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One game system – every genre – countless worlds – endless adventure
By Kevin Siembieda
The Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ “Gold Edition” Hardcover (only 300 signed and numbered copies) should arrive this afternoon or Friday, and start shipping sometime next week (we need time for all of us to sign and number 300 copies). Meanwhile, Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ and Nightbane® Dark Designs™ continue to fly off the shelves, along with many other Rifts® titles, and we are seeing a sudden run on issues of The Rifter®. Actually, everything seems to be selling at the moment, with an emphasis on Rifts®, Robotech®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, and Dead Reign® (Zombie Apocalypse). Very nice to see. Meanwhile, 20+ Palladium creators have notified me that they will be at the 2018 Palladium Open House. See the POH update for the full list and new details.
UPDATE: Alliance Trade Show
Last weekend was the Alliance Trade Show. Wayne and I were in attendance to chat with retailers and industry people. It was nice seeing some old friends like Herb Barents, one of Palladium’s first distributors in 1981, Bob Carty (we first met in 1985), John Zinser (AEG) and Aldo, among others, including many retailers we see at the annual Alliance event. We also chatted with members of the Alliance distribution team and contributed to the charity auction in memory of beloved Phyllis Opolko. Of course, the highlight is always talking with new retailers, getting their input and introducing people to the Palladium game lines. We left feeling positive and energized. There were a few fun surprises.
A blast from the past
A big, fun surprise was seeing some of my earliest artwork prominently featured on the cover of Goodman Games’ Judges Guild Deluxe Collector’s Edition, Vol. One. It is a collage of artwork with one of my illustrations in the upper lefthand corner, one in the lower left corner, and another on the back cover. Talk about a blast from the past.
For those of you who don’t know about this mover and shaker in the early days of D&D, Judges Guild was the official publisher of Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks and supplements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. I have no idea how the owner, Bob Bledsaw, cut that deal, but he published a ton of stuff for D&D. Some of it was great, and Judges Guild was the original publisher of Dungeon Magazine as well as being one of my very first freelance art jobs waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 1979. Before I started Palladium Books in 1981, I was supporting myself doing work as a freelance artist, with aspirations of (and some luck at) becoming a comic book artist and writer. I did something like 360 illustrations in the short five months I was freelancing for Judges Guild. I quickly rose to being one of their top paid artists (which was not much), along with a talented gent by the name of Paul Jacquois. The low pay and sweatshop approach to its artists prompted me to leave the company in short order. 72 illustrations a month was a murderous pace. I think only my experience in comic books and speed as a comic book penciller and inker enabled me to keep up that pace as long as I did. However, many of my illustrations would be reprinted dozens of times by Judges Guild over the next several years, helping to giving me a name and solid reputation as an artist in the early days of the RPG industry.
Crazy, right? It was a valuable experience and Bob gave me a ton of freedom doing artwork, so I had fun doing a lot of it, even if some of it was quite rushed and simplified. I experimented and learned a lot from that job, and made a lasting friend in Paul. In a way, Bob helped inspire me to start Palladium Books. I saw how successful he was, and he was the only company of the day that offered to buy my RPG game system. His offer was unacceptable to me, but the fact that Bob wanted to buy it, and then hired me as an artist and threw so much work at me, helped build my confidence to start Palladium Books 18 months later.
It is a lot of fun seeing some of my old artwork back in print, even if I’m not given credit for it inside the book itself. That’s a shame and a disappointment, especially since I’m featured on the cover. I don’t know if any of the artists or writers are given credit. Hopefully, that is an oversight that will be corrected in future printings and the many volumes yet to come. Fun memories from part of my origin story in the RPG industry. lol
UPDATE: Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ – still sizzling hot
I think Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™ is on the fast track to becoming one of our hottest selling Rifts® titles ever! But who doesn’t love True Atlanteans, Undead Slayers and the Sunaj? And I’m thrilled to report that author Carl Gleba will be one of the creators at the 2018 Palladium Open House! Get him to sign the many books he has written for Palladium, and try to get a chance to play in one of his games, because Carl is an outstanding Game Master!
Please keep those orders coming. Atlanteans is just one of several new Rifts® titles coming soon, each with many more secrets to be revealed. Take a look at the free preview on DriveThruRPG.com to get a glimpse of everything this 224 page, resource-packed book has to offer. $24.95 retail. And if you don’t already own them, we highly recommend you pick up Rifts® World Book One: Atlantis, World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market™, and Rifts® Dimension Book 7: Megaverse® Builder (also written by Carl Gleba). All are fun and useful companions to Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans™.
