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I agree, Kali. I think it'll happen sooner or later. Phase World offers almost limitless potential for interesting plots and characters.

I can't wait until Phase World!!!

newest show is up!
http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/

A little late to the game here, but here's my opinion.

They need to expand into six areas, which the poll in the OP has shown alot of people agree with. I'll start with the Easiest and then go down to the hardest.

1: PDFs and E-books. It has been said since back in 2012, but this needs to be done. It is no longer just an option, it is a necessity at this point. The world is continuing forward technologically. Kids these days hardly ever touch a book unless its in school. Most of them have a tablet or a mobile phone, with Kindle or some other kind of E-Reader, if they even choose to read in the first place. Teens and Adults do read, and it is easier, and cheaper, to get the E-format then to buy a physical book. Now Palladium has done this on DriveThruRPG, but not to all their books and certainly not in enough places.

2: Comics. Palladium has itself several outstanding artists available to them, with a variety of styles to boot. With the way we have things today as opposed to 2012 or even 2003 when I first joined, having a Web Comic is not only not out of the question and something even Keven Sembieda himself can do, but do it for near free, and do it on a weekly basis with short three panel stories like Sunday comics in a news paper. Plenty of famous, well to do Web Comic makers do this and are rolling in cash. It doesn't even have to be Rifts. Kevin could sit down, actually write a three or five panel starting comic for THE MECHANOIDS if he wanted to. There's no limit to what can be done here, if done properly.

Actual Comic Books are tricky and cost money. Online Comics which can be seen by thousands to millions with proper ad-sense and algorithms to show them to people who would be interested are easy to do, but require effort. Pretty sure the fans would love to do this if given permission and had Palladium as a sponser. Especially if they have their own works already, which have a large audience.

3: Novels. Having a novel, even a short one of 120 pages or so, would be nothing but a good thing for Palladium and whatever work it is set in. Best of all, it takes little to no money to do, only time and a bit of effort to develop a plot and characters. As a fan fiction writer who's written more than a few novel length things at this point, it's possibly the easiest money maker Palladium can do. The best part of E-Books is that when Combined with Novels, Palladium can sell their books right on their own site. Plus the Fans who have the skills, drive, and passion to write for the settings will get the chance to shine and even build themselves up as a professional author/writer. This is the best option in my personal opinion and experience.

4: YouTube. Let's be frank, YouTube, despite its current problems, is still the biggest and best online platform for video publishing to a wide audience. Whether its short two minute Ad video showing random pictures from game books, and text showing what one can experience with what they are seeing, and then showing you can get it from *blank* game from Palladium Books, or a long video on how to do basic stuff with Rifts like how to make a character and how to play and so on, YouTube is an avenue worth pursuing. I have recently though about making my own channel a focus for Palladium Book games as a result of the recent loss of Robotech and the problems stemming from it, as I desire to see Palladium succeed despite it.

5: Video Games. Now this one had been spoken of alot. Games the likes of Fallout and Elder Scrolls, and big worlds to explore, and so on. Frankly speaking...games cost money. Alot of money. Unless...you are doing a small game with minimal graphics, and minimal size. Games which can be made with already available programs like RPG Maker MV, which would be Perfect for a Palladium Fantasy based game. The games for Palladium do not have to be big games like Fallout 4 which costs millions. They can be smaller games which costs a few hundred and time at the least, or maybe $1000+ at most. It would be better than having nothing, and again, kids these days don't want to read very much when they have video games to play.

Hell...Imagine for a moment a game like Angry Birds, only its based in rifts, and it's five characters (A Male Glitterboy, a Female Psi-Healer, a human male Walker, a female Dogboy Scout, and a Female Psionic Operator) and they go through levels solving puzzles that are suited for each character, all the while getting basic images on what they are doing before getting to Chi-Town and beating the Emperor. It would sell. Not just to Palladium fans either, but to anyone who took a fancy to it, who would probably become Palladium Fans.

Best of all, there are many platforms in which the game could be sold, including through Palladium itself if it wanted to go that route. Steam is likely the best of the options however, and has a huge base for indie-developers.

In addition there are programs out there like Tabletop Simulator that, if Palladium went for it, could create a program for people to play the game Digitally, with people across the world in one place, with a simulated table top, Miniatures, books, and so on. The basic game could be one pack. Each book could be sold separately for download or as a bundle for four or five books. Miniatures could be sold in digital "packs" for different things.

Games do not need to be big, or expensive to get people to buy. They do need to exist though.

6: Miniature Making. This might be a sad and sore point due to RRT, but hear me out on this. Right now we live in a world where portable 3D-Printing is possible. Palladium has their own miniature line for Rifts, but they are old Pewter minis. You could go out right now, with 3000-8000 dollars buy a cheap home printer, and make your own stuff provided you have the files for it. You don't need a big company to buy the stuff from, and the materials to make the minis (the resin, etc) isn't expensive on the personal level.

Palladium buys themselves two or three printers, the stuff to make minis, make or buy or commission the creation of their choice, and then make the minis in house. To make it even cheaper, print-on-demand only, or store-sell. Store-sell is basically when you store a small amount, no more than 100 of a product (or 1000 if demand is high enough), and then sell and send it on its way when it is purchased, and then immediately replace that which is bought to keep the number up. Also practice Fi-fo (First In/First Out).

It is well within their capabilities to do this...though I cannot speak for Palladium Financially.

That's all I have for now. These are where Palladium should be going, and some of them can be done cheaply or for no cost but time and effort.

The Fans would be willing to help if asked too. Megaversal Ambassadors are useful for this too

I'll think of some more later, there's plenty but this is just off the top of my head...so to speak.

GundamChief wrote:A little late to the game here, but here's my opinion.

They need to expand into six areas, which the poll in the OP has shown alot of people agree with. I'll start with the Easiest and then go down to the hardest.

1: PDFs and E-books. It has been said since back in 2012, but this needs to be done. It is no longer just an option, it is a necessity at this point. The world is continuing forward technologically. Kids these days hardly ever touch a book unless its in school. Most of them have a tablet or a mobile phone, with Kindle or some other kind of E-Reader, if they even choose to read in the first place. Teens and Adults do read, and it is easier, and cheaper, to get the E-format then to buy a physical book. Now Palladium has done this on DriveThruRPG, but not to all their books and certainly not in enough places.

2: Comics. Palladium has itself several outstanding artists available to them, with a variety of styles to boot. With the way we have things today as opposed to 2012 or even 2003 when I first joined, having a Web Comic is not only not out of the question and something even Keven Sembieda himself can do, but do it for near free, and do it on a weekly basis with short three panel stories like Sunday comics in a news paper. Plenty of famous, well to do Web Comic makers do this and are rolling in cash. It doesn't even have to be Rifts. Kevin could sit down, actually write a three or five panel starting comic for THE MECHANOIDS if he wanted to. There's no limit to what can be done here, if done properly.

Actual Comic Books are tricky and cost money. Online Comics which can be seen by thousands to millions with proper ad-sense and algorithms to show them to people who would be interested are easy to do, but require effort. Pretty sure the fans would love to do this if given permission and had Palladium as a sponser. Especially if they have their own works already, which have a large audience.

3: Novels. Having a novel, even a short one of 120 pages or so, would be nothing but a good thing for Palladium and whatever work it is set in. Best of all, it takes little to no money to do, only time and a bit of effort to develop a plot and characters. As a fan fiction writer who's written more than a few novel length things at this point, it's possibly the easiest money maker Palladium can do. The best part of E-Books is that when Combined with Novels, Palladium can sell their books right on their own site. Plus the Fans who have the skills, drive, and passion to write for the settings will get the chance to shine and even build themselves up as a professional author/writer. This is the best option in my personal opinion and experience.

4: YouTube. Let's be frank, YouTube, despite its current problems, is still the biggest and best online platform for video publishing to a wide audience. Whether its short two minute Ad video showing random pictures from game books, and text showing what one can experience with what they are seeing, and then showing you can get it from *blank* game from Palladium Books, or a long video on how to do basic stuff with Rifts like how to make a character and how to play and so on, YouTube is an avenue worth pursuing. I have recently though about making my own channel a focus for Palladium Book games as a result of the recent loss of Robotech and the problems stemming from it, as I desire to see Palladium succeed despite it.

5: Video Games. Now this one had been spoken of alot. Games the likes of Fallout and Elder Scrolls, and big worlds to explore, and so on. Frankly speaking...games cost money. Alot of money. Unless...you are doing a small game with minimal graphics, and minimal size. Games which can be made with already available programs like RPG Maker MV, which would be Perfect for a Palladium Fantasy based game. The games for Palladium do not have to be big games like Fallout 4 which costs millions. They can be smaller games which costs a few hundred and time at the least, or maybe $1000+ at most. It would be better than having nothing, and again, kids these days don't want to read very much when they have video games to play.

Hell...Imagine for a moment a game like Angry Birds, only its based in rifts, and it's five characters (A Male Glitterboy, a Female Psi-Healer, a human male Walker, a female Dogboy Scout, and a Female Psionic Operator) and they go through levels solving puzzles that are suited for each character, all the while getting basic images on what they are doing before getting to Chi-Town and beating the Emperor. It would sell. Not just to Palladium fans either, but to anyone who took a fancy to it, who would probably become Palladium Fans.

Best of all, there are many platforms in which the game could be sold, including through Palladium itself if it wanted to go that route. Steam is likely the best of the options however, and has a huge base for indie-developers.

In addition there are programs out there like Tabletop Simulator that, if Palladium went for it, could create a program for people to play the game Digitally, with people across the world in one place, with a simulated table top, Miniatures, books, and so on. The basic game could be one pack. Each book could be sold separately for download or as a bundle for four or five books. Miniatures could be sold in digital "packs" for different things.

Games do not need to be big, or expensive to get people to buy. They do need to exist though.

6: Miniature Making. This might be a sad and sore point due to RRT, but hear me out on this. Right now we live in a world where portable 3D-Printing is possible. Palladium has their own miniature line for Rifts, but they are old Pewter minis. You could go out right now, with 3000-8000 dollars buy a cheap home printer, and make your own stuff provided you have the files for it. You don't need a big company to buy the stuff from, and the materials to make the minis (the resin, etc) isn't expensive on the personal level.

Palladium buys themselves two or three printers, the stuff to make minis, make or buy or commission the creation of their choice, and then make the minis in house. To make it even cheaper, print-on-demand only, or store-sell. Store-sell is basically when you store a small amount, no more than 100 of a product (or 1000 if demand is high enough), and then sell and send it on its way when it is purchased, and then immediately replace that which is bought to keep the number up. Also practice Fi-fo (First In/First Out).

It is well within their capabilities to do this...though I cannot speak for Palladium Financially.

That's all I have for now. These are where Palladium should be going, and some of them can be done cheaply or for no cost but time and effort.

The Fans would be willing to help if asked too. Megaversal Ambassadors are useful for this too

I'll think of some more later, there's plenty but this is just off the top of my head...so to speak.

100% Agree.

A new show is up using Heroes Unlimited rule set http://strangecorpseposse.blogspot.ca/

SAMASzero wrote:Palladium (to say nothing of Rifts) really does need to branch out, if for no other reasons than to get their name out.

My first suggestion would be a re-release of Promise of Power for the 3DS (and even PSVita if you like). I'd heard that the game was pretty good, but it had the misfortune of being based on a system the gaming public disliked from day one. Hell, the infamy of the N-Gage could even work to it's advantage here. But I would suggest you make it a fairly low price. The game is kinda old.

ps4 all the way baby

Short stories gathered into a single volume.

Rifts (and Palladium) has a wealth of stories to be told, but most people don't have the time or resources to put a full book together. Short stories under one cover would allow writing from Phase World, Dark Reign, TMNT, Palladium, and Rifts to be printed side-by-side. People may like one or two of the genres, but not be familiar with the others. After exposure to other aspects of the game you may get new players or old players reinvigorated.

Blackwater Sniper wrote:Short stories gathered into a single volume.

Rifts (and Palladium) has a wealth of stories to be told, but most people don't have the time or resources to put a full book together. Short stories under one cover would allow writing from Phase World, Dark Reign, TMNT, Palladium, and Rifts to be printed side-by-side. People may like one or two of the genres, but not be familiar with the others. After exposure to other aspects of the game you may get new players or old players reinvigorated.

I like this idea. Start collecting stories and if you need filler you can throw in the stories from the Rifters like Hammer of the Forge, Reaper Cell, etc.

I'd love more novels too, I have the trilogy by Adam Chilson. I'd take more following different characters, different storylines, etc. Let's Forgotten Realms novelize this setting. Well maybe not that much, Forgotten Realms went nuts and over-saturated. But if we could get say a juicer or crazy or cyber-knight or plucky operator glitterboy pilot or something with the mass market appeal of Drizzt, that could seriously boost exposure and increase the chances of us getting a worthy movie too.

Rerelease Promise of Power in a format more widely accessible to the masses. Pretty much everyone has an Android or iPhone. I know far fewer people these days willing to throw $400+ at a console. My kids barely touch the console we have, they gravitate towards tablets and chromebooks (with built-in android app support) first. Port it to both of those for a reasonable price *and advertise it* and you should see returns. Seriously, put ads in other RPG games, just about every game my son finds has ads for other games that come up occasionally while he's playing and he wants to install just about every one that comes across his screen. The game is written, just need to port it. Maybe that isn't as easy as it seems but I suspect worth it financially.

As an idea for new videogames, my absolute favorite RPGs are: Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate 2, and Mass Effect. The first two being overhead 2D isometric turn based combat systems that really let you feel like you're playing a RPG with figurines on a map and take advantage of your powers and strategies. Mass Effect is a solid first person shooter with a good storyline and compelling setting and breaks from combat and running around for dialogue which includes choices that have an effect on how things go. I think Rifts could be awesome in both formats and since it is an RPG it should be easy to make it work with a good story as well. Don't lock players into one faction like you can only roll a Coalition troop of some kind or only a Tolkeenite or New Lazloite, give them a few starting options that maybe the first half hour (or even just opening animation storyline) gives you a different start to the game but after that whether you're Coalition or a juicer or malvoren or burster you end up on the same main continent/globe/megaverse hopping storyline for reasons that suit the character/faction and really show off how awesome the setting is. Given the vast scope of the Rifts setting, it would be very easy to do expansions. Maybe the main storyline takes you on North America and hops you for a finale in Phase World or Atlantis or something. But then there is an expansion/DLC that runs you through a long adventure in Wormwood or NGR or Japan or Underseas or Africa, etc. While I prefer to buy a completely encapsulated complete game, it seems like too many companies are doing the DLC thing because it's easy profits. As long as you aren't obnoxious about it and don't overcharge for an expansion that is too expensive for how long it takes to play through it, the fans should be happy.

They've done that...It's called Tales from the Chi-Town Burbs.

Expanding into other media would have been a good idea 10 or 15 years ago, but that ship has sailed. That was your big moment and now it's gone.
Rifts does not translate to the new digital formats available.

Most people in general have never even heard of Rifts. Especially young gamers, your target audience.

So if you're hoping to ride the Rifts train a little longer, I just don't see that happening.



All the ideas from your books have already been capitalized by video game developers, and improved upon, and now your content is dated and cliche.

It's not like Rifts, the multi-genre game, had very many original ideas anyway. You were just standing on the shoulders of giants like everyone else.