Line #7 Creator/PalladiumBooks


1	A company that makes various TabletopRPG products. The company was principally founded by Kevin Siembieda. Along with the late Erick Wujcik, Sembieda has designed and written the lion's share of the company's products.
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3	All of the company's products (Except for ''TabletopGame/{{RECON}}'') use the Megaversal system (also called the Palladium system) of mechanics that was developed in the 1980s as the homebrew system for the founders' tabletop games and has changed little since that time. Some of its notable features include its lack of a "neutral" character alignment, a scaled damage resistance known as [[MadeOfIndestructium "Mega-Damage Capacity"]] and [[AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload preponderance of initialisms]] for game terms.
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5	Products include:
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7	* ''TabletopGame/AfterTheBomb'' -- Post-Apocalypse with {{Funny Animal}}s. (orignally a TMNT spinoff)
8	* ''TabletopGame/BeyondTheSupernatural'' -- Modern-Day Horror
9	* ''TabletopGame/DeadReign'' -- ZombieApocalypse
10	* ''TabletopGame/HeroesUnlimited'' -- Superheroes
11	* ''TabletopGame/MacrossII'' (no longer holds the license)
12	* ''TabletopGame/{{Mechanoids}}'' -- Alien Cyborgs destroy worlds
13	* ''TabletopGame/{{Nightbane}}'' -- Dark UrbanFantasy with shapeshifting heroes
14	* ''TabletopGame/NinjasAndSuperspies'' -- Martial Arts and Espionage
15	* ''TabletopGame/PalladiumFantasy'' -- MedievalEuropeanFantasy
16	* ''TabletopGame/{{RECON}}'' -- Military Action in Southeast Asia
17	* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' -- [[AfterTheEnd Post-Apocalyptic]]+FantasyKitchenSink+SpaceWestern+HumongousMecha+everything else.
18	* ''TabletopGame/{{Robotech}}'' (no longer holds the license)
19	* ''TabletopGame/RobotechRPGTactics'' -- Miniatures game, [[PerpetualBeta never completed]] after loss of license.
20	* ''TabletopGame/{{Splicers}}'' -- RobotWar with Bio-Technology
21	* ''TabletopGame/SystemsFailure'' -- The MillenniumBug becomes literal as an AlienInvasion
22	* ''TabletopGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesAndOtherStrangeness'' -- Predated the cartoon, so based primarily on the original Mirage Comics.
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24	!!Tropes associated with Palladium Books products include:
25	* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: The Megaversal system has most game terms rendered into initialisms. This is particularly pronounced in ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}''.
26	* AsianRudeness: ''Ninjas and Superspies'' has a section that describes how people in Asian countries can be rude and racist to Westerners, complete with a rather darkly humorous example. One wonders if Erick Wujcik had a bad experience on vacation.
27	* AuteurLicense: Kevin Siembieda has a stranglehold on the company and its products.
28	* AuthorFilibuster: You can tell that it's a Palladium book if Kevin Siembieda goes off on a rant somewhere about how one should play or run a role-playing game. He compares it to the commentary track on a DVD - albeit in the latter case, you don't have commentary randomly popping up in the middle of a scene.
29	* AuthorAppeal: One ''big'' thumbprint of Kevin Siembieda is insane heroes. There will be an insanity table in any game he makes and at least one character type will have automatic insanities, as well as plenty of character types that can have random insanities, and random-roll crazy characters, and insanity-causing abilities.[[note]]There's a mechanic to save vs. insanity, but most situations that might cause insanity don't actually allow it to be used.[[/note]] Rifts' Crazy is named for and defined by such insanities.
30	* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]] The Megaversal system has a seven-entry alignment list divided into Good, Selfish and Evil, with each of the seven alignments defined by a list of what a follower of the alignment will or will not do. The ''Heroes Unlimited GM's Guide'' includes multiple ''massive'' [[AuthorFilibuster filibusters]] about what the various alignments mean.
31	* CharacterClassSystem: The Megaversal system uses classes and levels like most RPG systems. Some games include R.C.C.s, (Racial Character Class), which is a class and race rolled into one.
32	* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Most versions of the Megaversal system allow characters to take physical training skills such as gymnastics and weight lifting to increase their physical stats and Structural Damage Capacity (one form of your hit points) to the point that you gain immense physical ability and can shrug off multiple gunshot wounds.
33	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: In the Megaverse, magic can only be practiced if you hold specific beliefs about its metaphysics: The wizard must believe that magic is real, that it is a force that can be controlled by humans (or other beings as the case may be), and that magic is not good or evil in and of itself.
34	* CrisisCrossover: The Minion War, a conflict between the Demons of Hades and the Deevils of Dyval, which is set to rage over every Megaversal world where it can be fit in.
35	* HitPoints: Most versions of the Megaversal system use hit points as the character's final life force, which is only expended after all your SDC is gone. Some special attacks bypass SDC and go right to your hit points.
36	* HouseRules: The Megaversal system was designed as a homebrew for the founders' personal gaming group in the 1980s and changed very little since then. It's an eccentric system that is sometimes criticized for being rather clunky.
37	* TheMultiverse: All Palladium games are linked as part the Megaverse, with TabletopGame/{{Rifts}} Earth [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse at the center]] and elements from all the games crossing over. ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' may or may not be a part of this depending on the individual GM; unlike the other games, there's no canonical crossovers and ''Robotech'' is a self-contained setting, but there ''are'' rules for crossing their mecha and characters into ''Rifts''.
38	* PowerAtAPrice: In the Megaverse, it's a pretty universal convention that transhumanism will carry a price. A [[YourDaysAreNumbered shortened lifespan]], [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity insanity]], feeling [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul cut off from humanity by your implants]], or a DealWithTheDevil are all options in various forms. Whatever the price is, though, PunyEarthlings don't get to match the powers of naturally supernatural beings without consequences.
39	* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Consistent editing isn't a thing at Palladium, and these slip into the books on occasion.
40	* VaporWare: The company is infamous for announcing a new title almost immediately upon its conception, then pushing potential release dates further and further out until the product simply vanishes from promotion. The phenomenon has grown increasingly pronounced in recent years. The most notable example would be ''Mechanoids SPACE'', an updated edition of Palldium's first published game that was announced in ''1993'' and remains available for pre-order at the website, but has yet to see the light of day.
41	* {{Zeerust}}: Across the Megaverse, TheAestheticsOfTechnology are firmly stuck in TheEighties. Laser weapons are standard, bionics are the go-to choice for transhumanism, computerized equipment is mostly limited to robot brains, and tech is big, obvious and loud. In ''Rifts'', this has become part of the setting's idiom (and part of the charm), but it can be a bit more jarring in ''Heroes Unlimited'', which is set in the present day.

Context Creator / PalladiumBooks