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 Talizvar wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
...and another Tsunami of (X)®™© goes by the board...

Ever feel like the referee in WWE?
Lots of drama and carrying on and every once and a while remind people that there are rules...
I always wanted the Ref to say "Ok you princesses, how about you get to it?"

No, not until...now!

Thank you for combining two of my favorite hobbies!

First thing that could help Palladium with their release dates is stop listing the year...
We said March... we didn't say what year we would release it.

I don't know how many people are buying in on the "we are separate companies";
but the guy has a few items published by them and seem pretty tight with Kevin.
The truth will come out when the kickstarter starts.. I wonder if Kevin would feel
any remorse if he Bankrupted Carmen over the failed Kickstarter..

There will be just more announcements of things are burning hot, but words not action on
the RTT front.. If we see anything from wave two it will be a miracle.

 Genoside07 wrote:
First thing that could help Palladium with their release dates is stop listing the year...
We said March... we didn't say what year we would release it.

I don't know how many people are buying in on the "we are separate companies";
but the guy has a few items published by them and seem pretty tight with Kevin.
The truth will come out when the kickstarter starts.. I wonder if Kevin would feel
any remorse if he Bankrupted Carmen over the failed Kickstarter..

There will be just more announcements of things are burning hot, but words not action on
the RTT front.. If we see anything from wave two it will be a miracle.

it takes a special kind of person to put their neck on the line for Kevin and his failed projects like Carmen is doing, got a feeling Carmen's name is going to be dragged thru the mud and nothing will stick to PB.

 Genoside07 wrote:
First thing that could help Palladium with their release dates is stop listing the year...
We said March... we didn't say what year we would release it.

I don't know how many people are buying in on the "we are separate companies";
but the guy has a few items published by them and seem pretty tight with Kevin.
The truth will come out when the kickstarter starts.. I wonder if Kevin would feel
any remorse if he Bankrupted Carmen over the failed Kickstarter..

There will be just more announcements of things are burning hot, but words not action on
the RTT front.. If we see anything from wave two it will be a miracle.

Two things, first, one of the projects that Carmen should be known for, and it should be brought up routinely, is Robotech Tactics. Second lead in Game Design, and equal lead in Background Writing. He was also apparently heavily involved in the FAQ/supplemental work stuff, but it's unclear of just how much (Mike and James have a better grasp of that). Just because Kevin keeps omitting the fact, doesn't mean it shouldn't be brought up that if not the actual architect for that project, he was definitely heavily involved in it and not some tagged bystander.

Second, assuming Rogue Heroes LLC is actually an LLC, then Carmen won't be bankrupted unless he engages in woefully fraudulent practices (ie, using the LLC for actual illegal activities, that cause the Limited Liability shield to be waived). The entire purpose of an LLC is to protect people from bankruptcy. It's why I was kinda surprised (mostly in hindsight) that PB didn't do one explicitly for RRT. By using the core PB brand, all the assets of PB are at risk if (ie, when) RRT eventually fails. Kevin will obviously claim that the Kickstarter is a separate entity, and that only the funds remaining are at risk, but that is unlikely to hold up if it eventually goes to court. Not sure on the rules for Incorporation (what PB is), but I would assume that'd protect Kevin's personal assets (house, car, personal accounts) but not the PB accounts, assets and IP's.

Here everyone go vote. They're already deleting "negative" comments even though no rules were broken...

http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=152621


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for carmen....he was involved but it was pretty apparent he felt tgere was no need to clarify things via faq or fix them.like the the blast rule.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Mind you carmen also had to publicly apologize to mike for inferring that the conventional rules were his own.


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And one last thing...carmen has has plagiarism/idea theft accusations levelled at him in the past for heroes unlimited related things that were published.


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Oh one more thing...as I recall...genxon 2015 had a number of reports from people the carmen was shilling a board game that was not palladium related....wonder if his vaunted board game had no takers so him getting rifts was kevin throwing him a bone...

My comment replying to that poll, verbatim;

"There was a point in my past where I owned almost everything PB had ever produced, from the GM's screen to some of the pewter minis to the novels and the CCG (along with several bookshelves full of books, of course).

Like Rosco, my more recent experiences with the company leave me wary or actively disinterested in even tangential products.

Good luck with the Kickstarter."

Deleted, no explanation in a private message, apparently bad enough to cull but not so bad as to even fill me in as to why.

@Jefffar, this is the kind of bullgak that gives those forums a bad name. If I or any member of Dakka act out here, a mod will inform us, in the thread, in a PM, maybe with a temp ban time out to think about what we've done.

Apparently being honest as to why I'm uninterested in something that would've previously been something I just threw money at is somehow inappropriate.

1310 posts on that forum, according to my profile page.

I wonder how many more there'd be if a bunch hadn't been 'culled' over the years without notification or my noticing...

Carmen took over the metal casting for the ancient 90's era Rifts minis that PB is still selling. He was Kevin's in house "go to guy" for advice as he'd played 40k and several of the clicks games. He works at PB either part time or as a volunteer I couldn't tell which, but he's around their office pretty regularly and was present almost every time I spoke with Kevin. He's part of the select and anointed inner circle. Back before things got started when I'd speak to PB I'd talk a bit with Kevin and usually get transferred over to Carmen at some point. He seems like a decent guy but he also seemed to have some ideas about the gaming market that were a bit off target compared to the business models that other miniatures companies have established.

It's kind of interesting that while I don't know much about Carmen's background in gaming, the only thing I have heard, now from three different people, about three different projects, are plagarism claims. Or at least, works inspired by those of others. Those being Conventional Forces for RRT, Powers Unlimited, and now the one Paulson mentioned.

I'll note that these are just claims, though that doesn't mean I don't personally believe Mike, Jaymz or Paulson Games. But when it's three different sources talking about three different things, it's not unexpected to wonder if this isn't a pattern of sorts.

Just to be clear...carmens board game is not the same one that was run several times at different pb open houses. I also know that one was based on another game. Carmens is a "new" one as far as i know.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=152645

Here is the post for those who do not want to go to their forums:

I have noticed in recent weeks that some posts get quietly deleted without comment or explanation to the person posting.

I have had this happen, and I know of at least 3 others that have had this happen. Having seen their posts and knowing how I personally post, I can say with some conviction, none of the posts violated any rules and none of the posters were given any explanation for these stealth deletions. I myself finally received an explanation when I proceeded to repeatedly post until they did PM me an explanation which I disagreed with but at the time left it alone.

What I want to know is if this is now standard practice on these forums and if so to what end?

These forums have a bad enough reputation and this will do nothing but worsen that reputation.

Weren't the RRT rules developed by ND and then messed about with by Carmen.

It seemed to me that the original designer agreed that Zent infantry are too slow moving. I can imagine that Carmen made a bunch of unplaytested changes.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

We are banging away on books! In fact, we already notified our printer to expect many new titles this year.

I wonder how many times their printer has heard that before.

According to what Tom Roache told me Carmen did a complete rewrite not just "messed about"


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And Carmen himself told me flat out the rules by ND were "utter garbage so i had to completely redo them from scratch"

 jaymz wrote:
Having seen their posts and knowing how I personally post, I can say with some conviction, none of the posts violated any rules and none of the posters were given any explanation for these stealth deletions.

Did your posts praise PB? if not then that violates their rules.

Is Carmen a MI resident like the rest of PB or located somewhere else?
A MI Biz search shows no hits for a Rogue Heroes LLC, it doesn't appear to be a registered company

I think he lives just over the border in Canada and commutes. It's been a few years so I may a bit fuzzy (or things may have changed since) but from what I recall he had been working primarily as a truck driver going back and forth between MI and Canada, PB being a regular hang out since it was close to home.

^yes unfortunately he is canadian

OMG! OMG! OMG! Ok that out my system now.Man after reading all these posts it make you wonder why I put so much money into this major Debacle of a game . It make me want to bang my head against the wall for this. But I want to thanks all you guys for posting this information. I'am Michigan resident so from what read here and else where Carmen is from city of Windsor which is right cross from Detroit Michigan. So he have 1 hour to 1 and half hour drive to Westland Michigan which is where PB is at. I have notice that there is some Canadian for PB and against PB do see civil war here on this subject? Well I'm done for now.

DEZOAT wrote:
I have notice that there is some Canadian for PB and against PB do see civil war here on this subject?

That, um, escalated quickly.

Of course it's Canada's fault, it always is.

well then we know the answer:

Hi Forar and The Beast (this is in reply to the related post News on the upcoming Rifts Board Game Moderation Discussion)

I asked Kevin to mention it in the newsletter because if we don't drum up interest before the kickstarter, the kickstarter will surely fail and I can't afford that. I don't have a big advertising budget for this kickstarter. I cannot send out to tons of youtube reviewers or post ads on gaming sites, so I need every bit of exposure I can get and asking Kevin to put it in the newsletter costs nothing.

It got its own subforum because I asked for it. I really do want feedback and with its own subforum it is easier for people to give that feedback and it gives me a place to post vids and pics of the game. As far as why other topics don't get a subforum, I don't know why either. I am a friend of Kevin and Palladium but I'm not in on why they do everything they do.

I know I am going to get negative blow back on me because of Palladium's handling of the RTT so I want people to have time to see that I want to do my kickstarter differently. So there is no need to start other threads to bring up problems with the idea of a Rifts: Board Game, although I would ask you to be at least positive with your criticism. I will try to respond to it all if I can.

I also agree with The Beast that why you will not back is valid, but just bringing up the RTT continually is kind of pointless. I have no control over it and nothing to do with it. Simply put this is MY kickstarter not Palladium's and their failures or successes are not mine and I will have to succeed or fail on my own. Although I am going to sure as hell do my damnedest not to repeat their mistakes!

I have asked for them not to delete posts on that thread, but if they do or not, I have no control over it. But I will continue to ask them not to. The reason I am showing these on the Palladium boards first is to get the backing and responses of Rifts players before I make a Facebook page for the project. Even those of you negative on the idea are worth listening to as I can learn what NOT to do when I run my kickstarter, so as long as everyone is civil in the discussion I see no problems with people stating their objections or the support. Again just politely please.

Thanks Carmen :-D

Don't blame me for RTT .. Per Carmen.. but his name is listed first in credits of RTT on Boardgame Geek.. but wants everyone to stay positive about the Rifts Table top situation.

 Genoside07 wrote:

Hi Forar and The Beast (this is in reply to the related post News on the upcoming Rifts Board Game Moderation Discussion)

I asked Kevin to mention it in the newsletter because if we don't drum up interest before the kickstarter, the kickstarter will surely fail and I can't afford that. I don't have a big advertising budget for this kickstarter. I cannot send out to tons of youtube reviewers or post ads on gaming sites, so I need every bit of exposure I can get and asking Kevin to put it in the newsletter costs nothing.

It got its own subforum because I asked for it. I really do want feedback and with its own subforum it is easier for people to give that feedback and it gives me a place to post vids and pics of the game. As far as why other topics don't get a subforum, I don't know why either. I am a friend of Kevin and Palladium but I'm not in on why they do everything they do.

I know I am going to get negative blow back on me because of Palladium's handling of the RTT so I want people to have time to see that I want to do my kickstarter differently. So there is no need to start other threads to bring up problems with the idea of a Rifts: Board Game, although I would ask you to be at least positive with your criticism. I will try to respond to it all if I can.

I also agree with The Beast that why you will not back is valid, but just bringing up the RTT continually is kind of pointless. I have no control over it and nothing to do with it. Simply put this is MY kickstarter not Palladium's and their failures or successes are not mine and I will have to succeed or fail on my own. Although I am going to sure as hell do my damnedest not to repeat their mistakes!

I have asked for them not to delete posts on that thread, but if they do or not, I have no control over it. But I will continue to ask them not to. The reason I am showing these on the Palladium boards first is to get the backing and responses of Rifts players before I make a Facebook page for the project. Even those of you negative on the idea are worth listening to as I can learn what NOT to do when I run my kickstarter, so as long as everyone is civil in the discussion I see no problems with people stating their objections or the support. Again just politely please.

Thanks Carmen :-D

Don't blame me for RTT .. Per Carmen.. but his name is listed first in credits of RTT on Boardgame Geek.. but wants everyone to stay positive about the Rifts Table top situation.

can we name 2 things that RRT and RBG have in common? well lets see Carmen and Palladium Books, nuff said.

There are three things. Miniatures as well.

 jaymz wrote:
Just to be clear...carmens board game is not the same one that was run several times at different pb open houses. I also know that one was based on another game. Carmens is a "new" one as far as i know.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=152645

Here is the post for those who do not want to go to their forums:

I have noticed in recent weeks that some posts get quietly deleted without comment or explanation to the person posting.

I have had this happen, and I know of at least 3 others that have had this happen. Having seen their posts and knowing how I personally post, I can say with some conviction, none of the posts violated any rules and none of the posters were given any explanation for these stealth deletions. I myself finally received an explanation when I proceeded to repeatedly post until they did PM me an explanation which I disagreed with but at the time left it alone.

What I want to know is if this is now standard practice on these forums and if so to what end?

These forums have a bad enough reputation and this will do nothing but worsen that reputation.

It seems that Beast fellow is on secret probation or something. He just made a post in your thread claiming the mods there are altering his signature remarks.

 Desmodus wrote:
It seems that Beast fellow is on secret probation or something. He just made a post in your thread claiming the mods there are altering his signature remarks.

The funniest thing is, the sig in question was this.

"Petty tyrants thrive when they have authority backed by vague regulations."

Then, a mod at the PBForums goes out and proves it's accurate.

Two weeks ago I had my own run-in with the mods over them stealth deleting my posts. I responded to a Forar post about heavyhandedness over there. They deleted his, and mine. I reposted it, as I hadn't broken any rules as far as I knew. I've gotten in the habit of saving PBF posts due to threads being deleted. They deleted it. This went on TEN TIMES over the course of about a week, me reposting, them deleting, me reposting again. If I'd known WHO was deleting or WHY I was being deleted, I'd have voiced a reasoning. But that didn't happen until after the tenth time. That's when I got a quasi-reasonable explanation, and so I stopped. But the explanation I was given was basically "I can delete the post, delete the post and lock the thread, or delete the post/lock the thread/issue suspensions, which do you prefer?". I responded that they could COMMUNICATE the reason. They've chosen not to try that, it seems.

Typical response, just like the people at PB. Figure out the worst possible option, and do that. Seriously, they'd be better off publicly banning people than this stealth moderation.

Oh, and to bring it back to kind of on-topic, the reason the stealth deletions were/are happening, was that there's a poll regarding the new "totally not made by PB" Rifts BoardGame was asking about interest levels. And people were responding "Not interested because of how RRT was/is handled". No big rants, nothing offensive, nothing objectionable (unless any criticism is objectionable, which on PB, it seems to be). Just a short explanation as to why they responded to the poll with "No, I'll pass". Given that option is in the significant majority, I think it's understandable for people (and Carmen) to want a reason for it.

It is very easy to check the powers unlimited plagiarism claims for yourself. Theres a stickied powers thread in the heroes unlimited section of the forums. Look through the earliest parts of the thread and then compare it to the powers unlimited one and three books. In some cases it just copy and paste ..what palladium does best..

I posted on the Rifts game forum and it was sent to admin before it can show up... so they are locking down on their site..

But I was wondering.. RTT pissed off approximately 5000 people, what percent is that of the gaming
community.. I just know the times I mentioned it at my FLGS, most are not interested and the RTT
items is on the clearance rack. With no plausible future of any kind of release how can they think of repairing this issue.

I want to wait and see on this one.

Despite Carmen's protestations to the contrary, insisting this is all his own work - you might wonder that if he was designing this for over two years what happenned tp the advanced rules he was supposed to create for RTT - that his good friend Kevin has not helped him in this.

Look at the bare facts , kevin has expended more verbiage on this in the last mnth than he has bothered to do with RTT in the last six months. A new sub forum is asked for and set up on the Palladium site almost straightway, considering the RTT one was more a response to backers upsetting the White KNights and their comfy zone.

The final nail is thatis to think that Kevin is going to let anyone apart from himself has any creative input into his baby, Rifts. Going forward given that PB have outlawed discussions to port any fan made material, when this launches if crossovers are allowed then you know it is a Palladium product

Wow, Carmen's made some brave replies in the PB forums. I think he's skirting treason with some of what he's said.

evilsmurf wrote:
Wow, Carmen's made some brave replies in the PB forums. I think he's skirting treason with some of what he's said.

Yeah, I saw some of those, and I was like "Unca Kevin would not be happy if he actually read the Forums!". But we know he doesn't, so unless he gets snitched on (though in the Megaverse, snitches get promoted), it'll never be a problem.

It's very much a "Yeah, gonna not be doing what RRT did" without mentioning it. That'd be a good thing if I actually believed it was going to be a PB-hands-off campaign and production run. But I can't believe Kevin won't want to put his mark on it at some point. If there's one thing Kevin can't abide, it's keeping his nose out of things. He'll want to do enough to get his name in the credits, and probably not as a "Based on concepts by" way.

On the plagiarism here is the email content....Kevin was not aware initially of the issue until I brought it up this way. Trying to be professional but at the same time I was really pissed at the blatant theft and the idea that Carmen was somewhat innocent in this is completely preposterous. He knew exactly what he had and where it came from.



My Initial Email......

I've not gone through it all in detail. I think something like 80% or more of this is word for word what I had done up. Glad it was useful and I hope to work with things some more. The guys on the Facebook page are testing some of the other stuff I did like the other conventional units not included here and for the most part are happy with how things are working out. I like the change from units doing infantry damage to just all MD. It will make the game a bit faster. I've made some notes here and will make a few more. We can discuss on the RRT MA Facebook page some more over the weekend. I'm confident we can have it all worked out quickly.

Mike Arnold


Response......

Hi Mike,

I want to apologize for some confusion. As you know Jeff Burke is no longer with Palladium Books. Jeff was the guy who was the go between with you and Carmen and others.

I was unaware that Jeff sent Carmen YOUR material (additions to rules and fixes to certain rules questions and clarifications), so all this time I was under the misconception that this was all Carmen Bellaire's work. When I got your email saying "I think something like 80% or more of this is word for word what I had done up," I was surprised. When I was able to contact Carmen, he said, "Yeah, a lot of this is Mike's or inspired by Mike's work. He has some really good ideas." Carmen went on to explain that Jeff Burke had led him to believe this was material created for Palladium Books for future rules. Since Carmen liked a lot of what you had done, he incorporated it into the rules believing it already belonged to Palladium Books. He was shocked and apologetic to learn otherwise. Neither Wayne nor I were kept in the loop on this matter.

Obviously your work is derivative of Palladium Books' published works (and Harmony Gold), but we can NOT just "take it" and use it!!

So Mike, first, I want to apologize for not giving you credit in the Weekly Updates.

Second, I need your permission for Palladium Books to use your work (with changes and additions and additional stats as we deem necessary or desirable) and make them "official" parts of Robotech RPG Tactics rules. Of course, YOU will be given credit!

Third, I need to send you a contract and pay you something for your contribution. I cannot afford to pay a lot. I'm hoping something like $100 and credit will suffice.

Please let me know at your earliest convenience if this is acceptable. And sorry for any confusion. Just too much going on and bad communication the part of Jeff.

Nice work, btw, on the material you turned in. Obviously we like it a lot.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda


Later from Wayne Smith....

Hi Mike,

I'm writing because I haven't heard back from you yet, and I want to make sure things are good between us. As I said in my previous email, we (Wayne and I) were not aware that Carmen was incorporating your rules, which is why your name was not included in Updates about it. I will certainly make sure you get the credit you deserve (assuming you allow us to use them) and would like to see you more directly involved in the future of RRT.

Of course, that's if you are interested in future contributions to the RRT game system and product line.

If you are willing to let us use the current rules as sent to you by Wayne (incorporating a lot of your work), we'd like to post it very soon as "official" material, and offer you a token payment and credit. I can not afford a lot, and rules are always tricky. Wondering, has this already appeared on your own website?

Working more formally in the future, we'll need to work out some ideas for fair compensation, we'll need signed agreements and of course you will get credit for your contributions, past and present.

I hope this confusion on our part (particularly my own) has not caused you any serious consternation. Thank you for caring about this product line. I hope this recent incident with the rules has not upset you. Take care and thank you for all you've done to promote and encourage RRT.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda



My future contributions will ONLY be upon request for and by the fans, such as Brian Ledbetter wanting to finish up the Robotech Masters stuff. I have only been working on Nodal Wars, which I like a lot more although it takes a bit more time to play, since late last year when I threw in the towel.

Now the question is how long until this gets passed on to KS by his partners in crime here.