Writing Submission Guidelines
Please Read Everything Carefully
Hello Fellow Gamers with a Creative Streak,
Palladium Books does not accept unsolicited manuscripts for entire books. Instead, we encourage you to capture our attention by submitting short written articles, adventures, settings, monsters, and other RPG source materials to The Rifter®. This (currently annual) publication is part talent show via fan contributions and a way for Palladium to test and discover new writers and artists.
If your work is accepted for The Rifter, we like it and you have our attention. Outstanding material may lead to future opportunities. However, please note that contributions to other books and full manuscripts are only commissioned by invitation. If you have a desire to write books for Palladium, it all starts with The Rifter.
All submissions to The Rifter® must follow this process:
- Download the Palladium Books Style Handbook PDF (linked below).
- Find the Google Docs Palladium Writing Template; Go to File > Make a Copy and use it to write your article.
- Your Rifter submission should range from 2–20 pages (1,500 –15,000 words). Not more.
- When your article has been edited several times by you and possibly your trusted friends, and you believe it is ready to submit, share it to: riftersub {at} palladiumbooks.com with EDIT permission.
- Submissions that do not follow the Palladium Style Handbook will be sent back for you to make the required changes.
- A signed copy of the Unsolicited Written Works Form must also be submitted to riftersub {at} palladiumbooks.com. Digitally signed, scanned, or legible photographs are all acceptable as is a physical copy sent in the mail to Palladium Books. Submissions without this agreement will NOT be read or considered.
- Nothing you send us will be published without a signed agreement.
Guidelines for Writing Rifter® Submissions
Your source material and adventures can be based on virtually any of Palladium Books’ RPGs/settings:
After the Bomb
Beyond the Supernatural (modern horror)
Dead Reign (zombie apocalypse)
Heroes Unlimited
Nightbane (urban fantasy)
Ninjas & Superspies
Palladium Fantasy RPG
Phase World & The Three Galaxies (Rifts Dimension Book series)
RECON
Rifts
Rifts Chaos Earth
Splicers RPG
Systems Failure
Do not write articles for Palladium Books licensed properties including: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, Robotech, or Macross II.
Note: We usually get many Rifts contributions, so your submission is more likely to be accepted if you write for one of the other game lines. That said, Rifts submissions are always welcomed.
Source material and adventures means: Any written source material from fully fleshed out adventures to adventure ideas and new settings/cities/towns/dungeons/planets, etc., Hook, Line & Sinker adventures, new Non-Player Characters (NPCs), O.C.C.s., R.C.C.s, villains, heroes, monsters, mutants, aliens, magic spells, superpowers, psionic abilities, robots and bionics, weapons, vehicles, clarifications on existing spells and powers, clarifications on rules, optional variant rules, in-depth looks at particular O.C.C.s, tips and suggestions for Game Masters and Players on running role-playing games, and short stories (we’d rather have game materials than short-stories) . Note: We will consider anything that’s well designed, well written, and seems appealing to us.
Maps: If your Article requires a map, we need you to provide at least a clear drawing of the map, but we’d love it if you sent a ready to publish map.
About Palladium’s Final Edit: We encourage people who love Palladium’s games to express their passion through writing, but we caution you that the work you submit will not be the one that is finally printed. Palladium Books will make edits, changes, and additions as we deem necessary or desirable. Please adhere to the Palladium Style Handbook and RPG Writers Guide to avoid us needing to heavily edit your work.
Thank you and let your imaginations loose,
The Palladium Support Team
