Dannyalcatraz said:
Hell of a guy he may be, but he does NOT do everything possible for fans of Palladium. In a still missing pair of threads on this board, some of the people who used to write product for him pointed out that he no longer playtests product (as well as other insights as to his bad business practices that impact on game quality).
IM(not so)HO, a company with serious flaws that directly impact game quality is doing its customers a disservice.
And in my own personal experience, I have noticed a lack of needed corrections- problems unchanged in RIFTS since the first editions- and this lack of revision is another serious flaw.
Don't get me wrong- there is some excellent stuff in the Palladium stable- but it could have been legendary if Kevin had gotten his act together.
No game can please everybody. I can't stand the Shadowrun rules, and avoid that game like the plague. It doesn't mean the game sucks - the rules just don't appeal to me. If someone said the company that made this game was in danger, I wouldn't start dogging it, I would wish them well and hope they got through it, as people do enjoy the game - they are doing something right. Kevin is also obviously doing something right, as he does have a rather large fan base that has followed him over 2 and a half decades - almost as long as D&D.
Playtesting: The nature of the Palladium rules does allow this to be skipped in certain circumstances. For the *most* part OCC's and RCC's are much less complex than D&D or other games. A couple stat bonuses or skill's aren't going to throw a game out of whack. Not to mention the guy has been working with these rules for 25+ years, he would know what works by this point. IMHO, D&D has worse playtesting problems than Palladium - Truenamer, Pun-pun, Hulking Hurler doing over a million damage, 217 AC, 628 spells cast in 1 round, etc, etc. Yet, D&D is still a very fun game, and I am currently playing it in my current group.
They just did a revision of Rifts last year. Now, not as major as 2nd edition D&D to 3.x - but it did help in alot of areas with clarifications, cleaning up and streamlining a few areas, and some nicer combat rules (though I will admit I wish they did rules for battlemap use, battlemaps do not work well with the Palladium System)
Kevin does bust his rear to do everything he can for his fans. Look at the price of a Palladium book compared to other books on the market now adays. EVERY YEAR he sells Christmas Grab bags where you can get things for 60-70% off! Kevin personally takes the time to post on the Palladium forums and give updates, etc (this is bigger than it seems, as 2 years ago I asked Kevin how many hours a week he put in, and his response was 100-120!). Giving out autographs...I have about 30 autographs from the man. After he had over 1000 sales of the "save Palladium" art print, he decided he was going to personally write a thank you note with each one - he already had the money, this was just him showing his true appreciation to his fans.
What I am seeing, is people just bashing the rules/Kevin because they personally don't mesh well with the rules. If you don't like the rules, don't play the game, but there is no reason to start slamming the man. Find what works for you, if it is not Palladium games, no need to slander Kevin and his life's work.
So, is there a Door-Breaking course I could sign up at my community college, or do I have to enroll in a Door-Breaking University?
