New Press Release, Open House & Stuff

[Kevin]

New Press Release, Open House & Stuff

I just finished the Palladium Open House Update for our website. Wayne should have it posted later tonight (Friday, January 8, 2010).

We are very excited about this year’s Open House – April 29-May 2 – and already have a lot of Palladium freelancers telling us they’ll be there. We should have as many Palladium creators and personalities as ever, plus I hope to sneak in a couple of surprise guests.

We plan to make this Open House a memorable one. Not only will we have a lot of artists and writers, but we’ll have a lot of special events. A birthday party for Rifts (turns 20 this year), and Carmen Bellaire has been planning and literally building his Robotech event for months now. It will be amazing and fun. Likewise, Julius Rosenstein has been plotting his game events and rolling up characters for at least a month, maybe longer, and I know other Palladium G.M.s are planning to pull out all the stops with the games they are running.

As for myself, I’m caught in a Catch 22 situation. At the Open Houses prior to 2009, people said they wanted me to run more games so more people would have the opportunity to play in one of my games. So last year, I ran something like 8-9 game events plus the auction and costume contest. While people loved that, the new complaint was that because I was running games – pretty much all the time – people were disappointed they didn’t get a chance to talk to me more.

It’s difficult figuring out how to divide my time to please as many people as possible, but I’m working on it. For one, I’m thinking fo running half as many games, or shorter games (2 hours?), and then being more available to talk to people one-on-one. I’m also thinking of hosting several short panel discussions, like and hour at a time. In fact, I want to have more panel talks, perhaps some hosted by Matthew Daye, or other person. That would give small groups of people (20-40 people) a chance to meet Palladium creators and ask questions in-between games and such. A good panel talk is always fun. I also want to give more tours of the office this year. Actually, I have all kinds of ideas for the Open House.

Games and sign up. We’ll also try hard to do better with the game sign up process. For one, we’ll have the schedule posted online at least 3 weeks before the Open House, so people can figure out, in advance, what they want to play. We’ll prohibit people from signing up for more than one event in the same time slot, and we’ll make sure there is something to do or a game to play all the time so nobody is left standing around without anything to do.

Kathy says there will be free coffee again (people loved that), though it may be limited to the mornings and some key periods during the day, and we’ll streamline and perfect other aspects of the Open House.

- Games are FREE.
- Panel Talks are FREE.
- Coffee is FREE.
- Autographs are FREE.
- Participating in the Costume Contest is FREE (and you could win a plaque and Palladium Bucks you can spend at the Open House).

Basically, the cost of admission covers all available events (except VIP Thursday).

Games are still going to be mainly available on a first come, first served basis, but we’ll have floating games and fill-in games (thanks Chris D), and more tables for Open Gaming.

It’s going to be great!

My biggest worry is that attendance will be light. I don’t worry for Palladium’s sake, but for the fans. We are shooting to make this year’s Open House absolutely incredible, and we want as many people to be able to enjoy it as possible. However, economic conditions might prevent some gamers from joining the fun. We know times are difficult and a lot of people who would like to attend probably can’t afford to do so. It’s not our event fees that are prohibitive, but the cost of travel, hotel, and food. We’ve tried to keep the things that we can control as low as possible, but it is likely to still cost the average person a few hundred dollars just in travel cost.

POH Cost cutting tips

The hotel is really nice (as those who attended last year can attest) and a kingsize bed or a room with a double bed costs only $69 a night (plus hotel tax). I think the hotel allows up to four people in a room. And if you are considerate and well behaved, who's going to care how many are in the room?

The point is, you can cut costs considerably by having 1, 2, or 3 additional people share your room. Sharing a room with one or more people can make a huge cost difference. I think there are a few deluxe rooms that also have a big easy chair or couch someone could sleep on. Heck, bring a darn sleeping bag or air mattress (Wal*Mart sells them for as little as $50). Car pool and come down with 3 or more people in your vehicle. Eat cheap, bring sandwiches for the trip down, take other cost cutting measures and start saving NOW! I know a number of gamers who have been saving money for a few months so they can attend the Open House.

The 2010 Palladium Open House is one of the few gaming events Palladium will attend this year. My decision isn’t final yet, but not attending conventions last year worked out sooooo well in helping us get out a lot of new products, that I’m seriously considering doing something similar again. Only this year we might attend a couple of local conventions (like Youmacon), and may include Gen Con or some other large convention, but probably only one. I’m talking with a couple of associates about representing Palladium at a few conventions and having select books (mainly some core RPGs and new releases), but that’s not worked out yet.

Other stuff

The January 8, 2010 Press Release offers full descriptions of most of the new titles coming out from now through June. It’s an ambitious schedule, but we are working hard to hit it. Read and enjoy.

The Rifter® #49. I went to the printer this afternoon to approve The Rifter® #49. The cover and interior pages all looked fine and I approved the book to go to press. It should ship around January 18, 2010. It is another great issue.

Online Sales were very good this week. They were down a little from the same week last year, but they are solid.

There’s only one week left to order your Christmas Surprise Package. Then, the deal is gone till next Christmas season. A lot of people have been taking advantage of the Surprise Package, but many have also been ordering books and items across the board.

http://www.palladiumbooks.com/Merchant2 ... _Code=XMAS

Wayne’s got his computer up and running 100%. Palladium lost power for three hours on Wednesday last week and a power surge or some fluke event screwed up Wayne’s computer. He lost some data, but had a backup from a week ago, so the loss was minimal. He just spent a lot of this week reinstalling programs, hardrives and backup files.

I plan to work on the Rifts® Dimensional Outbreak™ all weekend. A good portion of this week was spent dealing with business issues, coordinating projects from new books to the Open House, talking to freelancers, and writing promotional material like the press release and Open House update. I’m feeling positive about our future and I’m excited about all the books in the pipeline.

For more information and details about Palladium Books' new releases and plans for this year, feel free to listen in and ask questions of me when I’m the guest on the Gateway to the Megaverse live podcast, Monday, January 11, 6:00 PM. I’m open to answering most anything you’d like to hear about.

I spoke to my Dad today and he sounded good. I could not visit him earlier this week as he and his friend and roomy, Arlene, were busy with other things. He called today to say getting together Saturday would be nice. Unfortunately, I have an ear infection or touch of some bug (maybe just a cold) and feeling a little bit under the weather. It’s nothing serious and I don’t feel too bad, just a bit tired and drained, punctuated by an ear ache. Arlene shouldn’t be exposed to any germs, so I probably won’t see them till Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Keep those imaginations burning, get your Surprise Packages while you still can, and game on! Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Game Designer & Whirling Dervishy

© Copyright January 8, 2010 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. Heroes Unlimited™, Beyond the Supernatural, Dead Reign, Warpath, Shemarrian Nation, 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.