Palladium?

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's hard, if not impossible, to refute years of ill-will spread over the internet that's taken as gospel by a receptive audience. There are two sides to every story, and I'm not out to question the integrity of people that have posted things like that. What I can say is that statements like the above are not what the current Palladium freelancers experience.

If what you say about the current freelancers is true, then that is a sign of a business moving in the right direction.

Like a number of companies, Palladium has a number of rabid fans, and rabid detractors. Whatever you may be, this thread has looked like several others lately where ENWorld seems to be losing its "friendliness." Maybe it is just a coincidence based on some of the threads I've looked at over the past few months, but it certainly doesn't seem as friendly here as it used to be.

Love him, hate him, support Palladium, or don't, but don't kick them when they are down, and they are down, believe me.

I also know about embezzlement- one of my buddies lost over $1M USD to his accountant over a 3 day weekend- he lost almost everything and had to live with us for many months while he got back on his feet. Its been years now, and the Bank still hasn't agreed to pay the account insurance money, and his lawsuit against them is stuck in the same courts as the 9/11 cases.

In one of the missing threads, I pointed out some of the scenarios in which this terrible incident could be a blessing in disguise for what is, by the accounts of numerous first hand reporters, a sick organization.

In almost all of the scenarios, I personally felt it was best that KS remain in at least creative control of the product, if not in complete control of his company- his creativity cannot be denied.

But the product is suffering from several problems, most of which would be fixed with a decent playtesting and revision policy. Face it, typos in your core book shouldn't remain after a decade in print.

That bespeaks a lack of respect for your fans.

 

[danzig138]

But after about a dozen of these threads in the past few months it does get a little old.

And here you are, just jumping in the pile as well, only from a different angle. Contributing about as much as anyone else to the thread, over a span of a bunch of posts.

 

[Voadam]

The Le is a nice guy too......

Now that Crothian however . . .

 

[Seanchai]

They sold over 1600 of the $50 "save Palladium" art prints. People donated thousands,

Yeah, a little over two thousand, according to the latest public figures.

They raised over $100K in the first 5 days per a status report Kevin posted on the Palladium boards.

I think you missed something there. From the second report: "If things keep up at this rate, we estimate that we will hit approximately $100,000.00 by this weekend!" Notice the word "estimate."

From the third report, "We have sold approximate 1,300 prints (and counting) of the Megaverse United, and with the sales of the prints, combined with book sales and donations put us somewhere around the $100,000 mark in just 14 days!"

The fourth report conspiciously does not mention money and there hasn't been a fifth report yet....

They have raised quite a bit of money - Kevin himself said they have started sending money to pay off those outstanding bills from the embezzlement.

Meaning they're digging themselves out of the hole, not actually making much progress with what it'll take to save the company. Assuming asking the public for money isn't the sole plan for saving the company.

I do know there was alot of speculation on this board that Kevin was just making this up to save himself from bad decisions - well, the court documents did come out -

No, the court documents have not come out. Get your facts straight. A reporter did a story on the case and got his information by contacting the district attorney, not by looking at court records.

And what did the district attorney say? "We can't really confirm that there were 1.2 million dollars in damages."

...someone Kevin knew for 24 years and had hired 14 years ago was stealing from Palladium.

At this point, all I have to say in response to this is, "Yeah, so?"

So, stop the rumor spreading please.

I think you're confusing speculation based on the facts presented thus far with rumors.

While Kevin may be having Ramen for dinner for some time to come

He just got his fans to bail his company out. And he's got enough collectibles to choke a horse with a megadamage Minnie Mouse figurine. Somehow, I doubt he's eating Ramen for dinner. It's the folks who bought multiple art prints who are doing that.

it looks like they are going to pull through this

Let's wait and see if the fifth progress report has any positive numbers in it. My guess is that it won't contain any numbers at all - because the writing's on the walll. When progress report three says they're at the $100,000 and report five says they're at the $130,000 mark, people are going to realize trying to save the company is a lost cause and become real heroes by donating to the Red Cross or the March of Dimes or Roots & Shoots, et al..

I also suspect that when things return to normal, Kevin will find they will be doing better than in the past, since they will no longer have someone stealing all thier product.

Actually, the thefts only took place over a two year period. So that past you're talking about is just the last two years. And if the actual losses aren't far, far, far, far smaller than the reported damages, I'll eat my short.

Can I ask people to stop bashing Palladium and Kevin.

Sure, ask away.

Seanchai

 

[Seanchai]

He was in the position to manipulate things.

And the owner of the company was in the position to double check them.

Before you tell me how trusted Sheiring was, who says Mr. Siembieda had to call for an audit because he didn't trust Sheiring? Current and ex-Palladium employees, along with customers, have mentioned things going wrong, orders not showing up, hearing, "The warehouse guys messed up!" over and over and over again. If something's going wrong and you're a good businessman, you check it out - whether or not he trusted his employees is irrelevant.

This, coupled with the fact that some things stolen were 1 of a kind, collectable, etc. - it is impossible to get a completely accurate value on what was stolen.

Now, why did Palladium Books own one of a kind collectibles? Or was that Mr. Siembieda who owned them and they're being reported stolen along with Palladium Books' property?

Yeah, that is very lenient, but Kevin had posted that they couldn't afford insane lawyer costs to really go after him.

You don't actually have to pay the district attorney to prosecute when you're the victim of a crime...

Seanchai

 

[Seanchai]

Playtesting: The nature of the Palladium rules does allow this to be skipped in certain circumstances.

But not in all of them. Thus in some circumstances, playtesting that's needed still isn't done...

They just did a revision of Rifts last year.

Dude, I own it and the first rulebook. It's not a revision, it's basically a reprint.

Kevin does bust his rear to do everything he can for his fans.

Yes. Law suits come to mind...

Look at the price of a Palladium book compared to other books on the market now adays.

Look at their production values. They're made with the same technology my grandpa used - and it shows.

Kevin personally takes the time to post on the Palladium forums

His post count is 86. It's clear he's not exactly spending a good percentage of his 100 hour work week posting on the forums...

What I am seeing, is people just bashing the rules/Kevin because they personally don't mesh well with the rules.

I'm "bashing" Palladium's response to the situation because it's manipulative. I have the rulebooks. Don't like the rules. Never played. Could care less about discussing the rules or "bashing" anyone who does like them. What I care about is Palladium making itself into a de facto charity, then refusing to own up to the level of transparency that goes along with that decision. It's current and ex-employees are evasive and Palladium is withhold facts which might otherwise cause people to reconsider donating.

Seanchai

 

[pogre]

I'm "bashing" Palladium's response to the situation because it's manipulative. I have the rulebooks. Don't like the rules. Never played. Could care less about discussing the rules or "bashing" anyone who does like them. What I care about is Palladium making itself into a de facto charity, then refusing to own up to the level of transparency that goes along with that decision. It's current and ex-employees are evasive and Palladium is withhold facts which might otherwise cause people to reconsider donating.

Seanchai

Exactly - I have no stake in this whole Palladium thing, but it seems very shady to me. I do see harm it in because it is taking gaming dollars away from thriving cool game companies at some level.

 

[Seanchai]

Copy protection schemes are broken right away, then the PDF is sent out - other people, break the binding on books and scan in the entire thing, but this is much rarer, as you have to destroy the book you bought.

Again, not quite accurate. If you've ever seen an illegal PDF, you'll note their quality is bad. That's because they're scanned, not broken. Also, the wide-availability of illegal PDFs pre-dates the move to online PDF markets. That's because because do buy hardcopy books and scan them. All the time.

Seanchai

 

[Seanchai]

They are, and have been, taking steps toward desktop publishing. From what I heard at the Open House they are currently doing about half of the process electronically and are planning to be fully electonic in the next year or so.

Yeah. And congratulations to Palladium Books for being a mere 12 years behind the times.

What I can say is that statements like the above are not what the current Palladium freelancers experience.

And now they're even starting to get paid! Bonus!

Seanchai

 

[Seanchai]

While I don't know KS, I know a number of people that have worked with him and consider him to be a fair, stand-up guy. I have heard other opinions about him too.

Super. I'll add him to my Christmas card list.

Or, actually, I won't. Because I don't care what kind of person he is, I care what kind of business he runs. Because I'm a potential customer and someone they're asking money from, not a guy looking for a gaming buddy.

Now I've seen some comments about Mr. Siembieda's character in this and other places. But, as I recall, they're comments that deal with his character as it relates to him as a businessman and how he runs Palladium Books, not random drive bys. In other words, they're part of the context of a larger conversation and not attempts to convince others to take him of their Christmas card lists...

With respect to the court case, KS had a choice, ask the prosecutor to press for harsher charges, go to court and possibly take years to get anything back, or accept the plea arrangement thus getting at least some money immediately with which to pay enough bills to avoid declaring bankruptcy.

Sorry, but he got an insurance payout before the court case was settled, hence MaryAnn Siembieda running around telling folks that the settlement didn't matter because they had to pay back the insurance company. He had some money with which to start paying his bills.

Oh, yeah - there was this settlement. It happened the day after Palladium Books posted their press release. You may not have heard of it because no one at Palladium mentioned it while they were busy telling folks that they could be "real heroes" by buying an unlimited limited art print. Palladium even got a check, but that, too, seems to have slipped their minds when communicating with the public. But what are minor details like these when you've got a company to save...

When the theft involves products instead of exact dollars and cents, it is very, very difficult to recover much at all. You can guarantee a lawyer would try to argue that all that was lost was some ink and paper (in Palladium’s case).

Probably because that is what was lost.

An embezzlement case can last for years in the court system leading most prosecutors to try to plea them out with some sort of restitution, however small.

Particularly, I imagine, when you don't have much evidence...

Love him, hate him, support Palladium, or don't, but don't kick them when they are down, and they are down, believe me.

Palladium Books run the bell. They asked not just fans for support, but the public as well. Moreover, they asked for donations. Holding them accountable for their actions under those conditions isn't kicking them when they're down.

Seanchai