GreatLemur said:
As a gamer who was a big fan of Palladium back in the '90s, but who realized even then that their mechanics were deeply flawed, I really wish they'd just bite the bullet and overhaul the whole system. They don't have to go to d20 or GURPS; they just have to either modernize what they've got or come up with something new. RPG mechanics have made so much progress in the past couple decades, and the Palladium system still feels like the 1980s. It's like those crazy bastards who are still doing animation on old Amiga computers because they don't believe more modern tools can do anything better, and are too lazy to learn them anyway.
I dig Rifts. I dig Nightbane. I dig Beyond the Supernatural. Hell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was pretty cool, too. But, these days, it'd be a lot less hassle to just run them with Mutants & Masterminds rules, and use my old Palladium books for flavor alone.
I'd hate to see Palladium fold, though. I keep holding out hope that they'll go through some awesome renaissance when Siembieda either retires or admits that his games need to evolve. It's gotta happen someday, right?
I have fond memories of Palladium from back in the late '80s and early '90s. My late high school and early college games were mostly a combination of a system my friend wrote, WEG
Star Wars, and Palladium's
Robotech, Heroes Unlimited, &
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (I never got into
Rifts), with a little
AD&D thrown in for variety.
Those were fun days and fun games. Very fun. My first exposure to Palladium was the original
Palladium Fantasy RPG, which was similar enough to AD&D to be recognizable, but with a few unique variants, including a complete skill system.
This is probably heretical to suggest, but how far off the OGL is Palladium really? Think about it...classes, levels, alignment, A.R., weapon damage, hit points, attributes...
A few minor tweaks to their system and they'd have some of the best OGL content around. Think about it...
P.S. (Physical Strength) becomes STR.
P.P. (Physical Prowess) becomes DEX.
P.E. (Physical Endurance) becomes CON.
I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) becomes INT.
M.E. (Mental Endurance) becomes WIS.
M.A. (Mental Affinity) becomes CHA.
P.B. (Physical Beauty) goes away (or becomes COM).
Spd. (Speed) stays or goes as desired.
The opposed Parry/Dodge roll remains as part of the variant "Defense Roll" category.
The classes remain.
The entire damage system is either rewritten to standard, or retained as yet another variant system for handling damage (c.f.
Mutants & Masterminds, True 20, Iron Heroes, Star Wars Saga Edition, Vitality and Wounds, etc.).
The skill system is either rewritten to the Core Mechanic, adapted to one of the other OGL variants, or just left as is.
I mean, how different is it, really? Hell, they're probably close enough they could just stamp OGL on the cover and be done with it.
I imagine OGL versions of
Rifts and
Robotech would do a hell of a lot to solve their cashflow problems.