17 Facts About Kevin Siembieda

Kevin Siembieda was born on April 2,1956 and is an American artist, writer, designer and publisher of role-playing games.

Kevin Siembieda attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit from 1974 to 1977.

Kevin Siembieda wanted to work as a comic book artist, but found the industry difficult to break into and published a small-press comic with his company, Megaton Publications.

Kevin Siembieda tried to interest gaming companies in his RPG with little interest; only Judges Guild made him an offer, but he accepted an employment offer from them instead.

Kevin Siembieda worked as an artist for Judges Guild for four months before working as a freelance artist for other publishers and trying to sell his RPG to them.

Kevin Siembieda founded the company in April 1981 to publish his fantasy role-playing game, but had insufficient funds to publish any books; the mother of his friend Bill Loebs loaned Siembieda $1,500 to publish his first RPG book, The Mechanoid Invasion.

Kevin Siembieda next obtained the license to publish a game based on the Robotech anime series, so he designed the Robotech role-playing game and published in 1986.

Kevin Siembieda wrote the RPG Rifts as a trade paperback in a two-column format which he laid out by hand.

Kevin Siembieda supported Wujcik in founding his own company, Phage Press.

In 1992, Kevin Siembieda sued Wizards of the Coast over its first RPG book, The Primal Order; GAMA president Mike Pondsmith helped the parties reach a compromise in March 1993.

Kevin Siembieda disagreed with White Wolf magazine and GDW over the coverage in their magazines regarding Palladium games.

Kevin Siembieda demanded that websites devoted to Rifts and Palladium be taken down, believing that they violated his intellectual property, but eventually softened his stance in 2004.

Kevin Siembieda fired Bill Coffin over editorial differences and dissatisfaction with the Rifts Coalition Wars that Kevin Siembieda and Coffin co-authored.

Kevin Siembieda announced on April 19,2006 that Palladium Books was approaching bankruptcy, due to a former employee who had embezzled from the company.

Kevin Siembieda filed a lawsuit on May 7,2010 against Trion Worlds for its MMORPG Rift: Planes of Telara, and a settlement was reached in October 2010.

Role-playing games Kevin Siembieda has created include Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game, Heroes Unlimited, Robotech, and Rifts.

Kevin Siembieda is an artist, and has occasionally illustrated Palladium Books products.