Do we even need Decipher anymore?

[TFVanguard]

Maybe Viacom will found its own RPG company. They are such a greedy bunch of people when it comes to selling Trek merchandise that they will produce at least one book a month.

I dunno. Seems like these days that there's much less Star Trek material coming out than in the 1970's , 1980's and early 1990's... very few new books, very little licensed materials. It took ages just to get the Polar Lights model kids out.

[mattcolville]

Originally posted by Dan Stack
Has anyone from Lucasfilm, Viacom, WotC, Decipher, or someone similar ever confirmed that WotC can't have both the Trek and Star Wars licenses? I've heard it said many times but I can't recall hearing it from an official source...

It's absurd and ignorant speculation. Absurd because no-one at Lucas or Paramount cares about RPGs, and ignorant because both licenses have been under one roof before (Decipher, for Christ's sake, it's not like it's an obscure company we've never heard of).

[Ineti]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
I dunno. Seems like these days that there's much less Star Trek material coming out than in the 1970's , 1980's and early 1990's... very few new books, very little licensed materials. It took ages just to get the Polar Lights model kids out.

I don't know about that. The recent Star Trek novels have been both plentiful and overall, well written.

[TFVanguard]

It's absurd and ignorant speculation. Absurd because no-one at Lucas or Paramount cares about RPGs, and ignorant because both licenses have been under one roof before (Decipher, for Christ's sake, it's not like it's an obscure company we've never heard of).

Damn, I guess everyone involved is a bunch of liars then.

I don't know reasons behind it, but Lucasarts was explicit that they didn't want an RPG put out by the same company as a Star Trek RPG. This is pretty long-standing situation, dating back to WEG.

It's usually been attributed to Lucas's hostility to Star Trek (which is no big secret), but there hasn't been any specifics really given out about it.

[TFVanguard]

Originally posted by Ineti
I don't know about that. The recent Star Trek novels have been both plentiful and overall, well written.

Plentiful? There's been a few, but it doesn't compare with the sheer number of stuff awhile back ago. I'm not saying that it's Viacom's fault - there are other factors (such as increased printing prices and decreased demand for print books overall), just that there seems to be less new out there than there used to be.

Which reminds me, is there an ongoing Star Trek comic still?

[mattcolville]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
Damn, I guess everyone involved is a bunch of liars then.

I don't know reasons behind it, but Lucasarts was explicit that they didn't want an RPG put out by the same company as a Star Trek RPG. This is pretty long-standing situation, dating back to WEG.

It's usually been attributed to Lucas's hostility to Star Trek (which is no big secret), but there hasn't been any specifics really given out about it.

Who do you think is "everyone involved?" Give me some names.

I don't know who you were listening to, but no-one at either Lucas or Paramount know or care about who has the other's RPG license. RPG licenses are roughly as significant to these companies as toothbrush licenses.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
Plentiful? There's been a few, but it doesn't compare with the sheer number of stuff awhile back ago.

Two to three novels a month isn't enough for you?

[Space_Cadet]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
.....
It's usually been attributed to Lucas's hostility to Star Trek (which is no big secret), but there hasn't been any specifics really given out about it.

Let's see.. Industrial Light and Magic did several Star Trek films. By the way, who owns that company?

[First of Two]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
Damn, I guess everyone involved is a bunch of liars then.

I don't know reasons behind it, but Lucasarts was explicit that they didn't want an RPG put out by the same company as a Star Trek RPG. This is pretty long-standing situation, dating back to WEG.

Re-ally? Name names. Give us citations. Who, officially, said what?

I call "Urban Legend."

BTW,
LOTSA books out there.

And I should know. I buy most of them.

The rate of publication of Star Trek books used to be one a month, back in the mid 90's or so when I started collecting (It seemed like more because I started collecting late). Now we're verging on triple that, or more.

There'll be sixteen NEW books between now and the end of the year, and that's not counting "non-fiction" books, game books, e-Books, paperback reprints of hardbacks, and the new omnibus editions.
(And yes, a collection of the Gold Key comics)

just that there seems to be less new out there than there used to be.

Perhaps your local distributor sucks.

[TFVanguard]

Originally posted by First of Two
Re-ally? Name names. Give us citations. Who, officially, said what?

Two ex-employees of WOTC, now doing work for other companies for d20 work. Another person mentioned it is a lawyer for Hasbro, Inc. I can't cite more specific than that. This came to a head with LUG's acquisition.

I'm not really sure what the reason is, since the relationship has been acceptable with toys, other games, books, and - as pointed out - effects houses. Yet, for some reason, the RPG problem still remains.

I also doubt, seriously, that there's any legal paper stating such. It may have also been grossly overstated as to why. But WOTC said that they couldn't do a d20 Star Trek game because Lucas did not want it along with Star Wars.

It was a running joke tha the 'real' reason was that Lucas didn't want a big 'competition' with stats and rules between the Star Wars and Star Trek universe (according to this book, the Enterprise can kick a Star Destroyers ass!)... I could almost see this as a reason, though.. who wants to put up with that?

The rate of publication of Star Trek books used to be one a month, back in the mid 90's or so when I started collecting (It seemed like more because I started collecting late). Now we're verging on triple that, or more.

I'm probably thinking more of the 'golden years', when I was much more into collecting material. I'm not saying there's a derth, just an apparent slowdown.

Of course, I'm basing on this on what I see on shelves. It's possible that these things are almost handled like periodicals now, with limited shelf-life per book. Would explain much, and it's not all that unusual right now...

[mattcolville]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
Two ex-employees of WOTC, now doing work for other companies for d20 work. Another person mentioned it is a lawyer for Hasbro, Inc. I can't cite more specific than that. This came to a head with LUG's acquisition.

I can be very specific. My name's Matthew Colville. I worked, full time, at LUG, WotC, and Decipher and I've dealt directly with both Paramount and Lucas. What you're claiming you heard is absurdly wrong. Wrong on the order of "Lucas won't let Ken Hite work on the RPG because he once slammed Star Wars online." It's laughably absurd.

[TFVanguard]

Originally posted by mattcolville
I can be very specific. My name's Matthew Colville. I worked, full time, at LUG, WotC, and Decipher and I've dealt directly with both Paramount and Lucas. What you're claiming you heard is absurdly wrong. Wrong on the order of "Lucas won't let Ken Hite work on the RPG because he once slammed Star Wars online." It's laughably absurd.

I hadn't heard the second bit. From what I can gather (and I never have pushed this), there was some tension involved with LUG's buyout. Was there just some comment passed about the matter not being worth the hassle?

I'm not saying that Lucas came down on high and said "Trek sucks, make it and I'm going home", and I would never believe that would be the jist of the conversation ... but that there may have been some extra cost or some other stipulations that WOTC wasn't willing to deal with? Maybe Lucas(insert company suffix here) just didn't want them to have the same system involved?

(Remember, the guys I talk to are largely lawyer-licensing types, and they generally just say things like 'It wasn't worth it' and then just let it drop. Unfortunately, they're also notorious for not plugging rumors when they should, either.)

[Ineti]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
I'm probably thinking more of the 'golden years', when I was much more into collecting material. I'm not saying there's a derth, just an apparent slowdown.

Of course, I'm basing on this on what I see on shelves. It's possible that these things are almost handled like periodicals now, with limited shelf-life per book. Would explain much, and it's not all that unusual right now... [/B]

I guess your local bookstores don't carry a lot of the books, then. Five of the major chain stores I can think of off the top of my head near me (northern VA) are stocked with Trek books. All the latest ones, and much of the backlist as well. That's several shelves worth of Trek books, easily 80-100 titles or more. And at least 2-3 new ones every month. There's no shortage of Trek fiction hitting shelves. Sorry to hear your area seems to be missing out. They must be hoarding them here in VA.

[TFVanguard]

Originally posted by Ineti
There's no shortage of Trek fiction hitting shelves. Sorry to hear your area seems to be missing out. They must be hoarding them here in VA.

Well, I can only hazard a guess that they keep the Trek books in limited numbers each, and just don't replace ones that eventually sell. There's usually about two shelves full in all the major book stores around.

The used book stores, of course, have hordes. So there isn't a shortage of material for me, natch. Just didn't seem like there was a lot of new stuff compared to the 'golden age'.

Fully prepared to admit (and take some solace in) being wrong about a downturn based on the shipping lists pointed out to me, though. :>

[mattcolville]

Originally posted by TFVanguard
I hadn't heard the second bit. From what I can gather (and I never have pushed this), there was some tension involved with LUG's buyout. Was there just some comment passed about the matter not being worth the hassle?

Tension between who and who? Listen, the people at Lucas were no more aware of or interested in the LUG buyout than they would have been about your sister getting married.

I'm going to be frank; I think you're making this crap up. I don't think you've talked to any "lawyers" for either side. I think you got this from some message board somewhere or some idiot at a game store and figure that since no-one here knows you, you can act like you have some direct experience of the issues.

As someone who's job was these issues on a daily basis, the things you're putting forward are nonsense.