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copy/paste from latest murmur

First, I had a wonderful creative conference with Carl Gleba on the telephone. It had been a while since we talked. I need to change that, because Carl ALWAYS inspires me. I long for the day I can hire him full time and keep him all to Palladium.

I was thrilled to learn he had finished a project we had talked about several months go. The first in a series of books I had been planning to launch. Carl is the only person I’ve shared the idea with outside of Palladium Books. A series of 96 page sourcebooks in a line called Secrets of (“X”). Carl liked the idea so much he’s written what will be the first “Secrets” book tentatively entitled Secrets of Atlantis or Secrets of True Atlanteans (we have not decided on the final title). It sounds fantastic and I can hardly wait to see the manuscript. Carl wants to take a final pass at it before he sends it in, but I should get the manuscript in a month or so. It should be followed by my own, Secrets of the Rifts® and a number of other “Secrets” books. All slated for later in the year and beyond. That’s all I’m going to say about them at this time.

Carl and I discussed a couple other projects I can’t talk about yet, and he got my mind going on a number of fronts. Man, I love his mind.

I'm excited. I love anything Carl does.

Sounds cool, filling in the gaps in Rifts history sounds like we could be getting back to the awesome story writing that PB had back in the beginning.

The Galactus Kid wrote:I'm excited. I love anything Carl does.

Agree

great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

For lack of a "blah blah blah" smiley...

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

For lack of a "blah blah blah" smiley...

what your dinosaur swamp books were great................oopps that wasnt you was it , i mean Arzno ..........no wait what books did you do again?

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

For lack of a "blah blah blah" smiley...

what your dinosaur swamp books were great................oopps that wasnt you was it , i mean Arzno ..........no wait what books did you do again?

Touche

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

For lack of a "blah blah blah" smiley...

what your dinosaur swamp books were great................oopps that wasnt you was it , i mean Arzno ..........no wait what books did you do again?

Touche

i know what was it, the mechinoids space that what it was

And now i'm curious, this give a nice paranoid, now lets see how this "secret" thing will be played out...aaand someone said Mechanoid?

I can't tell, am I psychic? Or is Mr. Gleba a really fast writer? I like my title better.

Bill wrote:I can't tell, am I psychic? Or is Mr. Gleba a really fast writer? I like my title better.

Lightning fast.

The Baron of chaos wrote:And now i'm curious, this give a nice paranoid, now lets see how this "secret" thing will be played out...aaand someone said Mechanoid?

From Kevin Murmur it looks like my book and possibly his are the only ones in development at this time with respect to the Secrets of.."X". The goal is to make smaller 92 to 120 page books. These are faster to write, easier to edit and produce. So that's my goal to help Palladium. Produce smaller books that are still jamed packed with ideas. I'm pretty happy with SoTA. I probably could have finished sooner but those darn maps take a long time to to create

As for Mechanoids, well that is kind of on the back burner for the moment. I agree with Kevin in supporting all current lines and this is not the best time to do Mechanoid Space. Don't worry I have tons of notes a lot of stuff written so when Kevin calls I'll be ready.

Bill wrote:I can't tell, am I psychic? Or is Mr. Gleba a really fast writer? I like my title better.

You're psychic

Carl Gleba wrote:

Bill wrote:I can't tell, am I psychic? Or is Mr. Gleba a really fast writer? I like my title better.

You're psychic

I'm in your head Gleba! You should dust.

Bill wrote:

Carl Gleba wrote:

Bill wrote:I can't tell, am I psychic? Or is Mr. Gleba a really fast writer? I like my title better.

You're psychic

I'm in your head Gleba! You should dust.

Ok, send me how to be a millionaire

i hope such a book focuses on both sides, friends and foes. atlanteans and their splugortian counterparts.

possibly more info on UWW Alexandria and the chiangku

IMO with most of the rifts world nearly covered, its about time these types of books started getting released. over the years many people have advocated books along these lines.

i think these books being shorter in length, and having an almost microscopic focus could be quicker to write, edit and release.

what other topics could be covered with these types of books

SECRETS OF "True Atlanteans" is a better title. Specially if the book is about them.

I'll check this out when it released. Why, it is new Product !! not reprinting old books.

CyberPaladin85 wrote:Um, speaking of Mechanoids, didn't an Atlantean clan create them, then cause them to become genocidal against all humanoids? Heh, those guys are like the perfect scapegoat, because they really did cause all those problems!

don't think it's really all that clear if that's what happened or not. however, i've seen that proposed as a theory before... it doesn't have anything to prove it correct, but it could very easily fit into what we know of the true atlanteans and mechanoids from what i recall, so it's one of those things that *could* be true.

Atlanee? = Atlantean?
*shrug*
Who knows; that debate has been going on since Rifts Sourcebook 2 'The mechanoids' (now no longer canon / allowed by PBooks due to "keeping IP's seperate" sillyness).

However IT IS plausible, seeing as how it is mentioned that the True Atlanteans cross multiple time-streams / alterante realities and dimensions.
A Clan very well COULD have gone into an alterante time -tream set back from "now" by a few hundred thousand years and created "The ultimate enemy of humanoids".

CyberPaladin85 wrote:Um, speaking of Mechanoids, didn't an Atlantean clan create them, then cause them to become genocidal against all humanoids? Heh, those guys are like the perfect scapegoat, because they really did cause all those problems!

I don't remember anything in the material that even hinted at the idea that the humanoid alien race that created the original Mechanoids were Atlanteans. Particularly since there doesn't seem to be magic in the setting and Atlanteans are big on magic. The basic premise behind them was that the alien race created the original Mechanoids to explore space for them rather than go out and risk it themselves. They went out, learned a lot, but back home the small group left on the planet were killed because people feared them without cause. The Mechanoids in space felt that and confused felt they'd retool themselves in hopes of earning their creators love and came with a big gift of knowledge, while their fearful creators expecting retaliation for the ones murdered on the planet attacked them trying to kill them. So they all became axe-crazy and out to kill anything that's humanoid or is friends with humanoids.

Dang, 'The List' keeps growing.

DBX wrote:i hope such a book focuses on both sides, friends and foes. Atlanteans and their splugortian counterparts.

I see where you're coming from, but two major Atlantean enemies already have a books already dedicated to them. There are two Atlantis books (not that I'm opposed to doing more on the Splugorth ) and the Revised VK and up and up and coming VK source book.

Now the Sunaj, glad you mentioned them , will be talked about and updated in Secrets of the True Atlanteans.

Nightmask wrote:

CyberPaladin85 wrote:Um, speaking of Mechanoids, didn't an Atlantean clan create them, then cause them to become genocidal against all humanoids? Heh, those guys are like the perfect scapegoat, because they really did cause all those problems!

I don't remember anything in the material that even hinted at the idea that the humanoid alien race that created the original Mechanoids were Atlanteans.

SB2, 29
Ironically, the Mechanoids' ancestry is rooted in humankind. Long ago, there was a race of humans in a distant galaxy hundreds of thousands of light years away from Earth. Legend tells that these humans were refugees fleeing from a terrible disaster. their homeworld was torn asunder and they were among the fortunate few to escape the great destruction. Nobody knows who they were or from where they came. The oldest legends identify them as "Atlanees," but they have been given many names; their true identity lost to antiquity.

Go Carl go!

Greg

Killer Cyborg wrote:[
SB2, 29
Ironically, the Mechanoids' ancestry is rooted in humankind. Long ago, there was a race of humans in a distant galaxy hundreds of thousands of light years away from Earth. Legend tells that these humans were refugees fleeing from a terrible disaster. their homeworld was torn asunder and they were among the fortunate few to escape the great destruction. Nobody knows who they were or from where they came. The oldest legends identify them as "Atlanees," but they have been given many names; their true identity lost to antiquity.

Yep. It's a real 'Oops, our boneheaded cousins stupidly let loose a genocidal force on the Megaverse' family scandal, though the current Atlanteans, even if they knew of it, will be quick to distance themselves from 'those guys'.

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

Maybe you should consider ceasing to be rude, and writing a sourcebook on your own and submitting it. Put your money where your mouth is. If I didn't work sixty to eighty hours a week, write novels, and design stuff for the Hero System, I might have time to devote to Rifts, but I don't have nearly enough since I got this promotion recently.

Most freelancers (Like Carl and Me) have full time jobs that take us away from our game design projects. I'm one of the top twenty salespeople in my company. It puts food on the table. Taking shots like that is kind of crass, considering that Carl, myself, Galactus Kid, and all freelance designers everywhere are just hardworking dudes trying to pay a couple bills and feed our familes and/or pets.

My reward for writing for the Hero System is that my bad guys get to have pictures drawn of them, and I get to say "Hey, I wrote that." The money isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination.

This coming year, I'm writing one to make no money at all because it's SPECIFICALLY a charity project. It's a good deed. That's it. Freelancers do what they do out of love, Mech. We don't do it to make you mad, or throw our genitals at you.

I'd really appreciate it if you weren't so petty. We're all friends here. Act like it.

Carl Gleba wrote:I see where you're coming from, but two major Atlantean enemies already have a books already dedicated to them. There are two Atlantis books (not that I'm opposed to doing more on the Splugorth ) and the Revised VK and up and up and coming VK source book.

I meant more different factions should actually interact/react to each other.

for example, vamps stick their fingers in atlantis in SDM book, help the slaves etc. it would be good to see how Splugorth responded, dealth with this news.

IMO splugortians would be all over VK like a rash, so when a new book covering that area gets released. it will be good to see that covered. even if all it says is that the splugorth responded this way, but it has made no difference.

similarly if atlanteans been undermining Atlantis, the splugorth would have at least tried to do something about it.

you mention the sunaj, by now at least some of the other clans would have started to react/responded to being killed off at will. even if the steps they have taken aren't that successful, i would expect them to have done something, rather than still be stumbling around in the dark and wondering who is killing them. they would have made attempts to find out at the very least, taken steps to improve their security and so forth


if the sunaj turn on ol splyynn, he is going to respond, especially since he is waiting for them to turn on him. the sunaj aren't just going to be able to stab him in the back and walk away from it

Carl Gleba wrote:Now the Sunaj, glad you mentioned them , will be talked about and updated in Secrets of the True Atlanteans.

personally the title "secrets of Atlantis" had more of my interest, as i took that as having new material on splynn, his forces and plans, as well as this new book covering the true Atlantean clans.

it seems from what you say this is going to be more on the True Atlanteans. which isn't a bad thing, many people on these boards over the years have craved such a book.

for a species that is supposed to be near extinction, the true Atlanteans sure get about. would like to see their clan rivalries. a list of clan names and clan politcs could be useful.

Just so everyone clear and I'll make a point to mention this to Kevin, this is all about True Atlanteans. So the title Secrets of Atlantis should not be considered, at least IMO as it can be misleading. I don't want to go into to many details because its not my place to do so, but it will focus on different clans, the various Atlantean O.C.C.'s (new and old ones revised to RUE) as well as Atlantean society, architecture, and magic.

So hopefully this will clear things up.

Just do me one favor, don't copy and paste the stone magic. Give it a good once over and make it more awesome than before, please.

Balabanto wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

Maybe you should consider ceasing to be rude, and writing a sourcebook on your own and submitting it. Put your money where your mouth is. If I didn't work sixty to eighty hours a week, write novels, and design stuff for the Hero System, I might have time to devote to Rifts, but I don't have nearly enough since I got this promotion recently.

Most freelancers (Like Carl and Me) have full time jobs that take us away from our game design projects. I'm one of the top twenty salespeople in my company. It puts food on the table. Taking shots like that is kind of crass, considering that Carl, myself, Galactus Kid, and all freelance designers everywhere are just hardworking dudes trying to pay a couple bills and feed our familes and/or pets.

My reward for writing for the Hero System is that my bad guys get to have pictures drawn of them, and I get to say "Hey, I wrote that." The money isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination.

This coming year, I'm writing one to make no money at all because it's SPECIFICALLY a charity project. It's a good deed. That's it. Freelancers do what they do out of love, Mech. We don't do it to make you mad, or throw our genitals at you.

I'd really appreciate it if you weren't so petty. We're all friends here. Act like it.

Well Sir , first i wasnt rude i was poking fun at some of the freelancers mostly Galactus Kid, because i know he would get the joke , and offer some comebacks and get some cheap laughs. second dont make me get an adult , because of you and your genital throwing , third I enjoy the books , so knowing Carl Gleba is writing some new ones, i'm looking forward to them and adding them to my collection of Palladium Books.

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

Balabanto wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

Maybe you should consider ceasing to be rude, and writing a sourcebook on your own and submitting it. Put your money where your mouth is. If I didn't work sixty to eighty hours a week, write novels, and design stuff for the Hero System, I might have time to devote to Rifts, but I don't have nearly enough since I got this promotion recently.

Most freelancers (Like Carl and Me) have full time jobs that take us away from our game design projects. I'm one of the top twenty salespeople in my company. It puts food on the table. Taking shots like that is kind of crass, considering that Carl, myself, Galactus Kid, and all freelance designers everywhere are just hardworking dudes trying to pay a couple bills and feed our familes and/or pets.

My reward for writing for the Hero System is that my bad guys get to have pictures drawn of them, and I get to say "Hey, I wrote that." The money isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination.

This coming year, I'm writing one to make no money at all because it's SPECIFICALLY a charity project. It's a good deed. That's it. Freelancers do what they do out of love, Mech. We don't do it to make you mad, or throw our genitals at you.

I'd really appreciate it if you weren't so petty. We're all friends here. Act like it.

Well Sir , first i wasnt rude i was poking fun at some of the freelancers mostly Galactus Kid, because i know he would get the joke , and offer some comebacks and get some cheap laughs. second dont make me get an adult , because of you and your genital throwing , third I enjoy the books , so knowing Carl Gleba is writing some new ones, i'm looking forward to them and adding them to my collection of Palladium Books.

Mech, I think Balabanto is just tired of some of the others. I got it and apprecate a good laugh, and now that Bal knows, cooler heads will prevail.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled topic.

Bill wrote:Just do me one favor, don't copy and paste the stone magic. Give it a good once over and make it more awesome than before, please.

I have a few ideas for the Stone Master. Have to do a little play testing with my group to see how it goes. Bu yeah I hear ya

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

Balabanto wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

Maybe you should consider ceasing to be rude, and writing a sourcebook on your own and submitting it. Put your money where your mouth is. If I didn't work sixty to eighty hours a week, write novels, and design stuff for the Hero System, I might have time to devote to Rifts, but I don't have nearly enough since I got this promotion recently.

Most freelancers (Like Carl and Me) have full time jobs that take us away from our game design projects. I'm one of the top twenty salespeople in my company. It puts food on the table. Taking shots like that is kind of crass, considering that Carl, myself, Galactus Kid, and all freelance designers everywhere are just hardworking dudes trying to pay a couple bills and feed our familes and/or pets.

My reward for writing for the Hero System is that my bad guys get to have pictures drawn of them, and I get to say "Hey, I wrote that." The money isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination.

This coming year, I'm writing one to make no money at all because it's SPECIFICALLY a charity project. It's a good deed. That's it. Freelancers do what they do out of love, Mech. We don't do it to make you mad, or throw our genitals at you.

I'd really appreciate it if you weren't so petty. We're all friends here. Act like it.

Well Sir , first i wasnt rude i was poking fun at some of the freelancers mostly Galactus Kid, because i know he would get the joke , and offer some comebacks and get some cheap laughs. second dont make me get an adult , because of you and your genital throwing , third I enjoy the books , so knowing Carl Gleba is writing some new ones, i'm looking forward to them and adding them to my collection of Palladium Books.

Mech, I think Balabanto is just tired of some of the others. I got it and apprecate a good laugh, and now that Bal knows, cooler heads will prevail.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled topic.

i understand,

The Galactus Kid wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

Balabanto wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:great what rifts needs more over powered stuff.......................cant wait, KS needs to have him show some of the youngest how to do a book right, and hopefully get a couple of Nightspawn books too

Maybe you should consider ceasing to be rude, and writing a sourcebook on your own and submitting it. Put your money where your mouth is. If I didn't work sixty to eighty hours a week, write novels, and design stuff for the Hero System, I might have time to devote to Rifts, but I don't have nearly enough since I got this promotion recently.

Most freelancers (Like Carl and Me) have full time jobs that take us away from our game design projects. I'm one of the top twenty salespeople in my company. It puts food on the table. Taking shots like that is kind of crass, considering that Carl, myself, Galactus Kid, and all freelance designers everywhere are just hardworking dudes trying to pay a couple bills and feed our familes and/or pets.

My reward for writing for the Hero System is that my bad guys get to have pictures drawn of them, and I get to say "Hey, I wrote that." The money isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination.

This coming year, I'm writing one to make no money at all because it's SPECIFICALLY a charity project. It's a good deed. That's it. Freelancers do what they do out of love, Mech. We don't do it to make you mad, or throw our genitals at you.

I'd really appreciate it if you weren't so petty. We're all friends here. Act like it.

Well Sir , first i wasnt rude i was poking fun at some of the freelancers mostly Galactus Kid, because i know he would get the joke , and offer some comebacks and get some cheap laughs. second dont make me get an adult , because of you and your genital throwing , third I enjoy the books , so knowing Carl Gleba is writing some new ones, i'm looking forward to them and adding them to my collection of Palladium Books.

Mech, I think Balabanto is just tired of some of the others. I got it and apprecate a good laugh, and now that Bal knows, cooler heads will prevail.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled topic.

Oh, I get it.

We're good to go.

Balabanto wrote:
Oh, I get it.

We're good to go.

so you got any books or rifter stuff for PB????

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

Balabanto wrote:
Oh, I get it.

We're good to go.

so you got any books or rifter stuff for PB????

I'm working on something, but it's slow, because I don't have infinite time and Hero System is my first love. I also write novels and work 50-80 hour weeks at my day job. I'm getting a call from an agent tomorrow. This is serious stuff.

If I ever finish it, Galactus Kid will be the first to know, he will then go over it and edit it, and then we'll collectively submit it.

Balabanto wrote:

Mech-Viper Prime wrote:

Balabanto wrote:
Oh, I get it.

We're good to go.

so you got any books or rifter stuff for PB????

I'm working on something, but it's slow, because I don't have infinite time and Hero System is my first love. I also write novels and work 50-80 hour weeks at my day job. I'm getting a call from an agent tomorrow. This is serious stuff.

If I ever finish it, Galactus Kid will be the first to know, he will then go over it and edit it, and then we'll collectively submit it.

cool

Carl Gleba wrote:Just so everyone clear and I'll make a point to mention this to Kevin, this is all about True Atlanteans. So the title Secrets of Atlantis should not be considered, at least IMO as it can be misleading. I don't want to go into to many details because its not my place to do so, but it will focus on different clans, the various Atlantean O.C.C.'s (new and old ones revised to RUE) as well as Atlantean society, architecture, and magic.

So hopefully this will clear things up.

thanks for clearing that up. a book about Atlantean clans is still very good. personally i think covering clan politics has alot of potential, as this could have many storyline possibilities IMO. hopefully it isn't just the aerhiman (SP?) clan that is up against all the others. i think the books do say they are looking for allies.

possibly updating some of the atlantean NPC's already mentioned in the books.

Atlantean npc's and clans IMO should run the full spectrum of morals, good, selfish and downright nasty. so far other than the sunaj we haven't seen too many selfish, and evil Atlanteans. clan cultures tend to be fiercely loyal to each other as well as being the worst of enemies

I want a book about Atlantean clans. The ore recent Rifter articles about the Sunaj/Aeriman clans were awesome.

I am all for more, smaller books getting produced over a shorter period of time

Great News. I'd rather see a book about just the True Atlanteans themselves. Sounds like a great Sourcebook idea.

We have seen WB/SB style books so far for :
Cyborgs = Warlords of Russia and Rifts Bionics. Two books for us.
Headhunters & other Mercs = SB-Mercs, Merc Town, Merc Adventures, Canada, and few others. 5+ books.
Wizards and Magic Users = Federation of Magic, Mystic Russia, and numberous other books. All about magic.
Psychics = We have Psyscape. Just One book aimed at just psychics. Even then we didn't get much info in it really.
Juicers = Juicer Uprising. A Classic.
Crazies = Mindwerkz. Another classic. However, we needed more info on Crazies themselves. Maybe varient OCCs for them would have been better than psynetic implants IMHO.
Wilderness Scout = Dino-Swamp helped Wilderness Scouts out.
Dogboys and Mutant Animals = Lonestar of course.
Power Armor & Robot Vehicle Pilots = got alot of coverage, CWC, NGR, FQ, and numberous other books. They are the Backbone of the High-Tech nations.
ROBOTS = SB1, SB2, and a few more books. Good stuff btw.

We still need a Sourcebook or Worldbook aimed at Scholars, Doctors, Vagabonds, etc...
New Sourcebooks aimed an specific RCCs would be nice too. True Atlanteans is a good start since they are everywhere it seems. Can be usefull for Rifts, Phase World, etc...