News & Updates – Palladium Books® – Weekly Update – April 25, 2025

ONE GAME SYSTEM – EVERY GENRE – COUNTLESS WORLDS – ENDLESS ADVENTURE

BY KEVIN SIEMBIEDA

News & Updates – Palladium Books^® – Weekly Update – April 25, 2025

Hello, everyone. Are you enjoying the arrival of spring? It seemed like it took long enough to get here, at least, in this part of the country. Ah, but we welcome its warmth and glowing arrival.

With spring here and summer conventions and gaming around the corner, we are seeing people getting antsy about new releases from Palladium Books. I think concerns about tariffs and possible price increases also give people cause for worry. So let me provide some updates and news. Also see my Closing Thoughts and spread the word about this update so your fellow gamers don’t miss this information. Oh, and join me and Sean for a live chat on Legion of Myth this Sunday. Thank you.

UPDATE: Pricing. Keeping the price of all our products reasonable remains a priority for us at Palladium Books. We are renowned for the low price point and high quality of our RPG products and intend to continue that 40+ year tradition as long as we can. I mentioned a few months ago, before tariffs, that the low prices of our hardcover books will be going up $4-$10 each over the course of the year, but even with that increase, the cost of Palladium hardcovers remains lower than most in the RPG industry. Though you may see some other price increases in the future, we are not currently anticipating any extreme price hikes; the prices of most Palladium RPG titles are unchanged.

UPDATE: No end to physical books. The word books is part of our name for a reason, so while some game companies may lean toward doing more digital products and fewer books, Palladium will be supporting both the digital and physical book markets. Over the next few years, you should be seeing more physical books from Palladium than you’ve seen in a long time. Sean and I are brimming with ideas for exciting new books and we have plenty of announced titles we need to catch up on first.

UPDATE: High quality always. Top quality art and writing are Palladium’s hallmarks and that will not change. We have Steven Cummings, Mike Majestic, and other top artists as well as Matthew Clements and other writers working on various projects. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG Redux editions will give you a clear idea of what you can expect in the future regarding writing quality, artwork, layout, color and rules.

UPDATE: All Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG Redux books and Kickstarter exclusives are at the printer. We’ve been dealing with the GPSR regulations of the EU – talk about overreaching and unfriendly for business – and other logistics regarding import, export and shipping. Updates to follow when we have more definitive information. Cannot wait to put these books in your hands.

UPDATE: Rifts® Bestiary Volume Two – coming in 2025. This is an example of why we have a policy of trying not to announce titles before they are in final layout or at the printer. Internally, we anticipated Bestiary Vol. 2 to be a spring release, but things changed. Additional writing and artwork are in the process of being completed right now.

UPDATE: Yin-Sloth Expeditions and Rifts® Antarctica. We expect both to be 2025 releases. I also hope to get to a few other titles before year end, but time will tell.

UPDATE: Long-awaited titles. You’ll see many titles (not all, some have been cancelled) you’ve been waiting for over the next few years. As we announced when Sean first joined Palladium, our plans include giving you the books you’ve been waiting for. Those plans have been delayed due to growing pains (all positive in the long run) and business and personal matters. Note: The Palladium website has a page that lists books that have been cancelled and the status of the titles that remain on the drawing board. Check it out.

A personal note: I want to humbly and sincerely apologize for being unable to work on books much these past 13 months. Besides dealing with business matters and planning, the unexpected loss of Kathy Simmons, my beloved life-partner of 20+ years, was devastating and it left me heartbroken and functioning at low capacity. Some days getting out of bed and going to work was a challenge. Being creative was not an option as I worked through my grief. That loss impacted all of us, as Kathy played a big role at Palladium. I hope you can understand.

That said, me, Sean, and the entire Palladium crew never stopped working behind the scenes to strengthen the company from the ground up. We’ve been planning and building new business relationships and putting various plans (and people) in place to make Palladium stronger and more resilient than ever before. And I’m happy to report the crew and I are all healing and feel incredibly positive about the future of Palladium. And the creative juices are flowing once again.

UPDATE: Palladium’s trajectory: You’ll begin to get a clearer picture of where Palladium Books is heading and what you can expect in the future when you see the TMNT & Other Strangeness books and Kickstarter exclusives, as well as when we reveal a few things in May and the months ahead. Just know that creating games, publishing RPG books, and you are what we love, and will be the focus of everything we do moving forward. We listen and hear you. We know what you want from us and it’s coming. I can’t say more without giving things away, but you’ll be pleased. Very pleased.

NEW Glitterbois podcast revealing the backstory behind Nightbane®, Dead Reign®, and Systems Failure goes live today, Friday, April 25, 2025. We had a lot of fun and laughs during this one, so I know you’ll enjoy it. We’ll try to do another one in May.

NEWS! Talk to us on Legion of Myth, 2:00 PM Eastern, Sunday, April 27, 2025. Yep, Sean and I will be back to chat with you and the madmen at Legion of Myth. We’ll try to answer some of your questions and stay on topic. Hmm, I forgot all of Sunday’s topic, but it involves Palladium’s RPGs, running combat, and other gaming insight. We are trying to do one chat every month with LoM so keep your eyes open for ‘em and join the conversation.

NEWS! The Robotech RPG Episode goes live at noon today, April 25, on the Palladium YouTube Channel presenting the Official History of Palladium Books with Kevin Siembieda & J-M DeFoggi – with a new episode every other week. Get behind the scenes insight and secrets about the making of your favorite Palladium RPGs and the people behind them, meet creators, and more. Please spread the word about these fun videos.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG – available now.

• Secrets of the Defilers, Part 4: Battle through Hades – available now.

• Robotech RPG series – goes live at noon Eastern, April 25th!

• Ramon K. Perez interview – fan favorite comic book and game artist Ramon K. Perez – May 8th.

• Watch for a new episode every other week and enjoy.

NEWS! 20 Reprint titles are at the printer! Palladium has sent 20 titles in for reprint. Most should be available before we sell out of our current print run, but a few will be temporarily out of print for a few weeks to a few months.

• Powers Unlimited One will be back in print by the end of May.

• Rifts Book of Magic will be back in print by the end of May.

• The Rifts Cyberworks Hardcover will be back in print in May.

• The Rifts Ultimate Edition SOFTCOVER will be back in print in July.

COMING! Behind the scenes reveals. A couple of behind the scenes projects shall be revealed over the next few weeks. We shared the information with some friends and insiders and everyone has gotten very excited about them, so I’m confident you will too. One is a huge surprise nobody sees coming that should raise excitement through the roof for fans across the Megaverse®.

Psst, Heads Up. We’ll be launching a sale next week as a tie-in with Free Comic Book Day (one of my favorite days of the year). Can you guess what Palladium Books titles we’ll be putting on sale? Watch for it.

Visit Us at a few events. Personal Appearances. As many of you know, we don’t do a lot of conventions, but here’s what’s coming up over the next 10 months:

• Gen Con - July/August

• Alliance Open House (Tradeshow) – September

• Granite State Comic Con – September

• I may add one, plus I’m considering a January 2026 Convention.

300+ RPG products on DriveThru – a dozen unique world settings – one game system – endless possibilities. 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!

In addition to PDF titles for entire game lines like Rifts®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Ninjas & Superspies™, After the Bomb®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Dead Reign® (zombies), Nightbane® (Urban Fantasy), Rifts Chaos Earth®, Systems Failure™, Splicers®, RECON®, The Rifter® #1-85, and others, there are Game Master and player aids, character generators, paper minis, map packs, and FREE Previews of books like Creature Feature™, Dead Reign, Coalition Manhunters, Titan Robotics™, Rifts Bestiary Volume One, World Books, Dimension Books, and more to give you a glimpse of what’s in the book. Enjoy endless adventures across the Megaverse®.

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

I am adding new collectibles of all kinds to my Ebay store every few weeks. Some are Palladium negatives, rare and out of print books, original Palladium artwork, prints, posters, as well as other collectible toys, action figures, Nightmare Before Christmas items, one-of-a-kind proofreader copies, books, and other good stuff – including Erick Wujcik’s rare and sought after Amberzine #12-15. Check in every week or so to see what’s new. All items come from Kevin Siembieda’s personal collection.

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.

• Each negative 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 is signed in silver ink by Kevin Siembieda and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

• Each 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).

• Looks great matted or framed! Fits an 8x10 inch matt opening. Each neg is roughly 8 ½ 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. The negatives of many books are sold out or were never available.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Don’t let the crazies get to you

It is a crazy world and crazy times. So much change and conflicting information online and in the media about tariffs, the economy, and everything to worry about.

I know, the past two weeks have been insane as we dealt with fun and exciting things and crazy, unexpected speedbumps like the GPSR requirements for selling and shipping products into the European Union, amongst all the other craziness in the world.

It can be so daunting and troubling. There were moments this week where I wanted to tear my hair out or scream. So many obligations. So many demands on our time. Don’t worry, we’re doing alright and figuring it all out. It’s just not easy some days.

I know if I’m feeling this way, you must be too. Don’t let the crazies and worry drive you crazy too. Don’t lose sight of all the good things at your disposal like: Good friends and family, good books, great RPGs, comic books, movies, streaming, beautiful spring weather, trees coming back to life, spring flowers blooming, spring sales blooming too, and all the good people, places and things in your life.

It’s so easy to lose sight of the good things in life when you’re bombarded by the media and friends and family with fear and concerns. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Focus on the positive and things you can change and push away the garbage that’s bringing you down. There is so much goodness and beauty. Be the light. Be the change you want to see. Find escape and solace in your favorite RPGs, books, films, friends, and family.

When you’re feeling low or frustrated (I know the feeling all too well), call a friend and talk it out. Go on a walk or read or do something fun and/or relaxing. Take a deep breath. Smell the flowers and game on. You have the power. Use it. Love ya all.

– Kevin Siembieda, Publisher, Game Designer, Writer and Friend