Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Feb. 20, 2014

By Kevin Siembieda

I think it must be Rifts® Chaos Earth® and it’s the Coming of the Rifts. Yesterday was sunny, beautiful and 44 degrees Fahrenheit. The first truly warm day in a few months of record cold and snow; 80 inches for the season! About 40 more than usual for an entire Michigan winter, and we still have several weeks of winter left to go.

Today is supposed to be 45-50 degrees and raining. Yet as I write this around 11:30 AM Thursday, February 20, it looks like a snow blizzard outside. I mean it is really coming down. We’ve gotten at least an inch of snow in just the last hour, there was a period of sleet and snow mix, now it’s back to snow. The big, wet, flaky snow. Holy cow! It’s thundering! Oh, I just saw a lightning flash! And there’s another thunderclap. The wind has picked up now too. Pine trees are swaying and the snow is thick as can be. Wild.

LAST 8 days to get The Rifter® Super-Subscription Deal – Low Price – Free Gift – Offer ENDS February 28, 2014

I’m leading with this because time get the Rifter® Super-Subscription Deal is almost gone. In fact, this is the last weekend you can order. Offer ends next week Friday, February 28, 2014. Get a subscription during this offer and you get a superior price and a free gift.

The Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive only happens once a year – for a limited time. And Palladium gamers are jumping at the opportunity. I’d like to think it is because The Rifter® has been so consistently good the last 8-10 issues, but I think it also has to do with the FREE gift selection we are offering this year. It’s pretty darn good, with a little bit for everyone. Cool. Get your subscription in before this offer is gone.

Here are four reasons why this is the perfect time to try The Rifter® or renew or start your subscription:

  1. Superior discount and each issue is delivered right to your door.
  2. FREE gift worth $22 or more when you order now!
  3. The price of The Rifter® is going up $2-$3 an issue in the spring or summer. Order during the Super-Subscription Drive and you lock in your low, low subscription price for the next year.
  4. The Rifter® has been outstanding and is the place to find regular source material for Beyond the Supernatural™, Palladium Fantasy®, Splicers®, and Heroes Unlimited™. I’m happy to report that The Rifter® #65 continues that trend of great source material, with 60 new Necromancy spells for Rifts® and other magic settings, and HU2 source material, along with a ton of other great stuff. So the 2014 series of Rifters is off to a great start.

If you haven’t taken a look at The Rifter® lately (if ever), I suggest you try an issue. The Rifter® is an excellent source of ideas, characters, monsters, villains, powers, magic and adventures for your own game. Even articles designed for settings you don’t play are likely to offer ideas and material you can easily modify and incorporate into your campaign. In fact, drawing on concepts from outside the usual setting can spice up your game and keep players guessing. The Rifter® is a great tool for that. That’s the beauty of the Palladium Megaversal Game System; often you can take characters, gear and such from ANY world setting and drop them into any of the others without any work whatsoever. Other times, the amount of tweaking and modification is minimal to make it work in a new setting. That means a monster from Palladium Fantasy® can be easily used as a monster, mutant or alien in Heroes Unlimited™, After the Bomb®, Robotech®, Rifts®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, Chaos Earth® or Splicers®, and vice versa. What needs to be adjusted? Perhaps just changing Hit Points/S.D.C. and damage to Mega-Damage, or M.D.C. and M.D. to Hit Points/S.D.C., or some other minor tweak.

Characters from Heroes Unlimited™ and After the Bomb® can be from the future, or the past (depending on the setting), or they can be mutants, or aliens, or beings from another or parallel world. As I am so wont to say, you are limited only by your imagination. The same holds true of towns, cities and adventures – use that place and the adventure ideas tailored to a different setting. Sure, you may have to swap out monsters and treasure, or adjust motives, but you might be surprised how easy, fun and different that adventure plays out in a different world environment. And The Rifter® is the ultimate source for alternative, new and different ideas, adventures, characters, and story ideas. All of which can be tweaked to fit most settings, as can optional rules. The Rifter® is a factory for alternative ideas.

The Rifter® Super-Subscription Offer is your chance to try The Rifter® at a discount price and get a FREE gift. Offer ENDS February 28, 2014.

Click here to see the full description for your subscription options and choice of free gift in the Palladium Online Store.

UPDATE: 2015 Palladium Open House

Kathy Simmons is investigating hotels and available dates for the 2015 Palladium Open House this week and next. We are probably staying with the same hotel and we’re looking at the dates of April 30, May 1, 2 & 3, 2015. We are also considering May 7-10, 2015 (if available). Our hesitation with May 7-10 being that May 10 is Mother’s Day.

PLEASE give us your input NOW if you prefer one of the above dates over the other. Also, how important is it for you to have a hotel conference room for open gaming after midnight when we close the Palladium warehouse and you have to head back to the hotel? The input of those of you who are likely to attend would be of great value, but we need input right away. Thank you.

UPDATE: Heroes Unlimited 30th Anniversary Hardcover Edition

Heroes Unlimited™ 30th Anniversary Hardcover is selling well and being received with joy and open arms. Carmen Bellaire didn't know about it (shame on him for not reading these Weekly Updates), so he freaked out when he saw a couple hundred sitting on tables in the warehouse. Available now at $40 while supplies last. Destined to be a collector’s item. The old hardcover sells for $200-$350 on the secondary market.

Palladium Fantasy RPG® 30th Anniversary Hardcover – Ships April – pre-order now

Wow, pre-orders for Palladium Fantasy are coming in faster than they did for Heroes Unlimited™. I’m glad I decided to print a few more copies (450 the same as its catalog number). As noted in the last Update, I decided it wasn't fair to leave out Palladium Fantasy®, so we are printing 450, copies of the 30th Anniversary Palladium Fantasy RPG® hardcovers as an April release. You can start placing your pre-orders today. See the full description elsewhere in this Weekly Update or in our online store. Note: This is Palladium Fantasy RPG, Second Edition, all exactly the same as the current printing.

Rifts Northern Gun Two

UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun Two

I think we are still on target to go to the printer this month. The last of the art is coming in and the stuff in Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two is truly epic. I had a great meeting with Chuck on Friday and he’s busy putting the final touches on the last of his art. Meanwhile, I've assigned out a few things to other artists. Writing continues to be up and down. I've been frustrated the last few days. Writing is excellent but additions and editing are going slower than I want. Writing hot as Hades today. The nature of this book has me jumping around rather than banging out one complete section at a time. As a result, I have five different sections (about 250 manuscript pages combined) 30-70% finished, but none of them completely done, which is driving me crazy. It’s going to be epic though.

You could be a Gladiator. I have been dropping in the names of the gamers who supported the crowdfunding of the two NG books. I started with the people who funded NG-2 and who were not named as people in Ishpeming in NG-1. When I got done with them, I went back to those of you who funded NG-1 but were not included in that book. That means a bunch of you are listed amongst the Top Fifty Gladiators at the RoboDome and the Seven Gladiators who are likely to be rising stars, and the rest are listed as members of the design teams behind the various power armors and such. I’m trying to avoid repeating real world people’s names, though I’m sure it will happen a bit. I’m having a blast putting as many of you as I can in both books. My goal is to include almost everyone (85-95%) in one of the two Northern Gun titles. I’m only excluding those who have passed away and character names. Regrettably, I imagine a few people will get accidentally missed or their name misspelled. I hope not. I think you will all enjoy NG-2 as much as the first book. Chuck, Alex and a couple other people here are going gaga over it.

UPDATE: Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames

Artwork has been coming in for this book and looking great. Can hardly wait to dive into it for final editing. Carl Gleba did a great job writing this bad boy. I’m glad he’ll be at Gen Con to talk about it, sign autographs and run some games.

UPDATE: Dead Reign: Graveyard Earth Sourcebook

Met with author Matthew Clements this week and he tells me I should have the finished manuscript for Graveyard Earth™ by mid-March. Can hardly wait.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics

Moving forward on all fronts. Just wire transferred money to our manufacturer in China to purchase the materials for mold making. We’re getting closer!

UPDATE: Robotech® Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook

It’s not forgotten. Still looking at a spring release. And it is epic.

UPDATE: Carmen Bellaire will be at Palladium’s booth at Gen Con 2014

Carmen Bellaire dropped in unexpectedly and we had a great meeting about games and Gen Con. I’m happy to report Carmen will be able to attend Gen Con after all. He’ll be running games and demos at the Palladium booth. Plus he’ll be debuting a game of his own creation.

Life on Chaos Earth®

It has certainly been organized chaos here at Palladium as we continue to juggle all kinds of work. The main emphasis has been on Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two and Robotech® RPG Tactics. I've had a couple of lousy days of writing and editing, but I’m hot today. Work is getting done, but it has been going much slower than I'd like. I had to spend all of yesterday on business and I was out of the office half of the day. When I was at the office I spent time putting out fires and talking with people.

Today I had to write this Update, pay bills, and handle some business matters, but the rest of the time I've been writing away. And I’m hot. We’re all pumped up about everything in the pipeline. Hope you are too.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer, Game Designer

Heroes Unlimited 30th Anniversary Hardcover

NEW! Heroes Unlimited 30th Anniversary Hardcover Edition – only $40 while supplies last – available now

The Heroes Unlimited™ RPG turns 30 years old this year. To celebrate, Palladium is releasing a special, commemorative, Heroes Unlimited™ 30th Anniversary Hardcover, for only $40. Available now. The original HU2 hardcover sold for $50 and has since become a collector’s item that sells for $200-$350 on the secondary market.

To preserve the value of the “original” Heroes Unlimited™ Gold Hardcover Edition, we have made the HU2 30th Anniversary Edition as visibly different (and cool) looking on the outside as possible. The material used for the cover is different (not leatherette), the color is a lighter shade of blue, and although the cover is imprinted in gold foil, it features artwork depicting a superhero and the words “Special 30th Anniversary Edition.” Even the spine is different looking, and the end sheets are red and without art. The red, white and blue combination represents the United States of America, the birthplace of superhero comic books, and the colors of costumed heroes.

All the elements described above should make the Heroes Unlimited™ 30th Anniversary Hardcover impossible to mistake for the original HU2 signed and numbered HC edition. We have kept the price an unprecedented, low $40 for a hardcover Gold Edition of this size. We want to give Heroes Unlimited™ fans a crack at purchasing one before the price skyrockets on the secondary collectors’ market. Enjoy and game on!

Palladium Fantasy RPG 30th Anniversary Hardcover

NEW! Palladium Fantasy RPG®, 2nd Edition, 30th Anniversary Hardcover Edition – only $40 while supplies last – April Release – Second Edition Rules.

It doesn’t seem fair to offer a Heroes Unlimited™ Hardcover Edition and not one for Palladium Fantasy®, so Rifter® subscribers were the first to get the news that Palladium is releasing a Palladium Fantasy® Special 30th Anniversary Hardcover in April. The Palladium Fantasy RPG® was released in June of 1983, so technically, the Fantasy Game is still 30 years old until June.

The original Crimson Edition hardcover sold for $50 and has since become a collector’s item that sells for $250-$400 on the secondary market. The special, commemorative, 30th Anniversary Hardcover in April will sell for only $40.

To preserve the value of the “original” Palladium Fantasy RPG® Crimson Edition Hardcover, we have made the 30th Anniversary Edition as visibly different looking on the outside as possible. The material used for the cover is a brown leatherette imprinted with “Elemental Green” foil, different art on the cover, and the words “Special 30th Anniversary Edition.” Even the spine is different looking and the end sheets are without artwork.

All the elements described above should make the Palladium Fantasy RPG® 30th Anniversary Hardcover impossible to mistake for the original signed and numbered HC edition. The price is $40 (while supplies last), low for a limited edition of its size. We want to give Fantasy fans a crack at purchasing one before the price skyrockets on the secondary collectors’ market.

Second Edition rules. There has been some confusion among fans as to whether this hardcover edition is First or Second Edition rules. It is SECOND Edition rules, exactly the same as the current material in the softcover book.

The Rifter #65

NEW! The Rifter® #65 – Available now

The Rifter® #65 is all about the secrets of power. In some cases, dark secrets: 60 new Necromancy spells and magic for Rifts® and other settings, the power of the Soul Merchant for BTS™, rising to power within the Black Market for Rifts®, a Chaos Earth® short story, and for Heroes Unlimited™, a band of superhumans, robotics and gadgets. Plus news, coming attractions, and more.

Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory for players and Game Masters to generate new ideas, and find new avenues of adventure. It provides useful, ready to go, source material you can just drop into your ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. And the many new characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, villains, monsters, adventures and ideas for one setting can be easily adapted to any Palladium setting. Every issue has material for Rifts® and at least 2-3 other Palladium game lines.

The Rifter® Number 65 includes:

The Rifter® #65 Sneak Preview – available now on DriveThruRPG.com

A FREE Sneak Preview of The Rifter® #65 is now available on DriveThruRPG.com. There are also previews available for Dragons and Gods™, Rifts® Northern Gun™ One, Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms (Revised Edition), Rifts® Black Market, Rifts® Lemuria, Dead Reign™ RPG, Endless Dead™ sourcebook and others. Plus we plan to add other sneak previews. The original Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms World Book is also available as a PDF on DriveThruRPG, for those of you who may be interested. More is coming.

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 we’ll be adding more issues of The Rifter in the coming weeks), 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).

The Rifter #64

RECENT RELEASE: The Rifter® #64 – Available now

The Rifter® #64 is our annual horror issue and includes:

Fear the Reaper

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

Like knights mounted on motorcycles, the Road Reapers travel the wasteland that Earth has become, searching for survivors, fighting zombies and waging war against the Death Cults that threaten all mankind.

This epic sourcebook explores the nature of heroes and heroism in the Zombie Apocalypse. It contains the secrets of the fabled Road Reapers, their structure, leadership, missions and purpose, as well as gear and combat notes. Plus a horrifying new zombie known as the Terror Zombie, plus Floaters (zombies in water) and which zombies can swim. Survival is one thing. Can you keep your humanity and be a hero?

Rifts Northern Gun One

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

Rifts® Northern Gun™ One is the most tech-filled World Book Palladium has ever produced and gamers are loving every page of new weapons, robots, power armor, vehicles and NG background.

Rifts Northern Gun Two

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

In production! Expanded to 192-224 pages and filled with all kinds of adventuring gear: New environmental body armor, power armor, hovercycles, robot drones, robot haulers, combat vehicles, other vehicles, robot gladiators and much more. More information about the weapons, vehicles and practices of Northern Gun, including the new rage of robot gladiatorial combat. Expanded page count. Epic adventure.

Rifts Megaverse in Flames

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

The Minion War spills across Rifts Earth, where demons and infernals hope to recruit allies and use the Rifts as gateways of destruction. Their influence shakes things up across the planet, especially at locations where demons and Deevils already have a strong presence. Demons, Deevils and supernatural beings run rampant and wreak havoc across the world.

Robotech UEEF Marines Sourcebook One

NEW! Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One

– Formerly titled ‘UEEF Marines’

Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines is a sourcebook that we know will wow and please Robotech® fans.

Robotech RPG Tactics

Robotech® RPG Tactics – Game Description – Coming Spring 2014

This is the game Robotech® fans have wanted for decades.

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is a fast-paced, tabletop combat game that captures the action and adventure of the Robotech® anime. Two or more players can engage in small squad skirmishes or scale up to massive battles. Relive the clashes of the First Robotech War, engage in stand-alone tactical games, or use the dynamic game pieces to enhance your Robotech® RPG experience. Or simply collect your favorite mecha from an expanding range of top-notch game pieces.

Mecha vs Mecha. Take command of the fighting forces of the United Earth Defense Force (UEDF) valiantly defending Earth from alien annihilation. Or lead the massive clone armies of the Zentraedi Armada to recover an alien artifact of immense power and enslave humankind.

Robotech RPG Tactics

Robotech® RPG Tactics Box Set – Cat. No. 55100

The First Six Robotech® RPG Tactics Expansion Packs

The first six expansion packs will be available to retail at the same time as the main box game. Here are the “official” SKUs and retail prices.

UEDF Valkyrie Wing

UEDF Valkyrie Wing

Build your fleet of Earth defenders with the Valkyrie Veritech Fighter; six figures total.

UEDF Tomahawk/Defender Destroids

UEDF Destroid Pack

Expand your Destroid squad with these formidable walking tanks; four figures total.

UEDF Spartan/Phalanx Destroids

UEDF Spartan Pack

Add some long range power and up-close punch to your army with these valuable Destroids; four figures total.

Zentraedi Regult Battlepods

Zentraedi Regult Battlepod Squadron

Expand your Zentraedi forces with their main infantry battle mecha; six figures total.

Zentraedi Artillery Battlepods

Zentraedi Support Battlepods

Give your Zentraedi legion greater firepower with these artillery and support Battlepods; four figures total.

Zentraedi Glaug Command Pack

Zentraedi Command Pack

This diverse pack provides your Zentraedi forces with greater tactical capabilities; three figures total.

Robotech Macross Saga Sourcebook

Robotech® Macross® Saga Sourcebook – New Size

Available now – 8½ x 11 size

All the famous mecha and action of Robotech® starts here with the Macross® Saga when an alien armada enters Earth orbit. They have come to reclaim a lost spacecraft that crash-landed on Earth 10 years earlier. A space fortress that Earth’s protectors have rebuilt into their own flagship against alien invasion. The resulting conflict gives birth to heroes and becomes the stuff of legend, but the Earth will never be the same. Robotech® The Macross® Saga Sourcebook is now available as an 8½ x 11 inch sourcebook.

Note: This is the setting for Robotech® RPG Tactics™, so if you’re looking for more information about the mecha, Earth’s defenders, the Zentraedi invaders, and Macross Saga setting, this is the book for you. Epic adventure awaits.

A Robotech® Role-Playing Game Sourcebook:

Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition

BACK IN PRINT! Heroes Unlimited RPG, 2nd Edition

If you love playing smart games with heroic super beings in possession of strange and wondrous powers or technology, then Heroes Unlimited™ is the role-playing game for you. This RPG has unleashed the superheroes inside gamers for three decades and counting.

Heroes Unlimited™ RPG is probably most famous for rules and abilities that enable you to play ALL types of heroes while capturing the feel of comic books, and for being a thinking-gamer’s setting. All of this adds up to super-fun and epic comic book-style adventure.

Just a few notable Heroes Unlimited Sourcebooks:

Instantly expand your playing experience with these and other HU2 sourcebooks.

Dragons and Gods

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

We sold out during the Christmas season, but this fun book, suitable for use in Rifts® (complete with M.D.C. stat notes) as well as the Palladium Fantasy RPG®, is so popular that we did a full reprint of it.

This is the 3rd printing of a dynamic sourcebook filled with big ideas and insightful rules for creating gods and their followers as well as presenting an array of deities and dragons. The dragon section provides insight to how Palladium Dragons think and function. Great artwork, too. Co-written with Erick Wujcik. With the Minion War™ soon to erupt on Rifts® Earth via Megaverse® in Flames™, you may find a book about dragons and gods to be a very useful sourcebook.

This expansive sourcebook presents detailed information about the mythical dragons and gods common to the Palladium Fantasy® world, but contains notes for use in Rifts® and is easily adapted to the Rifts® setting. It includes sections about Dragonwright, the Gods of Taut, Elementals, Demon Lords, dragons, and the forces of light and dark. Suitable for use with the Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, and Beyond the Supernatural™, or any fantasy game.

Rifts Mystic Russia

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

This book is rich in monsters and magic based on Russian mythology and superstition. Rifts Russia is a land unlike anywhere else. The wilderness abounds with mischievous spirits, shape-changers and demons unique to Russia (including a comprehensive look at Necromancy).

The Rifter #50

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

The Rifter® #50 remains in high demand because it contains all kinds of official source material from many of Palladium’s most popular writers. Back in print because you demand it.

Gen Con Indy – August 14-17, 2014

Gen Con Indy is going to be the premier convention event for Palladium Books this year. A large booth, special display, a ton of product including Robotech® RPG Tactics™, and all our role-playing games and sourcebooks, art prints, original art, and all kinds of good stuff. There will also be many Palladium creators available at the booth throughout the convention to chat and sign autographs, including writers Brandon Aten, Matthew Clements, Carl Gleba, me (Kevin Siembieda), Palladium staffers like Wayne Smith and Jeff Burke, and artists including Nick Bradshaw, Mike Leonard and Chuck Walton, among others. And it looks like there will be 70+ Palladium Books RPG events in the official Gen Con program. My heartfelt thanks to the Megaversal Ambassadors spearheading this project, as well as the Game Masters volunteering to run so many events for our many game lines. Awesome.

Palladium Books Gen Con Highlights:

DriveThruRPG

PDF downloads from DriveThruRPG.com

This is a great resource for getting out of print Palladium titles and other select books. We’ve made 90 titles available as PDF digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.com. This is a great way to try Palladium products and get access to out of print RPG source material. Some notable titles include:

© Copyright 2014 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars®, Chaos Earth®, and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Coalition States, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.

This press release may be reprinted, reposted, linked and shared for the sole purpose of advertising, promotion and sales solicitation.