Palladium Books® – Weekly Update – January 26, 2024

Palladium Books^® – Weekly Update – January 26, 2024

One game system – every genre – countless worlds – endless adventure

By Kevin Siembieda and Sean Owen Roberson

It has been another wild week here at Palladium Books. Wayne and I have been so busy working on products, bookkeeping and reorganization that we barely know what day it is. That said, everything is looking great.

UPDATE: TMNT Kickstarter: Luis Antonio Delgado’s color work on Transdimensional TMNT and Truckin’ Turtles looks fabulous and he’s about to start work on Turtles Go Hollywood. Meanwhile, Michael Majestic is wrapping up the last of his painterly color work for the two color editions, just as Jeremy Colwell is pounding away on the Black, White, and Red editions and blowing our minds with his approach.

The TMNT Miniatures (a Kickstarter Exclusive) are also nearing completion with final tweaks and posing that make us smile. Great work by the team at TransPerfect. More images for the minis and pages from the books will be shown in another week or two.

TMNT Backerkit Pledge Manager will launch early February. This is where you’ll be able to change your pledge, get add-ons and see shipping. Sean and I are working hard at getting the best shipping prices we can for our Backers outside the USA.

UPDATE: Rifts® Bestiary Volume Two: Sean and Matthew Clements are on it. If you loved Volume One, you’ll love Volume Two.

UPDATE: Yin-Sloth Expeditions (Fantasy) – I’m back at it and loving it. This updated and expanded edition builds upon the original Yin-Sloth Jungles book with 30 redrawn maps, new details, new adventures, and new information.

UPDATE: Island at the Edge of the World, 2nd Edition (Fantasy) – The remastered and reedited edition is coming sometime in 2024. This fan favorite, offbeat adventure world book is not a complete redo like Yin-Sloth Jungles 2nd Edition, which was so expanded and updated that it needed a second book, Yin-Sloth Expeditions, to complete it.

UPDATE: Rifts® Antarctica – This is the next Rifts® title I will be finishing up. Written by Matthew Clements and Kevin Siembieda, it is not what you are expecting.

Temporarily SOLD OUT! But at the Printer. A number of book titles are temporarily out of print and several others are nearly sold out! Awesome, please keep those orders coming. We’ve sent 15 titles to the printer. All will be coming back in print throughout the month of February. That includes Rifts® Cyberworks Collection hardcover, After the Bomb® softcover, Rifts® Madhaven, Rifts® Coalition War Campaign, Rifts® Bionics Sourcebook, Rifts® Dark Conversions, and others to be back soon. Some you’ll never know how close they came to being temporarily sold out, including a number of Palladium Fantasy titles.

Upcoming T-shirts

T-Shirts Coming Soon

Due to popular demand, Palladium is bringing back two fan-favorite T-Shirts plus a brand new Heroes Unlimited shirt. All available in most sizes. All shirts should become available in February.

Rifts® Logo T-shirt – The ever-popular Kevin Long Rifts Logo; white printing on a black T-shirt.
Living the Fantasy T-shirt – Kevin Siembieda’s iconic dragon battling a knight from the original RPG book cover; red printing on a black T-shirt.
NEW! Heroes Unlimited: Unleash Your Power T-shirt – Heroes Unlimited logo, superhero artwork and the slogan “Unleash Your Power;” white printing on a black T-shirt.

Coffee Mugs Coming Soon

Due to popular demand, Palladium is bringing back two fan-favorite coffee mugs plus a new Heroes Unlimited coffee mug. All items should be become available in February or March.

Rifts® Logo – The ever-popular Rifts Logo; white printing on a black coffee mug.
Living the Fantasy – Kevin Siembieda’s iconic dragon battling a knight from the original RPG book cover; red printing on a black mug.
NEW! Heroes Unlimited: Unleash Your Power – Heroes Unlimited logo and artwork; white printing on a black coffee mug.

Palladium Game Masters Wanted

We need G.M.s to run games at Gen Con. If you were planning or thinking about running games at Gen Con, please coordinate with Palladium Books in order to get a dedicated room and other perks like a discount on your purchase at the Palladium Books Booth!

We are hoping to get our usual crew of Gen Con Game Masters to run Palladium game events again. This can be any Palladium setting:

Rifts (Palladium or Savage Worlds)
Chaos Earth
Palladium Fantasy RPG
Heroes Unlimited
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
After the Bomb
Ninjas & Superspies
Nightbane
Dead Reign
Beyond the Supernatural and any of our other settings.

We need your commitment, game description and info by February 28. Send to Jeff Ruiz, aka NMI, via email at nmi {at} thedeificnmi.com

Palladium is always looking for NEW Game Masters who would like to run events. As long as you are confident running 6 players at conventions and have experience running good convention games, Palladium Wants YOU!

Run 4 or more games (with 6 or more players in each game) and your Gen Con Admission is free. Plus, Palladium gives its G.M.s a discount on books at our booth!

Game Masters and Game Event Descriptions NEEDED by February 28, 2024. (See Gen Con’s website for details about the info needed for each game listing; G.M.’s name, number of players, length of time, name of game, difficulty level, etc.) This enables us to coordinate and submit them as a batch to Gen Con and guarantees to have your event listed in the onsite Gen Con Program Book. Being listed onsite is very important to have full attendance for your event. This date gives us enough time to compile and send Gen Con everything they need.

Prospective Game Masters, please contact Jeff Ruiz, aka NMI, via email at nmi {at} thedeificnmi.com

2024 is Heroes Unlimited RPG’s 40th Anniversary

We have hit another landmark with Heroes Unlimited’s 40th anniversary. We have a few ideas on how we might celebrate this rare achievement, but we would LOVE to hear your ideas. Please submit them to Palladium via our Help Desk as well as chat about it online. Thanks!

NEW on DriveThruRPG.com – Newly UPDATED Rifts^® Automated Character Sheet AND Creature Feature^™ sourcebook for Beyond the Supernatural^™ are now available

UPDATED Rifts® Automated Character Sheet now available. Three updates, in fact. This EXCEL template provides automation to your Rifts® character creation process. Done in Microsoft Excel, this character template will allow you to build your character with substantial ease and speed. Ideal for the new gamer who doesn’t know all of the Palladium Books® rules just yet, it’s also a highly effective tool for Game Masters and advanced players alike who make multiple characters, NPCs, or just like to min/max or theory craft characters between games. Note: If you already purchased this item, you can download the updated version for free. Enjoy.

NEW! Creature Feature™ PDF book on DriveThruRPG.com – due to popular request, this epic Beyond the Supernatural(BTS) sourcebook is now available on DriveThru for your digital enjoyment.

Creature Feature is for players and Game Masters alike and a fun read for anyone.

15 detailed and expansive supernatural horrors unlike any you see in most other horror games.
Creature encounter tables.
Tips on making (and playing) better creatures.
Rules clarifications (lots of them).
Player and G.M. tips.
BTS world information.
One full adventure and numerous adventure hooks.
Dynamic art by Steven Cummings, Phil Stone, and Siembieda.

Also available on DriveThru: The 1st and 2nd Edition Beyond the Supernatural RPG, and Boxed Nightmares sourcebook; not to mention Dead Reign® (zombies) and Nightbane® (Urban Fantasy/superhero horror). All these books, including BTS 2nd Edition (softcover and hardcover), BTS RPG 1st Edition hardcover, and the Boxed Nightmares™ (1st edition rules) are available as physical books from PalladiumBooks.com offering a Megaverse® of adventure.

NEW! FREE Nightbane® RPG digital Sneak Preview on DriveThruRPG.com – Have you been wondering what the buzz is all about for Nightbane® and Urban Fantasy? Well, now you can see for yourself with this fun Preview of the core rule book. There are also free Sneak Previews of Creature Feature™, Dead Reign®, BTS, and numerous Rifts® books and other titles, including Rifts® Manhunters™, Titan Robotics™, Northern Gun™ One and Two, Lemuria, and more.

300+ RPG titles from Palladium Books

No other game company offers game worlds for so many different genres. Best of all, learn to play one Palladium RPG and you can play them all, because each uses the same basic core rules and combat. There are differences, but the fundamentals are the same. This also means you can bring characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, weapons, gear, and adventure ideas from one setting into another or mash them together!

Rifts® titles. Rifts® is the ultimate setting in which you can combine any number of genres and play any style of gaming you may desire: science fiction, fantasy, supernatural horror, heroic adventure, dimensional travel, modern knights, cyborgs, giant robots, dinosaur taming, sleuthing, magic, monsters, heroes and legends. Or combine them all. There has never been a game quite like Rifts®.
Rifts® Chaos Earth® titles. Live through the Great Cataclysm and the Coming of the Rifts. Rifts® Chaos Earth® RPG, Creatures of Chaos™, Rise of Magic™, and Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ are all available.
The Rifter® #1-85. Each issue is a wealth of source material for Rifts® and 3-5 other Palladium game settings. More than 8,600 pages of source material and counting. Most issues are only available in digital form.
Palladium Fantasy RPG® titles. A rich, original setting in which you can play humans or any number of nonhuman species of people in a world of magic, heroes and wonder. All of it epic.
Dead Reign® RPG and sourcebooks. The Zombie Apocalypse unleashed. A great introductory RPG that is surprisingly uplifting, fun, fast, and easy to learn.
Heroes Unlimited™ RPG Second Edition titles. Create any type of superhuman you can imagine to build your own super-hero universe.
After the Bomb® RPG and sourcebooks. Play anthropomorphic, intelligent, mutant animals as crime-fighting mutants and super-heroes or survivors of a crumbling post-apocalyptic Earth.
Ninjas & Superspies™ RPG and the Mystic China™ sourcebook. 41 types of martial arts, ninjas, super-spies, gizmos, mystic powers, and magic in the main book, plus even more in Mystic China.
Nightbane® RPG and sourcebooks – Urban Fantasy. Only you know the truth. Only you can see the Nightlords and their demonic minions, and you have the power to stop them. But you must transform into a monster yourself in order to use your powers. Trust no one.
Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG and sourcebooks. Modern horror; 14 character classes, 42 occupations for “ordinary people,” 100+ psychic abilities, 16 monsters, and more.
300+ Palladium titles in all, plus G.M. kits, paper miniatures and more. Palladium Books has settings for every genre: Fantasy RPG, science fiction (Rifts®, Splicers®, and The Mechanoids®), super-heroes (Heroes Unlimited and After the Bomb), superhero horror (Nightbane®), modern horror (Beyond the Supernatural), zombies (Dead Reign®), The Rifter® sourcebook series, novels, paper minis, and more.

Closing Thoughts – You are on our minds

You, our fans and customers, are on our minds throughout the day, every day, as we plot and work on new products and bring back fan favorites. That’s everything from TMNT Kickstarter items to Rifts, Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited, and all the rest. While you may not be seeing a lot of details and information until the items are at the printer, rest assured we are not resting on our laurels.

We want 2024 to be a landmark year. Not only is it the 40th anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Heroes Unlimited, but we want to make this the year Palladium Books comes roaring back with a slew of new RPG titles and related products that you’ll love. We are pushing the envelope on every book and asking ourselves what will surprise and thrill our fans.

Speaking of which, I’m going to get back to it. Take care.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Game Designer, Friend

Surprise Package comments from fans like you

Every year there is a section where our Surprise Package customers can offer comments and suggestions with their order. We do that because we want to know what you think, and what you want, and we appreciate your suggestions and insights. In fact, the idea to do hardcover editions of core books came from fan comments in the Grab Bags.

Every year, in acknowledgment of our fans, and because they are fun to read, we offer a sampling of these comments in the Weekly Updates. Our heartfelt thanks to all of you who have stuck with Palladium through thick and thin and now these new strange times. Please use our games to find escape from your day-to-day grind and worries. Use them to bring a little joy, laughter, and adventure to the holiday season.

I want you to know that your comments and support mean the world to all of us. Everyone at Palladium enjoys reading your brief comments, especially me and Sean, and they always brighten our day. Thank you for making us smile and feel valued. As always, I have tried to write a short response [in brackets] to each comment.

J.C. in Port Townsend, Washington, writes (in part): The Rifts® universe has been as determinative to my imagination as Marvel Comics and Star Wars combined. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Thank you, J.C., your high praise is humbling and heartwarming. Marvel and Star Wars are two of my inspirations and favorite things. Game on and keep your imagination burning. – Kevin]

R.O. in Haysville, Kansas, writes (in part): I have almost everything Rifts® ... I’ve been a big time fan since I saw Rifts World Book 11 [Coalition War Campaign] on the shelves ... My current group consists of three generations of family ... Thank you for the memories.

[It is our sincere pleasure, R.O., just wait till you see what we have planned for the future. Thank you for your support and kind words. Please tell your family, happy new year and game on! – Kevin]

C.C. in Lucasville, Ohio, writes: We’re currently enjoying a Palladium Fantasy campaign, but my players have expressed interest in starting a Heroes Unlimited setting. Once we’re into that, I think I’ll rift them into my favorite: Rifts Earth!

[Sounds like a wild ride for your players, C.C., have fun with it. – Kevin]

J.A. in Eagle Point, Oregon, writes (in part): ... I love the lore and history of the Palladium worlds and have enjoyed playing the Palladium systems since TMNT. I am beyond stoked for the Kickstarter and backed it without a second thought. Can’t wait to get the black, white and red edition. May even pick up the redux just for the full color interiors. Thank you, Kevin and Sean and everyone involved in creating content for us gamers. I look forward to this new year and wait with anticipation to see how Palladium grows and expands.

[Get the color TMNT books too, J.A.! I’m not trying to make a sale, it’s just that those color books are gorgeous, as are the Black, White, and Red editions. Thank you for your kind words. We can’t wait to put new books and fun in your hands as we grow. Dare I say it? Yes, cowabunga and game on! – Kevin]

J.B.S. in Portland, Oregon, writes (in part): Rifts® is my favorite ... I love the Palladium game system and can see myself branching out into some other genres ... I’ve only really played Rifts, Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited and Ninjas & Superspies ... Thank you for extending the X-Mas Package. I thought I missed out.

[Hey J.B.S., we hope you continue to enjoy our endless Megaverse of RPG fun. Glad you got in on the Grab Bag before it ended. – Kevin]

D.H. in Troy, Michigan, writes: Thank you for making great games.

[It’s our mission, D.H., thanks for being a great fan. – Kevin]

S.S. in Atascocita, Texas, writes (in part): Started with TMNT and Robotech®, stayed for the awesome system ... like to run Ninjas & Superspies, After the Bomb®, and Systems Failure. I like Heroes Unlimited and Rifts as well ... I’m impressed at the improvements to the company and communications. I have really fallen in with the Glitterbois podcast community, which has given me a whole new perspective and interest in Nightbane® and Palladium Fantasy ... I think Sean has done a great job being a creative partner for Kevin. Not just helping to head the business, but you two seem to have a real collaborative vibe. I’m excited for the future.

[Hey, S.S., falling in with a great group of people like the Glitterbois community is a lot of fun. Good job. Sean shares my passion for the Palladium Megaverse® and he and I are all about collaboration and creating the most fun RPG products for our gaming fan base. We have become close friends, are great partners, and have big plans for the future. – Kevin]

J.T. in Athens, Alabama, writes (in part): ... I wanted to say thank you for helping to begin rebuilding my collection after my house fire. Please continue to keep pumping out great books and I look forward to Rifts® Antarctica and CS Disavowed.

[Glad to help, J.T. As for those two books, you will not be disappointed. – Kevin]

P.S. in West Saint Paul, Minnesota, writes (in part): I would love to start a Rifts® campaign sometime ... I’ve always wanted to play a full conversion cyborg. There are so many options! You guys have such a broad scope of products. It’s such a great world you’ve all created.

[It is a great world, P.S., dive into it and don’t look back. – Kevin]

I.A. in Englewood, Colorado, writes (in part): I’ve rediscovered how much these books and stories mean to me. I am very excited to get back to telling my own stories, and pick back up where I left off. Thanks for always keeping the torch lit for those of us who want something to come back to.

[Welcome back, I.A. We’ll keep that torch burning for as long as we can. With any luck, that will be for a very long time. – Kevin]

© 2024 Palladium Books Inc. All Rights Reserved. Palladium Books®, Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Dead Reign®, Chaos Earth®, The Mechanoids®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, Powers Unlimited®, Splicers®, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, After the Bomb®, and all related titles, names and slogans are trademarks of Palladium Books.

This Update may be reprinted, reposted, linked and shared for the sole purpose of advertising, promotion and sales solicitation.

Palladium Books® – Weekly Update – January 26, 2024