Post by Jaymz on Dec 14, 2013 16:41:59 GMT
www.palladiumbooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=698:palladium-booksr-weekly-update-december-13-2013&catid=52:weekly-updates&Itemid=183
By Kevin Siembieda
There is a lot to talk about so I’m diving right into it.
UPDATE: Christmas Surprise Packages – Order by Monday, December 16!
Only 12 days till Christmas! This is your last weekend to order without paying extra to ship! Get those orders in this weekend!
Get those orders in NOW to get Surprise Packages in time for Christmas without having to pay an arm and a leg for shipping! Order this weekend and Monday, and you can get your Surprise Package in time for Christmas by just using UPS Ground (1-3 days to deliver east of the Mississippi River, 4-5 days west of the Mississippi). UPS Ground is awesome and not too expensive and it can be tracked. Priority Mail is also a fast method of shipping guaranteed to arrive before Christmas if you place our order with Palladium Books by December 18.
Shipping guidelines for Christmas delivery:
Note: Remember, Palladium needs a day to process and pack orders and we cannot ship on the weekends.
UPS Ground in the USA – Place order by December 16 to guarantee Christmas delivery, but you may have till December 18 if you live east of the Mississippi River.
Priority Mail in USA – Place your order by December 18 (should be a bit cheaper than UPS 3-Day Select).
UPS 3-Day Select in USA – Place your order by December 18 for guaranteed Christmas delivery.
UPS 2nd Day Air in USA – Place your order by December 19.
UPS Next Day Air in USA – Place your order by December 22.
Express Mail in USA – Place your order by December 22.
Parcel Post in USA – NOT ADVISED. Placing an order by December 15 means you MAY get your order in time for Christmas, but probably not. There is only a 33% chance. We can NOT guarantee a Christmas delivery using Parcel Post at this time.
Media Mail will NOT arrive in time for Christmas! Do not use Media Mail unless you do NOT need it by Christmas. Note: Though the US Post Office claims Media Mail packages should arrive in 4-10 days, experience has shown us that during the holidays, it is more like 10-21 days. NOT ADVISED. Will NOT arrive in time for Christmas.
To our friends in Canada and overseas – Sorry, but your deadline for Christmas delivery has passed. Any method of shipping other than the most expedited and expensive will reach AFTER the holidays. Happy Holidays, one and all!
What is the Christmas Surprise Package offer? It’s a way to get a boat load of Palladium RPG product on the cheap ($80-$95 worth for $40 plus shipping and handling), and get autographs and Erick Wujcik Keepsakes, too. And if you’re into it, you can request a number of limited edition prints and even original artwork (limited as all art is donated by the artists). The perfect holiday gift for the gamer in your life. Or maybe for yourself. The Surprise Package is a great way to try new RPGs and plug holes in your collection. Have you tried Dead Reign™? Splicers®? Nightbane®? Rifts®? Robotech®? Here’s your chance.
At the moment, Holiday Cheer and Christmas Surprise Packages dominate half our time every day. And that is NOT an exaggeration. With Christmas 11 days away, Grab Bag orders have been pouring in. Awesome. Please keep ‘em coming and enjoy. I’m doing my best to make each and every Surprise Package special. I want to put a big ol’ smile on every recipient’s face. “That’s not an easy job,” as we say up here at the North Pole (okay, the Motor City), but it’s worth the effort. From what I can tell, people are loving them, which is the whole idea. Regular orders are strong too, with new books flying off the shelves and interest in all our game lines accross the board. Nice.
In fact, we had a couple of gamers swing by the office just yesterday to inquire about some books they needed. Alex and I wowed Doug and Blake with a look at Robotech® game pieces and the Battle Foam prototype trays for Robotech® RPG Tactics™ (making them the first fans outside of the Palladium staff to see the latter) and some of the artwork for Rifts® Northern Gun Two. They were quite tickled with this and happy to get a few of their books signed by available staff. It was a brief, very nice visit. Merry Christmas, guys.
UPDATE: Erick Wujcik Keepsake for Christmas Surprise Packages
We have plenty so do not hesitate to request one in your Surprise Package.
Design An Ace Contest Winner
UPDATE: “Design an Ace” Contest Winner is Sam Wetherden
The time has finally come! We are pleased to announce the winner of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Design an Ace contest. Congratulations, Sam Wetherden. Your “Fury Squadron” submission was voted our favorite. Everyone at Palladium Books and the head honchos at Harmony Gold had a vote. Nicely done, Sam! We think this will look awesome on the battlefield.
Design An Ace Contest Winner
And here is how our own Jeff Burke has extrapolated from it, and applied it to a template to show how it will look from various angles in Battloid and Fighter modes.
UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
As I noted in the opening to this Weekly Update, it may not seem like a lot is happening sometimes, at least from outside, but there is all kinds of stuff going on at Palladium Books. One of them is working with Ninja Division to get Robotech® RPG Tactics™ into manufacturing as quick as possible without sacrificing quality. We want this game out and in your hands more than you do! And we are making progress. When we have hard data, we will be sure to share it.
Here is a recap of where we’re at:
Palladium Books and Ninja Division had a highpowered conference call Thursday afternoon to plot the best course of manufacturing and release of products, as well as getting the last few details finalized.
All miniature designs are finished and have gotten final approval from Harmony Gold. All are being broken down into sprues and laid out for manufacturing.
Mold engineering by the factory to make the retail and Kickstarter product is close to being finalized.
The rule book is done, laid out and approved.
Game stat cards are done, laid out and approved.
We are working out the last few tweaks and details for the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Battle Foam bag. We got a package from John at Ninja Division a couple days ago. It contained prototype foam trays for the Battle Foam bag that is designed to hold a full Battle Cry worth of (90+) game pieces. Bottom line, we are darn close. We made some notes and will be in touch with the Battle Foam guys to make a couple of changes to the tray layout, so it can be sent into manufacturing.
Tooling should be nearly finished, and test pieces run, before the Chinese New Year celebrations. We're still pushing to get the full production run done before then, but we don't yet know if the various engineering work will be done in time to allow for that. We hope to have more info on that next week.
We want a first quarter 2014 release. Excitement is running high. We will get you details and release dates as soon as we know them ourselves.
UPDATE: Fear the Reaper™ – Available now
Fear the Reaper™ has been shipped and is available for request in Christmas Surprise packages. Fear the Reaper™ is an excellent resource and a fun read that shines more light upon the dark world of Dead Reign™ and the heroes in it. The Road Reapers™, and heroes like them, offer hope in the Zombie Apocalypse. If you haven’t tried the Dead Reign™ RPG, you really should think about it. This is a dynamic gaming setting. If you enjoy zombie-based TV shows, movies, comic books and novels, the Dead Reign™ RPG series is for you.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #64
The Rifter® #64 is another book that fans who have seen it are going wild over. See, I told you it was the best issue of the year, out of a year of great issues. See the full description of it elsewhere in this Update.
Contributor and PR copies shipped out on Wednesday. Speaking of contributors, I just realized that I never sent out your contracts. I’ll try to get those to you pronto. Like I've said, a) we are swamped, b) it’s always a juggling act, and c) not enough hours in the day.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #65
Even as you read this, Wayne Smith is working away selecting articles for the next issue of The Rifter®. Meanwhile, Chuck Walton is already working on the cover. 2014 is the 30th anniversary of Heroes Unlimited, so every issue of The Rifter® will feature superhumans and heroes (hmm, and maybe some villains). Art will be assigned quickly. The Rifter® #65 will be released on time, in January, 2014!
Writers and G.M.s: Palladium wants Rifter® articles and adventures for Heroes Unlimited™. Please send submissions as short as 6 pages and no larger than 26 pages for possible publication in The Rifter®. We are always in need of source material (adventures, characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, gear, and setting info) for HU2, Palladium Fantasy®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Nightbane®, Splicers®, Chaos Earth® and Rifts® too. Gaming material is most sought after. Short stories are less desirable and should be kept ‘short’ – 4-10 pages. Come on, write something and send it in.
UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun™ One Megaverse® Insiders
ALL the Megaverse® Insider packages have been sent! So have the PDFs of NG-1. The last 16 insiders had been waiting for us to produce and autograph limited edition prints of art from NG-2, but they all went out on Monday. And for the Benefactors we had to pack up the piece of original art they receive and a select a snippet from Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames that only these select few (just under a dozen fans) get to see under the mandate of secrecy. In addition to the text, I reveal on the last page a couple of secret projects we've been working on at Palladium Books. The Ultimate Benefactor even got a sneak peek at one of the covers for this book. Fun. Enjoy.
UPDATE: Northern Gun™ One PDF for Cyber-Insiders
PDFs of Rifts® Northern Gun™ One have been sent. About half a dozen ‘bounced.’ If you have not received your PDF of NG-1, please contact the Palladium offices to provide us with your current or alternative email address (call 734-721-2903 order line). Thanks and enjoy.
UPDATE: Phone call from Kevin Siembieda to Top NG-1 Insiders
I owe the top 16 NG-1 Megaverse® Insiders a 20 minute telephone call. You are NOT forgotten. I was unable to start calls last weekend, but they will be coming.
NEW! Northern Gun™ One signed & numbered “print” – available now
Folks are ordering the limited edition print of Northern Gun™ One by Charles Walton. Limited to a total of 180 copies (with close to half already gone). Signed by Charles Walton (artist), Matthew Clements (author) and Kevin Siembieda (co-author and publisher) in silver. 16x10 image on 17½ x 11½ inch paper. Suitable for framing. Mailed rolled in a sturdy tube. Note: A print of NG-2 will also be made available after that book is released.
Palladium Collectibles available in Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles Store
Limited editions, rare book titles and NG-1 hardcovers seem to be blowing out almost as fast as Alex adds them to my online store. We’ll keep adding items as supplies allow and as I scrounge items up. They include out of print titles, redlined proofreader photocopies signed by me and the staff, signed manuscripts with editors’ corrections, some original art, hardcover books (including Rifts® Northern Gun™ One) and other items available just in time for Christmas. There are also hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal collection. Alex will keep adding Palladium items over the next week. All items in the store are from my own personal archives and collection. Take a look every few days as new items are added. There may be some items that are perfect as holiday gifts or upcoming birthdays and anniversaries.
stores.ebay.com/kevinstoys-artandcollectibles
Rifts® Northern Gun™ One Sneak Preview – available now on DriveThruRPG.com
Wayne has posted a FREE Sneak Preview of Rifts® Northern Gun™ One available on DriveThruRPG.com right now for your enjoyment. There are also previews available for the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™ (Revised Edition), Rifts® Black Market, Rifts® Lemuria, Dead Reign™ RPG, Endless Dead™ sourcebook and others. The original Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms World Book is also available as a PDF on DriveThruRPG, for those of you who may be interested.
More than 90 other Palladium titles can be found on DriveThruRPG.com as PDFs, including Splicers®, Rifts® RPG (the edition before RUE), The Rifter® #1-52, and first edition rule books and sourcebooks for Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Heroes Unlimited™, The Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy, Beyond the Supernatural™ and lots of other good titles. DriveThruRPG.com also offers the Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy® Game Master Kits ($5 each; both written by Carl Gleba and complete with maps, combat matrix, character sheets, spell list, and 20 pre-rolled characters created by Julius Rosenstein). Check it all out.
Will there be a Fear the Reaper™ or The Rifter® #64 preview? We’ll see.
UPDATE: Mark Dudley – iMAGiNOs PLUS Kickstarter – 8 days to go and close to their goal!
If you can help make this dream project a reality, please consider doing so. Only $1,800 to reach their goal! And a pledge as small as $5-$10 can make the difference.
This project is the brainchild of Palladium’s very own Mark Dudley and friends. Mark’s artwork has graced the pages of dozens of Palladium RPG titles including Rifts® Ultimate Edition, Heroes Unlimited™, Rifts® New West™, Rifts® China 2, Shemarrian Nation™ Sourcebook, Northern Gun™ One and many, many others. So you know Mark Dudley as an artist, but you don’t know Mark Dudley the comic book storyteller and innovator. And boy is he great at both. Check out this Kickstarter and get a glimpse. Support the iMAGiNOs Plus Kickstarter (I am), and you’ll be part of his first step into the beginning of something outstanding and potentially big. And all it will cost you is FIVE DOLLARS.
iMAGiNOs Plus is an anthology comic that presents several dynamic comic stories that Mark and company hope to expand into full-fledged comic book series. One of them, Candy Coated™, was inspired by Mark’s Heroes Unlimited™ campaign that has run for years. Part of the “plus” in iMAGiNOs Plus is one of Palladium Books’ own secret projects: The Adventures of Erin Tarn™ as a Girl. Yeah, a sort of ongoing origin story. The project has been shelved, but we still hope to bring this and other Palladium IP based comic book titles to life – and this is your first look at the initial 6-8 pages of one such project.
So is this Kickstarter worth backing? I think it is. In fact, I’ll be making a more generous pledge myself, but you don’t have to. If only 700 Palladium fans pledge just $5 the Kickstarter would be completely FUNDED, and you’ll get the iMAGiNOs Plus™ PDF version of the comic book, and a peek at the Erin Tarn comic book concept from Palladium Books! Personally, I’m going for a higher pledge, because I want the physical comic which could become a collector’s item in the future. I believe in Mark Dudley’s plans for iMAGiNOs Plus so I’m in. Spread the word.
The Tarot of Loka – A Family Card Game by Alessio Cavatore
Game designer Alessio Cavatore, known for his work on many game lines including Warhammer 40k and our own Robotech® RPG Tactics™, is doing a Kickstarter for a family card game set in his world of Loka, inspired by medieval tarot, and illustrated by Ralph Horsley. It looks like they’ve just passed their funding goal and there are only two days left, so go take a look and see if it’s something you’d be interested in.
Cross Hares: Testing Ground Kickstarter – New Board Game from 1A Games
An old pal of mine is one of the guys behind this fun-looking board game. Cross Hares: Testing Ground is already off to a great start, and I thought you might be interested, so take a look.
2014 Gen Con® Indy – Palladium gaming events needed
We need Game Masters to run Palladium games – and we need you to send in your game submissions to Gen Con by January 15, 2014!! Yes, I’m talking Gen Con 2014. We want to make a HUGE Palladium push at Gen Con in 2014, and we sincerely need your help to make it happen. Game Masters, PLEASE submit your Palladium games for Gen Con 2014 by their January 15, 2014 deadline! If Game Masters act fast to submit their games in time for this FIRST deadline, they are guaranteed to be listed in the Gen Con program book.
Palladium is planning to make the 2014 Gen Con® Indy its biggest and best in decades. Our booth will be twice the size it was this year, and we’ll have the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game and expansion packs, as well as many new RPG products.
If we can get enough gaming events in place by January 15, 2014, Palladium can get a dedicated gaming area for ALL of our events – or even a specified game room. That will mean a place where Palladium G.M.s and fans can game around the clock, 24/7. With this being the 30th Anniversary of Heroes Unlimited™ and a big release year for Robotech® RPG Tactics™, we want to shout to the world that Palladium Books is back with a vengeance. Please help. Thank you.
Please coordinate with Bill Korsak and Palladium’s Megaversal Ambassadors to run ‘official’ Palladium gaming events throughout the 2014 Gen Con weekend. If you were planning to run already, please submit your game event forms to Gen Con by January 15, 2014, but also coordinate with us. Let us know what events and how many you are running so Palladium can make special arrangements with Gen Con to feature your games! If you weren’t planning to run, but want to get in on the action, please contact Palladium Books (734-721-2903) or the Megaversal Ambassadors at ambassadors@palladiumbooks.com.
Behind the scenes at Palladium Books
It sucks looking in from the outside, only catching glimpses and never seeing the whole picture. It means you, our fans, have to guess and fill in the rest with your own imagination, hopes and misgivings. We try to be transparent and plan on being even more so. Please know that you matter to us, and we are working hard, all the time, on many, many projects that you will love. In fact, we have all kinds of things going on.
Though you may not see it looking in through through the portals of these Weekly Updates as well as Murmurs from the Megaverse®, The Rifter®, the Palladium Facebook page, our website and other online postings, we are working on projects ALL THE TIME. Too darn much, in fact, but we want to get Palladium Books rock-solid again, and wow you with the many amazing books you have been waiting for, along with many surprises. I guess what I’m saying is, please know we are not sitting on our laurels. We are working hard and creating magic behind the scenes.
To help you see what’s going on, we will be making some changes to the Palladium website and doing more online to put you closer to the Palladium experience. We hope to get many of the Palladium freelance writers and artists to be much more active online next year and offer a variety of new experiences. Our ultimate goal is to give you a more frequent, bigger, brighter, more fun picture of what’s going on and more interaction with the people behind the games you love. More details to follow.
In the meanwhile, the Palladium staff is working away. For most of you, Christmas is rapidly approaching and you are wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Cool, as it should be. For us at Palladium, however, we are straddling two realities: the Christmas season of 2013 and our product schedule of 2014. Forget about New Year’s resolutions, we’re beyond that. We have been planning, plotting and working on a slew of products for 2014 release up through spring.
Palladium Books and Ninja Division are working to get Robotech® RPG Tactics™ into actual manufacturing and into your hands as soon as we can. While half the staff works on that, the rest of us have the immediate goal to get you the following books in the first four months of 2014: The Rifter® #65, Northern Gun™ Two, Megaverse® in Flames, Robotech® UEEF Marines Sourcebook One (renamed Robotech® Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One), and The Rifter® #66. They will be followed by more sourcebooks for Robotech®, Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Splicers®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Palladium Fantasy®, and hopefully, Heroes Unlimited™, Dead Reign™, and who knows what else! All kinds of possibilities are floating around. And we want each new book to be epic too. That’s a tall order, but we are up to the challenge. Some of these books have been developed over the last year and waiting for final execution, so that should help.
So keep those imaginations burning bright, enjoy the holidays and game your hearts out. Happy Holidays from all of us at Palladium Books.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher & Surrogate Santa
By Kevin Siembieda
There is a lot to talk about so I’m diving right into it.
UPDATE: Christmas Surprise Packages – Order by Monday, December 16!
Only 12 days till Christmas! This is your last weekend to order without paying extra to ship! Get those orders in this weekend!
Get those orders in NOW to get Surprise Packages in time for Christmas without having to pay an arm and a leg for shipping! Order this weekend and Monday, and you can get your Surprise Package in time for Christmas by just using UPS Ground (1-3 days to deliver east of the Mississippi River, 4-5 days west of the Mississippi). UPS Ground is awesome and not too expensive and it can be tracked. Priority Mail is also a fast method of shipping guaranteed to arrive before Christmas if you place our order with Palladium Books by December 18.
Shipping guidelines for Christmas delivery:
Note: Remember, Palladium needs a day to process and pack orders and we cannot ship on the weekends.
UPS Ground in the USA – Place order by December 16 to guarantee Christmas delivery, but you may have till December 18 if you live east of the Mississippi River.
Priority Mail in USA – Place your order by December 18 (should be a bit cheaper than UPS 3-Day Select).
UPS 3-Day Select in USA – Place your order by December 18 for guaranteed Christmas delivery.
UPS 2nd Day Air in USA – Place your order by December 19.
UPS Next Day Air in USA – Place your order by December 22.
Express Mail in USA – Place your order by December 22.
Parcel Post in USA – NOT ADVISED. Placing an order by December 15 means you MAY get your order in time for Christmas, but probably not. There is only a 33% chance. We can NOT guarantee a Christmas delivery using Parcel Post at this time.
Media Mail will NOT arrive in time for Christmas! Do not use Media Mail unless you do NOT need it by Christmas. Note: Though the US Post Office claims Media Mail packages should arrive in 4-10 days, experience has shown us that during the holidays, it is more like 10-21 days. NOT ADVISED. Will NOT arrive in time for Christmas.
To our friends in Canada and overseas – Sorry, but your deadline for Christmas delivery has passed. Any method of shipping other than the most expedited and expensive will reach AFTER the holidays. Happy Holidays, one and all!
What is the Christmas Surprise Package offer? It’s a way to get a boat load of Palladium RPG product on the cheap ($80-$95 worth for $40 plus shipping and handling), and get autographs and Erick Wujcik Keepsakes, too. And if you’re into it, you can request a number of limited edition prints and even original artwork (limited as all art is donated by the artists). The perfect holiday gift for the gamer in your life. Or maybe for yourself. The Surprise Package is a great way to try new RPGs and plug holes in your collection. Have you tried Dead Reign™? Splicers®? Nightbane®? Rifts®? Robotech®? Here’s your chance.
At the moment, Holiday Cheer and Christmas Surprise Packages dominate half our time every day. And that is NOT an exaggeration. With Christmas 11 days away, Grab Bag orders have been pouring in. Awesome. Please keep ‘em coming and enjoy. I’m doing my best to make each and every Surprise Package special. I want to put a big ol’ smile on every recipient’s face. “That’s not an easy job,” as we say up here at the North Pole (okay, the Motor City), but it’s worth the effort. From what I can tell, people are loving them, which is the whole idea. Regular orders are strong too, with new books flying off the shelves and interest in all our game lines accross the board. Nice.
In fact, we had a couple of gamers swing by the office just yesterday to inquire about some books they needed. Alex and I wowed Doug and Blake with a look at Robotech® game pieces and the Battle Foam prototype trays for Robotech® RPG Tactics™ (making them the first fans outside of the Palladium staff to see the latter) and some of the artwork for Rifts® Northern Gun Two. They were quite tickled with this and happy to get a few of their books signed by available staff. It was a brief, very nice visit. Merry Christmas, guys.
UPDATE: Erick Wujcik Keepsake for Christmas Surprise Packages
We have plenty so do not hesitate to request one in your Surprise Package.
Design An Ace Contest Winner
UPDATE: “Design an Ace” Contest Winner is Sam Wetherden
The time has finally come! We are pleased to announce the winner of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Design an Ace contest. Congratulations, Sam Wetherden. Your “Fury Squadron” submission was voted our favorite. Everyone at Palladium Books and the head honchos at Harmony Gold had a vote. Nicely done, Sam! We think this will look awesome on the battlefield.
Design An Ace Contest Winner
And here is how our own Jeff Burke has extrapolated from it, and applied it to a template to show how it will look from various angles in Battloid and Fighter modes.
UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™
As I noted in the opening to this Weekly Update, it may not seem like a lot is happening sometimes, at least from outside, but there is all kinds of stuff going on at Palladium Books. One of them is working with Ninja Division to get Robotech® RPG Tactics™ into manufacturing as quick as possible without sacrificing quality. We want this game out and in your hands more than you do! And we are making progress. When we have hard data, we will be sure to share it.
Here is a recap of where we’re at:
Palladium Books and Ninja Division had a highpowered conference call Thursday afternoon to plot the best course of manufacturing and release of products, as well as getting the last few details finalized.
All miniature designs are finished and have gotten final approval from Harmony Gold. All are being broken down into sprues and laid out for manufacturing.
Mold engineering by the factory to make the retail and Kickstarter product is close to being finalized.
The rule book is done, laid out and approved.
Game stat cards are done, laid out and approved.
We are working out the last few tweaks and details for the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Battle Foam bag. We got a package from John at Ninja Division a couple days ago. It contained prototype foam trays for the Battle Foam bag that is designed to hold a full Battle Cry worth of (90+) game pieces. Bottom line, we are darn close. We made some notes and will be in touch with the Battle Foam guys to make a couple of changes to the tray layout, so it can be sent into manufacturing.
Tooling should be nearly finished, and test pieces run, before the Chinese New Year celebrations. We're still pushing to get the full production run done before then, but we don't yet know if the various engineering work will be done in time to allow for that. We hope to have more info on that next week.
We want a first quarter 2014 release. Excitement is running high. We will get you details and release dates as soon as we know them ourselves.
UPDATE: Fear the Reaper™ – Available now
Fear the Reaper™ has been shipped and is available for request in Christmas Surprise packages. Fear the Reaper™ is an excellent resource and a fun read that shines more light upon the dark world of Dead Reign™ and the heroes in it. The Road Reapers™, and heroes like them, offer hope in the Zombie Apocalypse. If you haven’t tried the Dead Reign™ RPG, you really should think about it. This is a dynamic gaming setting. If you enjoy zombie-based TV shows, movies, comic books and novels, the Dead Reign™ RPG series is for you.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #64
The Rifter® #64 is another book that fans who have seen it are going wild over. See, I told you it was the best issue of the year, out of a year of great issues. See the full description of it elsewhere in this Update.
Contributor and PR copies shipped out on Wednesday. Speaking of contributors, I just realized that I never sent out your contracts. I’ll try to get those to you pronto. Like I've said, a) we are swamped, b) it’s always a juggling act, and c) not enough hours in the day.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #65
Even as you read this, Wayne Smith is working away selecting articles for the next issue of The Rifter®. Meanwhile, Chuck Walton is already working on the cover. 2014 is the 30th anniversary of Heroes Unlimited, so every issue of The Rifter® will feature superhumans and heroes (hmm, and maybe some villains). Art will be assigned quickly. The Rifter® #65 will be released on time, in January, 2014!
Writers and G.M.s: Palladium wants Rifter® articles and adventures for Heroes Unlimited™. Please send submissions as short as 6 pages and no larger than 26 pages for possible publication in The Rifter®. We are always in need of source material (adventures, characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, gear, and setting info) for HU2, Palladium Fantasy®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Nightbane®, Splicers®, Chaos Earth® and Rifts® too. Gaming material is most sought after. Short stories are less desirable and should be kept ‘short’ – 4-10 pages. Come on, write something and send it in.
UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun™ One Megaverse® Insiders
ALL the Megaverse® Insider packages have been sent! So have the PDFs of NG-1. The last 16 insiders had been waiting for us to produce and autograph limited edition prints of art from NG-2, but they all went out on Monday. And for the Benefactors we had to pack up the piece of original art they receive and a select a snippet from Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames that only these select few (just under a dozen fans) get to see under the mandate of secrecy. In addition to the text, I reveal on the last page a couple of secret projects we've been working on at Palladium Books. The Ultimate Benefactor even got a sneak peek at one of the covers for this book. Fun. Enjoy.
UPDATE: Northern Gun™ One PDF for Cyber-Insiders
PDFs of Rifts® Northern Gun™ One have been sent. About half a dozen ‘bounced.’ If you have not received your PDF of NG-1, please contact the Palladium offices to provide us with your current or alternative email address (call 734-721-2903 order line). Thanks and enjoy.
UPDATE: Phone call from Kevin Siembieda to Top NG-1 Insiders
I owe the top 16 NG-1 Megaverse® Insiders a 20 minute telephone call. You are NOT forgotten. I was unable to start calls last weekend, but they will be coming.
NEW! Northern Gun™ One signed & numbered “print” – available now
Folks are ordering the limited edition print of Northern Gun™ One by Charles Walton. Limited to a total of 180 copies (with close to half already gone). Signed by Charles Walton (artist), Matthew Clements (author) and Kevin Siembieda (co-author and publisher) in silver. 16x10 image on 17½ x 11½ inch paper. Suitable for framing. Mailed rolled in a sturdy tube. Note: A print of NG-2 will also be made available after that book is released.
Palladium Collectibles available in Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles Store
Limited editions, rare book titles and NG-1 hardcovers seem to be blowing out almost as fast as Alex adds them to my online store. We’ll keep adding items as supplies allow and as I scrounge items up. They include out of print titles, redlined proofreader photocopies signed by me and the staff, signed manuscripts with editors’ corrections, some original art, hardcover books (including Rifts® Northern Gun™ One) and other items available just in time for Christmas. There are also hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal collection. Alex will keep adding Palladium items over the next week. All items in the store are from my own personal archives and collection. Take a look every few days as new items are added. There may be some items that are perfect as holiday gifts or upcoming birthdays and anniversaries.
stores.ebay.com/kevinstoys-artandcollectibles
Rifts® Northern Gun™ One Sneak Preview – available now on DriveThruRPG.com
Wayne has posted a FREE Sneak Preview of Rifts® Northern Gun™ One available on DriveThruRPG.com right now for your enjoyment. There are also previews available for the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™ (Revised Edition), Rifts® Black Market, Rifts® Lemuria, Dead Reign™ RPG, Endless Dead™ sourcebook and others. The original Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms World Book is also available as a PDF on DriveThruRPG, for those of you who may be interested.
More than 90 other Palladium titles can be found on DriveThruRPG.com as PDFs, including Splicers®, Rifts® RPG (the edition before RUE), The Rifter® #1-52, and first edition rule books and sourcebooks for Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Heroes Unlimited™, The Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy, Beyond the Supernatural™ and lots of other good titles. DriveThruRPG.com also offers the Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy® Game Master Kits ($5 each; both written by Carl Gleba and complete with maps, combat matrix, character sheets, spell list, and 20 pre-rolled characters created by Julius Rosenstein). Check it all out.
Will there be a Fear the Reaper™ or The Rifter® #64 preview? We’ll see.
UPDATE: Mark Dudley – iMAGiNOs PLUS Kickstarter – 8 days to go and close to their goal!
If you can help make this dream project a reality, please consider doing so. Only $1,800 to reach their goal! And a pledge as small as $5-$10 can make the difference.
This project is the brainchild of Palladium’s very own Mark Dudley and friends. Mark’s artwork has graced the pages of dozens of Palladium RPG titles including Rifts® Ultimate Edition, Heroes Unlimited™, Rifts® New West™, Rifts® China 2, Shemarrian Nation™ Sourcebook, Northern Gun™ One and many, many others. So you know Mark Dudley as an artist, but you don’t know Mark Dudley the comic book storyteller and innovator. And boy is he great at both. Check out this Kickstarter and get a glimpse. Support the iMAGiNOs Plus Kickstarter (I am), and you’ll be part of his first step into the beginning of something outstanding and potentially big. And all it will cost you is FIVE DOLLARS.
iMAGiNOs Plus is an anthology comic that presents several dynamic comic stories that Mark and company hope to expand into full-fledged comic book series. One of them, Candy Coated™, was inspired by Mark’s Heroes Unlimited™ campaign that has run for years. Part of the “plus” in iMAGiNOs Plus is one of Palladium Books’ own secret projects: The Adventures of Erin Tarn™ as a Girl. Yeah, a sort of ongoing origin story. The project has been shelved, but we still hope to bring this and other Palladium IP based comic book titles to life – and this is your first look at the initial 6-8 pages of one such project.
So is this Kickstarter worth backing? I think it is. In fact, I’ll be making a more generous pledge myself, but you don’t have to. If only 700 Palladium fans pledge just $5 the Kickstarter would be completely FUNDED, and you’ll get the iMAGiNOs Plus™ PDF version of the comic book, and a peek at the Erin Tarn comic book concept from Palladium Books! Personally, I’m going for a higher pledge, because I want the physical comic which could become a collector’s item in the future. I believe in Mark Dudley’s plans for iMAGiNOs Plus so I’m in. Spread the word.
The Tarot of Loka – A Family Card Game by Alessio Cavatore
Game designer Alessio Cavatore, known for his work on many game lines including Warhammer 40k and our own Robotech® RPG Tactics™, is doing a Kickstarter for a family card game set in his world of Loka, inspired by medieval tarot, and illustrated by Ralph Horsley. It looks like they’ve just passed their funding goal and there are only two days left, so go take a look and see if it’s something you’d be interested in.
Cross Hares: Testing Ground Kickstarter – New Board Game from 1A Games
An old pal of mine is one of the guys behind this fun-looking board game. Cross Hares: Testing Ground is already off to a great start, and I thought you might be interested, so take a look.
2014 Gen Con® Indy – Palladium gaming events needed
We need Game Masters to run Palladium games – and we need you to send in your game submissions to Gen Con by January 15, 2014!! Yes, I’m talking Gen Con 2014. We want to make a HUGE Palladium push at Gen Con in 2014, and we sincerely need your help to make it happen. Game Masters, PLEASE submit your Palladium games for Gen Con 2014 by their January 15, 2014 deadline! If Game Masters act fast to submit their games in time for this FIRST deadline, they are guaranteed to be listed in the Gen Con program book.
Palladium is planning to make the 2014 Gen Con® Indy its biggest and best in decades. Our booth will be twice the size it was this year, and we’ll have the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game and expansion packs, as well as many new RPG products.
If we can get enough gaming events in place by January 15, 2014, Palladium can get a dedicated gaming area for ALL of our events – or even a specified game room. That will mean a place where Palladium G.M.s and fans can game around the clock, 24/7. With this being the 30th Anniversary of Heroes Unlimited™ and a big release year for Robotech® RPG Tactics™, we want to shout to the world that Palladium Books is back with a vengeance. Please help. Thank you.
Please coordinate with Bill Korsak and Palladium’s Megaversal Ambassadors to run ‘official’ Palladium gaming events throughout the 2014 Gen Con weekend. If you were planning to run already, please submit your game event forms to Gen Con by January 15, 2014, but also coordinate with us. Let us know what events and how many you are running so Palladium can make special arrangements with Gen Con to feature your games! If you weren’t planning to run, but want to get in on the action, please contact Palladium Books (734-721-2903) or the Megaversal Ambassadors at ambassadors@palladiumbooks.com.
Behind the scenes at Palladium Books
It sucks looking in from the outside, only catching glimpses and never seeing the whole picture. It means you, our fans, have to guess and fill in the rest with your own imagination, hopes and misgivings. We try to be transparent and plan on being even more so. Please know that you matter to us, and we are working hard, all the time, on many, many projects that you will love. In fact, we have all kinds of things going on.
Though you may not see it looking in through through the portals of these Weekly Updates as well as Murmurs from the Megaverse®, The Rifter®, the Palladium Facebook page, our website and other online postings, we are working on projects ALL THE TIME. Too darn much, in fact, but we want to get Palladium Books rock-solid again, and wow you with the many amazing books you have been waiting for, along with many surprises. I guess what I’m saying is, please know we are not sitting on our laurels. We are working hard and creating magic behind the scenes.
To help you see what’s going on, we will be making some changes to the Palladium website and doing more online to put you closer to the Palladium experience. We hope to get many of the Palladium freelance writers and artists to be much more active online next year and offer a variety of new experiences. Our ultimate goal is to give you a more frequent, bigger, brighter, more fun picture of what’s going on and more interaction with the people behind the games you love. More details to follow.
In the meanwhile, the Palladium staff is working away. For most of you, Christmas is rapidly approaching and you are wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Cool, as it should be. For us at Palladium, however, we are straddling two realities: the Christmas season of 2013 and our product schedule of 2014. Forget about New Year’s resolutions, we’re beyond that. We have been planning, plotting and working on a slew of products for 2014 release up through spring.
Palladium Books and Ninja Division are working to get Robotech® RPG Tactics™ into actual manufacturing and into your hands as soon as we can. While half the staff works on that, the rest of us have the immediate goal to get you the following books in the first four months of 2014: The Rifter® #65, Northern Gun™ Two, Megaverse® in Flames, Robotech® UEEF Marines Sourcebook One (renamed Robotech® Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One), and The Rifter® #66. They will be followed by more sourcebooks for Robotech®, Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Splicers®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Palladium Fantasy®, and hopefully, Heroes Unlimited™, Dead Reign™, and who knows what else! All kinds of possibilities are floating around. And we want each new book to be epic too. That’s a tall order, but we are up to the challenge. Some of these books have been developed over the last year and waiting for final execution, so that should help.
So keep those imaginations burning bright, enjoy the holidays and game your hearts out. Happy Holidays from all of us at Palladium Books.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher & Surrogate Santa