(New Year, New Projects)
INTRODUCTION
Now that the holiday festivities are completed, it’s time to get back to cracking through some content for the readers! While I’m still fighting off a vicious viral infection, I’ve got several posts ‘in the bank’ ready to go; this should give me the time needed to rest while planning out new articles. I was only able to get 40 articles up in 2024; work and family time are a thing. I’m looking to better that number in 2025.
THE BAZAAR
The placeholder for all discussion not specifically related to book reviews or Palladium-related fiction, a fair few projects are on the board and currently being curated:
OCC Overviews. Collected in GM Field Guide #17 – Rifts OCC Overview Index, there remains a few outliers to complete. This will complete the Rifts Ultimate Edition/Rifts Main Books series of Classes. We may from time to time revisit this discussion with specific Classes, start looking in other game systems.
Resource Reviews. A series dedicated to providing new and continuing Game Masters some external resources that I discovered. Some of these may not apply to your current campaign, but make for great resources to consider planning your next!
Rifts Miniatures. Harkening back to The Bazaar #67 – Models From Palladium Books, I’ve still been tackling these in the “calendar white space,” such that it is. Once I’ve finished the first few, I’ll be posting the process and final versions.
Core Rules Set – Redux. One of the bigger projects I’ve challenged myself with, I’ve wrapped all the relevant rules from all the games into a single set, normalized it to apply equally to any Palladium Books game system. After posting The Bazaar #75 – Call for Beta Readers/Play Testers, I received a bevy of interest for both roles. Last count I’ve got 13 Beta Readers and 7 Play Test groups.
Note: If you submitted your name but have not replied to the Terms of Reference email, please do so as early as possible!
Bestiary Field Notes. While I’ve posted a few of these, I have three or four monsters I want to cover. Much in the style of “The Monsters Know What They Are Doing,” this aims to perhaps give a fresh starting point on how to employ these beasts in your encounters/ campaigns by doing a deep dive into the Palladium Books entries, as well as linking back to some of the lore and mythology that influenced them.
TTRPG Industry Watch. Something I like to keep an eye on, I’ve started working on some thoughts with respect to the more controversial and influential issues shaping the TTRPG market. Some of them have no direct bearing on Palladium Books (that I can deduce), while others may present opportunities/challenges. I’ll be happy to discuss with you when we get there!
Artist Reviews. We’ll be revisiting this series and going over some of the more iconic artists that have supported/still support Palladium books products. As they are such a pivotal part of the books themselves, it only seems right to include them in a series of posts as well!
SCHOLAR’S REVIEW
Here we’re talking about book reviews. At current count I’m at 81 reviews – phew! We took a break to cover the Rifts Chaos Earth series, and we’ll be diving back into the remainder of the near 100 Rifts-related books. Somewhere halfway through the year we should finish those off, leading us to the following options:
Beyond the Supernatural. Some of the most compelling monsters and beasts found in the original Conversion Book 1 (Scholar’s Review #3 – Conversion Book 1) came from this system. How this system works in conjunction with Rifts may be a really fun possibility.
Nightbane (Nightspawn). The very nature of the game presents Players with an extra-dimensional threat. Seems pretty Rifts-like to me!
Systems Failure. This little gem came out during the craze of Y2K. For those who weren’t around for this term, thanks for making a guy feel old! LOL All kidding aside, this singular entry contained everything the GM/Player needed to explore the fall-out of the dreaded Y2K bugs.
Legacy Reviews. Something I’m itching to do is a review of some of the older product lines Palladium books did. A sort of time capsule approach to the older products is very intriguing. Options include:
ROBOTECH and Macross II RPGs. The multiple generation series of RPGs that cover this iconic IP. I got pretty much the whole collection in a single purchase for a great deal. Aside from the trip down memory lane, these books provide some great gaming opportunities.
ROBOTECH Novelization. I was lucky to recently acquire the Jack McKinney novelization series on eBay for a steal, and in Very Fine condition! Looks like I’ve got some reading to do.
The OG "Original" Mechanoids. A fortunate acquisition last year, I found myself holding the relative holy grail in terms of Palladium Books early products. The original Mechanoids Trilogy (including the rare “Ooops Sheets” and signed by Kevin) as well as the original collected trilogy (with Kevin Siembieda wrap-around cover). The more recent compiled Mechanoid Trilogy makes for a great comparison piece.
GAME MASTER FIELD GUIDE
The collected omnibus posts that typically collect posts from the Bazaar or Scholar’s Review into a singular reference point. There is some clean-up to be done on some of the posts, and some new combined posts to create once the new line of Bazaar and Scholar Review entries are posted.
CONCLUSION
One of the challenges I faced when I started this blog was trying to ensure a viable content schedule. I try to present one post every week, typically released on Tuesday mornings. Originally geared towards the Scholar’s Reviews of the Rifts library, things have evolved over the past four year. Four years! With just shy of 200 blog articles, I think we’ve developed a nice bundle of content. Primarily targeting new and returning Players and Game Masters, I like to think we’re hitting the mark in terms of the tone and the subject matter for these fine folks.
So, there we have it. It’s the start of a new year, and now that we’re all back from the holidays, it’s time to get cracking and keep on writing! With a healthy enough list of topics to cover, and some interesting themes for discussion, I think 2025 looks to be a great year for supporting Palladium Books. Hoping for all the best to you and yours during this New Year, to your gaming groups, and of course to Kevin Siembieda/Sean Roberson and the remainder of the Palladium Books crew.
Cheers!
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