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 Talizvar wrote:

Asterios wrote:
wonder if I can list RRT or PB as a charity tax write off? since thats what PB seems to think they are.

No, they believe it is their due.
That form of payment runs closer to their intended business model of "How about you give us the money and we will see what we think you deserve."
Actually, looking at this harder, there is more truth there than I am comfortable with.
The Christmas loot bag thing is a fine example of that thought process.
The BBB replies pretty much said we got enough for our money.
So yes, the business mindset is "entitled" rather than begging for loose change.

so like a TV evangelist then ?

Asterios wrote:

 Talizvar wrote:

Asterios wrote:
wonder if I can list RRT or PB as a charity tax write off? since thats what PB seems to think they are.

No, they believe it is their due.
That form of payment runs closer to their intended business model of "How about you give us the money and we will see what we think you deserve."
Actually, looking at this harder, there is more truth there than I am comfortable with.
The Christmas loot bag thing is a fine example of that thought process.
The BBB replies pretty much said we got enough for our money.
So yes, the business mindset is "entitled" rather than begging for loose change.

so like a TV evangelist then ?

There are no words.

Latest PBWU is up.

And the one line blowoff didn't make a return. Because that's apparently too much effort. There's literally no separate RRT section this week. "tactics" is mentioned 16 times, but it's all either your standard advertising fare, or minor news from last week (there'll be tourneys at GenCon, no details). There's a weirdness to the fact that next Thursday marks the 4th anniversary of RRT launching, and there's no mention.

Of course, gRifts gets 4 full paragraphs, including a release date, of sorts (last week of April, maybe). And everyone who's seen it has been blown away! spank spank spank. If it launches on time (and I'm not taking bets on that) it'll provide an interesting commentary section, that's for sure.

He's also advertising for someone else's Kickstarter, a wild west RPG. And he gives it higher priority than gRifts. There's a slight change I might have backed it, maybe. But Kevin's declared he's possibly going to, so I'm definitely not.

On the book front, no books have slid, though it's only a matter of time. Two due by May, one due by June, three due by Summer. All but one (Dark Designs) having previously been listed as "First half of 2017". Well.... besides most being in the "First half of 2016" list (if not earlier). Keep fething that chicken, Kevin. Someone might believe you.

Same with any belief EoY is possible. Despite being "dedicated to getting Wave 2 done and in your hands by the end of 2017".

I give it (out of 5). It's completely banal, and there's not much to be angry or peeved at. But it's also not filled with insults to our intelligence, and nearly anything that could be annoying, was annoying last week (or earlier) already.

I figure gRifts will get attention for the next few months, then Gen Con.. how great it was and then around October.. OOOPs .. we forgot about RTT

Maybe better chance next year...once we help complete gRifts that is not our game

Good news though, they are selling their "collectibles" that include Star Wars items, and they have EBay store.

That doesn't seem like a totally desperate move for money.

At all.

Morgan Vening wrote:
Latest PBWU Of course, gRifts gets 4 full paragraphs, including a release date, of sorts (last week of April, maybe). And everyone who's seen it has been blown away! spank spank spank. If it launches on time (and I'm not taking bets on that) it'll provide an interesting commentary section, that's for sure.

change GRifts with RRT and its the same thing he told us when RRT came out. also thanks for the heads up of Kevin giving a thumbs up on that other KS I backed out of it, anything PB and/or Kevin touches or is associated with or approves is tainted with his stench.

 TalonZahn wrote:
Good news though, they are selling their "collectibles" that include Star Wars items, and they have EBay store.

That doesn't seem like a totally desperate move for money.

At all.

Kevin has been pimping his little eBay store for literally years at this point. It's often near the end, so it might be something we skip regularly, but it has gotten substantial mockery over the years.

Not that it isn't worthy of mockery, but it's definitely not new.

Kevin is hoping to retire on that ebay money...

Personally, even though it is only April, I am really looking forward to the promises of 2018. Kevin will tell us that 2018 will be the year of the RRT relaunch (the third year in a row) and we will absolutely get our stuff (the sixth year to be promised).

 n815e wrote:
Kevin is hoping to retire on that ebay money...

Personally, even though it is only April, I am really looking forward to the promises of 2018. Kevin will tell us that 2018 will be the year of the RRT relaunch (the third year in a row) and we will absolutely get our stuff (the sixth year to be promised).

well then he better hope it sells soon since i've noticed a drop in the collectibles market, a notable drop guess people don't have money to burn like they used, or at least the ones who have nostalgia about it.

 Forar wrote:

 TalonZahn wrote:
Good news though, they are selling their "collectibles" that include Star Wars items, and they have EBay store.

That doesn't seem like a totally desperate move for money.

At all.

Kevin has been pimping his little eBay store for literally years at this point. It's often near the end, so it might be something we skip regularly, but it has gotten substantial mockery over the years.

Not that it isn't worthy of mockery, but it's definitely not new.

Guess I never noticed it.

I always skip to the RRT part, but had to *really* look this time and noticed that.

 TalonZahn wrote:

 Forar wrote:
Kevin has been pimping his little eBay store for literally years at this point. It's often near the end, so it might be something we skip regularly, but it has gotten substantial mockery over the years.

Not that it isn't worthy of mockery, but it's definitely not new.

Guess I never noticed it.

I always skip to the RRT part, but had to *really* look this time and noticed that.

I had a similar experience where I wrote up a para pointing out the "Exclusives" no longer are exclusive. But it nagged at me, and I realized I'd done so six months ago when it was first offered. I skipped over it that often, I'd forgotten it was a thing.

I honestly doubt there's anyone anywhere who reads the entirety of a PBWU. Let alone every week. The amount of retread and copypasta and poor formatting (put some image alignment into your advertising pieces you jackass! So much grey space!), that it just makes your eyes glaze over.

I mean it's pretty clear that for a long while, noone at PB was reading them either. I distinctly remember several times they'd have a scheduled release date of (for example) March, in their April newsletter. That the article had been copypasted so often without being checked, that the scheduled release date had passed with no sign of the book being completed.

Hell, for the most part I just Ctrl-F "tactics" and then "robotech" to see if I'd missed anything. If Kevin isn't going to put any real effort into writing it, I'm not going to put that much effort into reading it.

Asterios wrote:

 n815e wrote:
Kevin is hoping to retire on that ebay money...

Personally, even though it is only April, I am really looking forward to the promises of 2018. Kevin will tell us that 2018 will be the year of the RRT relaunch (the third year in a row) and we will absolutely get our stuff (the sixth year to be promised).

well then he better hope it sells soon since i've noticed a drop in the collectibles market, a notable drop guess people don't have money to burn like they used, or at least the ones who have nostalgia about it.

It was always a ridiculous investment.

Like this Kickstarter has demonstrated, most forms of nostalgia seem to lead to more cost than it is worth.
But when companies like Disney takes a good IP like Star Wars and "dust it off" it is a living product where it seems like it is without end.

 Talizvar wrote:
Like this Kickstarter has demonstrated, most forms of nostalgia seem to lead to more cost than it is worth.
But when companies like Disney takes a good IP like Star Wars and "dust it off" it is a living product where it seems like it is without end.

problem with Disney's brand of commercialization it can kill a collectible market like no ones business.

So? Collectibles are pretty much a sucker's game - as The Great Simbieda is currently enjoying on Ebay, apparently.

Asterios wrote:
problem with Disney's brand of commercialization it can kill a collectible market like no ones business.

I feel that having a growing universe with various media fleshing it out is better than scrounging for the relics that remain of a bygone IP.
Clone Wars, Rebels, The Force Awakens, Rogue-One, SW: Battelfront and soon part 2... material is cranked out and keeps me happy seeing Star Wars live-on.
Tabletop war-gaming has more stuff than you can shake a stick at with Fantasy Fight Games.
My kids are as excited now as I was around their age when the original trilogy was being released.

I remember I think around the age of 12yrs this was the #1 toy for me and was $20 at the time:

If we're going into a brief tangent about toys...

I had one of the big Gakken 1/35 Alphas. It was a Scott Bernard model.

I bought it at a shop named Winns. I remember it was priced at $20. I didn't have $20. So I found something with a $10 price sticker, carefully peeled it off, and put it on the Alpha I wanted. I sweated bullets while I was checking out. Not something I'm proud of, but that was how I got it.

I loaned it to my best friend in exchange for borrowing his Teenagers From Outer Space RPG book. I asked for it back on several occasions, but he kept on "forgetting". The last I saw it was in the trunk of his car. I said, "Hey, my Alpha!" and he hurriedly closed the trunk and told me that it belonged to someone else. I never did give him his Teenagers From Outer Space book back because of that. He was probably fine with that.

I had one of each of the size categories of the Gakken Alphas. The mid size one was pretty neat in retrospect, but I didn't like it at the time because of all the partsforming. I have no idea what happened to mine. I still have a lot of the parts for it, but no figure.

The tiny Gakken Alpha was crap. I probably threw that one away.

But I really wish I had that big Alpha again. It was soooo much better than the Toynami Masterpiece, and will probably still be better than the upcoming Evolution Toy version. One day I'll just have to break down and pay the over $200 used ones go for on ebay. Maybe if I can quit buying Arcadia and Bandai Valkyries for a while.

Latest PBWU is up.

Today is the 4th anniversary of the launch of the RRT Kickstarter. As an added kick in the teeth to the fact that for the second week there is literally no RRT news, the picture used to link it on the FB page is Robotech art, and after the obligatory gRifts mention, he spends a full page advertising a reprint of 30yr old Robotech RPG books.

Kevin explicitly says you can use them as reference material for your RRT games. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar knell.

Also, 14 weeks now since "We should be able to present you manufacturing details and a timetable in another month or so.".

Last thing regarding RRT, the GenCon segment again makes a big deal about the RRT Tournament in the title, but there is zero actual information in the text. First para is talk to NMI about running events (I'd rather eat glass), and the second is "stop by the booth!".

The gRifts mention is still pushing a timeline that I'm not sure Kevin should be pushing. Cause Carmen should be setting that timeframe, and while he probably wants it to launch then, having the flexibility to change it (Kevin literally says " in about 7-9 days when the Kickstarter launches". And while there's been some recent movement on the Rogue Heroes FB page, it's unclear exactly how close to ready it is. Thankfully, Kevin's reputation with release dates is such that most people expect it to launch some time in October.

Speaking of release dates, no dates have slid. But it's currently Arsenal (May), Atlanteans (May), Gardens (June), Dark Designs (June), Disavowed (Summer), Face of Death (Summer). So, two books in the next month, two the month after, and two three months after that. I'm sure Kevin will keep that schedule.

Side note, Dark Designs? RAW Preorder option March 22nd, where they declared a 150 limited print run. Available March 31st, where they shipped "multitudes". Still available and besides "While Stocks Last", there's no "We're running low". Yeah, things must be going wonderfully at Palladium Books that they can't shift 150 copies of the first gaming material they've published this year. Obviously.

I give this PBWU

Well, they're not cards, so what was he thinking he could sell 150 so quickly?

If we're swapping toy stories, my first run-in with Robotech was the toys - a cousin had two small transformable veritechs I ended up playing with one afternoon. He told me about the cartoon, but it wasn't playing in our area (yet). A short while later, I happened to catch it on TV at the first episode. I about lost my mind when Rick came up through the clouds and the sky lit up with explosions. Quickly followed by the realization that the guys getting whacked in the veritechs weren't parachuting out to safety like they were in G.I. Joe. Something about all that made me realize that this was different - and it wasn't a "kiddie" show.

I had a wide variety of the toys in the 80's - a couple Alpha models that were sold as Gobot's Leader One, the matchbox die cast Robotech Defender battloids, and the various Robotech Defender models (including the veritech models). At some point, I even picked up a die cast Monster. Out of all of those toys from back then my favorite was the Jetfire transformer my brother had. He sold that thing off just prior to going into the Air Force, wish he'd let me keep it.

A few years after the toys went out of style, I managed to find a Robotech 3 1/2" Veritech sitting the back of a local store, on discount. Figured that was the last Robotech item I'd ever see. I was quite happen, when just a couple years later I got was the Robotech Masterpiece Rook's red Alpha - I bought it at the Japan pavilion at Disneyworld in 1995.

Got a few reprints of items in the following years, enough so I could do a 28mm Robotech/Battletech game if I really wanted too.

But I'd still like my damn toys I paid for Kevin.

Side note, Dark Designs? RAW Preorder option March 22nd, where they declared a 150 limited print run. Available March 31st, where they shipped "multitudes". Still available and besides "While Stocks Last", there's no "We're running low". Yeah, things must be going wonderfully at Palladium Books that they can't shift 150 copies of the first gaming material they've published this year. Obviously.

Those unpolished books have a very limited audience of Palladium collectors or super fans of a particular setting that can't wait until the actual book gets released (or, perhaps, for those who doubt it will get released given PB's schedule).
150 manuscript copies for an unpublished work? That's optimistic thinking right there that 150 people would want to buy them.

 n815e wrote:

Side note, Dark Designs? RAW Preorder option March 22nd, where they declared a 150 limited print run. Available March 31st, where they shipped "multitudes". Still available and besides "While Stocks Last", there's no "We're running low". Yeah, things must be going wonderfully at Palladium Books that they can't shift 150 copies of the first gaming material they've published this year. Obviously.

Those unpolished books have a very limited audience of Palladium collectors or super fans of a particular setting that can't wait until the actual book gets released (or, perhaps, for those who doubt it will get released given PB's schedule).
150 manuscript copies for an unpublished work? That's optimistic thinking right there that 150 people would want to buy them.

Normally, I'd agree, even for the fanaticism that afflicts the people who still buy PB products. Additionally, if there was a narrow timeframe between raw and publication, or if PB had a fairly significant release schedule. But that's why I pointed it out. Since at least the start of 2016 (so 16+ months), PB have printed a total of two books. And while PB keep promising new product, they consistently fall short.

So I guess I am a little surprised. Granted, I don't know exactly how different a raw copy is, to the final print, but it's not like PB production quality is a great step up (black and white two column printed text on matte paper). So I can't see it being THAT different. So getting it months, if not years early (yeah, Kevin says June or July, but he's way more likely to be wrong than right), not being that big a deal.

 n815e wrote:
150 manuscript copies for an unpublished work? That's optimistic thinking right there that 150 people would want to buy them.

We do have sufficient evidence of "magical thinking" on Kev's part, kinda like his deadlines:

 Stormonu wrote:
Well, they're not cards, so what was he thinking he could sell 150 so quickly?

Obviously, they needed the first 100 to be signed and numbered...

This is the only reason I still read the Palladium games updates.. for gems like this..

Closing thoughts about this and that

I got in some excellent hours of writing this week on a couple of different new Rifts books. I don’t know how that was possible with everything else going on, but I did and I was hot.

After that I was almost terrified to continue reading.. but it did stir some images in my head that I would rather not have...


I couldn't resist posting this with it...

How does "some excellent hours of writing" translate from PB-speak to pages? One, maybe, with luck?

By default, I assume 1 hour of work == 1 "good" page of writing.

At PB?

4 hours = 1/2 page of gak.

Honestly, when I am typing I get up to about 85 words a minute, about 65 at a leisurely pace. If Kevin were to actually go nonstop at about the same pace, he could do between 10K to 7K words in two hours. He'd probably wipe out a Starbucks for the coffee he'd need to perform that, though.

However, I've been told on a good day, most professional writers can do about 1K-2K words for a day (that's not just transcribing, but actually coming up with ideas - Stephen King is a 2K writer).

If I were to guess, I'd say Kevin writes slower than JRR Tolkien speed - about 150 words a day. That'd put a 96-page sourcebook (~28.8K words) finished in 192 days - or about one book every 6.4 months.

Note that "1 page" of writing is about 300 words, so at 2 books a year, he's averaging half a page a day.

At 300 words per page, that's over 2k words per day of straight writing. But that's when you know what you're going to write. Th prep leading up to that brings the pace down. I'd agree with 1k words daily as a good overall rate for a professional writer.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
At 300 words per page, that's over 2k words per day of straight writing. But that's when you know what you're going to write. Th prep leading up to that brings the pace down. I'd agree with 1k words daily as a good overall rate for a professional writer.

You and Stormonu are making a poor assumption.

Kevin's not a professional writer. He's so far beyond that. He revolutionizes the genre. He revolutionizes all genres. Even ones he doesn't have an interest in, like zombies.

Don't believe me? Just ask him. He'll tell you himself. Humility? He thinks he's much more humble than you would understand.

So 2K a day? Pshaw. Bet he can do 3K. 5K if he's really inspired, and he's always really inspired. Again, just ask him.

Well its 4 years now with this Kickstarter no end in sight. I find it funny that PB is selling Robotech RPG books as PDF now. I think they should done this back in 2013 and they should have done the whole line of books. But that me I would brought all then like I did with the whole Battletech line. I find it strange that PB doing this now. I wonder if HG is going drop PB from Robotech it a thought.