Skip to main content

Palladium Books® – Weekly Update – July 6, 2023

Written by pb_addy on . Posted in Weekly Updates.

Update Opening Graphic

One game system – every genre – countless worlds – endless adventure

By Kevin Siembieda and Sean Owen Roberson

We hope gamers across America were able to enjoy a long weekend for the Independence Day holiday. Sean and I ran out to see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and loved it. Go see it, especially if you enjoyed the first Spider-Verse movie. As for me, I took advantage of the quiet office and worked the weekend through the fourth and made a lot of progress on various fronts.

We knew many of you would be out having fun in the sun, so we are extending the sale thru the weekend – it ends Tuesday. Get details below.

News & Updates – There’s some big news about Yin-Sloth Jungles™ below, as well as progress with Titan Robotics fulfilment and other things, so please read on.

 

Zombie Fighter Sale

SALE! Zombie Fighter Sale – 20-50% discounts – time is running out

Battling zombies and fighting for survival is much more fun than you might think. Really! Find out for yourself with this Megaverse® spanning sale.

It was inspired when I noticed many similarities in Walking Dead: Dead City and Palladium’s Dead Reign®: In the Face of Death and Hell Followed sourcebooks – Zip-lines from one skyscraper to the next, what we call Rat Runs, falling zombies, insane survivors, children/teen characters, cult and gang-like survivor groups, and we suspect you will be seeing many other similarities yet to come. Could their writers have been inspired by our In the Face of Death sourcebook? Maybe.

You can enjoy your own big city Zombie Apocalypse adventures at locales like Manhattan and Chicago with Palladium’s Dead Reign® RPG and sourcebooks like In the Face of Death and Hell Followed. Heck, you’ll love all the titles in our Dead Reign® RPG series. And now we’re making that journey easier for you with our pulse-pounding Zombie Fighter Sale, below. Enjoy.

 

On Sale …

  • Dead Reign® RPG Hardcover – Cat. No. 230HC.
  • Dead Reign® RPG Softcover – 7 unique zombies, play ordinary people or special survivor O.C.C.s., equipment, and more; everything you need to start your survival campaign. Cat. No. 230.
  • Dead Reign® Civilization Gone – Madmen, bandits, encounter tables and more. A fan fave. Cat. No. 231.
  • Dead Reign® Dark Places – 4 weird zombies, urban underground, encounter tables and more. Another fan fave. Cat. No. 232.
  • Dead Reign® Endless Dead – 11 new zombies, new O.C.C.s., military bases, vehicle combat, random tables, and more. Cat. No. 233.
  • Dead Reign® Fear the Reaper – Focus on the zombie fighters known as The Road Reapers, combat notes, Terror Zombie, and more. Cat. No. 234.
  • Dead Reign® Graveyard Earth – World overview. Cat. No. 235.
  • Dead Reign® Hell Followed – 11 wild new zombies, 7 O.C.C.s, 23 disasters with damage stats, 8 conspiracy theories, masked lunatics, and more. An epic 160 pages! Cat. No. 236.
  • Dead Reign® In the Face of Death – Kid player characters and O.C.C.s, survival guidelines for big cities and the suburbs, life on the rooftops, zip lines, Rat Runs, death cults, new villains, 100+ adventure hooks and other scenarios, random tables, dungeon crawl through skyscrapers, and more. Cat. No. 237.

More Undead Adventures on Sale:

 

Zombie Fighter Sale

DriveThruRPG.com SALE

Expand your digital library with PDF books of the titles listed above on sale at DriveThruRPG.com while you still can – this sale also ends on July 11. Enjoy.

 

Titan Robotics and Cyberworks

Update: Titan Robotics™ Kickstarter Rewards shipping next week

Howdy Rifters – all the shipping issues have been worked out and everything is being packed up to ship. Orders for the USA will start shipping next.

What we need from some of you is your updated credit card information in Backerkit so we can charge you for the shipping. This is especially important if you are a backer from outside the USA because stragglers will have to be shipped by a different method and pay 3-5 times MORE than the prices listed in the Kickstarter! So please check your emails for a message from Backerkit regarding your shipping, or log into Backerkit and verify your payment status.

Don’t forget these fun little extras …

  • Titan Robotics has 32 pages of additional content at no extra charge for backers – the book’s 160 pages grew to 192 pages during my final edit. Enjoy 🙂
  • We added a “Bonus” Color Art Print of the Revised Sourcebook 1 cover included for everyone who backed at a level that gets art prints. I feel like this really rounds out the color print set.
  • Digital Book Rewards have been sent out to all backers, including the remastered titles (new page linked Table of Contents, rear Index, proofreading update, revised layout, etc.):
  •             Rifts® Sourcebook: Titan Robotics
  •             Rifts® Sourcebook One – Revised & Expanded
  •             Rifts® Sourcebook Two: The Mechanoids®
  •             Rifts® Sourcebook: Shemarrian Nation
  • Other Digital Rewards are in final review and layout, and should be delivered around the time physical items ship (they could not be created until Titan Robotics was finalized). They include:
  •             Titan Courier Team Introductory Adventure PDF
  •             Savage Titan Robotics Conversion PDF
  •             Savage Cyberworks Conversion PDF

All of the physical rewards look amazing. We are very proud of the quality and can’t wait for you to see the rewards yourself. We will provide more updates when we charge shipping through BackerKit. I want to thank all of you for your faith and support in this entire endeavor.

– Sean Owen Roberson

 

Rifts Titan Robotics

COMING SOON! Rifts® Titan Robotics™ Sourcebook

Shrouded in secrecy and rumor, the true story of Titan Robotics™ is finally revealed. Part a high-tech toy box, part Secrets of Archie Three, part adventure book with whole new ways to play, and filled with new types of Titan Robotics power armors, giant robots, vehicles, weapons, and gear. Join a Titan Robotics Courier Team and delve into the company’s many secrets, including ARCHIE-3’s plans and program to monitor and manipulate the outside world.

  • Visit the gleaming steel and metal of a Titan Robotics™ showroom, and test-drive their newest models.
  • 18 giant robots.
  • 12 power armors.
  • Weapons, gear and notable vehicles.
  • Gunny’s Depots – arms dealer and part of Titan’s hidden network.
  • Play a Syntharoid sentient human replica android.
  • Play a Titan Dispatcher and join a Titan Robotics Courier Team.
  • Discover ARCHIE and Hagan’s hidden agendas and secret operations.
  • Explore Titan’s shadowy web of informants and how it prospers and grows.
  • Explore alternative time lines, campaign prompts, adventure outlines, intrigue, espionage, and more.
  • Art by Steven Cummings, Charles Walton, and others.
  • Written by Sean Owen Roberson and Matthew Clements.
  • 192 pages – $26.99 retail – Cat. No. 899.

 

Rifts Cyberworks Collection

COMING SOON! The Cyberworks Collection Hardcover

Featuring must-have ARCHIE-Three™ source material gathered into one, big, attractive hardcover edition. It contains:

  • Rifts® Sourcebook One, Revised & Expanded.
  • Rifts® Sourcebook Two: The Mechanoids®.
  • Rifts® Shemarrian Nation™ Sourcebook.
  • Rifts® Aftermath Archie-Three™ source material.
  • 5 page index in the back of the book.
  • Color end sheets.
  • 384 pages – $49.99 retail – color cover hardcover – Cat. No. 900. Coming soon.

 

COMING SOON! Cyberworks Poker Deck

The cover art from the original Rifts® Sourcebook One is featured on the back of each card. Color throughout. Attractive and durable.

  • 52 cards, plus red and black Jokers.
  • Face cards feature iconic Rifts® Cyberworks/Archie 3 artwork (Spades: Cyberworks, Hearts: Shemarrians, Clubs: Mechanoids, Diamonds: Titan Robotics).
  • Number cards feature a color energy swirl in the suit and a circuit board pattern.
  • Textured linen cards for a nice touch and durability.
  • Professional quality playing cards.
  • 52 cards plus two Jokers – $14.99 per deck – Cat. No. 2609 – coming soon.

 

News! Yin-Sloth Jungles™ is now 2 books

Dang, Yoda was right, ever in motion is the future. I had been wrestling with this idea for a while now, but a discussion with Sean convinced me that to do this fan favorite Fantasy title the justice it deserves, we had to expand it into TWO books. Yes, two, big books just like I did with Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms and Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook a few years ago.

How did this happen? Well, Yin-Sloth Jungles™ is one of John Klinkel’s and my favorite settings, and all that love and passion for Palladium Fantasy poured out to make it bigger and more fascinating. So much bigger that to cram all this crunchy and fluffy goodness into one book I would either have to cut half of it out or release Yin-Sloth Jungles™ as a 320+ page sourcebook. Ah, but there was a better solution: turn it into two beautiful books. The releases will probably be slightly staggered. Yin-Sloth Jungles™ will ship first and we hope to have advance copies at Gen Con, and Expeditions a month or so later.

Please read the two new book descriptions that follow to learn what you can expect in both Yin-Sloth Jungles™, 2nd Edition, Expanded and Revised and Yin-Sloth™ Expeditions.

 

Yin-Sloth Jungles 2nd Edition

Yin-Sloth Jungles™, 2nd Edition, Expanded and Revised!

We hope to have advance copies available at Gen Con! Yin-Sloth Jungles™ presents a setting unlike any other Fantasy RPG and it’s all fun. It opens with an overview and history of the region, followed by nuts and bolts, like skills, poison, and weapons. Players will drool over the 15 truly unique O.C.C.s ideal for jungle adventures and beyond. Players and Game Masters will love the lavishly detailed jungle people and monsters. Then you get a little taste of what’s to follow in Yin-Sloth Expeditions, making it a bit of a player’s guide and bestiary. Ah, but there is magic and strangeness, and your first hints of wild adventures across the sprawling jungle.

  • 15 O.C.C.s, all updated and expanded, making them seem brand new: Beastmaster, Holy Crusader, Jungle Fighter, Man-Catcher, the unique Tezcat and Pygmy Shamans, Spy, Undead Hunter, and Witch Hunter, among others.
  • 18 Jungle People and monsters updated and expanded, plus a few additions, also expanded so they feel like new.
  • New and expanded Shaman Chant magic.
  • New and unique Pygmy Shaman Chant magic.
  • New and expanded history of the Yin-Sloth Jungles.
  • Expanded and clarified weapons, jungle armor, poisons, & more.
  • The Orcish Empire and a few notable cities.
  • All new maps by Phil Stone.
  • Comprehensive double-page map (grayscale) by Will Erwin.
  • Deluxe color map of the region by Will Erwin to be made available separately.
  • Filled with great artwork by Peterson (ROG) and Mike Mumah.
  • Written by Kevin Siembieda, John Klinkel, and Patrick Nowak.
  • 160 pages – $24.99 retail – Cat. No. 459 – in final layout right now! Goes to the printer next week.

 

Yin-Sloth Expeditions

Yin-Sloth™ Expeditions

The Yin-Sloth Jungles are a hostile wilderness filled with the ruins of lost civilizations, forgotten magic, and strange creatures found nowhere else in the world. And it’s all waiting for you to explore!

Expeditions provides more details about the Yin-Sloth Jungles and notable cities, their people, NPCs, hidden dangers, and opportunities for bold adventurers. Discover strange places and exotic beings, unravel mysteries, expose conspiracies, battle unspeakable evil, recover magic artifacts, or champion one of many human and non-human fledgling kingdoms across the jungles.

The original Yin-Sloth Jungles material has all been updated, expanded, and re-mastered from start to finish with additional text, adventures, details, art, and loads of maps (all new). I had forgotten how many exotic locations and great adventures were in the original book, plus ideas for a zillion more. All re-mastered, updated, and expanded for the delight of new and long-time Palladium Fantasy® fans alike.

  • Adventures, villains, NPCs, and fun galore.
  • Find adventure or become a hired mercenary in the Orcish Empire.
  • Delve into cities like Mishala and others.
  • Retrieve relics from an ancient catacomb of Dragonwright.
  • Stop rebellion and save the city of Terellia.
  • Explore the Lost City of Kor.
  • Brave the madness at Shaldon’s Keep and save a village.
  • Confirm rumors of a kingdom of monsters forming at the Great Fire Bog.
  • Discover what evil lurks in the tomb of Gavin.
  • Investigate a sect of Sea Giants restoring the city of Freedara.
  • Unearth ancient secrets, face eldritch evil, battle the undead, fight giants and monsters, stand against a wicked dragon, and face all manner of beasts and challenges.
  • 10 adventures and countless ideas for more.
  • 30+ new maps by Phil Stone and dynamic artwork throughout.
  • Written by Kevin Siembieda, John Klinkel, and Patrick Nowak.
  • 160-192 pages – price yet to be determined – Cat. No. 460 – in final editing. Goes into layout soon.

 

Gen Con® Indy – only 4 weeks away – August 3-6 – Palladium Books Booth #903

New releases at Gen Con! We will have all our new releases: Titan Robotics, The Cyberworks Collection, the Cyberworks poker deck and even a few dozen of the limited edition gold foil hardcover books (while supplies last!); and with any luck, some advance copies of the Revised and Expanded Yin-Sloth Jungles.

Plenty of Backstock. We are also bringing nearly our entire game line, plus miniatures, poker decks, art prints, one-of-a-kind negatives, perhaps some original artwork, and other goodies. Please remember, we can only bring so many copies of titles and may run out. Sold on a first come, first served basis.

Many Palladium Creators at Palladium Booth #903: We have a larger than usual roster of Palladium personalities this year too, and we are all happy to sign your books and chat for a bit.

  • Founder, Publisher, Game Designer & Writer – Kevin Siembieda
  • Creative Director, Game Designer & Writer – Sean Owen Roberson (Titan Robotics, Rifts® for Savage Worlds)
  • Writer – Carmen Bellaire (Rifts® MercTown, Black Market, Powers Unlimited®)
  • Writer – Glen Evans (Bizantium, Lopan, and more)
  • Writer – Mark Oberle (Nightbane Survival Guide, Dark Designs)
  • Writer, Artist & Cosplayer – Madman Mike Leonard
  • Editor/Rifter® – Wayne Smith
  • Sales/Warehouse Manager – Crystal Willard
  • And maybe some others.

 

Rifts Coalition Manhunters

Rifts® Coalition Manhunters™ is a blast and on sale

People are discovering Rifts® Coalition Manhunters™ and they are loving it. Recently, a number of gamers, including two freelancers, raved to me about the book, telling me it was a great read and they thought it was outstanding; so much so that it should be considered an essential core rule book as important as Rifts® Sourcebook One, Atlantis, Triax, and Coalition War Campaign™, among others. They were thrilled with the section about the Seven Dangers first introduced in Rifts® Sourcebook 2: The Mechanoids®, and love the scope and insight into the Coalition States, its citizens, and its secret police. I’m glad people are discovering this epic sourcebook, so I put it on sale.

Rifts® Coalition Manhunters™ contains new source material about the Coalition war machine, CS society, CS thought police, psychics as the Coalition’s secret weapon, 80+ new and balanced psionic abilities that will blow your mind, the role of Dog Boys and Kill Hounds, and of course, the Coalition Manhunters – their existence so secret most people don’t believe they are real. ON SALE! To help more people discover Rifts® Coalition Manhunters™ I have included it in our current sale. Enjoy. Note: This book has nothing to do with the old Rifts® Manhunter book published under license by a third party company in the 1990s.

 

Original Palladium Fantasy 1st Edition Foil Hardcover

BACK in STOCK! “Original” Palladium Fantasy RPG® “Bonus” Edition Commemorative Hardcover, 1st Edition – Available now

The ever popular Original Palladium Fantasy RPG® Commemorative Bonus Hardcover (first edition rules) is back in print. It is a deluxe, foil stamped edition that presents the original, First Edition Fantasy rules, expanded with the inclusion of the long out-of-print Arms of Nargash-Tor adventure sourcebook and Tombs of Gersidi.

  • The complete, original RPG – the game that started Palladium Books.
  • First Edition rules are easily adaptable to current Fantasy titles.
  • Includes The Tombs of Gersidi adventure and setting.
  • The Arms of Nargash-Tor adventure sourcebook is included as “bonus” material back in print for the first time in 35 years.
  • Easily adapted to all 2nd Edition rules and sourcebooks.
  • Deluxe hardcover edition. Probably limited to fewer than 1,000 copies.
  • 320 pages total with “bonus” material – $55 retail – Cat. No. 449HC – available now!

Original Palladium Fantasy 1st Edition Foil Hardcover

 

List of Palladium Books® RPG Hardcovers Available Now

 

Zombie Fighter Sale

NEW sale on DriveThruRPG — Zombie Fighter Sale!

Fight zombies, other undead, and the forces of darkness with this sale. Battling zombies and fighting for humanity is much more fun than you might think. Find out for yourself with this sale.

Note: Also see the sale for physical books at PalladiumBooks.com for some great deals.

 

300+ RPG products offer a dozen unique world settings from across the Megaverse – and they all use one game system to bring you endless adventure.

No other game company offers game worlds for so many different genres. Best of all, learn to play one Palladium RPG and you can play them all, because each uses the same basic core rules and combat. There are differences, but the fundamentals are the same. This also means you can bring characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, weapons, gear, and adventure ideas from one setting into another or mash them together!

 

The new Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive NPC Sheet is a Microsoft Excel-based system for creating Non-Player Characters quickly and easily. Once you know the system, you can have NPCs up and ready in minutes! Great for making a quick NPC at the last moment, or saving time when designing the big bad of an adventure.

  • Design compatible with the Palladium Fantasy RPG® Interactive Character Sheet.
  • 20,000+ preset NPC combinations ready to go in less than a minute.
  • 15 nonhuman Palladium Fantasy races and 23 O.C.C.s.
  • 300+ Wizard and Warlock spells programmed with quick stats.
  • 70+ psionics, options for Minor Psionics, and more.
  • $4.00 – Available on DriveThruRPG.com and PalladiumBooks.com – Created by Travis Guerrero.

 

Also Available – FREE Creature Feature™ Preview provides you a glimpse of what you will find in this epic book. There also FREE Sneak Previews of Rifts® Coalition Manhunters, Northern Gun 1 & 2, Hell Followed, and select other titles. Those are just some of the 300+ Palladium RPG titles available as PDF books.

300+ titles and nearly every game genre available now – and more is coming. Discover the Palladium Megaverse® right now.

– Rifts® titles. Rifts® is the ultimate setting in which you can combine any number of genres and play any style of gaming you may desire: science fiction, fantasy, supernatural horror, heroic adventure, dimensional travel, modern knights, cyborgs, giant robots, dinosaur taming, sleuthing, magic, monsters, heroes and legends. Or combine them all. There has never been a game quite like Rifts®.

– Rifts® Chaos Earth® titles. Live through the Great Cataclysm and the Coming of the Rifts. Rifts® Chaos Earth® RPG, Creatures of Chaos™, Rise of Magic™, and Chaos Earth® Resurrection™ are all available.

– The Rifter® #1-85. Each issue is a wealth of source material for Rifts® and 3-5 other Palladium game settings. More than 8,600 pages of source material and counting. Most issues are only available in digital form.

– Palladium Fantasy RPG® titles. A rich, original setting in which you can play humans or any number of nonhuman species of people in a world of magic, heroes and wonder. All of it epic.

– Dead Reign® RPG and sourcebooks. The Zombie Apocalypse unleashed. A great introductory RPG that is surprisingly uplifting, fun, fast, and easy to learn.

– Heroes Unlimited™ RPG Second Edition titles. Create any type of superhuman you can imagine to build your own super-hero universe.

– After the Bomb® RPG and sourcebooks. Play anthropomorphic, intelligent, mutant animals as crime-fighting mutants and super-heroes or survivors of a crumbling post-apocalyptic Earth.

– Ninjas & Superspies™ RPG and the Mystic China™ sourcebook. 41 types of martial arts, ninjas, super-spies, gizmos, mystic powers, and magic in the main book, plus even more in Mystic China.

– Nightbane® RPG and sourcebooks. Only you know the truth. Only you can see the Nightlords and their demonic minions, and you have the power to stop them. But you must transform into a monster yourself in order to use your powers. Trust no one.

– Beyond the Supernatural™ RPG and sourcebooks. Modern horror; 14 character classes, 42 occupations for “ordinary people,” 100+ psychic abilities, 16 monsters, and more.

– 300+ Palladium titles in all, plus G.M. kits, paper miniatures and more. Palladium Books has settings for every genre: Fantasy RPG, science fiction (Rifts®, Splicers®, and The Mechanoids®), super-heroes (Heroes Unlimited and After the Bomb), superhero horror (Nightbane®), modern horror (Beyond the Supernatural), zombies (Dead Reign®), The Rifter® sourcebook series, novels, paper minis, and more.

Palladium PDFs at DriveThruRPG.com

 

FUN Podcast Adventures

These fun podcasts are created by Palladium fans like you.

 

* Heroes Unlimited™ Christmas Special and the Cozy Caverns Beyond the Supernatural RPG adventure podcasts from the creative minds at www.realplaygamespod.com.

Coming this summer from Real Play Games Podcast: A dozen plus episodes of After the Bomb®: Purrsuit of the Heart, with other good stuff in development like a new story arc for the Beyond the Supernatural inspired Cozy Cavern Mysteries, and more.

 

* Rifts® Live Play Podcast is available for your viewing enjoyment – Rifts®: Ghost in the Machine. It is produced and Game Mastered by none other than long-time Palladium freelance artist, Mark Dudley. You can find the first several episodes on Imaginos TV. Click on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9OKt2SBYwybo_sV8zmdOBSQ1eaJP3rj9

 

Palladium Collectibles – at Kevin’s Online Toy & Collectibles eBay Store

I am adding new collectibles and Palladium negatives over the next several weeks, so check ‘em out. Alex and I will try to post new items on a regular basis, so check in every week or so to see what’s new.

One-of-a-kind Palladium Books negatives (special and rare collectibles). Negatives are always very popular items at the Palladium Open House, Gen Con, and conventions, and are catching on as rare collectibles, unique in and of themselves. Before digital printing, pages of a book were laid out by hand on a board, and each page was photographed. The plastic film negatives were then “ganged” on a massive sheet of Mylar, 16 pages per big sheet, and the printing plates were made from the negatives – everything white, printing black. We have been cutting them loose and making them available to you. I am only keeping a few dozen pages of negatives and a few complete books for myself, the rest are all being slowly offered to you, in no particular order.

  • Each is truly unique, attractive, and fun to have.
  • Own a piece of Palladium Books and RPG history you will treasure.
  • Each was used to print the very book you may have in your collection (1981-2004).
  • Each signed in silver ink by Kevin Siembieda, the founder and owner of Palladium Books. He is also the game designer and often the author or co-author of the book from which the negative originates. And some negatives bear his artwork.
  • Each signed negative comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
  • Each signed negative is a one-of-a-kind work of art (on rare occasions, two-of-a-kind if a page or section of pages were replaced or a second edition was made) that resembles woodcut art, and a very dynamic conversation piece.
  • Each signed negative is on a white board inside a clear plastic bag.
  • Negatives looks fabulous matted or framed! Fits in an 8×10 inch matt opening. Each neg is roughly 8½ x 11 inches.
  • Prices vary depending on the title, the art, and quality of the negative. Note: Many have scratches, or blemishes, and/or an opaque medium on the negative. Still, they look great and are a piece of RPG history. We recommend you carefully examine the photographs of each item to avoid disappointment.
  • We have been making the negatives available, in no particular order, for a number of years, and will continue to do so. However, cutting them loose, signing and bagging is a time consuming process.
  • Note: The negatives from the TMNT RPG, TMNT Adventures, and some Rifts® titles are already sold out. Moreover, the negatives from many titles were destroyed, so when you see one you like, get it when you can. Enjoy.

Original art – My Ebay store is one of the few places where you can find original artwork by me (Kevin Siembieda), Kevin Long, Charles Walton, and others, as well as one-of-a-kind negatives from classic Palladium books (they look awesome framed), and other Palladium memorabilia. Some are concept sketches, others are finished works of art, as well as a selection of prints and posters.

Other collectibles include art prints, posters, comic books, Palladium limited edition hardcovers, out of print items, signed books, one-of-a-kind proofreader copies, Star Wars toys, superhero action figures, and many other toys and items from my personal collection. Yeah, I used to be a crazy toy and art collector. Alex and I will keep adding items as our busy schedules allow, but we have a lot of fun collectibles available now and coming soon. Hundreds of items. Take a look every weekend for new additions.

http://stores.ebay.com/kevinstoys-artandcollectibles

 

Closing Thoughts – USA Independence Day

This week everyone here at Palladium Books celebrated July 4th, with this year marking 247 since the original 13 colonies freed themselves from the rule of the British monarchy. These days we think of those brave people as free, rebellious spirits. In reality, their lives were ruled by the dictates of Britain’s royal family and their allied “noble” families. They were trapped in a very dark society and culture designed to control them and extract wealth for their lords.

After winning their rebellion, these “Americans” had the chance to create a completely new form of government. This constitutional republic – including a group of democratically elected representatives – was successful enough that it became the blueprint for most free nations from then to the present day.

However, the society these suddenly “free” people inherited was imperfect. Over time, the strength of American culture, ideals, and system of government has slowly brought about change and improvement to our nation’s social structure and fabric. Generation by generation, the old ways have given way to new ones. It hasn’t always been perfect – progress is often “two steps forward, one step back” – but good things rarely come easy.

Like most Americans, my heritage is a patchwork. Mine includes Native American, English, French, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and most recently, German immigrants. If you are a fan of history like me you will know that, at one time or another, these people were all very excited to kill each other. The fact that in the USA they coexisted and intermarried is pretty amazing. Regardless of your family tree’s origins, I’m glad to share this American heritage with you, or welcome you to join the American experiment if you feel so inclined.

Either way, whether you are living in the USA or abroad, I just want to say that I’m glad to know that we are all united in a determination to forge a better present and future. For my part, I’ve been a missionary, served in the military as a Chinese cultural expert and translator, and now I do my best to write books that uplift and games that bring joy. I’m sure you have your own unique gifts and talents. You should share them.

As Kevin often writes, some days that gift is just a friendly smile or compliment given to others in passing. Other times it is long, hard work serving your local community or nation. For all of those things, for each good act great or small, thank you.

– Sean Owen Roberson, Writer, Designer, Adventurer

 

© 2023 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Powers Unlimited®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Phase World®, Nightbane®, Megaverse®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars®, Chaos Earth®, Dead Reign®, and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc.; Beyond the Supernatural, Coalition States, Garden of the Gods, Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Minion War, Mysteries of Magic, Psychic Scream, SAMAS, Thundercloud Galaxy, Three Galaxies, Vampire Kingdoms, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

This press release may be reprinted, reposted, linked and shared for the sole purpose of advertising, promotion and sales solicitation.