It was apparently announced during this year's Palladium Books open house that they plan to revise the Palladium system to be more rules light in 2020 for the upcoming 40th anniversary of Palladium Books, beginning with a new edition of Rifts.

Was anyone there?  Was there any more information given?

I heard reports from the open house it was talked about and Kevin has talked about it at gencon...the gamers with goggles dude has had him talk about it on interviews.

If Kevin is smart it wont be announced unless there is a downloadable playtest or it's at the printers.  Which means he will announce it next year and it will ship right after the end of the world.

Well, yeah.  Saying that it will be out in 2020 means that it will be out in 2025 at best.  That much is a given.  Still, it is interesting that he's actually going to revise the system to make it lighter.

Maybe he can Kickstart it!

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1065354Maybe he can Kickstart it!

That would surely go over well!

Quote from: Apparition;1065353Well, yeah.  Saying that it will be out in 2020 means that it will be out in 2025 at best.  That much is a given.  Still, it is interesting that he's actually going to revise the system to make it lighter.

   I have no interest in Palladium, but I seem to recall hearing for years that Siembieda himself runs his games in a much looser style than the rulebooks would indicate. Maybe the success of Savage Rifts combined with this to push him in that direction?

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1065366I have no interest in Palladium, but I seem to recall hearing for years that Siembieda himself runs his games in a much looser style than the rulebooks would indicate. Maybe the success of Savage Rifts combined with this to push him in that direction?

I've heard that as well. I've always been interested in hearing how he actually runs his games when he does events.

I would totally buy a DnD 5e Rifts sourcebook.

Wasn't a great system but I always liked reading the books. I'd take a look at a tidy revision.

Wasn't a great system but I always liked reading the books. I'd take a look at a tidy revision.

Back in 2007 I wrote a review of the Palladium Open House and Kevin's GM style
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/the-palladium-open-house-was-awesome.325398/

He's a very good GM. I'd love to play with him again and I highly recommend the POH.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1065440Back in 2007 I wrote a review of the Palladium Open House and Kevin's GM style
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/the-palladium-open-house-was-awesome.325398/

He's a very good GM. I'd love to play with him again and I highly recommend the POH.

Thanks! That's pretty much what I suspected. We used to have a Cyberpunk 2020 GM like that. He didn't give two shits about the system and ruled whatever "felt" right. (Fast and furious gameplay)

It wouldn't be for everybody, but I suspect if Siembieda actually put those kinds of "rules" down on paper, and chucked 90% of the crunch of the Palladium system, he might have something really great.
It's frustrating, because RAW, Palladium is about as fun as doing taxes.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1065440Back in 2007 I wrote a review of the Palladium Open House and Kevin's GM style
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/the-palladium-open-house-was-awesome.325398/

He's a very good GM. I'd love to play with him again and I highly recommend the POH.

Your experience tracks with my experiences playing in one of Kevin's games. I think the biggest uncodified rule in Kevin's style that could have helped a lot of beginner GMs over the years could be boiled down to "only bother with skill checks if the character is trying something particularly difficult" and "failure is not binary... how close you got matters."

In other words, that 30% cooking skill doesn't mean you ruin 70% of the meals you cook for your family... it means if you're trying to prepare a gourmet banquet for a dozen nobles, you've got about a 30% chance of it going off without a hitch and the other 70% is going to result in some degree of complication you're now going to have to roleplay through; minor but amusing if you only missed by 10% or so up to quite catastrophic if you actually hit that 99-100 auto-fail window.

Honestly, from actually sitting down over lunch with Kevin I'd say the biggest problem with Palladium's rules are the degree to which Kevin let his assumptions of play go unstated. Basically, a bunch of the issues are just because he never included things he thought would be so obvious to players that he wouldn't need to say them. Once you hear his explanations (which include those assumptions... which are really just carry overs from the old-school games the original Palladium system grew out of) it all makes perfect sense.

Basically, the best rules revision Palladium could ever get would probably be to just get a good interviewer to sit down with Kevin to coax all those assumed elements out of him, patch those into the existing system, and then run the whole thing through an independent copy editor for clarity and organization.

If it is true and not rumour then PB needs to really step up it's game as a rpg publisher.

The organization and layout needs a MAJOR upgrade imo. I would prefer full color high production values. If not black and white will do as well. Though the copy and paste in terms of art needs to be toned down.

No one is saying have a rule for everything. Yet PB needs to assume that the a0 the person buying the core is new to rpgs, b) not assume they are willing to houserule away any issues and c)assume they will find another experienced person to teach them the rules.

Make sure no copy and paste as much as possible. The attribute in the books is so old it starting to look worn and faded in the newer books. Take an opportunity to clarify and fix what needs to be explained better and fixed in the rules.

No second coming of Rifts Ultimate Edition. Do it right or don't do it all.

No Kickstarter because by their own hand they not only blew up the bridge they attached the combined nuclear payloads of Russia and the USA to that bridge.

Keep the omni-present shilling out of the books it was almost close to the way Zweihander was promoted. Leave it on the website imo.

He should leave out his personal observations about rpg design out of the books as they contradict him sometimes. He does not believe in balance yet he sneaks little rules here and there in the rules. Rogue Scholars having access to heavy armor was really that broken. Or that non-Glitter Boy robot pilots take a penalty to piloting Glitterboys. Why you ask? because they are considered old and obsolete. Are you kidding me. The setting ges out of it's way to showcase how GB were the highlights of the golden age. How even during the Dark ages people still remember them. How The suits are so strong they survived the almost literal end of the world. How Chaos Earth makes them out to be best thing ever. Yet joe or jane non-GB OCC average will turn their noes up at them and suffer a penalty to pilot them. It's almost as bad as his allowing the Mega-Hero which is the only way to emulate most comic heroes into Heroes Unlimited 2E. Then goes on a rant about it not being about power and a thinking man rpg.

They have a opportunity to do it right this time around if it is true. I'm not holding my breath or expecting much from them.

Quote from: Chris24601;1065482In other words, that 30% cooking skill doesn't mean you ruin 70% of the meals you cook for your family... it means if you're trying to prepare a gourmet banquet for a dozen nobles, you've got about a 30% chance of it going off without a hitch and the other 70% is going to result in some degree of complication you're now going to have to roleplay through; minor but amusing if you only missed by 10% or so up to quite catastrophic if you actually hit that 99-100 auto-fail window.

Interesting. That tracks to Grognard/Gronan's statement that the Thief skills in Gary's game were ran somewhat similar. The skills themselves were a kind of "second saving throw", for a botched attempt. If a player described their attempt and the DM found it solid, they didn't even need to roll dice.

I've been thinking about running Nightbane, and utterly discouraged by the Palladium rules. But this thread is cheering me up. If I can just DM fiat a mook getting one-shotted because it's Cool, and damn the SDC.