Palladium Books Going Under

[JELEINEN]

You read the same thread I read, I believe. And the poster has a point... if it mattered.

Granted, the loss of an established name like PB will make retailers a bit hesitant, but I think a lot of people see the writing on the wall for PB a long time ago. One thing I learn in life is that in a small industry, people talk, and that scuttlebutt generally makes the rounds with the customers too. PB's poor schedule reputation doesn't help them in this regard.

I'm not sure how retailers perceive PB, but I get the profound sense of "meh"; I get a sense that the customers/ retailers sort of expect a production consolidation -- it's just a matter of which company crumbles. WotC and WW was too big to be candidates, the smaller guys don't matter, so it boils down to SJG, PB and a few middle grounds.. and from what I'm hearing, PB had a good market share but is percieved as a weak link due to product quality and its management style.

Not to mention that, as you said, the RPG line has been declining anyway.. A smart retailer would have reduced inventory anyway, I know my LGS did.

I guess what I'm saying is that while PB had a good market share, they had made themselves irrelevant by their practices. The only reason why they are still there is simply because of inertia -- no other better company has emerged to challenge them. It was only a matter of time before some EVENT shot their legs out from under them.

In a way, it's similar in tabletop gaming and for Macross. We know Games Workshop's and Harmony Gold's practices in the past weren't good practices for the industry, and they had increasingly made themselves redundant. It's just whether they can turn that around in their respective industries in time before some EVENT cut their legs out from under them.

(Of course, the level of impact would be very different from PB. GW is a big leader in tabletop gaming; if something happens now the impact is a great ripple. HG is irrelevant, so their passing would hardly be mourned, especially by MW.)

393565[/snapback]

Yeah. I'm not sure I agree with it either. I was more meaning to just pass on why some think it's a bad deal for RPGs as a whole. Honestly, I buy most of my game books from regular book stores or online these days, and I think that's becoming more and more common with a lot of people.

[yellowlightman]

I'm not too well versed in the legal rights of PB's game system but isn't that just about all they do hold the rights to? Other than the whole RIFTS world? Every PB book I've seen looked like it was a licensed adaptation of something else using their ruleset.

393607[/snapback]

I doubt anyone would want to purchase or license the Palladium system, it really is a horrible game system and a dreadful relic of early 80's gaming. Not to mention Siembieda is such a ridiculous micromanager I doubt his precious system too far out of his sight.

RIFTS and the Palladium Fantasy settings are about the only noteworthy settings Palladium actually owns. I've said it before, but licensing RIFTS out to a company (or hiring a company to handle it in house) for conversion to D20 with some actual PLAYTESTING and a decent layout could get Palladium a fair amount more money. There is much more interest in the setting than the system.

Of course Siembieda's ego would never let such a thing happen so...

[Lynx7725]

I doubt anyone would want to purchase or license the Palladium system, it really is a horrible game system and a dreadful relic of early 80's gaming.

393705[/snapback]

Not according to the fans of the system, apparently.

Truth to be told, it's not all too different from D20. Stats generation is virtually identical. Combat is just a short tweak from D20. Skills are the main difference and I think D20 is better, if only because it's open-ended.

At the end of the day it's really just a system and a great GM can cheerfully ignore the system to get the game on. The system is just a way to adjucate the game to make sure the GM doesn't do a TPK that often...

Personally I think the Palladium system just need to be tweaked a little here and there, and especially to ditch all the garbage that's crept in inadvertably over the years -- that's normal housekeeping.

RIFTS and the Palladium Fantasy settings are about the only noteworthy settings Palladium actually owns. I've said it before, but licensing RIFTS out to a company (or hiring a company to handle it in house) for conversion to D20 with some actual PLAYTESTING and a decent layout could get Palladium a fair amount more money. There is much more interest in the setting than the system.

Of course Siembieda's ego would never let such a thing happen so...

393705[/snapback]

I'm not sure whether getting PB campaign settings onto D20 is a good idea. The main thing I see about a potential PB death is the loss of a system that can be rectified if KS is willing to loosen his (death) grip on it.

While having standards is good, having only one standard is not a good idea, and having competing standards do keep the company honest and promotes innovation.. well, in any case other than our friends in PB.

But then again, we've got GURPS, we've got OGL, we've got Silicore and various others.. I think we can survive seeing one go.

[Roy Focker]

the RPG industry is in bad shape at the moment. There is an absolute glut of d20 related products, most of them not worth wiping your ass with.

Yep the I don't get what is so great about D20. People call Palladium an old and dated system that needs resevising to fit with modern gaming. I found more better and fun gaming systems from Rpg companies that went out of business 20 years ago.

Nothing in Palladium interest me. Oh I bought two old books from them but not everyone cares for Rifts. They canceal the products I was looking forward to for more Rifts.

Another company could buy the Robotech Licence. Other gaming systems have done mecha so Robotech could under another system.

Heck Harmony Gold could use any game system that is under the OGL and make one themselves.

[Seto Kaiba]

Palladium Books has been inching closer to the abyss for ages now. It's just a matter of time before they take the final step and plunge right out of business. They keep churning out more of the same old thing, more Rifts products and periodically some additions to the fantasy line. Kevin Siembieda's unwillingness to explore the opportunities available with new titles and licences is killing Palladium just as surely as the theft and sabotage have. The Palladium RPG system needs a facelift badly, and he's too damn proud to do it. He doesn't want to abandon the system and games he's become comfortable with, so as a result Palladium has essentially become irrelevant to the entire industry.

Even getting the Robotech RPG licence back won't save them at this point, since in all honesty, it's nothing new. Unless they offer something from the upcoming new Robotech series (Shadow Chronicles) in their new Robotech RPG, it won't have much appeal for anyone, even the die-hard Robotech fans. Maybe if he revamped the entire system, and included material from Shadow Chronicles, and if Shadow Chronicles REALLY takes off, then they might have a chance to stay in business.

What they really need are about ten new titles, and a complete reevaluation of the entire Palladium game system. Of course, neither of those things are likely to ever happen.

I think it's pretty likely that Harmony Gold will renew their licence to the Robotech RPG. Harmony Gold isn't big on doing anything new or original, and they tend to stick to what works for them, like using familiar characters, mecha and voices in even their newest works, and sticking to the same idea for a sequel no matter how many times it fails. (Shadow Chronicles is an extension of the failed concept for Robotech II: The Sentinels) So I don't think Harmony Gold will seriously even consider other comapnies unless Palladium out and out tells them that they're going under next tuesday.

Mercifully both Palladium Books and Harmony Gold are so far out of touch with the demands of the fans, and the flow of the entire gaming industry that it's likely that very few people would even notice that either or both had gone out of business. If one or both died, other companies would pick up the licences that could turn make a decent profit, and let the others fall, and most of the world would be none the wiser. It's gotten so bad with Harmony Gold that people have to blast them with petitions and complaints in order to get products released, or even defective products replaced. I'm sure some of you know about the defective DVDs from the Southern Cross series, and the ongoing petition for merchendise from same. Mostly their administration turns a deaf ear to it. Palladium's a little wiser, and at least pretends to listen to the complaints.

[CoryHolmes]

(probably CJ "Munchkin is my Middle Name" Carella).

393504[/snapback]

Where'd this come from? I own a number of games he's written, and there's nothing munchkin-ish about them.

Have you ever read any of Carella's RIFTS stuff? Trust me, it's his books that gave RIFTS the stigmata of being a toy-game. In later releases, there are rules that suggest how to modify his stuff to bring it more in-line with the rest of the game.

[yellowlightman]

Have you ever read any of Carella's RIFTS stuff?  Trust me, it's his books that gave RIFTS the stigmata of being a toy-game.  In later releases, there are rules that suggest how to modify his stuff to bring it more in-line with the rest of the game.

393748[/snapback]

Perhaps if Palladium tried to actually PLAYTEST their supplements before releasing them they wouldn't have the wrecked munchkin-fest that is RIFTS.

[CoryHolmes]

Have you ever read any of Carella's RIFTS stuff?  Trust me, it's his books that gave RIFTS the stigmata of being a toy-game.  In later releases, there are rules that suggest how to modify his stuff to bring it more in-line with the rest of the game.

393748[/snapback]

Perhaps if Palladium tried to actually PLAYTEST their supplements before releasing them they wouldn't have the wrecked munchkin-fest that is RIFTS.

393750[/snapback]

Again, it's only some stuff. And some of Carella stuff is pretty good, like his Juicer Uprisings.

[Lynx7725]

I find that Rifts is a game where the GM has to be quite experienced in order to exploit the game well. It's a great game system for a "jump in at level 15 and shoot things up!" system where you can throw a PC in with a high-power mecha and lots of enemy to shoot at and everyone would be happy. That's maybe a one-off session, or a short campaign.

But for a long campaign, the GM has to be very careful about power creep. Give the Samas pilot a super-Sammy? Well, you would be hard pressed not to use GM fiat to get it back, so you end up throwing bigger and bigger mobs at the party. The GM has to be very stingy with the gear he lets the party gets, and it's a lot of work.

I like Rifts because of the multitude of fresh if underdeveloped and unbalanced ideas it has. Rifts is a good campaign setting for the imaginative and the adventurous GM, you can throw anything you like and still have an explanation for it ("It came from a Rift!"). Want to see Chi-town levelled by a battalion of MAC IIs? "They came from a Rift!" Want to see Free Quebec evaporated by Zentran battlecrusiers? "They came from a Rift!" Want to see Meltran Power Armour rip holes in Glitterboys? "They came from a Rift!"

But once you unleased a whole battalion of Meltran troops backed up by battlecruisers, how do you get that genie back into the bottle? I think that's Rift's greatest failing: it's sold and pitched as a campaign setting with an easy game system to get into (and it is to an extent), but it's based on a system that doesn't self-balance (at least D20 has the CR idea for DMs to gauge whether it's a massive overkill or utter walkover).

Rifts ain't a beginner RPG in terms of content -- Rifts GM has to be experienced to understand what power creep can do to a campaign (you can only blow Earth up that many times...). Yet it's packaged as though a cheap entry level RPG... odd marketing there.

I think at the end of the day, what I'll miss about PB is two things -- the el cheapo books (in terms of price, the quality of the book bindings and such is actually quite good), and two, the ideas and story that goes into the various campaign settings, especially Rifts.

EDIT:

Yep the I don't get what is so great about D20.  People call Palladium an old and dated system that needs resevising to fit with modern gaming.  I found more better and fun gaming systems from Rpg companies that went out of business 20 years ago. 

393725[/snapback]

Well, IMO the D20 is a good system because it lets developers concentrate on producing a better world rather than on producing a better game system. It's not a perfect system, but that's not the primary concern of campaign setting developers; you can (in theory) adapt the campaign setting to any game system and it should still work.

It's not a good system not because of its inherent flaws (which exists) but because of the marketing power that Hasbro and WotC has behind it. The glut of D20 materials is slowly influencing players to adopt D20 as the de facto standard -- maybe even sole standard of the genre. That's not good from many perspective, primarily IMO one of stagnation and growth.

Edited April 24, 2006 by Lynx7725

[Roy Focker]

That what I'm saying D20 will be the standard if it isn't already. How many times do you see people say, "Will there be a D20 version?"

When I look at D20 I think it really isn't that great for people to demand it for everything.

[Lynx7725]

That what I'm saying D20 will be the standard if it isn't already.  How many times do you see people say, "Will there be a D20 version?"

When I look at D20 I think it really isn't that great for people to demand it for everything.

393846[/snapback]

No, but D20's got the reach, and it's got Hasbro/ WotC's weight behind it, and at the end of the day, it's going to be a standard simply because of that. And the fact that there is no other game system with the same reach and marketing drive behind it.

You gotta admit, it's one hellacious move on WotC's part and it paid off in spades.

Coming back. PB's failure to adapt and improve its system to the point where it can compete with D20 is one massive blob of epoxy on its coffin. All's well and good prior to the OGL, but once the OGL gotten going, the team there should really have taken the threat seriously and evolved. They didn't, and IMO it's just.. "how long?".

To be fair, most of the other companies also didn't do much as well, and the smaller publishers are honestly much better off riding on the de facto standard 'till they get a better idea of how they want to create their systems. The question I have to ask is the same: How long before the market consolidate into 2, maybe 3 RPG systems?

[CoryHolmes]

I find that Rifts is a game where the GM has to be quite experienced in order to exploit the game well. It's a great game system for a "jump in at level 15 and shoot things up!" system where you can throw a PC in with a high-power mecha and lots of enemy to shoot at and everyone would be happy. That's maybe a one-off session, or a short campaign.

But for a long campaign, the GM has to be very careful about power creep. Give the Samas pilot a super-Sammy? Well, you would be hard pressed not to use GM fiat to get it back, so you end up throwing bigger and bigger mobs at the party. The GM has to be very stingy with the gear he lets the party gets, and it's a lot of work.

I like Rifts because of the multitude of fresh if underdeveloped and unbalanced ideas it has. Rifts is a good campaign setting for the imaginative and the adventurous GM, you can throw anything you like and still have an explanation for it ("It came from a Rift!"). Want to see Chi-town levelled by a battalion of MAC IIs? "They came from a Rift!" Want to see Free Quebec evaporated by Zentran battlecrusiers? "They came from a Rift!" Want to see Meltran Power Armour rip holes in Glitterboys? "They came from a Rift!"     

But once you unleased a whole battalion of Meltran troops backed up by battlecruisers, how do you get that genie back into the bottle? I think that's Rift's greatest failing: it's sold and pitched as a campaign setting with an easy game system to get into (and it is to an extent), but it's based on a system that doesn't self-balance (at least D20 has the CR idea for DMs to gauge whether it's a massive overkill or utter walkover).

Rifts ain't a beginner RPG in terms of content -- Rifts GM has to be experienced to understand what power creep can do to a campaign (you can only blow Earth up that many times...). Yet it's packaged as though a cheap entry level RPG... odd marketing there.

I think at the end of the day, what I'll miss about PB is two things -- the el cheapo books (in terms of price, the quality of the book bindings and such is actually quite good), and two, the ideas and story that goes into the various campaign settings, especially Rifts.

393755[/snapback]

You bring up some good points. As a one-off toy fest, Rifts ranks up there with Zombies!! and Destroy All Monsters!. But if you've got a GM who knows what to do and the group wants to ROLEplay instead of ROLLplay, then Rifts is the best game out there due to the sheer multitude of stories, ideas, and just plain nifty settings that you can mix and match with.

Now that I think about it, Rifts is any kind of game you want it to be: fast-paced munchkin game, or deeply involving interpersonal game; it's your call.

[yellowlightman]

You bring up some good points.  As a one-off toy fest, Rifts ranks up there with Zombies!! and Destroy All Monsters!.  But if you've got a GM who knows what to do and the group wants to ROLEplay instead of ROLLplay, then Rifts is the best game out there due to the sheer multitude of stories, ideas, and just plain nifty settings that you can mix and match with.

And it's that limitless world that gives RIFTS a distinct lack of character, in my opinion. It's basically an excuse for a GM to throw anything they want into a game and to act as a 'hub' for Palladium's Megaverse. I really don't think RIFTS offers more story possibilities than any other system, and if anything is limited by RIFTS combat-class focus.

Now that I think about it, Rifts is any kind of game you want it to be: fast-paced munchkin game, or deeply involving interpersonal game; it's your call.

393957[/snapback]

The same could be said for any system. I could start up a game of Warhammer FRP and load my PC's down with magical weapons just as easily as I could run a game filled with rat-catcher and herbalist classes. It's really up to the GM.

All this talk about RIFTS made me pull out my old Palladium books, and honestly I was surprised at how miserable they are to look through. The original RIFTS book has 1 page of introduction before jumping right into character generation, no bother to establish a setting or feel for the game. Just goes right into stats without much background. From my experience that's a pretty good generalization on Palladium's books; a focus on stats and OCCs and equipment vs. actual background information.

[Lynx7725]

Oh the background is there.. you're right to say a lot of the books have the OCC up front (IIRC), but there are certain gems that had a lot of interesting fluff. I personally liked the Phase World series a lot, because of the background mainly.

PB stuff are generally well written (and not that bad in terms of typo.. I've seen a lot worse), it's just that in terms of layout and graphics it's about 2 generations behind. I can understand the graphics part because they do have to keep cost down (and good artist costs..), but the layout can be sub-optimal at times.

[CoryHolmes]

And it's that limitless world that gives RIFTS a distinct lack of character, in my opinion. It's basically an excuse for a GM to throw anything they want into a game and to act as a 'hub' for Palladium's Megaverse. I really don't think RIFTS offers more story possibilities than any other system, and if anything is limited by RIFTS combat-class focus.

Oh the background is there.. you're right to say a lot of the books have the OCC up front (IIRC), but there are certain gems that had a lot of interesting fluff. I personally liked the Phase World series a lot, because of the background mainly.

Lynx says what I was trying to say. Not just the "megaversal hub" as you call it (which is pretty nifty all on its own) but the sheer amounts of background material for the rest of Rifts Earth (30+ additional books and still counting) is simply staggering. India, Africa, Japan, Canada , Germany, Russia, etc. all get their time in the limelight and they all get equally good treatment.

However, I do admit that my favourite games are ones were I get to pull in characters from other games and let them loose in Rifts Earth. A VHT vs a UAR-1 is increadably good fun

All this talk about RIFTS made me pull out my old Palladium books, and honestly I was surprised at how miserable they are to look through. The original RIFTS book has 1 page of introduction before jumping right into character generation, no bother to establish a setting or feel for the game. Just goes right into stats without much background. From my experience that's a pretty good generalization on Palladium's books; a focus on stats and OCCs and equipment vs. actual background information.

393993[/snapback]

Their early stuff is like that, yeah. But look at their later books, especially their Seige On Tolkeen series. Holy Crap, that's not an RPG, that's a novel with some numbers thrown in. Rifts Canada and Free Quebec are almost entierly setting for at least the first half of the book. The newest game they put out, Splicers, is a great example of this new layout. The skills and OCCs and other rules are at the very end of the book.

Edited April 25, 2006 by CoryHolmes

[Lynx7725]

Lynx says what I was trying to say.  Not just the "megaversal hub" as you call it (which is pretty nifty all on its own) but the sheer amounts of background material for the rest of Rifts Earth (30+ additional books and still counting) is simply staggering.  India, Africa, Japan, Canada  , Germany, Russia, etc. all get their time in the limelight and they all get equally good treatment.

However, I do admit that my favourite games are ones were I get to pull in characters from other games and let them loose in Rifts Earth.  A VHT vs a UAR-1 is increadably good fun 

394189[/snapback]

And PB has apparently a problem retaining these good writers. Some very negative experiences reported by some of the writers on RPG.net, and it's not your usual work grievances. I want to keep an open mind but.. I mean, if a company can't treat its most valuable assets right, what right does it have to survive? Even if we are talking about freelancers, which traditionally companies in most industries treat as most expendable?

Especially when we are dealing with essentially a creative process here. Hard to find people who can spell accurately nowadays, much less write a coherent and interesting story. By nature, a lot of these people are pretty free-spirited and need to be handled carefully. Touchy egos sometimes.

[JELEINEN]

Oh the background is there.. you're right to say a lot of the books have the OCC up front (IIRC), but there are certain gems that had a lot of interesting fluff. I personally liked the Phase World series a lot, because of the background mainly.

PB stuff are generally well written (and not that bad in terms of typo.. I've seen a lot worse), it's just that in terms of layout and graphics it's about 2 generations behind. I can understand the graphics part because they do have to keep cost down (and good artist costs..), but the layout can be sub-optimal at times.

394036[/snapback]

One of the problems with the background material in Rifts is that it's changed quite a bit over time. In the first couple of books we're presented with a pretty bleak picture of the setting. It was definitely more post-appoc than anything else. As the books came out though, the setting evolved radically to the point where it no longer resembles its original presentation. The latter books had some cool ideas to be sure, but if I were ever to get back into the game (a slim to none chance of that happening, unfortunately), I would definitely limit the material used.

I do agree Phase World is definitely neat and I really wish they hadn't decided to tie it in with Rifts so much.

As for the system, its biggest problem is a lack of uniformity. You have one set of rules for combat and a completely different set for skills. On top of that the attributes are all over the board in terms of what they do and how they work (not to mention that low attributes are meaningless). Cleaning up the rules and using a single task resolution mechanic would go a long way in making the system viable to modern gamers. Also, MDC while a good idea in theory, was implemented very poorly and would need to be re-worked from scratch.

[Penguin]

As for the system, its biggest problem is a lack of uniformity.  You have one set of rules for combat and a completely different set for skills.  On top of that the attributes are all over the board in terms of what they do and how they work (not to mention that low attributes are meaningless).  Cleaning up the rules and using a single task resolution mechanic would go a long way in making the system viable to modern gamers.  Also, MDC while a good idea in theory, was implemented very poorly and would need to be re-worked from scratch.

394295[/snapback]

I think you hit the nail on the head, there. My players and I always found the Palladium system to be fragmented and lacking cohesion, like 1st edition D&D. Old D&D had a bit of an excuse, since its rules were tacked on over time as the hobby itself evolved. But in a world where most other game companies were developing uniform rules, Palladium stuck to a system much more like old D&D in approach when it could have opted for something sleeker.

Then there are the pet peeves of individual tastes: attribute scores that are meaningless in any sort of "average" range, an ridiculously huge skill list, MDC, characters with so many actions that resolving 5 game-minutes of combat takes 3 hours, etc...

I can't say I'd mourn the loss of Palladium too much. Sure, we had some fun with a variety of its titles, but in the end the system just wore on us so much we couldn't stand it anymore. My players still like the Rifts concept, but hate the system (and now want me to do some d20 porting... like I have the time ).

[Sundown]

Then there are the pet peeves of individual tastes: attribute scores that are meaningless in any sort of "average" range, an ridiculously huge skill list, MDC, characters with so many actions that resolving 5 game-minutes of combat takes 3 hours, etc...

And my favorite: loading up on sports skills with strength bonuses that all stack, giving yourself a character with a physical strength of 54 (out of a normal starting 3D6), able to smash through walls, bend steel bars, and punch peoples' heads off in one blow-- just because you boxed, played hockey, weightlifted, did gymnastics, and was a ballet dancer.... okay, and because you're a mutated bear, but mainly because you played lots of sports.

A power-gaming, min-maxing friend of mine did that in TMNT. He got a few good rolls on background which gave him more sklils, and then ludicrously capitalized on the rediculously imbalanced skills system.

[Lynx7725]

FWIW... some details of the "theft"

[1st Border Red Devil]

Well,

we now know who it was that stole the stuff, though we could probably have speculated that it was Sheiring because he was laid off.....

Edit: Personally, I think he should have gotten 30 lashes with a rattan cane...but thats just me...

Edited April 26, 2006 by 1st Border Red Devil

[yellowlightman]

Just goes to show how much BS it was blaming Palladium's poor condition on the embezzlement.

[Lynx7725]

Now now, don't be too fast off the bat. The amount claimed can be possible if the stuff stolen/ embezzled led to production loss or overprinting, which depending on how creative your accounting is, can add up to quite a nice lump.

I don't quite believe it either, but it is possible.. Pigs do fly, after all, in cargo planes.

1BRD: If that's what you give to people in such a small case, I hate to see what you do to more serious criminals.

[Lynx7725]

Now now, don't be too fast off the bat. The amount claimed can be possible if the stuff stolen/ embezzled led to production loss or overprinting, which depending on how creative your accounting is, can add up to quite a nice lump.

I don't quite believe it either, but it is possible.. Pigs do fly, after all, in cargo planes.

1BRD: If that's what you give to people in such a small case, I hate to see what you do to more serious criminals.

[Lynx7725]

Ever been in the situation where you know a car wreck is going to happen but simply can't look away? I feel that way right now.

Kelvin's S' letter of explanation

So, he's saying that he didn't really have much of a choice in the decision, and it's probably true. With cash flow problems, your choices when something bad happens is generally poor.

The question is whether he wants to call it quits and let PB close while he can still withdraw gracefully.

[azrael]

I say cut your loses or cut back.....badly, to the point where it might be a very very very small operation. I don't know if even donations would help.

[Guppy]

how do you not miss 11,000 books...?

[Roy Focker]

by being stupid maybe.

[Seto Kaiba]

Personally, I think Kevin might have been presenting the worst case scenario estimate for the damages as the actual amount in his previous claims. I doubt that Mr. Sheiring's damage to the company was quite THAT severe, if all he was doing was giving away free product every so often, or undercharging for services, not counting the stuff he supposedly stole from the company, to which a positive estimate of price cannot be assessed.

The actual damages due to loss of inventory would've had to number some 71,000 or more books to even come close to reaching the outlandish amount of losses that Kevin's claiming Palladium suffered. Stealing original art, and the like might be a blow to the company, but it's hardly enough to cause that much damage to the company. The transparencies too... it's unlikely that that much damage was caused, even over the timeframe we're talking about, because they were obviously printing at least some of those titles while those transparencies were missing.

That nobody noticed anything is perhaps the most unbelievable part of Kevin's story. All that inventory goes missing, and is never once accounted for, reported as lost, or even inspected over that long of a time? Unless their accounting people are dumber than the average by a goodly margin, then it just stretches his credability beyond what I and many others are willing to accept.

Given common sense, and a healthy bit of reason, it's pretty obvious that either Sheiring did a LOT more than we're being told, or that Kevin is sorely overestimating the damages. I doubt that Palladium will fold because of this, I think that it's pretty likely they'll get the Robotech licence back and they'll be more or less back on their feet in about four or five years.

[j_wong00]

While seemingly difficult to see, disappearence of inventory (or "shrinkage" in business terms) is not that farfetched in a small business (Palladium Books is definatly one).

In this case, as like most small businesses, you have a small staff that have to control everything, and as KS claimed this person was a close personal friend, he like many trusted him to run the bulk of the nitty gritty of the business.

Someone having control of inventory, accounting, and access, it would be rather easy to remove the merchandise, especially over a period of years.

Also, since as KS has admitted, everytime there was a small problem with inventory, he would let Steve handle the investigation; which your basically (in hindsight) telling the crook, to catch himself.

Are the numbers a little exageratted? Most likely, but that doesn't mean the actions of this person didn't do possible major damage to this company.

[JsARCLIGHT]

I just thought of something... do KS and PB have fidelity insurance? My company, amidst it's pile of other insurance, has fidelity insurance... which for those who don't know what that is is insurance against theft or embezzelment from inside the company. If one day I roll into the office to find my copier missing and one of my employees is to blame, my fidelity insurance kicks in rather than my normal insurance. Same thing if we are going over the books and we find money missing. Adding fidelity insurance to our policy was one of those "lawyer said we should have it" sort of things way back when I bought into this company with my two friends. We have prepared for every contingency it seems and we have a battle plan for every emergency... and just like the US government we have plans to attack ourselves if it comes to it.

The more I read about this situation the more it points to KS being a rank amateur businessman who employed other rank amateur businessmen. While it is true that many small businesses suffer the same problems as they are going through now, it generally does not bring the company to it's knees. I still place the lion's share of the blame on a poorly run house... one fox in the henhouse should not destroy the henhouse. Crime is crime but the real death knell is poor management and planning. KS should learn a harsh lesson from this and start over.

And is it just me or could this be a blessing in disguise? This could be the excuse for them to cut back, restructure, rethink their workflow and process and turn out some new, different product in a cheaper, more efficient manner? Lord knows if this sort of incident played out at my company there would be a massive rethinking of things going on.

[azrael]

I just thought of something... do KS and PB have fidelity insurance? My company, amidst it's pile of other insurance, has fidelity insurance...*snip*

Well, if he didn't before, he will now.

And is it just me or could this be a blessing in disguise? This could be the excuse for them to cut back, restructure, rethink their workflow and process and turn out some new, different product in a cheaper, more efficient manner? Lord knows if this sort of incident played out at my company there would be a massive rethinking of things going on.

394809[/snapback]

It can be. Provided PG can recover from this, it could be. But if it goes back to business as usual, well, what can I say...