By now – one week after the event – you’ve probably read any number of accounts about the 2007 Palladium Open House (POH) and seen scores of photographs.
I’m glad to say that all the POH reports I’ve seen have been glowing and positive. I can’t tell you how happy and pleased that makes us. I mean, heck, the fun of the first Open House could have been a fluke. But we captured lightning in a bottle two years running and hope to do so again in the future.
I think the success of the Palladium Open House has to do with four main factors.
1. The positive, homey atmosphere created by me and the Palladium crew, where everyone feels welcomed. (At least I’d like to think so.)
2. Palladium’s wonderful freelance artists and writers.
3. The fact that the event is a true celebration of role-playing fun.
4. Palladium’s wonderful fans.
I think we have a kind of mutual appreciation society thing going on at the POH. Fans feel welcomed and appreciated, because they are genuinely welcomed and appreciated. In turn, we (the Palladium staff and freelancers) feel appreciated by the fans. We enjoy the interaction and exchange of ideas, and looseness of immersing ourselves (fans and professionals) in a weekend of fun and games. This creates a kind of excitement, energy and fun I have never experienced at any other convention.
One person told me the Palladium Open House felt like the old TV comedy, Cheers, where everybody knew your name, was glad to see you, and accepted you with open arms. Another called it a nerdfest where we reveled in each other’s gaming nerdiness and accepted (or didn’t even notice) each other’s differences. Another suggested POH was more like a family reunion where everyone got along, because Palladium is, in effect, inviting fans right into our “home” (i.e., the Palladium warehouse and office), and welcomes everybody with smiles and sincere friendliness. One fella on a similar line of thought, said he felt like being invited to a Mecca of Geekdom to meet fellow gaming-geeks from across the country to game, share ideas, and have fun for two straight days.
Whatever it is . . . it is pretty awesome. And the joyful madness is growing. We had a trio of gents drive in from New York all day Friday to play games and meet Palladium creators all day Saturday, and then drive back home on Sunday. Actually, I had the impression they might be driving home all Saturday night. I hope not, because I was chatting with them till at least midnight, and that’s a long trip, especially after a long day of fun. Then again, their adrenaline was pumping pretty good. After such a long sojourn, I’m glad I got to talk with them for at least 45 minutes or an hour.
Another trio (or was it a quartet) of Palladium super-fans made a similar trek from Florida. One gent flew in from Alaska (awesome), another came in from Edmonton, Canada (and gave me a cap of a favorite hockey team, at least when they’re not playing the Red Wings), and our pal, Greg Askew, came back all the way from the Land Down Under. We seemed to have an unusual number of gamers in from Missouri, Virginia, Texas and California this year, although we had folks in from coast to coast and everywhere in between. More Canadians this year, too.
If I have any regret, it’s that I don’t have time to spend at least 10 minutes to chat with EVERYONE who makes the trip on an individual basis – though I do try to greet and talk with as many people as possible.
I worry that folks who come from a long distance away might feel like it wasn’t worth the trip, but based on the comments I heard at the Open House, demands (not requests) for a 2008 Open House and the glowing comments on the message boards, everybody seemed to have a rip roaring, good time. Nice.
1. The fantastic Palladium staff – Julius, Wayne, Alex, Tony, Kathy, Hank, Bill, Jeff, and Margaret.
2. Generous fans who have become friends and helpers, earning them the title of Honorary Staff – Joe Bergmans, Chris Guertin, Josh Hilden, Doug Lamberson, Becky Rudell, Jason Marker, James Brown, Dennis Hughes, Eric Campion, Kenny Gunther, Shawn & Lisa Hall, among others (you know who you are).
3. Palladium’s awesome freelance artists and writers too numerous to list, but who include the likes of Carl Gleba, Brandon Aten, Jason Richards, Levi Johnstone, Mark Dudley, Brian and Allen Manning, John Zeleznik, Scott Johnson and ALL the others.
4. Then there are those people who seem to fall into a category all their own: friends/freelancers/gaming maniacs and all around great guys like Erick Wujcik, Carmen Bellaire, Thomas Bartold, Kent Burles, Ramon Perez and a few others. I don’t know how we did it, but not only has Palladium managed to gather some of the best talent around, but some of the nicest, kindest, friendliest people on the planet to work for us.
Last, but not least, there are YOU, our fans. The greatest fans in the world. You guys and gals come from every corner of the gaming Megaverse® to join the fun and share your experiences. All are happy to exchange their ideas and experiences, run games, and lend a helping hand. Most are polite, patient, and understanding too. All are good sports, generous with their time and revel in the fun and camaraderie of the role-playing game experience.
If I’ve made this sound like a weekend of bliss, happiness, fun and laughs, it’s because it was. Oh, sure there were some little snags and hiccups, but for the most part (as in 95% or better), it ran smooth and was a weekend of fun and excitement; a celebration of the human imagination, storytelling and friendship.
From time to time, people ask me why I love the role-playing game business so much. Well, the Palladium Open House embodies those reasons. And you know what? It comes down to the people, the gamers, as much as creative expression, making a living at what we enjoy, or anything else. It’s the human interaction, shared experience and mutual expression of joy that separates pen and paper role-playing games from any other type of game. And that’s why role-playing will never die. It’s just too darn fun and unique.
I mean, what other industry can you think of where a trio of fans show up the day before the event, knock on the back door and ask, “Hey, we’re in a couple days early and thought we’d offer our help setting up.” For free. No strings attached. These guys, Daryle, Peter and David arrived Thursday morning. They couldn’t get VIP Friday tickets (I let ‘em in free after all their help), and just came by to lend a hand. They worked like mules all day long, especially Daryle, and thanked me for letting them help! Likewise, when the event was winding down Sunday, I asked if people wouldn’t mind helping us tear down tables and chairs. A half hour later, a small army of gamers and freelancers (50-60 people) had helped us tear down 85% of the setup, making a big job easy. Like I’ve always said, Palladium fans are the best fans on earth.
There’s not much point of me going into a day by day breakdown, as fans in attendance have already done so with surprising detail and accuracy, complete with photographs! Nice. Consequently, I’ll just touch on a few things you might not know.
The tables and chairs arrived early when only Julius was at the office, but all went well and I arrived before they were all unloaded.
Daryle, Peter and David – fans I had spoken to briefly a couple of times at Gen Con over the years, popped in to help a half hour after the tables and chairs arrived. They were fun, funny, and a big help. Thanks to their assistance, we had three-quarters of the place set up before the freelancers began to arrive later that afternoon.
Machinations of Doom arrived around 11:00 AM, so it was literally “hot off the presses” for the Open House. Daryle, Peter and David helped us sort and prep books to put aside for shipping the Tuesday after the Open House. Like I said, these gents were awesome and are now counted as three new gaming buddies.
My long-time pal, Joe Bergmans arrived from California on Wednesday, and worked hard his entire visit. He ran errands, helped set up, ran the cash register, collected and dumped garbage, and assisted in all kinds of ways throughout the weekend. Joe was also the man inside the Coalition “Dead Boy” armor.
Jason Marker volunteered to pick up people from the airport, which freed up our time to focus on other things, as well as run games and help in other ways.
I needed to move my comic collection from where it was being stored, so Daryle, Peter, Wayne Smith, Tony Falzon, Nick Bradshaw, Jason Richards, Jeff Hansen, and seven other freelancers, hopped into a couple of mini-vans to get the job done. When we got back with our load, we enlisted more freelancers to help unload the truck and carry the 40 boxes of books and comics to the secured storage area. This was a lifesaver for me. Thanks fellas.
Freelancer Thursday was fun and pleasant. Artists and writers who had never met face to face before, got to meet and chat for the first time, and old friends got to reconnect. I had hoped to have more personal time with a lot more people like, Irvin Jackson, Mark Oberle, Adam Withers, Comfort Love, Nick Bradshaw, and a host of others, but it was still fun and worth doing.
I was smart and left for home around 11:30 PM. I didn’t want to wear myself down for the weekend and I was already feeling a bit sluggish from a cold or some kind of bug that was slowing me down a bit. Heck, my throat was sore and my voice was already gravelly and cracking from the bug, and I feared I’d lose it completely by Saturday. I popped a handful of vitamins and hit the sack by midnight.
The morning and afternoon involved more setting up and conversations with the freelancers. Ramon Perez and Kent Burles who were driving in together, were delayed due to car trouble and didn’t arrive till Friday afternoon. I wanted to visit more with Ramon and barely spent any time with him at all. I did manage to spend some quality time with Kent.
Kathy Simmons – Food Goddess – had spent part of Wednesday and most of Thursday prepping for VIP Friday. She had volunteered to cater the event and was whipping up all sorts of culinary delights. Making food for 100 people (66 fans and 30+ freelancers) is a lot of work, but Kathy is a dynamo as well as a great cook.
The Friday menu included Kathy’s unique, delicious and famous (in some circles) potato salad, pasta salad, garden salad, sauerkraut and kielbasa (a surprise favorite), meatballs (another favorite), mostaccioli, and two different types of sandwiches on croissants (which seemed to evaporate they were gobbled down so fast). Everyone cooed and paid Kathy their compliments as they dived into the delicious feast in front of them on VIP Friday. Very little leftovers were to be had, and most of what was left was eaten by freelancers and staff over then next few days. Kathy was pleased everyone enjoyed her hard work so much, cleaned up, and collapsed in a heap at home a few hours later.
We started VIP Friday early this year, at 4:00 PM, which worked out very nicely. People had a chance to look over product, make purchases, meet artists and writers and settle in before food was served around 5:30 PM. After everyone chowed down, I gave a talk at 7:00 PM. I introduced the various freelancers and staff, talked a bit about Palladium’s future, answered a few questions, and ended my spiel around 8:00 PM.
Something else new for VIP Friday, we added 6-8 gaming events run by creators like Erick Wujcik, Jason Richards, Carl Gleba, Julius Rosenstein and others. This was a welcomed addition for those who wanted to game, game and game. Meanwhile, the rest of the people in attendance chatted with me and other Palladium personalities. It was a great time for all.
I left for home shortly after midnight, though gaming and festivities continued at the warehouse and offices till around 1:30 AM thanks to Julius, Alex, Tony, Thom and Joe. Chris Guertin was a huge help as he provided the sound system we used all weekend, helped a bunch prior to the event, and he and Joe practically ran the cash registers all day and into the night, giving Kathy much needed time to focus on catering and cleanup. As I understand it, gaming continued on into the wee hours of the night at the hotel. Palladium had TWO gaming suites for those who wanted to game.
The only maniac I know who loves to game more than Erick Wujcik (as in game till you drop) is Carmen Bellaire, author of Splicers, the three Powers Unlimited sourcebooks and contributor to other Palladium titles.
A couple of months earlier, there had been major changes at the trucking company where Carmen works. This resulted in a different schedule and poor Carmen didn’t know if he could make the Open House at all! At the last minute, things worked out so that he could attend the entire event. This enabled Carmen to run several games at the Palladium warehouse and more at the hotel, much to the joy of many fans.
For me and the Palladium crew, adding Freelancer Thursday and lengthening the hours of VIP Friday created the sensation that the Open House was almost over. In reality, it was really only about to start. That was evident when the doors opened to cheering fans and people rushed in. Doors opened at 9:30 AM.
I had an unexpected errand or two to run that morning (such are the responsibilities of the convention host/organizer), so when I arrived at 10:00 AM, the place was alive with voices, laughter and around 200 fans. I shook a couple hundred hands, signed autographs, and chatted with people all day long. Erick and I hosted a couple of panel discussions, one on Game Design and one on Game Mastering. Both were a blast. Then I ran a couple of Palladium Fantasy games, also very fun. Both groups played very well, killed the main villain, and beat the clock with minutes to spare. Both also gamed with flair and cleverness, and one group destroyed Lord DeSilca in a truly unique (if disgusting) manner, causing the players to cheer with delight and satisfaction. I didn’t feel like I was at the top of my game as G.M., but everyone insisted they had a great time. Funny, but Erick Wujcik told me the same thing the next day. I think we both want everyone to have great time, so we critique ourselves pretty hard on the fun meter.
Many of the people who said they’d be coming in costume either chickened out or found they didn’t have the time to finish their costumes. Consequently, we had a small but outstanding collection of competitors. All were truly creative and impressive. I was glad I had a gaggle of creative writers and artists to help me judge, because it was tough. I precluded myself from judging friends in the competition, like Joe Bergmans, Dennis Hughes and Chris Guertin, but must confess, I was thrilled when Joe won Best of Show for his Dead Boy costume and Chris got second place in the Rifts®/Science Fiction category. We all thought Dennis “Subjugator” Hughes was going to take third place as a Crazy . . . just as we were about to cast our vote we were told there was a late entry. Mike Leonard, also as a Crazy. He made a grand, leaping entrance, looked great with additional costuming, and stole the vote when he pulled out the bottom of his Vibro-Axe to reveal a bubble wand and started to create bubbles. It was hilarious, the crowd roared, and Mike “Madman” Leonard won the vote. Regrettably, there are few photos of him as his costume, in the words of Mike, “disintegrated” moments later. We then allowed for people to take a slew of photos.
Unfortunately, we were not as prepared for the costume event and I had my second game coming up, so I did NOT get the names of everyone who won. I’m sorry. I also forgot to offer and provide prizes for first place winners and will contact them by mail. I can report the following:
Fantasy
First Place – Evan Cooney as the Wolfen Warrior.
Second Place – Carmen Bellaire
Third Place – ? (sorry)
BTS/Horror or Contemporary
First Place – Nichole Ritchey. There were no others in this category, but this lady deserved to win and really captured BTS circa 1940s.
Rifts® or Science Fiction
First Place – Kendra Langston as an Altara Warrior Woman.
Second Place – Chris Guertin as a Pecos Raider.
Third Place – Mike Leonard as a Crazy.
Best of Show – Joe Bergmans in “Dead Boy” Coalition body armor.
To my shock and amazement, Joe donated the “Dead Boy” armor and weapons (also hand built) to me. When I told him I couldn’t take it, he threatened to give it away to someone else, so I took it. Kathy intends to make an armature for it and put it together so we can use it as a stand up display piece at conventions and future Open Houses. Thanks Joe, you crazy, mixed up kid.
My second Saturday game had ended at 10:00 PM and I had planned to go home early Saturday night, and I could have, but somehow I didn’t. I sat around talking to a cavalcade of changing people who came by after my game. I signed books, told gaming stories, answered questions and had a great time. I love to meet people and talk. I’ll happily chat about most anything, especially gaming, game design, writing, drawing, storytelling, comic books, animation, movies, and history. Yep, I’m a blabbermouth and my adrenaline was going strong despite feeling a bit under the weather. After a couple hours of chatting, I found myself giving Johnny Z and Kent Burles a tour of the office. That segued into showing off what’s left of my art collection. Always a bad thing as I can talk about art and artists for hours on end.
I dragged myself outta Palladium at 1:15 AM. Didn’t get to bed before 2:00 AM and had to get up at 7:00 AM to shower and get back for Sunday fun.
The silent auctions on Saturday and Sunday were fun, but I screwed up, having it end 15 minutes before the Costume Competition, so Kathy and Becky didn’t get a chance to see any of it because they were swamped at the cash registers. Very sorry, ladies. Erick Wujcik says I should host a “live” Saturday auction next year. He thinks it would be fun and entertaining. I’ll give it some thought. Oh, and Jacob Groben, you won the Battle of the Bulge game, contact us to get it paid and mailed to you. Auction items either came from my personal archives or were donated by fans, including items from the collections of Chris Guertin and Dennis Hughes.
Sunday was a bit quieter, though I was busy throughout the day, talking to people, signing books and saying goodbye. I had thought about squeezing in a third game, but that proved to be wishful thinking as time passed quickly. Before I knew it, the day was over.
By 7:00 PM, 90% of the people were gone. Most of the tables and chairs were down and stacked, and the place was looking like a warehouse again. I heard over and over again, what a great time people had, and how nice my staff and freelancers were. People raved about Julius Rosenstein, who was a human dynamo before, during and after the Open House, and I got a number of compliments about Alex, Tony, Chris, Kathy, Becky, Thom, Carmen, James Brown, and the indomitable Jason Richards. Thank you, we had a wonderful time too.
Kathy, Joe and I went home, grabbed dinner at Bennigans and we hung around for a couple hours talking. I was bushed, but content. We estimate about 280 people came to the Open House, 16 people were no-shows. Everyone seemed to have a blast. We had fun, Palladium made money, I made new friends, had fun with old pals, and now we could collapse for a little while. The bug I had been fighting off all weekend dug in Monday and the rest of the week after the POH, but I’m going strong this week.
In all the excitement we didn’t take as many photographs of the Open House as we had planned. We don’t have pictures of the store area, VIP Friday or other places, events, people or displays. I wanted to get pics of the artists and writers but forgot that too. Arrgh.
So, I’m hoping those of you who did take a bunch of nice pictures, especially with digital cameras, if you wouldn’t mind burning the images onto a disc and mailing them in to Palladium for our records and enjoyment. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Send ‘em to:
Palladium Books
12455 Universal Drive
Taylor, MI 48180
Attn: Kevin Siembieda
Everyone wants us to do the Open House again next year.
A number of people who couldn’t make it this year, pledged they’ll be there next year. Including Londonbaz (England) and Robyn Stott (Australia).
Like last year, at least a hundred people in attendance came to me personally to say they hope we do this again next year, because they’ll happily come back. This past week, the boards have been abuzz with similar sentiments, requests and demands.
Some folks have even threatened to hold the event themselves, if we don’t!
Well, we’d love to host one next year. We just don’t know if we can.
Problem Number One: We need to move. Palladium used to own our building, but it had to be sold in the divorce. We leased it back, but since the Crisis of Treachery and a slowdown in the RPG industry, and no apparent movement in Hollywood with the Rifts® Movie, it is really more building than we need. And it costs a lot. Those of you who have been there know how large it is. We think we can cut rent down by 33% to 50% by moving into a place half its size. We should also save money in heating and maintenance of a smaller facility.
Problem Number Two: Our lease ends the SAME weekend we’d normally host the Open House. That means we could be moving, not gaming, that weekend!!!! Packing and moving our offices and warehouse will be a lot of work. Unpacking and setting up at the new location will be a lot of work too. Don’t know if we can do all that (easily three weeks work) and host an Open House (easily three weeks more work) and get out product too.
Yes, we might be able to host the event earlier (April) or later (end of May or June) or something, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Problem Number Three: What’s the new place like? Will it be too small? Will there be other problems? Won’t know until we find a new place.
Point is, while we want to host Open House Three in 2008, we don’t know what our situation will be yet. Heck, we might get the rent reduced and stay where we are, or get out of our lease early, or some deal might break to enable us to stay where we are . . . we don’t know. But we will figure it out in the months to come and let you know.
In the meanwhile, you should figure that there will be a 2008 Open House in April or May or June – somewhere. How is that for now? More details to follow.
Gen Con Indy and GallowsCon are the ONLY other conventions Palladium will be attending in 2007. The rest of our time will be spent doing Grab Bags, looking for a new building, and banging out more great RPG books.
We don’t know what to expect from Gen Con Indy. It’s big, fun and diverse, but also crowded, expensive and this year, they are adding videogame companies in a big way. Our fear is that role-playing games may become lost at Gen Con Indy. Palladium will be there in an island booth like last year. We don’t know our location yet, but think it will around WoTC. We will bring all our books and back stock, art and prints and we hope to see many of you there. Megaversal Ambassadors will also be running games and demos.
HOWEVER, if you live in or around Indiana area and you’re coming mainly to see Palladium, you might want to come to GallowsCon too – or instead.
GallowsCon is a ONE DAY (Saturday) gaming event. It is run by a gaming group and fans of Palladium Books. They’ve been trying to get us to come for years, and this year we are doing it.
Palladium Guests in attendance include:
Kevin Siembieda (me, Publisher, Game Designer, G.M., etc.).
Wayne Smith (Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Rifter®).
Plus, I suspect other Palladium freelancers and Megaversal Ambassadors will be showing up, including:
Dennis Hughes
Lonnie Langston
James Brown
Zachary Houghton
and others.
I’d like to see a lot of Palladium fans in the tri-state area come on over. I’ll run at least one game, maybe two, plus participate in panel talks and be available to chat, sign books and have fun ALL day and night long.
Why am I pushing this little con so hard? Because the hosts are good people who are treating Wayne and I like kings, and because they are like you and us, genuine fans of Palladium Books and role-playing games. Admission is comparatively low, and this is another chance to spend some quality time with me, Wayne and other Palladium madmen in small, quiet, intimate surroundings. I think it will be fun. Come on down.
Admission (Saturday, September 22, 2007): $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
Time: 10:00 AM till 11:00 PM. Wayne and I will be there from start to finish. We’ll have books and good stuff to sell in the dealers area and be available for fun and games.
Other Events:
- Make-A-Wish Charity Auction (yes, we’ll donate some cool items).
- Warmachine/Hordes Tournament
- Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader Tournament
- Role-Playing Game Events (yes, I’ll run at least one or two with other Palladium G.M.s running others).
- Dealers/Vendors Area.
- And a multitude of other game events.
Location:
FLC Banquet Hall, 7950 Marshall St., Merrillville, IN 46410; two miles west of I-65 on US-30.
For more information: e-mail gallowscon@the-hangmen.org or check out www.gallowscon.com (currently a work in progress).
That’s it on the Palladium Open House and upcoming conventions. See our latest Press Release to be posted tomorrow for info on new products and schedule of releases. Greeting cards and new product listings will also be appearing in our online catalog this week. Keep the faith and game on.
Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
President
© copyright 2007 Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.