We all remain extremely busy as we work longer hours than usual (and that’s saying a lot) to get our next three books out in April. Lately, I’ve been getting in at 8:00 AM or earlier and working till 11:00 AM. Wayne usually gets in around 10:00 and works till 9:00 (sometimes later), and Alex and Julius are usually here till 10:00 or 11:00 PM. The three books are The Rifter® #50 (at the printer!), Heroes of the Megaverse® (nearing completion) and Rifts® Triax™ 2 (in final production). You are going to enjoy each and every one of them, too.
Meanwhile, Dimensional Outbreak™ continues to sell like hot cakes on a cool day. It’s fantastic to see a new release jumping off the shelves like this. I guess folks were even more hungry for Rifts than I imagined.
I’ve been art directing, doing dozens and dozens of contracts with artists and writers, juggling money, coordinating other books and projects, and just caught up in a whirlwind of excitement. Some days that’s exciting, other days it’s just exhausting. We’re just driven to make 2010 Palladium’s big comeback year, once and for all!
Wayne and I also finalized the design for the Rifts® Hoodies, our first ever. Before anyone starts grumbling that it’s the same old Rifts® logo that’s been done before, this was the number one requested design by Palladium fans for the hoodies. I don’t know if it’s because Rifts® turns 20 this year, or if it’s simply the iconic Rifts® logo that everyone knows and loves. I must admit Kevin Long outdid himself when he designed it, and I love it too. Besides, it was created 20 years ago and this is the 20th birthday of Rifts®, so I can’t think of anything better.
Speaking of hoodies, advance orders for this item will help us very much in determining how many we should have made. Hoodies are much more expensive to make than T-shirts, so it would be helpful if those of you planning to get one placed your order over the next week. That should give us a good idea of how many to have made and in what sizes. Thank you.
UPDATE: Sales. Online sales were up, strong and steady again for the first part of the week. In fact, sales had been so strong the past three weeks, with each week getting better than the last, that I foolishly thought we were through the economic downturn and on the way back up. I even wrote a draft of this sales report for the Press Release before seeing Thursday morning’s numbers. In that draft, I talked about how I wanted to believe the worst was over and that Palladium was on the rebound. I cautioned not to get too optimistic, because it had only really been the last three weeks that sales had been so good, and it was too soon to tell. I even wrote, we could see a slump at any point. Those words proved to be prophetic. Thursday morning online sales numbers were 75% lower than what we had seen in the days prior for the first part of the week and about 20% lower than this time last year. It was jarring and disappointing. I knew better, but I so wanted everything to be on an up turn.
Actually, Palladium (and hopefully the economy as a whole) has been seeing better, stronger sales for this time of the year. We haven’t seen sales like these last few weeks in a long time. It was very exciting. One or two bad days are not the end of the world. It’s just when you see a big drop like that, it’s jarring. The unpleasant roller coaster ride of the last two years makes your knee-jerk reaction to a hopefully temporary sales slump, “Oh no, the roller coaster days are back. Will next week be awful?”
I’m afraid Friday morning sales were only a bit better than Thursday’s, but the week overall was pretty darn good, thanks to the big start, and especially for this time of year. We’re hoping sales pick up and remain strong over the weekend and into the weeks to come. Dynamic and hotly anticipated new releases should certainly help on that front.
One and a half weeks until The Rifter® Subscription Offer ENDS. If you plan on taking advantage of the special subscription offer, you’d better do it by March 31. We only offer this special once a year and this is it!
We’ve seen an increase in Open House admissions too, as it gets ever closer (only 6 weeks away).
UPDATE: Rifts® Dimensional Outbreak™. As word spreads about how good it is and how much is in this book, orders keep coming in at a steady pace. Awesome. Keep ‘em coming. Outbreak is just the first of many dynamic sourcebooks coming out this year.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #50 is finished, laid out and at the printer. It is packed with fun, cool “official” and “unofficial” source material for numerous game settings, plus a Rifts comic strip and great artwork. My thanks to Brandon Aten, who got this special issue rolling and helped coordinate its contributors, and to the writers and artists who helped make this a special issue. There’s more information about this issue in the description.
UPDATE: Rifts® Heroes of the Megaverse®. The book is coming along well and we expect to lay out and send it to the printer next week. Sorry it took a little longer than expected to finish, but I wanted to make it something special and fun. After all, everyone named in the book has waited a long time to see it, and I wanted to make Heroes of the Megaverse® special for them and for those buying the book as an adventure sourcebook. Of course, along the way, my idea for the book got bigger and more complex, which meant it needed more time and tender, loving care to make it the epic book I envisioned. I hope I have succeeded.
UPDATE: Triax™ Two is next in the pipeline. This is another epic book packed with so much source material, artwork and ideas that it is going to knock your socks off. The artwork by Mike Wilson is impressive, to say the least, and we suspect other contributors will be just as impressive. We want Triax™ Two to be the big release at the Open House so we are working hard to make that happen. For those of you not attending the POH, we hope to ship Triax™ Two out the week before the event, so you’ll get it soon too.
UPDATE: Robotech®. There are still some worried and disappointed Robotech® fans who seem to think Palladium has no or few plans for Robotech®. That’s silly. To quote Wayne Smith, “I wish these guys could see the email correspondences between you and Irvin Jackson. That would impress them. Reading them got me excited about your plans for Robotech.” I wish I could reveal them too. We can’t, because we want to surprise you, and we don’t yet know if Harmony Gold will approve everything we have in mind. We don’t want to announce something and then not be able to do it. For those of you who don’t think we’re moving fast enough to get new Robotech® books out, I would have to agree. Unfortunately, our tiny staff is doing all we can to get new, quality product in your hands, and can’t go any faster. It’s a juggling act: A little for this game line, a little for that one. Fear not. More Robotech® books are coming this year (at least two, hopefully three).
UPDATE: Dad. I didn’t visit my father this week. We spoke on the phone and he said he’d rather I skip our usual Wednesday breakfast and visit so I could keep working on Heroes of the Megaverse®. He sounded good on the phone. I’ll see him next week.
UPDATE: Queen of Ghouls. Kathy Simmons sold another wizard this week. I’d say her wizard is becoming Kathy’s signature piece. I’m impressed that she keeps getting better and better, creating more realistic and varied poses, little tweaks and innovations that give the “ghouls” more character, and so on. They look even more impressive in person than in the photos.
For my part, I regularly offer artistic input and I paint some of her masks and hands. I was battling writer’s block one Saturday a while back, and stopped to paint several masks for Kathy. I turned masks of ordinary people into rotting zombies and zombies with open wounds or gashes oozing blood. It was a blast and it worked to get me back into the writing groove again. Funny how one creative venture can help another.
Kathy has big plans for upcoming Halloween creations, including fun and threatening Halloween signs, witch’s brewing pots and a host of zombies, ghouls and monsters. Her new zombies (many with my paint jobs) should start appearing in her store in April or May. So far, they’ve been going to customers who have been placing “special request orders” and they are awesome.
UPDATE: Palladium Open House is next month! Holy cow! It’s six weeks away!! I’m glad to say we’ve starting seeing orders for admissions pick up in the last week.
POH Game Masters, we NEED you to get us your game descriptions, days and times you are available to run, as soon as possible (next week is ideal) as we want to post the POH event schedule by the end of March. And we’ll have a snazzy, new G.M. T-shirt for those of you running three or more events.
My thanks and appreciation to all of you who care so much about the Palladium crew and the fate of the company. Keep those imaginations burning bright and game on. I look forward to seeing some of you next month at the Palladium Open House.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Writer and Gamer
All release dates are tentative, but these are the dates Palladium is shooting for. All titles listed either have been turned in as final manuscripts or are in various stages of final development. We’ve trimmed the listing down to focus mainly on titles coming out in the next three months, so just because a book mentioned in a past Press Release is no longer listed, does NOT mean it’s off the schedule.
- The Rifter® #49 – Now available
- Rifts® Dimension Book™ 12: Dimensional Outbreak™ – Now available
- The Rifter® #50 (expanded, anniversary issue) – April
- Rifts®/Phase World® Sourcebook: Heroes of the Megaverse® – April
- Rifts® World Book 31: Triax™ Two – April
- Rifts® Hoodie (2 styles, zipper and pullover) – April
- Palladium Open House – April 29-May 2.
- Rifts® Dimension Book™: Thundercloud Galaxy™ – May
- Rifts® 20 Year Anniversary T-Shirt – May
- Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms – “Death is for the Weak” T-Shirt – May
- Palladium Books® – Game Master T-Shirt – May
- Armageddon Unlimited™ – June
- Rifts® World Book One: Vampire Kingdoms™, Expanded & Updated – June
- Rifts® World Book: Lemuria – Summer
- Robotech® UEEF Marines – Summer
- Rifts® Vampire Sourcebook™ – Summer
- Robotech® New Generation Sourcebook – Summer
- Rifts® Chaos Earth™ – First Responders – Summer
- Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames – August
- Plus more Robotech® sourcebooks, more Mysteries of Magic™ sourcebooks (hoping to slot one in before June), more Nightbane® sourcebooks, more Dead Reign™ sourcebooks, Warpath™ and other good stuff.
Please help. Due to public request for them, Palladium is making hoodies. Please place your orders in advance (like over the next week) so we have a solid idea of demand and how many and what sizes of hoodies to print. Hoodies cost much more to make than a T-shirt and advance orders would help us immensely. Likewise, the more shirts we order (if we know there is a demand for them) the lower Palladium’s cost. So if you are planning on buying a “zipper” hoodie when it comes out next month, PLEASE place your order as soon as possible. Thank you very much.
We want to place the hoodie orders with the printer by March 31 and ship both the zipper and the pullover hoodies by April 19.
Rifts® Logo “Zipper” Hoodie: A white imprint of the Rifts® Logo on a black zipper hoodie. The famous Rifts® Logo appears front and back; a small logo over the left breast and a large logo printed on the back.
Type: 50/50 cotton polyester blend; full zipper.
Sizes: Small to 3XL.
Color: White logo on a black zipper hoodie.
Cost: $32.95 for Small, Medium, Large and XL. $34.95 for 2XL. $36.95 for 3XL; plus shipping (approximately $6 to most places in the USA).
Cat. No. 2546. Taking orders now. Ships April 19.
Same deal as above, if you are planning on buying a “pullover” hoodie when it comes out next month, PLEASE place your order as soon as possible. Thank you.
A white imprint of a large Rifts® Logo on the front of a pullover hoodie. Nothing on the back.
Type: 50/50 cotton polyester blend; pullover.
Sizes: Medium to 3XL.
Color: White logo on a black pullover hoodie.
Cost: $28.95 for Medium, Large and XL. $30.95 for 2XL, and $32.95 for 3XL; plus shipping (approximately $6 to most places in the USA).
Cat. No. 2547. Taking orders now. Ships April 19.
This your last chance to get a copy of the “original” Rifts® World Book One: Vampire Kingdoms™ before it is discontinued and replaced by the revised and updated edition. When the remaining 50 copies are sold out they are gone!
Dimensional Outbreak™ is space opera at its best. A blend of sci-fi, horror, magic, technology and the alien that is sure to get your adrenaline flowing. Dimensional Outbreak™ describes Center and key locations within, and offers new weapons, new spacecraft, new demons and aliens, new magic, and a wealth of information about Phase World, the Prometheans, the Three Galaxies, the Minion War, deception and betrayal. There are enough adventure ideas, turmoil and information to run a campaign in the Three Galaxies for years!
Dimensional Outbreak™ is an exciting and surprise filled book in the Minion War™ series as war spills into Phase World®, the city of Center and the Three Galaxies™. The epic scale of the Minion War just got bigger and even the United Worlds of Warlock, the Splugorth and Naruni Enterprises are reeling from it. The story hooks are endless.
If you’ve been meaning to start or renew your subscription to The Rifter®, the time is now. Palladium’s best subscription offer ever ends March 31, and we only offer the special price once a year. Cash savings, free shipping (in the USA), delivery right to your door and a special gift. What are you waiting for?!
Each issue of The Rifter® presents unofficial and/or official adventures, characters, powers, weapons, equipment and fiction for Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Chaos Earth™, Splicers®, Nightbane®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Dead Reign™, and/or any variety of other Palladium games and world settings. It’s also a place to get the latest news, product release info, and see new games, like Warpath: Urban Jungle™, showcased. The Rifter® is more than a magazine or sourcebook, it is a forum for new talent.
In short, if you’re into one or more of Palladium’s role-playing games and like to explore new realms of possibility, then The Rifter® is for you. Check it out and order yours today. And tell a friend! Tell lots and lots of friends!!
The Rifter® Number 50 celebrates twelve and a half years of publication as well as the Rifts® RPG’s Twentieth Anniversary, by presenting an issue filled with official and unofficial source material and adventures from a list of Palladium guest writers that fans know and love.
The Book of Heroes is said to be one of the greatest magic artifacts in the Megaverse. Only one copy is known to exist, and everyone wants to get their hands on it – Demons, Deevils, the Splugorth, the Dominators, the Kreeghor, the United Worlds of Warlock and everyone in between. For it is said that he who wields the “Power of the 2000” can rule the universe.
Once protected by the Cosmo-Knights, the book has gone missing. No one knows its fate or the true power contained within its List of Heroes. No one except YOU – the new keepers of this legendary Rune book.
On schedule and looking fantastic! Triax™ Two is the long awaited and hotly anticipated sequel to the hugely popular Rifts® World Book 5: Triax™ & The NGR (more than 100,000 copies sold). Fans want this book badly, and it is going to be a hot selling item. A ton of new weapons, vehicles, power armor, giant robots and much more makes this a toy box Rifts fans will not be able to resist.
The Thundercloud Galaxy™ is the perfect companion to Rifts® Dimensional Outbreak™ to expand one’s gaming Megaverse in the Three Galaxies. History, aliens, weapons, spacecraft, and adventure in a galaxy far, far away.
Kevin Siembieda is reorganizing, tweaking, expanding and updating one of the most popular Rifts® World Books ever published: Vampire Kingdoms™. This will include some new artwork and an expanded page count. The book will be updated and expanded in much the same way as Kevin did with Rifts® Sourcebook One a couple years ago. Best of all, it’s just the prelude to a Rifts® Vampire Sourcebook that will follow a month or two later.
Trouble is stirring in the Vampire Kingdoms as ambitious vampire lords, ladies and misanthropes seek to expand their power to dominate more mortal life forms.
Written by Kevin Siembieda and a handpicked selection of other writers, this sourcebook explores the vampires of Mexico and their kingdoms in ways you never imagined. Tons of new data, adventure ideas and revelations.
Rifts® World Book: Lemuria™: The underwater realm of Lemuria. The people and history of Lemuria, new magic, sea herbs and healing, monsters, the New Navy, and much, much more. Written by Greg Diaczyk. 160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 885.
Armageddon Unlimited™ – for Heroes Unlimited™: Demons and Deevils are trying to turn Earth into one of their playgrounds, only it’s worse than you think. The plan is to bring about Armageddon. A stand-alone adventure setting for Heroes Unlimited™, new super abilities, hero categories, demonic weapons, adventure and more. Cover by Mark Evans. Written by Carl Gleba. 160 pages – $20.95 retail – Cat. No. 527.
Rifts® Megaverse® in Flames™: The Minion War™ spills across Rifts Earth, plus Soulmancer and Blood Magic, and Demon Plagues across the globe. Rifts Calgary and much, much more. Written by Carl Gleba. 192 pages – $24.95 retail – Cat. No. 876.
Robotech® New Generation™ Sourcebook: The Robotech® core sourcebook you’ve been waiting for . . . only it’s going to be more than you imagine. Written by Kevin Siembieda and Irvin Jackson. 224+ pages – manga size – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 554.
Rifts® Chaos Earth™ Sourcebook: First Responders™: Data about the chaos and madness of the early days of the Great Apocalypse, and the brave men and women who tried to stem the tide of destruction and save lives, the First Responders. Written by Jason Richards & Kevin Siembieda. 96 to 128 pages – $16.95 retail – Cat. No. 665.
- Robotech® New Generation™ Freedom Fighters Sourcebook (and others)
- More Rifts® Chaos Earth™ sourcebooks
- More Rifts® sourcebooks
- More Phase World®/Three Galaxies™ sourcebooks
- Nightbane® Sourcebook Six
- Mysteries of Magic™ Two & Three
- Dead Reign™ Sourcebook Three
- The Rifter® Number 51 & 52
- Warpath™ Urban Jungle™ and more . . .
Palladium has made several out of print titles and the first 40 issues of The Rifter® available as PDF digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.com. We are regularly asked if out of print titles such as Nightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™, the original Mechanoids® RPGs, Boxed Nightmares™, BTS First Edition, etc. are available, and they are, at DriveThruRPG.com. Check ‘em out.
All-weather, life-sized Halloween props by Palladium’s very own Kathy Simmons. “Ghouls” include killer clowns, wizards, witches, devils, grave ghouls, executioners, mad doctors, vampires, werebeasts, monsters and soon, new stylings for zombies that look even more life-like. Kathy’s also starting to offer accessories such as signs, witch’s brewing pots and more. Best of all, her high quality creations are much more affordable and imaginative than most competitors. Affordable Halloween fun.
If you think the photos online look good, you should see them in person. A typical “ghoul,” as she calls her creations, costs $89-$150. You can see some of her work (available off-season at lower prices) at her Queen of Ghouls™ Ebay store – queenofghouls.com.
The 2010 Open House is a celebration of gaming and friendship. We’ll have a Rifts 20th Birthday Party, celebrate The Rifter reaching issue Number Fifty (that’s 12 1/2 years of publication), and forget about our economic woes.
Kevin, Julius, Wayne, Alex, Kathy and a host of artists and writers will be available the entire weekend to game, chat, sign autographs and have fun. There will be many panel talks, a live auction (Saturday) with some amazing and rare books, art and items, a costume contest (Saturday) and non-stop gaming all weekend long.
Come for one day or the whole weekend, but do it. Do it because you, and all of us, need to forget our troubles and remember what life is all about: friends, laughter and gaming.
POH Thursday is VIP Night with our doors opening at 4:00 PM till midnight.
POH Friday is gaming and panel talks all day long, from 9:00 AM to midnight (with more gaming going on at the hotel).
POH Saturday is more gaming and panel talks, plus the live auction and the Costume Contest (it was awesome last year). 9:00 AM to midnight.
POH Sunday is more gaming, but it is a short day; 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM or so.
ALL EVENTS are covered under the cost of admission.
3 Day Weekend: $40 per person (Friday thru Sunday).
Friday Only: $16 per person.
Saturday Only: $16 per person.
Sunday Only: $12 per person.
VIP Night: Sold out.
Online: Click the links above.
By Telephone: Call (734) 721-2903 – have your credit card information ready.
Remember, the Palladium Open House is not an annual event. We host it when we can. There are no current plans to host one next year – even though it’s Palladium’s 30th Anniversary (just as there wasn’t one in 2008). It helps us plan if you pre-register as soon as possible to secure your place at the gaming celebration of the POH.
For more information and to pre-register, click here.
POH Game Masters and games needed. Please let us know if you are running, how many games you are running, etc. – the sooner the better, so we can put together and post online a schedule of events by the end of March. Thanks.
Palladium Creators who will be at the 2010 POH: The Palladium Staff: Kevin Siembieda, Wayne Smith, Kathy Simmons, Julius Rosenstein, Alex Marciniszyn. Plus Amy Ashbaugh, Brandon Aten, Carmen Bellaire, Nick Bradshaw, Kent Burles, Braden Campbell (tentative), Randi Cartier, Roger Cartier, Stephen Dawes, Matthew Daye, Greg Diaczyk, Mark Dudley, Carl Gleba, Jeffry Scott Hansen, Mike Leonard, Allen Manning, Brian Manning, Mike Mumah, Apollo Okamura, Mark Oberle, Charles Walton, and other artists, writers and creators.
See you there NEXT MONTH.
There will be two categories: Color cover art and black and white interior art.
The winner in the color art category will see his/her art used as the cover of the next issue of The Rifter® or a future Rifts® supplement. The winner of the black and white (gray tones okay) category will see his/her art appear inside the next issue of The Rifter® or a future Rifts® supplement.
Furthermore, the art from ALL contestants will be considered for possible use in future issues of The Rifter® and Rifts® sourcebooks. This contest will be open to professional artists, semi-professional artists and non-professional (previously unpublished) artists. So if you are a Rifts fan and an artist with a dream, you WILL want to submit your work. Start thinking up ideas. Multiple entries or entries in both categories “is” allowed.
- Two Categories: 1. Color Cover Art. 2. Full Page Black and White Illustration.
- Subject Matter: RIFTS®. We want artwork that screams Rifts® to celebrate the Rifts® RPG turning 20 years old.
- Deadline: All entries must be submitted to Palladium Books NO LATER than April 16, 2010; sooner is better. We extended the deadline.
- What to Send: Submit a digital file and quality proof of the “finished” art -or- the original artwork (please insure originals) to: Palladium Books, Contest A, 39074 Webb Court, Westland, MI 48185.
- Determining the Winners: The art of all contestants will be displayed at the 2010 Palladium Open House, where a winner and two runners up will be selected. Those in attendance will vote for their favorites. Fan votes will count for 50% in picking a winner, 30% will come from Palladium artists and staff, and 20% of the vote will come from me, Kevin Siembieda, Publisher.
- Art submissions are copyrighted and owned by Palladium Books: All submissions are “derivative” of Palladium’s copyrighted intellectual properties. Any art we publish will get the artist paid.
- Agreement: The artists entering will need to sign and return an agreement that will be sent to them. We need this agreement for each applicant to be considered, so make sure you send us your street address.
- What the Winners Get: The winning artwork will get published in either the next issue of The Rifter® -or- an upcoming Rifts supplement! And get paid for. There are going to be at least two categories: Rifts® Color Cover (leave space at the top for a title/logo) and Black and White Full Page Illustration, but we might add more once we see the artwork submitted. Furthermore, we may consider using OTHER contestants’ artwork in future issues of The Rifter® and/or Rifts® sourcebooks. For any art we publish from this contest, the artist will get paid, and get full credit inside the book, plus several free copies of the book his or her art appears in. (All winners of this contest will get paid the low end of Palladium’s payment scale.)
It’s not American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance, but this could be your shot at breaking into the RPG business at Palladium Books. Start drawing this weekend.
© Copyright 2010 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Beyond the Supernatural™, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, The Three Galaxies, Warpath, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.