Palladium Books® Weekly Update – September 20, 2019
By Kevin Siembieda
One game system – every genre – countless worlds – endless adventure
It has been a weird week. I feel like I have been pulled all over the place with a little work here, a little work there, some nostalgic moments that were a pleasant surprise, and a few possible business opportunities to be explored further. Two in particular are very exciting and as soon as we have something definitive to report, I will.
Inspiration came from everywhere for everything. While my focus is on finishing Garden of the Gods™, I found myself writing a little for In the Face of Death™, Rifts® Titan Robotics™, The Disavowed™, and even Rifts® Antarctica. I’ve learned that when inspiration strikes, you need to ride it out or you’ll lose it. I didn’t do that a couple weeks ago and those ideas are gone as if they never existed. So I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. We also did final approvals of the new maps for the next product wave for Rifts® Savage Worlds®. The books, the maps, all of it are awesome.
The Alliance Trade Show went well last weekend. We gleaned a lot of insight about the retail venue and a whole new generation of retailers and gamers discovering Palladium Books’ games. Speaking of which, I’m sure you think everyone must know about Palladium Books and games like Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Dead Reign®, Nightbane®, After the Bomb®, and others, but they do not! So please, spread the word, talk up the games and sourcebooks you love, and if you enjoy running games and demos, do so for your local store. And the Megaversal Ambassador program helps on that front. We chatted with a number of store owners who went gaga over Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, and Dead Reign® – but this was the first time they had ever heard of Palladium Books. YOU, our fans, whether you are part of the Megaversal Ambassador program or not, ARE our ambassadors. There is nothing better than word of mouth from you to get your fellow gamers excited about Palladium Books. Please spread the word any way and everywhere you can. Thank you!
SALE! Did you know I had intended for the Monsters and Metal Sale to end today? I did. Only I’m so wildly busy, working on so many different book titles and other projects, that I read the calendar wrong and the guys didn’t catch it. That means you have ONE more week to take advantage of the Monsters and Metal Sale. Since it was inspired by Rifts® Bestiary™ and other books with exotic creatures and gods, the sale offers select monster and god-filled titles from across the Palladium Megaverse® as well as our Rifts® metal miniatures. In fact, the Rifts® metal miniatures have been selling like crazy, so our apologies if we run out of a few minis, as we are only selling existing inventory, not making new sets.
Speaking of Rifts® miniatures, I met with Carmen Bellaire this week and we discussed the possibility of Palladium acquiring the rights to the digital sculpts and related artwork he created for his start-up company, Rogue Heroes, and his ill-fated Rifts® miniature board game. I’ve been talking about the possibilities with a potential investor and an associate to run the miniature production side of things, or heck, maybe even another company to license the rights. We need to do this right, if we do it at all. I don’t know what form this might take, if it goes anywhere at all, I’m just exploring the possibilities.
I think the bottom line for me is that Carmen and his sculptor did such amazing work on something like 25-30 astonishing and iconic sculptures that I would hate to see them all lay fallow and forgotten. Especially when we have people asking about miniatures all the time, and not just for Rifts. If we can work with Carmen to find a way to do something with them, I would love to see it happen.
Alex and I continue to add Palladium one-of-a-kind negatives and collectibles to my (Kevin’s) Ebay store. There’s a lot of prep work that needs to be done before we can offer negs, starting with cutting them out of the giant sheets, then I have to sign, card, bag and price them, before Alex can list them for me. We’ve been working on prepping many more! Right now we have negs from Rifts® Mindwerks™, Cyber-Knights™, Rifts® Index Vol. 2, Vampire Kingdoms™, Rifts® Sourcebook One, and New West™, but we have stuff coming from Rifts® Mercenaries, Phase World®, Phase World Sourcebook, Dark Conversions and others! We are also trying to keep a nice selection of out of print book titles, signed Gold and Special Editions (Silver Rifts® RPG, Machinations of Doom™, Lemuria™, NG 1 & 2 hardcovers, etc.), and other out of print and signed books, original artwork, and the one-of-a-kind negatives — but they are all selling like hotcakes. We added a bunch of collectible toys, too. Namely Star Wars®, Spawn®, Batman®, and Marvel Legends®. And the majority of them are on sale till September 25, 2019! Check ‘em all out at http://stores.ebay.com/kevinstoys-artandcollectibles
One last reminder to our Megaverse® Insiders: The PDF of the Rifts® Bestiary™ Volume One has been sent out to everyone. If you have not gotten yours, please contact Palladium Books by phone (734-721-2903), Help Desk, or by email at rifter{at}palladiumbooks.com – and for those of you awaiting your special Crimson Editions, they ship next week.
A new review from Games Gazette in England. This site is based in England, so you get to read about games from a bit of a different viewpoint. It’s a fun website. Here is the link to a review of The Rifter® #83:
http://www.gamesgazette.co.uk/gg/main.php?p=content/RPGs/Rifter%2083.htm
And if you missed the review of Rifts® Bestiary™ Volume One, here is the link to that review:
http://www.gamesgazette.co.uk/gg/main.php?p=content/RPGs/Bestiary%20Vol%201%20Rifts.htm
LAST WEEK of SALE: Monsters and Metal Sale
The release of the recent Rifts® Bestiary has inspired us to do a sale on books that feature monsters and the inhuman from Rifts® to Fantasy. And while we were at it, we thought we would include Rifts® miniatures and the Twill Rifts® Baseball Cap (I absolutely love mine). Enjoy.
- Rifts® Bestiary Volume One – only $24.29
- Rifts® Conversion Book One – only $14.97
- Rifts® Conversion Book Two: Pantheons of the Megaverse® – only $14.97
- Rifts® Conversion Book Three: Dark Conversions™ – only $16.19
- Rifts® World Book 15: Spirit West™ – only $14.97
- Rifts® World Book 20: Rifts® Australia – only $14.97
- Rifts® World Book 2: Atlantis One – only $12.57
- Rifts® World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market™ – only $16.19
- Rifts® Dimension Book 15: Secrets of the Atlanteans™ – only $16.19
- Rifts® Dimension Book 10: Hades, Pits of Hell™ – only $14.97
- Rifts® Dimension Book 11: Dyval, Hell Unleashed™ – only $14.97
- Rifts® Sourcebook 3: Mindwerks™ – only $10.79
- Rifts® Sourcebook: Machinations of Doom™ – only $11.37
- Rifts® Baseball Cap, Screen Printed, 100% Cotton Twill – Red “Rifts” printed on a black cap, adjustable Velcro® closure – only $6.00 each for a very limited time. I wear mine all the time. It holds up great, no sweat marks. Awesome.
- The Rifter® #44 (11 Kaiju giant monsters, plus other creatures) – only $7.17
- Most Rifts® metal miniatures – Half price. If you are looking to build a Coalition or Xiticix army or a team of adventurers, this is the time to do it. Most Rifts® miniatures are on sale, except for those we are running very low on.
- Fantasy: Monsters & Animals™ – only $16.19
- Fantasy: Dragons & Gods™ – only $14.97
- Fantasy: Northern Hinterlands™ – only $14.97
- Fantasy: Land of the Damned One: Chaos Lands™ – only $14.97
- Fantasy: Land of the Damned Two: Eternal Torment™ – only $14.97
- Fantasy Mouse Pad “Minotaur & Old One” – only $4.98
- Heroes Unlimited™ Aliens Unlimited® Galaxy Guide™ – only $14.97
- Dead Reign® RPG – only $16.19
- Dead Reign® Endless Dead™ Sourcebook – only $10.17
- Dead Reign “Graveyard” Mouse Pad – only $4.98
Sale Ends September 25, 2019.
Note: A similar sale is happening on DriveThruRPG.com.
Now Shipping – Rifts® Bestiary™ Vol. One – “Gold Edition” Hardcover – Signed and Numbered (plus Dragon Head Sketch for a short time)
A deluxe, limited, Gold Edition hardcover, signed and numbered by Palladium staff and maybe a few freelancers. And I’ve drawn one of my trademark dragon head sketches (large) in many of them and will continue to do so on orders that arrive now through next week. I’m doing so for ALL Gold Edition titles. Note: Historically, Palladium Books’ Gold Editions have doubled, tripled or increased in value many times over. Valued as cherished collectibles. Sold on a first come, first served basis, while supplies last. Please note the slight increase in price to $55.
- Gold foil on a black faux leather hardcover.
- Only 300 signed and numbered copies. Only from Palladium Books.
- Sold on a first come, first served basis while supplies last.
- Signed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium staff.
- 80+ creatures of Rifts North America described in detail.
- Same contents as the softcover edition.
- Easily adapted to any Palladium setting; basic S.D.C. stats included for each creature description.
- 256 pages – $55.00 retail – Cat. No. 896HC (Volume One).
- Shipping now! Starting with #1 of 300.
Also Shipping – Rifts® Bestiary™ Vol. One, Softcover Edition
80+ creatures, 18 or so new, plus all other monsters tweaked, updated and expanded. This book is packed with monstrous goodness, cool creatures for use by players, adventure ideas for Game Masters, and monsters to shake things up.
- 256 pages – $26.99 retail – Cat. No. 896 – available now!
UPDATE: Garden of the Gods™ (Fantasy) – in final production
Sorry, I was pulled away from writing this book most of this week. Ah, but for good reason and stuff that will cause you to grin with delight when they are announced. As I said in the last Update, I have expanded the section on Dark Gods and Curses. I took the 20 curses from the Palladium Fantasy RPG®, page 262, and expanded info about curses and added around 35 more – 55 or so total. I also added Blessings from Dark Gods. Not just the usual blessings from well intentioned gods, but Dark Blessings for cutthroats, thieves, and assassins. I’m very happy with all the blessings, miracles and curses from the gods as well as the many artifacts and 40+ forgotten gods (which I’m still working on).
All these things, the Garden itself, and so much more, should get players and Game Masters very excited about their Fantasy adventures. I continue to bounce around from one subject to another, but I’m wrapping them up now. It has all been a delight, and I think you will go wild over the content in this book. Easily adaptable to Rifts®, Phase World® and other settings, of course. Garden of the Gods™ also helps to set up several other Palladium Fantasy titles in the works or done and waiting for final edit and tweaking.
Garden of the Gods™ is packed with magic artifacts, holy weapons, blessings, miracles, visions, curses, intrigue, and all kinds of great stuff for players and hundreds of adventure hooks for Game Masters. This book has so much flavor it should give players and Game Masters all kinds of avenues of adventure. There are some unexpected dangers and bad guys, and good guy NPCs or player characters like the Knights Fossar, the super-cool and redefined Fossar Wardens (keepers of the Order’s secrets), Champions of the Gods, and so much more. You will absolutely love this book.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #84 – October release
Some of the artwork is in and looks great. The articles are all fun and interesting. The material is being edited, and I think I need to assign a bit more artwork. Another great issue.
2021 Palladium Open House (POH) – 40th Anniversary Celebration – First wave of admissions to be offered in a few weeks
I am working on establishing hotel dates now. I will try to do that by the next Weekly Update so we can make the first wave of Admissions to the 2021 POH available in a few weeks.
We hyped up the 2021 Palladium Open House (POH) at Gen Con, even handing out flyers. Well, anticipation is growing to the point that we’ve had a number of people reach out to us to ask when tickets might go up for sale. Due to popular demand, I will try to make the first wave of admissions tickets available in 2-3 weeks.
First, I need to nail down the dates with a couple of hotels. The event will be, as usual, held at the end of April or beginning of May. The reason is the event is held in our warehouse, which we can heat, but cannot air-condition, so we shoot for a time of year where the temperature is moderate and comfortable. We also have to work around a big University of Michigan event that books hotels for miles around. All of that is very doable with hotel prices generally ranging from $70-$150 per night.
This will be Palladium’s 40th Anniversary so we want to pull out all the stops and hope to bring in a record number of Palladium creators and friends. Size and available parking limits us to only about 300 attendees, so we recommend getting admissions early. As usual, we will offer tickets in 2 or 3 waves so everyone gets a chance to attend. Wave One should be made available in two or three weeks.
- Intimate setting, unlike big conventions.
- Family reunion and party atmosphere for the entire event.
- Join the fun and make memories to last a lifetime.
- Price of admission covers all RPG events.
- Limited to only 300 attendees! May sell out.
- Inexpensive hotels minutes away ($70-$150). 15 minutes from Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Near major highways.
- Details shall be coming soon to the Palladium Books website – www.palladiumbooks.com and upcoming Weekly Updates.
It all happens at the Palladium Books® Office and Warehouse – April or May, 2021 – 39074 Webb Court, Westland, Michigan, 48185, to celebrate Palladium Books’ 40th anniversary. A POH only happens every 2-4 years, and our 40th Anniversary only happens once in a lifetime. So please spread the word and start planning to join the fun in 2021, for an incredible experience.
A Kickstarter that may be of interest
Our associate and friend, Jodi Black at Pinnacle Entertainment, wears more than one hat. One of them is as one of the movers and shakers at Carolina Game Tables. They are looking to raise money to make their latest custom gaming/dining table and are offering cool, gaming related items you might enjoy for pledges small and large. Like a Gamer’s Cookbook, leather coasters, and other things as stretch goals. The tables that CGT makes are not cheap, but they are beautiful, sturdy and hand built. I’ve seen them at Gen Con. Nice. Take a look at the Kickstarter to see if anything strikes your fancy, and give your support if you can.
Here's a link for Carolina Game Tables’ Kickstarter project:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/5x5/the-5x5-game-table?ref=diqud9
UPDATE: Dead Reign®: In the Face of Death™
I’m itching to finish writing this book. Getting some feedback and ideas from some of my freelance writers too. An October release.
UPDATE: Rifts® Chaos Earth® – Psychic Scream™
The artwork for Psychic Scream is looking good. I’m hot to finish this bad boy. I need to assign the rest pronto. If the description for Psychic Scream™ doesn’t get your heart pumping, I don’t know what will! Fall release.
UPDATE: Rifts® Titan Robotics™ – Fall release
The artwork for this book is really impressive. A ton of toys for players and ideas for Game Masters. Robots and power armor galore, but also the inner workings of Titan Robotics and Archie Three’s schemes. More and more finished artwork and concept sketches are arriving every week and are looking fabulous. I continue to make notes and we are all pumped up about this power armor, robot, and weapon filled sourcebook.
UPDATE: Rifts® Antarctica™ – Fall or Winter Release
Nothing new to report. I think Rifts® Antarctica™ is going to surprise and delight a lot of people. It is also a great example of the fun you can have with the Raw Editions. The sold out Rifts® Antarctica Raw Edition is a far cry from what the finished book is going to be. Those of you who bought the Raw Edition get a glimpse at Palladium’s creative process. When you compare the two, you’ll see what we kept, what we eliminated, what we added, and how we embellished the material to reach the creative finale of the finished book coming this fall or winter. Fun and educational for those of you who aspire to be writers yourself or just like to have the inside track at Palladium. And true of all Raw Editions vs the finished book. Probably a fall or winter release.
UPDATE: Rifts® Bestiary™, Volume Two – Winter Release
Nothing new on this front, but we all want it to be released as quickly as possible. Looking at a winter release.
UPDATE: The Disavowed™, Living Nowhere™, Beyond the Supernatural™ sourcebooks, and other titles
These titles and several others are NOT forgotten and are in various stages of active production or waiting for production. As always, just because a book is not specifically listed in every Weekly Update, it does not mean it is discontinued or in limbo, it means there are more immediate things to talk about or there’s no substantive news to report. We are anxious to put as many of the books you’ve been waiting for into your hands as possible over the next 18 months. That includes Chaos Earth® First Responders™, Rifts® Antarctica, Rifts® CS Arsenal™, Rifts® Living Nowhere™, Beyond the Supernatural™ sourcebooks, more Fantasy sourcebooks and other titles. So if a book you are waiting for is not mentioned in an Update, it means there is nothing new to report, but it should still be in the pipeline and news for it will be coming in the weeks or months ahead. Right now, we are focused on releases for the next six months, which by our count is 6-7 titles. And many of them are in various stages of production or development.
SALE on DriveThruRPG.com – Monsters and Miniatures Sale
Palladium is offering a sale featuring books filled with monsters and fun, as well as all paper minis. Below is everything offered in the DriveThruRPG sale running now thru September 24, 2019.
- ALL Paper Miniatures
- ALL Game Master Kits and Primers
- Rifts® Conversion Book One
- Rifts® Conversion Book Two: Pantheons of the Megaverse®
- Rifts® Conversion Book Three: Dark Conversions™
- Rifts® World Book 13: Lone Star™
- Rifts® World Book 14: New West™
- Rifts® World Book 15: Spirit West™
- Rifts® World Book 19: Rifts® Australia
- Rifts® World Book 26: Dinosaur Swamp™
- Rifts® World Book 27: Adventures in Dinosaur Swamp™
- Rifts® World Book 21: Splynn Dimensional Market™ (Atlantis)
- Rifts® Dimension Book™ 15: Secrets of the Atlanteans™
- Rifts® Dimension Book™ 10: Hades, Pits of Hell™
- Rifts® Dimension Book™ 11: Dyval, Hell Unleashed™
- Rifts® Sourcebook 3: Mindwerks™
- Rifts® Sourcebook: Machinations of Doom™
- The Rifter® #44 (11 Kaiju giant monsters, plus other creatures)
- Fantasy: Monsters & Animals™
- Fantasy: Dragons & Gods™
- Fantasy: Baalgor Wastelands (giants)™
- Fantasy: Wolfen Empire™
- Fantasy: Northern Hinterlands™
- Fantasy: Land of the Damned™ One: Chaos Lands™
- Fantasy: Land of the Damned™ Two: Eternal Torment™
- Heroes Unlimited Aliens Unlimited® Galaxy Guide™
- Dead Reign® RPG
- Dead Reign® Endless Dead™ Sourcebook
The Rifter® #81: A big 112 page issue filled with “official” source material for Palladium Fantasy RPG® (a complete, 33 page, Wolfen Vampire adventure by Kevin Siembieda with 20+ NPCs, and a 20 page Gnomes of the Ophid’s Grasslands), Rifts® Chaos Earth® Nebraska Part 2, Heroes Unlimited™ (Super Sleuth), and more. And don’t forget to check out the very helpful Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet: A Microsoft Excel-based character management system available on DriveThru.
Also new this month on DriveThruRPG.com is Rifts® Dimension Book™ 15: Secrets of the Atlanteans™. It features True Atlanteans, their tribes, goals, and history, more about the Sunaj, new Magic Tattoos, new Shadow Magic™, new Shadow monsters, maps and descriptions of Atlantean Stone Pyramids, and more about the wicked Sunaj’s secret agenda. An awesome resource and fun read.
A number of new products will be coming your way on DriveThruRPG.com in the weeks ahead. This includes the re-edited and improved three original Rifts® Novels from the 1990's, one every two weeks or so. We may also make them available as Print on Demand (POD) books from DriveThru.
Recent PDF additions include the free Rifts® Bestiary™ Volume One Sneak Preview: See what's in this great new sourcebook before you buy it! The Rifter® #80: A big 112 page issue filled with “official” source material for Palladium Fantasy RPG® Rifts® Chaos Earth® (setting and monsters), Splicers® (desert setting), Heroes Unlimited™ (villains), and more. Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet: a Microsoft Excel-based character management system. Packed with features and data collected from every official Palladium Fantasy sourcebook to enable you to create Fantasy characters quickly (25 minutes!) and help you to update and manage them for years to come. The Rifter® #79 (Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Gaming through History, G.M., and more), The Rifter® #78 (the Modern Necromancer, Palladium Fantasy®, Rifts®, Splicers®, more); Rifts® Heroes of Humanity™, the Coalition’s response to the escalating Minion War™ crisis, Psi-Battalion, CS Demon Hunter, special training and more).
Dead Reign® Paper Miniatures Volume Three: Zombies, Dead Reign® Paper Miniatures Volume Two: Civilians and Dead Reign® Paper Miniatures Volume One: Survivors. There are also paper miniatures for Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy® and Rifts®. A new, up-to-date, PDF Palladium Books Catalog. Nightbane® Dark Designs™ sourcebook with 60 new Common Talents, 38 new Elite Talents, 18 new Morphus Tables, all other Morphus Tables collected and more. Systems Failure™ RPG, a 160 page RPG that deals with alien invasion and a post-apocalypse setting that is fun and dynamic. Civilization is on the verge of collapse when the so-called "bugs" invade and turn humans into zombie-like slaves. Monsters, heroes and fun. A complete RPG and setting. Rifts® World Book 34: Northern Gun™ Two: 256 pages of technology and fun. 30+ power armors, 30+ body armors, 15 combat vehicles, 45 vehicles (hovercycles, etc.), 10 robot haulers, the Robodome and more. Bizantium and the Northern Islands™: the northernmost part of the Known World, the Cold Born, Necromancy ships made from dead sea serpents, 15 creatures, Random Sea Monster Generator, and more. Rifts® Northern Gun™ One. This fan favorite might be thought of as the big book of giant robots – an in-depth look at Northern Gun, 70+ weapons, 27 robots, NG O.C.C.s, key people and places, and much more. Mysteries of Magic™ Book One: The Heart of Magic™ with Wizards, their Apprentices, nearly 60 new magic spells and remember, magic and monsters in the Fantasy RPG are easily adapted to Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, HU2 and other settings. Wolfen Empire™ Fantasy sourcebook, the Great Northern Wilderness and Killer Winters, 12 Wolfen Tribes, Wolfen military and society, 15+ creatures, 5 full adventures, 101 adventure ideas, random encounter tables, notable people, places, plus FREE Sneak Previews of The Rifter® #80, The Rifter® #81, The Rifter® #82, and more on DriveThruRPG.com.
Read more: Palladium Books® Weekly Update – September 20, 2019
