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Palladium Books (sometimes erroneously called "Palladium Games") is a role-playing game publisher founded by Kevin Siembieda and Erick Wujcik, best known for their popular, genre-crossing Rifts gaming series (1990-present). Although not created to be a universal system, they were one of the first companies to have success creating role-playing games in multiple genres. This is why Palladium Books' house system is sometimes called "Megaversal" - "not universal, but more than just one world." Palladium Books is based in Taylor, Michigan. Their first game was The Mechanoid Invasion in 1981, followed by the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game in 1983 and Heroes Unlimited in 1984. Other popular titles included the role playing game adaptations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1985) and the Japanese animated series Robotech. Palladium was also one of the major distributors of Robotech merchandise for several years. Between the late 1990s and early 2000's, all of Palladium's licenses lapsed and were not pursued for renewal. Palladium does not presently possess any licenses to produce role-playing games based on properties they do not own. Palladium enjoys the support of a small but dedicated fanbase, who applaud what they feel are the company's innovative settings and their games' high levels of adaptability to various personal preferences, play styles and power levels. Palladium states• that it was the first publisher in the industry to adopt the very sturdy and durable perfect bindings on its books, a move that has since been emulated by many other companies in the role-playing industry. Palladium also publishes most of its releases in paperback, whereas most other major role-playing publishers now publish mostly hardbacks. This format choice has allowed Palladium to provide full sourcebooks at lower prices than many other game lines. Palladium is aggressive in preventing wide distribution of fan-made conversions of their games to other systems (such as the D20 System), and also discourages converting the intellectual property of others into their system; while they cannot prevent it, doing so is not allowed in spaces owned by Palladium Books. Palladium Books also threatens legal action against fans who distribute conversions in other spaces.
Game lines Licensed properties Palladium Books has licensed some of their intellectual properties to third-party developers. In 2000, Palladium's flagship line Rifts was licensed to the now defunct Precedence Entertainment for a collectible card game. In 2004 Rifts was licensed to create the Rifts: Promise of Power video game for the failed Nokia N-Gage gaming platform. Only one licensed role-playing game book has ever appeared using the Palladium engine, Rifts: Manhunter. As of 2004, Palladium Books optioned the Rifts film rights to Walt Disney Pictures. Jerry Bruckheimer Films is said to be developing the movie in conjunction with scriptwriter David Franzoni. As of 2006, there is no information regarding the movie available on IMDB. An April 19, 2006 press release * by Kevin Siembieda stated that "until Jerry Bruckheimer has a script he loves, the movie can’t get the green light." Canadian and international game content Palladium is established in the State of Michigan which borders the neighboring nation of Canada. As a result of its geographical location, the futuristic game worlds published by Palladium have an unusually knowledgeable and comprehensive description of that country which takes into account not only notable cities and landmarks, but also the major politics of the country. For instance, in Rifts, The Republic of Free Quebec is a major human civilization and political entity while the free city of Lazlo, which is depicted as one of the most advanced, just and idealistic human civilization in that world is a rebuilt Toronto. They also release supplement books for some series, such as Rifts and After the Bomb, based on certain cultural regions, and adding content based around the culture of the region. For instance, in After the Bomb: Avalon, based in the UK, they introduce cultural satire for players to deal with. Financial troubles On April 19, 2006, Kevin Siembieda published a press release * stating Palladium Books' critical financial difficulties due to embezzlement and theft resulting in $850,000 to $1.3 million in damages • coupled with a series of delays in licensing their properties for other media (the N-Gage game, the still in-development Jerry Bruckheimer movie, a MMOG license, and other potential deals). They are attempting to raise money to continue operations by selling a signed and numbered (but not, strictly speaking, a "limited edition") art print Kevin Siembieda, as well as urging fans to buy directly from their online store if their financial situation allows for it. An April 26, 2006 article • in the Kingsport, TN Times-News, revealed that Steve Sheiring, Palladium's former sales manager, had been sentenced in a plea bargain to one year of probation and ordered to pay $47,080 in restitution to Palladium Books in connection with these thefts. It also provided more information about the thefts, which took place from 2002 to 2004 and were only discovered when Palladium took inventory. Responding to the controversy engendered by such a low settlement amount in relation to the large loss figure claimed in his earlier press release, Kevin Siembieda posted an open letter * to the Palladium forum explaining the matter. Siembieda stated that he had not wanted to make public Sheiring's identity out of the fear that overzealous fans might get into trouble by committing acts of reprisal. He explained that the heaviest punishment Sheiring had been likely to receive even without the plea bargain was probation. Siembieda had a choice between getting any amount of settlement money at all to pay critical bills, or spending more time and money to attempt to get his "pound of flesh" from a man who was reportedly broke anyway. Given the urgency of Palladium's situation, Siembieda did not feel he had any real choice but to take what little he could get. During the week of May 7, Palladium announced that revenues from increased sales of its books, its Open House and the art print sales had covered most of the immediate-term damages incurred by Palladium. Criticisms Palladium's games are sometimes criticized for their older, and somewhat abusable rules system, varying artwork quality, late releases, frequent typographical errors, frequent duplication of large amounts of text in the same book, and sometimes confusing layout. Some consider Rifts, Palladium Books's most popular line, to be the ultimate munchkin game, as it is quite easy to acquire game-breaking levels of power within the rules. Discussions of the company have tended to show that it is very difficult to consider Kevin Siembieda separately from Palladium; the company is run as a sole proprietorship in which the primary owner is also the sole shareholder in the company. Some writers who have been published by Palladium * * * * have previously stated that Kevin Siembieda's method of management was too centralized, and not adapted to the size the company had reached (no delegation, lack of dialogue with co-workers, bad human relationships); this was cited as a reason they were no longer writing for the company. However, there are also many company employees and writers who are still with the company after more than twenty years. | ||||||||
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