#palladium rpg

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Adventures in the Northern Wilderness Cover Art by Keith Parkinson

[legionofmyth]

NIGHTBANE RPG (by @PalladiumBooks) • The Monsters ARE the heroes – Nightbanes • The REAL monsters - Nightlords #supernatural #ttrpg #palladiumbooks #rpg #Nightbane #paranormal

[prokopetz]

Wassup, figure you'd get a kick out of what i found (and bought) at a pawn shop a few years ago:

Any tips for running it?

Yeah – run as fast as possible.

[oldschoolfrp]

I think we can fit one more gun on there (Kevin Long illustration from ad for Robotech the Role-Playing Game and supplements by Palladium Books, in Dragon magazine 135, July 1988)

[vintagerpg]

Man, Palladium RPGs exhaust me. In a good way, but still, exhausting. This is the first edition of Beyond the Supernatural (1987). Players take various sorts of psychics who then investigate supernatural mysteries that can fall anywhere on the horror spectrum, from farcical to gruesome.

As with most Palladium games, there are at least two truckloads of rules too many. The main innovation here is Potential Psychic Energy (PPE) which is how Psychic Character Classes (PCCs — it wouldn’t be Palladium without lots of abbreviations) do their thing. It’s basically a point system for any sort of mental powers or magic and replaces the D&D-derived spells-per-day style systems that were in TMNT, Palladium Fantasy and other games up to this point. PPE and the underlying psychic/magic systems would become an important component of Rifts. A fun section of source material tackles Ley lines and sites of power that will also be important for that later game (and is, along with the bestiary, which includes a lot of unusual monsters from non-European traditions, is the most fun section of the book). I tend to think Palladium games are too complicated for me, and I definitely think this one is too much for horror (and too combat oriented). YMMV of course.

So much amazing artwork, though. A cover by Richard Corben? Hell yea! Kevin Long was still pumping out illustrations for Palladium at this point, but this is one of the rare times I think he’s out-shined — Steve Bissette contributes a ton of work to this book, and it is all grimy and shadowy and full of toothy danger. It’s hard to compete with a master.

[rpgcovers]

Rifts: Pantheons of the Megaverse ~ Palladium Books (1994)

[arbco]

Petra, a mutant Ragdoll cat ready to defend the bodega of her birth, as featured in the art for Mutants From the Archives: Pet Shop Blues, Kickstarting live until 6.5.25! Art by @fontesdev, and lightly colorized for the Kickstarter campaign!

[j-richmond]

This week my brother started a Heroes Unlimited RPG game, which I joined. Yes, I'm in TWO games at the same time!

Heroes Unlimited is a superhero RPG from the early 90's based on the Palladium system. Like RIFTS, but with superheroes. It was actually the very first game I ever played, way back around 1995! You may know it as one of those games full of random tables that you have to go through for character creation. That's exactly what we did. We rolled for every aspect of our superheroes, including powers, education, what kind of car we have (very important), mental wellness, nationality, age and weight, sex, alignment, wealth, etc, etc, etc.

We ended up all being evil.

My character is named Devil Computer. This is his origin:

In 1980 Private Industries tasked an AI Super Computer to solve the question whether God is real. The computer determined that God isn't real… but the Devil is!

That AI Super Computer built itself a mechanical body and went on a Devil worshipping murder rampage. It was defeated and returned to Private Industries, where it was used to run data simulations for only good things. This didn't last. Eventually, the AI now known as Devil Computer escaped again with a new robot body and joined the Satanic Church. It was disgusted to find out the group didn't actually worship Satan. It left and became part of a minor Super villain group called Satanic Panic, which mostly focused on attacking D&D players. That wasn't satisfying either. Devil Computer spend several years searching for signs of the Devil in nature and society. He found many creatures that he would define as vile, but sadly no Devil. With no focus for their Devil worship, Devil Computer returned to Private Industries, and was assigned to their current work group as a Henchman for the villainous Day Traitor.

Devil Computer is an AI supercomputer, and has the kind of skills you'd expect. Repair, Math, Robot Repair, Advanced Math, Devil Worship. It's robot body is 12 feet tall, 2000 pounds and powered by solar energy. It is full of realistic human blood. It has 4 spider legs and a flamethrower. It does not have a car.

Devil Computer has developed a drinking problem.

It allows its friends to call it DeeCee. Devil Computer's boss describes it as a polite and competent worker.

[jessica-problems]

Soothsayer Harbinger Providence, with Phalanx Host Armor & Tormentor Bodyguard (top)

Senior Sweeper Shauna's Final Moments (second row left)

Dreadguard (and Senator) Nicole Teigs of Great House Artemis & her Host Armor, Medusa (second row right)

Dreadguard Fallon O'Connor & her Host Armor, Brutus (third row left)

Dreadguard Miko & her Host Armor, Dragon (third row right)

Splicers Dreadnaught OCC Upgrade (bottom)

by Chuck Walton for the Splicers TTRPG

[originalgrognard]

The Palladium game systems were a popular alternative to the games of TSR, when I was growing up.

Have you ever played these?

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Rifts Adventure Guide Cover Art by John Zeleznik

[legionofmyth]

The Rifter #11: Hidden Answers That Could Boost Your Gameplay

Could the Q&A in The Rifter #11 be the key to unlocking new adventures in your Palladium RPGs? 🔑 Find out how these insights can impact your games today! Don't stay in the dark when answers are at your fingertips. Watch now! #TheRifter #PalladiumBooks #RPG

The Rifter #11 Rifts Ultimate Edition Unlock invaluable insights with our analysis of The Rifter #11’s Q&A section and discover how it impacts your Palladium Books games today! Join us as we reveal answers to burning questions that could enhance your gameplay and storytelling. In this enlightening video, we delve into the Q&A section of The Rifter #11, uncovering clarifications and expert advice…

[prokopetz]

Reading your posts mentioning Palladium, and currently listening to an episode of a podcast about Heroes Unlimited. I have to ask, why *are* Palladium games like that? Is there some goal in mind? Some quirk of the era that they couldn't shake off? Is it one really weird guy catering only to himself in the design room?

(With reference to this post here.)

It's 100% on account of the fact that Kevin Siembieda genuinely believes he's an excellent technical writer, and he's really, really not. Like, I'd be the last guy to impugn his creativity, but from a technical writing standpoint his work is consistently very bad, and has not discernibly improved since 1981.

[oldschoolfrp]

Time Travel Ninja Turtle Style -- Ad for Transdimensional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a 1989 sourcebook for the TMNT RPG by Palladium Books, with James Lawson art (in Dragon magazine 145, May 1989)

[vintagerpg]

Rifts Sourcebook (1991) was the very first supplement for Rifts and it is sort of a potpourri of material that probably should have been in the core rules. To give you some idea of how true this is, it opens with six pages of “Answers to Questions about Rifts,” a set of rules clarifications that illustrates A. How complex Rifts really is and B. How seat-of-the-pants the initial iteration of the game was.

The best chunk of the book details the Coalition, the fascist empire that has taken over most of the US. The initial foray into the Coalition section is titled “The Coalition: Good of Evil?” and it tries to paint the clearly evil government in shades of gray (these are the guys with the skelebots and the spider skeleton robots and the guys in skull mask armor, just to be clear). Two pages later, the book gives up and the title “The CS Government: The Source of Evil” appears. This is a good example, I think, of what it feels like to read any given Rifts book. So much whiplash.

Lots of material on Triax, the German arms manufacturer, which boils down to a guns chapter. There is a selection of monsters, rules for Bot characters. The “botweiller” is introduced. Also ARCHIE, a giant brain in a jar (er, pool?) that can build all sorts of machine horrors/wonders, but lacks the imagination to come up with designs. So it needs a partner. In this case, Hagan, the fellow on the cover, who is ARCHIE’s literal idea man. I kind of love this? Even if the botweiller is one of Hagan’s ideas.

Kevin Long artwork through and through. That cover is top shelf Rifts, and his interiors are just endlessly entertaining. Rifts really wouldn’t work at all, I think, without Long providing at least some of the visual cement.

[rpgcovers]

Rifts: World Book 18 - Mystic Russia ~ Palladium Books (1998)