THE OFFICIAL PALLADIUM MAILING LIST FAQ, VERSION 2.4
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I would like to thank Maryann Siembieda [MSiembieda@aol.com], one of our
contributing posters and the 2nd Twit in Command of Palladium Books, for
all her help in compiling this FAQ.
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The Palladium List is an old fixture of the net, but it's on its third
incarnation at the moment. The first List was operated out of Berkeley by a
guy named Smurf. Unfortunately, Smurf lost interest in Palladium, and left
the List to its own destiny. All would have been fine, if it hadn't been
for a series of events that triggered the down fall of the Old List.

The first was the need for an administrator. Someone to kill people who
needed to be killed, to make sure there weren't any more
+100-posts-in-an-hour flame wars, and to generally keep things under
control.

The second was the mechanism that unsubscribes people after a certain
number of bounced posts. This device began activating, kicking people off
the List at what seemed like random. This caused people to worry, got some
of the less-stable people very angry, and gave everyone this feeling of
impending doom, because the sudden unsubing seemed to be a sign of the List
breaking down.

So we decided to move. Gabriel Apostate/Warlock, the current administrator,
volunteered his server as the new List's home, and set about building a new
List and transfering all of us over to it as flawlessly as he could.

And so it was that the old List was destroyed, wiped off the server, to
make room for the New Palladium Mailing List.

And when that List began to give everyone trouble, Gabe tranfered us all to
the new List at palladium@dante.neonexus.com, a new List on the same
server, and one that uses the same mailing list software as the original
List (a program called Smartlist).
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INTRODUCTION
The Palladium Mailing List is a forum for players and Game Masters of the
Palladium Megaverse series of games. It is a place to ask questions that
have been bothering you, to communicate with other gamers, to clarify rules
and stats that have been bothering you, and to post your creations for all
to see. At peak times, the List has a high volume of mail (100 or 200+
messages a day) and an even higher volume of people subscribed, but at the
moment (January 18, '97) people are slowly returning from hiatus over
finals or the holidays.

Plus, you can also get "official" answers to your questions. Maryann
Siembieda, 2nd Twit in Charge of Palladium Books, is a subscriber and
frequent contributer to the mayhem on the List.  Maryann finally decided
that Palladium is ready for a homepage, which you can find at
[http://www.Palladiumbooks.com].

This Mailing List is *intended* for discussion of Palladium-related
material only. Although there will be occasional off-topic posts (and often
Monty Python related posts), most of the bandwidth is reserved for
conversations about Palladium.
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SECTIONS:
I. Abbreviations & Common Terms
II. Proper Netiquette on the Palladium Mailing List (Or, The Total Idiot's
Guide to Making Posts That Don't Hurt Our Eyes)
III. Dead Threads
IV. Filter/Killfile Instructions
V. The Great Net Challenge
VI. SmartList Commands
VII. Miscellaneous Questions
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The answers for other questions can be found at Robotechie's Palladium
Books FAQ [http://www.iig.com.au/~cns01157/FAQ/faq-main.htm] and The
Official Palladium Books FAQ [http://www.Palladiumbooks.com/FAQ.htm].

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I. ABBREVIATIONS & COMMON TERMS
By Looney, with suggestions from Lee Casebolt, Captain Napalm, CHeSiRe_CaT,
and Gabriel Apostate (Re-edited by Pope Nexx)
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There are numerous abbreviations used by the people on the list. Some are
typical nettalk, while others are directly related to Palladium's RPGS.
Most are used to save time and bandwidth, and appear in almost every post.
Here is a list of common abbreviations; more will be added as time goes on.

NETTALK ABBREVIATIONS:
[ADMIN]:  When this appears in the subject line, Gabe is talking as the
list administrator, usually to stop some pointless arguement
AFAIK: As Far As I Know
IMC: In My Campaign
IMOC: In My Other Campaign
BTW: By The Way
IMO: In My Opinion; other variations are IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) and
IMOH (In My Opinion Honestly).
IRL: In Real Life
IYDMMA: If You Don't Mind My Asking
IYDMMSS: If You Don't Mind My Saying So
IYKWIM: If You Know What I Mean
<g> Grin, used after sarcastic posts.  Variations are <eg>, meaning Evil
Grin, <bg>, Big Grin, and similar.
LBS: Lost Bigger n' Sh*t
LOL: Laughing Out Loud
<j/k> or <j/j>:  Just kidding, or just joking.
JSYK: Just So You Know
*NOT*, _NOT_, NOT, or NPR: Three different ways of saying Not On Topic or
Not Palladium Related.  NPR is by far the most common.  Set this
in the Subject line so those of us who don't want to deal with
the trivia can avoid it
OTOH: On The Other Hand
PBEM or PBeM: Play By E-Mail, campaigns that are played over the net, where
the GM sends a turn to each player, they send their responses to
him, and he types them into another turn and sends them other,
repeated ad nauseum.
PML: Another note for the Subject line, this one indicates that the
comment has to do with the list, rather than with the games.
ROTFLMAO: Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off
SOL: Shit Outta Luck
SOP: Standard Operating Procedure
<sp>: Spelling error, used after words you think you misspelled.
WTF: What The F*ck
YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary (Okay, that was in the Amber FAQ, so I felt
obligated to add it to this one)

PALLADIUM ABBREVIATIONS:
1E: First Edition, refers to books in the first edition of the given game.

2E: Second Edition, refers to books in the second (duh) edition of the
given game.

AitNW or ANW: Adventures in the Northern Wilderness (PFRPG, currently only 1E)

ATB: After The Bomb (Supplement to the TMNT & Other Strangeness RPG)

AU: Aliens Unlimited (Heroes Unlimited supplement; basically, a catalog of
unoriginal alien races)

BB: Ba'al Book, means the Nightlands supplement for the Nightspawn/bane RPG.

BTS: Beyond The Supernatural RPG (generic Palladium horror RPG), not
Between The Shadows (supplement to the Nightspawn/bane RPG, details the
Spook Squad, Astral Plane, and the Dreamstream)

CB and CB2: Conversion Books One and Two; Conversion Book One focused on
conversions for First Edition PFRPG creatures and BTS monsters;
CB2 (Pantheons of the Megaverse) was CJ Carella's first Palladium
project, and detailed the gods of the Aztec, Sumerian, Olympian, Hindu,
Asgardian, and Persian pantheons.

CJ: CJ Carella, ex-Palladium author; wrote Mercs, CB2, SA, PH, PHS, SA2,
JU, Nightspawn/bane RPG, Between the Shadows, and Nightlands; his
manuscript for Psyscape was rejected.

CWC: Coalition War Campaign (World Book 11)

High Seas: Adventures on the High Seas, 1 or 2E (PFRPG Book III).

HLS or HL&S: Hook, Line & Sinker (Quickie adventure outline, used in Rifts
Index and Adventures, CS War Campaign, and Rifts Adventure Book
(Part of the Game Shields and Adventures shrink wrapped set).

HU: Heroes Unlimited RPG

JU: Juicer Uprisings, the last published Rifts product written by CJ
Carella, and one of his best.

MB: Main Book, refers to the rule book of the given RPG.

MC: Mystic China, supplement for the N&SS and BTS RPGs, includes
conversion notes for Rifts.

Mercs: Rifts Mercenaries, written by CJ, detailing mercenary company
creation rules, a half dozen major units of North America, tons of
new weapons, equipment, and bots, and an adventure that forces
your players to think.

MiO: Mutants In Orbit (ATB and Rifts sourcebook; details the colonies in
orbit of ATB Earth, and some modifications for Rifts).

MST3k: Mystery Science Theater 3000, a common off-topic thread

N&SS or NSS: Ninjas & Superspies RPG

NB or NS: Nightbane RPG; sometimes called Nightspawn RPG.

NW:  Rifts World Book 14:  New West

PFRPG and PFRPG2E or 2nd PFRPG: The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game
(first edition) and the Palladium Fantasy RPG, 2nd Edition.

PH and PHS: Phase World and Phase World Sourcebook, written by CJ Carella,
space opera and magic inter-twine in a unique setting.

SA and SA2: South America (One) and Two, both written by CJ Carella, both
regarded as munchkinized by many listers.

SB, SB2, and SB3: Sourcebook One (focusing on robots), Sourcebook Two: The
Mechanoids, and Sourcebook Three: Mindwerks.

SW:  Rifts World Book 15:  Spirit West

T&NGR: Triax and the New German Republic, a weapon catalog with not enough
information on the Republic itself.

TtGD or TTGD:  Nightspawn/Bane World Book 3:  Through the Glass Darkly.

Tween or 'Tween: Between the Shadows from the Nightbane RPG

VK: Rifts World Book One: Vampire Kingdoms, a book about the Yucatan
Peninsula and Ciudad Juarez, and, too a lesser degree, the vampire
kingdoms of southern Mexico.

VU: Villains Unlimited (Giant sourcebook for HU; catalog of villains)

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The folks on this list use common terms found throughout the net, and have
developed their own, specifically for Palladium discussions.

Excommunication: Being unsubscribed from the list for Doing One of the
Things That Are VERY Bad(R).

First Twit in Command [of Palladium Books]: Kevin Siembieda, publisher,
owner, and writer.

Kevheads: Palladium devotees.

Munchkin: A player of GM who unbalances the campaign through their
unending search for power.  Also, game objects (O.C.C.s, R.C.C.s,
psionic abilities, equipment, etc.) that unbalances the game.  Or,
as Crow T. Robot put it, "You know those Bottled Demon missiles
from Phase World? Well, if you took one of those and bottled an
Old One... *that* would be munchkin."

Newbie: Someone who is new to the List

Pals: See Kevheads.

Second Twit in Command [of Palladium Books]: Maryann Siembieda, Kev's wife,
typographer, and the most prominant "official" person on the list.

Siembiotes: See Pals.

The Dead: Those people who are no longer with us (Read: They did something
bad and got unsubed). Gabe would love for us to forget about
them, but occasionally their names get mentioned, which always
get's "Who's he?" posts, which spark several hundred-post threads
about how bad it was when they were on the List. Which is bad,
and ticks Gabe off. Which is also bad.

The Unmentionable [Cause Gabe Doesn't Like Us To Talk About Him] Being or
The Great Old Munchkin: The only List member to ever be
excommunicated and deserve it, even speaking His name weakens the
barrier of Filters that Gabe, Crow, Zanshin, Lee Casebolt, Chicken
Boy, Steven Trustrum, myself, and our fellow Archaic Persons
erected to defend reality from his hideous creations (i.e.
Countin' Corn, the "Rifts version of Galactus" who carries around
a Greatest Rune Scythe with _500_ elemental intelligences
imprisoned inside it).

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II. Proper Netiquette on the Palladium Mailing List (Or, The Total Idiot's
Guide to Making Posts That Don't Hurt Our Eyes)
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Okay folks, there are some things that you just can't do on the List. Most
of them are just common sense and will only receive a few flames if you do
them, but there are a few that will get you kicked off the List.
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GRAMMAR
The way some of the people on the List post can hurt your eyes, and will in
extreme cases drive you out of your mind. Our advice is generally boiled
down to one all-encompassing piece of wisdom:

Use The Keys Correctly

In the past, we've had people who don't know how to use punctuation,
paragraphs, capital letters, or all of the above. They would hold the Caps
Lock key for too long, would hit return after every sentence (or fragment
of a sentence), would forget to hit the space bar between words, and on and
on.

Example: their PosTs usuily tuRn oUT
LOoking likethis
and IT's very haRd to look at thINgs like this often imnot saying yOU
should HAve
pref,ect grammer but THiS is ridiculous

If you have problems composing messages correctly, then when you finish
writing them, get a hold of your urge to hit the SEND button immediately,
and instead read through your message and check for bad things, like
punctuation where it shouldn't be, capitals where they aren't needed,
obvious spelling errors, etc.

We of the list generally like it when your posts are organized as they
should be.
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CHAIN LETTERS
Occasionally, some idiot gets the bright idea to post a chain letter to the
list.

Evil.

Here's the list's official policy on it, by the Admin, Gabe:

Due to the number of letters I got concerning this latest one (Fwd: condom
alert~~~~don't delete), I will now reserve the right to BAN people who post
chain letters to the list. I have never done this before, and I hope that I
will never have to. However, I will be stating this in the welcome letter
that everyone receives when they subscribe. So remember that when you have
the urge to post ANY chain letter, whether it be something stupid like the
condom one or a plea of help from some dying kid (note that 99% of those
pleas for help are HOAXES). So, in case I haven't been clear, NEVER POST
CHAIN LETTERS TO THE LIST.

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UNSUBING OTHER PEOPLE
The structure of the list is such that you can unsubscribe addresses other
than your own. On the first list, this led to some problem people unsubing
each other, threatening to unsub people at random or everyone at once, and
the eventual excommunication of two people.

Please don't unsub other people. It WILL be traced back to you, and you
will get excommunicated yourself.
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.SIG[NATURE] LINES
Most people like to have a sig line. Your sig gives us some insight into
your personality, your tastes, and your life at home. But sigs can easily
be taken way too far. You don't really need an incredibly long sig; a small
one will do just as fine. Here are a few pointers about composing your sig:

Sigs With No Dividers: Please, please people, if you have to have long sig
lines, separate them from the body of your message with a divider line
(----------------- or **************** or something) so we can tell where
your post ends, and where your sig begins.

Long Sigs: Also, long sigs may be funny the first time, but after that,
they are just obnoxious. It's just common courtesy to have a sig under
twenty lines or so, although a few will be longer. Or, you can pick up one
of the shareware programs that lets you specify a folder full of .sig files
and then picks one at random every time it starts (That's what I do).

Quoting Sig Lines: When some of us quote other people's posts, we some
times forget (or are too lazy) to delete the poster's quote string. This
add space to the message, and is really unnecessary, unless you want to
comment on their sig line.
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ATTACHMENTS
Attachments are often posted to the List, especially during one of the
Challenges. But if you're going to send an attachment to the List, PLEASE
send it in text form! We aren't all using the same OS as you, so there will
always be people who can't read it, and will get mad.

Also, please don't send attachments that take up more than 30K. That just
gets the server sick, and we don't like it very much.

Oh, and just a little common sense here: Don't send off-topic attachments,
like Monty Python sounds [I can't believe I actually had to write that].
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SUBJECT: FIELDS
When you're sending a post to the List, it is strongly requested that you
start the Subject: field with the word [pal]. Our short time on the
Neonexus Majordomo server has us expecting the List to put it in
automatically, but Smartlist can't be programmed to included stuff like
that. This helps the people with filters who are too stupid to set the
program to filter stuff that's To: palladium@dante.neonexus.com, like I do.
It also helps people with non-filter capable mailers to sort through their
mail easier.
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ADVERTISMENTS
Many of the people on the List have created Palladium-related Web pages
with stuff that they have created, stuff that has been posted to the List,
and/or stuff they've found on the Web. Since the List is a place of
discussion of Palladium-related threads, it is a logical place to post
advertisements for your page. This is accepted, but everyone is asked not
to post blatant plugs for their pages more than once or twice a month.
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EMPHASIS
Standard Netiquette here folks: Don't capitalize words you want to
emphasize. Word Written in All Caps=Word Yelled. Instead, _suround_ *the*
¥word¥ with symbols like I just did.
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POSTING CREATIONS TO THE LIST
Since posting to the List is effectively covered by Palladium's official
net policy, you should probably include a copyright thingie with any
creations posted to the List that are based on any element of Palladium's
creations. If any section that is not relevant to your creation (i.e.[which
is Latin for "I speak Latin and you do not."] the note section for a
creation that has nothing relevant to go there), remove it. Likewise,
remove as many irrelevant trademarks as you can. It saves a little
bandwidth, but more importantly, it means we don't have to scroll down as
far to reach you creation.  This one is for Rifts; for other RPGs, change
the exact stuff in it.

-------------------------------------------------------
[name of creation] based on ...
-------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990 Kevin Siembieda; Copyright 1995 Palladium
Books(R), All rights reserved world wide. No part of this work may be
reproduced in part or whole, in any form or by any means, without
permission from the publisher. All incidents, situations, institutions,
governments and people are fictional and any similarity to characters or
persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

Rifts(R), Palladium Books(R), Mechanoids(R), The Mechanoid Invasion(R),
Rifts(R), Megaverse(R), RECON(R), and After the Bomb(R) are registered
trademarks owned and licensed by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books, Inc.

Nightspawn(TM), Nightlands(TM), Heroes Unlimited(TM), Villains
Unlimited(TM), Beyond the Supernatural(TM), Boxed Nightmares(TM), Ninjas &
Superspies(TM), Mystic China(TM), Palladium Fantasy RPG(TM), Triax(TM),
Mindwerks(TM), Vampire Kingdoms(TM), The Juicer Uprising(TM), Phase
World(TM), Wormwood(TM), Psyscape(TM), Mega-Damage(TM), S.D.C.(TM),
I.S.P.(TM), P.P.E.(TM), SAMAS(TM), Splugorth(TM), Cyber-Knight(TM), Glitter
Boy(TM), Juicer(TM), Mind Melter(TM), Psi-Stalker(TM), Coalition
States(TM), Northern Gun(TM), Erin Tarn(TM), Naruni(TM),Cyber-Knight(TM),
Coalition States(TM), and Triax(TM) are trademarks owned and licensed by
Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books, Inc.
-------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: [any pertinent notes]
-------------------------------------------------------
[text of file]
-------------------------------------------------------
Created by: [your name]
[your@email.address.here]
http://www.your.homepage/here.html

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FLAMES
Occasionally, flame wars break out among the Lunatics on the list. They can
go on for hundreds of posts, and although some are good for a few laughs,
most are just obnoxious. Here to explain the do's and don't's of List
Flaming, is our good friend Chicken Boy (who is sadly between accounts, and
cannot join us), and his fabled Palladium List Guide to Flaming (the edited
version):
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There is a common misconception among the flamers that, the list as a
whole, gives a sh*t about their problems. Well, we don't. As a matter of
fact, it turns our stomachs just having to read the threads -- either that
or we laugh at your immaturity.

Whatever.

The point is though, if you are going to waste the list's time, then we
(the chickens) would appreciate it if you would follow a few rules:

A.) Don't be a smart ass and a dumb ass at the same time.
B.) Know the constant, and stick to it.
C.) At least attempt to pay attention.
D.) Avoid annoying habits.
E.) Know the Truth (Capital-T).
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A.) Don't ever attempt to be intelligent and condescending at the same
time. I can't tell you how annoying that is. It's just like some
of you sit with dictionaries by the computer just waiting to throw
in more useless words, into what is already a boring thread.

Example 1: "It grieves me to see how one could have been so maliciously
close-minded when discussing the three-dimensionality of my
character,which is only an extension of my imagination."

Now what this person should have said:

Example 2: "Hey, nutsack! It's my f*cking character, not yours."

See how much less space it takes? Now I understand that many on the list
feel that they might look bad if they use 'profanity'. But I think we all
agree that we hate reading flamers by condescending pr*cks even more.

Example 3: "Allan Harrison is one of the most missed poster to the list."

Using big words doesn't make anyone respect you -- especially when the
members of the list have to sift through it just to see if there ever was a
point to what you were saying.

B). Seeing as how the Palladium Books are the only constant between any of
us (thanks to whoever originally pointed this out), do NOT quote
rules that you made up during a flame!  And do any of us really
care about those rules anyway? Congratulations! You guessed it! We
don't give a sh*t.

Example 4: "Well, uhh, I, uhh don't care if all symbiotes that leave
Wormwood die! Do ya hear me? I don't care! It's different in my game."

Well dumb-ass, of-f*cking-course it's different in your game. Hello! Are
you that unaware of your surroundings? All of our games are different. It's
just a cop-out for the idiots that quote the RPG books, before reading
them.

C). When you are participating in a flame, please -- for god's sake -- pay
attention to the conversation!
Some of the idiots around here start flaming sh*t they don't know
anything about (I've broken this rule a couple of times). There
is little more annoying than having to sift through a bunch of
crap, and then read someone going off on it, and the flamer has no
damn clue what he is talking about (sometimes, the cause of this
is a violation of rule B).

Suppose there is a thread about multiple parrying:

Example 5: "I think it's f*ckin' dumb that Juicers get an automatic dodge!"

Hello? Why argue a completely unrelated topic? All this proves is that you
are too illiterate to read the original message in the first place. And
again, this is annoying to us, the reader, and is just makes you look dumb.

D). There are two typing techniques that all flamers should avoid! That is,
aside from sharing their views in the first place. They are the
capitol letter technique, and the exclamation point maneuver.

Example 6: "YOU F*CKING IDIOT! HOW COULD YOU LACK SUCH BALL-AGE. I HOPE
YOUR MOTHER DIES FROM THE CLAP THAT SHE GOT FROM MY DOG. AND I HOPE YOUR
DAD STOPS PLAYING 'HOUSE' WITH YOUR 26 YEAR OLD SISTER."

See? It's just a pain to read. And also:

Example 7: "Your are _____ (add pointless word here)!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Wow. There are so many exclamation points, maybe I should take it
seriously!!! Yeah, f*ckin' right. And some assholes like to combine both of
these techniques:

Example 8: "...because you are a D*CKHEAD!!!!!"

And these are the most annoying of them all. I could cry. The only answer I
can come up with, is that some of you idiots mistake e-mail for a phone
line. Repeat after me:
1) When I write an e-mail, the other person can NOT hear me scream [kind of
like in space -- the Editor].
2) Exclamation points do not make my flame more important.
3) The person I am trying to flame will not commit suicide, no matter how
many letters I capitalize.

E). Lastly, I want to bring a few of you morons back to earth. If someone
hates you, does your life end? No. There, now the suspense is
gone. Can they find you? Probably not. Even if they could find
you, could a geek that spends all of his time on flames... kick
your ass? I should hope not! Do you see the point now? Understand
that flames wars are just like fights between those rich, preppy,
white kids that thought they were better than everybody else. You
remember high school, right? They would push each other and
threaten each other, and talk as hard as nails, but no matter how
long you watched and wanted it -- they'd never just beat the sh*t
out of each other, and shut the f*ck up.

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III. DEAD THREADS
I would like to thank eXcaliber, M. Zaiem Beg, Shawn Merrow, and Gabriel
Apostate for their suggestions
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The older lists were around for quite some time, and we've discussed many
(many, many, MANY) different threads. It isn't appreciated very much when
these topics are brought up again. Although it is alright to have some
questions about them, most of these threads don't go anywhere.

Also, there are some topics that we just can't resolve. We've battled these
long and hard, and then forgot about them. It's generally pointless to
bring them up, because they go on forever with no definite conclusion.
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HERE IS THE CURRENT LIST:

I don't like (fill in artist's name): Generally, people don't like Wayne
Breaux and Jim Lawson, but there are others that some people like
to rant about.

CJ Carella's work is so Munckinized!: Many people seem to think that CJ's
work, especially the South America and Phase World setting is too
unbalanced to be integrated into Rifts. Frequent complains center
around the Cosmo-Knights, Anti-Monsters, and the Neo-Humans (which
are often compared to the Anime character Tetsuo, from Akira,
although the comparison isn't really a valid one.

Nuclear Weapons in Rifts or Vampires at Ground Zero: How do you resolve the
use of nuclear weapons in Rifts, why does the nuclear
multi-warhead missile from the rule book do so little damage,
where are the really big, city killing bombs, where does the
Coalition etc. get their nuclear material, why doesn't Chi-Town
just nuke Tolkeen, and what happens to Vampires when they're nuked
are common topics of discussion.

The Prophecy of Blind Current-Rider: This topic has been debated to a
stand-still. Possible interpretations: The Eternal Flame Blade is
either a reference to the flame blade rune weapon that Gilgamesh
the Wanderer uses or is the psi-sword of the Cyber-Knights in the
sense that it is "the fire of the mind" and as long there is at
least one knight left it will never go out, or is Caliber-X from
Rifts England. The Fires of the Cosmic Forge are either the
Cosmo-Knights or Phase Weapons. The Largest War Machine may be the
USS Ticonderoga, the SDF-3 (highly unlikely), or the Coalition
States (remember the original title for CWC?). The Strength of an
Unbeliever is probably a reference to the Nega-Psychics of BTS,
though it could be something else.

The SDF-3 vs the Orbital Colonies: In the past, someone decided to start a
huge flame war about what would happen if the SDF-3 suddenly
defolded in the middle of orbit around Rifts Earth. There is
really no way to resolve it, short of playing it out, and that
would take forever because the Palladium system is not a
war-gaming system. Also, Palladium always tries not to integrate
the Robotech and Macross II settings with the rest of their games.
If you look in books like Pantheons of the Megaverse and South
America (One), you will notice that when characters are from
these game settings, the words Robotech and Macross II never come
up. Instead, Palladium gives a basic outline of the world,
implying that it's from one of those two RPGs.

ANYTHING/ONE vs. ANYTHING/ONE:  There is NO WAY to acurately determine
which force in any situation will win.  It depends on far too
many variables to figure it out acurately.  DON'T START THESE
THREADS.

Rifts- Is it Munchkin, or not?: This depends entirely on your point of view.

Palladium's rule system sucks!: If you don't like it, then change it.
Otherwise, don't play.

Rifts is the Best RPG Ever!: Please try to keep in mind that this is the
PALLADIUM List, not the RIFTS List. Not everybody likes Rifts.

What are the Limits of O.C.C.s, R.C.C.s and P.C.C.s, and how do you
classify each example:  P.C.C.s and psychic R.C.C. are generally
any character class with master psionic, but the distinctions
blur in some cases, and are hard to figure out. It generally makes
it easier on us if you don't ask.

Favorite/Least Favorite O.C.C./R.C.C./Power Armor/Whatever: This has got to
be one of the most over-used threads ever to be posted to the
List, and it goes on for weeks. There is usually some variation
being posted at any given time.

Superman vs Glitter Boy: I have been asked to inform you that the next
person to start this thread will have the sh*t kicked out of him
by Thor the God of Thunder.

What Religion Would the CS Have in Rifts:  The general conscensis is that
Prosek would use Protestantism as a propaganda tool.  The problem
with this theory is all the mysticism, supernatural creatures,
and miracles evident in the Bible.  There are lots of problems
involved in this:  Miracles (basically magic spells from God),
angels (supernatural creatures, which are viewed as 'good' in the
CS?? Doubtful...), Heaven (everything from other dimensions is
evil, right?  But Christians go to a spiritual Magic Happy Land
when they die...), and even the Bible itself (it's a record of
the past, and the CS doesn't want that kind of stuff in the hands
of the peasants).  In general, religious threads won't make you
popular, and are nearly impossible to resolve.  Accept that
everyone has an opinion, and let it go.

How do I get off/on this evil/wonderful List?: There's really no point in
answering that here, because the people who ask this question
never read the FAQ.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFF-TOPIC POSTS
Sometimes people begin threads about off-topic material (that is, material
that has nothing to do with Palladium Books(R)). Generally they are
disguised as conversion threads. In the past, we have seen threads like
"The conversion of cartoon characters from my childhood into Rifts", "Star
Wars and Star Trek conversions", which have degenerated into "Star Wars VS.
Star Trek", Macs vs IBMs vs UNIX, and many others.

Please try to be tolerant of these Off-Topic threads, but we would prefer
if you kept them to a minimum.

Monty Python: These threads often come up. Generally, they involve Monty
Python skits that are woven into Palladium topics, like "It's a South
America book! Burn it!" and "Tolkeen has Tim the Enchanter and the Knights
who say 'Ni' on their side!" "Yeah? Well, the Coalition has the Black
Knight (He's INVINCIBLE!) and the French Taunters!" These threads don't
usually last too long, but the appear regularly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. FILTER/KILLFILE INSTRUCTIONS
UNIX Filters by Steven Trustrum and Eudora Filters by Robert S. Blasi,
updated by FlashFire and Looney
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the problems we run into on the Palladium List is true and complete
idiots who love to force their opinions and ideas down other people's
throats in as annoying a way as possible. But, since E-Mail and Freedom of
Speech allow them to say pretty much anything they want (at least 'till
they royally piss off the List Admin) we can't do much to stop them. Except
not listen. To that end, here are instructions for writing the Internet's
version of earplugs, the KILLFILE!

First, it appears that E-mail doesn't use Killfiles. Those are for Usenet
readers. E-Mail uses filters. That ends the useless trivia portion of this
message.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filters: For UNIX (Specifically for Elm and Pine)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
It should be noted that these instructions work on Elm and Pine for
certain. They SHOULD work on other UNIX-based mail readers, if I understand
this correctly. If you're using a non-UNIX-based mail reader, then all bets
are off. Look in your help files for the word filter, there should be
instructions in there.
Put the following message in your .forward file:

|/usr/local/bin/filter -o [filename]

Yes, include the quotes. Replace [filename] with something, it doesn't
matter what. Next, create a directory named .elm and put a file in it
called "filter-rules" (without the quotes). Whether you use Elm or not,
makes no difference, do it anyway. In the filter-rules file, write lines
like the following. Replace person@server.com/net with the E-mail address
of the person you want to filter.

if (from "person@server.com/net") then delete

That will erase any message from person@server.com/net. In order to take
out REPLIES to the filteree's messages (instead of just the messages he
sends), just replace the word from with to. Easy, isn't it?

After you've filled out filter-rules, go back to your home directory and
type in the following.

filter -r

This will read up a list of the rules you've added. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS!
It will be annoying to spend your time making a filter only to find out
you're deleting the wrong messages.

And that's it. For a better idea of what a UNIX filter can do, check out
the main page on the filter command or "The Elm Filter Guide" (posted in
several places on the Web).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Filters: For Eudora (Mac and Windows)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are instructions to create and use filters for Eudora 3.0 for
Macintosh, they will change as more platforms and versions are confirmed.

1. Pull down the Special menu in the menu bar and select the menu item
Filters. There is no command key equivalent for this action.

2. A window will pop up, with a list item on the left hand side and various
options on the right hand side. Click the button New in the lower left hand
corner of the window to create a new filter.

3. Once this button is clicked, a highlighted item Untitled will appear in
the list item and the options on the right will be activated, if they
aren't already.

4. There are two main items to worry about: Match and Action. Match defines
the criteria of the mail you want to be treated specially; Action defines
the special treatment that you want that particular type of mail to get.

5. First, set the Match. Do you want Incoming mail filtered? Outgoing mail
filtered? Both? Select the appropriate checkboxes. The Manual box is for
filters that you invoke manually by selecting the item Filter Messages
under the Special menu (alternatively, by typing command-J).

6. Now what type of mail do you want filtered? What sets you off? Mail from
"loser@aohell.com"? Mail from "CyberWeenie"? You see an item that says
Header with a text box next to it. Ignore that for now, it's for specific
header items like From:, Subject:, Cc: etc. Underneath that is a pop-up
menu item that says contains. This can be changed to is, is not, etc. Then
there's blank space underneath for you to type in. If you wanted to kill
all the mail from "CyberWeenie", you would leave select the pop-up next to
the Header box and select From:, leave the menu item on contains and type
"CyberWeenie" in the text box underneath contains.

7. Note that there's a second Match item, so you can do conjunctions and
disjunctions of criteria in your mail filters.

8. Now that you have Match set, you want Action. Note that there are five
actions you can apply to the mail that matches the criteria you've set
above.

9. Activate the pop-up menu in the first action box; you can do all kinds
of neat things. Play sounds, change priorities, etc. The most useful item
is probably Transfer to. Select this and you will be told to select a
mailbox from the Transfer menu. If you want "CyberWeenie"'s mail to be
routed to your Trash Can, select Trash from the Transfer menu.

You can add other actions if you want, following the procedure sketched above.

Notes: This filter will be automatically applied, without giving you any
notice.

Filters can be modified by being selected by name in the list item in the
left hand side of the Filters window.

Filters can be removed by being selected by name in the list item in the
left hand side of the Filters window, and then clicking the Remove button,
to the right of the New button.

Eudora has excellent on-line help. If you have a Macintosh, activate
Balloon Help (pull down the Help menu, the second icon from the right on
the menu bar) and select Show Balloons. Point to the item you have a
question about, and it will tell you about the item.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. THE GREAT NET CHALLENGE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Occasionally, usually when the List is stagnant, with lots of dead threads
resurrected in full force, someone (it used to be Chicken Boy, but he's
gone now) will decide to wake up the List with a new round of the Great Net
Challenge.  The Great Net Challenge (Now called the Great Posting
Challenge) is an opportunity to flood the List with your latest
Palladium-oriented creations. Almost everyone participates, and their is
no winner and no time limits. The only way you can lose is if you don't
check your mail. There a lots of judges to critique your work, and it's a
good way to get feedback on your work before you post it onto one of the web
sites.

THERE ARE NO RULES!

There are, however, five guidelines, most of which are just common sense.

One: Quality work only, please.
Two: Be receptive to criticism.
Three: Constructive criticism only.
Four: Please follow List Netiquette if you are going to post attachments.
Five: Don't post anything that you have posted to the List in the last six
months or stuff that has been on a Web Page for more than a week.

There, that was easy, wasn't it?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. SMARTLIST COMMANDS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again we have made the leap to a new Mailing List. This time it's on
the same server, just at a different location, and running a different
application.

Although this should clear up the problems we've been having with the List,
it also invalidates part of the FAQ. Aw, well. It gives me a reason to
update it anyway.

The newest List is at [Palladium@dante.neonexus.com], and it's running a
program called SmartList instead of Majordomo. SmartList is the program
that the original List ran, and while it has some advantages, it doesn't
have any of the Majordomo commands.

Now, if you want to subscribe, unsubscribe, or execute one of the few other
commands, you send a message to [Palladium-request@dante.neonexus.com] with
the command in the header (you know, the place that looks like this:
Subject:). Messages sent to the -request server will ignore commands in the
body of the message.

The only commands that the -request server will accept are:

subscribe

Which will subscribe you to the List;

unsubscribe

which, uh, breaks the computer of something (Try it try it try it!);

help

which brings up a message that states exactly what I've written here; and
the various Archive-related commands, which are totally incomprehensible
and are of limited use.

If you want a real human to look at your message to the help server, then
you have to put Re: at the start of the header, otherwise it'll get
processed the same as any other request.

If you change E-mail addresses, and want to get mail from the List at your
new address, then you need to make sure that your old address is
unsubscribed first.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII. MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS
Thank Intensity for the rules to Newbie Throwing
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a compilation of questions that have been voiced on the list that
don't fit into any of the other sections. Also, it has rules for the
Official Game of the List, Newbie Throwing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWBIE THROWING... might be a registered trademark of WotC (Wankers of the
Coaster), but we're not sure.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE RULES:
1. Shuffle all the cards in their separate piles and draw one NEWBIE card.
2. Draw one SUBSCRIBE card to subscribe to a newsgroup, mailing list, IRC
channel or some other net community and lurk for a while. 3. Deal yourself
quite a few WIT and CHARM cards and play them in response to anyone else's
cards. It doesn't matter if you play a FLIRT card with the memebrs of the
opposite sex, as long as it's harmless. The rare and extremely valuable
OBSCURE JOKE card is an extra bonus at this point. Knowing the more obscure
jokes from a wide range of assorted cult viewing is very helpful.
4. Spread your name around as much as possible by playing EMAIL or IN-JOKE
cards. The IN-JOKE card gives you many kudos. 5. As soon as someone
mentions your name, throw your NEWBIE card away so that no-one will ever
know that you ever had it. 6. Draw an OLDBIE card from the pile and then
proceed to play CONDESCENDING, IN-JOKE and WHEN-I-WAS-A-LAD cards to throw
off at anyone else you see with a NEWBIE card. If someone with a NEWBIE
card then plays an UNSUBSCRIBE card you have been successful and will have
just thrown your first Newbie.

Play continues until an older OLDBIE or the MODERATOR decides to flip your
card, revealing you to be a relative NEWBIE and you get yourself thrown.

Happy Newbie Throwing, folks!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q. Does the "From Other Worlds" interrelated set of HLS' for the Rifts
Adventure Book give the reason for the arrival of ALL the Xiticix
in the North, or just the local group?
A. All of them, according to Maryann.

Q. How many Palladium representitives are on the Web?
A. There use to be three, now there are only two, Maryann Siembieda and
Scott Johnson, who are both subscribers to the List. Of the
original three, CJ Carella left Palladium in February, and Kevin
Kirsten left a while ago.  (Nexx's Update: Unless Scott is really
quiet, Maryann is the only one left on the list)

Q. Why doesn't Palladium issue CD-Rom-based E-books?
A. Palladium knows that no matter how many safeguards they placed on a
computer-based product to keep it from being pirated or printed
out, someone would find a way to hack them. Therefore, Palladium
is totally unbending on this point, they will never make E-books.

Q. What is the "Palladium Report"?
A. A quarterly magazine that Palladium is thinking about doing. During
September, Maryann was letting the folks on the old List bounce
ideas off her for it. She doesn't know the details yet, but if
Palladium decides to go through with it (and we really hope they
do), the first issue won't be out before April '97. The list want
it to be like the old "Magic of Palladium Books" mag or what the
List wants on the Official Palladium Website, with text and art
that got left out of the books, errata tables, creations, etc.
that don't fit in any of the books that are coming out soon, etc.

With the advent of the Official Page, I would expect that the
Report has met a premiture death.  However, Maryann recently
announced the publication of a quarterly magazine, The Rifter,
bringing together fan-based work.

Q. CS War Campaign) said that the Coalition States have over three million
SAMAS stockpiled? This is silly. Where would they keep them?
A. No, this is not silly. Maryann told us that they are probably stored in
underground bunkers. Also, they need replacements for those that
are destroyed in the field. Just because they have three million
SAMAS, doesn't mean they have to have pilots for all of them.

Q. When is Mechanoids Space going to be released?
A. It's not. The guy who was supposed to do it didn't turn in his
manuscript in time; hence, it's dead. Palladium still wants to
revive the Mechanoids line, but I don't know what they're
planning.

Q. What ever happened to the Mystic China Sourcebook?
A. Erick *still* hasn't finished it. It will be released when he's done.

Q. Why isn't Palladium talking to gaming companies about their wonderful
products becoming a video game?
A. Palladium has recently made a deal with Surge Liscensing, a big company
that does good stuff.  Remember the whole Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle craze back in the late-'80s?  They were the ones who took
the small, adult-intended comic book and turned it into a mania
among the little kids.  And now they're going to do that to Rifts
too.  I ask you, is that a good thing or not...  Anyways, they say
that Rifts would make a great multimedia project, and are planning
some computer games.

Q. Why aren't there any Palladium-related newsgroups?
A. Cause the mailing list is much superior, for the follow reasons.
(1) No crappy junk mail from every money scam and new sex site
that comes on line.
(2) We can ban certain people that everyone finds offensive.
(3) Usenet is faulty, over crowded, and doesn't distribute mail
effiently.
(4) Cause virtually everybody on the List agrees that a mailing
list is better than a newsgroup.
 
 

_________________________________________________________________________
Nexx, Holder of the Palladium Dagger
aka Mark Hall
aka Sir Complainalot
aka Pope Nexx
aka Runt
aka Nexx Many-Scars
* * * * * * * *
Theirs was the tripping tedium of walls and chores and living
crowded together, climbing over each other sometimes, smelling each
other's farting, suffering each others snoring.  They were embedded in the
ordinary.
I was not.  Mine was the vast dark sky and the spaces between the
stars that called out to me; mine was the promise of magic.
-Ainvair, in Morgan Llywleyn's "Druids"
* * * * * * * *
Perhaps other men understand women.
-Ainvair
____________________________________________________________________________