Decipher Trek Update in Game Trade

[Don Mappin]

I’ll ask Christian to see about making a reappearance here to answer your questions. While Steve and I have answers to a lot of your questions, I don’t feel comfortable answering many of them because a) I’m not close to the office and information has likely changed (I don’t want to lead you astray) and b) I’ve signed two contracts that, among other things, contain a non-disclosure section and I don’t want to ruffle any Decipher feathers.


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[This message has been edited by Don (edited 08-28-2001).]

[Steve Long]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Mr. Long, care to comment? Or anything else that you can add at this time? </font>

Nope, 'fraid not. I said everything I was asked/allowed to say in the article.

Steve Long

[Caretaker]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Steve Long:
Nope, 'fraid not. I said everything I was asked/allowed to say in the article.

Steve Long</font>

I had a feeling you were going to say that.

[Cochrane]

Any idea in what order we will see the supplements listed in the first post?

Mandel's star charts are due late next year.

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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 bold... ly play what no... fan... has played... be... fore!

[Cmdr Powers]

Well, I definitely want a copy of Starship Spotter- coming out in November.

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"The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank" -Montgomery Scott

[OMNIBUS]

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

Mandel's star charts are due late next year.
</font>

Thanks, Cochrane

[Caretaker]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AlexR:
I was in the midst of that discussion, and frankly, calling it a "whine-a-fest" is a disservice to the fact that depite some very strong, and differing, opinions on the subject, the people involved were by and large quite respectful to each other. Mr. Ordover went further than anyone could have expected to allow those on the opposing side of the issue to convince him, and a lot of very interesting discussion came out of it. If there was any down-side, it was that at times the board seemed so dominated by the topic that anyone wanting to talk about something else may have despaired of getting a post in edgewise.

And in the end, there is an Excelsior novel in the planning stages, even if it's Mr. Palmieri overseeing it, rather than Mr. Ordover. And based on their work that I've read so far, I'm pretty excited about the authors who have been signed to write it.

To return to the main topic, on balance, the PsiPhi board is a respectful, interesting place for people who enjoy the Trek novels to hang out. (Obviously, if you think they're all "putrid drivel", you probably don't want to spend much time there, 'cause you won't find much support for that viewpoint. ) As First of Two noted, don't make the mistake of generalizing based on a very small sample.

Best,
Alex

(whom some may have observed wrote a polite and positive post regarding LUG, Decipher, and the Trek RPG team on the PsiPhi Trek Books Board)</font>

Good job, Alex. Points well taken, and I agree with you on all counts.

[AlexR]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by First of Two:
Please do not take the opinionated ideas of a few people and assume that they speak for the entire family of posters at psiphi.</font>

Indeed, please don't. There are quite a few of us who enjoy *all* aspects of Trek, and that includes both the novels and the RPG materials.

The general feeling on the topic in question was that Star Trek, as a franchise, benefits when the varied components of its licensing are allowed to work together. I agree with that feeling. "Cross-pollination" of ideas and concepts benefits all, IMHO.

I certainly don't want to get into a debate over which is *better* between the novels and the RPG materials. I collect both, enjoy both, use both as source material for my personal view of the Trek Universe, and as a consumer, would be very, very happy if I could buy gaming sourcebooks derived from the novels, as developed in the Star Wars line for a while.

I can certainly respect the opinion of those who might not want to see that, but I don't agree with it. <shrug>

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I was present for the big "Sulu should have a book line!" Whine-a-fest a year or so ago, when a scant few people ranted and raved and called names, because the editors at PB didn't want to continue an abysmally-selling line just for them.</font>

I was in the midst of that discussion, and frankly, calling it a "whine-a-fest" is a disservice to the fact that depite some very strong, and differing, opinions on the subject, the people involved were by and large quite respectful to each other. Mr. Ordover went further than anyone could have expected to allow those on the opposing side of the issue to convince him, and a lot of very interesting discussion came out of it. If there was any down-side, it was that at times the board seemed so dominated by the topic that anyone wanting to talk about something else may have despaired of getting a post in edgewise.

And in the end, there is an Excelsior novel in the planning stages, even if it's Mr. Palmieri overseeing it, rather than Mr. Ordover. And based on their work that I've read so far, I'm pretty excited about the authors who have been signed to write it.

To return to the main topic, on balance, the PsiPhi board is a respectful, interesting place for people who enjoy the Trek novels to hang out. (Obviously, if you think they're all "putrid drivel", you probably don't want to spend much time there, 'cause you won't find much support for that viewpoint. ) As First of Two noted, don't make the mistake of generalizing based on a very small sample.

Best,
Alex

(whom some may have observed wrote a polite and positive post regarding LUG, Decipher, and the Trek RPG team on the PsiPhi Trek Books Board)

[USS Intrepid]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by AlexR:
(Obviously, if you think they're all "putrid drivel", you probably don't want to spend much time there, 'cause you won't find much support for that viewpoint. ) As First of Two noted, don't make the mistake of generalizing based on a very small sample.

</font>

No one said that all the novels were putrid drivel. Just Peter David's work. And to be fair, it's his recent work that's bad (IMHO). His early work is excellent (also IMHO).



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Captain Daniel Hunter
CO NCC-74600, U.S.S. Intrepid
Star Trek: Intrepid