Palladium Open House 2022 Report!

What a weekend! I got home from POH yesterday afternoon and have that “I wish the weekend wasn’t over, but it’s also good to be home” feeling.

A lot happened this past weekend and I wanted to reflect on it here.

I arrived Wednesday afternoon and was fortunate to be able to join a bunch of fellow gamers for a great barbecue dinner in Detroit that evening. During dinner, I was able to catch up with Mike Leonard a bit, and got to know Shawn Johnson (I have never known one could have so many Transformers… so cool!) and fellow IT guy, Jeremy Ward.

I went to the Palladium office earlier in the day and got to meet Sean and had a good talk with him. What a nice guy! He was pleasant, enthusiastic, and respectful. I’m looking forward to seeing what he will do for Palladium Books.

Meeting Sean

I ran three events over the weekend, all of which were successful. By “successful” I mean my players had a great time. The GM in me feels that I could have executed the adventure a little better, but the players do not need to know that! But everyone had fun and, hey, I made a new friend who will be joining my Rifts campaign!

Speaking of Rifts campaigns, I was finally able to meet one of my players (Marc) in person. We met at GenCon Online last year, and he was fortunate to make it to POH this year. He’s a great player, and possibly the best Ley Line Walker ever! He’s great at challenging me, and he continued to do so at one of my events this past weekend.

The event I ran on VIP Thursday was my first-ever Dead Reign adventure called “Spring Break.” I had great, enthusiastic players at my table and we all had a lot of fun. One of my players, John, explained a cool technique for determining initiative and running combat. It was so interesting that I decided to use it for that event. It took a few minutes to get the hang of it but once I did it really imp[roved the flow of combat. I’m kicking around using this technique in my campaign moving forward.

I also ran a Rifts adventure called “Impaled,” where the players came up with some let’s just say “creative” ideas. Of course, that’s the nature of running a game: you set a scenario and prepare for what the players may do. Then the players come up with some wild, far-fetched idea that makes the GM throw his/her whole plan out the window. Well, that happened - and it was hilarious!

Impaled!

My third and final event was “The Stones” in which the players had to find some ancient, pre-Rifts stones of immense power. There was a twist at the end that the players seemed to like, and they each walked away with a prize. If you’re interested, you can download “The Stones” from my Downloads & Resources page. I’ll be updating it soon with some corrections and updates, but feel free to download and use it!

I had the privilege of playing in Kevin’s Beyond the Supernatural game. Again, a great time! I had the honor of receiving a gift certificate “For Outstanding Roleplaying,” generously donated by Patty Parker and the Watkins family, in memory of Dave Watkins. A very touching prize.

Beyond the Supernatural with Kevin S.

A touching prize.

I wish I had known him…

Then there was the auction, which I always enjoy. I won some great stuff for my collection! My favorite purchase was the Titan Robotics Raw Preview. I already owned this book, but it got damaged so I absolutely had to get another one. I know it’s only a preview edition, but I really like this book. I can’t wait for the final release.

I was able to chat with Kevin for a few minutes. I was flattered that he knew me by name! Then again, I’ve been to 4 POHs, have made 5 Rifter submissions (1 of which was published), and I buy almost everything, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. :-)

Who is that next to me???

Best of all, this past weekend reminded me how awesome my fellow Palladium gamers are. I love you all and I can’t wait to see you at the next POH. (And there will be one! I hope…)