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 Stormonu wrote:
That Rifts boardgame has got my juices churning for a Robotech boardgame using the RRT miniatures.

- Each player runs either a VT squad or a Destroid squad. You can upgrade survivors with XP from defeated enemies

- Two main areas: SDF-1 exterior (maybe as a Castle Panic "Range" setup) and Macross City interior (a street-gridded system?)

- Goal is to get the SDF-1 back to Earth. Maybe an add-on for the time on Earth, the space battle above Earth and "Reconstruction Blues" era.

- Two game phases: Battle & Downtime. Battle is self-explanitary; draw a card that explains the set-up and objectives. Downtime allows the characters to acquire subplots that can be converted to XP ("Fall in Love", "Pilot Duel", "Promotion", "VT Super upgrade available" etc.) or spend XP to upgrade skills/abilities/repair team/bolster SDF-1 defenses, etc.

That's interesting, that's more the direction this game should have taken with additional maps, scenarios and units released as expansions. I wonder who owns the boardgames rights to Robotech. Years ago I drew up some rules for a 4x version of Robotech using Zors power matrix as the mcguffin the different races were looking for.

 Stormonu wrote:
That Rifts boardgame has got my juices churning for a Robotech boardgame using the RRT miniatures.
- Each player runs either a VT squad or a Destroid squad. You can upgrade survivors with XP from defeated enemies
- Two main areas: SDF-1 exterior (maybe as a Castle Panic "Range" setup) and Macross City interior (a street-gridded system?)
- Goal is to get the SDF-1 back to Earth. Maybe an add-on for the time on Earth, the space battle above Earth and "Reconstruction Blues" era.
- Two game phases: Battle & Downtime. Battle is self-explanitary; draw a card that explains the set-up and objectives. Downtime allows the characters to acquire subplots that can be converted to XP ("Fall in Love", "Pilot Duel", "Promotion", "VT Super upgrade available" etc.) or spend XP to upgrade skills/abilities/repair team/bolster SDF-1 defenses, etc.

Ha!
Sorry, I had a vision of Zombicide where pods keep coming in and you play your Veritech hero.

 Talizvar wrote:
I would suggest putting the forum for those links in your signature. Gotta stay on topic (what little we have) you know...

Seconded. That link was just randomness.
____

Edit - it's OK to announce new edition, but a bare link is not nearly so helpful as saying "There is a new edition of Nodal Wars for those who want alternate rules for their RRT minis".

 Mike1975 wrote:
Funny how it goes to share as needed to share as little as possible to just don't share at all.......

Oh don't be that way.
The work you are doing is great, just that announcing your progress is off-topic.

Oddly, maybe others see this too, your announcements are a painful reminder you are "done" with Robotech and you are advertising an alternative that others may not be willing to switch to just yet. Your participation here has been largely these announcements which is being rather stingy.

It is not irritation, I dunno, many are so used to you giving an inside look of where Robotech is going so when you post it is "What cool thing about Robotech does Mike have to say?" then it is "Oh yeah, his game he is working on.".

Managing expectation I guess? I suggested adding to your signature, that is why I keep viewing them on in my Dakka options since many point to their blogs there.

 Talizvar wrote:

 Mike1975 wrote:
Funny how it goes to share as needed to share as little as possible to just don't share at all.......

Oh don't be that way.
The work you are doing is great, just that announcing your progress is off-topic.

Oddly, maybe others see this too, your announcements are a painful reminder you are "done" with Robotech and you are advertising an alternative that others may not be willing to switch to just yet. Your participation here has been largely these announcements which is being rather stingy.

It is not irritation, I dunno, many are so used to you giving an inside look of where Robotech is going so when you post it is "What cool thing about Robotech does Mike have to say?" then it is "Oh yeah, his game he is working on.".

Managing expectation I guess? I suggested adding to your signature, that is why I keep viewing them on in my Dakka options since many point to their blogs there.

I dunno man. ONE line with a link stating that I finished some Zentraedi stuff vs a sidebar conversation on Rifts?


But that's fine........

 Mike1975 wrote:
I dunno man. ONE line with a link stating that I finished some Zentraedi stuff vs a sidebar conversation on Rifts?
But that's fine........

Hehe... point well taken.
If your "friends" can't treat you badly, who can?

Autarch wrote:

 Stormonu wrote:
That Rifts boardgame has got my juices churning for a Robotech boardgame using the RRT miniatures.

- Each player runs either a VT squad or a Destroid squad. You can upgrade survivors with XP from defeated enemies

- Two main areas: SDF-1 exterior (maybe as a Castle Panic "Range" setup) and Macross City interior (a street-gridded system?)

- Goal is to get the SDF-1 back to Earth. Maybe an add-on for the time on Earth, the space battle above Earth and "Reconstruction Blues" era.

- Two game phases: Battle & Downtime. Battle is self-explanitary; draw a card that explains the set-up and objectives. Downtime allows the characters to acquire subplots that can be converted to XP ("Fall in Love", "Pilot Duel", "Promotion", "VT Super upgrade available" etc.) or spend XP to upgrade skills/abilities/repair team/bolster SDF-1 defenses, etc.

That's interesting, that's more the direction this game should have taken with additional maps, scenarios and units released as expansions. I wonder who owns the boardgames rights to Robotech. Years ago I drew up some rules for a 4x version of Robotech using Zors power matrix as the mcguffin the different races were looking for.

there is currently no boardgame rights for Robotech, nor could HG even issue one, right now they are under court order to not issue any new rights, they can reissue current ones, but no new ones.

 Mike1975 wrote:

I dunno man. ONE line with a link stating that I finished some Zentraedi stuff vs a sidebar conversation on Rifts?


But that's fine........

I have no issue with you posting the occasional blurb update and link (as long as followup discussion of said update occurs at that link) but to call the above a "sidebar conversation on Rifts" is very inaccurate. The rifts portion of the discussion is half of the first sentence and then the rest of the post and the ensuing discussion is about how to turn robotech tactics into a board game. To quote both you and Matt Lemke, if your fweelings are hurt, knuckle up even if Swabby is baiting you (instead of reporting a post he feels is inappropriate).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Stormonu wrote:
That Rifts boardgame has got my juices churning for a Robotech boardgame using the RRT miniatures.

- Each player runs either a VT squad or a Destroid squad. You can upgrade survivors with XP from defeated enemies

- Two main areas: SDF-1 exterior (maybe as a Castle Panic "Range" setup) and Macross City interior (a street-gridded system?)

- Goal is to get the SDF-1 back to Earth. Maybe an add-on for the time on Earth, the space battle above Earth and "Reconstruction Blues" era.

- Two game phases: Battle & Downtime. Battle is self-explanitary; draw a card that explains the set-up and objectives. Downtime allows the characters to acquire subplots that can be converted to XP ("Fall in Love", "Pilot Duel", "Promotion", "VT Super upgrade available" etc.) or spend XP to upgrade skills/abilities/repair team/bolster SDF-1 defenses, etc.

It wouldn't take much to turn RRT into a minis-centric boardgame especially if you're using the DZC tiles (whether paper or plastic). Just divide movement up into 12" blocks (rounding up) and require squads to be in the same 12" grid (with an upper total model limit per square of course). You end up with something like the AT-43, DUST, and Deadzone "board games". If you're referring more to a 4x style game that's a different story.

 Mike1975 wrote:
Funny how it goes to share as needed to share as little as possible to just don't share at all.......

I'm sad to see that seems to be case. I guess people are so burned with this KS they don't even want to consider getting any use out of what they have bought.

 Stormonu wrote:

 Mike1975 wrote:
Funny how it goes to share as needed to share as little as possible to just don't share at all.......

I'm sad to see that seems to be case. I guess people are so burned with this KS they don't even want to consider getting any use out of what they have bought.

I am it keeps me busy.

in fact got me some more Super parts molded up and some more Bioroids molded up to make more.

 Stormonu wrote:

 Mike1975 wrote:
Funny how it goes to share as needed to share as little as possible to just don't share at all.......

I'm sad to see that seems to be case. I guess people are so burned with this KS they don't even want to consider getting any use out of what they have bought.

There are plenty of rulesets that can be used as alternatives to RRTs official rules, none of the creators of those rulesets post about them here because they are all off topic or non robotech related. Nodal wars has nothing to do with robotech and is a multi verse style game.

Rifts discussion on the other hand is on topic because of the context involved. The kickstarters are totally relevant to the discussion about this kickstarter due to the various details and palladiums involvement.

Nodal Wars is relevant enough, it started out as Mike's alternative to RRT.

Rifts is relevant, it is a PB product, it gets more attention from PB than the products that were paid for years ago and it is PB's next ks project.

 n815e wrote:
Nodal Wars is relevant enough, it started out as Mike's alternative to RRT.

Rifts is relevant, it is a PB product, it gets more attention from PB than the products that were paid for years ago and it is PB's next ks project.

I think the main theme going here is, there is already a Nodal wars topic, so no need to post it here too, since it has its own topic.

Why not take the off topic discussion of whether nodal wars is off topic (pro tip: it is because there was previous red text mod warning about exactly that a week or two ago) to the nodal wars thread? That sounds like a great idea. The nodal wars thread gets some bumps and you guys bicker till the cows come home. It's a win for everyone!

 warboss wrote:
Why not take the off topic discussion of whether nodal wars is off topic (pro tip: it is because there was previous red text mod warning about exactly that a week or two ago) to the nodal wars thread? That sounds like a great idea. The nodal wars thread gets some bumps and you guys bicker till the cows come home. It's a win for everyone!

That sounds like a great idea...

feth. Ninja'd by Alphy.

Complaining about this thread being off topis is just sooooo off topic.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Merijeek wrote:
So, who wants to guess the month and year of PB's final update on the Kickstarter?

I'm guessing April, 2017.

It's hard to put a specific date, but I'm more than willing to put a specific timeframe.

So my pick is six weeks after the retirement or passing of Kevin Siembeda.

Because I honestly think he'll never admit failure, and that there's a better than even chance PB will ever complete the project. That they'll drag it out with vague promises that don't mean anything. And it'll only be when he's gone, will whoever is left to pick up the scraps, will have to deal with the fallout.

It is possible it might happen earlier, but that'll depend on Kevin getting fairly concrete information that allows him to claim the passing of a certain statute of limitations.

I mean, at the moment, FTC regulations are being heavily violated, but they haven't been challenged with regard Kickstarter. So it remains a huge fething grey area. But if that does get sorted out, I don't doubt for a moment that Kevin will exercise any and every capacity to bail on this thing, if he can get out with his finances unscathed. He won't give a gak about a hit to his reputation, because really, does it look like he gives a gak about his reputation?

As morbid as it sounds I too believe that the final update will come with Kevin's passing, but I believe it will just be whatever lame excuse "soonami" update happened before the end, not that they updated us with news on the project.

I think the real plan is to just string us along till we stop paying attention and are well past any statute of limitations. I do not think it is even intentional, just an underlying hope that if it is put off long enough to will all go away or fix itself.

When Kevin leaves PB, he will probably leave it to Wayne. And since Kevin never gave an ounce of actual responsibility to anyone, nobody will have a clue what to do and it will be run out of business entirely.

 n815e wrote:

When Kevin leaves PB, he will probably leave it to Wayne. And since Kevin never gave an ounce of actual responsibility to anyone, nobody will have a clue what to do and it will be run out of business entirely.

I suspect Palladium will bring out Kevin's name of a corpse ater he leaves whenever they want to energize the remaining fanboys into spending some quick cash just like Harmony Gold does with Carl Macek. It'll be the tabletop gaming industry equivalent of Weekend at Bernie's.

Well to be fair, I guess it is all about the Kickstarter aftermath.

Some make their own rules to take their miniatures and play with no dependence on PB.

Some tried the legal assault on PB with unknown results and then just went into mad amounts of model building.

Some are obtaining / making models rather than wait for PB.

Some are waiting, patiently, any day now, for PB to do what they keep promising.

Some lurk various sites, forums and venues to ensure PB's "good name" is mud.

It is all good therapy I guess.
All kept in check by an indulgent mod who has to slap us down on occasion for our own good.

I can start:
I used to be a Palladium product buyer but I sought help and feel better now.
I used to be an RPG player so long ago... it may be the cause of what made me weak and sent me down this dark path.
I was drawn in by the cool name of "Ninja Division" and thought "how bad could it be?".
I stand before you all truly humbled by how bad a company can be with customers and vow "Never again!".
Amen!

I came into Palladium via TMNT and the Robotech RPG. Learned from TMNT how bad their rules truly were (we had 1st level characters who punked Shredder). I stopped buying the Robotech books after the Sentinels series failed ... I think that was around the time they let the Robotech RPG license expire (at least, our FLGS never got in any PB books after the Sentinel book). *Shrug*, I collect game books even if the rules are bad - they're usually at least good for general information and inspiration.

Funny thing is, when 3E D&D came out and Palladium didn't jump on the bandwagon, I thought they went out of business.

I guess I could only wish.

When the RRT Kickstarter showed up, I found out they had re-released the RPG books and decided to buy copies, and have those now. They're better compiled than the old books, but I'll be damned if I use the rule system - I'd considered using doing it with Savage World rules (and I thought the SW Rifts might help with converting, but I backed away instead).

If PB hadn't screwed the pooch, they could have gotten a some $2-5K out of me by now, instead of a measly $200 or so. AND I would have pulled in a few friends and acquaintances who would have spent a good bit of money as well.

Now, I just tell them the company went out of business and their stuff wasn't that good to start with.

Yeah, I hear that Storm. My friends and I threw a fairly considerable amount at Malifaux, and that's a reasonably 'cost effective' minis game (in that a crew can be built over time without breaking the bank, and even collecting an entire faction isn't a fraction as bad as I hear from WH/40K players).

With nostalgia backing us, I can't fathom what sort of money we would've put down over the years had the release schedule been something other than a joke. A bit more user friendliness in the models would've helped as well, and PB stepping up to support the game in a less grudging manner certainly wouldn't hurt, but now I'm just wishing for unicorns.

Funny you should mention 3E though. They have a sticky on their forum that's over a decade old regarding no D20 conversions for PB stuff.

I mean, Pathfinder certainly shows that flavours of "D20" hold appeal, but I think that ship has sailed there, gents.

Of course it's even funnier that they allegedly spent about 6 years hashing out the details of the Savage Worlds conversion for Rifts, but didn't stop to ponder how they'd handle fan conversions along those lines.

"UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
Wayne will be making PDFs of the Wave 2 cards soon. We have a telephone call to discuss manufacturing options next week and are waiting for a quote from someone else. The positive Gen Con feedback about Robotech® RPG Tactics™ still has us energized. Here are some additional Gen Con photos."

Bull. gak.

Oh man, they have two groups lined up for potential manufacturing! Truly this is the promised time!

I'm feeling both rapture and fear, someone hold me!

Morgan Vening wrote:

Merijeek wrote:
So, who wants to guess the month and year of PB's final update on the Kickstarter?

I'm guessing April, 2017.

It's hard to put a specific date, but I'm more than willing to put a specific timeframe.

So my pick is six weeks after the retirement or passing of Kevin Siembeda.

Because I honestly think he'll never admit failure, and that there's a better than even chance PB will ever complete the project. That they'll drag it out with vague promises that don't mean anything. And it'll only be when he's gone, will whoever is left to pick up the scraps, will have to deal with the fallout.

Hey now. I'm not saying that they will ever admit failure.

I'm saying that's when they'll do their last update, even if the contents of said update boils down to "Soon(tm)".

@Forar and Jaymz

With all due respect, those aren't my favorite parts of the update I just got in my mailbox.

Others are anxious to see more movement and material items for Wave 2 of Robotech RPG TacticsTM - as we are.

See guys! They're anxious to see progress as well just like backers. Now... if only one of the two groups actually had the power to make that progress instead of just treading water on half the rewards for 3 years.... if only....

Also

Our trial run of 150 decks are nearly sold out in just two weeks since Gen Con, and an order for more has already been submitted so we do not run out of stock.

So their trial run that includes what they sold at gencon and the weeks since is less than 150 decks. While I'm hesitant/too lazy to actually count it up, I suspect that amounts to roughly one deck sold for each time Kevin mentioned them over the past month or two since announcing them. Anyone else think that if he found that out he'd spend the whole day "working" on selling more by repeating the full name of the product constantly in darkened bathroom mirror? In any case, the rumor of prioritizing a new dollar store ancillary POD product for at most 150 people over a $1.4+ million project for 5,000+ people is now officially confirmed.

Haven't they been claiming cards/PDF's of Wave 2 for over 6 months?

And didn't we see Nesbit showing off his printed cards (from Mike's files) a few weeks back?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 warboss wrote:


So their trial run that includes what they sold at gencon and the weeks since is less than 150 decks. While I'm hesitant/too lazy to actually count it up, I suspect that amounts to roughly one deck sold for each time Kevin mentioned them over the past month or two since announcing them. Anyone else think that if he found that out he'd spend the whole day "working" on selling more by repeating the full name of the product constantly in darkened bathroom mirror? In any case, the rumor of prioritizing a new dollar store ancillary POD product for at most 150 people over a $1.4+ million project for 5,000+ people is now officially confirmed.

They have 4,100 SW Rifts backers (adding up to 1/3 the money pulled in by RRT...), and Rifts uses card decks for initiative. Yet it took them over a month to sell 150... that's less than 3% buy-in. Let them go ahead an make more poker cards - I'll bet it takes MONTHS for them to move them all and it can add into what drives them bankrupt finally.

 Stormonu wrote:

They have 4,100 SW Rifts backers (adding up to 1/3 the money pulled in by RRT...), and Rifts uses card decks for initiative. Yet it took them over a month to sell 150... that's less than 3% buy-in. Let them go ahead an make more poker cards - I'll bet it takes MONTHS for them to move them all and it can add into what drives them bankrupt finally.

While that is in the realm of possibilty, it involves them risking their own money. I'm guessing the more realistic scenario is crowdfunding some deluxe SW Rifts trading cards. It'll fund 300% over its initial goal of 150 (450 backers! wow!) and palladium will print after a sizeable delay 1,500 decks (to account for the massive demand they'll generate despite the delay). The only catch is that they were forced to split the printing into waves due to the Nevadans screwing them over so the decks only have hearts and clubs with diamonds and spades coming a few months later in wave 2. Unfortunately, years later, palladium will still be unable to find someone capable of printing the mouthwateringly crisp diamond shapes they demand for their discerning customers so backers will have to make due. In the meantime, Wayne will be putting those spare dead stock retail poker cards on his bicycle so that it makes that thwap-thwap-thwap noise as he goes in for work. He is of course testing their durability and reliability under constant use so it counts as progress in fulfilling the rewards as well. What happens if you need on of the missing cards? No worries, Palladium will be working really hard even on Labor Day to put out a pdf to clarify the situation within a few years. In the meantime they suggest you buy a xmas in April extended deadline grab bag and preorder the exciting upcoming expansion to the card deck, Tom and Carmen's revolutionary new parallelogramTM suit!