Boy, today was a long work day.
As I write this, it’s going on midnight, Friday, May 9, 2008 (or would that be Saturday A.M., May 10th?). Most everybody – Alex, Wayne, Julius and I – are all still working away. Of course, my day started 2-3 hours earlier than the rest of the crew, but it’s still a very long day for everyone.
What are we working on? Depends. Ideas and work on books are flying! Wayne’s trying to get the latest press release posted and e-mailed. Alex has done a little editing, posting new items in our online store, and working on odds and ends. Julius . . . hmm, not sure what Julius is working on this time of night. Is that dedication or what? Yeah, it's probably "what."
Early today, Wayne designed one of our cool new T-Shirt offerings, “Property of the Coalition States” and “Triax logo,” as well as kicking around other design ideas with me. He’s also been doing editing, computer upgrades and other things all week.
We have a bunch of fun ideas for new T-shirts. One is a line of “company” shirts, for infamous manufacturers like Northern Gun, Wilk's, Triax, Bandito Arms, Golden Age Weaponsmiths, Titan Industries, the Coalition States, and others. All things we think fans will enjoy. We also have some ideas for prints and other things too.
Jeff Hansen and Jason Marker popped in for a few hours earlier today too. Jeff turned in his reworked short story for the Rifts® Anthology Book, and Jason has been splitting his time between Robotech® sourcebooks (particularly the Robotech: The Masters Saga) and Rifts® Dimensional Outbreak.
My day has been sort of a mishmash of things. Spent time writing bills, talking on the phone, working on T-shirt ideas, working on Robotech® references and notes, ran a few errands, talked to my brother (it was his birthday a couple days ago and we’ve been playing telephone tag) and worked on the press release. But I spent a good half of today (about 8 hours) working on Dyval. Dang, it is going to be a good book. It’s just packed full of menacing Deevils and monsters, cool ideas, weird locations, strange weaponry, and one great adventure or setting idea after another.
Robotech® RPG Hardcover
It seems a few folks are upset about our plans to release the Deluxe Hardcover edition of Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles RPG. Sorry about that. Grrr, it's annoying, because we are doing the larger hardcover for you, our fans. I’m perfectly happy with the manga sized edition, and we plan on doing many more manga-sized books. It’s a handy, portable format that looks and feels great. The vast majority of gamers like the size, and some of my freelancer writers even emailed me to ask if their non-Robotech books could be published in the manga size.
That having been said, I know there are a fair number of people who prefer hardcover editions of RPGs at the traditional 8½ x 11 size, and many people love having a hardcover “core rules” book, so we’re doing one.
It will be nice seeing the artwork larger in the bigger size, and it gives us a chance to add some material that we couldn’t fit into the smaller book, like some new ground vehicles, some spaceships, and some additional artwork. Personally, I also love hardcover books, but as a publisher, I prefer doing soft covers because we can keep the price down and make it more affordable to a larger number of fans. A $28 or $31 dollar hardcover is great, but it's not an entry level game that anyone might consider buying. A $16.95 soft cover, on the other hand, is affordable to everyone, and I’m always conscious about price, especially in these days when money is tight for so many people. Consequently, Palladium intentionally works at keeping its prices lower than 99% of our competitors. I like releasing products at an affordable price.
Still, I know there’s a market for a more expensive edition, so we’re doing it. I sure hope people who bought the manga-size edition don’t feel obligated to by the hardcover. It’s there if you want it, but you don’t NEED to buy it. The extra material will get published in other manga-sized sourcebooks, and I hope to see Palladium publish a book with ALL the Robotech® spacecraft statted out in one big volume next year. (That one might require being an 8½ x 11 title from the get-go.)
The boys just left, and I should go home and get some rest. I’ll be back at work Saturday pounding out Dyval pages. Check out our new press release, new T-shirts, and keep those imaginations burning bright.
Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist and Fan Boy Geek
© Copyright May 9, 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. 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.