Decipher Revelations about TrekRPG

[dimeboy99]

Jeazus, I must of missed out on the hostility that seems to have been brewing. Anywho, that isn't here nor there, so onward...

What I am hoping for out of the new Trek RPG line is a cleaning up and expansion of the ICON system. I'm hoping that the new game allows for the possible use of all the LUG books we currently own. I hope that "game canon" doesn't take a flying leap when the new suppliments are released. But most of all I'm hoping for a crisp, clean, quality game line that allows me to take my current Trek game along for the ride.

[SIR SIG]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Don:
Yea, and came down from his ivory tower long enough to post on RPG.net, where he -- surprise, surprise -- accused another person of "snobbery" and essentially flamed them for asking a civil question.

http://www.rpg.net/pf/read.php?f=5&i=65615&t=65615


</font>

After following the link; I officially retract my previous statement!

Perhaps the Ivory Tower is quite Lofty!

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'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Lockhart]

Well, forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't all the 'in-pipeline' books already killfee'd? That means that Wizards no longer owns primary rights, so if Wizards sold those manuscripts to Decipher it would only take a small group of those writers to sue Wizards and/or Decipher right? The legalities of depending on the good will of who knows how many writers or offering additional compensations seems uncertain to me. Too uncertain for a gaming company to operate with.

Sure I'd like to see a Klingon Book or BoxSet, and if Decipher comes to some understanding with the writers (the ones who didn't get hired by them) to use the ideas in the killfee'd manuscript I am sure they could publish most of those ideas, even keeping the chapters the same, but that's between Decipher and those authors.

Now, I may have gotten this all wrong, I've never been paid to write anything. However, as an author I am very touchy about my perceived ownership of my writing. If I had been happily paid less for my work because I was told and believed it would never see print, I certainly would get mad if I then didn't even get asked before someone else used my work. Especially if they got paid more for it than I did.

Byron

[USS Intrepid]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AslanC:

I hope that will be the last of childish egocentric behaviour, but something tells me it won't be.

For my money though, I still want a new Andorian book that does something unique and interesting with them.

</font>

*sigh* Exactly why is this necessary. While S. John does not appear to be particulalry diplomatic (ahem) it's hardly necessary (and in fact hypocritical) to bad-mouth the guy and his work, especially given how much you say you dislike that sort of behaviour.

Whether you like Among the Clans or not isn't really the point there. It was an excellent piece of work, as was much of S. John's writing.

One thing I would like to say though, I like the idea of writing the re-writing the Andorian history so that they don't come from an ice world. As a biologist I can tell you that from a physiological point of view, the Andorians do not look as though they evolved on an ice world. They're tall and thin, which means they have a high surface area to body mass ratio. That is a characteristic of a species that has evolved in a hot climate.

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Captain Daniel Hunter
CO NCC-73602, U.S.S. Intrepid
Star Trek: Intrepid

[This message has been edited by USS Intrepid (edited 03-19-2001).]

[Scott M. Macek]

Hello to one and all

First and foremost, I want to congratulate those members of the LUG staff that were hired by Decipher and say that I look forward to seeing the work produced by them in the near future.

Secondly, if I may be so bold, I understand that there is a lot of frustration out there with everyone concerning the labor of love that is the Star Trek RPG. I don't know about everyone else, but I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster ride. LUGTrek climbing up, up, up... where's that Klingon sourcebook? AHHHH!!!!... they've been bought out by WOTC!!!! Wait... will there be a D20 version? Is ICON doomed? AHHHHHH!!!!! the rights are going to Decipher? Who are they? What about our material? What about Spacedock? WEEEE!!!! Steve is posting Spacedock for free on the TrekRPGnet! Wait... What about the other projects? Klingon sourcebook, Voyager sourcebook... all done online? WEEEE!!!!! Decipher hires LUG's staffers!!!! Will they bring the ICON system on board as well (peeps over the rise to see how far the next drop is....)

Seriously, though. I don't believe that the ICON question has really been answered as of yet... is this because there ISN'T an answer yet, or have I missed it? Also, I want to politely and respectfully request that we do our best to prevent further aggravation on each other. I don't care if you're a fan, a former LUG writer, or Gene Roddenberry's ghost, there is no need for rudeness and name calling on this board. (I apologize if I'm stepping on the moderator's toes here...) If you have a personal gripe, you can at least attempt to express it in a civil manner. One should not raise their voice or act rudely when one should be reinforcing their argument. Thanks.

[SIR SIG]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by USS Intrepid:
*sigh* Exactly why is this necessary. While S. John does not appear to be particulalry diplomatic (ahem) it's hardly necessary (and in fact hypocritical) to bad-mouth the guy and his work, especially given how much you say you dislike that sort of behaviour.

Whether you like Among the Clans or not isn't really the point there. It was an excellent piece of work, as was much of S. John's writing.

One thing I would like to say though, I like the idea of writing the re-writing the Andorian history so that they don't come from an ice world. As a biologist I can tell you that from a physiological point of view, the Andorians do not look as though they evolved on an ice world. They're tall and thin, which means they have a high surface area to body mass ratio. That is a characteristic of a species that has evolved in a hot climate.

</font>

Talking of which there's another thread running around somewhere about Andorians and Tellerites that talk about the planet type and such for the Andorians from a biological point of view.


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'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Cochrane]

Another idea I had was a sourcebook for each season of each series, each with tidbits from that season that don't fit in any other book. Like the Acamarians, the Excalbians, and that planet with the DS9 crew's descendants. If Icon can't be used, maybe expand on the card game stats. Let Integrity, Cunning, and Strength be the attributes, and give each either two or three edges. Or just add three more attributes. The RPG skills could be aligned with the TCG skills. They could have a sourcebook with RPG stats for all the personnel in a particular CCG expansion. Use the missions and dilemmas as fodder for adventures. Let ship attributes focus on those on the cards.

[Captain Blake]

S John's comments toward Don were a touch on the rude side to me. On the other hand, I don't have any knowledge about his relationship with Mr Moore. Perhaps the Pigf*@#$r comment was warranted. LOL.

Now, that aside, we don't know if Icon is the system of choice for Decipher. If it is (Potentially a big if), then perhaps while acquiring the rights from WotC, Decipher could have access to all the Killed stuff. Which would give them a leg up on some cool stuff, if they can cut deals with the original writers.

If Decipher is going with a modified, Icon based system, or even another system all together, then most of the killed stuff is going to require major rewriting, and so might as well be completely re-done.


Personally, I like the idea of one Rulebook (rules, timeline, general information) with several Era specific sourcebooks. I would blanch at paying more than $35 or so for the main book.

I like pretty pictures, games without them feel cheap to me. I like to feel that I'm getting my money's worth, and sensory feel is a good way to "add value" to me.


[This message has been edited by Captain Blake (edited 03-19-2001).]

[AslanC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by USS Intrepid:
*sigh* Exactly why is this necessary. While S. John does not appear to be particulalry diplomatic (ahem) it's hardly necessary (and in fact hypocritical) to bad-mouth the guy and his work, especially given how much you say you dislike that sort of behaviour. Whether you like Among the Clans or not isn't really the point there. It was an excellent piece of work, as was much of S. John's writing.</font>

I agree, you are correct and I apologize for my indiscretion. It was imature and shoud not have been said. There is no excuse for it. My apologies to everyone involved.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">One thing I would like to say though, I like the idea of writing the re-writing the Andorian history so that they don't come from an ice world. As a biologist I can tell you that from a physiological point of view, the Andorians do not look as though they evolved on an ice world. They're tall and thin, which means they have a high surface area to body mass ratio. That is a characteristic of a species that has evolved in a hot climate.</font>

This is my point, for years fandom has decided that because they were blue they must be from an ice world. I always found that to be silly to say the least.

What kind of world do you think they should be from?



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Aslan Collas
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[AslanC]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by SIR SIG:
Talking of which there's another thread running around somewhere about Andorians and Tellerites that talk about the planet type and such for the Andorians from a biological point of view.</font>

My bad.

Any chance you could point us in the right direction?



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Aslan Collas
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[Captain Blake]

Andorians, Tellarites, et al.

http://www.trekrpg.net/Board/ubb/For...ML/000737.html

[AllenS]

While it is likely (but not certain) that the formerly published LUG material will not see print again under the new license, I'm sure that many of these subjects will be covered again in another product that will include all or most of the information (the parts that the authors and/or Paramount own, as opposed to Wizards). I'm not worried at all, and am now wildly optimistic about this new game. Well, except for the fact that I haven't heard if Sjohn will be doing any writing for it I do like the stuff you did, Sjohn, and hope they will employ your considerable talents again.
Here I finally get a cable modem and Internet access from home again so I COULD download the netbooks and now some of them are delaying! My luck stinks! <g>

Allen

[Aedh Rua]

Well, I have to think that Decipher would save much time, and therefore money by using all of the LUG background material they could. Surely someone at Decipher is thinking that way.

Also, the LUG materials really did sell well, and were very well recieved in the gaming and Trek communities which were, after all, its primary markets. We know that Decipher is aware of this, or else they would not have hired the LUG team.

Based on this, I suspect various minor changes and improvements to the LUG material, but the use of most, if not all, LUG background.

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Slan agat!

[darkwing duck1]

OK, maybe reprints don't make sense, but what about the "in pipeline" stuff? That would be new material, and generate most of the benefits I described.

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Deo Vindice!

[Gaz]

Greetings.
firstly i'd just like to appolgise for my question on reprints. I know i am entiltled to post questions and the like but it was not my intention to get anyones tempers up.

Sitting back now after skim reading the 2 pages on decipher (cheers greg i'll check out Leisure games later)i realise that the question was wrong.

Thinking about it logically (big word for me that) for a few minutes before a wrote it and i would have come up with all of the those replies and a few more i expect.

So heres to the idea of reprints (for now maybe) and lets look to what decipher may bring.


Gaz


[This message has been edited by Gaz (edited 03-19-2001).]