Joining the Team
The last few months have been filled with adrenaline for me given all the exciting projects we have in the works here at Palladium. I want to thank the community for the warm welcome and I’m eager to serve as a force multiplier for all your enthusiasm, passion, and loyalty for the many games and worlds Palladium creates.
When I saw the announcement for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness on the eve of the campaign, I had a feeling that it would really explode and offered to help out in any capacity Palladium needed. Having worked with Sean at Pinnacle and meeting Kevin doing some promo streams for Rifts® for Savage Worlds and Palladium events, it was an easy offer to send. Help good people make good games.
I was introduced to RPGs with AD&D in the early 90s; but my gaming mentor, Reese Gregory, had great taste and was a confirmed Palladium aficionado. I remember vividly the evocative covers of his many Rifts® tomes: they were unlike anything else I had seen in the hobby. Bold, graphic, sexy, dangerous. For a new player, they seemed both enticing and intimidating in equal measure; where to begin with what must clearly be a detailed and rich world, and one without a training-wheels cartoon show to get into the plot like the Dungeons & Dragons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons offered. So when I found TMNT&OS among Reese’s library, I demanded we play.
”Oh, it’s based on the comics, so it’s even better than the show!” he exclaimed, and I was hooked. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness is the RPG that showed me how much broader the hobby’s horizons are than the medieval fantasy core. The content, the tone, art, and game design broadened both my knowledge and appreciation for what the hobby really could be.
I never would have imagined that three decades later my enjoyment of that foundational experience would come full circle and that I could play a small part in bringing Turtles back into print.
Kevin, Sean, Wayne, Alex, and Caleb were a pleasure to work with during the campaign, and I’m honored that they’ve welcomed me on to the team to help craft and deliver the next chapter in the Palladium story. To me, marketing is not about writing the best copy or placing the optimal advertisement, it’s about amplifying and sharing the passion of the fan community.
To that end, don’t hesitate to reach out with your own Palladium memories or thoughts on what makes you most excited for what’s coming next: we might even feature your letters, with permission, in future Closing Thoughts. And if you’re at Chupacabracon, GenCon, or Game Hole Con this year, come say hello!
– Christopher Landauer, RPG force multiplier
