Blogging A to Z: P is for Palladium
One of the longest running game companies and perhaps one of the most polarizing is Palladium Games run by Kevin Siembeda. Back in the eighties, after entering into RPGs through (A)D&D, it was fairly common to check out some of the other systems out there to fill some percieved hole or flaw in in (A)D&D. In the case of myself and many of the folks I knew that gamed during the time, much of this just stemmed from outright curiosity more than any real disatisfaction with D&D itself. My first intorduction to Palladium was through Robotech. '
My friends and I at the time were huge Robotech fans and the idea of a roleplaying game set in that universe of transformable mecha was right up our alley. We created our own adventures and ultimately ended up with our own campaign that used some of the ideas presented in Robotech but we had our own mecha and storyline that differed quite a bit from the original. I still have very fond memories of the Space Fortress/Colony Ship Colonial One setting off to fight the Brogan invasion and ultimately crashing on earth to fight off not only the alien Brogan threat, but a militant Soviet style totalitarian government (mind you this was in the early to mid 1980's so the Cold War was very pervasive in our lives at the time - not unlike the constant boogeyman of terrorism today). That campaign spanned many years. I eventually left my friends in Illinois and moved to Germany with my mother and new step father. Incredibly we kept playing through play by mail and a few telephone calls. Again, this was in the era before the internet and utilizing the military post to play international games. We alos had our own series of minicomics that tied our storylines together (and conveyed a lot of our intentions). That was great fun for sure.
When I moved to Germany, I had access to the Stars and Stripes Bookstore and would regularly buy comic books and my cherished Dragon Magazine there. Palladium was a regular advertiser in Dragon and that is what ultimately sparked my interest in Palladium Fantasy.
I am not quite sure where or when I picked up my rather used copy of Palladium Fantasy (1st edition), but it really expanded my horizons as to fantasy role playing. There were many more classes and most intriguing, different magic systems such as ward magic, pact magic, etc. I liked the ideas presented, but I didn't care too much for the system itself (I think the combat system really just didn't do it for me). Thus I adapted some of the ideas for use in my AD&D setting.
Rifts is something I didn't come on to until I was perhaps 17 or so (and at the time, at the end of my golden age of roleplaying). There was an appeal there, but I was begining to feel the lure of girls, parties, punk rock and trying to be cool. Role Playing would completely drop off my radar for many years. After I left the Air Force and reentered civilian life, I started working at Best Buy. Many of my coworkers were gamers and Rifts was the game of choice. I picked up the rules, but I still didn't care for the Palladium system all that much. I longed for AD&D but sadly, in the late 1990's it seemed that everyone either played White Wolf games (which I just didn't find appealing) or Palladium games (which I guess I could stomach a bit better but still I wanted D&D). It wasn't too much loger before Wizards of the Coast rolled out the Third Edition of D&D (which would eventually lead me back home to the OSR). However, it was Palladium that was the company that would ultimately bring me into the fold.
My friends and I at the time were huge Robotech fans and the idea of a roleplaying game set in that universe of transformable mecha was right up our alley. We created our own adventures and ultimately ended up with our own campaign that used some of the ideas presented in Robotech but we had our own mecha and storyline that differed quite a bit from the original. I still have very fond memories of the Space Fortress/Colony Ship Colonial One setting off to fight the Brogan invasion and ultimately crashing on earth to fight off not only the alien Brogan threat, but a militant Soviet style totalitarian government (mind you this was in the early to mid 1980's so the Cold War was very pervasive in our lives at the time - not unlike the constant boogeyman of terrorism today). That campaign spanned many years. I eventually left my friends in Illinois and moved to Germany with my mother and new step father. Incredibly we kept playing through play by mail and a few telephone calls. Again, this was in the era before the internet and utilizing the military post to play international games. We alos had our own series of minicomics that tied our storylines together (and conveyed a lot of our intentions). That was great fun for sure.
When I moved to Germany, I had access to the Stars and Stripes Bookstore and would regularly buy comic books and my cherished Dragon Magazine there. Palladium was a regular advertiser in Dragon and that is what ultimately sparked my interest in Palladium Fantasy.
I am not quite sure where or when I picked up my rather used copy of Palladium Fantasy (1st edition), but it really expanded my horizons as to fantasy role playing. There were many more classes and most intriguing, different magic systems such as ward magic, pact magic, etc. I liked the ideas presented, but I didn't care too much for the system itself (I think the combat system really just didn't do it for me). Thus I adapted some of the ideas for use in my AD&D setting.
Rifts is something I didn't come on to until I was perhaps 17 or so (and at the time, at the end of my golden age of roleplaying). There was an appeal there, but I was begining to feel the lure of girls, parties, punk rock and trying to be cool. Role Playing would completely drop off my radar for many years. After I left the Air Force and reentered civilian life, I started working at Best Buy. Many of my coworkers were gamers and Rifts was the game of choice. I picked up the rules, but I still didn't care for the Palladium system all that much. I longed for AD&D but sadly, in the late 1990's it seemed that everyone either played White Wolf games (which I just didn't find appealing) or Palladium games (which I guess I could stomach a bit better but still I wanted D&D). It wasn't too much loger before Wizards of the Coast rolled out the Third Edition of D&D (which would eventually lead me back home to the OSR). However, it was Palladium that was the company that would ultimately bring me into the fold.
My group and I made several attempts at Palladium games back in the day, but I don't think we played more than a couple of games of any of them. Certainly not a full campaign.
ReplyDelete@Trey - Palladium is certainly wonky in may areas. I do like to mine it for ideas. Pluss they have some great art. Kevin pretty much strikes me as a fanboy that just happened to create a somewhat successful RPG company. I think that can be both good and bad. He's got some cool ideas, to be sure, but the purity of his vision seems to really blind him to other possibilities for Palladium.
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