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I voted yes not out of a sense of goodwill or anything but because at this point I really don't give a gak. I just want this trainwreck of a project done with and I will never back a single project that PB or ND is involved in. At best its a bumbling incompetent cluster at worst its nearly criminal in its level of stupidity.

Anyone keeping track of the polls? It seems the Yes camp has the upper hand. Granted, I've only read a handful of comment pages.

 Evil_Toast wrote:
Anyone keeping track of the polls? It seems the Yes camp has the upper hand. Granted, I've only read a handful of comment pages.

No reason to keep track. It is a complete and premeditated farce. Kevin and PB know that not even 10% will probably vote, so there isn't any risk to them taking games to sell. The slimy-ness of Kevin and his company has never been more apparent than now.

Also, I wouldn't put it past them to put all the NO votes at the end of the shipping spectrum.

I still don't see why it's unreasonable to pick up our stuff at GenCon if we're going to be there. We have already paid for it, after all.

You already paid for it? Well, there's your mistake right there!

One of my criteria for backing a project -- and that's what these things on "KS is not a store" -- is to look at a project manager. And, if Sad Pictures for Children, Doom that Came to Atlantic City, HeroQuest 25th edition, and other projects have shown me, the behavior of a company before KS funding is a good predictor of their behavior afterwards.

Here's Palladium's mis-micromanagement style, from a post in 2003: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?74137-What-s-up-with-Palladium-and-BTS/page19

ced1106 wrote:
You already paid for it? Well, there's your mistake right there!

One of my criteria for backing a project -- and that's what these things on "KS is not a store" -- is to look at a project manager. And, if Sad Pictures for Children, Doom that Came to Atlantic City, HeroQuest 25th edition, and other projects have shown me, the behavior of a company before KS funding is a good predictor of their behavior afterwards.

Here's Palladium's mis-micromanagement style, from a post in 2003: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?74137-What-s-up-with-Palladium-and-BTS/page19

"Mechanoid Space" should of been enought to give pause. Let alone find out more about PB and their promises.

No reply= a yes vote is crap.

Plenty of reasons why people wouldn't want to post a public vote, voter laws protecting private/blind votes exist for a very good reason, people often don't like to voice their opinions in public venues as there's always some jackwad that will try and argue their point and why you should have voted for whatever outcome they did. What you gave for a Yes/No/No vote really shouldn't have to be privy to the general public. For starters the vote is a farce and public votes invite an unhealthy amount of peer pressure to influence the vote, particularly when a non vote = yes.

If there's two people running for president and I'm not keen on either choice I may well abstain from voting as I support neither option, it'd be complete crap if my non-vote automatically was applied to option A. As it forces a complete "with us or against us" mentality.


Much like his "customer polling results" it's simply another example of how Kev uses "feedback" to support whatever decision he's already committed to, he doesn't give a damn about what other people actually think but like every scummy politician he's simply twisting numbers/responses so he can claim he's only doing what his supporters want.

To be honest, I wouldn't have bothered voting if it hadn't been for the whole silence=yes thing.

Okay, so I did vote "yes", which doesn't affect the outcome one little bit, but I felt that it was all I could do to mitigate the un-coolness of this voting policy.

So now it is a pre order and the stuff for RRT doesn't belong to the backers according to Kevin's ex.

"However the stuff that the ks people are receiving is above and beyond anything that the folks that buy the game at gen con will get. The people that pledged through the kickstarter didn't buy anything more than a product, they bought it in advance and from what I can see are getting more than their money's worth, but they aren't stockholders, they're just consumers. The product is Kevin's blood, sweat and tears, without him and Palladium this product doesn't get made. Most books are not paid for completely out of Palladium's pockets, thats why you have investors and backers for the company, they've used this method of funding projects since the very beginning."

So it is a pre order and it's not our stuff even though we paid for it. It galls me that that's the typical PB attitude.

What did you expect, Cypher?

It's the Forums of the Megaverse, agree with Kevin and PB or get fethed.

What a cesspool.

 Chillreaper wrote:
To be honest, I wouldn't have bothered voting if it hadn't been for the whole silence=yes thing.

Okay, so I did vote "yes", which doesn't affect the outcome one little bit, but I felt that it was all I could do to mitigate the un-coolness of this voting policy.

I'm glad you did.

I'm "a no", but I'd rather people be heard than this 'win on a technicality'.

Good on you for chiming in. Your voice deserves to be heard, rather than have an answer put in your mouth.

I voted "no", but from here on out I don't care. I turned off updates, deleted bookmarks, and have officially taken on a stance of "if it ever shows up I'll do something with it". Granted, that will most likely end up being put in my game closet along with BFG, Talisman, and all the other games that I own and never play. All I care about now is the money I threw at it. Had I known this would turn out the way it has I would have just given the money over to another company.

But like I said at the beginning of the post, "meh, whatever".

New excuse I mean murmur


From Kevin Siembieda



Why I said no response means yes.

There were two reasons I stated that “no response” would mean “yes” in our Robotech® RPG Tactics™ vote from Kickstarter backers.

The main reason is I wanted to provoke a response.

I do NOT want our Kickstarter backers to remain silent on this matter. If you truly do not want us to bring product to Gen Con I sincerely NEED and want to know that. YOU need to make your voices heard so silence is not counted as a yes if that is not how you feel. And if that isn’t tremendous motivation to respond, I don’t know what is. That’s why I did that.

Likewise, if your answer is yes, it is vital that you post your yes vote so others can see it.

The second reason was something one of the guys brought up: If people do not respond, it truly does suggest that the silent ones do not care one way or the other, and are, in effect, giving their permission.

My hope is that it is all a moot point because the votes will clearly lean one way or the other.

Of course, I’m hoping the majority will will say “yes.” We need to have Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to sell at Gen Con. But whichever it is, I will live by it.

Before that post went up, it was read and discussed by the Palladium crew. They were surprised by my choice to put this in your hands, because they know unless the results of actual votes clearly gives us permission, we will NOT bring Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to Gen Con Indy.

Before it was posted, the question of the day was: “Kevin, after everything we have gone through with Robotech® RPG Tactics™, are you really prepared to not bring it to sell at Gen Con?”

Yes. My answer was and remains, yes. And they know I’m dead serious. I hope you do too. Wayne, Jeff, Alex, and the rest of the crew can confirm this discussion. I just wanted YOU guys to know that.

I have NOT looked at the results of the voting or gone to Facebook or the message boards. I’ve even asked one of the guys to post this in a Murmur for me and link it to Facebook. The outcome will be what it is.

Whether permission is granted or not, I would hope Palladium fans and customers know how important you are to me and all of us at Palladium Books. I would never turn my back on you or dismiss your concerns.

Palladium’s first rule of operation is that customers come first and should always be treated as we ourselves would like to be treated. That’s an actual rule, here.

We are not a big, faceless corporation who doesn’t give a fart in the wind about our fans. I don’t think people realize that WE ARE YOU! We are fan boy geeks who love games, Robotech® and what we do for a living. I think that’s what surprises people most when they meet us.

For Pete’s sake, I’m criticized by some for being too positive in my posts and updates. Sorry, folks, that’s who I am and I’m not ashamed to be myself. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to sell Palladium Books to bigger companies. I haven’t, because a) I love what I do and the people I work with, and b) it was clear from the onset that their interest is entirely about money and PR. In a few minutes I could tell they did not understand or care about our fans, nor the integrity of the product.

So yes, I am sincerely asking for permission to take Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to sell at Gen Con. I am truly sorry for any disappointment this issue and the delays may have caused. Anyone who chooses to believe otherwise is flat-out mistaken.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer and Game Designer

© Copyright July 13, 2014 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Chaos Earth, Coalition States, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, 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.

I've forwarded the below to Harmony Gold am curious to see what their response will be. I would suggest anyone who has similar concerns do the same as maybe if they see enough of a potential backlash from Palladium's actions they may step in to try and avert the disaster.

I'm taking this opportunity to contact you with regards to a Kickstarter that was run by one of your partners using the Robotech License that you have granted them use of.

As I am sure you are aware Palladium Games is now 7 months behind their expected delivery date of the Robotech RPG Tactics game that was able to raise over $1.4million dollars at the end of May 2013. They have since the end of that Kickstarter fumbled through the process consistently claiming that their were so many additional steps and difficulties that they had not anticipated that it has made a joke of the apparent business plan that they should have developed prior to the launch of this product.

You as the license holder are judged by the quality of the companies that you choose to partner with and I can not help but feel that the damage Palladium has done to your brand with their mismanagement is having a direct effect on the chances of this Kickstarter achieving its funding goal.

I implore you as the license holder to step in and exert what influence you can to ensure that your business partners make good on their commitments to fulfill the orders that they have yet to ship for the product that has been produced to the loyal fans who made their project possible, before they take it to retail and sell to the small selection of attendees at the GenCon gaming convention.

I understand that having product for Palladium to show at the convention is an important part of the promotional process for a game such as this however the limited sales that they will achieve at the convention can not compare to the amount of ill will that this has the potential to generate inside the growing community. By all means they should have product their for demonstration purposes however they should not be selling a single product to a customer until they have fulfilled the shipping of said available product to every Kickstarter backer who has paid for and made the creation of that product possible.

You silence on this subject up to this point has me re-considering my decision to back this product and I assure you that I will be canceling my support before the end of the project if you do not take steps to ensure that they make it right with their supporters.

Jonathan Schmidt

 Cypher-xv wrote:
New excuse I mean murmur


From Kevin Siembieda

Spoiler:

Why I said no response means yes.

There were two reasons I stated that “no response” would mean “yes” in our Robotech® RPG Tactics™ vote from Kickstarter backers.

The main reason is I wanted to provoke a response.

I do NOT want our Kickstarter backers to remain silent on this matter. If you truly do not want us to bring product to Gen Con I sincerely NEED and want to know that. YOU need to make your voices heard so silence is not counted as a yes if that is not how you feel. And if that isn’t tremendous motivation to respond, I don’t know what is. That’s why I did that.

Likewise, if your answer is yes, it is vital that you post your yes vote so others can see it.

The second reason was something one of the guys brought up: If people do not respond, it truly does suggest that the silent ones do not care one way or the other, and are, in effect, giving their permission.

My hope is that it is all a moot point because the votes will clearly lean one way or the other.

Of course, I’m hoping the majority will will say “yes.” We need to have Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to sell at Gen Con. But whichever it is, I will live by it.

Before that post went up, it was read and discussed by the Palladium crew. They were surprised by my choice to put this in your hands, because they know unless the results of actual votes clearly gives us permission, we will NOT bring Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to Gen Con Indy.

Before it was posted, the question of the day was: “Kevin, after everything we have gone through with Robotech® RPG Tactics™, are you really prepared to not bring it to sell at Gen Con?”

Yes. My answer was and remains, yes. And they know I’m dead serious. I hope you do too. Wayne, Jeff, Alex, and the rest of the crew can confirm this discussion. I just wanted YOU guys to know that.

I have NOT looked at the results of the voting or gone to Facebook or the message boards. I’ve even asked one of the guys to post this in a Murmur for me and link it to Facebook. The outcome will be what it is.

Whether permission is granted or not, I would hope Palladium fans and customers know how important you are to me and all of us at Palladium Books. I would never turn my back on you or dismiss your concerns.

Palladium’s first rule of operation is that customers come first and should always be treated as we ourselves would like to be treated. That’s an actual rule, here.

We are not a big, faceless corporation who doesn’t give a fart in the wind about our fans. I don’t think people realize that WE ARE YOU! We are fan boy geeks who love games, Robotech® and what we do for a living. I think that’s what surprises people most when they meet us.

For Pete’s sake, I’m criticized by some for being too positive in my posts and updates. Sorry, folks, that’s who I am and I’m not ashamed to be myself. Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to sell Palladium Books to bigger companies. I haven’t, because a) I love what I do and the people I work with, and b) it was clear from the onset that their interest is entirely about money and PR. In a few minutes I could tell they did not understand or care about our fans, nor the integrity of the product.

So yes, I am sincerely asking for permission to take Robotech® RPG Tactics™ to sell at Gen Con. I am truly sorry for any disappointment this issue and the delays may have caused. Anyone who chooses to believe otherwise is flat-out mistaken.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer and Game Designer

© Copyright July 13, 2014 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Chaos Earth, Coalition States, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, 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.

almost makes you want to drink the kool aid, almost.

"However the stuff that the ks people are receiving is above and beyond anything that the folks that buy the game at gen con will get. The people that pledged through the kickstarter didn't buy anything more than a product, they bought it in advance and from what I can see are getting more than their money's worth, but they aren't stockholders, they're just consumers. The product is Kevin's blood, sweat and tears, without him and Palladium this product doesn't get made. Most books are not paid for completely out of Palladium's pockets, thats why you have investors and backers for the company, they've used this method of funding projects since the very beginning."

Wow... somebody almost as conceited as Kevin, no wonder he married her.

The blood sweat and tears thing is just fine and dandy, except that money doesn't come free to the customers, they earned their money just like everyone else by working the ass off. So they certainly aren't just throwing money at a project, they have put their own hard work, blood, sweat and tears, into the process, it just happens that money is the middle man in making that exchange.

Secondly she starts out by denying that backers are anything but comsumers implying that they have no value beyond buying the product, but Palladium only manages to get things produced with the investors and backers, so which is it? Either they need the help and input from backers or they don't. You can't redraw that line arbitrarily whenever you desire. If you are relying on contributions of backer/investors to get your product made then you have an obligation to treat them as such, and that means placing them above the consumer/peasant peon level that she seems to think backers hold.

Kevin may have put plenty of blood sweat and tears into making robotech happen, but saying it's "only because of him" is complete and utter BS. His only contribution is calling the shots because he has the IP locked, do you seriously think he's the only reason the game happened? if so you are crazy. Did he write the rules? no. Did he sculpt figures? no. These are thing he only signed off on and are the fruits born from the talents of other individuals all of which would be capable of producing the game in his absence. The game would have happened a long time ago without Kevin, but all he's done is cockblock others from being able to do it. There are plenty of talented people who have the skill and abilities to make a Robotech game (and arguably a better version at that)

The game exists solely because of the fans, first due to their money earned by blood sweat and tears and the fact that they love and support a 30 year old cartoon, which exists completely independent of a IP leech like Kevin.

Yes he may have worked hard to see his version of RRT come to be, but he certainly didn't do it by himself and a Robotech game would have happened just fine with or without him.

 paulson games wrote:


Wow... somebody almost as conceited as Kevin, no wonder he married her.

Wait Maryann is married to Kevin ? if that's the case then she gave away his game plan which coincides what I figured they would do, to protect themselves.

 paulson games wrote:


Wow... somebody almost as conceited as Kevin, no wonder he married her.

Exalted on the first line, well done Paulson, well done.

It's his Ex-Wife.

 paulson games wrote:
The game exists solely because of the fans, first due to their money earned by blood sweat and tears and the fact that they love and support a 30 year old cartoon, which exists completely independent of a IP leech like Kevin.

Yes he may have worked hard to see his version of RRT come to be, but he certainly didn't do it by himself and a Robotech game would have happened just fine with or without him.

Yeah, and to think that this should have been a relative slam dunk, is now requiring "it is vital to successfully kickoff the launch", just screams of the incompetence. That a "few hundred" boxes is the make or break point for this game apparently. As opposed to just showing up and doing demos and promotions and maybe some giveaways.

Because those "few hundred" boxes are much more important than say actually showing up at Adepticon (missed because of stated ignorance) or Origins (missed in favor of a culture con with 1300, as opposed, I dunno, a gaming con with 10K+). Seriously, it boggles my mind how an "industry professional with 30+ years experience" can make so many colossal blunders consistently and STILL remain in business.

When I initially heard about PB's reputation, I thought they were disgruntled fans over-exaggerating things. I can't believe how badly they'd been lowballing it. And for the record, I backed because I believed, based on how things were run, it'd be Ninja Division running the operation, not PB. Yeah, that was stupid.

 paulson games wrote:
It's his Ex-Wife.

ahh then maybe no inside info then.

Morgan Vening wrote:

 paulson games wrote:
The game exists solely because of the fans, first due to their money earned by blood sweat and tears and the fact that they love and support a 30 year old cartoon, which exists completely independent of a IP leech like Kevin.

Yes he may have worked hard to see his version of RRT come to be, but he certainly didn't do it by himself and a Robotech game would have happened just fine with or without him.

Yeah, and to think that this should have been a relative slam dunk, is now requiring "it is vital to successfully kickoff the launch", just screams of the incompetence. That a "few hundred" boxes is the make or break point for this game apparently. As opposed to just showing up and doing demos and promotions and maybe some giveaways.

Because those "few hundred" boxes are much more important than say actually showing up at Adepticon (missed because of stated ignorance) or Origins (missed in favor of a culture con with 1300, as opposed, I dunno, a gaming con with 10K+). Seriously, it boggles my mind how an "industry professional with 30+ years experience" can make so many colossal blunders consistently and STILL remain in business.

When I initially heard about PB's reputation, I thought they were disgruntled fans over-exaggerating things. I can't believe how badly they'd been lowballing it. And for the record, I backed because I believed, based on how things were run, it'd be Ninja Division running the operation, not PB. Yeah, that was stupid.

That reason is precisely why I backed as well.

From seeing how RTA is getting money I'm sure now that if PB kickstarts era two it will get funded. And long as it's more subpar RT it'll bring in the suckers.

(Curse you double post!)

I feel pretty confident that Era 2 and/or 3 would get funded no matter what, since they'll probably ask for another 40 or 50k, and practically make it up with early birds alone.

But would it blow up to over a million again? I doubt it. Not with knowing that the money would be gone for 2 years or more and the lies would be fast and furious.

 Forar wrote:
I feel pretty confident that Era 2 and/or 3 would get funded no matter what, since they'll probably ask for another 40 or 50k, and practically make it up with early birds alone.

But would it blow up to over a million again? I doubt it. Not with knowing that the money would be gone for 2 years or more and the lies would be fast and furious.

But...is that what the prevailing opinion/feeling is?

I mean, sure, it is the truth, but...what's the mood like over in the comments section?

 Cypher-xv wrote:
From seeing how RTA is getting money I'm sure now that if PB kickstarts era two it will get funded. And long as it's more subpar RT it'll bring in the suckers.

Nope. If Robotech Academy makes it, it will be by a hair.

My bet is about $380k.

KS tend to start big and end big. This one started pretty poorly and the doldrums have set in. The last three to five days will decide it, but I don't think it will happen. And, really, a good chunk of the blame (apart from HG being a fantastically hated company with a hugely loved IP) will be because of idiot Simbieda's incompetence.

-Joe

I haven't run the numbers, because I don't hate myself that much, but at a glance, I'd say roughly 80/20 Yes/No, BUT, there's a lot of Yes's that are practically under duress (as in "I know it doesn't matter, so yes, whatever, just finish it"), or express negativity or outright hostility for the project, the creator, or how the poll has been conducted, etc.

It'd probably depend on a lot of stuff. When this bullgak actually arrives for us (not just wave one, the whole thing), and how good or bad it actually is (not just pictures with huge seams, but actual ABS in our actual hands), how long wave two takes, what further ways they find to put their feet in their mouths, how good the deal is (if it's like the Battle Cry at the start of this campaign and that one doesn't blow up, forget it. Start me off at 100 figures for $100? Hell, I might get one of them and just ignore the campaign for a year outright), etc.

Hard to judge, but I think this is a stink that will put a lasting dent in any future crowd funding attempts. I can only imagine they're praying that retail and online sales are strong/lucrative enough that they don't have to go back for another round of cash. Sure, spending other people's money two years in advance is a sweet gig, but I can't imagine they're nearly as comfortable with the bad publicity they've been getting as they make out to be.

D'oh-ble post!

I know it won't matter, but I voted no.

I'm actually ok with non-Backers getting it at Cons before Backers. If I wasn't, I'd be yelling at the BMOG guys for doing it at Botcon(at least they allowed Backers to pick theirs up at the Con).

I'm NOT ok with the "Apathy/No Response is consent" BS. I'm very much against anyone speaking for other people or assuming they agree because they don't feel the need/want to speak up.


With that said, Palladium have pretty much killed all the enjoyment I once got from this franchise. Thanks for nothing, you dicks.