How is Palladium doing?

[Wik]

Looks like $185/oz., up a dollar since yesterday and down from $375/oz. since January 2.

*Ba-Dum-Pish!*

 

[portermj]

It appears they've been soliciting donations in lieu of publishing books.

The "2009 State of Palladium Books" is keeping in the PB tradition of promising more than it will deliver. Kevin lists about 22 books slated to release next year. If history is any guide, the reality will be four, maybe five RPG books shipped (not counting the Rifter).

 

[timbannock]

I don't have any issues with them- or Kevin but it seems many do.

All I really have to say/add to the convo was they have a *very* loyal following and I cannot say I blame them, PAlladium offers a helluva lot of gaming bang for the buck in their books- the layout may not be so great and it may be all B&W, but they are usually PACKED with lots of useful material- no "filler", no BS.

Frankly I prefer that approach- I don't need or want $30-$50 "pretty" books like WHFRP or Conan D20 or Draconomicon. I'd rather pay $25-$30 for the PFRPG (2E) or a typical Palladium "big" release than I would (e.g.) Adventurers Vault or MOTP any day of the week.

Not to mention- they have that "written for the hobbyist, by the hobbyist" attitude/personality that hearkens back to the early days of the gaming industry. Kinda like Chaosium. There is a "face" to the company. I like supporting that kind of company as do their hardcore fans. I don't get enough (or any) "warm fuzzzies" from WOTC or WW, or Mongoose or even plenty of newer small (but popular here on these boards) RPG companies to really care.

I have to admit, I admire HOW they publish books: nice and cheap, but they don't look like total junk (some formatting is not the greatest, but it's readable, when you ignore the content).

But unfortunately, their unwillingness to even passingly edit their rules system drives me up a wall. I love Robotech, for instance, but when I saw that the new books contain the exact same ruleset word for word as it did back in 198X, I was apalled. There's still the same glaring contradictions in the text, and several rules that just don't emulate the genre AT ALL.

When I see systems like Cortex or even d20 that feature minor or even major tweaks to emulate whatever the particular setting is -- and how well these tweaks do those things -- it makes me sad to think of how little Palladium would need to jigger with to do something awesome with their system, yet they don't.

Ultimately, if they couldn't be bothered to increase the quality of their system, I couldn't be bothered to give them money.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Agreed- the insider reports of how little editing or playtesting goes on at Palladium are well publicised.

And just so we're clear- I had more Palladium product on my shelves (mostly RIFTS) than any other systems except the various D&D and HERO products. But when I saw the "revised" editions hitting the shelves with the same errors in my older books, I gave up on them.

 

[jdrakeh]

Agreed- the insider reports of how little editing or playtesting goes on at Palladium are well publicised.

Freelancers have made it pretty clear that Kevin is where the buck stops and, in many cases, it has been suggested that he pitches entire manuscripts to re-write them himself. I think that having the company's owner do the vast majority of the writing has hurt Palladium with regard to editing and playtesting. Nobody wants to tell their boss that they're falling short of acceptable quality standards

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yep- that pitch and redo tendency has led to a lot of grievances being filed against Palladium. I don't know how any of them got resolved, though.

 

[Weregrognard]

All the negative stuff about Palladium and their system aside, their new zombie apocalypse game, Dead Reign is pretty neat. It's a a good buy at $22.95, even if you only use it as a sourcebook for your favorite system.

 

[VictorC]

Regardless of whatever Kevin did, or didn't do. The book is not good, the writing sucks, the layout is illogical at best and the art leaves something to be desired.

It does, however, come with instant buyers remorse. Even if you pay less than MSRP you regret it.

 

[Treebore]

I have never had buyers remorse, with the Paladium Fantasy or the RIFTS lines, which are all that I have bought, and I own most of the lines. The layout may not be the best, the art may not be the best, the mechanics need some tweaking (and not a whole lot at that), but the content is awesome! I like the content better than Arcanis, The Petal Throne, Wilderlands, Greyhawk, Faerun, or any other setting I own in the fantasy genre, and RIFTS blows everyone else away in similar fashion as well.

So Palladium is a company ran in far from stellar fashion with poor layout, problematic mechanics, etc..., but of what I have bought, I haven't come close to feeling any kind of remorse.

 

[El Mahdi]

I have never had buyers remorse, with the Paladium Fantasy or the RIFTS lines, which are all that I have bought, and I own most of the lines. The layout may not be the best, the art may not be the best, the mechanics need some tweaking (and not a whole lot at that), but the content is awesome! I like the content better than Arcanis, The Petal Throne, Wilderlands, Greyhawk, Faerun, or any other setting I own in the fantasy genre, and RIFTS blows everyone else away in similar fashion as well.

So Palladium is a company ran in far from stellar fashion with poor layout, problematic mechanics, etc..., but of what I have bought, I haven't come close to feeling any kind of remorse.

I agree wholeheartedly. I've only actually played any Palladium games just a couple of times (a Heroes Unlimited/Rifts combo, and a Palladium Fantasy game), but the books I've bought are some of my favorite reference material. As long as I ignore most of the mechanics (especially Megadamage), the campaign settings are really good. I also liked their books on weapons (both old and modern) and castles. Really good reference books.