Decipher Trek Wishlist and Rap Session

[Christian Moore]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Cessna:
My biggest "fear" is that the new Trek game will become so TNG/DS9/VOY-centric that the TOS era will appear to be a pasted-on afterthought.

As I've stated many times, I like the TOS era, and am not a big fan of TNG/DS9/VOY as a role-playing background.

I'm worried that when Decipher combines all of the eras into "core books," the TOS era will be treated like the proverbial red-headed step-child...</font>

We're currently discussing this issue. All of us are big fans of TOS (with Ken as our resident uber-fan, of course

The issue is two-fold:

First, there's a *lot* more material out there for the later series. Creative inertia dictates that they'll receive more coverage.

Second, we watched a rather extreme segmentation occur with our LUG products. TOS seemed to attract a pretty die-hard core following, but it was a very small following compared to the other game lines. To put this into perspective, we sold almost *ten times* the number of TNG as TOS core books. Obviously, the TNG book had been out for a longer period of time, but we also tracked our sales on a monthly basis, and TOS sales dropped off rather precipitously while TNG sales remained a constant.

I suppose my response is this: If there's enough concrete demand for a product, we'll produce it. Currently we don't perceive that kind of demand for TOS-only products. For the TOS era to receive its due, it'll need to be covered in the other, larger products.

Rest assured that Ken will do everything in his power to make sure it gets *more* than its fair share of coverage...

Christian

[Christian Moore]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Lt. Dade:
p.s. I haven't seen his name all over: is Matt Colville a part of Decipher West?</font>

Yes, he is. You'll find him back in the cave-like rear of the office with George Vasilakos. Look for the lava lamp and the glowing flowers...

Christian

[AslanC]

Okay here goes;

I wish my players hadn't been so scared by the Decipher NDA that they balked on the chance for us to be playtesters right now.

That aside;

I hope and pray that the internal art will be improved greatly and that there will be more images from the shows/movies (Heck Decipher has tons of them for thier CCG)

I also hope that the ships will be more Star Trek looking and have the 3 or 5 view set up so we can truely get an idea of what they look like. The most popular old FASA books are the Recognition manuals and IMHO they set the standard which now must be bettered. And if anyone is up to it, it is you guys. (No I am not sucking up...okay well maybe alittle bit)

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

[Roy Cowan]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AslanC:
I also hope that the ships will be more Star Trek looking and have the 3 or 5 view set up so we can truely get an idea of what they look like. The most popular old FASA books are the Recognition manuals and IMHO they set the standard which now must be bettered.</font>

I have to second this. IMO, FASA did the best job of anyone I've seen so far in creating original ships that still had the same aesthetic style as the "official" ones.

I preferred their first edition SRMs, though, because they did include more of the three-quarters views that give you a good idea how the ship really looks. They also had more extensive coverage of the ships. The second edition manuals had more ships, but a lot of them seemed redundant and didn't have as much detail as the first edition manual. Of course, part of that was (I think) an emphasis on the starship tactical system in the second edition, whereas the first was more of a roleplaying supplement.

As far as the rest, I prefer the unified core rulebook setup. I think LUG did a good job of making the rulebooks distinct, but I'd rather have it all in one package.

-- Roy

[AllenS]

I'd sign ANY NDA, no matter how restrictive, to be given a chance to playtest this sucker! Oh well...

Just read the preview Don posted and so far I like everything that's in it. I think that DecipherTrek is on the right track, and I look forward to putting down the cash for it when it comes out.

If there's anything I really would like to see this time out, it's products like the Expanded Universe stuff that was going to be done, useful accross all eras of Trek and giving those of us who don't simply want to follow in the series footsteps some stuff to play with

I'm psyched for this game!

Allen
Allensh@yahoo.com

[Christian Moore]

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


If there's anything I really would like to see this time out, it's products like the Expanded Universe stuff that was going to be done, useful accross all eras of Trek and giving those of us who don't simply want to follow in the series footsteps some stuff to play with </font>

This is essentially the direction *most* of our releases will be taking, with a few exceptions (like the series-specific hardbacks).

Our distributors were clamoring for more Expanded Universe material the first time around; the one Expanded Universe book that actually shipped (All Our Yesterdays) sold *very* well for us.

Christian

[Christian Moore]

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

I wish my players hadn't been so scared by the Decipher NDA that they balked on the chance for us to be playtesters right now.
</font>

Could you send me a private email and elaborate on this? It's a pretty standard NDA, and much more forgiving than many I've seen.

Thanks,

Christian

[calguard66]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Christian Moore:
Could you send me a private email and elaborate on this? It's a pretty standard NDA, and much more forgiving than many I've seen.

Thanks,

Christian

</font>

Sigh... now if we could only get somebody from the series on here who could be as responsive!

I have to say that, from what I've seen and read, I have TONS of faith in the new RPG... and almost none in the series.

Well, they could always follow the Voyager example... but moreso. Crew the ship with 150 Jeri Ryans and make it Baywatch in Space. I'll watch it, but with the sound off.

(BTW: I like 7 of 9, but think that her depth and Jeri's ability to play her well were accidents and secondary to two other, rather prominent, considerations)


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"I'd rather die standing than live on my knees..."
Shania Twain

[Don Mappin]

Please do not ask to participate in the playtest.

Those invited were selected because we have a limited timeframe to conduct testing and need a manageable group to solicit input.

So please, no more playtest requests, either publicly or via mail.

Thank you.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[Lt. Dade]

Thanks for hearing us, Christian. And thanks for giving us some answers. I'm thrilled with how fast this new game seems to be emerging. I mean, between Don's article (thanks again!) and my optimism, I could playing the new game before I see the new series! (Fast Play or not!)

On the wishlist: I love the Icon Trek chargen, except the sheer volume of numbers slows my players down. Can the new system keep focusing on the eras in a character's life during creation? It sounds like it does, but I wanted to be sure and vote for it anyway.

Is there any posibility of getting periodical support for the new Trek game? In the case of D&D, I think Dragon Magazine is one of the best references available. Regular, multi-topic updates on Trek gaming would be fantastic.

And, if possible, please send the word on to Matt Colville that RA! wants to live! I hope there's still a big market for the disk games.

Much obliged!

word,
will

[Flamestrike]

My personal wishlist includes writeups on federation ground forces and fighter groups, now not only logical extensions of the Starfleet, but canon (per DS9) as well.

spotlighting the differences between the Maquis raider and the Peregrin fighter would also be useful.

Oh, and a couple more things: Please provide illustrations for all the starships provided! It's one thing to see the Telaurhi Star Dragon's stats on paper, but a picture of said fearsome ship is worth a thousand words. Also, when you do ship illustrations, giving some idea of scale would be useful as well.

Thanks lots!

[OMEGA4]

I wish to second the motions put forth by EricR, AslanC, and Flamestrike above. Fasa's Recognition Manuals are excellent works and a grand strategic game in the vein of Federation and Empire would be spectacular. I have high hopes for "Engage" being equal to and/or better than SFB.

[Don Mappin]

Gotta agree – the FASA SRMs were awesome. I’ll admit bits were lacking, like the plethora of destroyers and monitors that were nothing more than a block of stats and two lines of text. The original, well thought-out ships with background and history were great, though.

Okay, who doesn’t love the Romulan “Winged Defender?”

I’m hoping to talk Christian into a two-page horizontal spread that has the ship timeline/lineage ala the FASA SRMs. Those are a great resource for Narrators who want to know when a ship was in service and were especially important in a multi-era setting such as Star Trek.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[Captain Blake]

Pictures in the SRMs get a big thumbs up from me. Especially if the like in the first FASA SRM. Multiside views perfect for scaring the bejezus out of the players.

I'm not a big starship battles fan, so a SFB like thing (Engage) doesn't hold much interest for me unless it has really neat pictures I can use elsewhere.

The timeline of ships idea is great Don, I'll second that motion.

And truely, the Romulan Winged Defender rocked.

Alex

[AslanC]

Sorry Don...I'll talk to you in e-mail...I am a bad man.

As for the SRMS, I think a fore, aft, side, top and bottom views are a must, plus the 3/4 forward view helps establish the overall feeling of the ship. The downside is that this takes up extra pages. But soemthing else tells me if this is done and the cost of the book goes up, they will still be the best selling books of the series

Oh and those timelines rocked in the FASA SRMS...as well as the Klingon and Romulan one having the page of counters that could be copied onto cardstock for use

Oh and Don, im my FASA Days nothing scared my players more than the statment "Sir...Romulan Winged Defender decloaking starboard!" What the players lose their minds and their training all at once! Love that ship.

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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.

[This message has been edited by AslanC (edited 04-27-2001).]