly impossible odds. You will never know how much your kind words have meant to all of us. Speaking for myself, I can tell you that they carried me when I felt exhausted, broken, and wondering if I was crazy and should just give up. Thanks to you and your inspiring words and acts of kindness, the answer to that thought was a resounding, “no.” Never give up. Never surrender. We do this. And we are.


Thank you one and all. Your heartfelt efforts are working!
Palladium is doing much better than we were at the beginning of 2006, but the fight is not over and there remain a few major hurdles we need to overcome to insure the company’s survival and future. Hurdles I think we can overcome with your help.

We are recovering much, much faster than formula or common sense would dictate. That’s FANTASTIC news! We are exceeding our three year plan for recovery at lightning speed! If we can keep it up and beat our new challenges, Palladium might be on its feet and on solid footing by Summer 2007. That’s one year! Much better than our original projection of Summer 2009. And it is due, in large part, to you.

All is not perfect, however, as Palladium faces a host of new challenges. So it is that we fine ourselves at one of those “moments of truth” that could make or break Palladium’s recovery.


New challenges to overcome as quickly as possible
1. Palladium has made huge strides at getting our products into the book trade, a move that could, within 6 months to a year, double our income.

But we lack the money to reprint 20 key and core titles, including Rifts® Ultimate Edition (down to our last 700 copies). If we are unable to get books into the hands of our book trade partners, all that hard work has been for nothing. Worse, if we can't provide product on the level the book trade needs, they might drop us.

Even under the best of circumstances, payment in the book trade is 120 days net. That’s FOUR MONTHS before we get paid for our first month’s sales. Four months we need to print, reprint, and ship before the proceeds (which could be considerable) come back to us. It’s not unfair, that’s how the industry has always worked. In better times, that would be no problem. Today, it seems like very long time indeed.

2. Christmas time usually sees our sales skyrocket. Back stock titles, old faves, new RPG release, specialty items (like prints, glasses, T-shirts, limited edition books and prints) and the annual X-Mas Grab Bag are great gifts for role-playing gamer friends and family. Sales are up in stores too, where Palladium has an increasing presence via the book trade.

However, without the ability to reprint key out of print book titles, or print new releases, we don't have the darn product to sell during the biggest sales period of the year. Its so frustrating!

3. Palladium has assembled the greatest team of creators ever! Writers, artists, friends and volunteers all working their hearts out and producing some of the most impressive role-playing games and sourcebooks that we've seen in years. Furthermore, despite the pressures of it all, I, Kevin Siembieda, am brimming with new ideas, not just for RPG products, but new avenues of revenue and how to make Palladium stronger than ever. Ideas that have blown away the insiders who have heard them.

Only we don't have the darn money to print all these fabulous new books are try some of these new ventures.

4. Behind the scenes, we have been working tirelessly on a great number of opportunities and ideas these past few months. Opportunities like the return of Robotech®, rumblings from Hollywood, new mediums, new avenues of distribution, and new audiences for our products, as well as new types of product.

Regrettably, some of the biggest, most promising opportunities are long term commitments that will take 2-4 YEARS to bear fruit. The exploration of these new avenues are ALL worth pursuing, even if they steal away precious time now as we build for the future. Sorry, we don't want to reveal the specifics on these behind the scenes efforts because three quarters of them will never come to pass, we don't want our competitors to know our plans, and the level of heartbreak and disappointment can be murder. Still, these are areas that must be pursued because any one of these initiatives could be critical to Palladium’s quick recovery and play a dramatic role in our long term success.

5. The bottom line is we need another infusion of cash. The next 3-5 months could be “make it or break it time” for Palladium and we need your help.


How to help Palladium get over the top
We are so close. We've won so many battles and have worked so feverishly to put our plan into place. Don't let us run out of steam right when we’re in position to make our big move!

- Please continue to spread the word about Palladium’s plight. There are still those who haven't heard. Every day we encounter dedicated fans, old friends, and troops returning from overseas who have yet to learn about Palladium’s troubles.

- Please continue to keep buying those game books you've been meaning to pick up and items like prints, the anniversary laser-etched glasses, and collectibles.

- Please encourage people to share their experiences and affection for Palladium in an effort to get new people to try our games.

- Come down to see us at conventions like UberCon, YoumaCon and the 2007 Palladium Open House.

- Keep your fingers crossed and the prayers going, because they seem to be working! And we'll keep you clued in as success is realized.

If Palladium can sell another 1000 A Megaverse United prints (already at an impressive 1845) and more of everything else . . .

If Palladium could see a big sales push the last three months of 2006, it may be enough to send Palladium over the top, or at least give us a running start into 2007.

If we can manage to reprint key back stock titles and new titles . . .

If the new Robotech® RPG series is as big as we think it could be, or one of our other new releases or old lines heat up . . .

If we have a good showing at the 2007 Palladium Open House . . .

These are all things within our grasp. All things we can accomplish with your help. And they may be all we need to get Palladium solid again and running indefinitely. Such is the vast potential of Palladium Books.

You, our fans, have already done so much, I hate to even ask for more help. I know Palladium’s critics will lambast me and have a field day with this appeal, but I don't care. Together we have built something strong and wonderful that has lasted 25 years. Together we have rebounded from treachery and work to rebuild Palladium’s shattered foundation so we can continue for decades to come.

Yeah, it’s only games and books, but games and books that have touched millions of lives. Games and books that have stretched across generations and built a network of friends from around the world. Games and books that spark the imagination and dare us all to dream.


Palladium is at a crossroad
Will it be our last? I don't know, but I do know this is a pivotal moment. If we succeed now, it may put us over the top and allow Palladium to build momentum into the future. Failure at this junction could cripple us and bring our slow recovery to a crawl.

This is a battle we can win. I believe that more than ever, thanks to you.

If you can help, please do. But please do NOT bankrupt yourself or buy books you don't need or want. However, if there’s a book you've been meaning to get, a print you like, a T-shirt to wear . . . well, every little bit helps. No purchase or donation is too small. It all adds up, and faster than you might think. I never imagined we'd have gotten so far in such a short time (six months), but you guys and gals have been amazing. Now, we need you to help some more, but only if you can afford to do so. You've helped us stand on wobbly feet, now we need you to help us walk. And if you can do that, we'll try to get us running as fast as we can, as soon as we can.

Thank you for all you've done already. Thank you for your continuing support. I promise, none of you will ever be forgotten.

– Kevin Siembieda, President, October 11, 2006

For full details and discussion:
http://forums.palladium-megaverse.co...ic.php?t=65409

Grab Bags:
http://www.palladiumbooks.com/Mercha...duct_Code=XMAS

Palladium Open House Tickets:
http://www.palladiumbooks.com/Mercha..._Code=POH-2DAY

Copyright 2006 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
This Press Release may be used and portions reprinted with Palladium's permission for the purpose of news and promotion. Rifts®, Megaverse® and Palladium Books® are registered trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. and Kevin Siembieda. Heroes Unlimited, Powers Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, Tome Grotesque, Beyond Arcanum, Splicers, MercTown, Merc Ops, Dinosaur Swamp, Chaos Earth, NEMA and all other titles and names are trademarks of Palladium Books.

Stay tuned to www.palladiumbooks.com for more information.

*sigh*

I do like them, I do I do. Best of luck to them.

"1. Palladium has made huge strides at getting our products into the book trade, a move that could, within 6 months to a year, double our income. "

This could be HUGE mistake. Most book sales are returnable, if a book does not sell stores can return it for a full (or partial) refund of what they paid. I used to work for a publisher and they were almost sunk when a major line tanked and the returns started coming in.

Moreover stores can fine the publisher if they order stock and don't get it.

Wizards of the Coast can do book store sales, I don't think a marginal business like Palladium can.

Again I wish them luck but this bodes ill.

Kid Kyoto, I knew you'd be the first to post...

And I agree with you 100%. Books are returnable if unsold. Which can cause huge headaches, and was nearly the death of TSR. You can read about it in D&D: 30 years of adventure, but basically, they were in a situation, much like PG.

What happened? They ended up having to sell out to WotC.

And they themselves said a game company was lucky if they could sell two novels a year. Producing more was the first step on the road to ruin for TSR. They thought they could pull it off, and it all went straight to hell. I can't see PG launching a huge novel line and having it save the company.

Somehow, I can't see PG recovering from any of this. His plans for recovery seem like smoke and mirrors, and a lot of "pie-in-the-sky" hopes and dreams. Kevin, you think Harmony Gold will reiussue the Robotech the license to a company on the verge of bankruptcy, just so you can reissue some moldy old books from the 80's Really?

And what about modernizing your RPG book line, making PDF's available for sale online, upgrading to computer layouts etc. Psh, whatever, says Kevin. He likes his cut-and-pasted layouts just fine thank-you-very-much! His car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way he likes it!

What about having the company go public? It would provide a huge influx of cash, pay off all the debt and get enough money to jumpstart all the lines produced by a company with only six employees. Oh no, says Kevin, that means I would give up my autonomy! No answering to shareholders for me! It's gonna be me and only me at the helm as I watch this company crash and burn!

More and more Kevin seems like a guy who will definately take the ship down with him.

Except now he's passing the collection jar around while he does it.

Awesome.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

Taking a company like Paladium public when it's not anywhere near financial stability is not a good idea. There's nothing in it's future that suggests huge profits for stockholders, and quite a bit that suggests the possibility of bankruptcy. Going public shines a spotlight on your business and its stability. Paladium probably doesn't look to good in the spotlight right now.

I'd agree that the book trade seems a bit risky at the moment. If they are doing better, good, continue to slowly dig your way out. Don't throw the dice on a plan that needs you to reprint a huge amount of stock, and delay payment for half a year. If book sales don't go like they expect, any work digging out is erased and they are closing the doors.

This guy sounds just like Michael Stackpole (author of the X-Wing series of books) when he was out of a job and wanted to keep the cushy one instead of getting a real job where you actually worked. Except Stackpole didn't ask for donations. Even Decipher when it's at the brink of bankruptcy and does really odd things after burning all the bridges with its fans (who feel betrayed with the Wars TCG and all that drama) never asked for donations. So yeah, this is really low.

I find this really funny. The comic store boom died a while back and yet this guy's high enough on something that he thinks he can publish some "moldy old books" and have them recover. How much do authors of books get again? It's a really small amount from what I hear.

The paragraph about "games and books" and "touching lives...imagination" is hilarious.  It's like seeing one of those donation commercials about the kids in Africa but it sounds satirical.  "Come on, nerds!  Come on basement-dwellers!  We need more of you cheeto-eating geeks to buy this stuff!"

Mikhaila:
Actually they're may be SEC rules against taking a company public when you're that much in debt (I'm not sure) but on the flipside, it doesn't matter. Everyone is looking for the hot new IPO, and there are a lot of people willing to take a chance on PG.

If PG could get financially solvent and develop a real, workable business plan they could go public, which would generate a huge influx of cash they could use to reprint their main lines and core rulebook, print/reprint future lines, and modernize their printing technology.

Instead he's passing the collection plate around, and begging for money.

Awesome.

--Chris
www.chrisvalera.com

I have a feeling the answer is going to be cringe-worthy, but what is this "Crisis of Treachery" he refers to?

Something I forgot to mention about the book trade, not only are returns refundable but for paperbacks you don't even get the physical book back, usually PBs are so cheap to make the stores just tear off the covers as proof of destruction and destroy the rest. It's just not worth the shipping cost.

So not only do publishers have to repay the store, they don't get the physical stock back. It's looking worse and worse for them.

Last time this thread came around I bought a bunch of Rifts minis, I always like their mecha designs. But come on, donations? To a company? No, just no.

Posted By JOHIRA on 10/14/2006 7:54 AM
I have a feeling the answer is going to be cringe-worthy, but what is this "Crisis of Treachery" he refers to?

something along the lines of one of his employees stealing stuff (like his collection of animation cells, money, etc.) and that's apparantly why they've been ruined.  Well, they were already in decline for a long time.

Kevin Sembieda seems a little crazy
They're doing some odd moves, here is their "Megaverse United" Print that is suppost to be inspirational to PB's struggle, but...


There's a freshly dug grave marked 'Palladium' and a Coalition Deadboy standing right over it, it's hard to believe that this is suppost to be a positive image.

and the image he uses for his profile

is him clutching his head like a madman, or in pain
"see, I am an idiot!" -K.S.

Posted By Kikkoman on 10/14/2006 9:06 AM

Posted By JOHIRA on 10/14/2006 7:54 AM
I have a feeling the answer is going to be cringe-worthy, but what is this "Crisis of Treachery" he refers to?

something along the lines of one of his employees stealing stuff (like his collection of animation cells, money, etc.) and that's apparantly why they've been ruined.  Well, they were already in decline for a long time.

$850k-1mil is a lot of dough to have been swindled out of such a small company as PG! Is there actuall litigation going on with charges brought up against the perpatrator(s) or an ongoing investigating them? That's what i don't like about all that "I can't talk about it because my lawyers said so" bit. Smacks of smoke & mirrors if there isn't some actual legal paperwork filed and/or investigation going on, though if either  actually is ongoing it makes perfectly sound legal sense.

I'm so out of the RPG scene, I really don't know what is going on there, but PG seems pretty stale to me. It also seems pretty foreboding that he wants to try and push into book trades, yet his product isn't moving (enough) inside traditional game stores. I'm sure the demise of many game shops the past couple years hasn't helped either.

Pretty laffo that he's asking for donations to stay afloat... wtf? I sure would like whatever Siembada is smoking, though. Whatever it is, he is completely blind to the writing on the wall that PG is about to experience first hand what a "market correction" is: Insolvency. Which is sad, since I grew up on their RPGs, many which were great for their day and age (TMNT anyone? How about RECON?) But this is what happens when you stagnate and consistently refuse to to put out fresh ideas into your products.

I think palladiums problem (besides financially) is quantity not quality.

Everytime I go to a game shop, there is yet another new rifts book or what have you out. How can somebody keep up with the sheer scale of releases? I wonder how much wall space a full collection of palladium books are?

Playing palladium games are fun, in a power role playing sort of way. Everyone wants to be a glitterboy. I dont know, but the cheese seems thick with this system.

Regardless, i dont like to see any gaming company go under. I happens all to fequently and I die alittle everytime it happens.

Posted By Hellfury on 10/14/2006 10:35 AM

 Everyone wants to be a glitterboy.

I heard that, sister.  I'm a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm, and your silly lasers cannot harm me.

I've killed Vampire Intelligences, stood back to back with Julian the First.  I have been to the dark heart of Atlantis, walked the haunted streets of Madhaven.  I have fought the demons of China, and have met Erin Tarn.

And if I want to give this guy some money, there ain't a damn thing you can do about it.

 

That being said, I wonder what if any irons are really in the fire.  The Rifts movie could finally happen, and Palladium could try for a tie in with the TMNT movie with a re-release of TMNT and other Strangeness, but other than that, not so much.

I wish him the best of luck. 

Posted By Hellfury on 10/14/2006 10:35 AM
I think palladiums problem (besides financially) is quantity not quality.

I would agree.  There are way to many Rifts books that only hardcore will care.  I had a friend that was into it, and while fun, there was no way I was going to get into a game that had so many books in the series.  It can be really intimidating to new players to have to sort through a library to figure out what's what and who's who.

Posted By Jester on 10/14/2006 4:42 PM

Posted By Hellfury on 10/14/2006 10:35 AM

 Everyone wants to be a glitterboy.

I heard that, sister.  I'm a streetwalking cheetah with a heart full of napalm, and your silly lasers cannot harm me.

ah, the Iggy Pop R.C.C.

anyone think they should just do a 2nd ed, and work on cleaning everything up? I was hoping for that with Ultimate Edition, but it's same copy/pasted stuff.

Though, who are their buyers but the hardcore? I guess it's easy for us to say "they ought to try to bring in more people by doing x and y", but are new people really getting into tabletop RPG's? The guy who's been playiing for 10 years is their main customer, so I guess it makes sense to satisfy them with more books.

I'd go back to them if there was something new.
I mean realy new not just whatever flight of fancy KS has pulled out of his hat and mashed into his "rule set" if you can call it that...

I stopped picking up the books a long, long time ago, but is the MDC creep still there? I think they're in a situation where they really can't come out with a truly revised, updated and new 2nd edition of rules without destroying what withering customer base they have. That and I doubt KS can gain the objectivity to change what is essentially a 20 year old rule system.

And to heck with being a Glitterboy yo, it's all about being a mutie scum stomping, mage slaying, psychic hating Coaltion Deathhead SAMAS pilot with a license to ROCK!

There are also the problems that Palladium can't fix, such as RPG's being in a pretty bad slump. Hard to get even 3 people to get together on a weekly basis, and give up Warcraft, or Everquest, or insertnexthotgamehere.

A good chunk of RPG sales at my shops are to veteran gamers that don't play that often, but want to keep up with their book collection. It's rare that I get someone in looking for a new RPG to play, ( the exception to that being D and D. )

Posted By nyarlathotep667 on 10/16/2006 2:33 AM
I stopped picking up the books a long, long time ago, but is the MDC creep still there?...

And to heck with being a Glitterboy yo, it's all about being a mutie scum stomping, mage slaying, psychic hating Coaltion Deathhead SAMAS pilot with a license to ROCK!

If you count the SAMAS being replaced by the SUPER SAMAS and STRIKER SAMAS, which are essentially the SAMAS with bigger guns and more armor, yeah the creep is still there.

 

Though there's some kind of Golden Rule that no human gun gets stronger than 3d6x10 Boom gun

so you end up with wierd results like a 50ft tall robot with a cannon the size of a glitterboy doing less damage than a 9ft glitterboy. Or its easier to destroy a tank with 10 pistols tied together than one antiarmor rocket.

Their rules are also messy and all over the place.

5lb infantry laserguns wind up doing more damage than 500lb power armor rail cannons. And the guns are right next to each other in the books, I wonder if they even proof read their stuff after the copy/pasting.

Rifts is really a wonderful world though, but then even that is getting crowded and diluted due to the need to pump out books for the same hardcore veteran fans to buy and make a profit.

It's a really fantastic IP. And I used to love the art, but they seem to be purposefully phasing out all of Kevin Long's great designs. (like the SAMAS and its replacements, or the look of the newer Deadboys)

What ever happened to Kevin Long?

Posted By Kid_Kyoto on 10/17/2006 7:08 PM
What ever happened to Kevin Long?

He's now at Ravensoft directing art. I believe he worked on Quake 4

google...

<table width="475" height="167" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="109" height="149"></td> <td width="366" height="149">[ Kevin Long ] After attending the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan and majoring in advertising illustration, Kevin worked in the Detroit-area advertising industry and also worked in role-playing as a staff artist for Palladium Books doing covers and B&W art for RIFTS and Robotech. In 1997, Kevin was hired by Raven Software and has worked on the Hexen II Mission Pack: Portal of Praevus, Heretic II, Soldier of Fortune, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, and Soldier of Fortune 2. Kevin is currently the Art Lead on Quake 4.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
He plays a little 40k, though just with loaned armies. Tau and Necrons.