Palladium Weekly Update Nov 26 2014

[Jaymz]

It is that time again my little Palladiumites....

Obligatory don't like the fact I dare criticize Palladium then don;t read this...

And here we go...

www.palladiumbooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=752%3Apalladium-booksr-weekly-update-november-26-2014&catid=52%3Aweekly-updates&Itemid=183

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

And to you Kevin. As much as I bust your balls I know you, at least in your mind, and the rest of the guys are all working really hard. Whether we think you are or not is a separate thing. Enjoy the days off.

"The Rifter® #68 is at the printer."

It'll only be 6 weeks late or so. better late than not at all I suppose...

" Bizantium and the Northern Islands™ comes out next; end of December or January release."

Can we bet on February or March, seeing as we know how god awful you are at projected release time frames?

"Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is available in stores starting today, across the US and Canada."

I am glad you are happy with this. It was STILL a DICK move to do so and now you have backers in Australia that can now order from the US and get it before they get their backer rewards.

"The Christmas Surprise Package"

I say again it is a good deal for those in the US. Well worth buying.

"Something different this Update"

A lot of stuff. And being the holiday for the time of thanks.....I'll leave it alone.

"Palladium’s First AdeptiCon – March 19-22, 2015"

Good. Without advertising, you need to go to more of these regardless of how busy you are.

"Palladium Open House Game Masters WANTED"

I wish I could but being only a day trip for me, I want to enjoy my time with those I wish to meet as much as possible and running even one game is work to some degree. Maybe the next one.

"Gen Con Indy – July 30-August 2, 2015

Good. As i said above the more you can get to the better.

"Palladium Open House – May 15, 16 & 17, 2015"

As i said, day trip is the plan.

That's it folks. See you next week.

[raiden]

I wish I could say that the 'shipping to North America retailers before the rest of the world backers,' debacle was indeed the straw that broke the camels back when it comes to Palladium Books continued existence. Just the sheer amount of stupidity shown by them with this farce of a project is staggering.

They must have held a secret vote on whether to go to retail, and if none of the backers voted, then it must mean 'Yes.'

[MacrossMike]

Nov 27, 2014 3:08:12 GMT Jaymz said:

"Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is available in stores starting today, across the US and Canada."

... all three of them!

No, seriously. I've done some calling around, and I could honestly count on one hand the number of Michigan stores I've found who either planned on, or already are, carrying this game.  Almost every store owner I've spoken to was either convinced the game will not sell just because of what it is, or convinced it has no long-term prospects because of the way Palladium has comprehensively poisoned the well.

I did get to have some really interesting conversations with store owners about WHY Robotech RPG Tactics is so unlikely to succeed.  The general consensus was brutally honest, and somewhat unkind.  What most of the opinions boiled down to was that Palladium Books is not renowned for solid game design (quite the opposite), and they chose to make an awkward and ill-advised entry into the market via a title that has no name recognition.  A lot of them feel that a game with only two factions needs substantial pre-existing brand awareness to be viable.  Star Wars or Alien vs. Predator have that... Robotech does not, not by any stretch of the imagination.  That, combined with all the negativity swirling around Robotech because of the jackass behavior of its owners as a result of their attempt to screw over Transformers, Battletech/MechWarrior, and Macross, makes it an unattractive prospect as a tabletop game from the store owner's perspective.

Nov 27, 2014 3:08:12 GMT Jaymz said:

I am glad you are happy with this. It was STILL a DICK move to do so and now you have backers in Australia that can now order from the US and get it before they get their backer rewards.

Let's be frank... the Robotech franchise is The House that Dick Moves Built.  The only reason it exists at all at this point is so, if Macross's owners decide they really DO want to distribute in the US, Harmony Gold can demand a piece of the action.

Crowdfunding this game was a REALLY bad idea on the part of Palladium's fans... the pitch contained a number of blatant lies, and with the backer money in hand Palladium no longer had any real reason to worry about honoring the promises they'd made.  Kickstarter's terms of service mean that the backers cannot actually demand a refund unless Palladium fails to deliver the product at all.  This is essentially the ideal consequence-free environment for a lazy or inept developer... they can make excuses, delay, and break promises all the way with no immediate consequences provided they deliver the promised backer rewards in the end.

The long-term consequences are obvious.  Ninja Division's reputation has taken a hit from this, and they're going to think twice about trying to crowdfund an expansion set.  Backers are going to think twice about backing an expansion set.  Ultimately, they'll continue to screw you all until you learn to stop backing them and tell them to fund the damn thing themselves the way Robotech fans did with Robotech Academy.

[Sci-Fi]

No stores in the UP have them, but that's not really surprising.