We’ve been so super-busy this week that it feels like we time warped from Monday to Friday! I’m not kidding.
Lots and lots of business matters, meetings, telephone discussions, contracts for freelancers, plotting and scheduling of reprints, gift purchases, wrapping, shipping and lots and lots of Christmas Surprise Packages – and they take a lot of time. In fact, Mark Dudley should be arriving shortly to spend a couple hours signing books. I met with Chuck Walton earlier this week but we got so caught up in a hot discussion for a project next year that I forgot to have him sign books.
This weekend and next week are traditionally our busiest period processing Christmas Surprise Packages. It is the last week to get your order in and not have to pay for a faster method of shipping to get your Christmas Surprise Package in time for Christmas via UPS and Priority Mail. So don’t delay, get those orders in to us over the next 5-7 days!
As usual, the vast majority of Christmas Surprise Package recipients are delighted with what they get. Cool. That’s the whole idea, to spread Christmas cheer, gamer-style.
If you have never gotten one before, don’t be afraid. Take the plunge. I always try to make every Surprise Package special and fun. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. It’s a great way to get gifts for gamers, try new games or fill holes in your collection. This year, a lot of folks seem to be filling in holes in their Rifter® collections. That’s smart as many issues are already out of print and many others are down to their last few hundred copies, and will be going out of print soon. Of course, most issues are available on DriveThruRPG.com, but somehow a pdf isn’t the same as the book for a lot of people.
Sorry to be so focused on the Christmas Surprise Package offer, but with CHRISTMAS ONLY 14 DAYS AWAY, it has to be the lead story. If you’ve been planning on getting a Surprise Package, you best do it soon. Christmas Surprise Package offer ENDS December 23, 2010!
BACK IN STOCK: The Gamer coffee mug (Cat. No. 2537) and the Property of the CS coffee mug (Cat. No. 2543) are two of our most popular items. One sold out and the other came close to it before I figured I better get them back in stock time for Christmas. Both are available now.
Items coming back in stock. We are lining up several popular titles to get back in print starting in January 2011. The first handful will include (not necessarily in this order):
Rifts® Game Master Guide
Rifts® Dark Conversions™
Rifts® Canada
Rifts® China One
Chaos Earth™: Rise of Magic™
The Palladium Fantasy RPG®
There are only about a dozen copies of The Palladium Fantasy RPG® currently in stock. Hopefully it will be enough to get us through the rest of the Christmas season. Fear not, it will be back in print in January. I spoke to my printer today about sending it in for reprinting next week and she assured me we’d get it back the first or second week of January, 2011.
UPDATE: Facebook. Palladium’s Facebook page grows every day and is being enjoyed by a great many fans. Check it out, spread the word and join the fun. I’ll be popping on over the weekend.
UPDATE: Online Sales. Palladium saw another strong week of sales for the holidays. Keep them orders coming. Among the most popular items this season: Rifts with the Ultimate Edition core rule book, Heroes of the Megaverse®, Triax™ 2 and Rifts® Sourcebook One being among the hottest of the Rifts® titles, but everything is selling.
As for other Palladium game lines Dead Reign™, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™ and Nightbane® are hot, hot, hot.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #53. The articles have been selected, the artwork assigned, and contracts put in the mail. This issue has a lot of variety and very cool source material. Good selections, Wayne. Rifter® art contest winner, Zachary Schoenbaum, is doing a Heroes Unlimited™ cover to go with the HU2 article inside.
UPDATE: Armageddon Unlimited™. I’m sorry to say that despite 12 hour days, I have not written a word on this book all week as other things have taken precedence. I expect to get back to it by Monday. Still thinking about posting that sneak preview. I know people like that kind of thing.
UPDATE: Thundercloud Galaxy™. It’s the next book I jump into. I haven’t seen anything new from artist, Mike Mumah, this week.
UPDATE: Chaos Earth™. Yes, there are more books coming for Chaos Earth.
I want to thank everyone for your kind words about the talented Palladium crew, my Dad, me and our books. They are appreciated and make us blush.
We’re supposed to get some freezing rain followed by several inches of snow over the weekend, so be careful on the roads if you’re out and about finishing up your Christmas shopping.
Keep those imaginations burning bright.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher
You only have 12 days to place your order. About half that time if you want to get your Surprise Package before Christmas day!
This is the best bargain anywhere: Great games, books, and other Palladium products at low prices, plus autographs and surprises!
PLEASE make sure you provide a “wish list” of 8-12 currently available items (RPGs, sourcebooks, T-shirts, coffee mugs, prints, original artwork, and other stuff) or you may be disappointed.
PLEASE list only items you want. Do NOT list items you already have because it may cause confusion and you could be sent items you own instead of items you want.
A Palladium tradition! We’ve been doing the Christmas Surprise Package for 12 or 13 years now. It’s our way of saying thank you to our fans and making gamers around the world smile. Offer ends December 23, 2010. Spread the word. Let your gaming buddies know, and take advantage of this great deal. Word of mouth is the main source of advertising for this great holiday gift offer.
Click here for more information and to place an order.
Palladium always works hard to get out orders fast and in time for Christmas and will ship right up through December 22, 2010. However, despite rumors to the contrary, we are only human (well mostly), and we are reliant on the various delivery systems at our disposal. This means you NEED allow about one week – five business days (or more) – to get your gift orders, be they individual books or Surprise Packages, in time for Christmas!
Here are the key dates for the various modes of delivery:
UPS Ground – December 15, 2010, to Guarantee delivery before Christmas. We must have your order in our hands by December 15, 2010 to absolutely insure you get your Surprise Package in time for Christmas. This applies to UPS orders being sent ANYWHERE in the United States.
Those of you living east of the Mississippi River should be able to place orders up to December 19 and get them by Christmas Eve (it typically takes 3 days for UPS Ground to arrive), but we can NOT guarantee it, and the rest of you will have to opt for a faster and more expensive mode of shipping if you order after December 15.
West of the Mississippi River takes 4-5 days, and the West Coast takes 5 days. That’s “business” days; do not include weekends. You need to order by December 15 via UPS Ground to get it by Christmas or use a faster delivery service.
UPS 3-Day – December 17, 2010. Guaranteed. This applies to UPS orders being sent ANYWHERE in the United States.
UPS 2-Day – December 20, 2010. Guaranteed. Get us the order and, barring any confusion or problems, we’ll ship it out the next day and you’ll see it arrive on Christmas Eve. To be completely safe, order by December 16 to have the order ship Monday, December 20.
Express Mail – December 20. Guaranteed. This is next day delivery, but it may take us a day to pull, process, pack and ship the order.
Priority Mail – December 20. It takes 2-3 days to locations in the United States, but with the holidays could take a day longer. No guarantee.
First Class or Parcel Post – December 13. It takes 3-7 days to arrive at most locations in the United States. No guarantee.
Media Mail. From today forward, you should assume orders shipped via Media Mail will NOT arrive by Christmas Eve. Media Mail is the slowest and most unreliable method of shipping. We do NOT recommend its use. The US Postal Service says Media Mail takes 5-14 days to deliver, but our experience at holiday time has seen packages sent via Media Mail take 7-40 days. Order via Media Mail at YOUR OWN RISK. Media Mail orders that go missing will not be replaced by Palladium Books.
Overseas & Canada: International Priority Mail – December 8. It takes 7-14 days, so any orders that were placed by December 8 should arrive by Christmas, but we cannot guarantee it. Orders sent after December 8 may or may not arrive in time for Christmas.
J.L.H. in Brandon, Florida, writes: I used to have some concerns about how the Palladium mechanics worked – what with all the different books and constant tweaks presented in all the different books. But after picking up the Rifts® Ultimate Edition recently, I’m really impressed with what’s there now. . . and the recent books taking a new look at places like the NGR have me waiting for updates on some of the other areas of Rifts Earth.
S.H. in Monroe, Washington, writes: Palladium Books has always provided us with the best experiences in role playing, and our absolute favorite, best and famous/infamous characters and story lines have all been in Rifts® and Heroes Unlimited™. Thank you all for the incredible effort you put into every one of your books, and for ALWAYS putting the fans first!
J.B. in Endicott, New York, writes: . . . I would like to give you your props. You are a solid company and are great people, that’s why you are still in business. I do look up to you all, very inspirational. I send over my condolences as well. Having someone you love taken from you is terribly difficult. I applaud the courage and admire it. Thank you for everything you have given others . . .
E.L. in Lubbock, Texas, writes: I have come to love this company. The quality of artistic and creative work that is produced over these 20+ years never ceases to amaze me. To Kevin: I am so sorry for the loss of your father. I am sure that he was constantly moved by the testament of your leadership for the company, and keeping it together during the good and bad times . . . all the while keeping these stories alive and evolving. . . Merry Christmas to all.
K.W in Penn Valley, California, writes: I love Palladium games and all the fun they’ve brought my friend and I. Thanks for sticking through all the hard times and being there for the gamers out there. You guys give me a reason to be hopeful and reason to complain.
J.H. in Yuba City, California, writes: Merry Christmas and happy New Year. Thanks for offering this Surprise Package again this year! I have ordered my husband this package for many years now and he always looks forward to it under the tree. It is very hard to keep him from opening it the day it arrives on the doorstep! ... thank you for your games, imaginations and creativity.
C.P. in Cadillac, Michigan, writes: Love everything that’s happening so far. Hoping to see some more Chaos Earth™ stuff soon.
S.W. in Salem, W.A., writes: Once again, thank you for these gift packages. I usually get two, but things have been tight, so I can only get one this year. Best to you all.
The Rifter® is your doorway to unlimited imagination and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It offers new heroes, powers, weapons, magic and adventure for your games. It presents new villains, monsters and dangers to battle, and new ideas to consider.
The Rifter® #53 includes:
Only you can save the world!
Armageddon Unlimited™ is the ultimate good vs evil setting and adventure. The fate of the world hangs in the balance and only you can stop its destruction.
The bad guys? Super-villain maniacs being manipulated by supernatural evil straight from Hell.
If evil triumphs, the world is destroyed and your heroes and billions of innocent people die.
The world-saving scenario in this book can be repeated in any setting and game environment from Nightbane® or Ninjas & Superspies™ to Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Rifts® and Phase World®. Only the details of the location, the heroes and their powers change. The villains remain the Deevils (or alternately, the demons) as they continue their bloodthirsty war to destroy each other. The worlds of mortals are their battlefields and mortals little more than pawns, henchmen and collateral damage.
Stop the madness before it is too late! If you can.
But that’s not all. Armageddon Unlimited™ is an epic sourcebook with tons of new powers, magic, weapons and Power Categories that can be incorporated into any Heroes Unlimited campaign.
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 few years ago. Best of all, it will be accompanied by the Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook™.
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.
This Robotech® sourcebook will be an early 2011 release.
At last, the underwater realm of Lemuria. The people and history of Lemuria, new magic, sea herbs and healing, sea monsters, and more.
The Minion War spills across Rifts Earth, where demons and infernals hope to recruit allies and use the Rifts as gateways of destruction. Their influence shakes things up across the planet, especially at locations where demons and Deevils already have a strong presence. More details to follow, but for now, ‘nuff said.
Data about the chaos and madness of the early days of the Great Cataclysm, and the brave men and women who tried to stem the tide of destruction and save lives, the First Responders.
White printing on a big, glossy black, 15.5 ounce coffee mug. Looks cool and is a fan favorite.
White printing on a big, glossy black, 15.5 ounce coffee mug. Looks great.
If you have a hankering to fight zombies, but also enjoy stories of human survival and triumph in a post-apocalyptic world, then you want to play Dead Reign™.
Dead Reign™ captures the fun and horror of the zombie apocalypse exactly the way you love it. The dead have risen, civilization has crumbled, and brave human survivors refuse to lie down and die! They battle the walking dead on all fronts, watch each other’s backs, struggle to forge safe havens away from the zombie infested cities, rescue other survivors, and fight without respite.
This sourcebook explores what happens when civilization is literally gone overnight, and the sole survivors are you and a few billion zombies!
When there is no place to hide and the dead are everywhere, where do you go? Who can you turn to? What happens next? What lurks in dark places?
The Book of Heroes is an ancient magic tome that empowers those with the potential for greatness. (Your player character?) In times of fear and darkness the Book is said to appear to make sure the forces of evil don’t get the upper hand. The Minion War™ is such a dark time as the forces of Hell ripple across the Megaverse bringing death and destruction. Are the legends true? Is there a magic book that inspires and empowers new heroes to rise up and make a difference when they are needed most?
The New German Republic splinters the Gargoyle Empire and battles to crush them once and for all.
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.
It’s Winter and time for a warm hoodie on a cold day. A white imprint of the Rifts® Logo on a black zipper hoodie. The famous, full Rifts® Logo appears front and back; a small logo over the left breast on the front and a large logo printed on the back.
Type: 50/50 cotton polyester blend; full zipper.
Sizes: Medium to 3XL.
Color: White logo on a black zipper hoodie.
Cost: $32.95 for Medium, Large and XL, $34.95 for 2XL, and $36.95 for 3XL; plus shipping (approximately $6 to most places in the USA).
Cat. No. 2546. Available now.
A white imprint of a large Rifts® Logo on the front of a black pullover hoodie.
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. Available now.
We will be adding issues 41-44 of The Rifter® to the list of available titles from DriveThruRPG.com in January, 2011. Other books will be added in the months to follow.
This is a great resource for getting out of print Palladium titles and other select books. We’ve made 90 titles available as PDF digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.com. This is a great way to try Palladium products and get access to out of print RPG source material. Some notable titles include:
- Splicers® RPG
- Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG, First Edition Rules.
- Boxed Nightmares™ for BTS, First Edition Rules.
- Nightbane® Book Four: Shadows of Light™.
- The Mechanoids® RPG and The Mechanoid Invasion® RPG Trilogy.
- Palladium Fantasy RPG®, First Edition Rules and select 1st edition sourcebooks.
- After the Bomb® RPG and sourcebooks.
- The Rifter® issues 1-40.
- The Best of The Rifter®
- Deluxe Revised RECON® RPG and Advanced RECON® Sourcebook.
- And more – go to DriveThruRPG.com and check ‘em out.
Halloween may be over, but you can still purchase life sized (most are 6 feet or taller) Halloween props from the Queen of Ghouls – Palladium’s very own Kathy Simmons.
Christmas props are also available. Santa and Mrs. Claus and others to make you smile for the holidays and make your lawn decorations truly unique.
These are all-weather, life-sized Halloween props that can handle rain and snow. Each is a one-of-a-kind work of art. Each looks frighteningly “real.” Can survive all types of weather. All come apart and fold down to slightly larger than a king-size pillow for easy storage. Come with easy instructions, a storage bag, and the lawn stake to stand them up in your front yard. Indoor stand sold separately.
Types of “Ghouls” include: Zombies (all kinds!), killer clowns, wizards, witches, devils, grave ghouls, scarecrows, executioners, mad doctors, deadly nurses, vampires, werewolves, and more. Kathy’s also now offering an array of hand-painted Halloween signs, signs with heads and bodies hanging from them, witch’s brewing pots, Halloween centerpieces and more. Best of all, her high quality creations are much more affordable and imaginative than most competitors or mass produced items in a store, making them 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 at her Queen of Ghouls™ Ebay store – queenofghouls.com.
© 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®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Beyond the Supernatural™, Chaos Earth, Coalition States, Dead Reign, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, SAMAS, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, Warpath, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.