We should just make our own, publicly available Trek RPG.
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We should just make our own, publicly available Trek RPG.
Yeah, I was one of the LOTR playtesters once they got the playtest thing in order, and I spent a lot of time working on about 15 playtest docs, including Fell Beasts, Two Towers, Moria, Helm's Deep, POTW, and Isengard; plus some books that we'll never see now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cut
I also managed to get a few writing gigs with Decipher on a couple LOTR books that will never see print.
Once Decipher jettisoned the Design Studio back in, what 2004?, I kept contact with the folks at Decipher, mostly Scott Gaeta, Ross Campbell, and later Kieran Yanner. Also kept up conversations with other freelancers. Kept pushing behind the scenes for something to be done with the unfinished books, but largely was talking to a wall.
Eventually, I helped Kieran with some editing on the PDF releases of POTW and Isengard, a complete revision and errata-gathering of the core book, and some other resources that never got released once he left Decipher. After he left, most of the wind in my sails was gone, and the email traffic between me and Ross and Scott and others dwindled. Eventually I got fed up with it and moved on to other things.
*shrug* I did what I could and I'm sorry that it wasn't enough. I look at my playtest documents and curse Decipher's powers that be for killing the RPG lines before they had a chance to mature. I understand the business aspects of it, but it still leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth.
You and me both, Jim. Anyone who looks at my LJ profile will see how bitter I was when I quit as Net Rep.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ineti
One of the reasons I finally called it quits with writing for RPGs. I had to nag for two years to get paid for the five books I either wrote or contributed to for a games producer in the UK. Only a few of the works hit the shelves, so far. After a while, it gets old.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ineti
Who was it?Quote:
Originally Posted by black campbellq
Heresy Games went out of biz and never paid. Cubicle 7 bought 'em paid me on some of the back work, but hasn't ponied up on the two new books I worked on. Still waiting to see what Adamant does. Steve Jackson considered and rejected one idea for a book, so I never wrote it. Adamant has given me the "anything you want to write about is good by us" line, but until I see green, no work-ee.
Floating a query at Margaret Weiss' bunch this month. Mostly, I'm concentrating on the dissertation, which is being written less for academia and more with an eye for publication, and I need to start shopping the novel around again.
Simply too bloody busy and the art don't pay. Unless you're incredibly lucky, they rarely do.
Did I hear right and the praise send Mr. Long's way. i love the work he did on the Stardock series.
I was thinking that a Heroes based trek system work work.
Yup. Especially since Steve went out of his way to get SPACEDOCK released after LUG went belly up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanty
Quite a few people have done nice things aroun here. Some of us just piss and moan, but other have actually done something.:D
So three cheers and a medal seems like a small acknowledgment.
We've gone down this road before....Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
Nice idea, except that Paramont would probably not take too kindly too it. I suppose the smart thing to do would see if someone could talk Paramount into releasing its own Star Trek RPG, the wave Marvel Comics did their own RPG game.
Not that it would be easy to pull off, but that way, we wouldn't have to worry about the game going bye-bye every few years when the liscence expires.
Paramount would - as was the case back in the early-mid '70s when Franz Josef acquired the rights - probably not care too much about an outside party taking the helm if the franchise were as "dead" as it was back then. There ain't too much going on with Trek these days, so...oh wait, there is the new movie. Well, a couple well-placed explosions at the studio should take care of that. Now, just have to find that munitions dump outside the CEO's headquarters and a sonic grenade with the delayed-action fuse...
Seriously, the idea of Paramount/Viacom starting up its own RPG division is an intriguing one, but I get the impression - from various comments made by Doug, Don and Matt Colville over the past several years - that P/V cares about as much for this aspect of business as, say...oh, Decipher cares about its own licenced RPGs. Marvel was a comics shop from the get-go, regardless of what they may have become over the last fifteen years or so...Paramount/Viacom has such a huge range of concerns at this point that nothing less than the prospect of major six- to seven-figure income would be enough to convince them to expend the time, money and agony to set up an outlet for something like this.
Of course, this is an opinion formed out of very little solid information; if anyone has evidence to back this up or deny it, please let us know.
Oh, I agree. One reason why the RPG field is the way it is, is that it never was a big market, and usally gets about the same respect from a stuido as the "home version" of a game show that they give away to contestants who don't win any prizes. Probably generates less money than the board game, too. Its just another way to merchadise the show.
Still, if the right people could be influced to releaize that gamers make a good core fan group to support a franchise (oops, that's right Paramount has switched from "we love the fans" to "the fans only make a small percentage of those who watch the show") it might be possible.
Personally, I'd try to point out to them just how much influence the WEG Star Wars RPG had, and how it was really the primary factor that led to the revitization of the Star Wars franchise. Then I'd point out how Star Wars and Stargate both have RPGs but Star Trek doesn't.
I feel the need to point out that the Stargate RPG is in a kind of a CODA...;)Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
I also feel the need to point out there isn't a production Stargate RPG out there, AEG stopped making it ages ago :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tobian
The license might have expired ;) All so similar. And wasn't Don also writing material for Stargate as well as for CODA Trek? So much in common...:eek:
And Star Wars Saga is quite new on the stage and I doubt it will be active for far too long. It'll work as a testbed for D&D 4E and then will go back to a CODAresque sleep.
That's why Babylon 5 RPG is still alive. No "Star" in the name. All games with "Star" in the name die. :(
I also feel the need to point out the fact that Star Wars never needed 'revitalising' and even if it did, WEG's D6, Wizard's D20 nor any other roleplaying game had anything to do with it.
Dude, how many Trek-in-system-X conversions are floating around out there? Would some alarm bill go off in pmount's licensing office if someone slapped some core rules in there too?Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
Hell, we could strip the levels out of OGL d20 and just use that...
Um...I think if any game had a hand in this it was the series of computer games, most specifically the X-Wing and Tie Fighter games. The RPG probably turned an acceptable penny, since it kept WEG alive despite all of the vagaries of the RPG business, for over a decade.Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
Well, it did serve to add backround used in the books too.Quote:
Originally Posted by black campbellq
It's not the copyright/license issue so much - it's more the system. A free Trek RPG and associated sourcebooks by the fans, for the fans is a terrific idea and I'd be all on board...Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
...if any of us could agree on a system. Some of us like cinematic. Some of us like crunchy. All of us have different ideas about how phasers and shields and tricorders and communicators work. Creating a rule system that we all like and agree on is, I think akin to stacking marbles.
I think that the people who want to roleplay in the Star Trek universe will already have a system that they like. There are four official systems to choose from (available via filesharing if you can't find them on eBay) aswell as it being a really simple job to 'Trekify' other systems if you prefer them.
As I mentioned before, I don't think it's a(nother) rules system that people need but a systemless or multi-system online resource. I think Trek-RPG is that site and I can't wait until it's back up again. I just hope it's in time for the resurgence in Trek interest towards the end of next year.
Crow
It's okay, it's about which gets played anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarecrow
So if you buy a DecTrek book now, from, say, Paizo.com, who gets the money?
That one is easy: Paizo.com gets the money.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
They bought their stock and paid their share to Decipher.
I would asume that the lisence allows the ex-owner to sell old stock, as long as that will last, but doesn't allow for new production runs of that old material.
I do not know how Trek RPG.pdf releases fit into this picture. Maybe DriveThru has purchased a number of downloads in advance and once they have been sold, the books will go...
So the authors will get all they can out of this?
I'm not sure that I know what you mean.
I'm reasonably sure, that all the copies of the physical books out there in store at online shops and FLGS have been bought from Decipher. So there Decipher has seen the money. Not as much as they would get once they sell them theirselfs (as a trader you always get a better price). Ususally the company won't work on commission, handing a box of books to a store and say: well, let's see what you can sell... The books that are in stores have been sold by Decipher and made them their share of money.
The books that they try to sell via their own online shop haven't made 'em money as yet.
That's what I figure at least...
Nope, it was the RPG. Reason being that Lucas was so impressed with the Wend End RPG (well, actually Chaosium/West End) that he suggested them to all the 3rd part SW lines. Zhan actually had RPG experience too (some of his early work was published in SpaceGamer). In interviews Zhan mentioned how he drew heavily from the RPG, as it was the only SW soruce that really gave any new info or details.Quote:
Originally Posted by black campbellq
Basically, the kinda stuff that GMs need to RPG a campaign is just the sort of background material writers need.
it was the Zhan books that revitalized the franchise and got Lucas thinking of making Ep 1-3, although that is a mixed blessing.
If WEG had not gone under for a few months at just the wrong time, they'd still have the SW liscense today. Heck, even Lucas swiped a few things from the RPG.
Yup, for the most part (the DMCA and Priate Act being the stupid exceptions) once someone had legally purchased something, they can resell their original as they wish. So if someone had bought up a ton of Decipher RPG books they can sell them for decades. That's how some places still sell old RPG stock. For example, you can still buy the old Victory Games James Bond stuff, even though Victory Games, Avalon Hill, And TSR are all long gone, and the rights for Bond have reverted back to Danjaq and the Fleming Estate.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cut
Any other method would be impractical, as retailers would never keep anything in stock for fear of losing their investment the moment a liscense expired. It would be the kiss of death for local gaming shops. I know one that still has some FASA Trek stock on the shelves.
Dude, whyyy? Ebay!Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
Because Ebay sales would fall under the same category, if the law worked that way for books. As it is now most local RPG stores don't make much money, and if their backstock has an expiration date of a few years, they'd keep no stock. Fortunately the law doesn"t work thay way (except for digitial products. That's one reason why the DCMA is flawed. Technically, it makes it a crime to resell a DVD that you legally own.).Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
Y'know it's been quite a while since I was last on here, and I am amazed that it took them this long to get the balls to actually admit the line was dead.
Pity, it was a good game.
It still is, Daniel.:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
Anyway: Nice to have you back! Are you here to stay? And what have you been up to in the meantime?:)
I suspect that the suggestion is that you might want to buy the Fasa stuff and sell it on ebay?Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
No, chatting about how the end of the Decipher liscense doesn't prevent any vendors from selling their stock of CODA products.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Gurden
But, with the way the DCMA is worded, digital version of CODA products are now by law unsellable.
Personally, I suspect illegal copies of CODA books like Worlds will be traded/given among CODA fans for years.
I plan to hang about, since I actually managed to log in again after all this time. It's nice to be back here, since this is one of the more civilised Trek boards around. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Cut
Got involved in the whole fanfilm thing, which, as it turns out, is rather more time-consuming than I thought it'd be. :)
Despite the fact the board isn"t as active as it once was, and how many people don't stop by much anymore, this is still my favorite board to chat. It's got some of the best people to chat with on the net. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
Even that C. Huth guy was alright. :p
Nah, he was a jerk.Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
Yeah, people from Tronna are so full of themselves! ;)
I managed to lose my password when I changed computers, and since I no longer had access to the email account I registered under, couldn't log in. By sheer chance, I figured it out the other day while making random attempts to log in. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg
It's good to be back, though I doubt I'll be all that verbose. :)
Well it's always nice to have more Brit's here hehe :) Good to see you around, I might even have my station finished for use in your 74th episode! :)
Aye, never enough Brits about. ;)
I,m sorry. Who are you again?Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
;):p;)
Hey, it's has been at least a year since I was last here. I don't actually expect anyone to remember me y'know. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyg