Decipher Trek question or two

[Caretaker]

I know this topic comes up every few weeks, but I'm getting kind of antsy. Any news on Decipher Trek? As I recall the last thing Don said officialy was that it was in playtest mode. Is playtesting still going on? Any guesses as to when in 2001 or 2002 the game will be released?

[Flamestrike]

I'm hoping for a 2002 release...

I want the new Trek RPG to be THOROUGHLY playtested and proofread. Take all the time you need, Decipher! Better late than rushed and unplayable.

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Even in this age of technological wonders, the human mind is still the most powerful weapon in the universe.

[Robert Lai]

Agreed. We've even seen that Ryan Dancey (WotC) admitting that the Star Wars RPG was rushed and could have benefitted from additional playtesting, proofreading, and layout work.

We know Christian, Steve, et al are working on Decipher's successor to LUG Trek. We know they'll playtest it thoroughly.

It's ready when it's ready.

Bob

[REG]

In defense of the current Star Wars RPG, the game is pretty good. There may be some minor discrepancies here and there, but even I can find some of them in LUG's book as well. In fact, despite that both ST and SW are roleplaying games, many critics cry foul over the space combat rules and use this to take points off of both rules from WotC and LUG, respectively.

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Anyhoo, just some random thoughts...

[Phoenix]

If your playing the marketing strategy, the first books might be out by Sep-Nov for the X-mas rush, or at least thats how I've noticed most releases of new gaming materal seems to be.

Phoenix...

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"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
-Napoleon

[Eric R.]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by REG:
many critics cry foul over the space combat rules and use this to take points off of both rules from WotC and LUG, respectively.

</font>

BUT in any scince fiction game, one especially dealing in a universe with ships and combat such as Star Wars and Star Trek, don't you think that rules for such have to be a cornorstone of them? I mean think of a Fantasy game where the combat rules are lousy and what type of critism it would recieve.

[Phantom]

I don't really think you can say the ship combat is a "cornerstone" of the two systems. Whenever my group played Star Wars or Star Trek there were very few space battles...I can only think one time we engaged a squadron of Tie fighters. Most of the time you see an Imperial crusier you run anyway...If you'er smart anyway. In Star Trek, granted this game didn't go for very long, we used the transporters more then the ships phasers. I think for what it was designed to be, a quick and dirty system, the ship combat system in Core rules suffices, it does the job without bogging the game down.

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In the Praetors Name!

[Phantom]

I should have said when we had active Star Wars games on the go we had very few space battles. My group hasn't played SW in a very long time.

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In the Praetors Name!

[Flamestrike]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by REG:
In defense of the current Star Wars RPG, the game is pretty good. There may be some minor discrepancies here and there, but even I can find some of them in LUG's book as well. In fact, despite that both ST and SW are roleplaying games, many critics cry foul over the space combat rules and use this to take points off of both rules from WotC and LUG, respectively.

</font>

Yes, but my question is this: How do you think the new SW RPG stacks up against the old one by West End? I own both and everyone I've met who owns both had agreed with me: that the d20 system isn't very suited to Star Wars, but might have been better had they taken their time.



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Even in this age of technological wonders, the human mind is still the most powerful weapon in the universe.

[Phantom]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Flamestrike:
Yes, but my question is this: How do you think the new SW RPG stacks up against the old one by West End? I own both and everyone I've met who owns both had agreed with me: that the d20 system isn't very suited to Star Wars, but might have been better had they taken their time.


I disagree, the D20 system works very well for the Star War universe. I read the core rules for it and was very impressed on what they had done. From what I have seen it is better then the old West End stuff. Of course I never really liked the old WE game, especially the 2nd Edition, too comic book everytime I played it I was constantly reminded of the show "Droids" and that ruined it for me. The new D20 is a more "grittier" system, a more "real" space operaish feeling to it.

To be truthful I have yet to find any of the mistakes everyone seems to hammering on. I think it is a very well put together game, the art work is good (excellant in places) and system seems to flow smoothly. I don't see any problem. In fact I was even more disappointed that Dune had been cancelled after I read SW, the D20 would have been a good system for that game as well.


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In the Praetors Name!

[Phantom]

OOPPPS, seem to have placed my opinion inside the quote. Sorry.

[Caretaker]

I just wonder if they release it this year, could they put it's release on the same day as the premiere of Enterprise. Decipher released the Voyager CCG set on the day of "Endgame"'s premiere, so it's not unheard of.

[Don Mappin]

First, move the SW comments to a new thread on discussing the merits/flaws of D20 SW.

At this time playtesting is still going on for the new Trek game. No official timeframes are being given by Decipher, aside from outside speculation from people such as myself.

The plan is to have it out by the end of the year but it won’t be ready by Gen Con. Fast play rules might be done by then and it would be wise to have them ready by Gen Con to hand out at the Decipher booth to generate interest in the game.

When any milestones in the development of the game are reached you’ll certainly hear them first at TrekRPGNet!


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[Cochrane]

The first Decipher RPG release was planned for next month, and I hope it still is. The team has plenty of experience, and I think they were planning on making it fairly similar to Icon and maybe other established games. The background is definately the same and the rules may be similar.

For a while, I didn't like WCWars very much, but now I think it turned out quite well. I actually think the core book is better written than the TNG one. By the way, I bought WCWars as soon as it came out, and I'm only on chapter six! I only read a little at a time, and get busy with other things. I like WCWars much better than WEGWars so far. I think D20 is very good for SW. I don't particularly like the grittiness, though. I don't consider any of the movies to be gritty, so why should the game be? The art work is good, but a little too cartoony or even Animeic for my tastes.

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!

[Cochrane]

Oops! Sorry Don...

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Games. The Final Product. These are the books of the Star Trek RPG. Their five year license. To explore strange new roles. To breathe new life into get togethers. To boldly play what no fan has played before!