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Suggestion for Decipher
IF Decipher decides to discontinue their games I have a suggestion.
From ads appearing in Star Trek Communicator it would seem that several books...Worlds, Trhough A Glass Darkly, Blood & Honor, and Peacekeepers...have been laid out for print production I requestion (and hope other would join in) that if you do not acutally print the boks, offer them through the Decipher store as PDF Ebook, or as a collection that can be sent out on CD.
I admit those ideas would require man-hours, money and production time just as much as printing. A server and method would have to be set up for Ebook format or even someplace to dupe CD's to mail out (not to mention actually packaging and making sure they go out). StarTrek.com has ways of selling ebooks and there's a posibilty of piggy-backing with them (ok, maybe slim, it's an idea though).
It's an alternative to getting books that we've been waiting for. As selfish as it sounds there was supposed to be a Klingon book out when LUG had the license, yet for reasons it didn't come out. It would be a crime not to finally come out with it (could there be a Klingon Curse?). There was also supposed to be a Mirror Book. Seeing these book in either a print or Ebook format would satisfy the fans wants and make the game line "dying" a little more bearible.
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Who is this "you" you speak of?
AFAIK, everybody from Decipher who posted here doesn't work for Decipher anymore.
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Open letter, also sent one to Decipher :P At least I'm expressing an option
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"You" likely refers to Doug Burke. Earlier today (30/01) he posted on the Decipher Trek message board that he is, in fact, still affiliated with Decipher and will answer all questions on rules and such to the best of his ability.
That being said, completely on my own train of thought, whether or not Decipher would use e-book publishing as an alternative to hard copy is a different kettle of fish altogether. I recall that, in his editorial of 9/00, Don related that he had floated the idea to Wizards of e-publishing the Icon-based works, and the concept had met with some approval. The products, quite obviously, never saw the light of day in any form.
While the situation with Decipher is different on a number of fronts - e.g., Wizards' license ran out barely three months after the word of Decipher's takeover came through; Decipher, from what Don intimated in that same editorial, has almost two years left to go before the sands run out - I would imagine that they would have to wargame the situation behind closed doors for a good long while before coming to any decision. How much money can they make reasonably from hard copy sales? How many copies to distribute? If we do e-publish, how much do we charge to offset the cost of creating the damn things, since private holders will pass them back and forth like a pack of Marlboros? What's the best way to release them; FTP, CD, or some other format?
Considering how tight-lipped Decipher has been over the last three-plus years (like the proverbial Aldebaran shell-mouth), I think we might as well settle in for a good long haul before any word starts to come back regarding where they're thinking about going with this. Hard copy or e-book, Don and/or Doug will let us know when word comes through.
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I'd rather post an idea, a suggestion and get it out and known then stew about it privately and nothing be heard or done. Will it get out there and be discussed? Who knows. And people can agree or disagree with it. I was around here (like most probably) when all the stuff went down with LUG & Wizards. I'd hate to see the same thing happen with CODA.
And after seeing that cover who wouldn't want a copy of the Mirror book :)
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You assume that Decipher have accessed to LUG's works. They don't. When LUG was sold to WotC, they acquired all assets. Since then, Wizards was kind enough to grant requests from individual authors like Steve Long and Steve Kenson for their submitted material. That's how Steve Long was able to release his Spacedock material and the companion SRMs for distribution via this web site (assuming he was able to get approval from Paramount ... just to clear some legal obstacles).
Aside from that, and Steve Kenson's Klingon and Cardassian draft material he posted on his own web site, no other material have been asked for nor released. And since Wizards do not have the Star Trek license, they can't really do anything about the material but store them away.
Ultimately, it is Paramount's call.
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This thread is so full of inaccuracies it’s painful to read. This kind of speculation isn’t helpful, guys.
Suffice it to say when Decipher makes a decision—and decides to make it public—we’ll all know what’s going on with the future of the line. We’re barely a week out from the initial release and the Decipher offices were closed for two days due to bad weather.
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My apologies for any possible inaccuracies I have made in my post.
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