The frenetic activity to get new books finished and to the printer continues, as well as our efforts on many other projects.
UPDATE: Armageddon Unlimited™. The book was finished and sent to the printer on Monday. We anticipate a February 11 ship date. I approved the proof copies this morning, so we might get the book before February 11.
I know I keep talking about how cool Armageddon Unlimited™ is, and I don’t want to over-hype it, but we’re excited. It’s the first book for Heroes Unlimited™ in quite a while and it is outstanding. Sure there was Heroes of the Megaverse®, but it was for Phase World®/Three Galaxies™ as much as Heroes Unlimited™. This book is 100% Heroes Unlimited™ – though it can easily be adapted to Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies™, Beyond the Supernatural™, Rifts®, Phase World® and even Palladium Fantasy®. I’m also impressed at how smoothly it does the double duty of being a standalone HU2 sourcebook and escalating the Minion War in ways people aren’t expecting.
Julius Rosenstein, Palladium’s proofreader, contributing writer and resident Heroes Unlimited™ expert, enjoyed every page but loved some of the twists. He pointed out how in Hades, Dimensional Outbreak and other books in the Minion War™ series, the Demons of Hades are the aggressors and seem to have the upper hand, but in Armageddon Unlimited™, it is the Deevils who are the main bad guys while the heroes of Earth and demons are on the defensive. And in case those previous books made it seem like the infernals of Dyval were the lesser evil, guess again.
As a game designer and storyteller, this is what I love about Carl Gleba’s mind: the surprises, the brilliant storytelling, the great villains, the zillions of exciting ideas, and the fact that the book is not just about compelling storytelling, it is packed with all kinds of immediately useful source material whether you play the Armageddon scenario or not. Carl’s sense of epic storytelling is reflected in the premise of preventing the end of the world, but also the many other adventure hooks. What do I mean? Even after you have played the “save the world” scenario, there are all kinds of adventure ideas and loose ends a G.M. can take and run with for months and months. And the villains, ah, scum and maniacs you will love to hate, and even a few you might feel sorry for. I have to take a little credit on the villains as I tweaked and rewrote a number of them, but Carl was the architect behind it all. If you don’t check this book out, I think you are really missing out.
I’m also excited by the fact that gamers seem to be rediscovering Heroes Unlimited™. Heroes Unlimited™ was the number one requested RPG after Rifts® by people ordering the Christmas Surprise Packages. (Dead Reign™, Palladium Fantasy® and Nightbane® were all in a tight competition for the next slot, pretty much in that order I think.)
Armageddon Unlimited™ Order Note: Order Processor Kathy Simmons tells us that she has a lot of “pre-orders” for this book. However, some go back to 2008 and there are even a few from 2007! Odds are your credit card information is old and obsolete, or you may have moved, or you may want the charge on a different credit card, so if you want Armageddon Unlimited™, but your “pre-order” is more than a year old, you should call the Palladium office’s order line (734-721-2903) and provide us with your current credit card info and address. Likewise, we may be calling some of you to confirm that you still want the book and to confirm your information. Alex makes most of these calls. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Recent pre-orders and pre-orders placed in recent months are absolutely fine, unless something has changed very recently. One more note: When you place a pre-order, Palladium does NOT charge your credit card until the book is at the printer and we know it is going to ship soon.
Playing catch-up. I wanted to dive right into Thundercloud Galaxy™, but I’ve spent most of the week playing catch-up. When you only have five people working full time, it’s always a juggling act. I still have emails and PMs to answer and other business to take care of, but I expect to start work on Thundercloud Galaxy™ this weekend.
UPDATE: Thundercloud Galaxy™. I’ll be starting work on Thundercloud Galaxy™ this weekend. I did a little bit of work on it several months ago, so I already have an idea of what needs to be done, and I’m hoping editing and rewrites will go fairly quickly. All the art is already done, so it is just a matter of final edit and rewrites, and we’re still shooting for an end of February release. Cool.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #53. Folks are enjoying the latest issue of The Rifter®, but not our contributors. This week has been so busy, I have not had a chance to ship out the contributor or PR copies. My fault entirely, I will make sure they ship by Monday.
The Rifter® Super-Subscription Offer Special is you opportunity to subscribe and get each issue delivered right to your doorstep. We only offer a “Special” Rifter® subscription offer ONCE a year and it ends February 28, 2011, so don’t wait too long to place your subscription order. After all, this is your chance to save money, get the books sent to your door and you can choose a FREE gift worth $13-$24. (Note: There is a small cost for shipping and handling to receive the free gift.)
Click here for complete subscription details and order info.
Palladium Creators Conference – April 7-10, 2011. We are so dedicated to making Palladium Books strong and releasing a whole range of new products, that we are holding a special, Top Secret Conference for freelance writers and artists this Spring. It is an “invitation only event.” (Btw, all established Palladium creators/artists/writers are invited, and any freelancer can inquire, just don’t feel slighted if you are turned down.) The purpose is to hone our craft and talk about Palladium’s future. There will be seminars and talks on writing, storytelling and game design, Palladium’s future, the development of new Palladium products, new markets, new mediums, new ideas and how the freelancers can fit in to it all. It will be very exciting. Plus some gaming, fun and laughs. Creator Conference Hotel: I’ll be posting more details on the Freelancer forum, but I have arranged the same rates at the same hotel as the Palladium Open House. It is clean, nice and inexpensive. You can reserve your rooms NOW. I’ve actually had them available since December. Your card won’t be charged till the day you arrive. Tell them you want the Palladium Books rate. Call me if there is any trouble with the hotel, but there shouldn’t be. And yes, you can come down a day early if you like. We’ll be here and ready to rock n’ roll. The sooner you reserve your room at the hotel, the better.
Palladium to attend Gen Con Indy 2011. With this being Palladium’s 30th Anniversary and all, we decided we needed to attend Gen Con this year. Other than Wayne and myself, we don’t yet know who else will be manning the Palladium booth or hanging out to sign autographs and chat with fans, we’ll keep you posted as details develop. There’s more about Gen Con, and our need for G.M.s to run events at the show to promote our anniversary and company, elsewhere in this Weekly Update. FYI: Order your admission tickets and reserve your hotel rooms as soon as possible. Gen Con had 30,000 people attend last year and hotel rooms sell out fast! They are taking reservations now.
30th Anniversary Celebration. We are looking for suggestions on how Palladium can celebrate our 30th Anniversary. You know, special product, special events, and so on. If you have ideas let us know. You can send me private messages or maybe I’ll have NMI or Wayne start a thread on the website. Give it some thought and share the ideas.
Kathy Simmons, Queen of Ghouls has been busy putting new creations in her online store (queenofghouls.com). They’re pretty awesome and she has a lot of people expressing an interest in her work. A few more go up every couple of weeks. Hey, Halloween is only 9 months away.
Why Thursday for the Weekly Update? Some of you may have noticed that the Online Weekly Updates have been appearing on Thursdays instead of Fridays like they used to. The reason is simple, Fridays always seem busy and stressful as we try to wrap up the week or prepare for a long weekend of work. Mondays and Fridays always seem hectic for some reason. Getting the Weekly Update written, posted and emailed on Thursday is just easier on all of us.
UPDATE: Online sales. Sales continue to bounce up and down, and this week’s sales have been soft. January thru April is the industry slow season. Plus in January and February you have people recovering from overspending for Christmas. We’re hoping the recent spate of books brought back in print, The Rifter® subscription offer and upcoming new books will boost sales and make them more even. Still, the first few months are always difficult and a little scary.
I had some other things to talk about, but a stomach bug or something hit me just in the last couple of hours and I’m feeling poorly at the moment. Nothing serious, I’m sure. Probably something I ate. But it’s enough to make me want to sign off. I’ll be back next Thursday with another Weekly Update. Till then, pick up those books you’ve been meaning to try, renew (or start) your Rifter® subscription, keep those imaginations burning bright and have a pleasant weekend.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher
Yep, we decided to attend Gen Con Indy this year. For those of you excited about this news, you can thank Wayne Smith as he lobbied hard for it. Two of his most salient points being: 1. Palladium has not attended Gen Con since 2008 and we want to make ourselves available to the fans around the country. 2. With this year being Palladium Books’ 30th Anniversary it is important that we have a presence at the biggest gaming convention in the country, especially since we are not hosting a Palladium Open House this year. I agree, so we’re going. That means you need to start planning to go to Gen Con and visit the Palladium booth. Me (Kevin Siembieda), Wayne Smith, and a handful of Palladium writers and artists will be working the booth and available to autograph books, chat and have fun. I’ll keep you posted as to who you can meet at the booth as soon as we figure that out ourselves.
We need your help at Gen Con to make it a great 30th Anniversary celebration. If you are a G.M. who is planning to attend and would like to run some Palladium gaming events, PLEASE DO. We’d love to see Game Masters run as many games as possible at Gen Con.
To be an “official” Gen Con Game Master with an assigned time slot and space, you need to submit your game to Gen Con by February 11, 2011 to get better placement (time slots and room allocation), but you can submit up to March 11, 2011. SOONER is better. You need to submit your events directly to Gen Con, not Palladium. However, contact us after you get your “official” games in, let us know how many games you’re running, and what they are, and we’ll try to arrange to provide you with prizes for the best player(s) and a little something for the G.M.
Palladium artists and writers who plan to attend Gen Con, please let us know as soon as possible and we’ll try to provide you space at our booth where you can hang out, chat with fans, sign autographs and help out. Thanks!
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher
- The Rifter® #53 – New – Available now!
- Rifts® World Book 20: Canada – Back in print – Available now
- Rifts® Dark Conversions – Back in print – Available now
- Palladium Fantasy RPG® – Back in print – Available now
- Rifts® Game Master Guide – Back in print – Available now
- Rifts® World Book 5: Triax & The NGR – Back in print – Available now
- Rifts® Bionics Sourcebook – Back in print – Available now
- Rifts® China One – Back in print – Available now
- Rifts® Megaverse® Builder – Back in print – Available now
- Armageddon Unlimited™ – New – February 11, 2011
- Rifts® Dimension Book™ 14: Thundercloud Galaxy™ – New – February 25
- Rifts® WB One: Vampire Kingdoms™, Expanded & Updated (March)
- Robotech® New Generation™ Sourcebook (March; tentative)
- Rifts® Book of Magic – Rescheduled from February. Probably a March release.
- Robotech® UEEF Marines and other Robotech® sourcebooks.
- Rifts® sourcebooks
- Rifts® Chaos Earth™ sourcebooks
- Palladium Fantasy®: Mysteries of Magic™ Two & Three
- Palladium Fantasy® other sourcebooks
- Warpath™ Urban Jungle RPG
- And other good stuff. Lots of other good stuff!
At the printer! Ships February 11, 2011.
The epic battle between good and evil, and the fate of humanity vs the forces of Hell, starts here.
Demons and Deevils are fighting for dominance of the Earth, and if they can’t win, nobody can have it. They’ll destroy the planet.
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.
Armageddon Unlimited™ is more than an epic world-saving adventure, it is also a sourcebook jam-packed with new powers, magic, weapons and Power Categories that can be incorporated into any Heroes Unlimited™ campaign. This book can be used as a standalone adventure sourcebook for Heroes Unlimited™ or as a pivotal plot in an expansive Minion War™ campaign.
Highlights include:
For the first time ever, the Thundercloud Galaxy™ is presented in a Dimension Book of its own. It provides an overview of the galaxy, the mad rush to claim and colonize planets, and descriptions of notable worlds, alien people, monsters and politics.
Looking for adventure? Looking to help colonize a planet or to defend an exploited people? Then you need this sourcebook. Expand your knowledge of the Three Galaxies with new history, alien worlds, weapons, spacecraft, and adventure in an exotic faraway galaxy. A perfect companion to Rifts® Dimensional Outbreak™ and a foil to plot your own Minion War™ battles or to send protectors and heroes created with Rifts® Heroes of the Megaverse®. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
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:
The Rifter® is a quarterly sourcebook series for the entire Palladium Megaverse®. It is written by fans and up and coming writers, for fans. Some, like #4, #8, #19, #20-26, #28-35, #38, #40, and others have even become coveted collector’s items that command big bucks! (For a while, people were reportedly paying as much as $70 online for #21.)
Super-Subscription Offer: The cover price of The Rifter® is $11.95 – a steal for 96 pages of RPG source material and adventures – but a subscription gets you The Rifter® delivered to your doorstep and you can select a free gift worth $13-$23 (available only during this special offer, for the cost of shipping and handling).
That’s only $39.80 for customers in the United States. That breaks down to $9.95 each, a savings of $8.00, and Palladium pays the shipping! Plus you get to select a A FREE gift worth $12.95-$24.95 – and you pay only the cost of shipping and handling ($5.00 in the USA – that’s $44.80 total for US customers). Note: Due to the cost of international shipping, this special rate is limited to subscribers in the USA only. We hope you understand.
Indicate what issue number you’d like your new subscription to start at: #52 (last issue), #53 (the current issue), #54 (next issue, April 2011), or when your current subscription ends.
For all the details and to place an order, click here.
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.
A comprehensive overview of Canada, including notable places, cities, towns, people, O.C.C.s, monsters and conflicts. Much of Canada has reverted to wilderness, but there are pockets of civilization and technology, though not all of them human.
The focus of Dark Conversions™ is on creatures of darkness and other monsters such as Alien Intelligences, Elementals, were-beasts, vampires, weird supernatural beings, the Nightbane and others. If you are looking for practitioners of dark magic, villains, monsters and vile horrors to pit against your heroes, this is the sourcebook for you. Many creatures also have notes on how they fit into the Rifts Earth setting and where they may be encountered.
A complete role-playing game set in a unique realm of high fantasy and epic adventure that has thrilled fans for 27 years. All the fantasy elements you’d expect are there, but spun in ways that you may not expect. Magic has replaced science. The elder races of Dwarves, Elves and Titans have given way to the rise of humanity and the Wolfen Empire. While the monster races – Goblins, Orcs, Ogres and Trolls – lay claim to the Old Kingdom, from which they launch their pillaging raids. And that’s just the beginning.
The ultimate Rifts® reference and sourcebook, it contains all the weapons, equipment, body armor, power armor, robots, vehicles, skills and psionics from Rifts® World Books 1-23, Sourcebooks 1-4, and Siege on Tolkeen 1-6, collected into one big reference. Plus, maps, lists and indexes of O.C.C.s, R.C.C.s, experience tables and more.
A compendium of bionic and cybernetic systems in the Rifts North America setting, with information about partial and full conversion cyborgs, Headhunters, City Rats, the Cyber-Doc and more. A must-have resource for fans of cyborgs.
The New German Republic (NGR) is surrounded and besieged by the hostile Gargoyle Empire – an empire of giant monsters. Only the superior robotics and weapons technology of Triax keeps the monsters at bay, but for how long? This epic World Book presents the Triax robots, power armor, cyborgs, and world setting that is Rifts Germany and the surrounding region. More than 100,000 copies sold!
Note: For dozens of new weapons, armor, robots, drones, power armor suits, cyborgs, vehicles and updated information about the NGR, Triax and the war, see Rifts® World Book 31: Triax™ 2 – 192 pages – $24.95 – Cat. No. 881.
There is no place on Rifts Earth more exotic, magical and dangerous than China, especially since the Hell of the Yama Kings has bled into the mortal plane.
Note: For 18 new O.C.C.s, heroes of the Celestial Court, Geofront, secret technology, mystical powers, Demon Wrestling, Demon Quelling, Chi Weapons, martial arts and more, see Rifts® World Book 25: Rifts® China 2 – 160 pages – $20.95 – Cat. No. 858.
Your guide to creating your own corner of the infinite Megaverse®. The big picture of how the Megaverse® works, plus rules and suggestions for creating your own dimension.
This is it, the ultimate guide to magic for Rifts Earth. All the magic spells, magic tattoos, Techno-Wizard items, magic weapons, equipment, body armor, restraints, parasites, symbiotes, magic items, Bio-Borgs, Automatons, Iron Juggernauts, and more from Rifts® World Books 1-23, Sourcebooks 1-4, and Siege on Tolkeen 1-6, collected into one big reference.
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.
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.
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.
Start planning for Halloween early as Palladium’s very own Kathy Simmons will start to offer her 2011 selection of life-sized Halloween props (most are 6 feet or taller) that are to die for.
Each is an all-weather, life-sized Halloween prop that can handle rain and snow, and is a one-of-a-kind work of art (no two are exactly the same). Each looks frighteningly “real.” All come apart and fold down to slightly larger than a king-size pillow for easy storage. Comes with easy instructions, a plastic storage bag, and the lawn stake to stand it 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 $99-$179. You can see some of her work at her Queen of Ghouls™ Ebay store – queenofghouls.com.
© Copyright 2011 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.