Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Jan. 30, 2014

By Kevin Siembieda

We are hitting on all cylinders on an array of products.

The Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive – Low Price – Free Gift

It only happens once a year – for a limited time – The Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive. 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. That’s awesome. Please keep the orders coming.

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: The Rifter® #65 – Ships Tomorrow

The Rifter® #65 is done and should arrive from the printer first thing Friday morning. It will be immediately packed up and shipped out to our subscribers on Friday and distributors on Monday. All of us at Palladium agree that The Rifter® #65 is an outstanding issue. My favorite hunk of source material is the 60 new Necromancy spells and new O.C.C.s for Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy®. Wayne loved the Rifts® Black Market and Necromancy material. Alex, Jeff and Ben loved the Beyond the Supernatural™ and Heroes Unlimited™ material, and Julius loved it all. And while we all had our favorite material this issue, ALL of it is truly excellent, making this a rock solid issue. And don’t forget, you can incorporate any of the source material and ideas in almost any setting throughout the Palladium Megaverse®.

The Rifter® is always looking for similar great, new source material. Writers, Artists and G.M.s, contribute to The Rifter®: More than half of Palladium’s regular writers and many artists started by getting work printed in The Rifter®. Quality fan and semi-professional work is always wanted. This is your chance to be published. The Rifter® is, after all, a sort of fanzine with official and unofficial source material. Articles on gaming tips, Game Mastering, adventures and source material (new adventures, characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, gear, and setting info) for Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Nightbane®, Splicers®, Ninjas and Superspies™, After the Bomb®, Chaos Earth® and Rifts® are always in demand. Gaming material is most sought after. Short stories are less desirable and should be kept ‘short’ – 4-10 pages, but we often publish a short story in most issues. Come on, write something and send it in.

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).

BACK IN STOCK Reminder – Available now

UPDATE: Heroes Unlimited turns 30 years old

How many game companies have a game line that has been continuously in print for 30 years by the same publisher? Not many. What a privilege. And this our second one to achieve that milestone. The Palladium Fantasy RPG® turned 30 last year (and we have a couple surprises for you Fantasy fans coming). To celebrate Heroes Unlimited™ turning 30, each 2014 issue of The Rifter® will contain material for HU2. We are also releasing a commemorative, limited edition, signed and numbered, 30th Anniversary Hardcover – it will be available to ship in a week and a half. See complete details in the Palladium online store and elsewhere in this Update.

UPDATE: Heroes Unlimited 30th Anniversary Hardcover – Ships February 12

Our printer informs us the gorgeous, new HU2 Commemorative 30th Anniversary Hardcover Edition will arrive at the Palladium warehouse February 12. Just a short week and a half. Order yours today.

UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun Two – ships February

I’ve been tweaking and writing like a man possessed. Holy moley, am I fired up on this book. And is it ever packed with an outstanding array of power armor, vehicles, body armor, drones and gear. I should be getting the last of Chuck Walton’s artwork tomorrow, and a handful of other Palladium artists are busy finishing up a handful of last minute additions. Nice.

UPDATE: Rifts® Crossover: Megaverse® in Flames – ships March, 2014

I’ve been assigning the last of the artwork for Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames™, as well as doing some spot editing. I think this book will come together very quickly, and follow hot on the heels of the NG-2 release. This is another sourcebook that will surprise and please Rifts® fans.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics

Palladium will be sending out a separate announcement about Robotech® RPG Tactics™ that we think will make people happy. You can expect to see it later tonight or Friday.

Meanwhile, with the Chinese New Year in full swing, we won’t have much new to report for a couple of weeks. After that, we expect to be able to give you more news about manufacturing and progress. I can say that Jeff Burke continues to work diligently creating a comprehensive Macross Mecha Color Guide and he’s about 80% done. Looking good. Meanwhile, Ninja Division and Palladium are both continuing to finish and fine-tune other aspects of the product line. Again, Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is absolutely coming out in 2014 and Kickstarter supporters will get product before retail. This game is going to be epic fun.

UPDATE: Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One

A quick reminder, the Robotech® UEEF Marines Sourcebook has gotten a name change to Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook One.

This is one of the other titles that we are looking to get released in the spring. We are not saying much about it yet, because we want to surprise and dazzle our Robotech® fans. I will be assigning the art for it very, very soon.

UPDATE: Dead Reign Sourcebook 5: Graveyard Earth

Graveyard Earth™ is one of the projects we’ve had on the down-low. It is written by Matthew Clements and it takes a look at the worldwide zombie apocalypse. It also asks and answers the question, if you were caught overseas, perhaps in the military, could you find your way back home, and what kind of arduous journey would that be? I approved the cover sketch yesterday and artist E.M. Gist will start painting away. More on this Dead Reign™ sourcebook in the weeks to come. Target release date is April, 2014.

Meanwhile, in a renewed effort to support all Palladium game lines, a different writer is working on a Dead Reign™ sourcebook for a fall release. And yes, that means we are looking at releasing one or two new sourcebooks each for Robotech®, Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy® and Beyond the Supernatural™ and others in the year 2014.

Palladium Collectibles Available in Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles Store

As reported last week, we have finally added some of those new collectibles and out of print Palladium titles to my online store, as well as put a bunch of the toys on sale. Special Palladium items include The Rifter® #4, other out of print Rifter® issues, the Rifts® Northern Gun™ One hardcovers, among others. All signed by various staff and freelance creators. We’ll keep adding items as supplies allow and as I scrounge items up. There are usually 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 you’ll enjoy. There are also hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal collection. 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 for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries.

http://stores.ebay.com/kevinstoys-artandcollectibles

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:

Some Closing Thoughts

There is so much to do. We are all working in high gear and excited about the many new products in production and development. You don’t know half of what we hope to have in store for you in 2014. While I may tease you with comments like that, we hesitate to announce new projects in development until they are closer to actual release. There have been too many delays and disappointments in recent years, and we’re trying to break that cycle. We are working away on many things we believe will please and surprise. Some are long-awaited titles like the ones for BTS, others are new. Some are epic. Some are just fun.

Our sympathies to our friends in Georgia. Wow, what a winter mess. Michigan is supposed to be coming out of the deep freeze and rising into temperatures in the 20s Fahrenheit. One or two days might even hit the freezing mark, but with the somewhat warmer temps comes more stinking snow. An inch tonight and 3-5 over the weekend. We are so tired of cold and snow at this point. The really strange thing is we are seeing all kinds of springtime birds. We posted pictures on Facebook of the flock of robins that have been hanging around since December, which is crazy, and we’ve seen a number of other migratory birds that usually fly south and stay there till late February or March. That has included purple finches, house finches and starlings. Wild. I’m hoping it means an early spring is coming. Can’t wait. Till next week, game on.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher & Game Designer

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.

Heroes Unlimited 30th Anniversary Hardcover

NEW! Heroes Unlimited Special 30th Anniversary Hardcover Edition – only $40 while supplies last – At the printer & taking pre-orders now!

Palladium Books is 33 years old and the Heroes UnlimitedRPG turns 30 this year. To celebrate, Palladium is releasing a special, commemorative, Gold Heroes Unlimited™ 30th Anniversary Hardcover in February, for only $40. 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™ 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 blue is a different, more vibrant shade of blue, and the cover is imprinted in gold foil but 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 cover 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 Unlimited30th 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!

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.

The Rifter #64

RECENT RELEASE: The Rifter® #64 – Available now

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

The Rifter #65

NEW! The Rifter® #65 – Available now – Ships Friday

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:

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

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

UEDF Destroid Pack

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

UEDF Spartan Pack

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

Zentraedi Regult Battlepod Squadron

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

Zentraedi Support Battlepods

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

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:

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.