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June 9th and 10th I will be running Palladium games at Project A-KON in Dallas Texas.
Pregenerated characters have been made and a notice that BYOC are accepted with approval.
Rifts friday night and HU on saturday.
I am going to take a small risk and carry my laptop to the games and use the hotel wireless to bring up the Palladium website for folks interested.
Provided the game goes as wonderfully as it has the possibility to do with the great players I know will be in attendance extra play hours have been approved.
The same of the HU game on saturday evening.

I may even have some new interested players, or that is atleast my plan.
never give up
never surrender.

BB

A gaming club in Rochester MN, is holding a Game Fest on the 17th at the FLGS. They've been advertising the fact with flyers. I'm hoping to make contact and see if they will allow me to run an AtB or Heroes demo at the event.

Fantastic! Keep us posted, and if you need any help or ideas, let us know.

Unfortunately, my little attempt at KublaCon didn't go so well...

After being asked to remove myself from the Common Game Area, so that a CCG tournament could be run, I found the only open area right next to the RPGA.

If I ever entertained thoughts of joining the RPGA, they were crushed this weekend.

I am, unfortunately, gifted with exceptional hearing. So all the RPGA members who thought they were whispering snide comments about me & my friend unnoticed, are wrong.

I heard you.

Besides that little fiasco, I enjoyed the Con. I was able to see how the Serenity RPG was supposed to work, got a signed copy of Vibora Bay from Darren Watts (my name was used for a character), and got a little d20 SW action!

But before I go to another Con, I'm making sure to sign up a registered game next time...

Hang in there, guy. I know its rough sometimes, but it sounds like the Open Play area was really full. Its hit & miss, isn't it?

In any case, here's a little happy news for everyone! Kevin just gave the first official public word on the MAs! :

http://forums.palladium-megaverse.com/viewtopic.php?t=59391

lol. Too true...

In the future, I'll definitely be reserving space from the organizers if I want to run a game, no matter which Con it is...

Ah, well...

"Why do we fall down, Master Wayne?"
"To learn to pick ourselves back up!"

I am a web master for and the Coordinator of the Granite City Gaming Club; it's based in St. Cloud, MN. We run a game day every three months; the next Game Day is on June 10th. The last Game Day had 45+ people attending. The next Game Day will probably see more. There are fliers up for all the events at the LGS and have been up for about a month now.

At this Game Day I'll be running both a Rifts session and a Beyond the Supernatural session.

I'd definitely be interested in becoming a Megaversal Ambassador and running sessions such as the ones linked above and I'd run them every three month.

Well, it's definitely panning out, and keep checking back here and in Kevin's Murmurs (like this) for more as the program develops. Let us know how your gaming day goes, how the sessions turn out, and if folks have any additional questions, send 'em our way.

In Kev's Murmur, "Megaversal Ambassadors & the future of Palladium", he talks about advertising. I was wondering if he had thought about advertising at some of the popular web comics out there. They certainly do have audiences and most are gamers, seems to me like a perfect place to advertise.

Well if it matters, I am running my first ever Palladium games at a gaming store on friday. Not really a demo, but out in the open where all visitors can see what we are doing.

I have a Convention and a Gameday in the next few months and I am problably going to bring After the bomb with me to see if I can do any pick up games. Perhaps I may run it as an offical run at the game day...
Eh you never know

Good luck!

Yeah, best of luck! It'd be cool to bring in some more ATB players.

I'd say as a rule, you're correct, but I used to be an ONLY D&D kinda guy.

Then I saw Palladium.

I admit to owning a bunch of D&D stuff...but it comes nowhere NEAR the nine to ten foot tall stack of Palladium books I own.

Sub

This is a FANTASTIC idea!

I used to do something similar when I was ticket scalping. I'd babysit a bunch of kids and have 'em stand in line with me for tickets.



Sub

I wish I could be a Megaversal Ambassador, but unfortunately for me, I'm a terrible GM.

That said; Zach - I can help you indirectly. You're going to be a local MA, and I can supply one main book a week (for whatever system you're playing) as a prize for the best role player for any of your games to help spread the word and keep the momentum going. If you get say...ten guys to play and like the game, and each of them gets a book, they'll probably bring five of their friends into it. Each of those fifty-five people would buy say...six books each, and would also bring more people in, and so on and so forth.

Right now I'm trying to get in contact with a local comic book retailer that doesn't sell RPGs to have them give away a couple of cases of the RUE main books to their RPG playing fans.

I figure it'd be easier to sell an RPG player on a world that is entirely dissimilar to D&D than it would be to try and sell them on something nearly identical.

Sorry I really can't be an MA (since I suck at GMing), but I'm doing my best to help.



Subbie

Hey Subbie,

Don't you worry about GMing. There's more than one way to be an MA, and your willingness to volunteer like that is really appreciated. You've really gone above and beyond through this whole thing, and I think it's just incredible.

Well, I'm a good customer for Palladium, but I wish I had some way to expand the number of people playing rather than just being a good customer.

I think I'll be quiet for a bit. I'm kinda depressed right now. Oddly enough, this is a banner week for me and yet I'm feeling like caca right now.

Subbie

No, no, you've got nothing to feel like caca about. You've done a ton for Palladium, for the troops overseas, and you've come up with several ways to help spread Palladium to a new crowd, like your book giveaways (which is just amazing you're willing to do something like that) and working with a game shop to get new players hooked. Tell you what, as soon as I get back to Indy this fall, you and I will make that the center of the Palladium Fan Base. We've got an entire city to convert. And don't doubt for a moment we'll do it.

(pipes up again)
Running Rifts and HU at A-Kon this coming weekened June 9th-11th.
So far one game of each scheduled with 5 and 6 hour time slots.

working hard to spread the word
"Play the game"

bb

Hey, out of curiousity, what sort of adventure are you running for each? Using PreGen characters?

For the Rifts game pre-generated characters are for players who arrive at the convention without characters and do not want to take the time to create them.
In the HU game I have an extra hour sloted for base character creation and then the 'power packages' rolled with establish from there.

Here are the blurbs posted.

Palladium, Rifts.
Seeking a rescue.
The insanity of Tolkeen has left few caught in its wake unscathed, and
unfortunatly for you the undertow was more than enough to drag you down.
Captured by the Coalition you and several others awaited exicution by a
Rear-Fire base Commander when a distress call from evacuees was lost. The Commander, caught up in the insanity, ignored the call infavor of acheiving his personal 'Kill Quota' with your blood. Luckly for you and the evacuees his young radio operator had other plans. Now freed you race against the clock to rescue the evacuees while dodging the Coalition forces again targeting you, and those horrors released by the Tolkeen insanity. The voices so hopeful for rescue now lie in your hands, and your skill to survive.


Palladium, Heroes Unlimited
Origins
Every Hero has a beginning. Sometimes you see it. Other times you simply read or are told. For this be prepared to experience it. As with all
great Heros it begins with a "Event" and from there the power seems to grow to fill the need or the desires of the one who carries it. Often the
villains enjoy the advantage of power over these new Heroes, but what
happens when the people the Villains least suspect become the Heroes they fight against? Who has the advantage then? What powers will your Hero carry, and who will he or she become?

BB

I would love to find folks to game with in Tucson. I am not much of a GM but I love to play

Well, I should be heading back to Springfield this weekend. After that, I'll hopefully be in touch with Mr. Morgan from MetaGames Unlimited to schedule a couple of demo days for the coming months. The unfortunate thing is that I'm not sure what kind of employment I'll end up finding, and thus am unsure of my schedule. However, I should be getting my summer Rifts game organized in Rolla this weekend (several players there haven't played Palladium and are quite curious). Also, I should be bringing my friend's sister into the fold by introducing her to Rifts and HU2. Hopefully, this will be a productive summer for my Palladium recruiting (and maybe even writing).

just out of curiosity, how have things been moving forward with the MA's? Anything new/interesting/groundbreaking happen recently? How many new gamers/Palladium players do we have since the movement started?

Hey there,

Well, as you may have guessed from Kev's Murmurs entry, he and the guys have been extremely booked this week. However, we do communicate via email every day, and are working hard to get things done. We've had a number of volunteers and freelancers step up and express interest in being a part of the MAs, and it seems like the folks at PB and I are in basic agreement regarding the direction this will take.

As far as new members, I really can't separate the recruits from MA from the new gamers in-general, but overall since this crisis began, we have seen over 741 new board members. I've personally been contacted by 22 different individuals getting back into Palladium, and several of our members have deciated themselves to running convention events. We're also working to have pick-up games available at Gen Con Indy (offered by myself and other MAs) for those who want a demo or didn't sign up for one of the other scheduled Palladium games.

Kevin and Co. are committed to getting the MA detail completed and put into action as soon as practicable. Be rest assured, we're working on it, and I will keep everyone updated with anything pertinent that comes across. In meantime, please, keep the suggestions coming, and keep the drive alive.

Thanks for the update, Zachary.

Yeah, I for one I'm climbing the walls with anticipation for the final word on the MA program, how is it going to operate and other stuff.
Zac, has Kevin commented to you on the logo I made? I need more praise for my doodles!

Yeah, he said it was...let me find the quote..."cool".

I'm excited about it, too! Trust me, I'll be keeping you guys posted at every turn.

I've always had a problem knocking out a quick single session adventure. The shortest games I've put together usually end up lasting two to three 5-6 hour sessions.

I'm hoping that some of you can help me out by sharing how you crank out an entertaining scenario that can be completed in a 5-6 hour session.

My crew of ten still heckle me when I say an adventure will run one night.

You know, over the last 13 years, I have found that letting the PC's kind of run the show works pretty well for one nighters.

have a loose idea of what you want to happen...ie, mission requests on a Merc company board, a night at a bar, something small and easy.

Then introduce the players to that situation, and let them run with it. You will most often find that the adventure kind of writes itself as the evening progresses.

The key is to be relaxed and don't worry too much about running the "perfect" adventure. The players will never know you didn't plan ANY OF THIS so long as you are cool and collected.

You just have to think a little quicker on your feet, and be OK with the fact that both your adventure and your players might end up miles (or light years) away from what you had intended. 'S easy!

The way I look at single-session games is to try and have a flexible, stretchy middle, and a definitive end. Basically, leading up to the final encounter, have it designed so you can realistically inject more battle scenes or "skill time" or draw out further social interaction, depending on the feel of your group. A good finale can really leaving a good impression of the game, though, so make sure to make that final encounter/quest fulfillment a doozy.

That's true... for people who are familiar with a setting.

I guess I should have stated in the post that I was looking for some ideas when putting together a "demo" scenario to introduce players to a setting. In my case, that setting would be "After the Bomb".

I'd like to introduce the players to some of the setting elements of the game world, but don't want to spend a whole session devoted to one aspect of the world, nor do I want to try to cram to much into it either.

The big problem is instilling an air of intrigue in the players that makes them want to go further, to find out more about this new setting, and--hopefully--buy the book.

I have several ideas, but the problem I’m having is coming up with a way to cram that into an entertaining 5-6 hours.

If you want to PM me, I'm headed to work right now, but as soon as I get home I'd be happy to take a look at what you've got so far.

In an effort to help new people make informed decisions about which books to buy, The NEXUS Forums has opened a new section involving book reviews of many of the books in the Palladium Megaverse.

More details at this thread

Yet another reason I need to come back and spend more time there. If only my home PC was functioning...

Hey Rali,

I know exactly what you mean. I also tend to create mini-campaigns instead of one-shotters. After reading the posts from Brandon and Kevin post on Monday about how Palladium needs new blood and new fans, I hope it really puts Palladium GMs in a "let's go get'em!" mode because convention demos are a great way to make new fans. Sure, a formalized Ambassador program would be nice, but all we need now are GMs going to cons who run fun stuff while being mellow enough to teach newbies.

SO how to make a short game that is still wicked cool? I recommend you rely on the three act structure set down by the ancient Greeks that is still used in every novel and movie today.

Act One
1 - The Introduction / Gathering of Heroes
Act Two
2 - Travel and Learn
3 - Travel and Learn
Act Three
4 - The Climax / Big Fight vs. the Bad Guy

Here's how it works.

In Act One, we have a big intro scene where the heroes gather together and learn about the Bad Guys and they are sent on the Road to Adventure! It is here we learn why were are going on the quest and what we hope to accomplish. There are many questions raised in Act One that spur the heroes to learn more.

In Act Two, we have two scenes where the heroes travel and learn more information about the plot and the plans of the Bad Guys. It is here that they meet an important NPC or hunt down an important artifact or seek out some great secret.

In Act Three, we have the big showdown where it's Good Guys vs. Bad Guys and all the poopie hits the fan. All the questions raised in Act One must be answered before Act Three can finish.

Game Scene Breakdown
In games, your scenes break down to Combat, Roleplay, Tricks, Traps and Decisions.

Combat scenes are pure battle and quick battles will take 1 hour and big battles will take 2 hours. Remember these are Newbies and they will need extra time to adjust to the system. I recommend no more than two combat scenes (1 big and 1 small).

Roleplay scenes are mostly talking and maybe some skill rolls. Remember to create a few very intesting NPCs with personality so the heroes can do some verbal jousting.

Tricks and Traps are actually quite different. Tricks are not dangerous, but threaten to give the heroes false information or divert them away from their quest. Tricks try to fool the players into making future mistakes. Traps are puzzles that will hurt the heroes if they are not figured out.

Decisions are scenes where the heroes must choose a course of action that will deeply affect the game. Do we ally with the Elves vs. the Dwarves or the Dwarves vs. the Elves? Do we take the very long road or the quick trip over the monster filled sea? These are fun scenes, especially if you foreshadow the "right" decision with a Trick scene beforehand.

I hope this helps somewhat. I am sure Plato is rolling in his grave, but all you really need for a 4 to 6 hour demo are 4 cool scenes laid out in such a way that you tell a quick, but fun story.

Here's a quick con demo idea for Palladium Fantasy. My demo is a simple dungeon crawl with a twist . This game should take about 4-6 hours depending on how much detail/interaction you add to the scenes.

INTRO (45 minutes)
Everyone gets a premade character and you explain what all the stuff on their character sheet means and you explain how the system works. This alone takes at least 30 minutes. THEN you give the quick background of our story: the heroes are camped alongside a river in the Yin-Sloth Jungles after being shipwrecked three days ago. The nearest village is still a week away. Give some cool descriptions of the place and let the heroes introduce each other. Suddenly there is a massive explosion in the water and huge tower of ice rises out of the quickly chilling water.

ACT ONE (45 minutes)
Scene 1 = Trap / Decision
The rising tower frightens all the giant alligators in the river who come charging out the water and through the camp. The heroes need to get to high ground, defend themselves and save their stuff as the hundred alligators make their escape. Remember, this isn't a combat, the alligators are motivated to flee, but they may tailslap the dwarf into a tree or stomp the elf as they go by. Once they are gone, the heroes can make skill rolls to figure out what the tower may be and then the big decision - Do we explore the Tower of Ice? Through some skill rolls, the heroes learn that the Tower is a mobile fortress of an Ice Troll Warlock who was destroyed several times by the Wolfen Empire, but the seeds of his fortresses are embedded in snowflakes and one such snowflake must have found its way through the clouds, the rain and the river to this very spot which is a powerful ley-line nexus. This scene is where they take some damage, lose some stuff, cast some magic and otherwise "test drive" their character. Make sure you tailor the scene so it introduces them to the Palladium World, not generic fantasy.

ACT TWO
Scene 2 = Roleplay (30 - 45 minutes)
The heroes need to make their way across the now frozen river to the huge Tower of Ice and figure out how to get into the Tower. The spirits of the jungle are angry about the drop in temperature and they will let the heroes know that this fortress won't last long in Yin-Sloth. The heroes will need to negotiate with the jungle spirits who have decided to blame them! Once the heroes find their way inside, they will explore several rooms with odd magical devices and weapons of ice that they can figure out how to use. Maybe there are intelligent illusions of Ice Trolls they can speak with. Everything is made of ice, but each hero will be able to figure out a neat magic binkie for themselves; aka warriors can man the ice-ballistas and find an ice sword and the wizards can figure out how to use the clairvoyant snow globe. The scene is all dedicated to introducing fun, flavorful bits without harming anyone. This is your "hey, look at all the cool you can find in a Palladium game" scene.

Scene 3 = Trap (45-60 minutes)
Without warning, the Tower turns its defenses on the heroes and these are dangerous. The heroes must use the knowledge they gained in Scene 2 to help them as all sorts of bad snow magic gets hurled at them.
Maybe the heroes are split up in different floors of the Tower, maybe a few mano-a-mano very quick combats against 10 SDC / 1 HP ice constructs, and have the heroes fight to regain control of the Tower. This is the scene where the players learn about how tuff/cool/interesting their Palladium character can be. Since you are using pregen characters, you can tailor the traps to each character's abiltiies.

ACT THREE (60- 90 minutes)
Scene 4 = Combat
Pick a few cool fire / jungle monsters and throw them at the Tower. The heroes need to fight them off using the powers of the Tower, but the Ice is melting and heroes need to battle their way out of the Tower to safety while the Giant Alligators are returning to the river and the Tower breaks free and starts floating downriver toward the waterfalls. This scene is the big finale with lots of crazy cinematic pyrotechics. This is the BIG combat where they really get to see how Palladium combat works and experience the full force of what their characters can dish out and what the monsters can do. It's okay if a hero dies heroicly in battle as long everyone has fun .

Great article Spinichcat! You've given me some great ideas and a good way to focus on what I want to put together.

You are very welcome!

I was thinking about how to best explain convention games with the minimum of verbage this morning because even though I have been running con events for 20+ years, I still very often plan TOO much for the time. Here my new thoughts:

As GMs we often think about our home games as movies or novels or TV series where characters develop and plots unravel over many months of play. It's that thinking that gets us in trouble with con games. Instead, we need to approach con games from the angle of a short story or a 30 minute episode.

We need to be short, sweet and intense. Every scene needs to be Cool + Cool + Jump so we have a neat moment or two and then jump to the next scene. We are on a timer because there is no "see you next week" so action needs to be compressed. Personally, I cut all my monster SDC/MDC/HP in half so players get to experience the intensity of the monster, but its staying power is tossed aside because we just don't have that kind of time.

Short and Sweet - that's our mantra!

A-Kon in Dallas Texas was a success by my standards.

Friday I arrived early.
and after discovering the very small tables...6x3 provided by the hotel I arranged two into a L shape with myself in the center. Bck to a wall where I put my game books and dry erase board.
at 6:30 I had 8 players.
4 of which had never heard of the game before.
1 player was a purchaser of the books for over 2 years but had never played!
the other 3 had prior palladium experience.
The game went well...from the introduction describing the insanity of Tolkeen and the battles raging around it...to the decription of the insane coalition officer who using skelebots captured thier characters. The young female officers rescue of them in hopes they can rescue a group of refugees...
thier first act as a group...take the two main wilderness scouts and split the party...One group followin gthe forest and the second on motorcycle riding a dry river bed.
Needless to say they hit both my 'insanity encounters'.
The forest group encountering the borg-child with the phirana gun..
and the second encountering the skull walker with the dragons head mounted on top.
By then end of the 6 hour game they had succeeded, with heavy damage.
End result...every survey returned by the players stated they would pick up the game as a new hobby!

Saturday night
Heroes unlimited...was just as full...Infact I almost ended up with 9 players.
3 with HU experience,
4 new players and one lass named Kat who bowed out of the vampire larp after reading my game description and meeting me.
The story went well with the discovery of thier powers..They loved the mixture of styles and 3 of them actually cheered when COBRA (yes from gi joe) attacked thier group.
At the end of the evening ....midnight
all the new players surveys stated they would also pick the game up as a hobby.

Over all a wonderful experience and I look forward to the chance again next year.

my best wishes to all
good gaming
BB

Do you think Palladium could add a page to the website for Megaversal Ambasador Resources?

There we could place game demos for the various settings, pregen characters, polling cards, promotional material, flyer blanks, etc.

hey...that's a good idea!

Oh, and Kenneth: ROCK.ON!!!

Absolutely! Already pitched it to Kev & Co.!

Excellent! I cant wait to see it.

UPDATE:

Great news! The logo design my Juankis was given the thumbs up by Kevin and Wayne! It looks like we have ourselves a logo! One thing, Juankis, they need you to put a "TM" after "Ambassadors". PM me--I have a little surprise for you, too.

Other news: We should be getting our own forum soon, hopefully by the end of next week. We're also working to organize demo teams for the conventions for this summer and beyond. Aside from that, I should have another go at the guidelines turned into Kevin by the start of next week, and we're also working out the particulars of the incentive system.

Thanks to everyone who's keeping the enthusiasm and fire alive--and a special thanks to all those already running demos, taking Palladium to the FLGS denizens, and everyone who's doing their best to support a great company at a critical time. The folks at Palladium are enthused about the MAs, and I am, too. We're making big progress towards implementing several key elements of the program. In the meantime, let's not be shy about getting out there and running demos and getting folks interested in Palladium!

One other thing: Kevin's said yes to Palladium hosting duties to items like printable flyers, Pre-Gen characters, scenarios, etc, so start writing! Flyers for Game Stores are a big one, so if you have a handy design for a flyer designed to promote a Palladium Game Day or scheduled demo or whatnot, please email it to me.

Just another quick update: Sent off the more-polished guidelines and membership form this morning, and also a rough draft of the demo/event comment card. Still hoping to have a spearate MA forum by the end of the week. I'll keep you all posted as I hear more. Thanks, and keep pushing for Palladium!

I have over 50 reviews posted at the NEXUS Point for everyone to make their own comments on. Please do so. It helps others make choices on books.

Right now, I only got Rifts books up, but I should get more up soon.

Any new updates to share Zac?

Just got off the phone with Kev. We're hoping to have a very strong showing at Gen Con, and after a slight delay, we should have our own forums by next week. All of us are working very hard to have the formal program in place soon--of course, with Origins, getting books out the door, and other Fun Business Stuff, we do the best we can when we can. Stay amped, and stay tuned!

EDIT: Hey GMs, we're going to be making a big splash at Gen Con Indy. Check out this thread for how you can help.

Zach, Any plans to hit any of the Virginia Cons?? I only know of one which is MarsCon. I would like to know how I can help more with a gaming system I prefer over all others.