An overwhelming majority of fiction is set on or features the Earth. However, authors of speculative fiction novels and writers and directors of science fiction film deal with Earth quite differently from authors of conventional fiction. Unbound from the same ties that bind authors of traditional fiction to the Earth, they can either completely ignore the Earth or use it as but one of many settings in a more complicated universe, exploring a number of common themes through examining outsiders' perceptions of and interactions with Earth.
Heroes Unlimited is a superhero role-playing game written by Kevin Siembieda and first published by Palladium Books in 1984. The game is based upon the Palladium Books Megaversal system and is compatible with other games that use the Palladium system.
Palladium Books is a publisher of role-playing games (RPGs) perhaps best known for its popular, expansive Rifts series (1990–present). Palladium was founded April 1981 in Detroit, Michigan by current president and lead game designer Kevin Siembieda, and is now based in Westland, Michigan. The company enjoys the support of a small but dedicated fanbase who praise its various game series for their innovative settings and ease of adaptability to various personal preferences, play styles, and power levels.
Hyperspace is a superluminal method of traveling used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative "sub-region" of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device. As seen in most fiction hyperspace is most succinctly described as a "somewhere else" within which the laws of general and special relativity decidedly do not apply – especially with respect to the speed of light being the cosmic speed limit. Entering and exiting said "elsewhere" thus directly enables travel near or faster than the speed of light – almost universally with the aid of extremely advanced technology. "Through hyper-space, that unimagineable region that was neither space nor time, matter nor energy, something nor nothing, one could traverse the length of the Galaxy in the interval between two neighboring instants of time."
Erick A. Wujcik was an American designer of both pen-and-paper and computer role-playing games, and co-founder of Palladium Books.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness is a role-playing game based on the comic book created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. The core rulebook was first published by Palladium Books in September 1985 – a couple years before the Turtles franchise achieved mass popularity – and featured original comic strips and illustrations by Eastman and Laird. The rules and gameplay are based on Palladium's Megaversal system. Some of these rules, outlining the basics of character creation and providing a short list of animal options, were later incorporated in the second edition of Heroes Unlimited.
Bill Coffin is a writer of novels and role-playing games in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Perhaps best known for his work at Palladium Books from July 1998 through May 2002, he made significant contributions to several of Palladium's game series, most notably Palladium Fantasy, but also Heroes Unlimited and Rifts, and created his own game, Systems Failure.
Nightbane is a dark fantasy role-playing game and setting created by C. J. Carella and published in 1995 by Palladium Books. The game uses Palladium's Megaversal system, which is also used by the multi-genre game Rifts and the horror game Beyond the Supernatural, among others.
After the Bomb is a role-playing game originally published by Palladium Books in January 1986. It uses Palladium's Megaversal system and features mutant animals – anthropomorphic and otherwise – in a post-apocalyptic setting.
The Megaversal system, sometimes known as the Palladium system, is a set of mechanics specifically employed in most role-playing games published by Palladium Books, with the exception of Recon. It uses dice for roll-under percentile skill checks, roll-high combat checks and saving throws, and determination of damage sustained in melee encounters by which a character's Hit Points, Structural Damage Capacity (S.D.C.), or Mega-Damage Capacity (M.D.C.) is reduced accordingly.
Transdimensional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a supplement for the role-playing game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness which covered setting and rules information for both time travel and transdimensional travel.
The Cardiff Rift is a fictional wormhole in the science fiction television series Doctor Who and Torchwood, one end of which is located in Cardiff Bay, Wales. The other end is apparently floating freely through spacetime, and matter and radiation can pass through the Rift, allowing extraterrestrial and extratemporal artifacts, and occasionally life-forms, to "wash up" in Cardiff. It is described as "Unpredictable and elusive, it’s a gateway for alien creatures, alien weapons, all manner of alien technology and time anomalies to enter our world" and the "flotsam and jetsam of the universe since the dawn of time."
In the various game settings of Palladium Books, Alien Intelligences are fictional, vastly powerful beings of unknown origin that are stated to be a combination of equal parts spirit, magical energy, and physical flesh. They are said to exist on different planes of existence simultaneously, and in the Palladium hierarchy of powers, most Alien Intelligences, apart from the Vampire Intelligences, are more powerful than the mightiest Gods in Palladium. In fact, some of the most powerful Gods of the Palladium Megaverse were themselves spawned by the Alien Intelligences.
Galaxy Master is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Kevin Long is a graphic artist best known for his airbrush paintings and black-and-white illustrations in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. He was a principal artist at Palladium Books from 1986 until 1995 and served as one of the original contributors to the Rifts role-playing game (RPG) series.
