The Sage's Library: Palladium

[@iankelley4631]

My first solid rpg group was with my Palladium 2nd Edition. The one with the green dragon and wizard on the cover. My first long term campaign, it taught me a lot about what i love and hate in rpg groups. The DM was Chris and he became something of a father figure to me, he ran the games out of his garage along with warhammer tables and boardgames. Chris passed away last year, it was sudden and surprising. I still think about the many characters i lost to the games he ran us through. How many hours spent in his massive party of 11 players, how many story lines fell apart due to infighting. Playing in Palladium with Chris taught me a lot and ill always cherish my frustrations with the game.

[@youtube-critic]

Trevor. Trevor! Your Robin Williams impression was so excellent. I love everything about this channel.

[@lanaz375]

Thankyou for this comment. I scratching my head trying to figure out the reference

[@geraldm4728]

I started playing Palladium games in the 80s and I still play to this day. Love the system.

[@DiscoBarbarian]

+1 for one of the old guard games! One of the best.

[@gandalf970]

I remember getting this game in 1989 and had the pentacle on cover or back. My ex wife and I were in the laundromat when I was in the Army in Huntsville Alabama. I was reading the book and this lady came up to me and wanted to save my soul because I was reading this book. So funny.

[@MeMyselfandDieRPG]

Yikes.

[@Sensorium19]

My introduction to RPGs was Palladium Fantasy and Rifts in the 90s. I didn't have people to play with when I was a kid, but the number of hours a spent pouring over those books is incalculable. When I was 17 got to attend the Origins game convention in Columbus and that was one of the first times I actually got to play. One of those games was a session of Beyond the Supernatural run by Kevin S. himself. It was a an amazing amount of fun, and it was the first time I really understood that the rules aren't sacrosanct because he would adjust things or ask for rolls that don't exist anywhere in the books as written.

[@bradleyreed8876]

I played so much of this in my Army days at Ft Bragg back in the late 80's. Good memories!

[@randraug]

My five month old loves this video. He relaxes and focuses on you. My guess is in his mind, it looks like his Dada (me) is talking to him from the little screen. I have used this so many times to get him to sleep. That being said, thanks for this book selection. It was very timely. I managed to grab the Palladium Bundle of Holding pack and recognised one of the books. I had the second edition monster manual at one point in my childhood and had no context for what it was. I just remember reading everything and being mystified by the descriptions. So glad to find it again.

[@Eron_the_Relentless]

"I was a stupid kid" - Everyone who doesn't lie about their childhood. ;-)

[@LB_adventurer]

my dad taught me how to TTRPG with this system and the revised ed of that book. I've played Fantasy, Heroes, TMNT, Ninjas, Beyond, and Rifts.. plus many of the variant modules. I could tell you exactly how combat works in every setting and what each book brings to the table in it's own unique way as well as the history, and origins that lead up from the fantasy world to the formation of the RIFTS setting. Sorry I'm 2+ years late to this party. IMO the Palladium mechanics are the perfect blend of simple and just enough granularity to keep the players engaged in every step of combat and skill checks, as well as RP. My fav system and though i've been playing other systems for several years now, nothing has come close to how good the Palladium system is.

[@chaigallahun6727]

My friend just told me about your channel (Oct 2023), and I just wanted you to know that it’s HIGHLY ENJOYABLE. This was the first episode I watched. My first experience with Palladium was the very next first edition edition, the one with a Pegasus knight attacking a green dragon, but mostly the same rules. The last first edition before second edition. Very fun! Thank you!

[@mikeholt2112]

We transitioned to Palladium from dnd in middle school and never looked back and kept going to tmnt rifts ninjas supernatural robotech all of it. While you pronounce the name wrong and did combat wrong I wouldn’t worry too much all of those games had completely incomprehensible rules. That art really brought me back.

[@keithmathews4605]

I absolutely LOVE the non-Vancian magic and "summon circle" concept in this rule set... and I have adapted them and brought them to my solo play. It just feels like SO many RPG rulesets ignore this REALLY interesting style of magic play. I mean, seriously, how freaking cool is it to narrate a ritual or summoning spell that goes off the rails kinda wrong, and then some weird other-worldly creature you were hoping to command to enchant your magic item, suddenly breaks free and rampages the countryside until the next phase of the moon?! Magic should ALWAYS be dark, dangerous and VERY difficult to control.

[@sullyb23511]

That's what I love about :Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of".

[@Sensorium19]

Looking back, that and diabolism were probably some of the most original components of the fantasy rules. I wasn't able to appreciate it at the time because I had noting to really compare too, but thinking about it now I ask myself "was that real?" because it's so different than the D&D or Vancian ideas that most popular systems emulate.

[@BillCoffin]

This was a really fun video to watch. I played PFRPG almost exclusively for something like 15 or 16 years, culminating in writing a bunch of books for Palladium, especially Palladium Fantasy 2e. I'm so glad this game delivered so many hours of joy to you and your group. It certainly did for me and mine, as well. Yeah, the rules are wonky. But the game is really good at being fun. You definitely were running combat wrong, but that's okay. Palladium very much encourages the kind of thinking you described, so as long as you guys had fun, what's the harm? For my group, Palladium combat was fun, but long and grindy. You had bonuses to parry, to dodge, and to roll with punch; the first intercepted the attack, the second avoided it altogether, and the third reduced its damage. If you really wanted to burn your actions, you had plenty of chances to defeat an incoming attack. And this made combat go very long indeed, but I have to say, there was something really fun about a hero successfully stopping an incoming attack. D&D never quite figured out how to deliver that little dopamine hit. That said, combat had some systemic issues. First was mis-alignment between # of melee attacks vs rate of missile fire. What if you wanted to fire two arrows, then drop your bow and go to dagger,and you had 4 attacks/round but a ROF of only 3 shots per round? That created many arguments at the table. Also, automatic parry was a frequent skill; when everyone has it, combat goes on for eternity. Plus, when you level up, and your bonuses really start to stack, you reach a point where armor no longer matters, because the highest Armor Rating in the game is still lower than any roll somebody would need to get past your automatic parry or a simple dodge, which would also automatically bypass the armor, too. I say these things with love, because none of them ever stopped me from playing the game. But over time, you begin to realize that these were systemic rules issues that just weren't ever going to be fixed. That's part of the charm of the game. It practically demands that you house-rule it to your liking. Which, ironically, is what encouraged Kevin (shee-EM-bee-AY-da for proper Polish pronunciation or sem-BEE-da for Americanized pronunciation) to create his fantasy heartbreaker in the first place.

[@squirekev]

Whoa, Bill Coffin! Talk about advice straight from the horse's mouth. Your written work is lauded and rightfully so. Unfortunate that things fractured and Palladium lost one of its most prolific writers. Great move Kevin. heh

[@crapphone7744]

"it's not crap". High praise indeed in this day and age.

[@davidnixon5792]

In their Mystic China book, the Taoist alignment was introduced. It was categorized as a 'good' alignment, but to me it read almost what a 'True Neutral' might be like.

[@oldercloudify]

I bought the Palladium Role-Playing game after watching this. I had one of the later editions back in 1989 / 1990, when I was 15. I am going to run it at some point.

[@Pr0pheT77]

Thank you for the Robin Williams impression!

[@Rich_H_1972]

Played a lot of Palladium (system not just the fantasy RPG) back when I was a kid and never, ever, played it the same way with a different GM! 😆

[@Ian_D_Kemp]

Oh believe me Trevor, I'm 25 and me and my friends are still sitting around debating what the proper alignment for each of us should be!

[@synthastro]

My group never got to this, but we were aware. We dabbled with Beyond the Supernatural, which I really loved, the setting and art were cool, and it was one of the first games in a modern setting to involve magic.

[@longshot9060]

The red on black cover of the 1st ed book and the illustrations between the covers had me hooked from first site!

[@sullyb23511]

I love both editions of this game. Play a solo season of this!

[@JeffBradleyWrites]

The RIFTS setting (their kitchen sink setting built on Palladium) remains my white whale. Every time I discover a new system, I look at it through the lens of "would this work to run a RIFTS game on?" So far, City of Mist is the the system I'm most interested in to do that. Would love to see a Sage's Library episode on that! Fantastic channel overall, btw. Keep up the good work, sir :)

[@Laserwulf]

Have you seen Rifts for Savage Worlds? I have yet to play it but SW is a solid system and their Rifts books actually pick up the timeline from wherever the original books ended.

[@JeffBradleyWrites]

@@Laserwulf I have! Their treatment of juicers may be one of the coolest class mechanics around. Being a crunchy addon to an already (slightly) crunchy system, it didn't jibe with my group unfortunately.

[@vladtheinhailer1428]

@@Laserwulf You beat me to suggesting the Savage Worlds: Rifts. At the time when it came out I didn't like the Palladium RPG engine, but in time have come to appreciate it. The Rifts setting however was always Gonzo & Awesome. I used the HERO system for a short campaign which worked well IMO as HERO is so well balanced it allowed you to gauge all the crazy power levels of different O.C.C's and Monsters more easily. I don't necessarily want my adventures 'balanced' but 'I' want to be able to make that educated/informed choice, I don't want to guess and wonder if the system was built with any balancing built in if that makes sense.

[@Sensorium19]

@@vladtheinhailer1428 The real problem I had running Rifts was balancing the PCs against each other. I wanted the whole kitchen sink and a lot of classes(OCCs) just don't work together. Part of that was on me not understand that it would be a disaster to make these radically different power levels try to work together, but the game material kind of points you in that direction and I was too young to know any different.

[@APaganPerspective]

Love Palladium Fantasy 2nd ed and pretty much all Megaversal games. running a Rifts campaign soon. combat for me makes sense

[@fantasticthriftyfox]

Still one of my favourite games! The Monsters and Animals book was my favourite as well the pencil art in that book was gorgeous. We ran the game alot as well. And my book looks the same on the pages. Palladium was all we played forever.

[@edwardromero3580]

Same

[@terinewman1658]

My favorite fantasy RPG, I started in the 80s with 1st Ed too. I still play 2nd Ed today, usually with Mythic. 2nd Ed didn't change that much, mostly just added the P.P.E magic system. I perferd that over the old system because not all spells are created equal. Edited, that's PPE, not ISP... even as long as I've been playing I still the two confused.

[@Adamthegeek70]

That jacket you are wearing... is freakin awesome! I miss playing... TMNT - After The Bomb. Or Rifts

[@casgirlsam]

my favorite thing about this series is seeing how well loved your books are with their worn covers

[@raincoathermit5000]

Love this man, thank you for this channel. I felt pretty derpy for the longest time with my secret solo gaming lifestyle. And here you are making it look cool.

[@abefroman81]

Got some serious Robin Williams vibes on that last interaction with the Palladium book there.

[@Railway_Cat]

Trevor should seriously be considered for any Robin Williams biopic projects!

[@edwardromero3580]

Yes! My Revised Edition looks just like yours. I discovered this game in the mid-eighties and immediately started pilfering it for our D&D game until we were using so much of it, we just switched over entirely. Like you, we logged hundreds of hours in the 80s and 90s with this system. Currently, I'm running a home brew that is mostly D&D 5e Hardcore/ICRPG but I decided to use the original Palladium Fantasy setting/maps, since I know it so well. It's been fantastic.

[@theaarpgs]

That’s in much better condition than my copy. It was my first non-D&D experience. My game shop had to special order it. This led to Robotech, Rifts, Beyond the Supernatural and Heroes Unlimited. Lots of good times.

[@TheTimeshadows]

It is one of my faves, too. That cover is so powerful.

[@misomiso8228]

I still play this every weekend with some guys over the internet. Love it. Would love to see you do a liveplay to see how you run it!

[@freddaniel5099]

Ahhhhhh, Palladium fantasy. So many good memories. So many positive things immediately come to mind whenever I think of this game and its setting. It's one of those games that changed my approach to FRP games and continues to inform how I play all others. (I pronounce "Palladium" differently, long 2nd a, but YMMV!)

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

My own favorite fantasy heartbreaker of that era was The Arcanum by Bard Games. Same kind of magic system as original Palladium (X spells per day, any spell you've learned), nine schools of magic, extensive alchemy and magical crafting rules, 32 character classes (about half of them spellcasters), percentile skills (though fewer of them, I think). No monsters and not much setting in the main book, but I just used my own settings and human or demihuman enemies, or grabbed monsters from AD&D... I still run it solo from time to time.

[@bradleyreed8876]

I may have to give that a try solo. I still have my The Arcanum book.

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

Great timing on this video - Bundle of Holding is offering a PDF bundle of Palladium Fantasy 1E books starting today...

[@himurogentoku7117]

Now this is a system i have only heard of. Thank you so much for the insight, Sage Devall.

[@alejotm000]

Thanks for the stories Trevor, this was super fun to listen to!

[@Lee_Adamson_OCF]

Ahhhhh, Palladium. I have many of their publications (Rifts and Beyond the Supernatural being my favorites), but I hate playing them, lol. I absolutely love the settings and the "feel" you get from daydreaming about the settings, but the mechanics are just WAAAAAAYYYYY too crunchy for my taste. Combats just take so long that they cease to be fun, and if you try to bull your way though it fast and keep things moving, it feels rushed and becomes exhausting. Or that's my opinion, at least. I do think that the magic-user classes are interesting and varied in Palladium RPG, too. That was one of my favorite parts of that game. Have you read the great northern wilderness sourcebook, with all the stuff about the Wolfen and their roman-esque culture? I recall that one being pretty neat. And the sourcebook about the great old ones? Ahhhh, memories.

[@waltermc3906]

your combats are taking so long and are so boring because you are all treating each of your melee actions like a frame of combat, with each character taking turns to do a basic strike and then defend... it gets long and tedious. even though they are that to an extent, it isn't very dynamic and ignore a lot of the finer aspects of palladium, combat; it is much easier to think of them like action points, don't be afraid to use some of the special strikes or other attacks or defences that use up multiple melee actions. take your time to aim, call those shots, roll with those impacts, power punch, jump kick, flip those bodies, ENTANGLE them...etc etc palladium combat is very tactical and dynamic at the same time. the only reason why it seems so long and boring is because all your players are doing (metaphorically speaking) is taking turns just throwing punches at each others faces.

[@mr8ducks403]

Trevor, thanks for all the game information, I run a small farm on my property, so I don't get a lot of time to play anymore, but I listen to your videos when I drive, to scratch that roleplaying itch, I used to play many rpg's alone in the past, when I couldn't join a group.

[@nrais76]

Everyone I knew pronounced it that way, too. You are not alone. We played a lot of Rifts, and some Robotech, and Heroes Unlimted, and Ninjas & Superspies, and s9me TMNT, but although I own a later edition of Palladium FRP, I've never gotten to play it.

[@bizzy5439]

Thanks for these Sage's Library videos, Trevor! I'm 25 and was never exposed to Palladium so getting a little run-through is awesome ✌💀

[@tobarstep]

Not sure if I should be proud or chagrined that I, too, own like 95% of the games shown in the opening sequence.

[@mrheem]

Greatest game ever made!

[@davidthompson3798]

We love the Palladium system, Palladium Fantasy . Still have all my Palladium books. I just wish it as readily available in the UK like it was in the 80s as shipping from USA is crazy.

[@jagerb5974]

There are dozens of us!!!

[@danj1101]

A lot of talk about words and pronunciation in this one so I'll stick with the theme to say that "erstwhile" means "former" ;) It's one of those words that totally seems like it should mean something else! Anyway, love these little quick-looks, especially liked how much of this one is so tied up in your own memories of it :D

[@MeMyselfandDieRPG]

So it does! That’s one of those little language errors I’ve been making my whole life. Color me corrected.

[@danj1101]

@@MeMyselfandDieRPG Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! If it's any consolation, I used to misuse it in exactly the same way, hah

[@mavfan21]

I had Rifts, Robotech, TMNT and I LOVED the art and ideas in the games, but man...I could not grok the rules. I was in my early-mid teens and I felt like I was reading algebra. I kept going back to TSR Marvel Supers and D&D. I still have fond memories of looking through those books and imagining what it'd be like to create a campaign!

[@Aaryq]

I still regularly play PFRPG 2E. I've been playing this game since about 1996 or so. I don't think I'll quit.

[@MeMyselfandDieRPG]

Don’t! It sounds like you found your go-to a long time ago. Thats always awesome :)

[@Aaryq]

@@MeMyselfandDieRPG I couldn't quit even if I wanted to now that I'm grown and my kids have started playing too lol.

[@SolosferaRPG]

It is very fun to hear your stories!

[@The_Shadowy_Mr_Evans]

It's one of the few classic systems that I completely missed during my formative RPG years - I was aware of Palladium (ads for their games were in like every Marvel comic in the 80's and early 90s), but for one reason or another I never owned or played a single one.

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

Even *Kevin* legendarily doesn't know how combat works in his games. He's known to run games basically by the seat of his pants, ignoring most of the rules when it suits him.

[@benmason8990]

I have actually played in two of his open house games and that is absolutely true.

[@waltermc3906]

kevin has never been shy about expressing his core philosophy as a gm: "if you don't like the rules, change them"

[@ACDieppa]

I'm enjoying these!

[@AlabasterJazz]

Yes, it is pal-ah-dium, and I never had the fantasy one, but the superhero one was super fun!

[@jamesrpgart6577]

Love a good bit of nostalgia. Thanks for the stories :)

[@barnyfraggles]

These retrospective reviews are very entertaining, I really look forward to them. Please sir, may I have some more?

[@UmouMais]

Always a pleasure to watch your content. Loving this series as well. I haven't played any of those games but according to your reaction and the passion you express while talking about them it seems they're pretty good! Anyways, keep bringing us more awesome stuff!

[@jcrass2361]

Sweet might need to pick this up to try! Thanks for the review

[@VICT0RLAZL0]

Yup we pronounce it the same 👍

[@TheLivingBluejay]

Trevor just got a little James Arnold Taylor on us at the beginning there.. LMAO

[@AdriRaven]

I have a love-hate relationship with the Palladium system as a whole. My first encounter with it was the Robotech game and its various supplements, which I loved, as well as just the standard Palladium RPG system that you're specifically showing off here. The hate part of this system for me was always RIFTS which... I dunno, just never really clicked. I DO love the Palladium alignment system a lot, though, if only because it feels a bit more grounded and less nebulous, though that's obviously up to individual taste.

[@andysimmons2648]

If think that if you were having fun, then you weren’t playing it wrong. You may not have been following the rules, but that’s not the same as wrong. It’s all about having fun and enjoying the experience. This is an excellent video BTW. I played Palladium a few times back in the late ‘80s but don’t remember much about it other than the fun we had and something about a legion of wolf men(??). It’s good to hear your stories. If you really want to ride off into the sunset with Palladium and play again, there’s always season 4 of Me Myself and Die. Not that I want season 3 to finish any time soon. It’s a fantastic adventure.

[@henriksebring7633]

I loved Palladium. We played it a lot and then moved on to the second edition when it arrived... good times. I still think it has a very interesting setup compared to the biggest rpg in the world.

[@DahVoozel]

And then there was Heroes Unlimited...

[@jagerb5974]

Don't forget Nightbane! Or Beyond the Supernatural!

[@DahVoozel]

@@jagerb5974 Ninjas and Super Spies!

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

I've had a lot of fun using the random tables to make up superheroes (and villains) with HU. Though then they get translated to some other ruleset.

[@Pit_Wizard]

I relate to your pronunciation hang-ups 😂 I've always pronounced "magus" as "mage-us", not "maggis" as is apparently correct. I've also always pronounced "wyvern" as "wih-vern", not "why-vern".

[@Jimmy.1979]

Thanks for the great videos Trevor!

[@ToddRokely]

One of my favorite games of all time. Yeah, the rules are a bit poorly written, and Kevin S. is...an interesting creator. But it's still a wonderfully inventive game.

[@nerdyogre6683]

I have no experience with 1e, so o can only comment about 2e. In regards to attacking with your both hands you can do this with WP Paired Weapons. This allows you to strike with hand on one attack, or parry and strike, or parry and parry. Also, it doesn't have to be against a single attacker.

[@benmason8990]

I own almost everything the company had done. Most of its rules are broken from combat to character creation and down to how the skill rolls worked. The magic system was basically it's best feature and the 2nd edition adding PPE was great but it tends to be the only thing at Cons people can agree on. Literally going to any con that has a game from Palladium you have to figure out how they are running the game what house rules they use. Before anyone gets angry or thinks I am just hating. I own over 90 books from the company alone, I appear in offical short stories, rifters and even several rifts world books. I played Fantasy and Rifts for almost 20 years but the system and game itself never evolved beyond a D&D clone and literally is still running on the same system and mind set as it had in the late 1980's.

[@MeMyselfandDieRPG]

Oh, I don’t disagree with anything you said here. Palladium is just, for me, one of those games I loved *despite* its rules :)

[@benmason8990]

Same. I wouldn't own so many of their books if it did have some special place in my heart. They do craft amazing worlds and settings.

[@philippkowalski1105]

Awesome review, really makes me want to see if I can get my greedy hands on this. By the way, the "enlightened" Barad-Dur behind you is just f*cking awesome!

[@LovesTrains440]

Lol 8:01 right there with you!

[@animatorFan74]

When I first played RPGs in the 90's, Palladium Rifts was the first game we ever played, and we definitely stuffed up the combat rules like you guys did. :) Every PC started with 2 attacks per mellee, plus any attacks as per their Hand to Hand Ability (Basic, Expert or Martial Arts). And in the Hand to Hand Abilites, it would say "Level One: 2 attacks per mellee", so in our teenage minds that meant 2 attacks PLUS the 2 attacks from the Hand to Hand, so we started with 4 attacks per mellee. (But, of course, in hindsight, you actually ONLY started with the 2 attacks, not 4!) So, yes, we started the game stuffing up combat rules just as you guys did. Hahahaha. And these days, I can't handle the MDC system anymore....it's just too overpowered. :P Incidently, Savage Worlds has now got a version of Rifts as a setting to play in, and that's the setting I use now, not the Palladium version anymore.

[@RedwoodRhiadra]

"(But, of course, in hindsight, you actually ONLY started with the 2 attacks, not 4!)" The official FAQs from Palladium say you *do* indeed start with four attacks in Rifts if you have an HTH skill...

[@animatorFan74]

@@RedwoodRhiadra oooh really? ok, interesting.... I take that back then.... I thought we were playing it OP. No worries then :P

[@waltermc3906]

no.. actually you had it right when you were a kid. it was clarified in later editions, and games, as well as on the website. everyone gets 2 melee actions "just for being alive" these are *in addition too* any melee action gain from your hand to hand level or any other skill or bonuses. so in your example, at level one you would indeed start with 4 actions per melee

[@animatorFan74]

@@waltermc3906 oh ok good to know we DID have it right then.... good to know we didn't have it wrong all that time. :P Would have been good to have that cleared up from the start. :P Thanks for lettign me know. :)

[@squirekev]

10:49 The idea of the shield bash and sword slash as an 'attack' is not a naïve youth interpretation of the rules as it seems. Around the same time, AD&D 1e had the concept of 'attack routines', with monsters attacking with 'claw/claw/bite' as a single attack. So, a perfectly rational assumption by your youthful counterpart, considering how other games at the time did things. I finally picked up the Commemorative B&R Palladium 1st Edition hardback re-release and it's beautiful: a youthful missed opportunity finally fulfilled.

[@perspectivedetective]

So... season 4 of MM&D will be Palladium confirmed?

[@brentnorton1602]

Do like SDC/hp over traditional AC/ HP system?

[@ThiagoPetruccelli]

So season 4 is going to be with Palladium, I heard?🤣

[@jonofpdx]

My first RPG was RIFTS at the ripe old age of 11. 24 years later I see all of its faults. But can't find it in myself not to love it. Would play a game today but no way I'm finding someone to GM and have too many games I'm GMing at the moment to take another on.

[@greygubbins3666]

Another fantastic video! I'd be curious to hear if you've had any experience playing GURPS. It stands for Generic Universal Roleplaying System and is the only system George R.R. Martin and his friends have ever needed. You can find an interview of him talking about it on KZbin. He definitely shares your...distaste (and mine) for DnD.

[@weirdguy564]

Palladium was our first, and really only system in high school. We started in BattleTech, then saw that Macross RPG had the same machines and bought the book. Then we tried the RPG out eventually, got ALL of the RoboTech games, then transitioned to RIfts when that came out. We never looked back. Fantasy and Heroes Unlimited followed, and even some Recon. When I saw my first game of AD&D 2nd Edition played, I was NOT impressed by THAC-0 or Armor Class, or Hit Points that numbered into the hundreds. None of that seems logical to me, and to this very day I have yet to ever play any D&D game, or even OSR D20 rule based RPG's. I can safely say I'll never play official D&D, but that is because good, free OSR games are so common. But, the games I actively play are just on the fringes of the OSR movement, and are significantly different. I've never played a game with D20 vs Armor class. Ever. I still maintain that Palladium Fantasy 1E is the way to start playing Palladium rules. It has the fewest rules to wade thru, and the game works well using what it does have. Strike, Parry, Dodge, and Armor Rating. Just make sure you don't add together strike/parry bonuses from hand-to-hand with strike/parry bonuses from weapon proficiencies. They're separate.

[@AgranakStudios]

Thought I was the only one that said Melee as Me-Lee rather than May-Lay. It definitely comes from phonetically trying to work out words we never used as kids. I have switched over to saying May-Lay but it always seems strange. Same with THAC0. Was it Thay-co or Thaa-co for you?

[@MeMyselfandDieRPG]

It’ll always be “mee-lee” to me (and I even speak French!) ;) As for pronouncing THAC0… I wouldn’t know, we always just used the DMG attack matrices. Avoided the whole debate! 😁

[@AgranakStudios]

@@MeMyselfandDieRPG well $#!%, now what do I do, lol. I didn’t know that was how it was pronounced in French. Now I can return to my roots fully with ammunition for the naysayers! VICTORY!!!

[@MisterWebb]

Meh-ley is the correct pronunciation

[@paladinpariah325]

Played this game like it was my job back in the 80s. As much of a dirtbag as Siembieda is, Palladium was far superior to D&D in every way until 3e came out. Still a great game with much more depth and player options that many games either lack or went overboard on.

[@sullyb23511]

Why is he a dirt bag?

[@paladinpariah325]

@@sullyb23511 He basically stole people's money during the Robotech Kickstarter... that and he has a reputation for treating people at Palladium books like garbage and being an underhanded businessman.

[@gegegebebebe5087]

What a Sage..."I played hundrets of hours in that game...combat? No clue" Hahaha (=

[@Griggs1981]

It would be cool if u do play thoughs on some of these games

[@TallerHalfling]

I see your Tolkien shelves over there

[@torak2000]

I owned many Palladium games current back to the 80s. I don't think anyone really knows how combat works.

[@zerogrey3798]

I tried the Palladium RPG way back after I got into Rifts and Robotech (80s/90s) but didn't like it very much. But that's not a hit on the game itself, I just like sci-fi stuff to much. I greatly prefer Rifts if I want some fantasy elements.

[@tabletopsolo]

I ran many hours of Rifts - I NEVER understood it. SDC? MDC? OCC? COME ON.

[@romulocamargo9745]

Hahaha great!

[@JohnPowell6]

We were totally miscreants - that's an alignment, right?

[@tafnac75]

this game was one of the easiest ones to play i found, my mate Mike used to run it so i left it to him to tell me what was going on

[@theforgedone]

Oh man... the way you did combat. LOL! It's ok, I re-read my palladium rules years after I started and realized we missed so many rules. We did it wrong, too. We had years of fun though! I've tried running original Rifts again and the rules irritated me too much now. Good nostalgia, great stories to be told, but there are better rule systems these days. IMO. :)

[@captainnolan5062]

I never Palladiumed. As it was released, first the First Edition, and then in the Revised Core Edition (1990) and then again in 2nd Edition (1996) I kept looking at it [I too love when a game is complete in one book, so you can expand it if you want, but you don't have too...everything you NEED is in that one book], but never did bite. A quick look on the inter-web reveals that the consensus online seems to be that the First edition is better than the second edition (which added a lot of extra skills, complicated combat even more, and added unwarranted complexity.

[@allluckyseven]

You down with OCC? Yeah you know me! Oh, man, all of these (some old, some new) systems that use weird acronyms for a bunch of their stats, rendering the character sheets truly unreadable... OCC, SDC, PS, PE, PP, PB......... Why!

[@SergioLeRoux]

I bought a lot of Rifts sourcebooks before I realized that I hated it. I didn't think the combat was that hard to follow. Missing is nearly impossible, you only get one dodge and/or block IIRC, then hit points, initiative and all that jazz? It's been a while. Also because that's how the Universe works, dodging 3 missiles is fine but dodging 4 is impossible. Also also, look out for your P.P. Always compare your P.P. with everyone else's P.P. Also also also, 15 is the perfect number of levels according to Kevin. More is too much, less is too little, 15 is just right. That's just Reality. He will very specifically tell you how he is right and everyone else who wrote any other RPG is wrong. And he can't tell the difference between feet, square feet and cubic feet.

[@waltermc3906]

oh yeah, that sounds like some wonky combat. first you all forgot about the two melee actions just for being alive, there fir your man at arms had 5 actions. and you CAN have one attack per hand per melee action....IF you have WP Paired weapons combat always seems so complicated when you read it... once you get past the short learning curve, it becomes quite natural and simple. (rather like reading legal documents )

[@UntoldRelic]

I had the Palladium TMNT. It didn't last very long before we got bored with the setting.

[@samchafin4623]

I only played a teeny bit of the fantasy setting; played a lot of RIFTS. Did enjoy that you could get master work arms bonuses over +1. But I've left that system way back in the rear view. Such a mess.

[@sirguy6678]

The Sage shows off his graveyard of dead games - some are zombies showing up on rare occasions, most are long forgotten by time and players…

[@benmason8990]

The naming never made sense why does potential psychic energy control magic and internal spiritual points control psychic powers?