The Culture: Once It Clicks, You Can't Unsee It

Jeffro noted the other day that Palladium caters to Cargo Cult play norms.

He's not wrong.

If I had to summarize how Palladium feels to me, I would say "Silver Age Comics Wearing A Bizzaro D&D As A Skinsuit" because Palladium is a set of house rules for a misunderstood AD&D1e that Kevin thought was how the game actually worked.

When you think of every single Palladium game ever as if it were under the logic of '70s-era DC or Marvel Comics (remember, this is the era that gave us Conan as well as had licensed Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica titles in comics) it all begins to make sense. (This includes the bizzare presence of Egyptian gods, a major '70s pop culture tell.)

The lack of proper procedures make sense Because Comics Logic. The combat system that's just for one-on-one slugfests regardless of circumstances are Because Comics Logic. Kevin not even bothering with his own rules at times? Because Comics Logic.

You can see it come into view with 1st Edition Palladium Fantasy and (if you can find it) early Heroes Unlimited stuff like Justice Machine and the original Mechanoid Trilogy. (Which is why RECON is such an outlier; Kevin bought that off the original designer and wisely didn't mess with it- still the best Vietnam RPG out there.) This sensibility and aesthetic made its way to mainstream TV by the early 1980s.

What rules there are to a Palladium game make sense Because Comics Logic.

Because what matters in this aesthetic is how cool your characters and their milieu is, everything else that goes into a complete, competent, and comprehensive fantastic adventure wargame product gets depreciated, disdained, and ignored as irrelevant because this media--not the wargame hobby--is what informs all things Palladium.

This invites comparisons with HERO, and the contrast shows that influence in stark relief, but (as Jeffro notes) people keep Palladium afloat because it's easier for tween/early-teen readers to Get To The Point with a Palladium product than anything HERO.

And Palladium, believe it or not, has almost as much influence on what is and is not Best Practices for both the business and the social side of this hobby as D&D itself.

I said recently that Palladium has aesthetics in its favor. That's the visual form of Rhetoric, and Jeffro's recent RIFTS experiences demonstrates the power that Rhetoric has on people who aren't actively guarding against it. You can see that sizzle appeal coming from that Silver Age Comics background on every page, in every editorial, and now in Kevin's video appearances (for those that don't see him in person).

It says so very much how Palladium has coasted for decades on this sole quality and no one has shown up Uncle Kevin by taking that sizzle and mating it to the substance Palladium is missing to make a far superior competing product. Only those licensing Spacemace 39K or OldMace Fantastic Wargame from Stupid British Toy Company have even tried, and none of them succeeded to date because they missed the mark.

Nevermind competing with Magic-Users By The Water. You can't even beat the Gatekeeper Boss of the Fantastic Adventure Wargame business. Until you do, you are Not Tall Enough For This Ride.

Go ahead, do RIFTS better than Palladium. If you can succeed at that challenge, then you have what it takes to take on the Temple of Slanesh in the County of Kings.

Do better than "Silver Age Comics Wearing Fake D&D As A Skinsuit."