Don, question about the future of Trek RPGs

I 'm curious to know what is your take/opinion on the future of the Trek RPG? Do you think another company will pick up the liscence? Will it be years till we see another Trek RPG? Just your personal speculation

I have no information on the license status, so this is all speculation.

Decipher just re-upped the license, I believe, and that likely includes the RPGs. I doubt it would be worth the trouble to spin-off the RPGs and minis when negotiating with Viacom.

The problem is that to recoup their investment, Decipher is probably asking too much for the RPG license. We're talking Wizards and WW money here. Margins on RPGs are razor-thin, so once you factor in the overhead cost of sub-licensing the property, it's not that attractive.

The larger problem is that it's Star Trek. Star Trek role-playing just isn't what it used to be. The RPG market is contracting rapidly, retailers are being VERY selective in what they buy after being burned badly with d20 and consumers are doing likewise.

Much like the show, I think Trek needs to take some time off and reappear down the road for a new group of consumers. Energized and wanting Star Trek.

Just IMO.

There was a news bit a few weeks ago that VCP (Viacom Consumer Products) was essentially turning all licensed property work over to the Nickelodeon division. Part of some sort of VIACOM corporate reorganization.

My guess is that this will slow the authorization process, or perhaps even stop it completely. Right now, the only thing going for Trek licensed properties is that Paramount, the unit that's actually familiar with them, was running the oversight group, VCP. Once that changes...

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Originally posted by Don Mappin
playing just isn't what it used to be. The RPG market is contracting rapidly, retailers are being VERY selective in what they buy after being burned badly with d20 and consumers are doing likewise.

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I'm curious, how have retailers been burned by D20? Are the official WOTC products flopping, or is this a reference to the proliferation of D20-related products? I don't know much about the business side of the industry, and I'm curious to hear more about what you mean.

Basically, there was a flood of third-party d20 products, thanks to the royalty-free licenses. Only a handful of such numerous products are sellable. This prompted distributors and wholesalers to stick with selected major publishers that have a good sales record of publishing d20 products.

WotC's products are still selling strong, with D&D at the top, Star Wars coming in second, and d20 Modern lines at third.

But last year, overall sales of RPGs dropped significantly, though it hasn't change their standing of coming behind TCGs and minis.

A great many small shops pushed product out there, and store owners didn't know what was good and what wasn't. Most of us are probably familiar with the bad game store whose owner is a hobbyist -- and runs the business that way: if he doesn't like the system, he doesn't stock it, he can't be bothered to special order, etc. Well, a lot of the niche d20 products were produced by publishers who were hobbyists.

That's not guaranteed to be a bad thing; some of them turned out fine product. But some of them turned out drek (The Foundation, the first d20 superhero "rules" comes to mind, as does Mongoose's "Ultimate Arcane Spellbook and its 32 page PDF of errata.) And shops didn't know which was which.

Unsold inventory is a cash flow problem. It also takes up space that might be used by products that will sell. And it "poisons the well", by training shops to wait until their hear about the quality of a product before they stock it. But here's the catch-22: the huge glut of product meant that most of a product's sales occurred within the month following its release. After that, sales might not justify the cash or space. Wait for a review, and that window might come and go before your store even stocks the item.

I know of at least one game store that will stock only WoTC, White Wolf, GURPS, and HERO (and getting him to stock that last took persistence). He'll special order anything you like, but this isn't much different than ordering mail order, because if you special order it, you're expected to buy it. The huge advantage of the shop over mail order is that you can thumb through a book to see whether it's something you want before you buy it. At one time, this guy stocked a lot more stuff -- but he had to let a lot of it go at barely a profit, no profit, or a loss because it didn't sell at full retail. Once burned...

Part of the problem is also that the economy isn't really in that good a shape right now. The real key is jobs, because without job security, people won't spend money. Without a job, they can't. And this is exacerbated by the fact that many people are still in debt from when times were better, and must deal with that. Far fewer jobs have been added than were expected, and those that have are largely of the lower paying sort. The game store owner's best friend is the impulse buyer, and unfavorable economic conditions tend to chill the impulse buyer's enthusiasm. Even those spending their allowance (i.e. they don't work for their own money) may be receiving less allowance, or may be having their spending subjected to more scrutiny.

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Originally posted by REG
Basically, there was a flood of third-party d20 products, thanks to the royalty-free licenses. Only a handful of such numerous products are sellable. This prompted distributors and wholesalers to stick with selected major publishers that have a good sales record of publishing d20 products.

WotC's products are still selling strong, with D&D at the top, Star Wars coming in second, and d20 Modern lines at third.

But last year, overall sales of RPGs dropped significantly, though it hasn't change their standing of coming behind TCGs and minis.

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There's also a flood of D20 pdf files on the p2p network :D

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Originally posted by Space_Cadet

There's also a flood of D20 pdf files on the p2p network :D

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Yeah, but unlike print publishing, you don't invest by ordering a batch of 10,000 to 100,000 copies from the printing and distribution companies. Removing that expense and the middleman, you can sell your e-book product at an even lower price.

Well, what i meant was the pirated D20 stuff. But i guess we're not allowed to talk about that stuff :cool:

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Originally posted by Space_Cadet

Well, what i meant was the pirated D20 stuff. But i guess we're not allowed to talk about that stuff :cool:

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Meh.

It's not the only rules system that Star Trek have been converted to, unoffiically. I have seen GURPS version (before Prime Directive), Fuzion version, HERO version, etc.