Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Oct. 8, 2015

By Kevin Siembieda

I hope everyone is getting acclimated to Autumn. Those of you with children must deal with the greatest amount of transition, with kids back in school, school sports and activities, and all the madness that goes along with the school year and getting children off to school in the morning. Those of you in college have similar transitions to make. For the rest of us, it’s dealing with fewer hours of daylight, dropping temperatures and the approach of Winter. Ah, but the holidays are coming and Autumn and Winter are a great time to stay indoors and play games.

Raise the Dead – Horror RPG Sale – October 8-15, 2015

To help you out on that front, Chuck Walton and Kathy Simmons have convinced me to offer a week or so sale on Dead Reign® titles and select other books of suspense, horror and monsters. We’re Walking Dead fans, and with the spinoff having ended last weekend and the new season starting this Sunday, we thought it was a good time to offer up the dead for your gaming enjoyment. Hey, ‘tis the Halloween season for monsters and spooky stuff, right? And I cannot stress how much fun it is to play Dead Reign®. It’s one of my all-time favorite world settings along with Beyond the Supernatural™, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts®, among others.

Chaos Earth Resurrection

UPDATE: Chaos Earth® Resurrection – October release

Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ is near completion and is epic, scary, dramatic and fun. I should be pounding away on it the rest of the week and part of the weekend. Paste-up next week. Will get you a bigger sneak preview of Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ than the teaser we’re dropping into DriveThruRPG.com. Good stuff coming.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics

Blast Rules. We spent a lot of time on Robotech® RPG Tactics™ this week. Wayne made and posted the final write-up for the new RRT Blast rules (addressing damage, scatter, shooting the ground and other things). That included reviewing much appreciated text, input and suggestions from Mike Arnold and his crew, talks with Carmen Bellaire, and much discussion and play-tests among ourselves. The end result is the effort of many people culminated over the last few months.

http://palladium-megaverse.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=149485

The Robotech® RPG Tactics™ paper game pieces for Macross should be going online tomorrow, for free, on DriveThruRPG.com

RRT Gaming events. One of the unexpected opportunities this week is being able to showcases and demo Robotech® RPG Tactics™ at a wargaming/tabletop event at the Flat Land Games Store in Wixom, Michigan, this Saturday.

Flat Land Games Event – Saturday, October 10, 2015

Location:
Flat Land Games Store
28990 S. Wixom Rd.
Wixom, MI 48393
Time: 9:00AM - 11:00PM EST (Robotech® RPG Tactics™ demos run from noon till 8:00 PM; RRT product and select books are available for sale onsite.)
Website: http://flatlandgamestore.com/
Phone Number: 248-773-7854

The Flat Land Game Day is a wargaming event that is carried over from the canceled Protocon where avid gamers can enjoy awesome tabletop wargaming of all kinds (Warhammer 40,000, Magic the Gathering, etc.), Robotech® RPG Tactics™ demos, and product sales and prizes. Come and join the fun. Special thanks to Lee Shirk of Flat Land Games and Lee Gattis of Gattis Gaming!

We also put together the product support we are sending to Extra-Life Game Day, a 24 hour Game-A-Thon at Dragon’s Lair Comics and Fantasy, in Austin, Texas, November 7. That events sounds quite spectacular and we are happy to be part of it.

"Extra-Life" Game Day – 24 hour Game-A-Thon – November 7 – Austin, Texas

Dragon's Lair Comics and Fantasy
2438 West Anderson Lane
Austin, TX 78757
Date: November 7, 2015
Time: 8:00AM CST - 8:00AM CST (24-hour event)
Website:
http://dlair.net/austin/
http://www.extra-life.org/
Store Phone number: 512-454-2399

The story behind Extra-Life (a charity event):

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.page&id=1197

The Extra-Life Game-A-Thon is a 24-hour livestream/broadcasted gaming marathon event designed for raising funds for charity, having gaming fun and doing it all for a great cause: the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital of your choice; supporting kids and their families. All moneys raised for Extra Life 2015 go directly to the charity.

The event offers all sorts of gaming, video games, CCGs, pen and paper RPGs, board games and tabletop wargames, including Palladium’s very own Robotech® RPG Tactics™ being featured by FanboyTV. To attend this gaming marathon charity event, all you have to do is:

1. Register and create your personal fundraising page.

2. Try to get four friends or family members to sponsor you at $1 per hour ($24 each) – it’s a 24 hour Gaming Marathon, after all.

3. Sit on your rear-end and play all types of games for 24 hours.

More Palladium gaming support. We also spent time providing support to a few other Robotech® RPG Tactics™ events and retail stores. That’s something we’ve always done, but we’ll be doing a lot more of it in the weeks and months ahead. The staff and I will be coordinating with the Megaversal Ambassadors (our growing force of volunteer Game Masters and demo teams) as we gear up for our 2016 Robotech® RPG Tactics™ organized play, as well as running games and events for all of Palladium’s RPGs at conventions and store events. That will include putting together an RRT demo kit, scenarios and other materials. This is of considerable importance as we want to strongly support the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ game line with the release of Wave Two and moving on into other eras of Robotech®.

As for Wave Two, we continue to explore our options with regard to manufacturing and reduced piece count. We thought we had something that would work, but some concerns have been raised and we are looking into it more as well as into other options.

Licensing

Palladium is looking for licensing opportunities (and partners) for our many I.P.s. We would especially love to see licenses for Rifts®, Splicers®, Nightbane®, Heroes Unlimited, BTS, and . . . well, all our I.P.s as board games, miniature games, card games, videogames, etc. In the meanwhile, we’re excited about the upcoming adaptation of the Rifts® RPG to the Savage Worlds® game system.

UPDATE! The Rifter® #71 & 72 Double Issue – 224 pages – Fall 2015

We are working away on The Rifter® #71 & 72 Double Issue. The combined, 224 page book includes player and G.M. tips, along with source material for Splicers®, Palladium Fantasy®, Dead Reign®, a Rifts® short story as a sort of prelude to the new Rifts® sourcebooks coming, and more. Probably an end of October or beginning of November release, filled with fun.

UPDATE: Rifts® Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity

It’s next.

UPDATE: Rifts®: The Disavowed

It follows after Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity™.

And in the pipeline

Books for Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, Splicers®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural and more.

Rifts® Japan – available now as a PDF

PDFs of dozens of Rifts® titles, the Minion War™ series, all of the Dead Reign® (Zombie Apocalypse) books, plus Heroes Unlimited™, The Rifter® and more are available on DriveThruRPG.com.

DriveThruRPG.com already offers 100+ Palladium Books products available as PDFs with more coming soon. Plus FREE support for Robotech® RPG Tactics™ and other Palladium game lines with supplemental material, FREE previews, Game Master packages, paper miniatures and book titles like the Coalition Wars®/Siege on Tolkeen™ series, Splicers® RPG, The Rifter® issues #1-62 (with more to come), and first edition rules of the Rifts® RPG, Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG, Heroes Unlimited™ RPG, The Palladium Fantasy RPG®, and related 1st edition sourcebooks for each. And more! Like what? Like Fantasy Paper Miniatures and Game Master Kits for digital download. They are available only as PDF files and were designed special to help you run your games and build campaigns. There are also sneak previews of books and other good stuff. Check it out! And let other gamers know they are available too. We’ll be making more available on DriveThruRPG in the weeks and months to come, so take a look on a regular basis.

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

A bunch of new items will be added to my Ebay Store over the next week, with more to come. This includes one-of-a-kind, original Rifts® and Robotech® artwork by Kevin Long, me and others. There is also a range of limited editions, rare book titles and limited edition hardcovers, toys and more that are all being added to my online store over the next several weeks, so keep an eye out. Alex and I will keep adding items as our busy schedules allow, but we have a lot of fun collectibles available now and coming soon. Items include original art, 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® Lemuria, Northern Gun™ One, Northern Gun™ Two, Megaverse® in Flames™, Beyond the Supernatural™ Gold, Rifts® Machinations of Doom™ Gold and Rifts® Ultimate Gold) and other items available just in time for the approaching holidays. There are also hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal archives and collection. Take a look every weekend for new items added. Many make perfect gifts for the upcoming holidays, birthdays and anniversaries.

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

Brandon Aten’s Kickstarter is going strong – Wild Skies RPG: Europa Tempest raising funds on Kickstarter now!

Fan fave Palladium author Brandon Aten and Matthew Orr are launching their own line of role-playing games and sourcebooks. You have enjoyed Brandon’s work for Palladium (Madhaven, Triax Two, the Sovietski, The Rifter®, etc.), so you might want to support this effort. It sounds pretty cool. FYI: You can continue to expect Brandon and Matthew to write books for Palladium as well. In fact, there are three in the pipeline right now!

Wild Skies RPG: Europa Tempest: An alternate Earth where mutant animals dominate the planet, and war and years of anarchy have produced a glut of soldiers of fortune who have become a force to be reckoned with in their own right. As the new nations begin to clash at the edges of their empires, waiting in the wings for the ideal moment to strike are privateers, mercenaries and air pirates.

Enter this world of adventure as a member of one of the national air navies or one of the numerous mercenary companies operating over the skies of Europe. Use your grit and moxie, your brains and your brawn, even your teeth and claws to make your way in the Wild Skies!

Check out the project on Kickstarter now!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2103068465/wild-skies-europa-tempest

That’s all folks . . . we’ve got books to finish

As for our small staff, every week is a juggling act. While I had expected to spend the entire week finishing Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ (which is closer to completion), most of my time went to dealing with business matters, Robotech® RPG Tactics™ and a number of opportunities. All I can say is, time just flies around here. Cannot believe it is Thursday already, let alone October. That said, we are excited about upcoming releases and plans for the future.

We hope you have a fun, game filled weekend with the people who matter most in your lives. We’ll be gaming a bit, selling and writing away. Game on.

– Kevin Siembieda, Game Designer, Writer, Publisher

Zombie Time!

Think you can survive the Zombie Apocalypse? Do you have a desire to kick some zombie butt? Then you want the Dead Reign® RPG – available from Palladium Books® or as PDFs from DriveThruRPG.com. There are currently six titles that are as much fun to read as they are to play. And more are coming.

Dead Reign® RPG – Core Rules – everything you need to know to play

Experience the nightmare of being stalked by the living dead. Who can you trust? Where can you go to be safe? How do you fight the dead? Find out in Dead Reign® – a complete role-playing game that captures the horror, suspense and trauma of the post-apocalyptic world dominated by zombie hordes. And the zombies? More than what you may expect. All of them deadly.

Dead Reign® Sourcebooks

– Expand the world, many more settings, adventure ideas, new zombies and danger

The Rifter® #71 & 72 Double Issue – 224 pages – Fall 2015

Missing your issue of The Rifter® #71? Well, it’s coming along with The Rifter® #72 as a special, Double Issue – 224 pages. Probably an end of October or beginning of November release.

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. With 2015 being the 25th Anniversary of Rifts®, every issue of The Rifter® will feature a Rifts® inspired cover and contain at least one Rifts® article.

The Rifter® #71-72 Double Issue will present a nice variety of new source material for Rifts® and other Palladium RPG settings. Celebrating the Rifts® 25th Anniversary, there will be an emphasis on Rifts® material.

Chaos Earth Resurrection

COMING – Rifts® Chaos Earth® Resurrection

In the shattered depths of Wisconsin, survivors are besieged by the dead come back to life. Zombies. But not just any type of zombie, zombies done Rifts-style. And unless the source of the zombie plague can be found and neutralized by NEMA defenders, North America may be overrun by the dead.

This was actually something Taylor White and I have been kicking around for years, even before we released the Dead Reign® RPG line. We think you’ll love it.

Coalition States Heroes of Humanity

COMING – Rifts® Sourcebook – The Coalition States: Heroes of Humanity

The events unfolding in World Book 35: Megaverse® in Flames threaten to change the entire landscape of Rifts® Earth as the demonic minions of Hades and Dyval seek to bring Hell on Earth, and turn the planet into a dimensional gateway to Armageddon!

The Coalition States, along with Northern Gun and Lazlo, take the lead in the defense of North America. Heroes of Humanity explores the good and bad in the Coalition’s efforts to save humanity and send this new threat back to the pits of Hell.

COMING – Rifts® Secrets of the Coalition States: The Disavowed

“Desperate times require desperate measures. War has nothing to do with morality or justice. It’s all about winning or dying. We cannot bind our hands with high ideals, even our own, or worry about the laws of renegade nations or the rights of alien people. We must fight fire with fire. And you are the match.” – Colonel Lyboc addressing a Disavowed team

The Disavowed are so Top Secret that their existence is known only to a handful of the Coalition States’ most elite, top echelon, with Joseph Prosek II the mastermind behind the Disavowed operation, and Colonel Lyboc its shadowy face. Find out who these men and women are. How the Disavowed get away with using magic, traveling to other parts of Rifts Earth and even to other dimensions in pursuit of enemies and strategic information that cannot be had through conventional means. Learn about the secret parameters in which these hard-boiled warriors, secretly hand-picked by Joseph Prosek II, operate, why almost every mission is considered a suicide mission, and why they must forever be the Disavowed.

COMING – Rifts® Secrets of the Atlanteans

True Atlanteans are descendants from Earth’s past. The survivors of the sinking of Atlantis (really a dimensional mishap) and travelers of the Megaverse, wielders of Tattoo Magic and other lost mystic arts. Most people regard them as heroes, but are they? The Sunaj Assassins are mythic villains feared by all, yet they too are True Atlanteans who serve dark forces.

For the first time, much of the story behind True Atlanteans and their secrets are revealed.

COMING – Rifts® Chaos Earth® Sourcebook: First Responders

The Great Cataclysm has devastated civilization, but humanity fights for survival. The struggles of civilian law enforcement, fire and rescue, and everyday men and women are some of the most epic tales to be told in a world gone to hell. They fight monsters, aliens, the paranormal, the elements, and each other, all with the hope of reclaiming their lives from the Chaos.

Robotech UEEF Marines Sourcebook One

NEW! Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook – Available Now

Expeditionary Force Marines™ is ready to ship right now! It is a riveting Robotech® sourcebook that carries you to alien worlds. Your characters can pilot the early Cyclones and next generation of Destroids, liberate alien worlds and engage the merciless Invid Regent, his Inorganic shock troopers and Invid swarms. Epic, planet-hopping adventure awaits.

The Robotech®: Expeditionary Force Marines Sourcebook is set in space with the UEEF (United Earth Expeditionary Force) led by Admiral Rick Hunter, Lisa Hayes, Breetai and Exedore. This valiant force of mecha-clad heroes travel across the galaxy liberating planets from the bondage of the Invid Regent, the Robotech Masters and other tyrants and monsters. New alien people are introduced and become part of the Expeditionary Force Marines. In between their ongoing war with the Regent and his Invid and Inorganics, they explore planets, battle space pirates and face treachery on many fronts.

Robotech RPG Tactics

Robotech® RPG Tactics

– Available now in the USA, Canada, European Union, Australia and New Zealand

If you love Robotech®, you’ll want to take a look at this game. Beautifully detailed game pieces of your favorite Robotech® mecha, and fast playing rules that capture the Robotech® experience in a new, exciting way. And this is just the beginning. We have so much more planned. Available NOW – in game stores across the USA, Canada, UK, European Union, Australia and New Zealand.

The First Six Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Expansion Packs are available to retail along with the main box game. Here are the SKUs and retail prices.

Bizantium and the Northern Islands

NEW! Palladium Fantasy RPG® Sourcebook: Bizantium and the Northern Islands – Available now

To the civilized world, Bizantium and the waters and lands around it are frightening. A realm of sea serpents, monsters, and barbarians. To the heroes and people who live there, it is a realm of adventure, beauty and opportunity. One might consider Bizantium as the center of adventure and mystery in the North.

North of Bizantium are the Icy Ocean and Great Ice Shelf, places where only a handful of the bravest Bizantian sailors have ever set sail, and the rest of the world knows nothing about. For kingdoms in the south, only a few scholars have ever heard of the Great Ice Shelf or the cannibalistic Necromancers known as the Iceborn who make the frozen wasteland their home. Those who have heard tales of the land of ice and death are convinced they are nothing but the stuff of myth. Very soon, they will find out otherwise. And these are but a few of the revelations presented in Bizantium and the Northern Islands™. Discover for yourself the wonders and horrors that await.

NEW! Rifts® Special Order Products – PRINT on Demand

The following items are something new, proposed by and created by Tags, a fan of Rifts® and Palladium Books. He did the design work and had the sample products that are shown here created by Victor Narvaez at NY Embroidery. We liked what these two gents created, so we are making them available to you as Special Orders.

Here’s how Rifts® Special Order Products will work. In most cases, we have to order a limited quantity to make manufacturing and shipping cost effective (we can’t make just one at a time, but can make a dozen at a time). That means when we have a sufficient number of “Special Orders” we can have them made in a week and shipped in another week or two. And with Autumn and Winter and the holidays coming up fast, this might be a good time to order things like Reporter Bags, Embroidered Hoodies, caps and Three-Season Jackets. Enjoy and think Christmas gifts. Please Note: Your credit card will not be charged until the Special Order is in actual manufacturing.

Rifts Glitter Boy Jacket Rifts Glitter Boy Jacket

Rifts® Glitter Boy in Flames Jacket

A 3-Season Jacket – Winter, Fall and Spring – any Rifts® fan would be proud to wear.

Rifts Glitter Boy Zipper Hoodie Rifts Glitter Boy Zipper Hoodie

Rifts® Glitter Boy in Flames “Zipper Hoodie”

A Gildan or Fruit of the Loom hoodie (depending on availability) suitable for Fall and Spring wear (or if you are Kathy Simmons, Winter too). This is the same design as the Rifts® jacket with the Rifts® logo on the front and the big, Glitter Boy in Flames image on the back for almost half the price as the jacket. Both Chuck Walton and Kathy Simmons have their Rifts® hoodie for the Fall. Shouldn’t you?

Rifts Embroidered Cap Gold Rifts Logo

Rifts® Baseball Cap – Black Cap, “Gold” Rifts® Logo

I (Kevin Siembieda) am not a baseball cap guy, but I love this cap and have been wearing mine on my morning walks. I like the comfortable fit and I do not seem to sweat as much wearing this cap compared to others I have tried. (The trail I take has me walking into the morning sun, so I need a cap.) I prefer the gold logo, but red was the hot seller at Gen Con.

Rifts Embroidered Cap Red Rifts Logo

Rifts® Baseball Cap – Black Cap, “Red” Rifts® Logo

The same style of cap with the words Rifts® with the swish through it. The embroidered “red” baseball cap was the favorite among consumers at Gen Con.

Rifts Classic Logo Reporter's Bag

Rifts® Logo Reporter’s Bag (Clean Look)

This useful carrying bag has three large pockets for books being taken to your Rifts® gaming session, plus two smaller pouches for pens or dice sealed via hook and loop fasteners. The front flap is a dynamic, full Rifts® logo on a field of crackling blue energy from a ley line. Also suitable as a school/college book bag.

Rifts Extreme Logo Reporter's Bag

Rifts® Logo Extreme Reporter’s Bag

This useful carrying bag has two large pockets for books being taken to your Rifts® gaming session, plus two smaller pouches for pens or dice sealed via hook and loop fasteners. The front flap is a dynamic, full, modified Rifts® logo on a field of crackling blue energy from a ley line. Also suitable as a school/college book bag.

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 100 titles available as PDF digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.com, as well as Fantasy Paper Miniatures, Game Master resources and other good things with more to come. This is a great way to try Palladium products and get access to out of print RPG source material. Some notable titles include:

© Copyright 2015 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Powers Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars®, Dead Reign®, Chaos Earth®, and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. RPG Tactics™, Beyond the Supernatural, Coalition States, 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.