Forums of the Megaverse®

So you want to be a Megaversal Ambassador

Megaversal Ambassadors are a growing legion of volunteers who run Palladium role-playing game events and demos (Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Nightbane®, Dead Reign™, Heroes Unlimited™, or whatever you enjoy running) at stores, conventions and game clubs. Zachary Houghton, a fan like you, came up with the idea and launched the program on Palladium’s behalf several years ago. We loved it and people have been joining the MAs (Megaversal Ambassadors) ever since.

Thanks to the efforts of several new, motivated Megaversal Ambassadors, Nate “Zenvis” Bingham, Gary “Ingex” Miller, Victor “Zyanitevp” Peterson, and Jeff “NMI” Ruiz, the program is expanding and we need YOU.

If you’re a good Game Master, enjoy introducing new people to gaming, and like running Palladium games and demonstrations, we encourage you to join the ranks of the Megaversal Ambassadors. As Palladium makes plans to grow and reach more gamers, your efforts to spread awareness matter more than ever. Through your efforts we can introduce more people to the fun, Palladium role-playing game experience. And involving them in great games at stores conventions and other events is one of the best ways to do that.

1) What is an MA?

Answer: The MAs (Megaversal Ambassadors) are an ever-growing number of Palladium Game Masters who volunteer to run Palladium role-playing gaming events and/or demos at conventions, stores and other gatherings to introduce new players to the Palladium Megaverse®. They are also active in positive ways, talking about Palladium products and the enjoyment and merits of role-playing, online and at events. All of this gets gamers who have never played Palladium’s games interested in them and helps to keep the enthusiasm alive among our established family of thousands of gamers.

This makes YOU a volunteer who represents one of your favorite game companies. It also makes you an Ambassador of Goodwill. A sort of evangelist or “Johnny Appleseed” planting and spreading the word and the fun of playing RPGs in general. That means we need you to be good-natured, friendly and patient. A true ambassador, willing and able to teach new gamers how to play and have fun, and to introduce gamers of other RPGS unfamiliar with Palladium to our game system and many worlds. It means showing people how and why Palladium RPGs are so much fun, making you a gateway to Palladium role-playing games for others.

Requirement to become an “official” Megaversal Ambassador: Run two or more Palladium gaming events at one or more public venues (conventions, store, library, school, etc.) during the year, and provide us with all the contact information we need (your name, street address, email address, and telephone number, as well as the name, street address, telephone number, contact person and dates where you are gaming), and you are an MA! Of course, you should inform us of your activities and coordinate with the managing MAs, because there may be ways we can make an even bigger splash at local events.

Your Goal: To introduce new gamers to the Palladium Megaverse and game system. To show gamers unfamiliar with Palladium’s games and settings the fun we all enjoy and love.

2) How do I join?

Answer: Easy. Send Palladium an email at ambassadors@palladiumbooks.com with the following information:

• Forums user name.
• Email address.
• Given name (e.g. Thom Smith; not just your online moniker).
• Street mailing address. (For our non-USA Ambassadors, please provide your mailing address exactly as it should appear on any packages that may be mailed to you.)
• Telephone number.
• T-shirt size
• Where and when you plan to run Palladium gaming events.
• And whatever else you may have in mind to help spread the word about Palladium Books and its role-playing games.
• Please let us know if you are available to run Palladium RPG games or demos at special events in your area or conventions you are planning to attend, like Origins or Gen Con.

3) How else can I help?

Answer: There are a bunch of ways.

• Even if you are not a Megaversal Ambassador, tell people about new Palladium releases coming out. Talk about why you enjoy our games so much. Post online about local gaming conventions and events, especially if you are running Palladium game events there, or you know there are Palladium events being run.
• Everyone, as well as MAs, can post information on Palladium’s forums, the Palladium Facebook page and other places online about upcoming gaming conventions, clubs and store events that you know are fun, have Palladium events and are worth attending. Make sure you tell folks that YOU are running something at the event, when and where you’ll be playing, and whether you are looking for more players/gamers to attend.
• If you are running at a convention or part of a convention, let us know the name, date and Palladium gaming events and we will plug the convention and let fans know about it, whether it’s a local store or a convention, on our message boards. Likewise, YOU should make your own posts and announcements everywhere you deem appropriate.
• After the gaming event, talk about the success and fun you had there, especially with running or playing in a Palladium event. Use the web and the Palladium website, Facebook page, your own website and elsewhere to promote your public gaming events and to share your positive experiences with Palladium’s games. These are all valuable tools to promote your event and Palladium. And make sure you tell us how things went. Perhaps post or email us a few photos.
• Encourage your favorite Game Masters to consider becoming Megaversal Ambassadors, especially if they enjoy running games with new people.
• Do not underestimate the power of word of mouth and positivity. Palladium Books has an amazing community of gamers. We encourage all of you to be a more active part of that community. Please focus on fun and the sharing of ideas and experiences. Our hobby is gaming, which is all about fun, laughter and imaginations unleashed.
• Be an MA online, meaning, answer the questions of other gamers and try to be a positive, cheerful and friendly force online.

4) Does Palladium offer support material like pre-generated characters, character sheets, or convention prizes for its many game lines?

Answer: For the most part, you need to work up pre-generated characters and all the details of the game, tournament or demo you are running on your own. Sorry. However, you should not hesitate to run the same game/tournament and especially demos, over and over again with different players. You’ll be surprised how different and fun most sessions are with different players. Kevin Siembieda does this all the time and has a blast. Kevin says another trick is to use the same pre-generated characters over and over again in different adventures. That helps make running easy, because you know the characters so well regardless of the actual adventure.

To help you, Palladium has put together what we call the Rifts® Game Master Kit and the Palladium Fantasy RPG® G.M. Kit. Both provide G.M. aids, character sheets, event sign-up sheets, event poster, and 20 or so pre-generated characters for players. It is free to Megaversal Ambassadors and available to everyone for $5 as a PDF download from DriveThruRPG.com. Both of these were written and created by two of Palladium’s outstanding Game Masters and writers, Carl Gleba and Julius Rosenstein.

As we expand the Megaversal Ambassador program, we hope to offer more G.M. Kits for other Palladium game lines in the future and perhaps even some pre-designed tournament games and demonstation packages.

Convention Prizes for Players: If you are running “scheduled” Palladium gaming events at a convention, Palladium is happy to offer prizes to give out to the best player (or players) in your games, such as the latest sourcebook or core rule book for the best player and copies of The Rifter® to the other participants. We can even sign a few. Please Note: You must show proof that you are running scheduled games at a real and established convention, store or gaming event by having your event listed on the convention website and/or program book with YOU as the G.M. and a convention contact we can confirm and call or email to verify you are running at their event. Note: We do the same for special, advertised store events coordinated with the owner or manager.

We also would like to get a Convention After-Action Report from you. You can keep this short and simple, but the more info the better. Ideally we want at least a list of the names and emails of your players (so we can add them to our online mailing list), the name of the game(s) you ran and a brief report of how it went (fun, slow, few players, many players, had to turn people away, etc.). It is also helpful to get a copy of the convention program book mailed to us or sent as a PDF.

If you can find the time, we’d also like to get your overall opinion and review of the convention. Did you think it was fun and well run, your estimate and the “official” attendance numbers, the general level of satisfaction from those who attended the con (i.e. did you hear grumbling and complaints or were people happy), how much role-playing was at the convention (i.e. was it a major part of the convention or a small part of it), news and observations, and whether or not you had fun and would run an event(s) there again. This helps us evaluate the success of your game(s), but more importantly, it gives us cues as to how much support (more or less) we should offer the convention in the future, whether Palladium should consider exhibiting at the event, and other valuable information. In short, you are not only our goodwill ambassador at the event, but you are also our eyes and ears. The report can be posted on the Megaversal Ambassador forum, emailed to Palladium or presented as a written and printed report mailed to us with the program book. We have a couple MAs who put together fun packages complete with photographs of their games along with notes, comments and other data.

Convention Support: We also would like to get a Convention After-Action Report from you. You can keep this short and simple, but the more info the better. Ideally,we want at least a list of the names and emails of your players (so we can add them to our online mailing list), the name of the game(s) you ran and a brief report of how it went (fun, slow, few players, many players, had to turn people away, etc.). It is also helpful to get a copy of the convention program book mailed to us or sent as a PDF.

If you can find the time, we’d also like to get your overall opinion and review of the convention. Did you think it was fun and well run, your estimate and the “official” attendance numbers, the general level of satisfaction from those who attended the Con (i.e. did you hear grumbling and complaints or were people happy), how much role-playing was at the convention (i.e. was it a major part of the convention or a small part of it), news and observations, and whether or not you had fun and would run an event(s) there again. This helps us evaluate the success of your game(s), but more importantly, it gives us cues as to how much support (more or less) we should offer the convention in the future, whether Palladium should consider exhibiting at the event, and other valuable information. In short, you are not only our
goodwill ambassador at the event, but you are also our eyes and ears. The report can be posted on the Megaversal Ambassador forum, emailed to Palladium or presented as a written and printed report mailed to us with the program book. We have a couple MAs who put together fun packages complete with photographs of their games along with notes, comments and other data. Convention Support: If you are a member of the convention staff or know people on staff, and would like to have Palladium games run at your convention, have the appropriate convention person contact Palladium. Perhaps we can contact an MA or two to run games or demos (especially if they can get into your convention for no charge). Palladium can also offer other types of convention support such as a few signed books for a charity auction, flyers, posters and/or catalogs, and even a few hundred copies of The Rifter® to give away to some or all of the attendees at the event. Note: We do the same for special, advertised store
events coordinated with the owner or manager, just have them contact us via an email, help ticket, Facebook, or telephone call: (734) 721-2903.

5) What other resources are there for an MA?

Answer: These with more coming in the future.

• The Megaversal Ambassador Forum and Lounge: The forum is there for open discussions and exchanges of ideas that everyone can see and participate in, from MAs to Joe Gamer The Ambassadors’ Lounge is for the use of authorized Megaversal Ambassadors (and Palladium staff) only. Use it to talk amongst yourselves, make plans, share gaming tips, and coordinate with each other. You need to be a Megaversal Ambassador to access this MA exclusive forum.
  
• The Game Master Kits: with pre-designed flyers, signs and sign-up sheets. They also give you ideas for making your own for your personal use and the promotion of Palladium at gaming events.
  
• Think like a team and help each other. You MAs should “talk,” “trade” and “share” pre-generated characters, villains, monsters and adventures for the various game settings. They can be posted here in the MA forum and exchanged via emails. You should think of yourselves as a truly elite team of volunteers and Palladium’s advance guard promoting Palladium RPGs and role-playing in general. WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM. Share ideas and gaming materials, coordinate gaming events where more than one of you may be attending – especially events like the Palladium Open House, Gen Con, Origins and other large conventions – and so on. Don’t forget about running games at local science fiction and (some) comic conventions as many offer gaming events.
  
• You have a direct line to Palladium Books. Let us know your ideas and suggestions. They give us ideas and keep us in the loop. If there are questions, concerns and suggestions to make the MA program better, we want to hear them, and if we can, help implement them. However, we are often swamped with the running of the company and getting out product, so we need Megaversal Ambassadors who are motivated and able to run on their own, not wait for Palladium.

6) As a Megaversal Ambassador I want to feel “official.” Do I get an official Palladium Megaversal Ambassdor/G.M. card or something? Maybe post a list of Official Palladium G.M.s on your site somewhere?

Answer: We’re slowly working on this front. What is available at the moment:

• A Megaversal Ambassador I.D. Card – a color business card identifying you as a Megaversal Ambassador, with a space you can print your name in.
• We plan to do a T-shirt that identifies you as a Palladium Books Megaversal Ambassador. Probably black with white printing and some nice design.
• We are working on the idea of buttons or pins that you can wear on your shirt, jacket, backpack,etc...

Make sure Palladium has ALL your contact info, including a COMPLETE mailing address, cell phone number and your T-shirt size so we can send you “official MA” paraphernalia as we create it for you.

7) Is there a head Megaversal Ambassador who can help us or provide pointers or coordinate our involvement at conventions and events?

Answer: Yes and no. We do not have one dedicated head of the program, but we do have a quartet of dedicated volunteers (Nate “Zenvis” Bingham, Gary “Ingex” Miller, Victor “Zyanitevp” Peterson, and Jeff “NMI” Ruiz) who take turns managing the Megaversal Ambassadors and they also coordinate with each other, with Palladium Books and the rest of the MA volunteers.

As noted earlier, we need MAs who are self-reliant, motivated and willing to work as a team with other MAs. Use the MA forum as a means to coordinate and work together as well as share ideas and G.M. tips and materials. The Palladium staff and others will help as they can.

Send emails to ambassadors@palladiumbooks.com. You can also reach Wayne and Alex via the Palladium Help Desk.

8) Do I get paid?

Answer: As a volunteer, there is no pay. You are donating your time to further the role-playing game hobby, have fun, and to help people learn about Palladium Books and our many RPG settings. Thankfully, you get to indulge your hobby and have fun gaming, as well as enjoy the satisfaction of spreading the word about the Palladium RPG Megaverse® and helping others discover the fun of role-playing. And of course, you have the gratitude of Kevin Siembieda, the Palladium staff and every gamer you meet for your efforts.

Over time, Palladium hopes to provide the MA I.D. card, MA T-shirt, and more gaming resources to our MAs for free. For example, when Kevin Siembieda knows someone is an MA ordering a Christmas Surprise Package he usually tries to make that Surprise Package even more special. Other perks and rewards for MAs may come in the future. (Another reason to make sure we have your correct and current mailing address and other contact info.)

Remember, as an MA (Megaversal Ambassador), you become, in effect, a volunteer face of Palladium Books. We need that face to be pleasant, kind and helpful. An ambassador of goodwill who makes people want to learn more and play our games. Not an elitist, snob or insufferable jerk. Find that balance and make sure YOU have fun doing this.