CELEBRATING 45 YEARS OF RPG FUN

A LEGACY OF INNOVATION – ONE GAME SYSTEM – ENDLESS ADVENTURE

By Kevin Siembieda

Hello, Fellow Gamers and Palladium Fans!

Gen Con was a fun blur of sights, sounds, color, and faces, with meetings and greetings, epic sales, good eats, and delightful fans woven throughout it all. Our thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth to say hello, purchase products, and hang out for a little while.

You can read my Gen Con Report and see more photos at the end of this Weekly Update under Closing Thoughts.

NEW! Mutants & Heroes SALE – One Week Only

Featuring TMNT & Other Strangeness & More

Palladium’s Gen Con Special had most of the TMNT & Other Strangeness products on sale at a 15% discount and After the Bomb sourcebooks at a 50% discount. We don’t want you to miss out because you couldn’t make it to Gen Con, so we’re giving you a similar sale with a slightly expanded range of titles and products. One week only, so order today and spread the word.

• The TMNT & Other Strangeness Redux Edition RPG – on sale – Cat. No. 502HC

• The TMNT & Other Strangeness Black, White, and Red Edition RPG – on sale – Cat. No. 504BWR

• TMNT Transdimensional Adventures Redux Edition sourcebook – on sale – Cat. No. 508HC

• TMNT Transdimensional Adventures Black, White, and Red Edition sourcebook– on sale – Cat. No. 509BWR

• TMNT & Other Strangeness GAME MASTER SCREEN – on sale – Cat. No. 512

• TMNT & Other Strangeness Mutagen Green DICE SET (7 dice) – on sale – Cat. No. 510

• Ninjas & Superspies RPG – 40+ martial arts and special powers – on sale – Cat. No. 525

• Mystic China – N&S sourcebook – magic, more powers, demons – on sale – Cat. No. 526

• Heroes Unlimited RPG – make any type of hero – on sale – Cat. No. 500

• Heroes Unlimited Game Master Guide – on sale – Cat. No. 516

• Mutants in Orbit ATB & Rifts sourcebook – stats and mutants for both games – on sale – Cat. No. 514

• Gramercy Island HU sourcebook – 100+ villains and more – on sale – Cat. No. 518

• Armageddon Unlimited – save the world from demon invaders – on sale – Cat. No. 527

• After the Bomb RPG – more mutant animals & the apocalypse – Cat. No. 503

• Rifts Sports Bag – They hold a lot of books and gear – Cat. No. 2622

• Palladium Books Sports Bag – Fans loved ‘em at Gen Con – Cat. No. 2623

• HALF PRICE After the Bomb sourcebooks:

  • Road Hogs – Cat. No. 505

  • Mutants Down Under – Cat. No. 507

  • Mutants of the Yucatan – Cat. No. 511

  • Mutants in Avalon – Cat. No. 513

Rifts® Glitter Boy Codex – Crowdfunder

Pre-Launch Page is Live on Backerkit

The countdown to the Rifts Glitter Boy Codex has begun. Rifts fans went bonkers over this announcement at Gen Con. These books and the special crowdfunding rewards are all must-own items for Rifts fans. Sign up to the Pre-Launch page now for a preview and so you are notified when the BackerKit crowdfunder launches! You don’t want to miss a thing. And please spread the word.

Good News, Everyone! – Website Issues Resolved!

As of this writing, all of our recent website issues appear to be resolved. Checkout is functioning normally, and PDF purchases are once again linking and downloading properly.

We sincerely apologize for the string of recent website kerfuffles. Who knew that upgrading our server to solve one problem—slow loading times—would create such a mess behind the scenes?

A huge thank-you goes to our web developer, Rex, who has devoted countless hours to researching these issues, optimizing our website and server, and teaching us how to better maintain everything moving forward.

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

Thank you all for your patience, understanding, and continued support.

Legion of Myth – Gamer Talk – August 16, 2026

Kevin Siembieda and Sean Owen Roberson (tentative) will be back to cause more trouble on Legion of Myth August 16th, around noon Eastern time. Join the fun. And while you’re waiting, watch some earlier chats, they’re all good. Just look at the hard questions asked in our previous Gamer Talk.

Dive Into The Megaverse® at DriveThruRPG.com

DriveThruRPG.com always has 300+ Palladium RPG products – 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! There are also G.M. and player aids, character generators, paper miniatures, character sheets, and FREE Previews of select books, The Rifter® #1-85, and more. Explore the Megaverse®.

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

Palladium collectibles, books, artwork, and negatives, as well as action figures, toys, and other items from Kevin Siembieda’s personal collection are available from this Ebay store! New items added regularly.

One-of-a-kind Palladium Books 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. Last year at Granite State Comic Con, Kevin Eastman had TMNT negatives from the first comic book on display. Before digital printing, pages of a book were laid out by hand on a board, and each page was photographed. These are the photographic negatives being sold as individual works of art and collectibles. When matted or framed on a white background they look like dynamic wood cut prints.

GEN CON 2026 Photo Gallery

Closing Thoughts – Gen Con Report

Record attendance, big sales, fun panel talks, great fans, lots of autograph signing! Gen Con and most conventions are a blend of fun, work, laughs, and exhaustion.

This Gen Con was even crazier than most.

Thursday the exhibitor’s hall was packed with gamers. Sean and I stopped to sign one person’s Ninja Turtles RPG that morning and it turned into a cavalcade of fans that was non-stop autographs for four hours straight! It was amazing and so much fun. Of course, we continued to sign books the rest of the day and every day, but those first four hours were constant. It was wonderful to meet and chat with so many gamers from across the US from Alaska to Maine, and from around the world – the UK and France to New Zealand and Asia! For those of you who couldn’t make it to Gen Con, Sean and Palladium’s social media guy, Daniel Lansdown, posted photos all weekend to much excitement.

This year we were able to spend some time with Shane Hensley, founder of Pinnacle Entertainment Group (PEG) and the mastermind behind the Savage Worlds game system and RPGs like Deadlands. Shane hadn’t been to Gen Con in something like 10 years, so it was a treat to be able to hang out with him. We also got see old pals like Frank Uchmanowicz (Worlds Largest Dungeon, Audio RPG), Clint Black (Savage Worlds), Mike Stackpole (Star War & Battletech), Phil Reed (SJG), Steve Jackson (Munchkin), Mike and Lisa Pondsmith (Cyberpunk), Tim Brown (Dark Sun), Jim Zub (Conan), Jolly & Barb Blackburn (KODT), Jordan Wiseman (Battletech), Matthew Clements (Palladium), Glen Evans (Palladium), Mark Oberle (Palladium), Mike Leonard (Palladium), J-M DeFoggi (Jackals), Matthew Lempki (Through Gamers Goggles), the Brown Family, the Atens Family, Molly, John, Simon, Orson, Sarah, Peter, and Doug (all amazing human beings), and far too many others to list by name.

The best part of conventions – besides evangelizing role-playing games and making sales – is meeting and chatting with friends, fans, and industry pals. Talking to our fans about gaming, future plans, artwork, etc., and getting fan feedback and suggestions always inspire and reenergize us all. It’s heartwarming and joyful to see people’s faces light up when they meet me, Sean, or any of the people listed above. We signed more autographs and took more photos with people than ever before and loved every minute of it. That Dragon Head sketch I do sure is a crowd pleaser.

Both panel talks were well attended and fun. Sean and I had several people tell me they really enjoyed them. Fans went absolutely bonkers over the Glitter Boy Codex and can’t wait for the crowdfunder to start. They loved the cover and Sean’s description of what the book will contain. They also went wild over the fact that the G.B. Codex will be available as the traditional black and white softcover, AND as a full color hardcover (there will be a foil edition and some surprise exclusives and add-ons too!). The Glitter Boy Codex will be the very first FULL color Rifts book. Cool, right? They were also pleased to learn Yin-Sloth Expeditions would get a crowdfunder in October – and that Rifts Bestiary Vol. Two would see release this fall. Rifts Chaos Earth First Responders and Rifts Antarctica, among other projects, are all moving forward too.

The big sellers were all things Rifts and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, followed by Palladium Fantasy, After the Bomb, Dead Reign, and Heroes Unlimited. Folks were happy with the new Island at the Edge of the World fantasy sourcebook, and we nearly sold out of Rifts Ultimate Edition (and we brought a lot of them) amongst others.

Palladium’s 30 game events were also crowd pleasers. To the Game Masters who ran Palladium gaming events, thank you! Your time, experience, and enthusiasm helped bring over 125 new players to the Megaverse. We had games running from Rifts, Palladium Fantasy, Heroes Unlimited, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness throughout the weekend.

Sean and I had a number of exciting meetings with game manufacturers, printers, artists, and heads of crowdfunding platforms that all went very well. That’s excellent because you’ll be seeing more crowdfunders and a lot more books and RPG accessories coming from Palladium Books in the future. We also met a half-dozen artists we hope to do artwork for us in the future.

We worked our behinds off, but had a wonderful and prosperous Gen Con. We loved the positive energy from our fans, friends, and the overall event. As usual it has left us emotionally and creatively energized. We spent the drive home discussing all kinds of ideas for new products.

Until then, enjoy the Mutants & Heroes Sale, snag yourself some TMNT, superhero, After the Bomb, and martial arts RPG books and game on.

– Kevin Siembieda, Game Designer, Writer, Friend