An open letter to anyone at Decipher...

I am a consumer who has purchased your products for many years, including your Trek and LOTR Card and RP games. I have always been more than satisfied with the quality of your work.

I am a very big fan of your Trek RPG, and have been eagerly looking forward to additional releases for your Trek game, especially the Narrator's Screen. The release has been delayed for a very long time now, and I have been patiently awaiting any word as to when we may see it available.

As such, I was very dismayed yesterday when I went to my local game shop, and found not one, but TWO new releases for you LOTR game. Do not get me wrong... I thing the LOTR game is also a great game, and I may well pick up both the Two Towers Adventure Game and the Middle Earth Maps set at some time in the future. But I am disturbed because, for months, we have been told that we haven't seen new Trek product because of "problems at the printer". Well, forgive my saying so, but I find it unusual that these "problems at the printer" didn't hold up the publication of these two supplements! Especially since these products were very print and labor intensive!

I find that I can no longer accept the "printer" explaination for why product has not come out. As a loyal consumer, I ask for, and in fact, demand, a legitimate explaination as to why product has not been distributed. Having worked in hobby game retail myself in the past, I can only assume one of the following is true:

1. Your company is having a serious cash flow problem, and this is holding up product.

2. Product is being held up due to licensing issues with Viacom/Paramount.

3. You have found that the Trek line is not performing as you had hoped, and this dissapointing return is causing you to re-think your strategy.

4. There are other, unknown-to-us, internal issues (possibly a result of inter-office politics or incompetence) that are causing problems at your company that is delaying product.

Now granted, if any of these were an issue at a company I worked for, I would not want to let people know that either. But, as a customer of yours, I feel I deserve a better explaination as to why there is such a delay in product that I and others are anxiously awaiting. Even if that explaination were "Due to some internal matters being resolved at Decipher, we have had to indefinitely postpone new product releases," I would find that more acceptable than an explaination that obviously holds little if any water, or no explaination at all.

In closing, I just want to say that I feel that I, and other loyal customers of Decipher, deserve a better explaination that what we have received thus far from your company. After all, our continued loyalty will only benefit your company.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Hugh Casey

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

Hugh, did you send that letter off to Decipher, or are you just venting? Email that thing to Warren Holland.

As a non sequitur, I find it hilarious that there are new products on the shelves and people still complain. :)

Mr. Foam;) ...

Thanks for saying so... I was trying to strike the balance between polite and annoyed. I hope I hit it.

Ineti...

I already sent it... but I'd like others to see it as well, and have a chance to respond.

And I'm not complaining about new product on the shelves... I'm complaining about the new product THAT I WANT not being there!

;)

H.

The reply I got from Warren Holland a few moments ago...

Hugh,

I understand your concerns and frankly I'm not sure how some
of these messages originated about printing. It's Christmas
Eve, and most Decipherians are on vacation, but I'm forwarding
your email to Ross Campbell, our VP Manufacturing, to answer
after the holidays.

Our dedication to Star Trek has not wavered in nearly ten years.
I don't expect it will change now. ;-)

All the best,

Warren

I have to admit, I am impressed with the timeliness of this response, esp. since I was not expecting one until AFTER the holidays! And here I got one on the same day!

We shall see...

H.

Mr. Holland,

Thank you very much for your very timely answer to my concerns (I must admit, a was not expecting one until AFTER the holiday season!). I appreciate it very much.

As to where the messages concerning printing originated, it was on your own message boards, from your own net rep...


Product Update ... Doug Burke ... 10.30-10:02
At the Printers: Narrator's Screen (still checking for a reason behind the delay), Starfleet Operations Manual, Limited Editions.

Just back from Approval:Starships and Aliens.

Doug Burke
Net Rep


Knowing Doug from the TrekRPG.net boards, I know that he would not pass on this information unless it was passed on to him. But this information was some of the last "official" communication from Decipher about the issue that I have seen (and believe me, I've looked!). If this is not correct information, that's fine, but we as customers and fans had no reason to think that it wasn't.

Again, thanks for the response, keep up the incredible work, and have a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,
Hugh Casey

Quote:

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Originally posted by Hugh Casey
I went to my local game shop, and found not one, but TWO new releases for the LOTR game.

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Which two new releases are those? The map set is one, I imagine...

The other was the Two Towers Adventure Game, RaconteurX.

H.

Is this TT adventure game separate from the Games Workshop Two Towers product that was recently released?

Quote:

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Is this TT adventure game separate from the Games Workshop Two Towers product that was recently released?

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Yes - its a decipher product like the Fellowship of the rings adventure game that came out before the RPG did.

It's basically a cut down version of the game that limits itself to the characters and events in the films. I believe the FOTR one was based just on moria.

Of course, they didn't put the fellowships stats in the main book, so if I want them I'd have to get the adventure game (which as far as I can tell uses the exactly the same system - just with no character gen choices etc...). grrr....

I'll cope without I think :D

later days!

Mark

Quote:

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Originally posted by RaconteurX
Which two new releases are those? The map set is one, I imagine...

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The publishing company I work for shares warehouse space with one of Decipher's distributors, so I see everything that comes through (I'm always on the lookout for the Narrator's Screen!). When I saw the Map Set come through, I couldn't recall ever seeing that on the Decipher LOTR product list. I asked about this on the Trek message board, and learned that these were last minute additions to the LOTR print schedule, and that now that they're out, they'll be getting caught up on the rest of the print run that got delayed because of the re-shuffle. This sort of stuff happens a lot in publishing, I can attest. So continue being patient. And watch the Dec message boards, as I'm very sure that Doug and Jesse will alert us when there's something definite to report.

Alan

It makes business sense to craft new products for the LOTR game to coincide with the release of a chapter of that movie. That movie is a Big Thing, and a business manager who did not try to ride its coattails to better sales would be shortsighted, to say the least.

I hope that with these releases, we will see renewed focus on the Star Trek line. If the planned products are comparable in quality to what has been released so far, then they will be fine offerings to the RPG field.

Quote:

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Originally posted by rasiler
And watch the Dec message boards, as I'm very sure that Doug and Jesse will alert us when there's something definite to report.

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Don't worry, folks, I'll post it here, too. :)

Oh, and welcome to TrekRPG, Alan! :D

Quote:

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Originally posted by Doug Burke
Don't worry, folks, I'll post it here, too. :)

Oh, and welcome to TrekRPG, Alan! :D

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Hiya Doug! Since I'm new to these boards, I didn't realize that you (and I assume Jesse) were regular posters here as well. Pleasure to hear from you!

Alan

I have held the Narrator's Screens for both lines in my hands. They should be winding their weary way to game stores soon.

The TTAG is not really a RPG supplement, but rather an engagement product, aimed at 13-15 year olds who've never roleplayed before.

If you're looking for the stats of characters from the books, they'll be in the appropriate supplements. The Fellowship's stats, as well as length histories and background as well as a compare-and-contrast between the book and movie versions, are all in the FotR sourcebook. Eomer, Eowyn, Theoden, et al are all in the Two Towers sourcebook.