Palladium Books® Weekly Update – May 16, 2019
By Kevin Siembieda
One game system – every genre – countless worlds – endless adventure
Progress on new books is moving forward at a quickening pace – art has been assigned for Garden of the Gods™, In the Face of Death™, The Rifter® #83 (epic), The Rifter® #84 (also epic), Chaos Earth® Psychic Scream™, and Rifts® Titan Robotics™. The Rifts® Bestiary Vol. One is almost done and should go into initial layout stage this weekend or early next week as I work on the last handful of creature descriptions for the tail end of the book. And boy, oh boy are they all pretty freakin’ awesome.
That has been our focus, getting new books to the printer and into your hands for June, July, and August releases, with more coming in the fall and winter. Like what, you ask? Like The Disavowed, CS Arsenal, Rifts® Bestiary Vol. 2, Rifts® Antarctica™, Lopan (Fantasy) and others, with even more in development. When not working on one book or another, we have been working on advertising, prepping for conventions and handling the ins and outs of the day to day business.
We are glad you have been enjoying the various sales at Palladium and on DriveThruRPG. No new sales this week, but maybe next week. And we continue to get strong, positive feedback about the Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet. We are delighted so many of you are going wild over this digital product. Our thanks to our Rifts® Bestiary Megaverse® Insiders for getting back to us so quickly regarding the name to go into the book under the categories of In Memoriam and A Real Character which require them to provide us a name other than their own.
NEWS: Roll High or Die – a new site that covers Palladium’s RPGs and gaming
Roll High or Die is a new website that covers gaming. Its current Palladium feature is an audio podcast they call DeadWinter – a Dead Reign® campaign that sounds quite fun. I’m told they also plan to do audio podcasts for Heroes Unlimited™ and Palladium Fantasy RPG®. We listened to Episode One and enjoyed it. Definitely worth checking them out.
SMASH HIT! Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet – available now
Gamers are going bonkers over the Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet. And why not? What’s not to love? Prysus did a wonderful job, and will continue to tweak and upgrade it. All of us at Palladium are thrilled so many of you are enjoying this helpful and fun product. A real bargain for what you get. Continue to enjoy.
The Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet is a Microsoft Excel-based character management system. Packed with features and data collected from every official Palladium Fantasy sourcebook, this sheet saves you time and hassle with each character you create.
Features & Benefits:
- The Main Character Sheet Page collects the important data from across multiple tabs and puts it in one place for quick and easy reference.
- Separate sheets examine character construction (worktable), Skills, Magic, Psionics, and Combat in greater detail.
- Built-in leveling system that calculates skill advancement for you!
- Experience Tables for over 80 O.C.C.s already programmed.
- Recognizes the percentages for nearly 150 skills, plus combat bonuses for over 20 Weapon Proficiencies and 7 Hand to Hand styles.
- Calculates the speed and distance a character can run and jump based on character Attributes.
- Also calculates how much a character can lift, carry, and throw for humanoids, Giants, and Supernatural Beings.
- Add in your own Hand to Hand style, custom Skills, unique Weapon Proficiencies, and Experience Tables.
- Estimated time to build a character reduced by 20% or more.
- Instructions on how to use the sheet included, as well as a video walkthrough below.
- Important Note: This character sheet is built to be used with Microsoft Excel 2010+ and it comes in .XLSX format. Opening this file in other spreadsheet programs is NOT guaranteed to work as intended.
- Only $3.00 – available now!
- Watch the Overview video here: https://vimeo.com/322271758
Temporarily Out of Stock: Monsters and Animals™ (Fantasy), Mechanoid Invasion® Trilogy, Nightbane®: Between the Shadows™
Fear not, these titles should all be back in print in by mid-June. Each is a fun setting and a great resource.
UPDATE: Rifts® Bestiary™, Volume One – June release
I statted out the monstrous brute depicted on the front cover just yesterday. I was saving him until I was feeling truly inspired, and I’m glad I did. This bad boy will shake up any game. I also finished the introduction and common terms for the beasts’ stats. Funny, but the front of the book is often written last, when I have a complete idea of what is definitely going into it and things that should be addressed one way or another. Otherwise, we are all working like mad men. The guys editing as fast as I pound out the writing. Even the printer is excited about this book and its hardcovers. Funny.
Don’t forget, we are not just collecting monsters and animals from Rifts® books and reprinting them, I am updating each and every one of them. Making every creature feel like something new and expanded. Each one a comprehensive description filled with fun surprises and ideas for adventure and various uses by players and G.M.s alike. Beasts from across the Megaverse and ranging from delightful and helpful to monstrous and alien. Roughly 100 monsters and animals in the Rifts® Bestiary Vol. One, alone. Plus words from Erin Tarn about the wilderness of North America. June release.
NEW! Rifts® Bestiary™, Vol. One “Gold Edition” Hardcover
Because you like hardcover editions so much, Palladium is also offering a limited, signed and numbered, mass market Gold Edition hardcover for Rifts® Bestiary Vol. One. Same interiors as the soft-cover edition and the super-limited, Megaverse Insider hardcover editions (only around 150 of each).
- Gold foil on a black leatherette hardcover.
- Sewn and glued for long-lasting durability.
- Limited to 400 or 500 signed and numbered copies.
- Signed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium staff.
- 224-256 pages – $50.00 retail – Cat. No. 896HC (Volume One) – in final production. An end of June release for the Gold Edition hardcover.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #83 End of May or early June release
Wayne has made his selections and I am assigning artwork. This is going to be a great issue full of fun source material. It includes:
- Treasures of the Megaverse® by Carl Gleba.
- Operation Minotaur for Beyond the Supernatural™ by Hendrik Härterich.
- Half-Ogre race for Palladium Fantasy RPG® by Ian Herbert.
- Prophet O.C.C. for Palladium Fantasy RPG® by Ian Herbert.
- Hunter/Vigilante for Heroes Unlimited™ by Matt Reed.
- The Superspy/Secret Operative for Heroes Unlimited™ by Matt Reed.
- News and Coming Attractions.
- 96 pages – $14.99 retail – Cat. No. 183 – end of May or early June release.
UPDATE: The Rifter® #84 – End of June or early July release
Wayne has made his selections and I will be assigning artwork soon. Another great issue full of fun and ideas.
- Source material for Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, Beyond the Supernatural™, and more!
- John Zeleznik cover.
- 96 pages – $14.99 retail – Cat. No. 184 – end of June or July release.
UPDATE: In the Face of Death™, a sourcebook for Dead Reign®
All the artwork is in and I added to my notes for this book. As soon as I am finished with Rifts® Bestiary™ Volume One, I dive into finishing In the Face of Death™, which should be very soon. Can’t wait. A June/July release.
UPDATE: Rifts® Chaos Earth® – Psychic Scream™ – Summer release
As you know, the cover is done and I have assigned the artwork. I will be trying very hard to release this epic sourcebook by Taylor White with additional material by me, Kevin Siembieda, in July. No promises, but I am pumped.
UPDATE: Garden of the Gods™ – Summer release
Almost all of the interior artwork has been assigned and some art is already coming in and looking good. The cover pencils are also done and have been sent to the digital painter.
Garden of the Gods™ is a unique adventure engine that should give players and Game Masters plenty of fuel for their characters and games. The Raw Preview Edition gives you a great idea of what you can expect when the finished book is released later this summer. We cannot wait to get all these books into your hands. I am shooting for an end of July/Gen Con release, but August is probably more realistic.
UPDATE: Rifts® Titan Robotics™
I continue to approve concept drawings and assign more artwork. As those of you who have purchased the Titan Robotics™ Raw Edition already know, there is a lot of new tech, power armor, robots, etc., in this book that needs to be illustrated. I now have a trio of artists working on the book, and will be assigning others. A summer or fall release, which depends on how quickly some other projects come together.
UPDATE: Rifts® Bestiary™, Volume Two – Fall release
Nothing new on this front, but we all want it to be released as quickly as possible. Looking at a fall release.
UPDATE: Rifts® Antarctica™
Nothing new to report. I think Rifts® Antarctica™ is going to surprise and delight a lot of people. It is also a great example of the fun you can have with the Raw Editions. The sold out Rifts® Antarctica Raw Edition is a far cry from what the finished book is going to be. Those of you who bought the Raw Edition get a glimpse at Palladium’s creative process. When you compare the two, you’ll see what we kept, what we eliminated, what we added, and how we embellished the material to reach the creative finale of the finished book coming this fall or winter. Fun and educational for those of you who aspire to be writers yourself or just like to have the inside track at Palladium. And true of all Raw Editions vs the finished book. Probably a fall or winter release.
UPDATE: The Disavowed™, Living Nowhere™, Beyond the Supernatural™ sourcebooks, and other titles
These titles and several others are NOT forgotten and are in various stages of active production or waiting for production. As always, just because a book is not specifically listed in every Weekly Update, it does not mean it is discontinued or in limbo, it means there are more immediate things to talk about or there’s no substantive news to report. We are anxious to put as many of the books you’ve been waiting for into your hands as possible over the next 18 months. That includes Chaos Earth® First Responders™, Rifts® Antarctica, Rifts® CS Arsenal™, Rifts® Living Nowhere™, Beyond the Supernatural™ sourcebooks, more Fantasy sourcebooks and other titles. So if a book you are waiting for is not mentioned in an Update, it means there is nothing new to report, but it should still be in the pipeline and news for it will be coming in the weeks or months ahead. Right now, we are focused on releases for the next six months, which by our count is 6-7 titles. And many of them are in various stages of production or development.
New on DriveThruRPG.com – Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet – available now
The Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet is a Microsoft Excel-based character management system. Packed with features and data collected from every official Palladium Fantasy sourcebook to enable you to create Fantasy characters quickly (25 minutes!) and help you to update and manage them for years to come.
Highlights & Benefits of the Interactive Character Sheet Include:
- The Main Character Sheet Page collects the important data from across multiple tabs and puts it in one place for quick and easy reference.
- Separate sheets examine character construction (worktable), Skills, Magic, Psionics, and Combat in greater detail.
- Built-in leveling system that calculates skill advancement for you!
- Experience Tables for over 80 O.C.C.s already programmed.
- Recognizes the percentages for nearly 150 skills, plus combat bonuses for over 20 Weapon Proficiencies and 7 Hand to Hand styles.
- Calculates the speed and distance a character can run and jump based on character Attributes.
- Also calculates how much a character can lift, carry, and throw for humanoids, Giants, and Supernatural Beings.
- Add in your own Hand to Hand style, custom Skills, unique Weapon Proficiencies, and Experience Tables.
- Estimated time to build a character reduced by 20% or more.
- Instructions on how to use the sheet included, as well as a video walkthrough below.
- Important Note: This character sheet is built to be used with Microsoft Excel 2010+ and it comes in .XLSX format. Opening this file in other spreadsheet programs is NOT guaranteed to work as intended.
- Available now!
We continue to work on a number of new PDF releases for DriveThru, including the three Rifts® Novels, The Rifter® #80, more Paper Minis, a few free things, and maybe a few surprises, so keep your eyes peeled.
Recent PDF additions include The Rifter® #79: gaming through history, the Kingdom of Rifts® New Oslo, a Rifts® short story, the Heroes Unlimited™ Stage Magician, tips on running a campaign, and more. The Rifter® #78 with the Modern Necromancer for use with Nightbane® and other settings, the City of Khemennu Part 2 for Palladium Fantasy®, the Nexus Zone for Rifts®, the aftermath of I Am Legion for Splicers® and more. Rifts® Heroes of Humanity™, the Coalition's response to the escalating Minion War™ crisis, uniting D-Bees, mages and heroes of every stripe to stand against this Demon Plague. CS psychics and Psi-Battalion, CS Demon Hunter, new CS power armor, cyborgs, gear, special training and more. Dead Reign® Paper Miniatures Volume Three: Zombies, Dead Reign® Paper Miniatures Volume Two: Civilians and Dead Reign® Paper Miniatures Volume One: Survivors. There are also paper miniatures for Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy® and Rifts®. A new, up-to-date, PDF Palladium Books Catalog. Nightbane® Dark Designs™ sourcebook with 60 new Common Talents, 38 new Elite Talents, 18 new Morphus Tables, all other Morphus Tables collected and more. Systems Failure™ RPG, a 160 page RPG that deals with alien invasion and a post-apocalypse setting that is fun and dynamic. Civilization is on the verge of collapse when the so-called "bugs" invade and turn humans into zombie-like slaves. Monsters, heroes and fun. A complete RPG and setting. Rifts® World Book 34: Northern Gun™ Two: 256 pages of technology and fun. 30+ power armors, 30+ body armors, 15 combat vehicles, 45 vehicles (hovercycles, etc.), 10 robot haulers, the Robodome and more. Bizantium and the Northern Islands™: the northernmost part of the Known World, the Cold Born, Necromancy ships made from dead sea serpents, 15 creatures, Random Sea Monster Generator, and more. Rifts® Northern Gun™ One. This fan favorite might be thought of as the big book of giant robots – an in-depth look at Northern Gun, 70+ weapons, 27 robots, NG O.C.C.s, key people and places, and much more. Mysteries of Magic™ Book One: The Heart of Magic™ with Wizards, their Apprentices, nearly 60 new magic spells and remember, magic and monsters in the Fantasy RPG are easily adapted to Rifts®, Chaos Earth®, HU2 and other settings. Wolfen Empire™ Fantasy sourcebook, the Great Northern Wilderness and Killer Winters, 12 Wolfen Tribes, Wolfen military and society, 15+ creatures, 5 full adventures, 101 adventure ideas, random encounter tables, notable people, places, plus FREE Sneak Previews of The Rifter® #80, The Rifter® #81, The Rifter® #82, and more on DriveThruRPG.com.