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ONE GAME SYSTEM – EVERY GENRE – COUNTLESS WORLDS – ENDLESS ADVENTURE
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Palladium Books® – Weekly Update
January 16, 2025
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The New Year is off with a bang here at Palladium Books. To get a glimpse of what’s happening behind the scenes, please check out last Friday’s: The Future of Palladium Books Special Report. There’s a lot and it’s all good. 2025 is going to be quite the ride and we hope you’ll be there for every minute of it. Not only that, but help spread the word about Palladium Books’ games, new releases, and other fun happenings.
Our thanks to everyone tuning into the Palladium Books YouTube channel to enjoy our ongoing history of Palladium Books with me (Kevin Siembieda, the founder and lead game designer) and J-M DeFoggi. We’re having a blast with these candid chats. Please continue to watch and spread the word, because we talk about TMNT, Robotech, Rifts and all the rest. You can also catch Palladium RPG fun on the Glitterbois podcast and monthly YouTube chats on the Legion of Myth.
We hope the multitude who purchased one or more Christmas Surprise Packages enjoyed each and every one. They’ll be back next Christmas season, but we don’t know for how many years longer, as they are a ton of work. I will continue to include fan comments at the end of these Weekly Updates for the next few weeks for your enjoyment.
Please keep the orders coming. We’ll help with a number of re-releases such as more of The Rifter® Archival Editions, TMNT & Other Strangeness RPG Redux editions (so completely remastered and in full, breathtaking color, that they feel new), along with brand new products like Yin-Sloth Expeditions, Rifts® Bestiary Volume 2, Rifts® Antarctica, and more. Hopefully, much more.
News! TMNT & Other Strangeness Mini-Update. Everything is moving along on all fronts regarding final layout, and approvals and looking GREAT. There is still time to get the mainstream Redux editions and Black, White and Red editions (look amazing), and Game Screen at the lower Kickstarter prices, but you need to do so soon. I think the Pre-Order Store will be closed by the end of February or March.
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TMNT & Other Strangeness Pre-Order Store. There is a link on the front page of the Palladium website to the TMNT & Other Strangeness Pre-Order Store (as well as below). Please note that these products will not ship until this spring. The advantage to placing your pre-order before March 2025 is that you will get the items at the lower Kickstarter price. For example, you save $10 on each of the two color cover volumes of the two main books, because the final retail price will be higher than the current Kickstarter price. Moreover, Sean Owen Roberson has outdone himself on the Redux editions. Clear and concise rules clarifications, new and helpful tables and charts, sweet layout, gorgeous color art, and so much more.
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News! Congratulations to Palladium author Carl Gleba (Minion War, Secrets of the Atlanteans) on the arrival of his first child! We are all so happy for you, Big Daddy.
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Valley of the Pharoahs RPG! Waaaay back when, Palladium Books published the Valley of Pharaohs RPG as a box game. Well, 40 years later, I gave the author, my pal, Matthew Balent (best known for Weapons & Armour, Weapons & Castles, Weapons & Castles of the Orient, etc.), permission to reuse my artwork in a new, vastly expanded redux edition of the original game. It is a big 200+ page RPG. (The original was only 64 or 96 pages plus a dozen maps and diagrams.) The game rules are Matthew’s own creation with some unique ideas and mechanics you may find interesting, Meanwhile, the spells, characters, and ideas can be adapted to the Palladium game system with a little work. The lore, history, and writing is outstanding, so if you love Egyptian mythology, this is a must have item. Likewise, Palladium collectors may want one because the original 1985 box game is super-rare and expensive, but this authorized expanded 40th Anniversary edition is affordable and a good read. Available from Palladium Books for a limited time. Thank you for supporting the hard work of my friend, Matthew Balent, who played an important role in the early days of Palladium Books.
254 page softcover – $40 retail – Cat. No. 2621
274 page hardcover with bonus material – $60 retail – Cat. No. 2621HC
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News! Palladium Books® YouTube Channel – The Official History of Palladium Books is an ongoing video series presented in rough, Chronological order. Here are some of the episodes currently available:
Coming YouTube Videos: Stories behind the creation of Heroes Unlimited, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, Robotech®, Robotech® VHS tapes, Ninjas & Superspies, Beyond the Supernatural, Rifts® (a few episodes), Dead Reign®, and more, including Games that Almost Happened (but didn’t), and Close Encounters (with Hollywood and videogames).
A new episode goes up every other week with the occasional bonus episode in between. Many more chats are coming. Each one a friendly and candid conversation that gamers are enjoying. J-M Defoggi and I, Kevin Siembieda, reveal the origin stories behind your favorite Palladium role-playing games and sourcebooks. We will eventually switch to topics about running RPGs, designing adventures, Game Master and player tips, alignments, magic, writing RPGs, and others.
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News! Kevin Siembieda on Legion of Myth live chat – 2:00 PM Sunday, January 26, 2025. Sean is overseas on business so the time difference makes it difficult for him to join us, but I’ll be there to chat about a variety of subjects. Please join the fun.
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News! The Glitterbois podcasts – We talk about all things Palladium Books and include chats with me (Kevin Siembieda) about the origins and history of Palladium Books, my thought process behind Palladium’s many game lines and specific book titles, and other fun topics. These podcasts always cover additional details and memories about Palladium’s history and iconic games not found in Palladium’s official YouTube material. And who doesn’t love the Glitterbois hosts? Tune into the fun. New episodes with me are coming throughout the year.
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News! What’s hot at Palladium this week – With the end of the Surprise Package offer, we saw everything blowing out the door, but we did notice some interesting trends: Rifts® and Palladium Fantasy remain hot, but we’re seeing Phase World® and Rifts® Dimension Books along with Heroes Unlimited/After the Bomb® heating up. The surprise has been the magnitude of renewed interest in Dead Reign® RPG, it has been super-hot this past week in both regular orders and Surprise Package requests.
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Dead Reign® is red hot – I think people are discovering that Dead Reign® is an intuitive, fast, fun, introductory game ideal for inexperienced, new role-players and fun for seasoned veteran gamers. The Dead Reign® setting and prime enemy (zombies) is instantly familiar and easy to understand, combat is straightforward with no magic or psionics, and the zombies are both familiar yet different, and uniquely Palladium. How zombies function and behave (the Zombie Moan, converging to get a piece of P.P.E. at the moment of a victim’s death, etc.) makes total sense and I think people like to understand how (our) zombies function and why. It answers questions about zombies that no other game offers.
Sales are up with distributors, retailers, and across the board. Just last week we had two different people visit the office. One was a business meeting unrelated to RPGs and the other was a visit by a Rifts® fan. Both were looking to try a new RPG, something beginner gamers could pick up easily. I told them about a few of our games, but both gravitated toward Dead Reign®. Both bought the RPG and love it. In fact, the business person (a big board gamer) loves the setting and is starting a Dead Reign® campaign with his wife and some friends this week! If you haven’t tried it, you might want to take a look at Dead Reign® in the future.
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NEW! Nightbane® Automated Character Sheet
Now available on DriveThruRPG.com – The Nightbane Automated Character Sheet follows a similar format as the popular Rifts® Automated Character Sheet designed by Greg Diaczyk.
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Microsoft Excel-based system for creating, updating, and tracking your Nightbane RPG characters quickly and easily. Once you know the system, you can have characters up and ready in 10-15 minutes!
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Create your human Facade and Nightbane Morphus in minutes.
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Offers a vast range of Morphus choices.
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Select from scores of Common and Elite Nightbane Talents.
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Spells, psionics, and more.
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$5.00 – Available now on DriveThruRPG.com and coming soon on PalladiumBooks.com – Created by Greg Diaczyk.
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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®.
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Palladium Collectibles – at Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles eBay Store
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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.
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Each negative is truly unique, attractive, and fun to have.
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Own a piece of Palladium Books and RPG history you will treasure.
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Each was used to print the very book you may have in your collection (1981-2004).
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Each is signed in silver ink by Kevin Siembieda and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
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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).
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Looks great matted or framed! Fits an 8x10 inch matt opening. Each neg is roughly 8 ½ x 11 inches.
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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.
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A few last words
Thank you for your support of Palladium Books with the Surprise Package offer and purchases all year long. We can’t do this without you. To get info about what’s going on behind the scenes, see the Future of Palladium Books Special Report (January 10, 2025). Otherwise, take a glance at the Weekly Updates for sales, new releases, YouTube and podcast appearances, and other news.
I’m sure there’s more to talk about, but a head cold has just hit me like a ton of bricks and I’m gonna end this here. Stay positive, enjoy the Comments from Fans like you, below, and game on.
– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Game Designer, Writer and Friend
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Surprise Package Comments from fans like you
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Yes, Christmas has come and gone, the 2024 Surprise Package deal has come to an end, and the New Year is upon us. Yet, I still like to share with you some of the fun and interesting fan comments we receive in the Christmas Surprise Packages till the end of January. Our thanks for all the kind words, great suggestions, and love that you all send our way. Enjoy and let us try to keep the spirit and joy of Christmas in our hearts every day throughout the year. A tall order, but let’s try.
– Kevin Siembieda (and the Palladium Crew)
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J.H. in Katy, Texas, writes (in part): Thank you for giving us all a few extra weeks to order one of these. I haven’t done one in years because I tend to buy things as they come out, but I finally have enough for a want list to order one.
[You’re very welcome, J.H., this is exactly why I extend the offer a couple weeks into January. We appreciate you buying books as they come out and there should be quite a few new releases this year. Thanks and game on. – Kevin]
C.H.K. in Casselberry, Florida, writes (in part): I just saw my own written words and your reply to them in my Palladium email ... Wow. It’s not the first time, but it floors me with a smile every time! ... Dead Reign® is a real crazy trip in a good way.
[I’m so glad you enjoyed seeing your comment shared in the last Update, C.H.K. That’s why I do a selection of fan comments (and why we do the Surprise Package deal); to make fans smile and know they are special and appreciated. Thank you for your personal message to me as well, C.H.K. Stay awesome and game on. – Kevin]
J.O. in Niagara Falls, New York, writes (in part): I played Rifts® back in the 1990s and want to get back into it. I also pre-ordered the new TMNT books ... D&D is cool, but I enjoyed the world of Rifts and would love to share that with new players.
[Welcome back, J.O.! Sounds like a plan. You’re going to love the TMNT & Other Strangeness RPG books, they are beautiful and fun. You’re smart to pre-order at the lower Kickstarter prices. Game on. – Kevin]
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J.T. in Athens, Alabama, writes: Thank you for all the wonderful memories and keep up the amazing work.
[You are very welcome, J.T., and we will. We have so many amazing new books we want to put into your hands. – Kevin]
M.M.C. in Prairie Grove, Arizona, writes (in part): I have just recently started playing Rifts® with my Uncle, and I’m hooked. I love the adventure and the world of Rifts®.
[Welcome to Rifts®, M.M.C., it’s a dimension of endless imagination. – Kevin]
R.B. in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, writes (in part): Palladium Fantasy and Rifts® are favorites ... want to try Chaos Earth®. Just wanted to say thank you for creating some of the fond memories of my younger days enjoying these games with friends.
[The pleasure is all ours, R.B. That’s what makes RPGs so special, there is nothing like them and the memories are so rich and vibrant. Game on. – Kevin]
M.H. in Benton, Arizona, writes (in part): Thank you for everything you guys do ... I spent the last few months trying to improve my self-care and I realized that some of my happiest times have been playing RPGs with friends ... your efforts have been a blessing to my life more than once over the years ... sometimes we don’t know the ways we affect the world.
[I hear you, M.H., and you are not alone. RPGs are a wonderful and cheerful experience shared with friends or family. They most definitely help alleviate stress and stimulate the imagination in the most positive ways. I regularly suggest role-playing to find escape from our everyday worries. The fact that our games and our words have helped our fellow gamers is, indeed, an unexpected blessing that is both miraculous and humbling to us. Stay frosty and game on! – Kevin]
B.C. in St. Cloud, Minnesota, writes (in part): ... Please keep up the great work. I look forward to seeing more YouTube videos and podcast interviews with Kevin and Sean. You guys are great. I’m super-excited for the TMNT Redux! Kevin, your work and commitment to your vision, your team, and the fans is nothing short of remarkable.
[Thank you, B.C., for your kind words and excitement. It’s nice when someone recognizes that commitment. It helps that I love what I do, the people I work with, and the fans. There are many more videos and podcasts coming. In fact, I will be on a live chat with Legion of Myth Sunday, January 26, 2:00 PM Eastern Time. – Kevin]
D.L. in Killeen, Texas, writes (in part): Hi Guys, this is for my friend. I got him hooked on Rifts® (playing weekly now) and just hooked him on Palladium Fantasy, too. Love everything you guys do and I’m still out there doing my part to share the good news of Palladium Books.
[Much appreciated, D.L., you’re like Johnny Appleseed, only you’re planting the seeds of Palladium role-playing wherever you go. Awesome. Thank you and keep on keeping on. With appreciation. – Kevin]
W.L. in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, writes (in part): I just want to say, thank you, Kevin, for creating the Megaversal gaming system! It’s been a favorite of my gaming group ... probably played Palladium Fantasy the most ... Robotech® was also a favorite of mine.
[You’re welcome, W.L., our pleasure. Glad you enjoy our core rules and games so much. Keep your imagination burning bright. – Kevin]
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