2009 Palladium Open House Report

By Kevin Siembieda

As usual, the Palladium Open House was full of fun, gaming and friends.

I had a vast number of people tell me how wonderful the Palladium staff and freelancers were to chat with. I heard how delicious the food was, and what a great job Kathy Simmons did. I heard how nice the warehouse was and that it looked just as big or bigger than the old one (it is not, but thank you). I heard how much people loved Palladium’s role-playing games, writing and artwork, and how much they appreciate the work the Palladium crew and I put into every book. I was relieved to hear from the gentlemen who flew in from Europe and from gamers who traveled considerable distances, that the trip “was worth every penny.” And as always, I heard how the Open House was unlike any gaming event many had ever attended. That they felt welcomed. They felt like family.

Thank you for the warm words, and thank you for making the 2009 Open House a wonderful experience for all of us at Palladium Books as well. Palladium fans are, without a doubt, the greatest.

V.I.P. Thursday

A few friends and volunteers arrived Thursday morning – big Nick Bradshaw being one of the first. Nick is one of Palladium’s artists, but he didn’t hesitate to help us do grunt work, shoveling dirt to fill in holes and scrubbing the warehouse floors. (Thanks, buddy.)

Most folks started rolling in between 3:30 and 5:00 P.M.

V.I.P. night included a delicious hot meal, good conversation, a presentation talk by me and a question and answer session. The evening was capped off by a night of gaming and chatting.

Kathy Simmons catered the event for the third time in a row providing a popular selection of delicious food: Three salads (tossed salad, Italian noodle and potato salad), turkey, tuna and ham croissant sandwiches, fried chicken, mostaccioli, meatballs, sauerkraut and kielbasa, rolls, coffee, soda and assorted desserts (chocolate cake, carrot cake, white cake, cookies). Those in attendance were quite tickled.

When I introduced the Palladium staff and explained how Kathy Simmons had done 80-90% of the prep-work for the Open House so we could continue to grind out books, she got a two-minute standing ovation that brought tears to her eyes.

I got tongue tied trying to say Jason Marker’s name and called him Jason Richards something like four times in a row. That caused a lot of laughs.

Near disaster and the greatest fans on Earth! Freelance writer, Mark Oberle called to report he and writer/artist Mike Leonard had been in a moderately serious accident. In fact, their car had to be towed about 50 miles to the Open House! They were not sure if the car could be made driveable or how they’d get home. The tow-truck mechanic estimated damage at $2000-$3000.

During my V.I.P. talk, I explained what happened and asked everyone in attendance to donate $5-$10 toward getting these boys back home and/or repair the vehicle. Palladium’s very own Julius Rosenstein started the collection off by tossing a twenty dollar bill into the jug, the next thing we knew, people were tossing money in the bucket one after another. Proving, once again, thatPalladium gamers are the greatest in the world! Thank you EVERYONE who offered a few dollars toward the cause.

We raised $843 plus a number of people gave Mark money directly, for a total in the neighborhood of $1100. By the way, Jason Marker, Shawn Hall and the tow truck mechanic were able to get the vehicle back into mostly running condition. They were not completely sure the vehicle could make the trip back home to Missouri, but it did, and Mark has enough cash to effect the necessary mechanical repairs thanks to those of you who helped. You guys and gals are the best!

V.I.P. Night Talk & Gaming

I always give a talk, introduce the staff and allow questions and answers. One of the funniest moments came when freelance writer Brandon Aten asked, “What property does Palladium intend to license next?” Licenses can be fun and profitable, but they are also a pain in the neck. The running joke at the office was, the next person to ask about a new license is taken out back and shot. When I explained this, it elicited plenty of laughter. The laughter grew when Mark Hall (another freelance writer and burly gent) took Brandon Aten – head hung low – toward the back, around a corner out of sight, followed by what sounded like a gunshot! Mark then slowly sauntered back, smiling, without Brandon Aten. The crowd erupted with laughter. Note: No freelancers were actually injured or killed in this spontaneous display of fun. The gunshot was really a folding chair being dropped and Brandon resurfaced a minute later.

“Madman” Mike Leonard surprised me by presenting me with a plaque that read: Our Fearless Leader – Founder, Palladium Books – For undaunted, inspirational leadership. It was both touching and hilarious.

Hilarious because the top plate on the plaque is a color picture by Mike depicting me in a heroic pose, clutching a copy of Dead Reign in one hand, firing a pistol at three zombies with the other, and Wayne Smith, clad in his Red Wings hockey jersey and clutching a hockey stick, cowering behind me. As if that wasn’t hilarious enough, the plaque has an audio piece. When activated you hear the sound of zombies moaning and my actual voice (pieced together from podcasts) saying, “I’ve got your back, I’ll protect you,” followed by three gunshots. Wow. I love it. Thanks, Mike. It’s hanging on the wall in my office.

There were nine game events that evening plus Palladium staff, creators and I sat around chatting with anyone who wanted to sit and talk. I also gave several tours of the Palladium inner sanctum: our office area. It was fun and the evening ended shortly after midnight.

Friday

Gamers started lining up at 7:15 A.M. – even though we weren’t supposed to open up until 9:30 A.M. Always resourceful, we let them in early but made them help us collect and haul out garbage, rearrange tables and chairs, and other things.

The rest of the day was filled with lots and lots of gaming. I ran five games (three Dead Reign and two Fantasy), gave a few more tours of the office, signed autographs and chatted with people. I closed out the place at 1:30 A.M. The last game started a half hour late and ended explosively an hour longer than scheduled. One of the Palladium Fantasy games was the Palladium of Desire (as requested by Evan Cooney), and the other one was my Lord DeSilca two-hour countdown to Hell game. All were fun, three were epic.

95 games were scheduled for the weekend. Julius Rosenstein ran 7 games. I ran 6 games (five of ‘em on Friday), Carmen Bellaire, Jason Marker, Carl Gleba, James Brown, Steve Dawes, Jason Richards, and a host of others all ran games. I think Friday was the only day we saw two games canceled because there were not enough players, and another 3-4 games had about half the total number of players (3-5 people playing) that they could have accommodated. The rest of the weekend the game slots were filled. I know Julius, myself and others added more people than originally intended (I averaged 13) to make sure people got to game with us. It was a blast.

Saturday

More gaming till we dropped.

Julius Rosenstein’s Golden Age Heroes game was epic and Julius is convinced Evan Cooney was born to play Weasel Man. The Curse of the Alchemist was a period game set in 1787 forBeyond the Supernatural™, also run by Julius that I heard a lot of buzz about.

People also raved about Carl Gleba’s Mechanoids® Space game, a sneak peek at the upcoming RPG tentatively scheduled for a 2010 release.

Carmen’s Rifts^® Board Game

Carmen Bellaire surprised us with a Rifts® board game he created during the three months he was out of work. I did not get a chance to play (had waaaaay too many other things to do and people to see), but I look forward to playing it. Carmen ran it a dozen times and I had a ZILLION people come up to me afterward to tell me it was awesome and Palladium “had to make it.” We’ve never done a board game, but we will give it serious consideration. From what we can tell it is a great game. It certainly looks fantastic. Carmen did a great job on it. Since play tests at the Open House, Carmen wants to perfect the game with some small changes and additions. I’ll look into the cost and . . . well, time will tell.

On a humorous note, Carmen couldn’t win his own game! Admittedly, the other players were gunning for him. You see, there are two ways to win, get to the center of the board and kill Emperor Prosek or destroy all the other players. So far, players have gone with the idea of exterminating the other players. Carmen finally won the final game of the weekend when he rigged the game by grabbing a specific character and won by killing Emperor Prosek.

Saturday Costume Contest

The costume contest was fantastic. We had 21 contestants, 11 in the Rifts/science fiction category. The costumes were clever, funny and extremely well made. For example, though you couldn’t see it under the armor, Carl Gleba created a complete “Juicer Bio-Comp and Drug Harness” as part of his Juicer costume. It was awesome and he won First Place in the Rifts/Science Fiction category. Mike Leonard made his impressive costume (Honorable Mention) using plastic laundry detergent bottles as the primary building component. The Ley Line Walker costume took Best of Show. A simple, but fun and clever costume was Greg Diaczyk posing as Wayne Smith (who was portrayed as Palladium character in The Rifter® #9 1/2). We also presented Joseph Bergmansthe 2007 Best of Show, with a special trophy.

Chris Guertin brought his motorcycle into the building, partly as his costume (he was a Reaper) and as to give Palladium artists an opportunity to take photographs for future reference (which was greatly appreciated).

The costume competition was fun and impressive, but incredibly difficult to choose the winners. The audience was half the vote and us judges made the final decision after much debate. Wow, I can hardly wait till next year’s costume competition.

Winners got “Palladium Bucks” (Palladium currency revived from the 1990s with my face on the money; funny) and a plaque with their photo (in costume). Very personal and very classy.

Saturday Night “Live” Auction

The live auction was another hit, with some outstanding bargains, surprisingly expensive items (a Palladium Crimson went for $260, and a Rifts® license plate made by Erick Wujcik for Palladium staff one Christmas years ago, so there were only 12 made, went for $150). We also sold proofreader photocopies, a couple T-shirts, posters, prints, and lots of “first printing” books, many of which were used by Erick Wujcik or me to run our games. Fun and funny.

Long time friend, Paul Deckert, came by unexpectedly with a box of books from Erick Wujcik’s personal collection, so we put 15 or so in the auction as well. Very appropriate since the “live” auction hosted by me was Erick Wujcik’s suggestion after the last Open House.

Erick Wujcik Memorial

The memorial for Erick Wujcik I put up was appreciated and well received. I also said a few words about Erick on V.I.P. night. I didn’t want to bring the exuberant party atmosphere down, so I kept it very short. Erick is sorely missed, but his joyful presence was felt the entire weekend. I was happy to see dozens and dozens of people sign his Book of Memories and write a little about him and his work, or draw a little picture. I appreciated it immensely and I’m sure his loved ones will appreciate the book when we send it to them.

Hot Product

The best selling items of the Open House were our game books.

We only had 100 advance copies of the Dead Reign™: Civilization Gone™ sourcebook and it sold out by Sunday afternoon. Shemarrian Nation™ and Dyval™ were also hot, as were theDead Reign™ RPG, the Robotech® books, Rifts® Ultimate Edition, and the entire Rifts® line, but it seemed like we sold a lot of everything.

Non-book products. The hottest non-book items had to be the following:

- Rifts® pin-on badges/buttons for a dollar flew off the table. 67 out of 70 vanished within an hour after Kathy put them out. Fans descended upon them like locusts! Thank you Kathy for making them, and Badge-A-Minute and Erick Wujcik who gave us the badge making device years ago.

- Rifts® and Gamer™ Coffee Mugs. Folks seemed most excited about the two coffee mugs, and were pleased with the big, 15 ounce size.

- Rifts® Dice Bags were also hot, selling on par with the coffee mugs.

- Gamer™ and Gamer Zombie™ T-shirts were strong sellers as were the Dead Reign™ and Property of the Coalition States T-shirts (the latter two both back in stock).

– Rifts® pocket calculators were a surprise hit. We didn’t know how people would respond, but folks were snapping them up.

- Hell was full so I came back™, full color T-shirts sold well, but did not get the big reception we expected.

- The gorgeous, full color Magnets and Rifts sticky-note pads (great for making and passing notes during a game) did only so-so.

- Rifts® baseball caps! Everyone one wanted one, but we didn’t have any. We had three samples from one of our printers on display. Now that we know you want them, we will look into getting them made.

On a Personal Note

I had a great time. It was nice seeing many friends and freelancers, though I barely got to talk to many of them! It was cool to put a face to the voice of Matthew Daye, and I had fun hanging withNick Bradshaw, Amy Ashbaugh, Steve Dawes (one of our Thursday early arriving friends and contributors) and making friends with his super-helpful pal, Ted, who was a big help throughout the event.

I am not even going to begin to attempt to list everyone by name, because I will certainly forget some people. However, I do want to give a shout out to helpers: Joe Bergmans, Chris Guertin, Eric Campion, Shawn and Lisa Hall, Nick Bradshaw, James Brown, Megan Owens, Nick, Steve, Ted, Doug, and Becky for their help.

We made our share of new friends too, including Andreas and Daniel from Germany, and Pedro from Spain, as well as countless others.

I wish I had more time to hang with and get to know Mark Hall and Greg Diaczyk, among many, many others, but it was not meant to be.

I was surprised many times by a number of gifts given to me throughout the Open House. I always feel a little funny when folks give me stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate and enjoy such tokens of affection and appreciation, but it is most definitely not necessary.

I was given the Fearless Leader plaque (a total surprise, fun, funny and touching all at the same time), a Texas shot glass, a NEMA embroidered patch, a custom-made big-head/chibi Coalition Soldier, six bottles of homemade orange soda packaged as Psi-Cola(!!), a trio of different T-shirts, a cool, framed photo of gamer dice, a beautiful hand etched Rifts logo and stand, some actual dice, a photo of A.R.C.H.I.E. Three’s great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, a tiny alien, an “I (bloody heart) zombies” button, a zombie T-shirt, a Darth Vader photo with “Detroit Gaming Center” stamped on the back (it belonged to Erick), and a few other things. Wow, it was like it was my birthday or something. Thank you all very, very, much, but you shouldn’t have. We do the Open House for you, and get plenty of satisfaction from your kind words and smiling faces.

The Hotel only had wonderful things to say about everyone. We had 81 of the 112 rooms, so we dominated the facility. There were no complaints or problems, and the hotel manager told us they had never seen such a large group of nice, friendly and appreciative people. The hotel staff loved you! In fact, you all made such a great impression, that the manager pleaded that we come back and offered to reserve the ENTIRE hotel for us in 2010. An offer we have accepted.

Problems and suggestions

As always, we welcome suggestions on how to improve.

The Open House pretty much went off without a hitch. Our one trouble spot was the Game Schedule and how to present sign up sheets.

Being so busy up to the last minute getting out new product did not leave Wayne much time to figure out and present the schedule in advance.

Furthermore, we struggled with how to post and offer gaming events. Since they are free, we went with first come, first served. There were plenty of games for everyone to play in, but signing up was a problem. We put sign up sheets on the tables, because last time, having sign-up sheets at ONE central location created a huge line and some people waited for an hour or longer before getting to sign up only to find most games filled.

Game blocks and time periods have also been an issue. We wanted to offer games early, but many Game Masters did not want to run till late morning or afternoon or evening. That left early morning (10:00 A.M.) light. Note: We need Game Masters willing and able to run at 10:00 A.M. for next year’s event.

G.M.s were also supposed to get a Game Master T-shirt, but only about 15 out of 60+ G.M.s picked them up. We’ll end up mailing them out which is an added expense and a disappointment for the G.M. who might want to have worn the shirt at the event. Grrrr.

Little space for pick up games. There were only two tables for pick up games. While we might be able to add another 2-3, that’s probably the best we can do. Likewise, a few people said they would like to have seen gaming tables spread out farther apart a bit. The problem: While the new warehouse may appear to be just as big as the old place, it is not. It is smaller by about 3500 square feet, which is a considerable amount of space. Our office space is one third what it was in the old building. Without the large (2500 square foot) area we had upstairs for panel talks and meetings, we chew up space with the panel talk/auction/costume competition area which we need. Regrettably, we are limited by available space in a smaller building.

2010 Palladium Open House – April 29-30, May 1-2

So many people expressed how they loved every minute and were already planning to come next year, that we have decided to do the Palladium Open House again! This could be that last one, as we may not have the space to do more after that (new books take up space, you know).

We will have the entire hotel and two gaming rooms there, plus more new product, new costume competition, the same wonderful atmosphere, events and people. Start planning and saving your money NOW and we will see you next year!

Thank you for making the 2009 Palladium Open House another heartwarming experience for us all. Keep those imaginations burning bright and game on!

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher