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ONE GAME SYSTEM – EVERY GENRE – COUNTLESS WORLDS – ENDLESS ADVENTURE
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SALE & Lots of News – Palladium Books® – Weekly Update – June 6, 2025
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There is sooo much news and things going on that I’m going to jump right into it.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG goes into mass production! Look what arrived in the mail this week! Pre-production samples for our final authorization to greenlight their manufacture. The print quality is excellent. Each book is truly beautiful. Everything we wanted and more. I was giddy with excitement as we unpacked and examined them.
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One unexpected visitor who saw them exclaimed, “Wow, these books are coffee table quality.” Another person said, “These books are going to set new standards for quality in the RPG industry.”
We meant it when Sean and I said we pulled out all the stops and intend to deliver the top quality books that TMNT fans deserve. We also meant it when we said they are a glimpse of things to come from Palladium Books. See Closing Thoughts for more insight on the Turtles and everything going on.
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Rifts® SALE! Don’t miss the Promise of Rifts SALE featuring some of the Rifts books that inspired the video game. Gamers have been loving the sale, so we’ll keep it going for at least another week. Enjoy the big savings on iconic Rifts titles. See more details below.
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NEWS! The Lost Rifts Video Game! Join the thousands following the prelaunch crowdfunding campaign for Rifts Promise of Power Reforged to get special offers when it launches June 17th. See details below or click on the link to the press release. Also check out the Glitterbois and Legion of Myth interviews with me (Kevin Siembieda) and Sean Owen Roberson about RPOP Reforged.
I love that the Rifts video game is a way to introduce Rifts to your friends and family who don’t play RPGs. The video game is designed to introduce Rifts to an entirely new audience as well as thrill fans of the RPG. The crowdfunder goes live mid-June, 2025. Watch for live streaming when we launch and other fun stuff.
The Rifts® Promise of Power Reforged video game will feature the following:
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30+ hours of game play on the main storyline, more for completionists!
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Increased aspect ratio. Instead of the small screen size of the original N-Gage mobile device, play on a greatly expanded aspect ratio for modern screens – see Rifts Earth like never before!
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The Glitter Boy, Coalition Grunt, and other portraits restored to their iconic likeness.
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Seventeen playable classes drawn directly from the original tabletop role-playing game, including the Glitter Boy, Burster, Ley Line Walker, Cyber-Knight, Juicer, Mind Melter, Cyborg, Headhunter, Crazy, and Mystic.
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Gain powerful allies – mercenaries, psychics, and mages – as you cross the post-apocalyptic wastes and lead your party in combat using their unique abilities.
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Tactical turn-based combat on scenic battle maps featuring a dynamic 3D camera perspective so you can always be in control of your weapons and powers.
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More than 50 enemy types – mutants, supernatural creatures, high-tech soldiers, and more – plus a diverse cast of characters, reflecting the varied denizens of Rifts Earth.
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Over 100 weapons, spells, and psionics, plus all new weapons and gear exclusive for backers of the Reforged edition.
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Travel to multiple locations from the Rifts setting – North America, England, the New German Republic, and China – each filled with unique challenges.
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New physical rewards exclusive to crowdfunding backers!
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NEWS! Phase World® sourcebooks crowdfunder for Rifts Savage Worlds from Star Anvil
These will be big, juicy sourcebooks filled with great new art, new worlds, weapons, and adventures on Phase World and across the Three Galaxies. Though written for Savage Worlds rules, the gear and adventures are easily adapted to the Palladium Books game system. This licensing deal with Star Anvil is another one of Palladium’s secret projects getting put together behind the scenes. We endorse this crowdfunder and expect great things from this licensing partner. Check out the pre-launch campaign now and support it if you can. This will be good stuff for any Rifts/Phase World fan.
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SALE! The Promise of Rifts® SALE – Imagination Unleashed – 20% to 50% off
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Now that you’re back to work and in need of a little fun, take a look at our ongoing Promise of Rifts Sale! I have selected titles that feature characters and locations in the Rifts® Promise of Power REFORGED and which inspired the original video game.
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4 Fun Podcasts & YouTube Interviews
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NEW! The Glitterbois podcast was the first podcast to discuss Rifts Promise of Power Reforged in an interview with both Kevin Siembieda and Sean Owen Roberson. This was a lively and informative conversation about the reforging of the lost Rifts video game. Previous Glitterbois episodes talk about all things Palladium Books with an increasing number of chats with Palladium’s founder and writer Kevin Siembieda as a returning guest. Other Palladium creators have also begun to join the fun with more in the future.
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NEW! Legion of Myth – 2 new episodes! The May 25th livestream chat with Kevin Siembieda and Sean Owen Roberson has been turned into two episodes for your viewing enjoyment. One is questions and answers about the Rifts® Promise of Power REFORGED video game. The second is a passionate and lengthy debate about the viability and playability of the Shifter in Rifts. Both are fun and informative, and it was another long, marathon session, but so worthwhile. Sean and I will continue to return every month to chat about Palladium Books news, game titles, characters, game mechanics, GM tips, writing and all things Palladium Books. So keep your eyes open throughout the year and join the (usually) monthly conversations.
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NEW on the Palladium Books YouTube Channel – Rifts Promise of Power BONUS episode available now. J-M and I talk about the history of the Lost Rifts Video Game to give listeners a deeper understanding about the original game and the N-Gage. It is part of the ongoing Official History of Palladium Books with Kevin Siembieda & J-M DeFoggi. A new episode every other week provides behind the scenes insight and secrets about the making of your favorite Palladium RPGs and the people behind them. Please continue to spread the word about these fun videos and enjoy.
Episodes include:
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Coming Soon to Palladium’s YouTube channel:
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Julius Rosenstein: Without whom there may have been no Palladium Books – June 19th.
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Beyond the Supernatural RPG, 1st Edition – July 3rd.
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Erick Wujcik Part 1: Meets Kevin Siembieda – July 17.
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Rifts RPG Part 1 – July 31st.
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Erick Wujcik Part 2: Game Designer – August 14.
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Watch for a new episode every other week and enjoy bonus episodes.
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Final days for the World’s Largest Dungeon crowdfunding campaign
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It’s big. It’s outrageous. It’s the World’s Largest Dungeon (WLD). Get in on the action and never be in need of a dungeon adventure ever again. Note: This is NOT a Palladium project, but we are friends with all the major parties behind it and we want to clue you in on something you may find to be fun and desirable. Enjoy.
They have taken the epic, AEG World’s Largest Dungeon adventure sourcebook and have remastered and vastly expanded it to 1,500+ pages, divided into four attractive hardcover books with tons of new art, text, adventures and maps. You’ll never be without an adventure idea again! It uses 5e rules but you can plumb the adventures and ideas for any fantasy campaign. Take a peek.
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A super-adventure resource with more than 1,600 original dungeon encounters!
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15 poster-sized maps and new interior detail maps.
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16 miniatures of dungeon monsters.
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Exclusive FanRoll dice.
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Audiobook from AudioRPG.
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Palladium pals Frank Uchmanowicz, J-M Defoggi, Timothy Brown, and others are the primary madmen behind this epic, remastered and expanded WLD super-edition. Check it out.
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UPDATE! Gen Con – July 31 - August 3, 2025 – Visit Palladium Books at Booth 1515
Please swing by the Palladium Booth to chat with me (Kevin Siembieda), Sean Owen Roberson, Wayne Smith (The Rifter), Mark Oberle (writer), Glen Evans (artist), and other Palladium creators and insiders, get autographs, buy new RPG releases and back stock, and have fun.
For those of you who always visit the booth, please note that we are in the middle of the exhibitor’s hall rather than where we’ve been the last several years. We have no idea how or why, but we are in good company near Catalyst Games, Steve Jackson Games, Modiphius, Renegade Game Studio, Cool Stuff Inc., and only a couple isles away from our friends at Pinnacle/Studio 2 and Upper Deck. Please find us and visit.
Here are other events I, Kevin Siembieda (and sometimes Sean), will be attending over the next 8 months.
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Gen Con – July/August (Kevin, Sean & the Palladium crew)
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Alliance Open House (Tradeshow) – September (Kevin and others)
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Granite State Comic Con – September (Kevin Siembieda & Sean Roberson)
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Philadelphia Game Expo – January 2026 (Kevin Siembieda & Matthew Balent).
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300+ RPG products on DriveThru – a dozen unique world settings – one game system – endless possibilities. No other game company offers game worlds for so many different genres. Best of all, learn to play one Palladium RPG and you can play them all, because each uses the same basic core rules and combat. There are differences, but the fundamentals are the same. This also means you can bring characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, weapons, gear, and adventure ideas from one setting into another or mash them together!
In addition to PDF titles for entire game lines like Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Ninjas & Superspies™, After the Bomb®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Dead Reign® (zombies), Nightbane® (Urban Fantasy), Rifts Chaos Earth®, Systems Failure™, Splicers®, RECON®, The Rifter® #1-85, and others, there are Game Master and player aids, character generators, paper minis, map packs, and FREE Previews of books like Creature Feature™, Dead Reign, Coalition Manhunters, Titan Robotics™, Rifts Bestiary Volume One, World Books, Dimension Books, and more to give you a glimpse of what’s in the book. Enjoy endless adventures across the Megaverse®.
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Palladium Collectibles – at Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles eBay Store
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I am adding new collectibles of all kinds to my Ebay store every few weeks. Some are Palladium negatives, rare and out of print books, original Palladium artwork, prints, posters, as well as other collectible toys, action figures, Nightmare Before Christmas items, one-of-a-kind proofreader copies, books, and other good stuff – including Erick Wujcik’s rare and sought after Amberzine #12-15. Check in every week or so to see what’s new. All items come from Kevin Siembieda’s personal collection.
One-of-a-kind Palladium Books negatives (special and rare collectibles). Negatives are always very popular items at the Palladium Open House, Gen Con, and conventions, and are catching on as rare collectibles, unique in and of themselves. Before digital printing, pages of a book were laid out by hand on a board, and each page was photographed.
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Each negative is truly unique, attractive, and fun to have.
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Own a piece of Palladium Books and RPG history you will treasure.
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Each was used to print the very book you may have in your collection (1981-2004).
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Each is signed in silver ink by Kevin Siembieda and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
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Each negative is a one-of-a-kind work of art (on rare occasions, two-of-a-kind if a page or section of pages were replaced or a second edition was made).
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Looks great matted or framed! Fits an 8x10 inch matt opening. Each neg is roughly 8 ½ x 11 inches.
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Prices vary depending on the title, the art, and quality of the negative. Note: Many have scratches, or blemishes, and/or an opaque medium on the negative. Still, they look great and are a piece of RPG history. We recommend you carefully examine the photographs of each item to avoid disappointment. The negatives of many books are sold out or were never available.
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It’s all happening!
Sean and I love it when a plan comes together. Several plans, actually, because we have been very busy the last few years laying down a strong foundation and putting a number of strategic plans in motion. They all had their hiccups and delays, but they are coming together and looking great. It’s all very exciting. Here is more information and personal thoughts about all that’s happening and what’s coming.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG Redux – what an epic Kickstarter and incredible journey. As noted earlier in the Update, the pre-press samples arrived this week and they look fantastic. All of them will hit the press next week! We’ll keep you posted about shipping as the cost and timeline becomes clearer.
This was a big project. If you include all the Kickstarter exclusives there were 22 different SKUs to be designed and produced (make that 42 if you count each of the miniatures individually). That’s a lot of moving parts. We thought we’d have it all in your hands last year, but the loss of our beloved Kathy Simmons knocked everyone for a loop and absolutely clobbered me. She loved Palladium and the fans so much, she would be over the moon to see these final products and us closing in on the Kickstarter fulfillment. Note: The Pre-Order Page with the lower Kickstarter prices will be closing soon, so pre-order soon or miss out on significant savings.
Star Anvil License for Phase World®. This was one of our many secret projects. For Rifts Savage Worlds fans (and all Rifts fans), the setting will be expanded to cosmic proportions with the addition of adventure sourcebooks for Phase World and the Three Galaxies.
Why Star Anvil and Phase World? That’s easy, because the Prometheans behind Star Anvil love science fiction, they have big plans for the setting, and will provide fun and adventure for all fans looking for new material for Phase World and the Three Galaxies. Remember, although the sourcebooks use Savage Worlds rules, the stories, characters, adventures, maps, gear, weapons, vehicles, new alien races, creatures, and so on, are ALL easily adapted to Palladium Books rules. So please check out their Phase World crowdfunder and give it a try. They have Palladium’s full endorsement and are an official licensee of Palladium Books.
The lost Rifts® video game crowdfunder. This was another Top Secret project spearheaded by Sean. Like the press release about it says, we had such high hopes for Rifts Promise of Power when it was released in the fall of 2005 for the N-Gage mobile video game platform. It is a turn-based, tactical video game that fully and accurately captures the depth and feel of Rifts and 17 key player characters. When the platform failed, the game vanished with it. Though Palladium owns all the creative content, art, story, characters, etc., we lacked the expertise and resources to recode and make a video game for the PC and others.
That changed when we were introduced to TransPerfect International by long-time friend and Palladium super-fan Ryan McDaniel. This is a massive company with decades of experience and expertise in all aspects of the video game industry. From art and 3D renders to coding and translations into any language, TransPerfect can do it all, and do it well. The reason you may have never heard of them is that they quietly provide their vast services to a host of major video game companies behind the scenes. Palladium has been working with them for a couple of years now and have been discussing and planning the rebuilding of Rifts Promise of Power for the PC, game consoles, etc., for more than a year.
Click here for more details and learn about the crowdfunding pre-launch happening right now on Backerkit.
AudioRPG & Audiobooks. We know and trust the passionate madmen behind them, we were impressed with the Nightbane: Dark Designs audio rendition, I like to encourage all forms of storytelling, and I like exploring new realms of adventure. We suggested they start with Nightbane titles because Urban Fantasy is very popular, the books are dramatic and moody, and there are only a half-dozen titles, so the entire series can be done quickly. We figured it would be a good test. Best of all, Palladium doesn’t have to do any work on the audiobooks, that’s all on the licensee. Time will tell where this venture may go. Note: Many of these same people are behind the World’s Largest Dungeon crowdfunding campaign, now in its final days.
Sourcebooks coming from Palladium. As we’ve noted, a number of titles are in development. We try not to reveal anything before the book is nearly finished and ready to go to the printer. Yin-Sloth Expeditions, Rifts Bestiary 2, Rifts Antarctica, BTS: Beyond Arcanum, BTS: Tomes Grotesque, and a few other titles are all on the drawing board, including one epic, long-term project. Many have artwork that is completed or in the process of being created. Rifts Bestiary has been delayed to make it everything it needs to be, and Sean recently mentioned that he’s working on the long awaited Rifts Chaos Earth: First Responders sourcebook. Much of the artwork is being done now by fan-fave artist Steven Cummings (Titan Robotics).
Palladium Books’ YouTube Channel. The Official History of Palladium Books has been incredibly well received, with many more episodes coming – one every other week plus the occasional bonus episode. Most of these fun chats are complete in themselves (there are only a couple of two-parters), so you can watch what strikes your fancy in any order you would like. Palladium will continue to expand its social media in the months ahead. We are already doing podcasts and videos on Legion of Myth and Glitterbois, as well as others. Geek Native has an upcoming interview about the Rifts Promise of Power video game. More social media endeavors in the future.
New Palladium Website – coming soon. Our entirely new website will offer new, cleaner layout and design, better functionality, and features such as bundle deals, PDFs available directly from the Palladium Books online store, and other conveniences. We’re working out the bugs and fine tuning it now.
I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention something, but that’s plenty to mull over and enjoy. I hope you are excited about the whirlwind of activity for Rifts and other ventures. Just don’t forget to take advantage of the Promise of Rifts RPG Sale for select physical Rifts books and watch DriveThruRPG.com for PDF sales. Game on.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Game Designer, Writer and Friend
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