RPG Print News – Ulisses Spiele, Pinnacle, Palladium and More

New adventures and decks for D&D. Hardcover copies of classic Palladium rulebooks. Tokens and more for TORG Eternity. Adventures and other books for Big Eyes, Small Mouth. With a final stop in Wyoming with a sandbox setting for Deadlands and a poster map to help navigate to anywhere else in the Weird West.

Kingdom of Owlbears | Tomb of Wonder by Gemhammer and Sons Gaming

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: adventure module
• RETAIL PRICE: $13.99/$10
• DESCRIPTION: Kingdom of Owlbears is a wilderness and dungeon adventure for four to six 5th level characters. The module is set in the world of Aardehn, the setting for the Gemhammer Adventure Series. Provide the great city of Arborstone supplies and keep those supplies away from bandits. Follow the trail of a missing druid. Trek into uncharted wilderness and bear witness to the rise of a new king. Tomb of Wonder is an adventure filled with wild encounters and unpredictable magics. The PCs journey to uncover relics of the Gemhammers themselves and gain access to secret prestige classes of the Legion of Wonder. Includes new creatures and spells.

Deck of Plunder | Deck of Blunders | Deck of Sunders by Gemhammer and Sons Gaming

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: box of cards
• RETAIL PRICE: $20 each
• DESCRIPTION: Deck of Plunder includes a 100 treasure card loot generator. Deck of Blunders is a deck of 100 Critical Failure Effect cards that provide flavor and penalties for when a fumble results in hazardous and embarrassing results. The Deck of Sunders includes 100 critical success effect cards that provide flavor and bonuses for when combat attacks make a critical hit.

Palladium Role Playing Game 2nd Edition | Beyond the Supernatural 2nd Edition | Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition by Palladium

• SYSTEM: Palladium
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebooks
• RETAIL PRICE: $39.99/$36.99/$39.99
• DESCRIPTION: Core rulebooks from Palladium now available in hardcover. The Palladium RPG is a fantasy world torn with conflict with the non-human barbaric races, creatures of magic and supernatural forces. The world is dominated by a human civilization built on the bones of the non-humans who reigned before them. In Beyond the Supernatural some PCs are gung-ho psychics and sorcerers who see themselves as humankind’s hidden protectors. Others are drawn into the realm of shadows through quirks of fate or fueled by feelings of revenge. All have been touched, in some way, by forces beyond human comprehension. Psychic abilities, the paranormal, and magic are real. Yet science and authority figures dismiss them as hysteria, hoaxes and madness. However, the PCs must deal with the consequences brought about by the hidden world of the supernatural. In Heroes Unlimited PCs can be created like those from comic books, pulps, novels, film or television including aliens, mutants, cyborgs, robots, martial artists, wizards, experiments, super-geniuses, vigilantes, and more, plus the optional Mega-Hero. Includes over 100 super abilities, scores of sub-powers, 40 psionic powers, and over 100 magic spells. Also covers enchanted weapons and objects. Rules to create robots and cyborgs. Super-Vehicles, gimmicks, and gizmos.

BESM 2D Animinis | BESM Adventures 1 | BESM Tokyo Sidekick Supplement by Dyskami

• SYSTEM: Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG
• PRODUCT TYPE: box of pawns/softcover adventure/softcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $34.95/14.95/9.95
• DESCRIPTION: 2D Animinis includes 100 monsters, characters, mecha, and animals printed in a variety of sizes on sturdy punchboards and ready to be inserted into the included plastic bases. BESM Adventures 1 is for 4-6 PCS with new 90-point characters. In Carousel Obscura, The PCs are summoned across dimensions from their homeworld of Molybdos to the strange fantasy world Magenta and they gain supernatural abilities. Tokyo Sidekick includes stats, items and personality profiles for 20 superheroic anime characters from the Tokyo Sidekick board game.

Cyberpapacy Possibility Tokens | Cyberpapacy Map Pack 1 | Cyberpapacy Map Pack 2 | Cyberpapacy Le Resistance Tokens | Cyberpapacy Minions of Malraux Tokens by Ulisses Spiele

• SYSTEM: TORG Eternity
• PRODUCT TYPE: box of pawns/softcover adventure/softcover supplement
• RETAIL PRICE: $19.99/14.99/14.99/14.99/14.99
• DESCRIPTION: Cyberpapacy Possibility Tokens contains 20 tokens. Cyberpapacy Map Pack 1 is a double-sided map. One side is the Monastery, secretive lair of stone-faced priests lurking behind thick walls of both data and stone. The other is the Street Sprawl, a location containing estates and ghettos awash in the afterglow of ever-present hovering holograms and pious propaganda. Cyberpapacy Map Pack 2 includes a double-sided map. One side depicts the holo-grandeur of Piety Square, the focal point of holy celebration and systemic control. The other displays the Cyberpapacy’s bastion of leading-edge antiquities: the Reliquary. It contains devices and artifacts secreted away, hence its fortress like impenetrability and fear-inducing presence. Cyberpapacy Le Resistance Tokens contains over 20 tokens with a size of 25 mm including GodNet Hacker, Jackpriest, Police Paragon, Renegade Streetbeater, Vatican Secret Agent, and White Witch. Cyberpapacy Minions of Malraux Tokens includes 7 tokens of 25 mm size including Cyberpriest and Ganger and 4 tokens of 50 mm size including an Archangel and a Hardlight Drone.

Horror at Headstone Hill | Map of the Weird West by Pinnacle

• SYSTEM: Savage Worlds Deadlands
• PRODUCT TYPE: boxed set sandbox setting/poster map
• RETAIL PRICE: $29.99/4.99
• DESCRIPTION: Horror at Headstone Hill is a sandbox campaign setting, fully detailing a small section of the Weird West called Uinta County in the Wyoming Territory. Includes a 128-page Marshal’s book, a handy booklet for players, a double-sided map, detailed player handouts, creature cards, pawns, and a unique wild die. As the PCs unravel the main campaign storyline they’ll find themselves drawn into all manner of exciting adventures and danger. Wild wind hisses through frosty sagebrush as knife-sharp clouds scuttle across a blazing white moon. In the quaking aspens that fringe the foothills, a shivering clatter draws the PCs with its siren song. Danger is everywhere, even in plain view. Map of the Weird West is a 30 inch x 24 inch poster map illustrated by Cheyenne Wright. PCs can travel the Weird West from the majestic Mississippi in the East to the shattered coastline of the Great Maze in the West. The map notes important railroads, key towns and cities, and the national, state, and territorial boundaries of the wild Weird West.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

SW / Deadlands is dope. I only played a handful of times but it's a terrific game and setting. When in person is a thing again I'd like to take a break from 5E and check this out again.

 

[lyle.spade]

Palladium's core system is a bit of a mess; however, in the FRP the Warlock and Diabolist classes are fascinating takes on magic. The former is a wielder of elemental magic, drawing spells from one or two of the four elements, while the latter wields magic through knowledge and use of runes - a page of which are included in the book. Beyond those, every Wizard starts with the same handful of stock spells and then must find spells in order to learn them. There are adventures built around seeking out spell books, and they have a lot more weight to the Wizard in this system than in DnD. Also, if I remember correctly, spell level is more a measure of how potentially powerful the thing can be, rather than the power level at which a caster can access it. Thus, what 5e now does with spell slots and enabling a caster to power up a spell by using a higher-level slot, Palladium offered 30+ years ago.

I've considered looking at taking some of those caster class ideas and 'porting them into 5e. Ideas. Time. Effort. Who knows? Anyway, if you're not familiar with these games and that system, there are some interesting gems of inspiration to be found in them.

 

[Paragon Lost]

Palladium's core system is a bit of a mess; however, in the FRP the Warlock and Diabolist classes are fascinating takes on magic. The former is a wielder of elemental magic, drawing spells from one or two of the four elements, while the latter wields magic through knowledge and use of runes - a page of which are included in the book. Beyond those, every Wizard starts with the same handful of stock spells and then must find spells in order to learn them. There are adventures built around seeking out spell books, and they have a lot more weight to the Wizard in this system than in DnD. Also, if I remember correctly, spell level is more a measure of how potentially powerful the thing can be, rather than the power level at which a caster can access it. Thus, what 5e now does with spell slots and enabling a caster to power up a spell by using a higher-level slot, Palladium offered 30+ years ago.

I've considered looking at taking some of those caster class ideas and 'porting them into 5e. Ideas. Time. Effort. Who knows? Anyway, if you're not familiar with these games and that system, there are some interesting gems of inspiration to be found in them.

It is indeed a mess, always was. Here's the thing, when it was released in 83', I felt it was really a refreshing difference. I liked having a dodge/block/parry combat system versus the THAC0 of DnD/Basic DnD/AD&D, which always felt more chess like combat wise. Palladiums system felt more dynamic and active which I really enjoyed. We had to a lot of rule clarification house rules etc but it worked well for us until GURPs came out in the mid 1980s and we swapped to that for my main campaign.

I always thought that what Palladium needed was someone with a good sense of game mechanics, layout etc to come in and do a total rewrite of it. You'd have a level/skill based active combat system that many would feel close to due to DnD and yet would be much more engrossing to play. I used to call their offices from Europe back in the 1980s when I was stationed there for a decade, those calls would get costly. Usually for orders or rules questions etc. Nice folks overall when I interacted with them.

One thing I'd ask Kevin if I ever talked to him today, would be about DnD 3x. He's known for being litigious of his IP, so I'd be curious to know why he didn't have a discussion (or if he did have one) with WotC about the big change/revamp to their combat system with the release of DnD 3x. Getting rid of THAC0 and going with a system where you roll your D20 to hit the Armor Class was a lot like Palladium's system minus the ability to dodge, parry/block.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

One thing I'd ask Kevin if I ever talked to him today, would be about DnD 3x. He's known for being litigious of his IP, so I'd be curious to know why he didn't have a discussion (or if he did have one) with WotC about the big change/revamp to their combat system with the release of DnD 3x. Getting rid of THAC0 and going with a system where you roll your D20 to hit the Armor Class was a lot like Palladium's system minus the ability to dodge, parry/block.

As far as I know you can't actually copyright/protect a game mechanic. So while SRDs and open licenses are great for branding, you can just grab anything from anywhere. If you couldn't, the entire industry would be one big circular firing squad of endless litigation.

 

[lyle.spade]

"...a mess" - that's concise and accurate. That said, I switched to PFRP in the 80s for the same reasons you cited: it was different and offered some rules and story elements that were refreshing. I was a teenager then and didn't think much about whether rules made sense or not, or how well they actually worked at the table, so that helped, too.

 

[Kannik]

I'll join in with the 'mess' commentary; from what I've heard (completely apocryphal), even Kevin house rules when running games using his own, in print, system. The rules are pretty much the same as they have been since '83, with additional mess added over time as they tacked on sections to deal with vehicles and mecha. The layout and organization have also stayed stagnant since ’83.

On the whole, I've found Paladium games tend to have good flavour and interesting ideas (such as Lyle noted with the Warlock and Diabolist) and sometimes interesting world ideas to use as a campaign seed. But porting them into a modern, well-conceived ruleset is well advised.

One thing I'd ask Kevin if I ever talked to him today, would be about DnD 3x. He's known for being litigious of his IP, so I'd be curious to know why he didn't have a discussion (or if he did have one) with WotC about the big change/revamp to their combat system with the release of DnD 3x. Getting rid of THAC0 and going with a system where you roll your D20 to hit the Armor Class was a lot like Palladium's system minus the ability to dodge, parry/block.

Setting aside that you can't copyright game mechanics, I'm not sure they'd have much of a case here. THACO and + to hit AC really are the same thing (and the 2e THACO tables mirror the 3e BAB progressions exactly) just coming at it from a different direction. It's not much of a stretch to go from a subtractive to an additive system.

 

[univoxs]

Oh Heroes Unlimited. One of the first games I ever played and played quite a bit. The system for rolling up your character had a unique quality in that it could generate you utterly useless characters.

 

[GreyLord]

In some ways, Palladium was far closer to AD&D and TSR D&D than anything WotC has ever come out with on their own as regarding core rules systems.

It's kind of bizarre that TSR never went after the system hard.

If Palladium is out, does that mean Rifts is coming or has come already?

I never really played Palladium 2e, only 1e. It's been a while. If I recall, one unique item is that it offered the opportunity to play a WereWolf type race (Wolfen?) as well as Hobgoblins. I had a hobgoblin character if I recall right from many years (nay, not just years, decades) ago.

 

[teitan]

Palladium always felt like someone’s D&D house rule system right down to a better explanation of alignments.