Palladium Books® Weekly Update – May 9, 2013

By Kevin Siembieda

We are working away like maniacs. The Rifter® #62 is done! Writing and editing of Rifts® Northern Gun™ One is picking up speed, we think we’ve taken care of all the customs’ preparations we need to make to attend Anime North (May 24-26), and we continue to do work on Robotech® RPG Tactics™; not just the Kickstarter, but all the aspects of the product itself. New gorgeous sculpts and artwork have come in for approval, text is being completed and new ideas are flying around all the time.

Robotech RPG Tactics

Only 10 days left on the Robotech® RPG Tactics Kickstarter

After today, there are only 10 days left to the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarter. That means it is crunch time as the final round of pledges come in. Palladium is doing its part to promote the Kickstarter by sending out a second round of press releases this past Monday to our many contacts and a number of news and hobby web sites. We ask you do the same. We are surprised at the number of gamers and web sites completely unaware of the Robotech® Kickstarter. And these are people who get excited when they learn about and want to support it. PLEASE help Palladium get the word out. Post about it on your own Facebook pages and the web sites you regularly post and visit. Include a link directly to the Palladium website or Kickstarter page.

Together, we can make this one of the biggest and best Kickstarters ever. And don’t forget, the more successful the Kickstarter, the more amazing we can make the product line. As I keep saying, we want to release the mecha for EACH generation of Robotech: Macross, Masters Saga, New Generation, and Shadow Chronicles (planet-hopping and space combat). A successful Kickstarter, followed by the launch of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game line to the retail market later this year, will provide Palladium with the resources we need to increase production and give you more role-playing games at a faster pace. Please support the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarter in whatever way makes sense for you. You don’t even need to purchase a single thing, help by spreading the word. Thank you, so much. Game on!

For those of you new to Kickstarters, you’ll want to check out the FAQ at the bottom of the page and the small Update tab at the top of the page for more info, insight and updates. Something NEW is being announced and added EVERY DAY, sometimes several times a day. And wait till you see what’s coming via new stretch goals, new add-ons, new photos and information. So check back often and tell everyone about this opportunity. Thanks for your support.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics Kickstarter – $610,000 – 10 days left

We are in frequent contact with Ninja Division and Harmony Gold as all aspects of the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game line are expanded and developed. Everyone is pushing on all cylinders to make this game line great and the Kickstarter amazing.

The Kickstarter has gone from $475,000 when we posted the last Weekly Update and has climbed past $610,000 in one week. 10 days left to go!

New Interview with Kevin Siembieda

I did a brief interview with Not The Singularity. It was a fun thing to do and the interview is a quick, fun read. Here’s the link: http://notthesingularity.com/3551/a-brief-talk-with-kevin-siembieda-about-robotech-tactics/

Other interviews:

MTV Geek Part One: http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/04/25/kevin-siembieda-robotech/

MTV Geek Part Two: http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/04/29/robotech-rpg-kickstarter-2/

Craven Games: http://cravengames.com/interviews/kevin-siembieda-on-robotech-rpg-tactics.html

NEW Podcast from Gateway to the Megaverse – coming next week

I’ll be doing a live podcast with Matthew Daye early next week. It is will also made available for download after the live airing. Watch for it and enjoy. I’ll try not to give away too many secrets. (Or will I?)

NOTE: Palladium Books is happy to arrange interviews and podcasts with me and other creators involved with Robotech® RPG Tactics™. Just give the Palladium office a call to make arrangements (734-721-2903). We want to spread the word everywhere. Thanks.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG sale

Gamers are taking advantage of the big Robotech® RPG sale in droves. ALL titles have been marked down by 20% until the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarter ends on May 20. The prices listed in our online store already include the discount. It is nice to see so many new faces. Welcome, enjoy, and unleash your imaginations. We have some epic, new Robotech® RPG sourcebooks coming this Summer and Fall.

UPDATE: Palladium at Anime North – May 24-26, 2013

We are very pumped up about Anime North. I’m one of the Guests of Honor, and deeply touched to be the 2013 Momiji Award winner for a significant contributions in anime, manga and/or Japanese culture. What a great honor. We’ll also be bringing 16 cases of books to display and sell at the convention. As always, all the Palladium creators present (and there are a lot of us) are happy to sign books and chat with gamers. Wayne and I think we’ve taken care of all the Customs documentation and paperwork necessary to bring people and merchandise to Canada for Anime North. By the way, I need to get used to referring to our RPGs and other items as “merchandise,” not “product.” It seems at customs and law enforcement agencies, “product” has come to mean drugs. We learned this the hard way. Funny.

Join the fun and meet many Palladium creators at Anime North. We’ll be running games, selling merchandise, signing autographs and having a blast. We don’t know when we’ll be back so please come over and have some laughs with the Palladium crew!

Palladium Related Anime North Highlights:

Anime North is a mixed media event that includes gaming, anime, manga, toys, cosplay, and other fun. For more information go to http://www.animenorth.com

DriveThruRPG.com – your place for FREE book previews and PDFs of more than 90 Palladium titles

The FREE Sneak Preview of Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook and an early one for Rifts® Northern Gun One (with a newer one coming in a few weeks) are available on DriveThruRPG.com for your enjoyment. There are also previews available for 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).

UPDATE: The Rifter® #62 will ship in May

The Rifter® #62 is finally done and will ship in a couple weeks. We can’t believe that we have been so buried with work and other demands of our time that Wayne and I couldn’t get the Rifter® #62 released in April. And we have been working 10-14 hour days, seven days a week!!! This is only the second time in The Rifter’s 15 year history that an issue has missed its scheduled month of release. Our apologies. Ah, but this issue of The Rifter® is filled with outstanding official and unofficial source material you are going to love. Plus the usual news and information. See the more complete description later in this Update.

UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun One and Two

I have been writing and editing like crazy. Chuck Walton is finishing a few late additions of artwork. This book is epic. We want to get it to the printer and in your hands pronto! Northern Gun™ Two is the book we dive into immediately after that.

Other Titles

Just because we are not talking about them right now, does not mean other titles are not being finished or developed. Stay frosty. This is going to be a very good year for Palladium and its legion of gamers. Keep those imaginations burning bright and game on.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer and Gamer

Robotech New Generation Sourcebook

Robotech® New Generation Sourcebook

The Third Robotech War begins with the alien Invid laying siege to planet Earth. The Army of the Southern Cross is overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the enemy. Earth falls and is occupied by the Invid, but the war continues. Human resistance fighters wage a guerilla war while they await the return of Admiral Rick Hunter and the UEEF fleet to liberate the Earth.

You play a new generation of bold heroes who dare to oppose the frightening and enigmatic alien overlords known as the Invid. You defend the human race against impossible odds and rescue the innocent from the alien tyrants.

Rifts Vampires Sourcebook

Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook – Available Now

New secrets, new monsters and danger, new places to explore, new magic to wield, dark magic and forces to fear, new trouble and adventure in Mexico and the Yucatan. New conflicts between rival forces are brewing as Doc Reid prepares to take his private war with the vampires to a whole new level. Meanwhile, the vampires live like smug tyrants and gods, dominating an underclass of slaves and people used as cattle to feed upon. Learn more about the vampires, their rivals, allies and the humans who willingly serve them. A must-have guide for those who wish to travel deeper into the Vampire Kingdoms or play as vampires and their human minions.

Old Ones

BACK IN PRINT: Palladium Fantasy® Book Two: Old Ones

This is a massive adventure book, with maps and descriptions of more than 50 locations in the Timiro Kingdom. As if that were not enough to make this the ultimate adventure book, there is also information about the Old Ones and a few O.C.C.s.

Rifts Free Quebec

BACK IN PRINT: Rifts® World Book 22: Free Quebec

This World Book contains a wealth of information about Free Quebec, Glitter Boys and notable people and places.

The Rifter #62

The Rifter® #62 – Ships May 14, 2013

Sorry for the rare delay of this product, but this issue of The Rifter® is truly going to be spectacular with as many as 48 pages of “official” source material for Rifts® (20 pages of “official” Rifts® Vampires source material, new Necromancy spells, a Northern Gun mech, and the missing Rifts® Black Market and Vampire Kingdoms experience tables!), detailed castle floor plans and descriptions that can be dropped into any Palladium Fantasy® campaign anywhere you need one, some epic Heroes Unlimited source material I may expand into a complete sourcebook in the future, plus news and information.

Since 2013 is the Palladium Fantasy® RPG’s 30 Year Anniversary, we are trying to include something special for the Fantasy RPG line in every issue. This issue has that detailed castle and many maps/floor plans, and the cover reprints the popular Kevin Long Palladium Fantasy RPG® cover from the 1980s. In fact, EVERY cover of The Rifter® in 2013 will be a fantasy illustration. Last issue was Amy L. Ashbaugh, this issue a classic Kevin Long, next issue’s cover will be by John Zeleznik and the October issue will be by Chuck Walton (we want to keep Charles working away on Northern Gun). Note: Writers & Game Masters, if you have some awesome Fantasy material (large or small) you’ve been thinking about sending in for The Rifter®, this is the time to do so. Thanks!

And The Rifter® is a bargain. Since this publication is a special product, it only costs $11.95 for a 96 page book. That’s less than what we charge for a 64 page sourcebook!

Each and every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory that helps players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and keep their games fresh. It provides useful, ready to go, source material gamers can just drop into their ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It offers new monsters, villains, characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, adventure and ideas for your games. It presents new villains, monsters and dangers to battle, and new ideas to consider. Every issue has material for Rifts® and at least two or three other Palladium game lines.

The Rifter® Number 62 includes:

Rifts Northern Gun One

Rifts® World Book 33: Northern Gun One

Northern Gun™ is the largest independent manufacturer of high-tech weapons, robots and vehicles in North America. Outside of the Coalition States, one could argue, no other kingdom is as powerful or influential, at least when it comes to technology and weapons. The manufacture and sale of Northern Gun weapons and vehicles has given virtually every kingdom, town, colony of settlers and adventurer group a chance to survive and prosper. Located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, NG has been the premier outfitter of mercenaries, adventurers and upstart kingdoms for generations. Now, for the first time ever, learn Northern Gun’s history, goals and plans for the future. Of course, that means new weapons, robots, power armor, vehicles and gear.

Rifts Northern Gun Two

Rifts® World Book 34: Northern Gun Two

More information about the weapons, vehicles and practices of Northern Gun, including the new rage of robot gladiatorial combat.

Rifts Megaverse in Flames

Rifts® World Book 35: Megaverse® in Flames

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 RPG Tactics

Robotech® RPG Tactics

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is a fast-paced, strategy battle game that expands on the popular Palladium role-playing system to enter new realms of adventure.

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.

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:

Dead Reign RPG

Dead Reign RPG – Back in print, and hot, hot, hot

Can you survive the zombie apocalypse?

Yes, you may think so. But there is only one way to find out for sure: Play the Dead Reign™ RPG. The core rule book is all you need to start playing. Rules are easy. Character creation is fast and fun. Combat, quick and deadly. Survival? Harder than you might think. Good luck.

Dead Reign™ RPG is the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. Civilization is gone, the dead reign, and the living fight to survive against impossible odds. Battle zombies, mad men and death cultists in a post-apocalyptic world where the last of humanity struggles to survive. Think you know zombies? Think again.

Civilization Gone Dark Places Endless Dead

Dead Reign Sourcebooks

Civilization Gone™: Dead Reign™ Sourcebook One. There is no army, no government, no help coming. You are on your own and things are only getting worse. Villains include madmen and pychopaths, bandits and raiders. Many random tables for encounters, houses, and survivor camp creation, and more. $12.95 – 64 pages. Cat. No. 231.

Dark Places™: Dead Reign™ Sourcebook Two. Using railroad tracks and subways, sewer tunnels, steam tunnels and other dark places to travel undetected by zombies. Many tables for random encounters, boxcar contents, zombies and more. Survival tips, new zombies like the Bug Boy, Sewer Crawler and Impersonator. $12.95 – 64 pages. Cat. No. 232.

Endless Dead™: Dead Reign™ Sourcebook Three. Zombie hordes grow in number and strangeness. Where is the military? What’s next for the living survivors? Many new types of zombies, new O.C.C.s like the Wheelman and Zombie Hunter, the military and random tables for military bases, police and other places. Plus weaponizing vehicles, vehicle combat, Survivor caravans, and more. $16.95 – 96 pages. Cat. No. 233.

Upcoming Appearances

Anime North – May 24-26, 2013 – Toronto, Canada – www.animenorth.com

Kevin Siembieda is one of the Guests of Honor, but several Palladium creators will also be at Anime North in Toronto, Canada, to meet and game with you. The event takes place Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26, 2013. Wayne Smith and other Palladium creators will also be present to chat and sign autographs. We are bringing a pile of books, prints and other goodies to sell in the dealers’ room. www.animenorth.com

Gen Con® Indy – August 15-18, 2013 – Indianapolis, Indiana

We can hardly wait for Gen Con this year as we hope to have advance copies of Robotech® RPG Tactics™ there. Not to mention a stock of new releases from throughout the year. We may even need to expand the size of our booth. Hope to see many of you there.

Game Masters, submit your events NOW to get into the Gen Con program book! See http://www.gencon.com/host/eo-gm for more details.

Note: There will be no Palladium Open House in 2013 or 2014.

© Copyright 2013 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® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Beyond the Supernatural™, Chaos Earth, 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.