The Madness Spiral

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:23 am

Kevin Siembieda wrote:Palladium Books® Weekly Update – June 11 2010
By Kevin Siembieda

A lot has been going on these past several weeks.

By now, many of you may have heard Palladium Books® has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against a company named Trion Worlds over their MMORPG recently renamed Rift: Planes of Telara.

For me the issues are simple and self-evident.

See for yourself – riftgame.com

My apologies, but for a variety of reasons and legal concerns I cannot discuss anything about the lawsuit. I can tell you that for the last six weeks we’ve been consumed by it.

That’s why there have been few Murmurs from the Megaverse®, little news in our weekly updates, and no new product.

Despite what some people would like to believe, lawsuits are never fun or taken lightly, at least not by me.

Over the last several weeks I’ve been quiet on the subject, but even though the suit is still going on, and may continue for some time, I feel I need to tell you, Palladium’s fans, friends and supporters, what I’m feeling.

Adversity can either break you or make you a stronger, better person. I’d like to think the events of the past eight or nine years have made me a better and wiser person. Stronger too. The Crisis of Treachery is such a hallmark event. The day I went public about the embezzlement and how Palladium needed its fans to help keep the company alive, something changed for ALL OF US. We transcended the corporation/customer relationship. Fans rushed to help Palladium survive the Crisis and poured their hearts out to express their love for the company, our products, me and the other Palladium creators and staff. It was beautiful and miraculous. It helped us survive. It created an unspoken covenant that made the already strong Palladium community a family. A family based on trust, openness, communication and fun.

I’m not going to stop talking to my family. I can’t do business like that. The Crisis of Treachery (and other things both private and public) changed me forever. And I think that change is for the better.

Maybe some people think that’s a sign of weakness, naivete, misplaced sentimentality or even stupidity. I think they’re wrong. It doesn’t really matter, because this is the way I’ve chosen to conduct my business. I can’t operate on a dog eat dog basis. I can’t live in fear that my sincere, heartfelt words will be used against me. Maybe that’s foolish, but you are my friends and my extended family. You have been for a long time now.

So here’s the situation

Palladium is plugging away with this lawsuit. It’s no secret Palladium has suffered its share of challenges and adversity these past several years. Those difficulties may work against Palladium in waging a full defense of the Rifts® trademark because it appears the opposition can outspend us. This has nothing to do with the merits of the lawsuit, and everything to do with size and money.

Palladium is fighting the good fight. We’re doing all we can. And we aren’t giving up. Not by a longshot. However, if we are unable to match the spending of the opposition, the outcome may not bode well for Palladium or Rifts®. I fear the infringement and confusion could have a negative impact on the many opportunities that seem to finally be coming our way for Rifts®. How ironic.

None of us knows how any of this will all shake out in the end. Despite the fact that Palladium has suffered more than its fair share of adversity, we’ve faced every challenge, and have walked away with hard fought triumph after triumph. This is one more challenge we must face.

These days, it seems, we all face adversity. Most everyone is struggling to keep their homes, their jobs, and their families fed, or businesses going. These are difficult and uncertain times for most people, and I wish each and every one of you the best. Hang tight. You too need to fight the good fight. Hold your loved ones close and show them how much you love them. Find comfort and joy in those you care about and who love you back. Keep those imaginations burning bright and please turn to Palladium’s games to find some moments of laughter and fun.

I want you to know that whatever is going to happen with the Rifts® trademark lawsuit, is going to happen. We’ll give it our all and make the best of the end result – whatever it may be. Knowing you are there wishing us well helps give us the strength to keep pressing forward.

OK. Kevin Siembieda is suing the makers of the computer game "Rift: Planes of Telara" for trademark infringement. He has not sued the makers of "RIFT" nor the makers of "Motorstorm: Pacific Rift". I predict crushing defeat for Kevin. Also, he is currently complaining that his enemies have a lot more money and evil lawyer power, so I'm guessing he is beginning to realize how totally not going to win he is.

-Username17

angelfromanotherpin · Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:55 am

That game appears to have less in common with Rifts than, for example, TORG; except that they call the dimensional portals rifts. Kevin's mind really is stuck in 1980's Gygaxian RPG litigiousness, isn't he? I've heard all kinds of stories about his sending C&D letters to people who put up fan websites to his material, oblivious to the fact that they were essentially harmless, and indeed free advertising.

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:45 pm

Yeah, I remember the time period when there were tons of Rifts fan sites and Kevin started sending threats of lawsuits; saying being public with house rules or newly created material is/was infringement.

But really, when it looks like he's out of the financial hole from that embezzlement fiasco, he starts throwing his money at a lawsuit he's pretty much guaranteed to lose?

Doom · Post by **Doom** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 4:18 pm

I only vaguely remember Planes of Telara from the last E3 (other than their awesome swag bag, which included a l33t letter opener gauranteed to get you arrested if tried to carry it on a plane).

I *think* the big pull of the game was you could play 'cards' to change your character's class in mid battle...seemed odd, but the demo, as so often does, looked good.

Rommie · Post by **Rommie** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:19 pm

I have burn my Post #1 to comment on this.

If KS gets sunk because he took his protective zealotry one step too far - all I can say is FINALLY!

And it is a madness that too many game bosses have in spades.

Too bad for KS that MMO developers have a level of hubris that's one step above anything a simple RPG maker can dream of. If he can't be quickly bought off to STFU, KS will learn what "owned" really means.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 7:19 pm

Actually, if you don't defend your trademark, you lose it. He's fighting this one because it's a Noun: Tagline name with his Noun. He's got a decent case, but our courts are more about the money.

-Crissa

Aktariel · Post by **Aktariel** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:05 pm

My initial response to this was to go and torrent the Rifts books, but the website looks like it was made in 1998 and hasn't been updated since, which changed my reaction to "This probably isn't that good of a gaming system."

Or is it?

EDIT: The world of superheroes supplement is called "Skyraypers?" Really?

setmonster · Post by **setmonster** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:25 pm

"The Crisis of Treachery": I have a little giggle every time I read that.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 9:34 pm

It's not, no.

But it has its adherents.

-Crissa

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:01 pm

Aktariel: sort of. Kev is from the era where every RPG was a set of house rules for AD&D. Now, he took the "complicate things" ball and ran with it, but still, ultimately all his systems are almost exactly the same now as they originally were - without learning from any of the changes that happened to most RPGs in the meantime.

So it's a mess, a clusterfuck, not balanced at all, outdated, clunky, annoying in parts, incomprehensible in others...

But (depending on your group) loads of fun despite all that. The party can just be a hatchling dragon, a cybernetic ninja drug-fuelled murder-machine from stereotype-Japan... who is also a forehead alien, a psychic who can body-puppet people, switch their brains off, control giant robots (no save) and yet is barely able to create a psi-blade that deals "who gives a shit" damage, and a peson covered in tattoos who can literally kick for the damage of a nuclear weapon. And a useless hobo (with or without crazy mutant powers from not even a Rifts book, but one of the other Palladium games).

Or an honest-to-goodness mecha pilot. Or a cross between Sailor Moon, Lovecraft and Iron Maiden.

Edit: Skraypers, I believe. As in, "scrapers" made to look cool. Or skyscrapers in a trash compactor. Easy to read it as sky rapers though.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:08 pm

Aktariel wrote:My initial response to this was to go and torrent the Rifts books, but the website looks like it was made in 1998 and hasn't been updated since, which changed my reaction to "This probably isn't that good of a gaming system."

Or is it?

EDIT: The world of superheroes supplement is called "Skyraypers?" Really?

It is kind of a terrible system. Hell, it has "mega damage." one point of MD is equal to 100 structural damage/hit points, BUT if you're not naturally a mega damage creature, and not wearing MDCapacity armour, a single point of MD will kill you regardless of how much SDCapacity and HP you have. On the other hand, I've heard a rule saying that anything that's come through the rifts is treated as supernatural, meaing it gets supernatural grade strength and your racial SDC become MDC

there's also the fact that it's horribly unbalanced. If you open the core book you see Dragon and Beggar classes, practically side by side.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:20 pm

Prak_Anima wrote: Hell, it has "mega damage." one point of MD is equal to 100 structural damage/hit points, BUT if you're not naturally a mega damage creature, and not wearing MDCapacity armour, a single point of MD will kill you regardless of how much SDCapacity and HP you have.

Wrong! You multiply the MD by 100, then lose that many SDC/HP. Then you round down to the lowest hundred. If that brings you to zero, you die.

So, if you have between 1 and 199 SDC+HP and take 1 MD, you die. If you have 200-299 SDC+HP and take 1 MD, you're at 100 SDC clean.

But in almost all cases, you're taking 3d6 or 1d6x10 or whatever so you don't take just 1 MD, and though some guys manage to get maybe 1000 SDC+HP, that's only enough to survive 9 MD. In theory you can survive, in practice you die instantly.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:29 am

Aktariel wrote:EDIT: The world of superheroes supplement is called "Skyraypers?" Really?

That's the expansion for super-insurgents fighting the invaders on a alien city-world like Coruscant. (Named after skyscrapers like Koumei said. In-game explanation is flying supers would elude the invaders among the upper floors of bombed out skyscrapers.)

The regular superhero game is called Heroes Limited. Two PCs that come to mind were Roht, Dog of Thunder (a lightning throwing mutant Pekingese dog) and a 24' long hovertank with no shapeshifting or illusion powers that had an 88% chance to disguise itself as a normal human bystander.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:39 am

Sir Neil wrote: The regular superhero game is called Heroes Limited.

Heroes Unlimited, I think it is. Though it's been a while, I may be wrong here.

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:56 am

You're right. My version is more honest, though.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 3:43 am

True. It shall now go by the name of Heroes Very Limited.

shau · Post by **shau** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:08 am

Whenever I think of Palladium I think of this thing.

http://spleen.mearcair.net/rifts/coffin.htm

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:48 am

Sir Neil wrote:
Aktariel wrote:EDIT: The world of superheroes supplement is called "Skyraypers?" Really?
That's the expansion for super-insurgents fighting the invaders on a alien city-world like Coruscant. (Named after skyscrapers like Koumei said. In-game explanation is flying supers would elude the invaders among the upper floors of bombed out skyscrapers.)

The regular superhero game is called Heroes Limited. Two PCs that come to mind were Roht, Dog of Thunder (a lightning throwing mutant Pekingese dog) and a 24' long hovertank with no shapeshifting or illusion powers that had an 88% chance to disguise itself as a normal human bystander.

I now have an image of a tank with a flimsy human mask strapped to the end of it's cannon.... fooling everyone.

Koumei: Ok, I didn't know that, maybe my group just had a houserule ingrained to the point of thinking that's the way it works.

Oh, also, given our history of people with too much time on their hands and more pride than intelligence, I'm just waiting for Siembieda to stumble upon this and bitch us all out while he tries to figure out a way to send C&D orders to all of us.
(betting pool, anyone?)

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:05 am

Well, the Michigan Judge just declared that there's no jurisdiction in Michigan and the case is dismissed. Kevin can refile in California if he wants. I'm not sure how that corresponds to money and lawyer power from Trion though.

-Username17

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:57 am

That's horrible, actually.

Our law has been really inconsistent about the jurisdiction of various courts - I've seen them go the opposite in other states, declaring they do have jurisdiction because the plaintiff is located there. It's bitten eBay and several other companies in the foot (like my spouse's) before.

-Crissa

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:27 am

Prak_Anima wrote: I now have an image of a tank with a flimsy human mask strapped to the end of it's cannon.... fooling everyone.

Maybe it's like how the Illithid Elder Brains have something like, +18 to Disguise. Lord Brian Consumpington, indeed.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:35 am

I'm kind of surprised Rifts is still out there.

At one point it was pretty much "the big alternative" to D&D. The problem is that there was... I can't call it a power creep. More like a power blitzkrieg. Every supplement released played the "I can break the game by making the most badass character EVAR" game, accumulating in what most people admit was pure bullshit in the Atlantean books if memory serves.

I'm frankly surprised Rifts is still out there in print. I'm even more surprised it's retained it's alternate-D&D system after 20-odd years. "Dated" doesn't even begin to describe the system.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:14 am

I can't imagine Palladium ever having that much market presence.

-Crissa

RandomCasualty2 · Post by **RandomCasualty2** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:05 am

Crissa wrote:I can't imagine Palladium ever having that much market presence.

Yeah, I can't either. Rifts was somewhat popular but honestly, for the most part it was just D&D's retarded cousin.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:35 am

TheFlatline wrote:More like a power blitzkrieg. Every supplement released played the "I can break the game by making the most badass character EVAR" game, accumulating in what most people admit was pure bullshit in the Atlantean books if memory serves.

I don't recall anything crazy in Atlantis and Splynn markets - sure, my Tattoo'd Warrior girl (from the Atlantis book), over one round, can do on average the same damage as a nuclear warhead with her kicks (single-target, mind), but that's mostly due to scrambling through each book for more random "Gain Physical Strength" things and using the Rifter magazine with expanded damage charts.

The... South America books, IIRC, actually had weapons with damage values so out of line that Kev later issued a note saying "Yeah, we apologise for that guy, he's great but his numbers are crazy. Just halve them or something and you'll be good to go." South America also had "The Mind Melter on three kinds of cocaine", the... I forget what they're called. But they're better psychics, and can turn MDC, and have special unique powers.

Now, Phase World introduces pure grade-A cocaine-smoking broken. The Cosmo Knight will always get mentioned in any debate on power "creep" or bullshit, and it has a "This has a strict moral code which may piss other players off, and is very powerful to make up for it, so some GMs may wish to ban it or allow it only as an NPC or to certain responsible players" notice. It turns a human into something with hundreds of MDC, and the ability to fly at speeds approaching that of light, generate immense forcefields... and introduces a Repo-bot (like the guy who repossesses your car if you're late on payments, except he shoots you), which has something like 1,000 MDC worth of Force Field.

Oh, and introduces space ships, with things that do shit like 1d4x1,000 Mega Damage.

What Atlantis/Splynn (I forget which) DOES have, however, aside from the Rune Weapons with "Plot item, if you deal any damage to someone with this it eats their soul and they die, no save", is a picture of a python telekinetically lifting a book to read, while smoking from a hookah. As soon as we saw it, all those years ago, we just thought "And that is Kevin's editor/dealer."

So ever since then, if talking about Rifts and someone said "What was he thinking?" (example, the monster with a giant spiky scrotum)
"Hey Kev, what should we put in this book?"
*coke-snorting motion* "Ask... the python, man."