Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Jeff doesnt write that well but the style very much fits Akashic's writing style and attitude towards others when compared to the plethora of postd on the fotm.

Still around, just lurking.
Got more RRT models assembled... more blast weapon units... pray for me.
Got nothing nice to say about the recent "update".

Let's look at the big board!

Days since Wayne said he'd give us a full breakdown on the status of all the pieces: **221**
Days since the last substantial Wave 2 info: 352
Days since the campaign ended: 1,001!

Days until the end of "Summer" 2016: 211
Days until Black Friday 2016: 286
Days until the end of 2016: 322

Seems I had the 'days until the end of 2016' off by like two weeks. Not sure how that happened, but it has been corrected. Used a date calculator to tweak a few as well, probably minor 'drift' based on differing hours when I compared the last time I'd posted it and how KS time stamps comments.

Added a Black Friday countdown, because if they're going to miss Gencon (and unless they're exponentially further than what we've seen, they're going to miss Gencon, as it's only 173 days away), then presumably much like Wave One, the main thing they'll care about will be having product for retail in November.

10.5 months until the end of the year, nearly a full year since they last showed us anything of substance, and I don't have any faith they'll deliver wave two at all.

But don't worry guys, they're totally working hard on it behind the scenes!

 Desmodus wrote:

 Mike1975 wrote:
^^^ what makes you think that?

He flaunted the fact he was ignoring FB rules when he made the profile to respond on PB's FB page so I reported him. One of the feedbacks I got back said it was The Deific NMI's profile that I had reported. Even if it's not him, I high doubt it's Akashik Soldier. I currently game with his old group and the last any of us heard he quit both FB and RPGs for awhile now.

Really? So hes no longer submitting that rifts manuscript he was working on that was going to be the best sourcebook ever?
What led him to desert Palladium?

And for anyone who doesnt know Jeff Ruiz is NMI's real name, not the other Jeff.

Yeah, that's something I knew, but apparently forgot at some point.

If someone had said "Jeff Ruiz" it would have kicked in, but "Jeff" just triggers that one guy who joined and left.

How stupid would they have to be to let NMI post like that?

Facebook is outside Kevin's bubble.

Who cares about what happens there?

evilsmurf wrote:

 Desmodus wrote:

 Mike1975 wrote:
^^^ what makes you think that?

He flaunted the fact he was ignoring FB rules when he made the profile to respond on PB's FB page so I reported him. One of the feedbacks I got back said it was The Deific NMI's profile that I had reported. Even if it's not him, I high doubt it's Akashik Soldier. I currently game with his old group and the last any of us heard he quit both FB and RPGs for awhile now.

Really? So hes no longer submitting that rifts manuscript he was working on that was going to be the best sourcebook ever?
What led him to desert Palladium?

And for anyone who doesnt know Jeff Ruiz is NMI's real name, not the other Jeff.

AFAIK he's not. As for why he left, from what I've been able to gather it was a combination of personal stuff and non-stop trolling.

Ah, screw it - Kevin's last update pulled me back into watching this trainwreck again.

To add to Forar's calendar, let me add this tidbit:

Here in the states, we will have elected and inaugurated a new president, a new house and a 1/3 of congress (as well as a new Supreme Court Justice) before we're likely to see movement on Wave 2 (though truthfully, at this point, I'm pretty firmly entrenched in the idea Wave 2 will never happen). And we'll still be stuck with Kevin...

Reminds me of this; The Duke Nukem Forever List (scroll down about half way to see the actual list)

It'd be funny to look between May 20th 2013 and now, and see just how much has changed in the last (nearly) 3 years.

"Since RRT Funded..."

 n815e wrote:
How stupid would they have to be to let NMI post like that?

Ahahahahahaha. Sorry but let me share another tidbit.

Some time ago, I forget who, but someone organized an online petition to get nimmy fired for being a fascist dictator on the pb forums. It got a lot of support and then backfired spectacularly as Kevin felt all that anger at nimmy must have meant he was doing a really good job and threw his full support behind him. This was at the same time that hippiemama and her husband (both long long time fans of palladium and up to this point were good friends with kevin) had taken out a restraining order against nimmy for online stalking.

interestingly enough I sent an email, well written and polite as to how NMI was really hurting PB and was told I don't know what I'm talking about.

That was the sum total of their reply?

evilsmurf wrote:

 n815e wrote:
How stupid would they have to be to let NMI post like that?

Ahahahahahaha. Sorry but let me share another tidbit.

Some time ago, I forget who, but someone organized an online petition to get nimmy fired for being a fascist dictator on the pb forums. It got a lot of support and then backfired spectacularly as Kevin felt all that anger at nimmy must have meant he was doing a really good job and threw his full support behind him. This was at the same time that hippiemama and her husband (both long long time fans of palladium and up to this point were good friends with kevin) had taken out a restraining order against nimmy for online stalking.

It's one thing for him to keep a tight rein on the PB forums (however popular or not that may be).
It's another thing for him to anonymously post on PB's FB page to agitate backers.

Given PB's already poor reputation for handling communication, to have one of their representatives (volunteer or not, he represents the company) troll their customers is the dumbest thing they could possibly be doing. If it is true.

I sent them a note telling them that it was unwise to delete criticism while also allowing someone to rile up the backers. It was never responded to.

What

a

Surprise!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, I am thinking of getting a new T-Shirt, and this seems to be an appropriate time to get a custom one made.

Y'know what I mean, something along the lines of

"I backed Palladium Books' Robotech RRT Kickstarter, and all I got was a lousy $5 decal sheet!"

sort of thing. Shame I am not in the states where I could wear it to an event they had games running at, but apparently that's no guarantee that they'd be there anyway, so maybe I should get a back print on that too.

"Excrement Occura" springs to mind.

 Conrad Turner wrote:

Y'know what I mean, something along the lines of

"I backed Palladium Books' Robotech RRT Kickstarter, and all I got was a lousy $5 decal sheet!"

sort of thing. Shame I am not in the states where I could wear it to an event they had games running at, but apparently that's no guarantee that they'd be there anyway, so maybe I should get a back print on that too.

Why not "And even that was late!"?

 n815e wrote:
How stupid would they have to be to let NMI post like that?

Am I the only one who thinks the answer to this is "probably a lot less stupid than they've already shown themselves to be in the fulfillment of this project"? Especially if they said Mike had no idea what he was talking about with this "Intertubewebs" thing...

 Conrad Turner wrote:
What

a

Surprise!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Actually, I am thinking of getting a new T-Shirt, and this seems to be an appropriate time to get a custom one made.

Y'know what I mean, something along the lines of

"I backed Palladium Books' Robotech RRT Kickstarter, and all I got was a lousy $5 decal sheet!"

sort of thing. Shame I am not in the states where I could wear it to an event they had games running at, but apparently that's no guarantee that they'd be there anyway, so maybe I should get a back print on that too.

"Excrement Occura" springs to mind.

yes can see it now, troves of backers at GenCon with T-Shirts saying "Palladium Books never delivered what was promised" or "Palladium Books destroyer of Backers dreams since 2013"

 Conrad Turner wrote:
Actually, I am thinking of getting a new T-Shirt, and this seems to be an appropriate time to get a custom one made.

Y'know what I mean, something along the lines of

"I backed Palladium Books' Robotech RRT Kickstarter, and all I got was a lousy $5 decal sheet!"

sort of thing. Shame I am not in the states where I could wear it to an event they had games running at, but apparently that's no guarantee that they'd be there anyway, so maybe I should get a back print on that too.

"Excrement Occura" springs to mind.

Oooh, TShirts! I considered getting one made for GenCon 2014, that was in the same shade as PB's shirts (sort of a medium blue), but running it through a sewing machine using a zigzag stitch with yellow thread, over every seam, and adding a couple of additional ones (specifically straight up the middle of the front and back), with text that read "Only way it could be done - Wayne Burke, Palladium Games" (or whatever the quote was, it was a long time ago) on the front. But that fell through because of timing. I still have the shirt I bought to do it to.

Why give Palladium free advertising?

I just tell everyone the company went out of business. Its not like they produce any content to counter that statement.

Are you suggesting a dozen people with "RIP Kevin Simbieda" T-shirts would be hilarious?

ok so I went thru all 12 pages of that thread with the former writer commenting....and collected all the relevant posts.

he was asked about the editing process at palladium. His response:

Yeah, the "editing" is a joke. If Kevin writes it, Alex and Julius (both of whom are incredible sperglords and total yes-men) "edit" it, all the while telling Kevin that it's awesome and the best thing they've ever read. If someone else writes it, then Kevin re-writes it, gives it to Alex and Julius who then "edit" the manuscript, all the while telling Kevin that it's awesome and the best thing they've ever read and only he could have fixed the obviously deeply flawed original manuscript.
This is, as you can imagine, a total joke. I one time went through a manuscript after Alex and caught a ton of super basic spelling and grammar mistakes, not to mention a couple of structural problems with the manuscript. This is after it'd gone through two sets of eyes and about a month on various desks. I brought this up to Himself and his answer was, Well, you have to remember, he's not a professional editor... He's been an Editor for twenty goddamned years! For money! That's the loving definition of a professional!
Anyway, there's also zero editorial guidance. There's no styleguide (just read any of our books and do it that way!), Everything seemed, to me at least, to be a guessing game as to what Kevin wanted, and the sum total of his editorial direction usually amounts to little more than, That's a great idea! Just write it!. Kevin doesn't believe that writers can edit/re-write their own work, nor can they follow directions. He told me that to my face. I didn't get a single re-write or piece of editorial direction until after I got laid off and started working for Fantasy Flight in '09.


when asked about the environment his answer:

Well, one thing I can talk about is the general office atmosphere. I worked from home mostly since the office is about thirty miles away from my house (I'm in NE Detroit), but once a week I'd go in for various things and it was always weird. The office is dead quiet, all the doors are closed, most of the lights are kept off (to save electricity)... it's like a tomb in there. Also, Kevin has no personal boundaries, wants everyone to be BFFs, and will tell you the most intimate details of his personal life at a moment's notice. The man has no filter. It's a pretty strange, inappropriate, and toxic environment.


he spoke of working on a rifter and having 3 dbess in it:

I've got three d-bees in that book. That whole thing was one of the rare collaborative efforts between freelancers. Kevin discouraged us from collaborating.


The he when asked why kevin discouraged collaborating:

Because someone might either actually steal or be accused of stealing some else's idea and there would be lawsuits. Seriously. I was part of a non-sanctioned freelancer incubator way back at the beginning of the 2000s called the Think-Tank. It was me, Jason Richards, Todd Yoho, Carl Gleba, and a bunch of other guys you've probably heard of. We did peer review, helped eachother out, had sounding board forums, it was really cool and a lot of the books that came out in the mid-to-late 00s came directly from that project. Kevin shut us down because he didn't want us collaborating for the above reasons.


commenting n Palladium's grasp of technology...

You guys realize that Kevin's grasp of technology, not just modern technology but any technology, is pretty much informed by comics, movies, and the Discovery Channel, right? When I was there the man didn't know how to attach files to emails. Wayne had to do it for him. I had to drag him out of his office one day to the parking lot to where I'd parked my 30 year old motorcycle so I could show him my battery to prove that no, Kevin, motorcycles don't have 6-volt charging systems and haven't since the 60s. He grudgingly admitted that yes, maybe some modern bikes may have 12-volt systems. This to a guy who restores old bikes as a hobby.
He's like functionally illiterate when it comes to technology. Alex isn't much better, since I think he believes that we have a lot of technology around from those, "Secret Weapons of WWII" books he likes so much.

It's even simpler than "had a picture lying around". It's, "These are the tanks that were in the Sergeant Rock comics I read as a kid. I bet they still use them!"
Other things Kevin had never heard of/couldn't understand: Carbines, logistics, motorcycles other than dirtbikes, harleys, or sport bikes, power/weight ratio, and many, many other things I can't remember off the top of my head. Those dudes are stuck in the late 70s, early 80s which, honestly, is more a "SE Michigan" problem and less a "Palladium Books" problem.


his comments o in regards to savage rifts:

Man, I've been out of the Palladium loop since Kevin laid me off in '09, but I'm glad to see some things never change. I'd heard that Robotech Tactics was a shitshow, but the depths of that poo poo are just stunning. Also, speaking of tremendous shitshows, I know the people involved in Savage Rifts. Hooo boy, that's gonna be a fun one to watch.

Basically it's two successful writers who are used to dealing with people who operate in good faith working with someone constitutionally incapable of working in good faith. I've been staying far away from it, but I don't really expect it to see the light of day, and the guys working on it will surely see the underside of a bus at some point in the project.


and comments in regards to a blam shift update on rrt a while back:

Of course it is. Kevin is the champion blamethrower. Nothing is ever his fault. He is the martyr, the constantly aggrieved, and the nicest guy. How can you tell? He'll tell you all about it!
Also, dude has no personal and professional boundaries. It got to the point where I'd kick him out of my office because he'd come in and want to tell me about his girl troubles. The man is pushing sixty. You're my boss, I don't want to hear about your "girl troubles", especially when you're the goddamned problem.


More about kevins editorial style etc:

It's all true. I was there for two years, and I was officially/unofficially in charge of the Robotech RPG (meaning that it wasn't in an official capacity, Kevin doesn't delegate, but he didn't care about Robotech and I did, so I took it over on my own). There is no editorial feedback, there are no rewrites, there is no guidance. There's no styleguide. Kevin believes that writers can't re-write their own material with editorial guidance. I've been doing this for sixteen goddamned years, and I've worked with a lot of writers. You know what? Writers can rewrite their own work with editorial guidance. That's what being a writer is about.

Also, someone mentioned upthread (in a conversation about poser covers) that he draws from the fanbase as opposed to industry professionals for his artists. True story. You know why? Because industry professionals expect to get paid. You know what Kevin says when a freelancer finally demands that he be paid after two years of excuses or the next step is getting the law involved? "That's not fair. He has a real job. He's not writing for a living, he doesn't need that money."
Let me get a few more beers in me and I can tell you some real good stories.

The big question with Savage Rifts is, basically, will the Savage Worlds guys fight through Kevin's stupidity and finish it (to quickly never touch PB again, ala Ninja Divison) or will they give up half way through, say "feth it", and then get on with thier lives having released nothing?




Automatically Appended Next Post:
So, a semi-serious question here...what is with Simbieda and lawyers? Does he have incriminating pictures of one, and therefore get all the free lawsuits he can manage? Did one steal his girlfriend in college?

Why is he so lawyer obsessed?

Savage Rifts was supposed to be ready for Christmas, according with Pinnacle's announcement:

https://www.peginc.com/rifts-is-coming-for-savage-worlds/

...no further info available, AFAIK.

 Albertorius wrote:
Savage Rifts was supposed to be ready for Christmas, according with Pinnacle's announcement:

https://www.peginc.com/rifts-is-coming-for-savage-worlds/

...no further info available, AFAIK.

Found through a thread on RPGNet, there's a link to an interview from November 12th, 2015.

Revised timetable is Q1 2016.

AL: I have no doubt that Savage Rifts will be a big hit and I know there have been a lot of excited fans waiting for it to come out. Would it be possible for you to give us a release date or estimate on when to expect to see it on the market?

SPF: As of now, we’re strongly committed to seeing Savage Rifts release in the First Quarter of 2016. That’s all I can and will say, because we are determined, first and foremost, that this is right from the very start, and we’ll take whatever time is necessary to do that. As you say, there are a lot of people excited about this, and we don’t want to disappoint.

I find the phrasings of the answer to be VERY Kevinesque. Strong commitment to a release date. Nothing more I can say. Determined to get it right rather than to schedule.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with those sentiments, on principle. But seeing it for a property tangentially related to KevCo, makes me look at it through an RRT tinted lens.

side note, if you don't mind things in 1/144:

https://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?qid=4I1CH4CWLWNX57&SeriesID=934&set=1&Maker2=TMT

Go knock yourselves out.

Anyone have a source or idea on how to make / get Gnerl fighters?
This one has me a bit stumped since your know... wave 2 and all that.
PM me if it is a bit involved.

I am making some headway with stuff now that my mancave is sorted out, assembly now and painting when the bug hits.

Would I be a bad person if all these Kevin related observations are no surprise to me?

So did anyone here go to Strategicon, and were there any RTT games there?

You're a funny guy.

Edit: Snark aside; Strategicon's site and schedule list no RRT games. Reports coming state there were no RRT games (even demo) being run, never mind a tournament.

Nevermind the tournament, did any of those 76+ competitors even exist?

 Stormonu wrote:
Nevermind the tournament, did any of those 76+ competitors even exist?

Kevin Siembieda based Rifts off of his own experiences and I'm 98% sure he is a Temporal Wizard from the Rifts England book. He is capable of making small pocket dimensions at will where the laws of physics and space time don't apply. Hence it is both possible that he created an alternate universe where 76+ people who play (and more importantly BUY) RRPGT just happen to all be in the same location and 1,000pt Robotech games occur spontaneously without the need for things like preparation, advertisement, and corporeal existence that the rest of us lesser creatures depend on with our hobby.

TL;DR: They did and didn't exist. It all depends on what side of the dimensional rift you are.