Hey Scott, have you considered...
Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:15 pm
Wow, nearly a month since my last Murmur. 
I blame Gen Con (because of course it couldn't possibly be my fault for losing track of the time, right? 
).
I've gotten many private messages over the past two months that all basically share the same beginning - "Hey Scott, have you thought about doing... <insert product or service of your choice here>".
First off - Thank you for your messages, and please KEEP THEM COMING! I am only one person, and Palladium Books has only 7 (very busy) employees total. There is no possible way we could think of every cool idea under the sun. I love the energy and the creativity of our community, and some of the stuff you all have shared with me is positively gold! (I've been trying to respond to each message in a timely manner, but if I haven't yet gotten back to you please despair not, I will.
)
Now, before you all bombard me with more pm's than our poor server can handle, let me pass on a few of the items that other people have already asked about.
PDFs of all our books - While Palladium Books was a bit slow to jump into the digital book market, we're now working on it full steam. Why aren't all our books up on DriveThruRPG then? Three reasons. 1) Our newest Robotech® books are under license with Harmony Gold, and they have asked us to put digital copies of the books out through different channels and in a different format than the PDF's we otherwise make. 2) A lot of our books were written back in the days before digital layout, meaning that we have to manually scan the original layout pages into a computer, then go back through the scans page by page cleaning them up before doing all the other magic that makes PDFs so cool. These conversions take up a lot of time, but it will all be worth it once we've got them all converted! 3) Policy, and by this I mean there is a lot of things we have to consider when looking at putting up PDFs of our books - which books are most in demand, how long will it take to get it posted (newer books are easier due to them having been laid out digitally, but maybe an older book would sell better), are there any marketing or business concerns to address (for instance, will one of our books better fit an upcoming holiday), etc. And last but not least, how much of our time do we sink into getting PDFs put together and posted versus other projects/new products? These are all things we consider as we work toward getting all our books online.
A character/NPC generator - This is one of the most requested items in Palladium's history. Heaven's knows that I have wanted one for my own games! Unfortunately, a character/NPC generator is more than just a minor project that a good programmer can bang out in a day, as more than a few people have discovered. Despair not, however! I am currently working on something that, while not a character generator, should address the needs of game masters in this respect, as well as be a fun way for you to engage with Palladium Books in a whole new way. The programming is already finished, and testing is underway - I hope to release this fun surprise in the next month or two. (I want to be very clear here - this is not a character generator program, and I am not announcing that we are working on a character generator. Okay, let the speculation begin!)
Virtual Table Top products - This is another area which has a lot of potential. While I am aware of Virtual Table Top products/services, and we have had some limited internal discussions on the matter, we unfortunately have some bigger fish to fry at the moment. However, that doesn't mean that there won't be some movement on this in the (relatively) near future... (I know, I'm such a tease.
)
I have a great idea for a product you guys can make! - I have received several messages from fans suggesting some really great things, from new books to new electronic products. I've liked every one of them - please keep sending those ideas in! That having been said, not every idea is going to make it into a new product or service offered by Palladium Books. There are a couple of reasons for this - some ideas we don't have the technical expertise to pull off, others we don't have the resources for. Some would just take too much time to produce, and others would bring too limited a return. DOES THAT MEAN SCOTT DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT MY GREAT IDEA??? Not at all! Please, feel free to reach out to me at any time. Like I said a few paragraphs back, there's no possible way that I can think of every cool thing that would make a great product. If you feel you have a great idea about something you'd like to see us produce or do, please let me know!
Let me emphasize one last time - please feel free to send me messages! I love hearing from everyone, whether it's an idea for a new book or product, asking me about a Palladium policy, or just saying a friendly hello.
I blame Gen Con (because of course it couldn't possibly be my fault for losing track of the time, right? ). I've gotten many private messages over the past two months that all basically share the same beginning - "Hey Scott, have you thought about doing... <insert product or service of your choice here>".
First off - Thank you for your messages, and please KEEP THEM COMING! I am only one person, and Palladium Books has only 7 (very busy) employees total. There is no possible way we could think of every cool idea under the sun. I love the energy and the creativity of our community, and some of the stuff you all have shared with me is positively gold! (I've been trying to respond to each message in a timely manner, but if I haven't yet gotten back to you please despair not, I will.
) Now, before you all bombard me with more pm's than our poor server can handle, let me pass on a few of the items that other people have already asked about.
PDFs of all our books - While Palladium Books was a bit slow to jump into the digital book market, we're now working on it full steam. Why aren't all our books up on DriveThruRPG then? Three reasons. 1) Our newest Robotech® books are under license with Harmony Gold, and they have asked us to put digital copies of the books out through different channels and in a different format than the PDF's we otherwise make. 2) A lot of our books were written back in the days before digital layout, meaning that we have to manually scan the original layout pages into a computer, then go back through the scans page by page cleaning them up before doing all the other magic that makes PDFs so cool. These conversions take up a lot of time, but it will all be worth it once we've got them all converted! 3) Policy, and by this I mean there is a lot of things we have to consider when looking at putting up PDFs of our books - which books are most in demand, how long will it take to get it posted (newer books are easier due to them having been laid out digitally, but maybe an older book would sell better), are there any marketing or business concerns to address (for instance, will one of our books better fit an upcoming holiday), etc. And last but not least, how much of our time do we sink into getting PDFs put together and posted versus other projects/new products? These are all things we consider as we work toward getting all our books online.
A character/NPC generator - This is one of the most requested items in Palladium's history. Heaven's knows that I have wanted one for my own games! Unfortunately, a character/NPC generator is more than just a minor project that a good programmer can bang out in a day, as more than a few people have discovered. Despair not, however! I am currently working on something that, while not a character generator, should address the needs of game masters in this respect, as well as be a fun way for you to engage with Palladium Books in a whole new way. The programming is already finished, and testing is underway - I hope to release this fun surprise in the next month or two. (I want to be very clear here - this is not a character generator program, and I am not announcing that we are working on a character generator. Okay, let the speculation begin!)
Virtual Table Top products - This is another area which has a lot of potential. While I am aware of Virtual Table Top products/services, and we have had some limited internal discussions on the matter, we unfortunately have some bigger fish to fry at the moment. However, that doesn't mean that there won't be some movement on this in the (relatively) near future... (I know, I'm such a tease.
)I have a great idea for a product you guys can make! - I have received several messages from fans suggesting some really great things, from new books to new electronic products. I've liked every one of them - please keep sending those ideas in! That having been said, not every idea is going to make it into a new product or service offered by Palladium Books. There are a couple of reasons for this - some ideas we don't have the technical expertise to pull off, others we don't have the resources for. Some would just take too much time to produce, and others would bring too limited a return. DOES THAT MEAN SCOTT DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT MY GREAT IDEA??? Not at all! Please, feel free to reach out to me at any time. Like I said a few paragraphs back, there's no possible way that I can think of every cool thing that would make a great product. If you feel you have a great idea about something you'd like to see us produce or do, please let me know!
Let me emphasize one last time - please feel free to send me messages! I love hearing from everyone, whether it's an idea for a new book or product, asking me about a Palladium policy, or just saying a friendly hello.