Jan 17 2013 update

[Jaymz]

www.palladiumbooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=703:palladium-booksr-weekly-update-january-17-2014&catid=52:weekly-updates&Itemid=183


By Kevin Siembieda

I hope last week’s long and comprehensive Weekly Update wasn't too much to digest. A lot has been going on and we wanted to bring everyone up to speed.
2013 Christmas Surprise Packages are over!

You love getting them. We love making them available to you. But man oh man, they are a lot of work. So glad Surprise Package season is over. We hope everyone enjoyed their Surprise Packages. I’ll include a small selection of the last of the holiday fan comments elsewhere in this Update for your enjoyment. With the holiday season and Grab Bags behind us, our focus has shifted to getting new product into your hands.

A busy week

Much of our time the past week has been divided between The Rifter® #65, Robotech® RPG Tactics™, 2014 Gen Con Indy, plotting schedules and books, assigning work, business matters, telephone conferences, and dealing with the last of the 2013 Christmas Surprise Packages. Things have been so nuts that I came in to work at 4:30 AM on Tuesday and worked till 7:00 PM. Whew. Heck, we have all been burning the midnight oil on many fronts and worked through last weekend and will be working through this one as well.
Oops, pushed too hard

I may have pushed a little too hard. I started to feel under the weather Thursday evening, and woke up Friday morning with a monstrous head cold. The worst I’ve had in years. Coughing and sneezing. My sinuses will not stop running – my nose is like a dripping faucet (I’ve gone through almost an entire box of Puff’s facial tissue in the last 24 hours!) – I feel drained and I’m told I may have a low fever. In short, feeling pretty lousy. Will try to knock off and go home around 6:00 PM today. In the meanwhile, I’m hiding out in my office, avoiding the rest of the crew as best I can, but I’m still working away to get his Weekly Update posted and take care of a few other things.

UPDATE: Fear the Reaper™ – Available now

UPDATE: The Rifter® #65 – Ships end of January

The Annual Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive – Low Price – Free Gift

UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two

I had a great concept and art meeting with Chuck Walton on Wednesday. This is going to be an outstanding book. In fact, Chuck proclaimed that he thought Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two might be even better than Northern Gun One with its diverse range of body armor, power armor, drones, vehicles and Gladiatorial Robots. I agree. Chuck attributes this to what he calls “the Kevin Siembieda magic.” And that magic continues in Northern Gun™ Two and Megaverse® in Flames™, as well as other books yet to be announced. Of course, every book is a team effort and the “magic” they contain comes from all of the writers and artists who help to create it. I’m honored and blessed to have a cadre of wonderful staff and freelance creative minds and hands to help me weave Palladium magic.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™

I hope to have more to report in the next Weekly Update. As of right now, not much has changed from last week. We are deep into the engineering stage and dealing with a number of matters that inhibit us from locking down a likely release date. We don’t want to keep shifting dates. The next time we report something, we want it to be solid, so it will probably be a few weeks. You’ll know when we know. Keep the faith. Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is absolutely coming out in 2014, Kickstarter supporters will get product before retail, and this game is going to be epic fun.

Join the Gen Con Palladium Team NOW – Gen Con Indy, August 14-17, 2014

BACK IN PRINT & Available now

Just a reminder that these books are back in print.

Dragons and Gods™ – for Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy®
Rifts® Mystic Russia™ – Available now
The Rifter® #50 – Special Anniversary Issue – Available now


Palladium Collectibles Available in Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles Store

Dragons and Gods™ Sneak Preview – available now on DriveThruRPG.com

Final words from 2013 Christmas Surprise Packages

BACK IN PRINT! Heroes Unlimited™ RPG, 2nd Edition

NEW! Heroes Unlimited™ Special 30th Anniversary Hardcover Edition – only $40 while supplies last – At the printer & taking pre-orders now!

BACK IN PRINT – Dragons & Gods™ – for Rifts® & Palladium Fantasy® – Available now

BACK IN PRINT – Rifts® World Book 18: Mystic Russia™ – Available now

BACK IN PRINT – The Rifter® #50 – Special Anniversary Issue – Available now

RECENT RELEASE: The Rifter® #64 – Available now

NEW! The Rifter® #65 – End of January Release

RECENT RELEASE: Dead Reign™ Sourcebook 4: Fear the Reaper™ – Available now

HOT! Rifts® World Book 33: Northern Gun™ One – Available Now!

NEW! Rifts® World Book 34: Northern Gun™ Two – February 2014

NEW! Rifts® World Book 35: Megaverse® in Flames™ – March, 2014

NEW! Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One
– Name changed from UEEF Marines

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ – Game Description – Coming Spring 2014

Robotech® Macross® Saga Sourcebook – New Size

[Adam of The Old Kingdom]

sweet Jesus.

just STFU. please

[Jaymz]

I hate to say this but.....It almost feels like he might be trying to set up "reasons" for NG2 not getting out by end of February......

[Adam of The Old Kingdom]

it's been this sort of pointless drivel since he started the murmers.
they are a great idea but he talks such shit it makes me shouty to read them.
the time frames, the stuff he gets up to (that is not getting a book out tot he printers) that should be for some one else. the reprints of stuff, coming soon.....
and he's still talking to the art guy on NG2? the fuck?

[Josh Hilden]

His time frames are the problem, from a relations POV the personal stuff isn't a bad idea. People (most) like to know what's happening in the personal life of people they are interested in. But stop with the damn time frames you damn well know are bullshit.

[Jaymz]

Adam - well these aren't his murmurs....these are actually the company's weekly update.....

The murmurs are......well, a bit more involved with personal stuff to a degree.

[MacrossMike]

The sort of response I'd love to be able to get away with for crap like goes a little like this:

Dear Mr. Siembieda,

Enough crap.

Apathetic Regards,

Mike

[ninjabunny]

It's not magic if someone else does all the work for you. In fact I think it's called idea theift.

[MacrossMike]

Jan 18, 2014 21:47:51 GMT ninjabunny said:

It's not magic if someone else does all the work for you. In fact I think it's called idea theift.

Nah... if he's paying them, it's work-for-hire.

[Adam of The Old Kingdom]

my issue is that they both ammount to him telling us how much time he is not spending on the job.
if he was more than the publisher, author, ghostwriter, artist and freelancer...well maybe I should be all excited about his personal stuff

[MacrossMike]

Jan 19, 2014 7:27:08 GMT Adam of The Old Kingdom said:

my issue is that they both ammount to him telling us how much time he is not spending on the job.
if he was more than the publisher, author, ghostwriter, artist and freelancer...well maybe I should be all excited about his personal stuff

True enough, and that's pretty bad for his professional image... assuming he still has one intact-enough to be recognizable as such.

Because he's the owner/operator of his small business he isn't exactly answerable to anyone for it directly, but the last thing anyone in a business environment should do is give a client the impression that you're spending large amounts of the workday NOT working.  He can't exactly get called onto the carpet for it, because he's the highest authority at his workplace, so all it does is leave him looking rather like he's entirely too blase and unprofessional about running his business.

People pay me good money to tell them how to improve their business practices... and I think I'd honestly be in over my head trying to fix what ails Palladium.

[Josh Hilden]

You should see him at Gen Con, he's still kind of a rock star.

[joshuagoliath]

Jan 19, 2014 13:21:36 GMT MacrossMike said:

People pay me good money to tell them how to improve their business practices... and I think I'd honestly be in over my head trying to fix what ails Palladium.

Nah, it would be easy. The boss is what ails it.

His Murmurs and the Company Updates actually help illustrate something I've been saying for years.

Kevin is a great CONCEPTS guy. He's a decent (usually) writer. He's a creator, free spirit, etc etc.

When it comes to the business side of things, he doesn't have a clue to what he's doing. He had a huge spike back in the glory days of gaming, and has been riding it ever since. He's been trying to milk the same cow, and doesn't want to wake up to the fact that the "my way" attitude is strangling the company.

[Jaymz]

Jan 19, 2014 15:20:59 GMT Josh Hilden said:

You should see him at Gen Con, he's still kind of a rock star.

Seriously? Please tell me you are kidding.....

[Josh Hilden]

Jan 19, 2014 21:03:26 GMT Jaymz said:

Jan 19, 2014 15:20:59 GMT Josh Hilden said:

You should see him at Gen Con, he's still kind of a rock star.

Seriously? Please tell me you are kidding.....

Nope he's really personable, makes people who drop by the booth feel like their his best friend, and the man has scary hypnotic energy. Also think about it there are lots of people who know almost nothing about the behind the scenes shenanigans, and they don't care if you tell them. All they know is that when they were kids they loved games from Palladium Books.

[Adam of The Old Kingdom]

Indeed, If all i played was Rifts, all I would see was wall to wall content.

sadly I play PF.

[Jaymz]

Jan 19, 2014 21:14:51 GMT Josh Hilden said:

Jan 19, 2014 21:03:26 GMT Jaymz said:

Seriously? Please tell me you are kidding.....

Nope he's really personable, makes people who drop by the booth feel like their his best friend, and the man has scary hypnotic energy. Also think about it there are lots of people who know almost nothing about the behind the scenes shenanigans, and they don't care if you tell them. All they know is that when they were kids they loved games from Palladium Books.

Ah ok THAT I can believe after having met him back last May. He is a "rock star" to those that remember playing Palladium Games, not in general. *nods*

I can tell you, even though Anime North gave him an award in respect to his support of Robotech, there was only about 18 people in a room for about 100 or more for his Panel discussion. ON top of that I knew more about what was going on than anyone there and was the only person in the room who had ANY clue of some of the things he was talking about.

His energy and enthusiasm is truly infectious when you are with the man but about 10-15 minutes after he walks away you start thinking "wait what?" LOL

I was nice and did not try to be an ass at the panel and I apologized in regards to my part in the whole Facebook fiasco and whatnot. He was cool about that and said yeah things could have been handled better all around and that he was happy with Facebook and the fact they sort of got a bit of a kick in the butt to do it.

[joshuagoliath]

Now, if only we could figure out how to give him a kick in the butt to do something on BtS2E and PF...

[Sci-Fi]

Jan 19, 2014 23:45:38 GMT Jaymz said:

Jan 19, 2014 21:14:51 GMT Josh Hilden said:

Nope he's really personable, makes people who drop by the booth feel like their his best friend, and the man has scary hypnotic energy. Also think about it there are lots of people who know almost nothing about the behind the scenes shenanigans, and they don't care if you tell them. All they know is that when they were kids they loved games from Palladium Books.

Ah ok THAT I can believe after having met him back last May. He is a "rock star" to those that remember playing Palladium Games, not in general. *nods*

I can tell you, even though Anime North gave him an award in respect to his support of Robotech, there was only about 18 people in a room for about 100 or more for his Panel discussion. ON top of that I knew more about what was going on than anyone there and was the only person in the room who had ANY clue of some of the things he was talking about.

His energy and enthusiasm is truly infectious when you are with the man but about 10-15 minutes after he walks away you start thinking "wait what?" LOL

I was nice and did not try to be an ass at the panel and I apologized in regards to my part in the whole Facebook fiasco and whatnot. He was cool about that and said yeah things could have been handled better all around and that he was happy with Facebook and the fact they sort of got a bit of a kick in the butt to do it.

So you're saying that he hit you with the JMT??

[Jaymz]

O.o JMT?

[Sci-Fi]

Jedi Mind Trick. lol

"This is not the company owner you want to bitch to or about..... Carry on"

"............... This is not the company owner I'm wanting to bitch to... or about...... I'm going to carry on"....

[Jaymz]

Oh ok no not quite....in fact not long after I mentioned that I hope to see an increase if production and hope to see RRT on time he quickly excused himself and had to "go take care of some things"

[MacrossMike]

Jan 19, 2014 18:35:07 GMT joshuagoliath said:

Nah, it would be easy. The boss is what ails it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't exactly recommend (with a straight face) that he fire himself.

Jan 19, 2014 18:35:07 GMT joshuagoliath said:

When it comes to the business side of things, he doesn't have a clue to what he's doing. He had a huge spike back in the glory days of gaming, and has been riding it ever since. He's been trying to milk the same cow, and doesn't want to wake up to the fact that the "my way" attitude is strangling the company.

How fitting that he's partnered with Harmony Gold, yet another company resting on laurels of decades past.

[joshuagoliath]

Mike- oh, you don't have to FIRE an employee (or owner) that isn't behaving appropriately. For high tier personnel, the proper response (as far as I've always been taught) is to try to FIX the problem behavior.

I dunno.. maybe it's just the thought of someone slapping Kevin across the face and saying "Here is what you're doing wrong. You wanna fix the company, fix your behavior".... that thought makes me smile.

[Adam of The Old Kingdom]

Any sufficiently advanced JH is indistinguishable from magic.

[MacrossMike]

Jan 20, 2014 3:21:03 GMT joshuagoliath said:

Mike- oh, you don't have to FIRE an employee (or owner) that isn't behaving appropriately. For high tier personnel, the proper response (as far as I've always been taught) is to try to FIX the problem behavior.

Eh... depends what kind of industry you're in and just what the bad behavior is.  Out here, it's a buyer's market for engineers so the usual habit is to sideline the malefactor into a position where they can do no harm and wait for them to quit if you can't marshal enough evidence to have security march them out.  Kevin's problems are beyond the power of mere mortals to fix.

Jan 20, 2014 3:21:03 GMT joshuagoliath said:

I dunno.. maybe it's just the thought of someone slapping Kevin across the face and saying "Here is what you're doing wrong. You wanna fix the company, fix your behavior".... that thought makes me smile.

If only that were a realistic solution...

[joshuagoliath]

Oh, I'm not saying the slap would actually do any GOOD.. I'm just saying the thought of someone calling him on it to his face makes me smile.. especially if they accompany it by a nice solid slap...

[MacrossMike]

Jan 21, 2014 3:40:29 GMT joshuagoliath said:

Oh, I'm not saying the slap would actually do any GOOD.. I'm just saying the thought of someone calling him on it to his face makes me smile.. especially if they accompany it by a nice solid slap...

Heh... somehow, I think words could hurt an egotist like Kevin far worse than resorting to Three Stooges disciplinary measures...