EVERYTHING going on at Palladium

[Kevin]

EVERYTHING going on at Palladium . . . well mostly.

The move to new digs

Somehow, our move to the new office and warehouse at Webb Court feels like it happened 3-4 months ago rather than only five weeks ago. Crazy how that “Palladium Time” distortion effect works. Of course, it seems that way because of all the changes (personally and professionally) and the incredible number of things going on for me (and for all of us at Palladium Books) at Palladium.

I miss that Hank

It seems odd not to have my father, Henry Siembieda, working in the warehouse. He’s been part of the company in one way or another for two decades and his absences is noticeable. Of course, at age 77, it was time for Hank to turn in his gloves and box cutter and take it easy for a while. He says retired life is nice, but that it feels weird not to be going to Palladium every day.

More staff coming on board

It is nice having Jason Marker (writer, editor, photographer) come to the office on a more frequent basis. Volunteer helper, Margaret Hailey (to call her an "intern" anymore seems inappropriate) has also been coming in more often (a few hours here, a few hours there) and has been a big help.

By June, with a little luck and increased sales, we hope to make Jason Marker full time. He has been a huge asset with the Robotech® license and he has big plans for the Robotech Masters Saga and other Southern Cross related sourcebooks. Jason has also been making great headway on editing and cleaning up Rifts® Dimensional Outbreak™, the third book in the Minion War series.

I also hope to bring in one more full time person to replace Hank in the warehouse as well as do a bit of editing, writing and general help on the side. That person will be . . . nah, I should wait until we know we can bring him onboard.

Dyval™, Hell Unleashed

Work on Dyval™ is progressing at a good clip now, and I hope to get the book into the printer sometime next week. Finally! This books is truly awesome and though you’ve waited forever to get it, you are going to LOVE it.

In fact, we are working at an exciting (if a little bit insane) clip to start getting all kinds of books finished and to the printer. I hate that the many exciting sourcebooks, role-playing games and other products we’ve talked about and promised have been delayed for so long. Well, that ends now, because here they come! Read on.

Dimensional Outbreak

Jason is about two-thirds of the way done with his edit and tweaking of Dimensional Outbreak™, then it’s my turn. I’ll be assigning the art for it this week and jumping into the final rewriting and editing shortly after I finish Dyval™.

Rifts® Megaverse in Flames™

Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the dynamic Minion War series, Carl Gleba, is busy putting the finish touches on the final book in the Minion War series. Like I said, we are rocking!

Dead Reign™ RPG

I hope to review Josh Hilden and Joshua Sanford’s manuscript and assign the final art for Palladium’s Zombie Apocalypse RPG, Dead Reign, this week. Crazy man, Nick Bradshaw, already has 20+ illustrations done for the book and Palladium newcomer, Amy L. Ashbaugh, has at least a half dozen illustrations finished. Both artists will be the stars of this gruesomely fun-to-play return of the dead. I haven’t decided if I should keep this book a Summer release or reschedule it to make it an (appropriately) October release.

Robotech® Deluxe

Sales on Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® RPG remain strong. Jason Marker is putting together the errata for it and corrections will be made in the next printing as well as in the Deluxe Hardcover Edition of the Robotech® RPG. The errata will also be posted online and in an issue of The Rifter®.

Artwork for the additions to the Deluxe HC Edition has been assigned to the dynamic duo, Brian and Allen Manning, with a few new character pieces to be done by Apollo Okamura. Apollo will also be doing the cover artwork for The Macross Saga and The Robotech Masters' Saga.

We have also figured out what the new material to be added will be and we will start working on it soon. It will include some additional illustrations, cutaways, vehicles, adventures and notable spacecraft.

The Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® Deluxe Edition RPG is going to be hardcover and 8½ x 11. Haven’t decided if it will have color plates included or not. This edition is in direct response to you, our fans, many of whom have asked for a larger, hardcover edition of the core rule book. Well, now you'll have it, or will in August. The new material is a fairly small part of the book and will be reprinted in a sourcebook so that fans don’t have to buy the Deluxe edition to get it.

Robotech® sourcebooks

Likewise, we have started the research, note taking, correspondences, calls to Harmony Gold, and writing on the next two sourcebooks in the new Robotech® series, The Macross Saga™ and The Robotech Masters Saga™. We are uncovering some amazing art and information for both, especially The Robotech Masters Saga™. If Harmony Gold lets us run with our new revelations for Southern Cross/Masters, we are going to blow fans away with that book! And these are just the first sourcebooks, there will probably be several for all the Robotech War eras as well as plans to do a sourcebook that collects, describes and stats out ALL the spacecraft from all eras of the series.

Warpath: Urban Jungle™ RPG

Carmen Bellaire and Jeffrey Scott Hansen are fast at work on Warpath™: Urban Jungle RPG. It is coming along nicely.

Rifts® Anthology Book -- Tales of the Chi-Town 'Burbs™

I don't know if fans are as excited about this book as we are, but we think you are going to love it. Me and a gaggle of freelance writers have all created short stories for this collection of tales about the 'Burbs. It will provide insight to the Coalition States, Chi-Town, the 'Burbs and life around Chi-Town. Good stuff you will not want to miss.

The Rifter® #43 Swimsuit issue

I have started to assign out work for our third annual Swimsuit issue. Btw, the first issue is completely SOLD OUT and the second Swimsuit issue is selling out fast. Like last year, we plan to stat out the women in each illustration so that you can use them as a villain, hero or NPC in your own game. The emphasis will be on Erick Wujcik settings and characters like After the Bomb, Ninjas & Superspies, Dragons and Gods, etc., as a sort of tribute to his creative genius and contributions to the Palladium RPG Megaverse®.

Speaking of Erick, his health continues to deteriorate, but he retains his sense of normalacy, joy and appreciation of life, food and the people around him. God bless.

Erick Wujcik Collectors series

As some of you may already know, Erick has asked me to have Palladium Books release a series of limited edition, hardcover books collecting his role-playing game creations. This is one of Erick’s most heartfelt requests, and I’m happy to do this for my dear friend. Print runs will be limited to 1,500 to 2,000 copies.

I have already gotten preliminary approvals for the rights to collect and reprint the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® RPG and TMNT sourcebooks as well as the Amber Diceless® RPG and Shadow Knights. Of course, reprinting Palladium titles and contributions to various Palladium publications is not a problem as we have those rights. Looking good, Erick.

Each book will be a leatherette with foil printing and sewn for lifetime durability. Black and red are Erick’s favorite color combination, so expect that often.

Each book will be numbered and signed by me, Kevin Siembieda, as publisher, possibly other creators/artists/writers/editors, and bear a “printed” signature of Erick Wujcik. Each book in the series will cost $75-$100 retail (depending on page count) and will be made available only from Palladium Books. The first may be released as soon as this Fall.

Back in Print

I plan to finally get several out of print titles back in print over the next 8-12 weeks. They include (in no particular order):

Powers Unlimited™ One
Aliens Unlimited™
Rifts® Lone Star™
Rifts® Naruni™ Wave 2
Rifts® Megaverse Builder™
Rifts® Three Galaxies™
Rifts® Japan
Rifts® Mercenaries
and I know I’m forgetting a title or two

Rifts® China One and The Rifter® #21 are both currently back in print as limited run “print on demand” available directly from Palladium Books online and via mail order.

The Rifter® Zero

The Rifter® Zero will be Palladium’s first downloadable “product.” As a product it will cost a small fee of $3.00 to purchase and download. It is only the first of such digital products that we hope will add to the fun of playing our games and fill some needs for adventures and source material between book releases.

therifter.com

therifter.com will be Palladium’s online version of The Rifter publication where fan writers and artists will be able to post appropriate Palladium-based (and all-age appropriate) material online for Palladium fans everywhere to see and share. Cool. We hope to get it up and running in a few weeks.

Rifts® Movie News

There is none that I’m aware of. Rawson Thruber, the screenwriter, and I have exchanged a number of emails, I sent him a stack of Rifts books he requested for research purposes (no, I’m not going to tell you which titles), and that’s about it for the present. I love his enthusiasm and commitment to the project, and I’m excited about what he might turn out, but no news on that front.

Palladium’s Secret Project

Fate seems to constantly dangle potential new oportunities in potential new markets all the time. We’ve been working on one such super-secret project since last October. I cannot (Maryann!!!) reveal what it is until ALL the delicate pieces fall into place. If all goes well, we should be able to announce it at Gen Con this August. And it’s potentially big. Even Erick Wujcik has been involved, offering his advice to help get it set up and going. It is already two months behind where we wanted to be due to unforseen complications, so I'm hoping my mentioning it here doesn't jinx us. Go get 'em John. Make this happen!

I better get back to work now . . .

Whew, now you can see why you haven’t heard much from me these past several weeks, and those are only the highlights of what’s been going on at Palladium lately. There’s a lot more planned for the months to come, plus I’ve been busy working with freelancers, talking to attorneys, doing contracts, developing new product ideas, and upgrading Palladium’s operations (including a new UPS computer and restructured shipping area), my daughter's marriage announcement (next year is the big day), and a bunch of personal stuff on top of it all. Oh, and believe it or not, I even squeezed in some time to see the Iron Man movie. Awesome, btw, every bit as good as the Spidey flicks.

Keep your imaginations burning bright! Ours are working overtime for you.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist and RPG Fan Boy

© Copyright May 6, 2008 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Dead Reign, Warpath: Urban Jungle, Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.