Happy New Year – Palladium Books® – Weekly Update – December 31, 2024

ONE GAME SYSTEM – EVERY GENRE – COUNTLESS WORLDS – ENDLESS ADVENTURE

BY KEVIN SIEMBIEDA

Happy New Year – Palladium Books^® – Weekly Update – December 31, 2024

Warmest wishes for the New Year. I try to keep the Christmas and New Year’s Eve Weekly Updates very brief and focused on fun. That means not much business talk and no new sales. Instead, you’ll find a few news bits, some hints of things to come in my Closing Thoughts, and the extra long fan comment section at the end of this mailing, where I answer some questions. These fan comments are always fun and we appreciate every kind word. So snag a Surprise Package while you still can (only 2 weeks left!), watch a Palladium YouTube video or listen to a Glitterbois podcast, and enjoy the start of the New Year.

News Bits

- Christmas Surprise Package sale is EXTENDED into the New Year, but you only have about 2 weeks to get yours. Offer ends January 15, 2025. See all the details below or in the online store.

- Valley of the Pharoahs Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition RPG is selling so well, we had to order more hardcovers from the author/publisher Matthew Balent before we completely ran out. See the RPG description elsewhere in this update and in the online store.

- Check out the growing number of videos on the Palladium Books YouTube channel. J-M DeFoggi and I (Kevin Siembieda) are doing a series about the history of Palladium Books before we expand into other subjects. The history of Palladium is just the beginning. We’ve already talked about Kevin Siembieda the Artist, Early Days of Gaming, The Mechanoids®, the Weapons & Armor series, the Palladium Fantasy RPG, and a Special Holiday Message/Thank You from me (Kevin) to you.

Here’s the schedule of upcoming YouTube episodes:

January 2, 2025 - Secret History of the Defilers - Part 1 – Stories about my famous Detroit Gaming Center campaign; 26 players, epic adventure, and the early inspirations for Rifts.

January 16 - The Old Ones – A big adventure sourcebook filled with places to visit and ideas for epic adventure everywhere. Including the Place of Magic, oh, and the Old Ones. This is a fun interview.

January 30 - Secret History of the Defilers - Part 2 – More wild stories about my campaign and how it inspired the Fantasy world you know and love.

February 13 - Arms of Nargash-Tor (Fantasy Sourcebook) and Valley of the Pharaohs RPG – Yes, the original Valley of the Pharaohs box game, 1985.

February 20 - Secret History of the Defilers - Part 3 – I think this one is about Hitler Mouse.

Much more is coming including Heroes Unlimited, TMNT & Other Strangeness (the first licensed product based on the early comic books), Robotech®, and all the rest. A new one posts every other week.

Surprise Package Deal – Extended into the New Year

Is this a Christmas miracle? A mistake? Utter lunacy?

None of the above. (Well, maybe that last one.) It has become tradition that I extend the Christmas Surprise Package Offer through the end of December and into the New Year! Yes, this means you can still snag one or two if you act quickly. The sale now ends January 15, 2025, and will NOT be extended further. Oh, and you can ship via the less expensive method of Media Mail again because you do not need it for a holiday deadline.

A Surprise Package is a nice way to start the New Year and is a great gift for birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, and any gift-giving occasion. Or start the New Year with a stack of RPGs or sourcebooks you have been meaning to try or that you need to fill holes in your collection, or replace battered well-loved books.

We extend the Surprise Package offer for those of you who have been so busy spending your time and money on your family and friends, that you have not had the opportunity or funds to treat yourself to a well-deserved Christmas Surprise Package. We know this happens and don’t want you to miss out.

We also extend it for those of you who cannot get enough of Palladium’s games and want to start the New Year off with a setting or source material to launch a new campaign. It’s also for those of you who can use a Surprise Package as the perfect gift for a birthday, anniversary, or special occasion coming up in January or February (Valentine’s Day?), so take advantage of this sale to get gifts for the special gamer(s) in your life.

This year it helps our friends in Canada who thought they missed getting a Surprise Package due to the Canada Post strike during the holidays. There’s still time.

The extension is also for you Johnny Come-Latelies who were meaning to get one, but how time flies during the holidays. It’s also a way for those of you struggling through financial issues to carry some gaming fun into the New Year to stay busy and distracted through the winter months. So please, spread the word about the extended Surprise Package sale period, and travel the Megaverse® from the warmth and safety of your home.

What is a Christmas Surprise Package?

Besides being the best deal in gaming – $100+ worth of goodies (often more) for $60 (plus shipping) – it’s a smile and a hug that comes in a box filled with signed game books from available Palladium staff and freelancers at PDF prices. That can nab you four or more items when these days one core rule book can cost you that alone.

These Surprise Packages are our way of saying thank you for your support and showing you our love and appreciation. It’s a surprise because you never know exactly what you’re going to get or who will sign your books, because we pick from your Wish List and may surprise you with stuff you are not expecting. Extra items may include other RPGs, sourcebooks, issues of the Rifter®, novels, miniatures, prints, art books, greeting cards, T-shirts, negatives, and other items. Some books may be slightly damaged (scuffs, scratches, dings, a crunched corner, etc.) so we can send you more. But time is running out. We can only extend the holiday season for so long. Get one while you still can.

NEW! Valley of the Pharaohs RPG – 40th Anniversary Edition

Valley of the Pharaohs is back with 200 additional pages of material as a softcover and hardcover RPG. It is written by the original author Matthew Balent (Palladium Weapon series), and includes the original artwork and map by Kevin Siembieda, but this is NOT the Palladium game system. It’s an original game system designed by Matt.

The original Valley of the Pharaohs RPG is a rare, expensive collectible if you can even find it. But now you can get the super-expanded, 254 page, 40th Anniversary Edition softcover – or – the 274 page hardcover with bonus material, from Palladium Books. The new, 40th Anniversary Valley of Pharaohs is written and published by the original author, Matthew Balent (Weapons and Armor, Weapons & Castles, etc.). Like the original game, it uses its own, unique game rules – not the Palladium game system – but they, like the game world and text, are unique and fun.

This game is authorized by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books and includes many of Kevin’s original VotP RPG illustrations and maps.

If you are a Palladium Books collector or you love Egyptian mythology and historical fiction, this game is a must. It is likely as close as you’ll come to owning the original Valley of the Pharaohs. Besides, this is a vastly expanded and improved edition that includes all those original ideas and much of the artwork vastly expanded and improved. The original rule book was only 64 or 96 pages, plus maps; this is a 250+ page tome by the scholarly Matthew Balent and is an alternative reality, ancient Egypt that is epic and well written. It’s a fun read filled with ideas, magic, monsters, and characters you can, with a little work, convert to Palladium Fantasy, Rifts, or any RPG world.

• Play humans or Bird People, Crocodilian People, Dog People, Snake People, and more!

• Character Classes include: Priest, Thief, Military, Scholar, and more.

• 300+ magic spells inspired by Egyptian myth and classic fantasy.

• Many magic items, magic pictures and more.

• Dozens of monsters and supernatural beings like the mummy, sphinx, sand slug, and others drawn from or inspired by Egyptian mythology.

• Learn about Ka (magic), Maat (alignment and order), and Kismet.

• Clear and concise Egyptian lore, its society, and history.

• Game rules and writing by Matthew Balent.

• A complete RPG with unique rules. Note: Does not use the Palladium game rules.

• $40.00 retail – 254 page softcover – Cat. No. 2621 – complete RPG.

• $60.00 retail – 274 page hardcover with bonus material – Cat. No. 2621HC – complete RPG.

300+ RPG products on DriveThru – a dozen unique world settings – one game system – endless possibilities. 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!

In addition to PDF titles for entire game lines like Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Ninjas & Superspies™, After the Bomb®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Dead Reign® (zombies), Nightbane® (Urban Fantasy), Rifts Chaos Earth®, Systems Failure™, Splicers®, RECON®, The Rifter® #1-85, and others, there are Game Master and player aids, character generators, paper minis, map packs, and FREE Previews of books like Creature Feature™, Dead Reign, Coalition Manhunters, Titan Robotics™, Rifts Bestiary Volume One, World Books, Dimension Books, and more to give you a glimpse of what’s in the book. Enjoy endless adventures across the Megaverse®.

Palladium Collectibles – at Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles eBay Store

I am adding new collectibles of all kinds to my Ebay store in time for the holiday season. Some are Palladium negatives, rare and out of print books, original Palladium artwork, prints, posters, as well as other collectible toys, action figures, Nightmare Before Christmas items, one-of-a-kind proofreader copies, books, and other good stuff – including Erick Wujcik’s rare and sought after Amberzine #12-15. Check in every week or so to see what’s new. All items come from Kevin Siembieda’s personal collection.

One-of-a-kind Palladium Books negatives (special and rare collectibles). Negatives are always very popular items at the Palladium Open House, Gen Con, and conventions, and are catching on as rare collectibles, unique in and of themselves. Before digital printing, pages of a book were laid out by hand on a board, and each page was photographed.

• Each negative is truly unique, attractive, and fun to have.

• Own a piece of Palladium Books and RPG history you will treasure.

• Each was used to print the very book you may have in your collection (1981-2004).

• Each is signed in silver ink by Kevin Siembieda and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

• Each negative is a one-of-a-kind work of art (on rare occasions, two-of-a-kind if a page or section of pages were replaced or a second edition was made).

• Looks great matted or framed! Fits an 8x10 inch matt opening. Each neg is roughly 8 ½ x 11 inches.

• Prices vary depending on the title, the art, and quality of the negative. Note: Many have scratches, or blemishes, and/or an opaque medium on the negative. Still, they look great and are a piece of RPG history. We recommend you carefully examine the photographs of each item to avoid disappointment. The negatives of many books are sold out or were never available.

Closing Thoughts

Happy New Year from Palladium Books

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us here in Palladiumville! We wish you good health, prosperity, love, and joy throughout the year and beyond. Have fun celebrating over the holiday, heck, maybe even through the weekend, but please party responsibly and drive safely. It is often the other guy you need to worry about, so stay vigilant.

I will chat about some of the things you can expect from Palladium Books during the months ahead in an upcoming Weekly Update. For now, let us all sit back and catch our breaths while we celebrate the end of 2024 and contemplate the exciting promise of the New Year. If all goes well for Palladium Books, it’s possible 2025 could be one of the most exciting years in our history, and I’m not just talking about TMNT & Other Strangeness. More to come soon.

Stay positive, enjoy the holiday, and game on.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Game Designer, Friend, and Surrogate Santa

Surprise Package Comments from fans like you

Every year we like to post a selection of the comments we get from Surprise Package customers. It’s a nice acknowledgement and thank you to them (you know who you are) and you enjoy reading them. I read each and every comment that comes in the Surprise Packages, and they always brighten our day. We all appreciate your kind words, suggestions, and insights. In fact, the idea to do hardcover editions of core rule books came from fan comments in the Grab Bags. We get a lot so we can only 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 and beyond.

Your comments and support mean the world to all of us. Thank you for making us smile and feel valued. As always, I have tried to write a short response [in brackets] to each comment. Happy holidays.

– Kevin Siembieda (and the Palladium Crew)

P.S. in West Saint Paul, Minnesota, writes: Happy holidays! I hope the team at Palladium has a great [New Year]! Stay excellent.

[Same to you, P.S., may the New Year be a great one for us all. – Kevin]

A.N. in Monroe City, Missouri, writes: This Surprise Package is for my son. He’s into anything power armor, mecha, Robotech®.

[Hi, A.N., I think he’ll enjoy the Surprise Package I put together. Your list was solid, so that helped a lot. Game on and Happy New Year. – Kevin]

D.N. in Northwood, North Dakota, writes (in part): Thanks for doing the Surprise Package again this year! Really love them. I know there won’t be a Palladium Open House next year, but how is it looking for the year or two after? I also want to thank you for your interviews as it has helped in clearing some things up ... if at all possible, please have Rifts® Bestiary Volume 2 done by early 2025. Wish you all at Palladium Books a very Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

[We love doing the Surprise Package offer, though not sure how many years longer we can continue to do it. They take soooo much time during the holidays, we’ll have to wait and see. Rifts® Bestiary Vol. 2 is most definitely a 2025 release along with a few other long awaited books! I’m thrilled you and so many gamers are enjoying the interviews, they’ve been fun to do. Happy New Year! – Kevin]

L.C. in Winnemucca, Nevada, writes (in part): Has Palladium thought of partnering with someone for dice sets? Sorry, the dice goblin in me is wondering. Is there going to be a Hardcover for the Rifts Bestiary Volume 2? I take it the Rifts movie has shuffled off into oblivion?

[Hi L.C., boy, you’re full of questions, aren’t you? Here’s the answers. Dice: As we restructure Palladium Books for another 40 years of epic RPG fun, dice, Game Master screens, and the whole-nine-yards are on the table. Sean and I, and the growing Palladium crew have BIG plans for our future. Fingers crossed. Rifts® Bestiary 2: Yes, there will be at least one hardcover for the public. It was an Insider crowdfunder, so there are a couple of backer limited edition hardcovers too. The Rifts® Movie: After holding onto the Rifts® movie option for nearly 20 years and several attempts at finding the right screenplay for a live action Rifts® movie, Walt Disney Pictures finally let the option go. That does not mean we’ll never see a Rifts® movie. Hollywood continues to flirt with us about film adaptations. And not just for Rifts®. Over the years we’ve had inquiries about Nightbane®, Beyond the Supernatural, Ninjas & Superspies, and Splicers®! Sadly, none of them have panned out. We quietly worked behind the scenes with a Canadian film studio for seven years to make a Splicers® TV show happen. They wrote a great pilot episode and dynamic outline for season one (and two, if I recall correctly) that we went wild over, but they couldn’t get the funding to make it a reality. What a shame, because it was outstanding, but that’s the entertainment business. Videogame rights for all our RPGs are also available for any established company that might be interested. – Kevin]

M.B. in Sarasota, Florida, writes: Dear Kevin and Everyone at Palladium. It’s been 29 years ago since I bought the main rule book for Rifts® – next year will be an anniversary for me. Now, it’s so great to see that Palladium Books is getting to the forefront again. Look at all the stuff happening: a super successful TMNT Kickstarter, more and more PB-related YouTube videos, great articles on Scholarly Adventures Blog, and I also see in RPG reviews and articles that Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited, and other Palladium RPGs and the Palladium system itself is serving as a reference point, as so many people know the stuff you created over the decades. Not everything is D&D! You know what is everything? The Palladium Megaverse! :) I wish good health and superb creative energies for all the Palladium Books staff. Keep up the good work.

[I love it, M.B., thank you. I’m glad you can see the momentum building for Palladium Books. And this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. We have so much in the works. If all goes according to plan, we are about to enter into a new age of Palladium, with one surprise and new achievement after another. I couldn’t do it without Sean, the Palladium crew, and a growing team of stalwarts, new and old, joining the Megaversal movement: Jeremy, Ryan, Nick, J-M, Molly, Glen, John, Matt, and too many to list. Good things are coming. – Kevin]

M.O. in McKinney, Texas, writes: We love you guys and had a great time at Gen Con! Hoping to catch up with you again sometime.

[We love you guys too, M.O.! Gen Con was fun. I hope very much to see you before Gen Con 2025, but if not, we’ll see you then, because Palladium will be there with TMNT & Other Strangeness RPGs and many other new releases. – Kevin]

L.R. in Burley, Idaho, writes: Favorites: Like them all, really, no favorite yet. My husband has loved everything received. Thank you!

[You are very welcome. L.R. I always try to make the spouse look good when they buy a Surprise Package for their partner or family member. Remember, there’s still time to snag a Surprise Package as a gift for Valentine’s Day, a birthday, or anniversary if it’s coming up over the next few months. – Kevin]

K.F. in Indianapolis, Indiana, writes: Favorites: Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy, and Nightbane®. Can’t wait for TMNT & Other Strangeness Redux – got to see some of it at Gen Con and it looks great so far. Keep up the excellent work!

[Each entire book is that quality, K.F. We pulled out all the stops and Sean has put his heart and soul into making each book and Kickstarter reward top notch. These full color books are beautiful, rules clarified, and completely remastered. You will cherish these books for a lifetime. We can’t wait until we are able to ship ‘em out to you. – Kevin]

A.P. in Nassau, New York, writes (in part): Thank you everyone for the hard work this year. Looking forward to what you have for us in 2025.

[A.P., if all goes well, we hope we blow your minds next year. Happy New Year! – Kevin]

R.V. in North York, Ontario, Canada, writes: Thank you for keeping imagination alive.

[I love that sentence, R.V. I’ve made it my mission to encourage people to unleash their imaginations in every way possible. I joke around saying I suffer from an overactive imagination, but I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. And the fact that my work inspires others is humbling and wonderful. So, R.V., please keep your own wonderful imagination burning bright and Happy New Year. – Kevin]

D.L. in Killeen, Texas, writes (in part): Favorites: Too late. I’m addicted to ALL of them. Much love to all of you. I am a forever fan and can’t wait to see what you guys do next! Really appreciate everything you guys do and the love that you show to your fans. Thank you for an absolute metric $h!@-ton of epic memories and adventures!

[At least you have a creative and joyful addiction, D.L., not a destructive one. We appreciate the love and support. As for creating epic memories and inspiration, I’m just following in the footsteps of some of the great souls who have inspired me – Walt Disney, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Russ Manning, Ray Harryhausen, Robert E. Howard, John Steinbeck, Gary Gygax, Florence and Henry Siembieda, Kathy Simmons, Erick Wujcik, and my best friend for nearly my entire life Alex Marciniszyn, to name but a tiny handful. Keep on creating lasting memories and I’ll do the same. – Kevin]

I.A. in Englewood, Colorado, writes: Favorite Games: Palladium Fantasy, Rifts®, and Nightbane®. You all have been doing a bang up job. I’m very glad to have made a plethora of memories from nearly 20 years ago and able to revisit them now to enjoy virtually the same games and same fun I had back then. It’s been a blast.

[Blast away, I.A., and enjoy. We’re glad you’re enjoying them the second time around, as much as the first. Game on. – Kevin]

E.S. in Santa Ana, California, writes (in part): When I worked at Blizzard Entertainment a few coworkers started a Palladium Fantasy campaign where I played this amazing Longbowman ... we still talk about this period ... So I figured rebuilding my Palladium Fantasy collection would be the best ... I grew up with Heroes Unlimited, Robotech® and Macross II being my favorite settings to play. I blended Heroes Unlimited with Veritechs all the time. So Palladium Books is my comfort zone. My daughter just received her first sets of dice ... I want to start her first RPG in Fantasy ... Since Palladium rewards thinking, skill use, and not just combat, it could be a teaching system for my daughter ... and help build her imagination.

[Sounds like a plan, E.S., and I think your daughter will enjoy the fantasy experience. I tried to give you a fun variety of RPG titles to game with. Keep your spirits high and both of your imaginations burning bright. We love to hear about families that game together. – Kevin]

S.B. in Conneaut, Ohio, writes: Been loving your books since high school. We played Palladium Fantasy First Edition and 2nd, and Rifts® right when it came out.

[I love hearing that, S.B., glad you’ve been enjoying our games for so many years. Here’s to the New Year and another several decades of Palladium RPG fun! – Kevin]

D.P. in Colorado Springs, writes (in part): Hoping this finds you all well and having had another great year. My husband has been a HUGE fan for pretty much his entire life, and the 35 years that we have been together have made me a fan as well. He has a signed picture of Kevin Siembieda above his desk for goodness sake. lol ... Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. Thank you all for everything you do.

[D.P., clearly your husband is a man of great taste and discernment. lol. Thank you for your wonderful comments, they made us all laugh and smile for the rest of the day. I hope you don’t mind me sharing them here. I thought it was beautiful that you care so much and want to make your husband’s Christmas special. I trust our Surprise Package brought him an extra dose of holiday joy. Thank you, D.P., for keeping the magic of the holiday alive for all of us. – Kevin]

T.G. in Jackson, Michigan, writes: So much love to Kevin, Sean, and the Crew this holiday season. I can’t wait to see what great books you have in store for 2025 and beyond.

[We love ya right back, T.G., and boy do we have mind-bending plans for Palladium’s future. Much of it is top secret, but what I can tell is that you can expect Yin-Sloth Expeditions (Fantasy), Rifts® Bestiary Vol. 2, Rifts® Antarctica, and the TMNT & Other Strangeness Redux Editions, G.M. Screen, and Mutagen Green Dice. Ah, but that’s just the beginning. We have so much more planned. Shoot, I always need to stop myself from saying too much, too soon. If we can pull off everything we have in the works for 2025 – let alone beyond – we should blow people’s minds. And yes, with any luck that will include a Beyond the Supernatural book or two, and more Fantasy and Rifts® titles, as well as a surprise or two. Happy New Year! – Kevin]

J.M. in Ararat, Virginia, writes: Favorites, Palladium Fantasy all the way, but played them all. Keep up the amazing work.

[I love Palladium Fantasy too, J.M., and I have a lot of ideas for future books. So do Glen Evans and others. Good things for Fantasy and other game lines are brewing. – Kevin]