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Palladium Robotech Lies: Addendum

Posted On: 10/03/2008 20:58:20

There have been some rabid Palladiumbooks fans who have been claiming good 'ol Kevin Siembieda would have included the Super Shadow Fighters and starcruisers in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles if his hands hadn't been tied by the bad people at Harmony Gold. As far as I know, the company reps themselves haven't said anything to this effect, but they certainly don't discourage the belief among the rabid Palladiumbooks defenders.

When Tommy Yune was asked if Harmony Gold required certain material not be covered in the latest Robotech RPG, he replied as follows:

http://www.robotech.com/community/forum/read.php?id=1899492&forumid=10&pagenumber=2

The reason why every possible mecha is not released in the first edition is simply practical. Kevin wants to roll them out on a timetable that's more realistic. He always wanted to produce specific sourcebooks such as an upcoming edition on spaceships much in the vein of the D&D Monster Manual, but included a few in the Shadow Chronicles deluxe edition based on immediate feedback to the original release.

So, there you go. The decision to leave material out and what to include was up to Kevin Siembieda. It's exactly like I said in my very first blog entries about the Robotech RPG. KS threw any old recycled crap he could find into the book and waited for the fans to wet themselves in anticipation of the supplement stream.

Seriously now. An RPG based on The Shadow Chronicles without the Super Shadow Fighters is like sending the Macross II RPG to press without the VF-2. But it's a damn good thing those Medical Cyclones are in there! From what I'm told, the deluxe version wastes some time on agricultural tractors.

I like buying RPG books. It's silly to even be in the hobby if you don't want to buy shiney new books. But I do expect a certain degree of effort. I don't take kindly to core material being intentionally discarded just so another book can be sold.

And what does all this matter in the grand scheme of things? Not much of anything. No one is going to die because stats for the Shimakaze weren't in the book. However, if you're a fan of Palladiumbooks, then you should pay attention and realize this is an example of how the company treats its fans.

Tags: Robotech Palladium

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Viewing 1 - 5 out of 5 Comments

From: calico_jack73

10/10/2008 20:29:08

I guess I am most disappointed that the book doesn't seem to include enough information to actually run the game unless you want a rehash of the Sentinels or Invid Invasion. There just isn't enough info on the Haydonites to actually run a Shadow Chronicles campaign. I'd also get really bored with throwing only the Wraith and the Infiltrator at the PCs. There are also no REF Destroids... I refuse to believe that the REF would give up on the heavy ground mecha given the reasoning the books give on Cyclones. If you need to hold a piece of land you've got to have ground forces and I just don't think that given the Invid swarm tactics that the Cyclones pack enough of a punch to repel a serious attack the way that a unit of Excaliburs, Gladiators, Raidar X, and MAC 3 can. Thankfully Palladium published books are cheap in conparison to WOTC books. I can get two or three Palladium books for the price of one WOTC book.

From: Darkforce

10/06/2008 13:38:10

I was pointing out the 'lying' word. Kevin lied about this and that.

To defend Kevin and Harmony Gold, all one needs do is look back to the Underworld Sony/White Wolf legal mess. No one from either side had all the facts. All in lines of communication. One guy at HG might not be informed of detailed contracts and so on that go with doing a licensed product such as Robotech. So they give their opinion of "why shouldn't he be able to use it" without knowing all the details.

So entitled to opinion: all for it. But accusing a guy of lying just because it looks like he is without looking at some logical explainations is just too harsh. The biggest mistake Kevin has made in my eyes is letting the snarkers get the best of him instead of keeping on course with what he does best. Making games.

From: TwoGunBob

10/06/2008 11:43:31

Gabriel's entitled to his opine given that he's a consumer. I haven't exactly seen accusations in the last two blogs so much as Palladium fobbing off responsibility onto Harmony Gold and HG going WTF? We never said that. As consumers we can question Palldium and their businees practices, they have no obligation to answer mind you. Apparently when they do answer however it's only to try to point fingers of blame at someone else which seems to be the consistant Palladium standard operating procedure.

From: rogue-z

10/06/2008 10:51:34

I have felt the righteous indignation that fuels these posts. Palladium books can be extremely frustrating. They are terrible about recycling content, including errors. But worst of all it's a love hate thing, for me at least. There is a lot to love! But an equal amount that makes anyone with an expectation of quality craftsmanship's blood to boil. That's my opinion, certainly, but I find it enjoyable to see a similar opinion here.

I also appreciate the counter-opinion, such as yours. Why don't us "haters" stop buying the books? Well because there is alot to love in them. And we're not questioning their business so much as commenting on their marketing and how the business affects us. I'm affected by their choice to not include key stats. I'm unhappy about it. Please, keep in mind, I own well over two dozen Palladium books, but I've noticed this as a trend. Leaving out key bits of information, promising this or that in the next supplement, and a number of other tactics that all seem geared to selling the Next Supplement. Plus the reprinting of the same friggin' core rules over and over and over and over. It's frustrating. But we still go out and buy the darn things because nestled away in the bad two column layout, crappy repro and typo's, there is goodness. Lots of goodness. But we loose the warm fuzzy feeling when we feel jerked around.

And blaming Harmony Gold is jerking us around.

Oh. I'm not buying more Shadow Chronicle stuff. After watching Macross F, there is nothing comparable to it's quality about the current Robotech. It's a shame too. I love Robotech.

From: Darkforce

10/04/2008 21:17:37 Do you have anything good to say about Palladium? Two threads accusing them of Lying is pretty fiery. I'd like to think that RPGbomb isn't another RPGnet Palladium flame fest. Who are you or any us to question how Palladium does business? If you don't like them stop buying their stuff, but don't come on here and flame them twice in 1 week with 2 different blogs.....

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