Palladium Books® Weekly Update – January 25, 2013

By Kevin Siembieda

Wow, what a crazy and busy week it has been, especially the last few days. We have soooo much good stuff happening and products moving forward. For more details on the especially busy Thursday (and the reason the Weekly Update was delayed for a day), see my January 24, 2013, Murmur from the Megaverse® entitled A wild day at Palladium. I think it’s a fun read you’ll enjoy, and it gives you some insight into an all too typical day at Palladium Books.

I’m going to jump right into what’s going on. Enjoy and keep those imaginations burning bright.

Rifts® Aftermath – Back in Print – Order your copy today

Rifts® Aftermath is at the printer and will be available as a short printing by Tuesday, January 29th. Even I forgot what an information packed sourcebook and delicious read this book is. Not just for the Coalition Wars® series, but for North America and Rifts Earth in general. Talk about many ideas for adventure. See the full description elsewhere.

UPDATE: More Titles Are Coming Back in Print

The next book going in to reprint is Rifts® China 2. It will be followed by Rifts® Lone Star. Adventures on the High Seas for Palladium Fantasy®, Chaos Earth™: Rise of Magic™, and other titles are also being prepped and considered for coming back in print in the weeks ahead.

UPDATE: The Rifter® #61 – Available Now!

The Rifter® #61 arrived at the Palladium warehouse Thursday and has already shipped to current subscribers. It is another fun, source material packed issue for a wide range of world settings, including Heroes Unlimited™, After the Bomb®, Rifts®, Phase World® and the Three Galaxies™, and others. If it’s time to renew your Rifter® subscription, or if you’ve been thinking about starting a subscription, this is the time to do it – during our Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive, going on for the next few weeks.

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

FREE gift when you subscribe now. And don’t just think about the gift being for yourself, maybe it’s an item one of your gaming buddies might want. We make this offer once a year, for a limited time, so you only have till February 20, 2013, to renew your subscription – or to start one – at a discount, plus you get a FREE gift and, in the USA, Palladium pays for the shipping of each issue of The Rifter®. See the full description elsewhere in this Update and in the online store.

UPDATE: The Rifter® #61 Sneak Preview is now available on DriveThruRPG.com

The Rifter® #61 preview is available now. Enjoy. I hope to have a FREE Sneak Preview of Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook available in a week or two. There are already a number of Sneak Previews of other popular books including Rifts® Black Market and Rifts® Lemuria, among others.

DriveThruRPG.com is also your place to get PDFs of older products as well as sneak previews of upcoming books. Many back issues of The Rifter® are available on DriveThruRPG.com (issues #1-52), as are more than 90 out of print titles such as Rifts®, BTS™ and Palladium Fantasy® first edition rule books and sourcebooks. There are some currently available titles too, like the Splicers® RPG, The Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy and other good stuff. And we have not forgotten about the PDF only editions of The Rifter® #0.1 and The Rifter® #0.2 – both are big, juicy digital editions of new, fan created material for the Palladium Megaverse® of games.

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). Of course, there are FREE Sneak Previews of Endless Dead™, Rifts® Lemuria, Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™, and Thundercloud Galaxy™, as well as 90+ out of print titles, including back issues of The Rifter®, and first edition rule books for Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Heroes Unlimited™, The Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy, and lots of other good things. ALL available as PDF downloads at reasonable prices. And there is MORE to come.

UPDATE: Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook

This book is so good I can hardly wait for it to be done and to the printer. In fact, I’m pretty certain I’m going to increase the page size from the original 96 pages (already boosted to 128) to 160 pages. Crazy? Hmmm, crazy good!

I have remained hot writing the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, though this has been another week where other demands have prevented me from writing as much as I would have liked to been doing. I again plan to do nothing but write the entire weekend and into next week until I’m done with this sourcebook. I really do think Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook is going to blow people away. I mean, I’m writing stuff that is surprising me. :) I hope you Game Masters and gamers are ready for some high-powered adventure, because you’re going to want to go vampire slaying after reading this book. See the full description elsewhere in this Update.

UPDATE: Northern Gun One

Everyone who has seen the artwork already done, goes wild over it. And I’ve been assigning more to other artists. As soon as I’m finished with Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook, I immediately go full-force into this book.

UPDATE: Northern Gun Two

Pretty much the same as above. Artwork for it is already being done.

UPDATE: Dead Reign RPG

The Dead Reign™ RPG series continues to be hot. We have been getting an usually high number of orders for the Dead Reign™ RPG and sourcebooks from gamers as well as from most of our distributors this past week. Awesome. What can I say? Zombies are the hot thing, and Dead Reign™ RPG is an easy to learn, fast-playing, fun romp in the world of the dead. It’s one of my all-time favorites RPGs to run on the fly and at conventions.

UPDATE: Robotech® UEEF Marines Sourcebook One

No news on this front. I expect to get the finished manuscript any day now. This is another book I want in your hands by Spring.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics

There has been a lot of activity on Robotech® RPG Tactics™: Defense of Macross Island™ as it is in full-scale development. Rules for fast-paced combat and other elements to capture the action of the TV show and role-playing game are being worked on right now. Likewise, sculptors are busy working on 3D rendered game pieces and artists are drawing up a slew of concept art. In fact, we saw the first of the sculpts: A Valkyrie in Fighter mode yesterday and a Zentraedi Gnerl Fighter today. Both are gorgeous!

I know there has been a lot of speculation about Palladium’s Robotech® RPG Tactics™ and the level of quality for the game and the game pieces. While I cannot yet reveal many details, you need to understand that all the key people involved on this project are, themselves, Robotech® fans.

As such, the goal of EVERYONE involved is to create a game and beautiful, accurate and detailed game pieces that will thrill Robotech® fans of every stripe. I know that’s a tall order, but that’s our goal. It also means bringing in some of the best people in the business to create what we hope will be a true masterpiece. And for those of you into miniatures, when you hear some of the names of the people involved, you are going to be very, very pleased. I also think the scope and scale of our plans are going to blow you away and delight Robotech® fans and gamers alike. This will be an “A-list” quality game line. Robotech® RPG Tactics™: Defense of Macross Island™ will launch a line of Tactical RPG boxed games and 1/285th scale game pieces for all eras of Robotech® mecha and spaceships. When it’s time to release more details, YOU will be the first to know. Meanwhile, spread word about this game. We want Robotech® fans everywhere to know about it.

UPDATE: Mike Mumah

It’s our understanding that Mike is doing well with physical therapy and will be going to a rehab facility in a day or two, but his misfortune continues. From what has been posted on Mike Mumah’s Facebook page, the cabin where he lived caught fire and is pretty much destroyed. Don’t know what contents were lost, but it’s safe to assume it included Mike’s computer, original art, drawing supplies, books, clothing, and other personal items. Sad. At least nobody was hurt or killed. As always, our prayers and well wishes go out to Mike and his family. If there is anything we can do to help, we will do so. And we’ll let you know if you can do anything as well.

That’s the news for now. I expect to spend the weekend writing non-stop. I’m going back to it right now. I want books out as much as you do!

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer and Gamer

Rifts Aftermath

Rifts® Aftermath – Back in Print

This world-spanning sourcebook examines the changing landscape of North America and the rest of the planet in the aftermath of the Coalition’s Siege on Tolkeen. Somehow, North America seems to be more dangerous than ever before, and things are about to get worse.

The Coalition Army continues its occupation of Tolkeen, the fallen Kingdom of Magic, bulldozing the cities, flushing out resistance fighters and capturing its secrets. The CS intends to wipe the Kingdom of Tolkeen from existence, and use its secrets of magic as bait to lure out other enemy forces and destroy other enemies of the CS. However, the Coalition’s war has stretched the nation thin, and the CS must worry about other rivals and adversaries.

The Rifter #61

The Rifter® #61 – Available Now

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® #61 is an extravaganza of source material that deals with a wide range of fun and diverse people, places, mutants, magic, gadgets, equipment and abilities. All certain to provide ideas for new villains and adventures. Many different Palladium RPG settings are represented. This issue includes:

The Rifter Super-Subscription

The Rifter® – Super-Subscription Offer

Free gift

Free shipping of each issue in the USA

Each fun issue delivered to your doorstep

Each issue a sourcebook for the Palladium Megaverse® written by fans and freelancers. Looking for fresh, bold ideas, adventures, new places to visit, new people and monsters to encounter, new weapons or powers to attain, and other new source material for your games? Then The Rifter® is for you.

Super-Subscription Offer: The cover price of The Rifter® is $11.95 – a steal for 96 pages of RPG source material and adventures – but a subscription gets you The Rifter® delivered to your doorstep and you can select a free gift worth $20.95-$25.90 (available only during this special offer, for the cost of shipping and handling). All prices are in U.S. dollars. Offer ends February 20, 2013.

Note: Please indicate if the gift item is NOT wanted. You may decline the gift and get your subscription for the regular price of $39.80 (USA), $61.80 (Canada) or $75.80 (other countries).

A FREE gift worth $20.95 to $25.90

You pay only the cost of shipping and handling ($6.00 in the USA, $9.00 Canada, and $18.00 overseas).

Gift choice #1: Best of The Rifter® and Tales of the Chi-Town ‘Burbs™; two books ($25.90 value).

Gift choice #2: The Rifter® #14 and The Rifter® #16; two books ($23.90 value).

Gift choice #3: Rifts® Chaos Earth™ RPG; core rule book ($20.95 value); this is the Coming of the Rifts!

Gift choice #4: Palladium Fantasy® Sourcebook 13: Northern Hinterlands ($24.95 value) – O.C.C.s, R.C.C.s, monsters, places and more.

Gift choice #5: Rifts® Coalition Wars® 6: Final Siege ($24.95 value) – City of Tolkeen mapped and described, City of Freehold (the domain of dragons) described, 40+ NPCs, plus monsters, dragons, TW vehicles, magic weapons, and adventure ideas.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please include shipping and handling to receive your FREE gift: $6.00 in the USA, $9.00 Canada, $18.00 overseas. Thank you. You can decline the free gift and pay only the subscription price if you wish.

PLEASE indicate what issue number you’d like your new subscription to start at: #60 (last issue), #61 (the current issue), #62 (next issue, April 2011), or the issue when your current subscription ends (please give the number if you know it).

Click here to order. Offer ends February 20, 2013

Dead Reign RPG

Dead Reign RPG – Back in print

Okay, we never quite ran out. We were down to our last case of books when the third printing arrived from our printer.

Can you survive in a world where the dead have risen and feed upon the living? Battle zombies, mad men and death cultists in a post-apocalyptic world where the last of humanity struggles to survive.

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. Tales of zombies, human survival and horror as a fast-paced, easy to learn game and sourcebooks. Think you know zombies? Think again.

Rifts Vampires Sourcebook

Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook – In final production

In final production and looking outstanding. It should go to the printer in January and ship mid-February.

New secrets, magic and monsters of Mexico and the Yucatan. New conflicts between rival forces are brewing as Doc Reid prepares to take his private war on vampires to a whole new level. Meanwhile, the vampires live like smug tyrants and gods, dominating an underclass of cattle people used as slaves and food stock. Learn more about the vampires, their rivals, allies and the humans who willingly serve their supernatural masters for a chance to join the undead. A must-have guide for those who wish to travel deeper into the Vampire Kingdoms or play as vampires and their human minions. In final production right now, with art and text coming in and final editing and writing in progress.

Rifts Northern Gun One

Rifts® World Book 33: Northern Gun One

The long-awaited Rifts® Northern Gun™ One nears completion.

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.

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:

Don’t forget about these recent releases

Robotech Genesis Pits Sourcebook

Robotech® Genesis Pits Sourcebook – Available now

This is a truly epic sourcebook that takes an in-depth look at the Invid Genesis Pits, their purpose, function, the mutants and monsters they unleash and the dangers they pose for non-Invid. It is jam-packed with never before seen source material, mutations, mutation tables (so you can generate your own Genesis Pit monsters and characters) and more. Robotech® fans have been loving this book.

Rifts Black Market

Rifts® Black Market – Softcover Edition – Available now

See what everyone is talking about and order yours today. Rifts® Black Market™ is an epic, 192 page sourcebook that contains a wealth of information about the inner workings of the Black Market, the Five Factions, new Bandito Arms/Black Market weapons and gear, how to make any O.C.C. a Black Marketeer, special abilities of the Black Marketeer, criminal enterprises, Black Market loans, merc and crime jobs, and much more. This book has it all. AND best of all, a lot of it can be easily adapted to just about any world setting, not just Rifts Earth.

Rifts Black Market Gold Hardcover

Rifts® Black Market HardcoverGold Contraband Edition – Available now

Everything you want to know about the Black Market of Rifts® North America presented inside a pair of gorgeous black leatherette covers. Gold foil embossing on front cover and spine. Historically, gold collector editions only increase in value on the collector’s market, and often quickly. This is the lowest number of a Collector’s Gold Edition that Palladium has ever printed.

Endless Dead

Endless Dead – Dead Reign Sourcebook Three

The zombie hordes grow in number and strangeness. Can humankind survive? Where is the military?

Back in Print and Great Gift Ideas

The Rifter #50

The Rifter® #50, Anniversary Special – back in print due to popular demand

You might think of The Rifter® #50 as a special “all-star” anniversary issue with official source material for Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane® and many other Palladium RPG settings.

The Rifter® #50 includes:

Rifts Logo T-Shirt

BACK IN PRINT: Rifts® Logo T-Shirts in most sizes

We’ve been asked over and over again to re-issue the popular Rifts® Logo T-shirt in sizes other than XL. We heard your requests, and here you go. Order yours today.

● The full Rifts® logo as created by artist Kevin Long, printed in white on a black T-shirt.

● Sizes Small to 5XL.

● 100% cotton – our usual quality T-shirt.

● Prices vary according to size:
Small: $18.95
Medium: $18.95
Large: $18.95
X-Large: $18.95
2XL: $20.95
3XL: $22.95
4XL: $24.95
5XL: $26.95

● Cat. No. TS804

● And don’t forget other fun T-shirt designs like . . .

Upcoming Appearances

Anime North – May 24-26, 2013 – Toronto, Canada

I am one of the guests at Anime North in Toronto, Canada. The event takes place Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26, 2013. Wayne Smith and one or two other Palladium creators will also be present to chat and sign autographs. We also hope to bring 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™: Defense of Macross Island™ 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.