Savage Rifts wave 2 announced!!!

palladiumjunkie · Sun May 14, 2017 12:31 pm

Sean Tate Bircher on facebook wrote:As announced at Chupacabracon IV yesterday, Savage Rifts® wave 2 is on its way! Arcana North America will cover the Magic Zone, Federation of Magic, Psyscape, and more. The Coalition States will delve deeper than the Coalition Field Manual did, providing options for playing CS renegades joining the Tomorrow Legion. Blood and Banes covers the Vampire Kingdoms, the Xiticix, Calgary's Kingdom of Monsters and more. And I'm one of the writers.

So, I guess this was announced at Chupacabracon IV, yesterday!

-Chris

palladiumjunkie · Sun May 14, 2017 12:35 pm

Sean Tate Bircher said in the replies, that the writing is pretty far advanced, but he wasn't able to elaborate on it, any more than that. Hopefully we'll see the official announcement on Pinnacle's website, with more details, soon.

-Chris

Xar · Unread post by **Xar** » Mon May 15, 2017 11:02 am

palladiumjunkie wrote:... Hopefully we'll see the official announcement on Pinnacle's website, with more details, soon.

-Chris

Looks like they do Tuesday updates, but are also upgrading their forum software and plan on that being done on the 23rd. So maybe we'll have an announcement tomorrow, or next Tuesday...

Just speculation on my part, though.

palladiumjunkie · Mon May 15, 2017 10:56 pm

Jodi Black did reply to that post, though, just to clarify that those are the working titles, and as such, are of course subject to change.

-Chris

Jason Richards · Tue May 16, 2017 1:40 pm

SHOCKING NEWS!

Riftmaker · Unread post by **Riftmaker** » Tue May 16, 2017 5:00 pm

sweet

Chuck Lang · Unread post by **Chuck Lang** » Tue May 16, 2017 6:08 pm

Yep, I'm looking forward to this one too.

Will they be funding it through KickStarter, or will this be a standard company release?

Jason Richards · Tue May 16, 2017 6:48 pm

Chuck Lang wrote:Yep, I'm looking forward to this one too.

Will they be funding it through KickStarter, or will this be a standard company release?

That information has not yet been released.

Chuck Lang · Unread post by **Chuck Lang** » Tue May 16, 2017 7:54 pm

Jason Richards wrote:
Chuck Lang wrote:Yep, I'm looking forward to this one too.

Will they be funding it through KickStarter, or will this be a standard company release?

That information has not yet been released.

Thank you sir. Either way, they'll be books added to my library. However, they did an exceptional job with the original KickStarter, so I'd without a doubt fund that from the get-go and in actuality prefer that method since I'd be able to buy and have shipped all the books in one shot.

palladiumjunkie · Tue May 16, 2017 10:17 pm

Sean Patrick Fannon posted the following up on Facebook today...

Sean Patrick Fannon on Facebook wrote:So things were said, there may have been some explosions, and now for the after-action report.

The following very cool and amazing people are working with me on the next round of books for Savage Rifts:
Sean Tait Bircher
Robin English-Bircher
Mack Martin
Matthew Keyes
Jason Richards
Eddy Webb.

And here's the breakdown of what we've got in the works:
Arcane North America: Federation, Magic Zone, Psyscape, elements of Spirit West, and related material.
The Coalition States: Pretty much that, with some focus on playing ex-CS folks joining or working with the Tomorrow Legion.
Blood & Banes: The Xiticix, the Vampire Kingdoms, ARCHIE, and some other related material that helps us more or less close out North America.

Note that NOTHING is set in iron here, all things are subject to review, change, and what-have-you. As well, don't even think about asking for dates, because we'll just have to look dumbly at you and get back to writing.

Chuck Lang · Unread post by **Chuck Lang** » Tue May 16, 2017 10:22 pm

palladiumjunkie wrote:Sean Patrick Fannon posted the following up on Facebook today...

Sweet, thanks for the update.

palladiumjunkie · Tue May 16, 2017 10:24 pm

Yeah, I don't know about that Jason Richards guy, from that list, though. I heard he is kind of a hack...

Jason Richards · Tue May 16, 2017 11:04 pm

Y'all have any questions? I'm answering a yes/no about the project every day on my Facebook (Jason Richards Publishing), but am always partial to my Palladium dudes and dudettes. Happy to try and do that here as well.

zyanitevp · Unread post by **zyanitevp** » Wed May 17, 2017 1:30 am

Jason Richards wrote:Y'all have any questions? I'm answering a yes/no about the project every day on my Facebook (Jason Richards Publishing), but am always partial to my Palladium dudes and dudettes. Happy to try and do that here as well.

Are they including the Republicans?
Are they doing any Atlantis?

Jason Richards · Wed May 17, 2017 8:16 am

zyanitevp wrote:
Jason Richards wrote:Y'all have any questions? I'm answering a yes/no about the project every day on my Facebook (Jason Richards Publishing), but am always partial to my Palladium dudes and dudettes. Happy to try and do that here as well.

Are they including the Republicans?
Are they doing any Atlantis?

I am not in my portion, but I believe they should make an appearance.
I don't believe Atlantis is being counted as North America, which is the focus of these books.

All answers to the best of my information, subject to change, etc.

zyanitevp · Unread post by **zyanitevp** » Wed May 17, 2017 5:29 pm

Jason Richards wrote:
zyanitevp wrote:
Jason Richards wrote:Y'all have any questions? I'm answering a yes/no about the project every day on my Facebook (Jason Richards Publishing), but am always partial to my Palladium dudes and dudettes. Happy to try and do that here as well.

Are they including the Republicans?
Are they doing any Atlantis?

I am not in my portion, but I believe they should make an appearance.
I don't believe Atlantis is being counted as North America, which is the focus of these books.

All answers to the best of my information, subject to change, etc.

Thanks!

Shawn Merrow · Unread post by **Shawn Merrow** » Thu May 18, 2017 5:34 pm

Congratulations Jason. :ok:

Daniel Stoker · Thu May 18, 2017 6:51 pm

Jason Richards wrote:Y'all have any questions? I'm answering a yes/no about the project every day on my Facebook (Jason Richards Publishing), but am always partial to my Palladium dudes and dudettes. Happy to try and do that here as well.

What portion are you working on so we can mercilessly pester you with questions and updates?

Daniel Stoker

Jason Richards · Thu May 18, 2017 11:43 pm

Soooo... they kinda reneged on the idea of letting us talk about much.

I will say, however, that there is a particular bit of lore I added that DS will particularly enjoy. I think.

And no, it is not furthering the canon storyline of Stoker.

Daniel Stoker · Fri May 19, 2017 1:59 pm

Aww, but what about all those kittens I got for him to eat?

Daniel Stoker

Riftmaker · Unread post by **Riftmaker** » Sat Jul 08, 2017 4:26 pm

we have any idea on when the kickstarter for this hits?

blackwingedheaven · Sat Jul 08, 2017 7:37 pm

Riftmaker wrote:we have any idea on when the kickstarter for this hits?

No news yet. I'd guess probably not until winter 2017 or spring 2018.

Augur · Unread post by **Augur** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:31 pm

All I read was:

The following very cool and amazing people are working with me on the next round of books for Savage Rifts:
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards.

Riftmaker · Unread post by **Riftmaker** » Sat Sep 02, 2017 1:00 pm

Augur wrote:All I read was:

The following very cool and amazing people are working with me on the next round of books for Savage Rifts:
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards
Jason Richards.

I didnt know Jason was a sextuplet.

Jason Richards · Wed Sep 27, 2017 3:23 pm

I do get around a lot. That could be an explanation.

cchopps · Unread post by **cchopps** » Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:43 pm

Any news or updates on this since the original announcement? I'm just seeing this and am very excited!

Nether · Unread post by **Nether** » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:58 am

Wow, I just learned of savage rifts and I can say in nothing short of estatic about it. Now they are wiring on my favorite books of all time in one book, I'm giddy like a little school girl who can't wait.

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:31 pm

It has been about a year since the announcement, no kickstarter has been launched, and there doesn't seem to be a breath of this on Pinnacle's site.

I wonder if they're wondering how risky it would be to do a Kickstarter on a Palladium linked project at the moment.

If the plan was to kickstart all Savage Rifts books... the recent Kickstarter thing could have some unfortunate side effects.

Jason Richards · Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:27 am

Supergyro wrote:It has been about a year since the announcement, no kickstarter has been launched, and there doesn't seem to be a breath of this on Pinnacle's site.

I wonder if they're wondering how risky it would be to do a Kickstarter on a Palladium linked project at the moment.

If the plan was to kickstart all Savage Rifts books... the recent Kickstarter thing could have some unfortunate side effects.

I haven't heard anything to that effect. I also never saw a schedule or anything, but I inferred that Spring 2018 was the target. Based on what Shane has said about KS in the past (that you basically MUST do it for new books these days) I'd expect that to be the platform used.

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:44 pm

Jason Richards wrote:I haven't heard anything to that effect. I also never saw a schedule or anything, but I inferred that Spring 2018 was the target. Based on what Shane has said about KS in the past (that you basically MUST do it for new books these days) I'd expect that to be the platform used.

It's spring 2018 right now, and Sean Fannon is currently working on two other Savage Worlds kickstarters as we speak (Savage Tokikatsu and Freedom Squadron, both kickstarters kicked off about a week ago, both have hit their funding goal despite having over 20 days left in the funding period).

Meanwhile he doesn't even seem to be attending the Palladium Open House. If there was a kickstarter in the cards in the next few months, the Palladium Open House would be the perfect place for Fannon to drum up support.

Pinnacle of course has not announced any sort of delay or stepping back on Savage Rifts, but the actions being taken seem very consistent with a "wait and see" stance.

Couldn't be due to lack of sales. If Amazon Bestseller rank is any indication, Savage Rifts sold like hotcakes and probably was the best selling single savage worlds setting they had had in years, however given recent developments, there are reasons a delay would be warranted.

When a company seems to make a lot of money from something... yet isn't talking about doing more... that means something is up.

Jason Richards · Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:56 pm

I'll try to get to it all...

Not actually Spring yet, right? In any case, there is a lot of the season left. Also, I don't know that such a date was ever announced, so no promises have been broken, here.

SPF doesn't have anything to do with Tokusato. Freedom Squadron is his company's project, but Savage Rifts is not. Savage Rifts is by Pinnacle. Sean is just the manager of the next round of books.

You have to understand that guys like Sean are not like most of us writers and game designers who freelance or self publish. It's his full time gig, so he writes his stuff and runs Kickstarters while also working for others, plus does Patreon, while promoting his existing work.

In that same vein, Sean has said he can't attend the POH, as much as he'd like to. He gets flown out to cons and put up in hotels. Palladium isn't really in that position right now. I'm going to the POH as a guest, but paying my way. Can't expect SPF to do that.

There's no conspiracy about it. The new books aren't vaporware. I say this as someone with first hand knowledge. The new KS, or whatever platform is used, will be run by Pinnacle at the right time. Last year, Pinnacle ran KS campaigns in April, so that seems like a reasonable guess.

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:15 pm

I never said anyone *promised* to have more savage Rifts books by Spring of this year... but given we've not heard anything recently, it's pretty obvious we're not going to get a savage rifts kickstarter by this spring. If you don't agree, we can bet 50$ on whether we'll see one by June.

SPF absolutely has to do wih tokusatsu, he is explicitly listed as a guest writer.

My statements about those other two kickstarters are about how at least in the short term, SPF seems like he's pretty busy. Yes he can do multiple things at once (he currently is), but he certainly is giving a lot of "here's what I'm working on nows" these days, and rifts is absent from that list. The longer the time that passes since 2016, the more glaring that absence becomes.

As for his absence from the POH, A nearby kickstarter would mean a POH open house visit would bring in money, not cost it. That neither SPF nor Pinnacle found this to be "money well spent" is telling in itself.

Care for a bet? I am 100% sure we're not going to see another savage rifts kickstarter by June, and am willing to bet 50$ on that.

I'm 50% sure we wont see one by December, and am willing to bet another 25$ on that.

bielmic · Unread post by **bielmic** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:56 pm

It would be a very bad idea to run a Palladium linked kickstarter directly in the aftermath of Palladium abandoning a $1.4 million dollar project crowdfunded by over 5,000 customers. Yes, Savage Rifts is technically made by a different company that had nothing to do with the RRPGT mess but it is a licensed Palladium IP and a portion of every dollar raised goes directly to Palladium. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, a crowdfunding campaign will surely attract alot of negative attention from people angry about the former project who will feel the need to "warn" others about anything related to Palladium. I don't believe that to be the case if they released wave 2 to retail via the traditional route. YMMV.

Jason Richards · Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:37 pm

I'm not trying to fight anyone, for crying out loud. Just communicating what information I have. The KS isn't in SPF's hands, in any case. It's in Pinnacle's/Shane's. And Shane is currently in Africa.

Rather than a bunch of posturing, how about I just ask Sean what he had heard about it and report what I can?

I think the KS risk to Pinnacle is overstated. Remember that they already delivered the SR KS while the while RTT thing was going down. And Pinnacle is a super successful company with tons of KS under its belt. They have a huge following and tons of good will.

Not saying it has NO impact if they do go forward to Kickstart the next wave, just that it may no be a deal breaker. For good measure, I'll ask about that, too.

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:43 pm

bielmic wrote:It would be a very bad idea to run a Palladium linked kickstarter directly in the aftermath of Palladium abandoning a $1.4 million dollar project crowdfunded by over 5,000 customers.

I could see it go either way, "Catastrophic Kickstarter" vs "Well the backers know Pinnacle make these because they've made them before" and I certainly can see the above being the reason Pinnacle would have decided to wait on Savage Rifts.

Although on second thought, even the appearance of money going to Palladium (whether it does or not) would probably turn the kickstarter toxic in minutes. On that second thought, I don't know how Pinnacle could spin it as "Kickstart this savage rifts book... but trust us, no money is going to Palladium.. we promise!!!".

Pinnacle certainly wouldn't announce a wait, we'd just see an extended period of "not mentioning the product" with a lot of Sean Patrick Fannon doing other things, which is exactly what we're seeing.

Jason Richards wrote:how about I just ask Sean what he had heard about it and report what I can?

I've been seeing Sean give non-answers for a while now, as one would expect if things are on hold. This at least blows out the "kickstarter soon" theory, because if there was going to be one soon, it would be in his interests to be drumming up enthusiasm, which he obviously is not (in contrast to the kickstarters he has been drumming up interest for).

I'll wait until Friday, Sean Fannon is having a Reddit AMA, I bet he will be asked about this a lot.

Jason Richards · Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:21 pm

All good points, but remember that Sean doesn't run the Kickstarter or have any say about when it goes, or doesn't.

Ulairi · Unread post by **Ulairi** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:42 pm

Sean said in a AMA on Reddit that Wave 2 product is still coming.

Jason Richards · Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:39 pm

Ulairi wrote:Sean said in a AMA on Reddit that Wave 2 product is still coming.

Was just coming here to post this. His responses in the AMA mirror what he told me privately.

The AMA is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/8 ... 00_pm_mst/

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 10:27 am

As everything Fannon said about the next Savage Rifts books could be applied to Mechanoids Space (With the exception that Mechanoids Space is also available for pre-order), a tempering of enthusiasm may be warranted.

Jason Richards · Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:31 pm

Supergyro wrote:As everything Fannon said about the next Savage Rifts books could be applied to Mechanoids Space (With the exception that Mechanoids Space is also available for pre-order), a tempering of enthusiasm may be warranted.

I know it's fashionable to be super pessimistic on this board, but when doing so remember that Pinnacle has an outstanding track record and THEY are the ones putting out the books. While it's always possible that something could happen to kill the deal, it would have to be something related to the license or something else catastrophic.

In all honesty and sincerity, what do Mechanoid Space and the next round of Savage Rifts books have in common? They're not even made by the same company.

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:39 am

"Sean Tate Bircher said in the replies, that the writing is pretty far advanced, but he wasn't able to elaborate on it, any more than that. Hopefully we'll see the official announcement on Pinnacle's website, with more details, soon"

This was written a year ago.. and we've not even seen a kickstarter nor any sort of official announcement...

People claiming promises without deadlines are promises, and not seeing the trend of "months and months going by without any real change in status, proposed date, or official announcement" as being a danger sign... well..

At this point it falls under a "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..."

palladiumjunkie · Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:01 pm

Supergyro wrote:"Sean Tate Bircher said in the replies, that the writing is pretty far advanced, but he wasn't able to elaborate on it, any more than that. Hopefully we'll see the official announcement on Pinnacle's website, with more details, soon"

This was written a year ago.. and we've not even seen a kickstarter nor any sort of official announcement...

People claiming promises without deadlines are promises, and not seeing the trend of "months and months going by without any real change in status, proposed date, or official announcement" as being a danger sign... well..

At this point it falls under a "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..."

Meh... Pinnacle has a proven track record when it comes to Kickstarters, so I'm not worried. They typically don't announce the Kickstarter dates, until they are a few months out from the start date. Besides, the lead developer, Sean Patrick Fannon, stated the following, when he was responding to what now appears to have been information that was prematurely leaked by an author associated with the project:

Sean Patrick Fannon wrote:Note that NOTHING is set in iron here, all things are subject to review, change, and what-have-you. As well, don't even think about asking for dates, because we'll just have to look dumbly at you and get back to writing.

EDIT: Also, with the first wave, Pinnacle announced that they had the license, and then it was nearly a year before they announced the Kickstarter dates... with little to no information released by Pinnacle, in between those announcements. The major difference this time, is that there was no major announcement by Pinnacle on wave two, that of which I'm aware (granted, I may have missed it). Pretty much everything above, is what I have heard concerning the project.

-Chris

Jason Richards · Wed Mar 28, 2018 2:42 pm

Supergyro wrote:"Sean Tate Bircher said in the replies, that the writing is pretty far advanced, but he wasn't able to elaborate on it, any more than that. Hopefully we'll see the official announcement on Pinnacle's website, with more details, soon"

This was written a year ago.. and we've not even seen a kickstarter nor any sort of official announcement...

People claiming promises without deadlines are promises, and not seeing the trend of "months and months going by without any real change in status, proposed date, or official announcement" as being a danger sign... well..

At this point it falls under a "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..."

Not to be argumentative, but when has Pinnacle ever "fooled you once?"

Freemage · Unread post by **Freemage** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:19 pm

Folks also aren't understanding Pinnacle's approach to KS. Unlike a lot of publishers, not only do they withhold the announcement until a few months before the KS proper, but they also don't make that announcement until a lot of the work is already finished. By the time the KS hits the page, most of the heavy lifting is done, and they're able to focus on final edits and delivering product. If I were to look at their books, I suspect a lot of the money from any given KS actually is used to fund the next project for development, rather than using the KS to raise funds for paying the writers in the first place (which seems to be the 'traditional' use of KS).

So yeah, when they announce? It'll be freakin' rock-solid.

cchopps · Unread post by **cchopps** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 11:44 pm

Just seeing this. Pinnacle has a well earned solid rep and the Wave 1 books were awesome. Very exciting!

Riftmaker · Unread post by **Riftmaker** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:40 am

Any word on the ks date yet?

Jason Richards · Sat Apr 28, 2018 10:45 pm

Riftmaker wrote:Any word on the ks date yet?

Saw they have another about to launch. Lankhmar: Savage Seas of Nehwon

Jason Richards · Mon May 14, 2018 11:49 pm

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/54 ... ts/2176424

Books still rolling. Very excited for the new team. My fellow Texans, doing work!

Cyber-Knight · Unread post by **Cyber-Knight** » Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:11 am

I love the Savage Rifts stuff I've seen so far. More books would be MORE than welcome!

Supergyro · Unread post by **Supergyro** » Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:53 pm

Jason Richards wrote: I say this as someone with first hand knowledge. The new KS, or whatever platform is used, will be run by Pinnacle at the right time. Last year, Pinnacle ran KS campaigns in April, so that seems like a reasonable guess.

This was said about April... 2018...

I think now that it's January 2019, its fair to say this "reasonable guess" was not terribly accurate.

Right now the question is not whether there would be a delay, it's about what is *causing* a very obvious delay.