Palladium Books® Weekly Update – July 13, 2013

By Kevin Siembieda

This Update is being posted on Saturday because the website was down most of Friday. We have been experiencing a lot of unexpected technical difficulties over the last few weeks via our web host.

This has caused a number of delays, slowness and problems. The worst have been the website going down for minutes to a few hours at a time. Friday was the longest and worst episode, lasting half the day. Of course, we are looking for solutions, but we may continue to experience difficulties for the next week or so until will can find the problems and make permanent solutions. Thank you for your understanding.

Meanwhile, we are working hard to belt out several major products, and we’re making progress. Wayne and I are both working at the office today and Alex should be here later as well.

UPDATE: The Rifter® #63 – Done

The Rifter® #63 is done! It is another outstanding issue filled with monsters, mayhem, secrets and adventure ideas for Palladium Fantasy RPG®, plus adventure generation tables for Beyond the Supernatural™ (these are wonderful, helpful and easy to use, I loved them), and secret information about the Coalition’s Psi-Battalion for Rifts®. (The Rifts® short story, which we all enjoyed, had to be put aside for next issue.) As well as news, coming attractions and a photo spread of the sculpts for Robotech® RPG Tactics™. Great issue.

UPDATE: Rifts® Ultimate Edition – back in print – Available now

Rifts® remains Palladium’s most popular game line ever, so we wanted to make sure the Rifts® Ultimate Edition hardcover didn’t run out. The newest press run arrived in the warehouse on Wednesday. Same core material. Same price. Same quality. 376 pages – $39.95 retail – Cat. No. 800HC – Available now.

UPDATE: Robotech® The Macross® Saga Sourcebook – 8½ x 11 size

We’ll soon be re-releasing the Robotech® The Macross® Saga Sourcebook as an 8½ x 11 sourcebook. 128 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 551. Available by August.

UPDATE: Robotech® UEEF Marines Sourcebook One

Coming this Fall. More about it in future Updates. Just didn’t want y’all to think it was forgotten.

UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun One

You know the story on this one. Epic. Delayed and delayed. FINALLY working on it nonstop. It is coming soon. Rifts® Northern Gun™ One is the book I’m working on! That’s why I’m at the office on a Saturday. I think you’ll be very pleased. And we have some surprises for our Megaverse Insider crowdfunding supporters who have been so patient and understanding.

UPDATE: Northern Gun Two

If I can swing it, I want Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two at the printer before we leave for Gen Con. August release. We are putting 90% of our energy into releasing the new titles you have been waiting for.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics – Kickstarter Survey has been sent

The Kickstarter Surveys were sent out on Wednesday. If you are a Kickstarter Backer and have not received your email Survey, contact Palladium Books immediately at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Jeff at 734-721-2903.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics – Pledge Manager

As SOON as we get the majority of the Survey responses back, Palladium will send you an invitation to the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Pledge Manager. In the Pledge Manager you will be able to select all the Add-Ons you wanted and even be able to purchase additional Add-Ons! That’s right, you can purchase as many additional Add-Ons as your heart desires in any quantity.

For your information:

Robotech RPG Tactics

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics – Tactical Battle Game – Coming Fall 2013

This product is in final development. Most of the sculpts are finished and approved by the I.P. holder Harmony Gold. The rules and rule book have been written, edited, approved and are going into layout next week. Product packaging designs are next. Advertising and promotion has already begun.

The Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Box Set has everything you need to get started, with the many expansion packs containing 4-6 game pieces allowing you to build and improve your armies.

Highlights Include:

UPDATE: The First Six Robotech® Expansion Packs

The initial expansion packs will also ship in the Fall. All prices listed are likely, but still tentative. We want most packs to fall in the $25-$35 price range.

UPDATE: UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics – Limited Gen Con Exclusives at Booth #1025 – Palladium Books.

There will be two Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Gen Con Indy Convention ExclusivesMax Sterling’s Valkyrie in Battloid Mode and Myria’s Power Armor – available for purchase. We had hoped to offer more, but it looks like we will only be able to offer 125 of both, each morning, on a first-come, first-served basis. Because of the limited number, customers will be limited to ONE (OF EACH), per person, EVERY MORNING. These are different poses than what was available in the Kickstarter and are resin castings.

We “may” try to make these figures available later on in the Palladium online store, but no promises. The Gen Con exclusives are a way to give gamers who may have missed the Kickstarter an opportunity to get something special too.

We sure hope the Kickstarter Backers know we value and appreciate your support. That’s why you have a multitude of add-ons and Purchase Add-Ons available via the Kickstarter. Many of which will not be made available for retail for quite some time. You special guys and gals in the forefront of this new product line will be the very first to get a ton of the Robotech® game pieces we have planned. And you will love the many advance and special items you’ll be getting. Game on!

UPDATE: Palladium’s Marketing Push has begun

Our ads for Robotech® and Robotech® RPG Tactics™ are starting to appear everywhere. In the month of July we have ads appearing in and the San Diego Comic Con and Gen Con issues of Internal Correspondence 2 (a trade magazine), Greater Gaming Industry Catalog (another trade publication), Game Trade Monthly (a trade magazine for retailers), the back cover of Bleeding Cool Magazine (a fun comic book publication), and elsewhere.

That’s in addition to demos and displays at Gen Con Indy and Detroit Fanfare to promote Robotech® RPG Tactics, Heroes Unlimited™ and all of Palladium’s role-playing games.

UPDATE: Better Communication

As promised, I have been posting more Murmurs from the Megaverse® as well as on Facebook and answering my private messages and emails. I want you in the loop. Of course our problems with the forums have prevented me from posting the last few days. Grrrr.

UPDATE: Detroit Fanfare – October 26 & 27, 2013

A mini-Palladium Open House. We have a BIG gaming and marketing opportunity with Detroit Fanfare (in Dearborn, Michigan, October 26-27, 2013). It looks like we can get enough volunteer Game Masters (thanks G.M.s – and more are welcomed to join the fun), so now we just need gamers to attend. WE are even looking at making it a permanent site for an ANNUAL “mini-Palladium Open House.” If we make a good showing running games and bringing in more gamers, we might be able to make Detroit Fanfare an annual mini-Palladium Open House. And why not? The convention site is only 20 minutes from the Palladium office.

Game Masters, if YOU are interested in running Palladium gaming events at the Detroit Fanfare (October 25-27, 2013), PLEASE contact the Megaversal Ambassadors (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or contact Palladium Books directly via telephone (734-721-2903), Private Message, email, etc., but please contact us. This could be the start of something big and fun for us all. The rest of you, spread the word and start making plans to attend! Help us make this happen.

Palladium Open House in 2015

We are seriously thinking about hosting a POH in 2015. The Detroit Fanfare is only a two-day event (Saturday and Sunday). That’s cool, but it’s only two days. And as fun and nice at it may be, it’s not the same intimate setting as the true Palladium Open House held at the Palladium warehouse all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And for 100 people, VIP Thursday as well. We’re thinking Detroit Fanfare will be nice for the years we don’t host the event at Palladium, but every two or three years, the Palladium Open House should come home. Right now, we’re thinking April or May 2015. This is tentative, but we are leaning strongly in that direction. More on this in future Updates as we firm up our plans, but I think it’s safe to start making tentative plans.

Gen Con® Indy – Palladium Booth #1025 – August 14-18, 2013

Gen Con is coming up fast. If you are attending, make sure you swing by Booth #1025 to get the latest releases and books you’ve missed, purchase art prints and original art, demo Robotech® RPG Tactics™, chat and get autographs. Oh, and you’ll be able to see many of the final sculpts for Robotech® RPG Tactics™ on display for the first time anywhere.

Gen Con will be a star-studded event for Palladium fans with the following Palladium creators present at Booth #1025:

Palladium is about to explode back on the scene with game products that will thrill and beguile your imaginations. Join the fun and game on.

A fun, surprise visit

The Lucy family dropped by the Palladium office. They are Americans, but live abroad. They are also big Palladium fans and since they were in town for the week, they thought they’d swing by and see if they could visit. They did, and I think I had as much fun as they did. Dad and his three teenagers were a true delight (all Palladium gamers), and full of excitement and ideas that reminded me of the energy at the Palladium Open House events. We talked about gaming, game design, future publications, movies and comic books as I gave them a tour of the Palladium office and warehouse. It was a very nice break from the grind we’ve all been under. They oohed and ahhed at the Northern Gun artwork and can’t wait for it and all of our upcoming releases. I would like to thank you folks for the fun visit. Have a safe trip home.

We’ll be working at least part of the weekend to move more books closer to release dates. Keep those imaginations burning bright.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer and Game Designer

The Rifter #63

The Rifter® #63 – Ships July

I thought it was just me, but Julius and Alex agree, this issue feels especially fun and exciting. It is filled with all kinds of useful background and source material for Beyond the Supernatural, Palladium Fantasy® and Rifts®. Nice artwork, too.

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.

The Rifter® Number 63 includes:

Rifts Ultimate Edition

BACK IN PRINT: Rifts® Ultimate Edition

Imagine a world setting that is Earth 300 years after an apocalypse that results in the return of magic. Now imagine a world where magic and super-science collide. Where cyborgs and men clad in power armor and giant robots clash with demons, dragons and sorcerers.

Now imagine lines of blue, magic energy rippling across the land. Where two or more of those lines cross, there is a tear in the fabric of space and time. A Rift to infinite worlds and realities that have unleashed an endless cavalcade of aliens, mutants and monsters into our world. Some are adventurers like you, other are invaders, some are slaves or prisoners, and still others are demonic nightmares and gods from ancient myths. All now make Earth their home or hunting ground. Welcome to Rifts®.

Rifts® combines the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and post-apocalypse (among others) in a plausible setting where adventure is limited only by your imagination and the possibilities are truly infinite.

Robotech Macross Saga Sourcebook

BACK IN PRINT: Robotech® Macross Saga Sourcebook – New size – 8½ x 11 – same great book

Robotech® The Macross™ Saga Sourcebook will soon be available as an 8½ x 11 inch sourcebook.

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.

Now, you can be part of the Robotech® Macross Saga by creating your own characters and embarking on new missions of your own making.

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:

Robotech The Shadow Chronicles RPG

Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® – Role-Playing Game

All the data and details you need to role-play Robotech® are found in the Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® RPG – core rule book. Available in two affordable formats, an 8½ x 11 inch hardcover edition ($30.95) and a pocket-sized “manga” edition (16.95).

Rifts Northern Gun One

Rifts® World Book 33: Northern Gun One – ships July

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 – Coming Fall 2013

Robotech® fans, this is the game you’ve wanted for decades, with beautifully sculpted, in scale, game pieces and the fast action of Robotech®.

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 Box Set

The First Six Robotech® Expansion Packs

The initial expansion packs will also ship in the Fall. All prices listed are likely, but still tentative. We want most packs to fall in the $25-$35 price range.

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 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.