Progress Report #3 -- May 3, 2006

[Kevin]

Progress Report #3

You are the greatest!!!

We have sold approximate 1,300 prints (and counting) of the Megaverse United, and with the sales of the prints, combined with book sales and donations put us somewhere around the $100,000 mark in just 14 days!

Unbelievable. You guys and gals are too much! Awesome. This is a huge help and shot in the arm, enabling us to start paying some of the most crushing debt and set a schedule for reprinting books. If people continue to buy prints and product, we should be in pretty good shape by the end of Summer!

The Print – A Megaverse United – is done!

The print is drawn, at the printers, and will be available at the Open House. I hope people like it. I tried to include characters from all our major game lines (the woman is Lt. Sawyer from NEMA/Chaos Earth). I thought about adding a mech and a contemporary soldier (RECON), but I already had a dozen figures and spent 40 hours on the piece and I didn’t want to over work it. Most folks here all thought it looked great, . . . except Carmen who said it looked “okay” and that it would be “fine.”

I tried to put some fun images and ideas into the piece and went with a little bit of humor rather than something serious; i.e. there is a Wolfen shaking hands with a Dog Boy Bull Dog half his size, a (BTS) human shaking hands with tentacles, a troglodyte just poking his head out, and similar.

I drew it with you, our fans, in mind and with the idea that YOU are working to help save Palladium from the brink of death, hence the shattered tombstone, the open grave, and the smiling faces. I hope it conveys my appreciation and thanks to each and every one of you.

Although it’s a little crazy and will slow down the speed in which we can process the print orders, as a special thank you, I plan to handwrite each person’s name on the print, in the Thank You card held by the ninja. Yeah, it’s time consuming, but you’re worth it, and it’s something I want to do. That way, each print is personalized, and you and everyone who looks at it will know you are one of the heroes of the Megaverse. For some of you (Evan) who bought multiple copies out of generosity, only the first one or two will be personalized, unless you indicated the names of friends, the rest will be blank (but feel free to put in a friends name and give it out as a gift).

With a little luck, the prints will start to ship by May 15.

11x14 print size (10x13 image)
Signed & numbered by me, Kevin Siembieda
Rolled and mailed in tube.
Note: An image of the print should be posted in a day or two.

Those at the Open House may get other guests to sign it as well.

Friends Everywhere

The outpouring of help and support hasn’t been limited to our fans, or maybe it’s that we have fans everywhere. That means we gotten calls, e-mails, and support from people inside our industry. Jolly Blackburn, Steve Jackson, Larry Elmore, Richard Kummer, Mike Webb, Phillis Opolko, Gilbert Milner, Don Rentz, Brendan Hunter, and James Mishler, were among the multitude quick to contact Palladium to ask if there was anything they could do to help.

Some distributors are offering sales, extra discounts to retailers, and advice and suggestions.

McNally Robinson Booksellers, a book chain in Calgary, Canada is now carrying Palladium RPGs – and anything they don’t have in stock (they’re starting small and building the line), they can special order, so you Canadian cowboys out there, run over to McNally Robinson’s to get your Palladium gaming products.

Talks with Harmony Gold, the owners and licensors of Robotech® are looking promising, and a few other things are starting to boil behind the scenes.

Palladium will be at Origins

The good folk at GAMA were generous enough to “give” Palladium an end-cap booth free of charge, so Palladium Books will be at Origins. Thanks guys, it is appreciated.

Come on down, say hello, and pickup on the latest books.


Palladium Open House – May 6 & 7

For those of you not attending . . . we hope to post photos and even transmit audio of some of the panel discussions so stay tuned to the Palladium Website all weekend for the latest fun and silliness.

For those of you coming to the event . . . We are geeked — excited as all get out, that is, about the Open House this weekend. Should be fun times. Thanks to YOU, we have plenty to celebrate! We aren’t out of the woods yet, but wow. Things are suddenly looking much better thanks to you.

We are working like dogs from morning till midnight to set everything up for the event and looking good.

It has been the unpacking, pricing (thank you Alex! With a little help from Jeff), and displaying of the ONE THOUSAND plus toys that has been murder!!! It looks like a Toys R Us exploded in the warehouse! Half the collection is Star Wars, followed by a ton of McFarlane and superhero items. Toy collectors should have a field day, especially those looking Star Wars figures, MicroMachines and oddities.

A lot of people are ordering tickets at the last minute while others are saying they’re going to pop in and pay at the door. Cool. Right now we estimate attendance to be around 300-400 (plus 50-some guests and helpers). Hope we can all get a good night’s rest before the Open House.

Admission will be accepted at the door ($2.00 to browse and buy, $15 for a single day of gaming). Come on down.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist, and one tired, but grateful and happy guy!