If you're prepared for a different gaming experience, and well aware of their strengths and weaknesses, Palladium games can be great fun.
I only played RIFTS once, but it was pretty neat, if a little obviously unbalanced - but hey, it had a lot of variety, in both content and playstyles you could use.
I really liked Ninjas & Superspies and Heroes Unlimited, and played those here and there. My favourite Palladium game though has to be Robotech. I loved, and still love that show. Epic space opera. I played that one quite a bit, and still would if I knew anyone that was into it. I still have the books from all three of those games; they have a place of honour in my RPG warchest.
I had a friend whose first fantasy RPG experiences were with Palladium Fantasy. He liked it, though I never did play it. It had some very different flavour from AD&D (this was circa 1991, maybe?), which was pretty refreshing at the time.
One thing I remember about them, besides the capacity for some truly cheesy characters, is the supplement books for weapons and armour. Awesome stuff. I don't know about the amount of research that went into them, but they were
packed full of options, modern and archaic.
So no, I don't think you're crazy or foolish at all. Game on!
