What's wrong with Palladium?

[Spence]

Played it a couple of times, never got into it, but I got a bunch of the books.

I've been messing around with setting up the mecha using the closest piece of equipment I could find in Traveler Hero, and making a few adjustments. So far I've just messed around with the basic Cycleone armor. At the rate I'm going I should be done around 2199.

If you are using HERO and can find a copy of Robot Warriors, it can help a bit.

[Supreme Serpent]

Neat settings, neat ideas, clunky execution.

Downsides for me:

-All classes/OCCs are created equal. Given how horribly imbalanced they are (except in certain campaigns of course) they should be using different XP charts and/or be grouped into different groups - Tier A for low powered campaigns, Tier B for medium, etc.

-Level system in general, and the # of things you adjust each and every level. Some characters have pages of skills you have to update each time.

-Too much newshiney syndrome. Stuff in new books is usually better than the old versions - gear/weapons/classes.

- From a strictly RPG standpoint, I think a lot of the stuff (esp. Rifts) works better if you make a concerted effort to keep the PCs more narrowly focused and let them interact with the weirdness. A bunch of Coalition guys OR a bunch of mutants/mages OR a bunch of aliens/DBs, etc. instead of trying to mish-mash them together into one party.

[mirage]

If you are using HERO and can find a copy of Robot Warriors, it can help a bit.

I actually have RW, somewhere. The last time I looked at it was over 10 years ago when I was debating as to whether or not to use Hero, or Mekton for my Five Star Stories game. The Mekton scaling seemed to work better for that particular game. But I'll go back and have another look at it again.

[ercarlson1974]

These are some reasons why I just avoid class/level based games.

After dredging the swamps of my memory some more, I do recall a house rule from days gone by. I played a short-lived Robotech game with a gradeschool buddy of mine. At the end of each adventure we were awarded skill points, which could then be applied to skills; one skill point equaled a 1% skill increase. There was a temptation to immediately max out Veritech piloting, but by then we were mature enough roleplayers to avoid that. I can't recall how we used skill points for combat bonuses though. Unfortunately, the campaign died quickly (it was play by post and we simply lost interest). Still, perhaps that's a way to circumvent the class/level system in Palladium.

[Spence]

I actually have RW, somewhere. The last time I looked at it was over 10 years ago when I was debating as to whether or not to use Hero, or Mekton for my Five Star Stories game. The Mekton scaling seemed to work better for that particular game. But I'll go back and have another look at it again.

If you can establish a good conversion to HERO that give you a game that meets the same needs, you then have a much more flexible way to expand/add to the setting. RW is 4th and I wasn't enthused for the setting, what there was of it. But it is a good place to look at how to handle Mecha in HERO.

May be worth it, may not....

[Enforcer84]

Despite Heroes Unlimited being the most ironically misnamed game ever, I love it.
I've not played in years, and yeah, it was a "Supehero Class" system, I own every HU book they ever made.

Part of it is the hilarity that ensues because KS can't make villains that use his own rules. The other part is my amusement of being talked down to for wanting to play someone not really covered by his incredibly limited system. However, I still break out the books and work on my "Epic HU Character Generation System". Oh, and it took him over 20 years to come up with an "Extrordinary Intelligence" power despite that powerset having existed 20 years prior to his game.
But I liked devising new Mutations, Alien bonuses, Magical abilities, etc.

Loved to play TMNT(AOS) when I was in middle school, tried robotech, and have played RIFTS as recently as last year. The system appeals to my inner munchkin as well as my sense of irony.

[jtelson]

Why do so many gamers seem to hate Palladium so much?

I find its relatively low melting point for a PGM pathetic, plus it keeps eating all my Hydrogen, and does it ever ofer to get more? It does not.

[The Main Man]

I like the settings but not the rules just like many other posters on thus thread.

HU was my first RPG experience so it has a special place in my heart.

Rifts was my first GM'ing experience so it too has a special place in my heart and I have been converting (more like translating) it in various ways since I discovered HERO about 6-7 years ago.

The rules are clunky and outdated and many times things are not quite properlythought out, rules nor setting-wise.

[Lord Liaden]

Played it a couple of times, never got into it, but I got a bunch of the books.

I've been messing around with setting up the mecha using the closest piece of equipment I could find in Traveler Hero, and making a few adjustments. So far I've just messed around with the basic Cycleone armor. At the rate I'm going I should be done around 2199.

If you are using HERO and can find a copy of Robot Warriors, it can help a bit.

I actually have RW, somewhere. The last time I looked at it was over 10 years ago when I was debating as to whether or not to use Hero, or Mekton for my Five Star Stories game. The Mekton scaling seemed to work better for that particular game. But I'll go back and have another look at it again.

If you can establish a good conversion to HERO that give you a game that meets the same needs, you then have a much more flexible way to expand/add to the setting. RW is 4th and I wasn't enthused for the setting, what there was of it. But it is a good place to look at how to handle Mecha in HERO.

May be worth it, may not....

If you have HERO 5E and Robot Warriors, you can make good use of Chris Goodwin's detailed notes for combining the two into a 5E-compatible mecha game: http://www.afeather.net/~archer/rw2hero.html

Now if you'd like to see mecha and other elements from the Robotech setting rendered in 5E HERO, there's a fair amount available.

Writeups for several Robotech mecha:
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14174

Numerous other mecha writeups (in downloadable HTML and HDC files), plus mecha Hit Locations, and character rank Perks:
http://www.starherofandom.com/h_robotech/index.php

Converting several specific setting elements, including Skill packages (posts #48 and 50):
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23404
[Note: the mecha writeups on this thread are reproduced under the previous link above.]

HERO stats for the Gallant H-90 multi-weapon system:
http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32232

Website for a Robotech HERO campaign (must be member of or join Yahoo! to view most areas):
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/champians_Robotech/

[Mr. R]

This is also a superhero game where being a guy with military training and a gun pretty much assures you of being vastly more competent than any other sort of character, such as aliens, mutants, etc. You'll notice, of course, how well that corresponds to the superhero comics, where guys like Thor, Superman and the Fantastic Four are worthless and the Punisher is the toughest person out there.

I could say more about my loathing for the Palladium System, but I just finished lunch and would rather think about more pleasant things.

I beg to differ. The problem isn't that Punisher types are so much better. It's that after a while people begin to realize that and make their heros so they get military or police training. Then you get the alien scout from another world with a natural AR, loads of SDC, an anti gravity disc, Super Speed and Vibratory Powers.

Or as one long time player put it "We just reroll if we get Special training Martial Arts or Hardware. There is no point when you can make similar builds with the right skill picks, get all the gear and the super powers."

[Spence]

I didn't go with Hero because of the way killing attacks worked.....

Sometimes a system doesn't give the 'feel' you want so you have to go with another. The important thing is if everyone had fun

[The Main Man]

That's another thing that I dislike about the Palladium system: Experience.

On the one hand I applaud them for rewarding roleplaying but your character at Lvl. 1 is going to generally remain the same for all 15 levels, except that HP, Skills, and special powers may be higher.

That's assuming that you ever get there since progression is so slow and rather arbitrary per class.

[Spence]

Palladium - where even the popcorn is more dangerous than a T-800.....

[Toadmaster]

I've always been amazed that Palladium could come up with so many neat ideas, and get ahold of so many licenses but completely fail in their implementation. I tried several of thier games over the years but never found one that worked for me.

It really disturbed me to see what they did to Recon, buy out a game about the Vietnam war, then completely sanitize the background into some sort of Hollywood version of the war. I keep hoping that with Paladiums troubles that game will escape their clutches, and get to someone who will treat it right.

[ercarlson1974]

Palladium - where even the popcorn is more dangerous than a T-800.....