The End Has Come

[Dr_Sage]

I have 2 feelings about that:

1) good: truth is revealed and we can move on as pointed above.

2) bad: yet another system goes to hell. I actually like Dechipher CODA a lot for Star Trek abstract ship to ship action. I don´t botter if D20 does it IF, and only IF they keep the same abstract ship to ship interacion (along with repair rules etc.).

Thanks again for the heads up, and count on us.

[Mazza]

Well, you never know. With the new movie about to make big waves in the next twelve months, WotC might pick it up as a D20 license - or maybe even Mongoose will pick it up for use with their new Traveller RPG. Or maybe the license is so undesirable at the moment that TFG could afford it and go the whole hog and finally call 'Prime Directive' by it's real name

Me, I just discovered ICON so I have all the Trek RPG goodness I could possibly want and at bargain bin prices

If this movie actually goes ahead as planned, I'll not be playing a new Star Trek RPG covered with it. The one I have is good enough and treats the Trek franchise with the respect it deserves.

I also don't want to see a Wizards treatment of Trek, not because of any objection to the d20 system, but because I don't think the Wizards style of game development would be appropriate for a Trek RPG.

More power to Mongoose for being one of the few RPG companies which seems to be actively producing new games as opposed to supplements, but it would help if their games didn't feel like D&D "splat books" in terms of their quality, especially in regards to playtesting and editing. I don't want to see a Trek RPG made by Mongoose in the customary fashion of Mongoose RPGs.

Prime Directive is great for roleplaying in the Star Fleet Universe but that's not the same thing as a Star Trek RPG, and I don't think ADB (who took over publication of all the SFU games when TFG, their old publisher, went under) would be too interested in making a Star Trek RPG - they want Prime Directive to be an RPG set in their Trek-derived universe.

All in all, I am not sure I want a new Star Trek RPG, at least not done by any of these companies. All of them make fine games, but I don't think any of them would have any interest in doing a Star Trek RPG in the way it should be done. CODA and LUG were Star Trek the way it should've been done. I'd love to see somebody make a new Trek RPG in the tradition of LUG and CODA.

[C5]

Thanks for the news Patrick, and to everyone who did his best to keep CODA Trek alive even though it was clear for some time that Decipher had the license on life-support with a hand on the plug.

I'm not quite sure Trek would need a new system to take over. It seems to me there are already a lot of good systems around, and that a bit of combination of all of them would be enough to ensure a good game for everyone.
Beside, I don't think the next movie would be enough to renew the interest in the franchise - a new series would do that, and right now, this does not seem likely to happen in the near future.

[spshu]

What does that mean in regards to the pdf books at drivethru? Will they remain available or are they gone as well?

I just check, they are gone.

Thanks for the news Patrick.

And thank you, and everyone else, who have tried to keep it alive.

Not the best of news. But at least, if they did not renewed the license, someone else can pick it up. The really bad news would had been "We renewed the license as it was bundled with the CCG, but we will not continue the line as it is not profitable."
<snip>

It seem like they did the last time the license was up.

[Cmmdr JT Wayland]

Guys,

I feel honour bound to spring to the Defence of Mongoose, I know they have had some problems with quality control over the years (which has greatly improved), but so have had Decipher, but at least they care about their customers and they produce their products on time or least give good reasons why they maybe late.

And, to be honest, I have considered going to work for them on a couple of occassions when they have put up Job vaccancies on their forums (and how many RPG Companies do that), but the thought of travelling an hour or more from Salisbury (where I live) up to Swindon along some of worst and least straight roads in Wiltshire has always put me off.

But, are we ever going to see Paramount put the RPG license out to tender again? My guess is no, it is not going to happen, the RPG Community is not large enough to be profitable. And also, we don't know if the new Star Trek film is going to be a success or not, so almost certainly the RPG is not going to be included in the merchandising plan.

So, personnally I feel that we are not going to see another version of the Star Trek RPG published by any game company.

But, if I am wrong and it is published again, let it be published by some company like Mongoose, who are gamers and care about other gamers.

[Ineti]

I just check, they are gone.

You didn't look in the right place, I guess:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index....cturers_id=110

[First of Two]

I want to see Warren Holland go into business with Pat Lee.

Only because I've never seen a business actually implode into a black hole before, and I think that pair could manage it.

[black campbellq]

THanks Patrick,
Personally, I hope TREK doesn'T get picked up by WotC or Mongoose. I'd rather have no Star Trek RPG than a bad Star Trek RPG. Besides, there are a few "dead" but sericeable Star Trek RPGs out there.

Just so.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

But, if I am wrong and it is published again, let it be published by some company like Mongoose, who are gamers and care about other gamers.

Except for the part where they make a D20 Babylon 5 game. Wtf!

[Cut]

Except for the part where they make a D20 Babylon 5 game. Wtf!

I quite often hear people uttering complaints about Mongoose's Babylon 5 RPG. Aside from the fact that it is a d20 game, what do you guys think is wrong with the game.

Let's discuss this here, to avoid spamming this thread.

[Renny]

I just want to say thanks for all the persistence you've shown and the work you've put in.

It is appreciated and at least we know where we stand.

Renny

[black campbellq]

The Decipher system was my favorite of the Trek games, and I think enough was published to make real use of the game. You can build any creature/alien you need. You can create the worlds and settings you need. The rules cover the series (save Enterprise well.) While I would have liked a bit more material to ease the amount of work I was doing, our campaign wasn't harmed at all. If you've watched the shows, you really don't need a book to tell you how things work in the universe.

There's enough there to do a Trek game without more product. I will use it again, should I return to Trek for gaming. (Funnily enough, the announcement coincides with the wrap on our 5 year Trek campaign...)

[tonyg]

I'd like to publicly thank Patrick for having the persistence to get something from Decipher I was never able to as Net Rep. A straight answer.

Not for lack of trying Doug. I recall quite a few posts of your that included "I send an email to Decipher about that, but haven't gotten an aswer yet." You take a bow too. The pair of you sequentially went over and above the call of duty for Trek.

I think the only real difference and reason why Patrick got an answer was that the license finally expired.

As far as I'm concerned, both you and Patrick deserve a medal. In fact, as a long standing member of the board, I'm nominating the pair of you for the STARFLEET MEDAL OF HONOR.

We should put that in with your signatures. It may be a virtual award, but you guys earned something for all that effort, not to mention for the few times you managed to pull a rabbit out of Decipher's hat (considering where Decipher's heads at, I hope you guys wore rubber gloves! )

[tonyg]

Guys,

I feel honour bound to spring to the Defence of Mongoose, I know they have had some problems with quality control over the years (which has greatly improved), but so have had Decipher, but at least they care about their customers and they produce their products on time or least give good reasons why they maybe late.


But, if I am wrong and it is published again, let it be published by some company like Mongoose, who are gamers and care about other gamers.

Considering what a hack job Matt Sprange and friends did on RuneQuest, I'd say you have your work cut out for you depending Mongoose, the idea that they are gamers, or that they care about other gamers.

MOngoose Trek, would break everything down into 30-40 different supplements, each underpaged, overpriced, dysfunctional, and slated for correction in a revised edition, a year or two down the line.


If we must have another Trek RPG, please, let it be by some some small RPG company, so we can get a quality book, rather than by one of the big companies.


Although, a WHite Wolf Arthaus redtion of CODA or ICON would be sweet. Not that it would happen.

[D.S.McBride]

Originally posted by tonyg
As far as I'm concerned, both you and Patrick deserve a medal. In fact, as a long standing member of the board, I'm nominating the pair of you for the STARFLEET MEDAL OF HONOR.

I go the big one-ten with this, tonyg, and, in fact, I think the award should be made a triple-threat occasion: the commendation goes to Patrick, Doug and Don. The efforts that these three men made on our behalves - over the course of the godforsaken near-seven years that Decipher held the license - are proof-positive that integrity and perseverence are not dead values, even in this day and age...they've just sort of taken a permanent vacation from the Decipher offices.

Yesterday evening, after finishing my twelve-hour day, I sat down for a bit and persused some of the posts that have demarcated the turning points in the "evolution" and eventual disintegration of the DecipherTrek experience. Looking over Don's early editorials, the hope that they resonated with...the initial reactions to the introduction of the Coda system...and then the delays, delays and more delays that characterized the latter part of '02 through '03...the final spat of sub-standard releases (at least in the case of the Narrator's Screen), and the cancellation of the Limited Edition...the '04 New Year's present of announcing the closing of the Miniatures and RPG Studio...and the consequential sinking into the proverbial LaBrae Tar Pit that became Decipher's RPG legacy. And, finally, the release of a [extremely heavy sarcasm]virtual slew of downloadable adventures[/extremely heavy sarcasm], and the two Drive-Thru works that noted Decipher's final, tremulous utterance before the administrative consumption took DecipherTrek into a permanent coma from which it never recovered.

Sigh. Well, enough negativity for now...we can at least rest assured in the fact that the population here demonstrated enough willpower and gumption to steamroller Decipher a dozen times over. While I have virtually no knowledge of the game companies that several members here have brought up as potential next-at-bat, we can proceed on with a more or less clean slate and the hope that, whoever tries it next, they've got the single worst possible object lesson in front of them as a cautionary tale of what to avoid doing.