Palladium Announces New TMNT Kickstarter

Palladium Books has announced the return of the official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles roleplaying game. Out of print for decades, the 1985 game is coming back as a pair of full-colour hardcovers featuring new artwork. It will be hitting Kickstarter on October 31st and will also include miniatures, dice, and more. You can sign up to the pre-launch page here.

Westland, MI – October 13, 2023 – Palladium Books and Paramount Consumer Products have joined forces to reissue the ever-popular role-playing game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness.

The beloved, out-of-print Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles role-playing game and its sourcebooks are sought-after collector items that have enthralled generations since its release in 1985 as one of the first licensed TMNT products. They are returning to print as two deluxe hardcover collections of the RPG and sourcebooks. Each is being completely remastered by industry veteran Sean Owen Roberson and presented in full color, and Kevin Eastman, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, will also provide a new painted cover.

Bonus material includes an array of new artwork, never before seen behind-the-scenes info and art, plus remembrances and tributes by renowned comic book and RPG creators including Eastman, Peter Laird, Freddie E. Williams II, Steven Cummings, Sophie Campbell, David Petersen and many more.

“This is incredibly exciting! I am 1000% onboard to help bring this historic and original TMNT Role Playing Game series back in a truly deluxe collector’s edition that will thrill original fans and open the door for new ones,” said Eastman. “I've made all my archives available for expanded behind-the-scenes content as well as a few top secret surprises you need to be part of. Stay tuned!”

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness Kickstarter

The Kickstarter campaign, launching October 31, 2023, will offer a host of mind-blowing Kickstarter exclusives: TMNT miniatures based on the role-playing game, dice sets, variant book covers, art prints by legacy TMNT creatives, a card deck, and more, including special stretch goals to entice role-playing fans and TMNT fans alike. All products ship in 2024. To be among the first to hear about the entire exciting slate of releases, creators, exclusives and stretch goals to be unlocked with your support, be sure to go to the Kickstarter page and subscribe for updates.

 

[SpaceOtter]

The rules on their Facebook page tell you everything you need to know about them.

They also seem to enjoy using a lot of slurs in their Youtube vids and I can only assume that Palladium either share their views or are entirely comfortable having a close and friendly association with folks who do. As someone who has loved ones directly impacted by the kind of hateful rhetoric LoM love spewing, I can't hold my nose to buy this game even if I love the old TMNT RPG.

 

[Ninneveh]

This is an instant buy for me. Love that it's 6 books in 2 hardcovers.

 

[Velderan]

Stopped by my local Half Price Books yesterday and found a bunch of TMNT stuff in pretty good shape for a good price. Picked up the TMNT and Other Strangeness rulebook, Transdimensional, Truckin Turtles, Turtles Go Hollywood, and Road Hogs so I guess that officially puts me as out on the KS.

 

[Retreater]

This is an instant buy for me. Love that it's 6 books in 2 hardcovers.

Really? Like Transdimensional is going to be included?

 

[Julian Kay]

The fact that Palladium are happy to use Legion of Myth to promote the KS on Youtube is more than enough reason for me to completely avoid it, even ignoring Palladium's rather messy history with KS and fulfilment.

Yeah, that was heartbreaking for me. I've made a hobby of criticizing Palladium in the past, and that's no secret, I co-wrote Back to the Rifter, I wrote a mutant game because I figured I could improve things, but I don't wish ill on them. I don't want them to disappoint me. And yet... it's frustrating. It's very frustrating to watch.

Really? Like Transdimensional is going to be included?

It seems it'll include Other Strangeness, Adventures, Guide to the Universe, Transdimensional, Truckin' Turtles, and Turtles Go Hollywood. There'll also be a reprint of the GM screen somewhere in the mix, presumably as an add-on or stretch goal.

 

[overgeeked]

Legion of Myth are one of the Youtube channels Palladium work with a lot for promotional purposes. LoM enjoy ranting about "the woke mob," "the left grooming kids in schools", etc. I also remember when they called Catalyst Game Labs "Cuckalyst Game Labs" because CGL had offended them by being woke.

Wow. And this is the people Palladium actively uses to do promo stuff for them? That's really terrible.

I'm already not buying Palladium stuff due to their terrible game system, now I can skip over this because there'll be no PDFs and they are buddy-buddy with hatemongers.

 

[SpaceOtter]

Even beyond the horrible messaging and optics involved, it's a deeply stupid association on multiple levels, because if their licensor or the wider RPG public gain awareness of it (and bad publicity ensues), things could head south very, very quickly. And there's no way Palladium can say, "Sorry, we didn't realise." because that stuff is literally all over LoM's videos. They are walking, talking, ranting red flags. There's no way you could create multiple videos with them, do interviews, etc. and simply not realise.

 

[Kannik]

Great game that was overdue for a tune-up. Let's see what Kevin's still got.

I think this will just be a reprint -- Palladium doesn't do (or at least I've never seen any) rules tune-ups changes. (Reprinting/duplicating material across books, however, that's common enough.)

Legion of Myth are one of the Youtube channels Palladium work with a lot for promotional purposes. LoM enjoy ranting about "the woke mob," "the left grooming kids in schools", etc. I also remember when they called Catalyst Game Labs "Cuckalyst Game Labs" because CGL had offended them by being woke.

Y.i.k.e.s. But I can't say it surprises me that Kevin would associate with that. :/

 

[DammitVictor]

Even beyond the horrible messaging and optics involved, it's a deeply stupid association on multiple levels, because if their licensor or the wider RPG public gain awareness of it (and bad publicity ensues), things could head south very, very quickly.

You need to remember that unless Paramount pulls their license-- which they may or may not even be able to do without a clearly-defined cause-- that said "bad publicity" would gain them many more sales than it would lose them. Approximately half of American voters agree (or are at least vote for people who agree) with the sentiments expressed in those videos and as a publisher from the 80s still publishing 80s style games, Palladium is generally more popular with those people in the first place.

I'm not here to criticize your morality or your politics, but be wary of mistaking the views of yourself and your friends for a universal consensus.

 

[SpaceOtter]

I'm not remotely assuming a universal consensus. I'd also argue that if you want to reach the widest possible market, you at least make the appearance of neutrality. And while you can argue that no publicity is bad publicity, that's not strictly true, because if a few more folks purchase because of it, you're taking a gamble that the folks you do alienate wouldn't more than offset those extra sales.