Canon in the RPG's???

[Blustar]

I know that TNG TV show deviated substantially with the "canon" established by the FASA RPG and novels

How about LUG and Decipher? Are they considered in line with movie canon or their own special canon like the first FASA RPG?

Are Decipher and LUG about the same or are they substantially different?

Are their any products with maps of the Federation and surrounding galaxy in any of the Decipher or LUG books?

thanks for any answers,

[Eryx_uk]

The only things you can truely take as canon are the tv shows and the films.

[PGoodman13]

That said, both LUG and Decipher stick much closer to the on-screen canon than FASA did, mostly because there's more of it and mostly because Paramount got a little more anal about things. Decipher sticks more to on-screen canon than LUG for the same reason.

All of the Decipher books, and I'm pretty sure that all of the LUG books, state on the credits page that the only things that are canon are what appears on-screen.

Decipher and LUG are much the same in terms of canon and source material; the systems are quite a bit different between the two, however.

You're best off getting STAR TREK Star Charts, a non-RPG book, for your maps, etc. There's not a lot of maps available in the Decipher game, at least.

[Blustar]

That said, both LUG and Decipher stick much closer to the on-screen canon than FASA did, mostly because there's more of it and mostly because Paramount got a little more anal about things. Decipher sticks more to on-screen canon than LUG for the same reason.

All of the Decipher books, and I'm pretty sure that all of the LUG books, state on the credits page that the only things that are canon are what appears on-screen.

Decipher and LUG are much the same in terms of canon and source material; the systems are quite a bit different between the two, however.

You're best off getting STAR TREK Star Charts, a non-RPG book, for your maps, etc. There's not a lot of maps available in the Decipher game, at least.

Thanks for the info, exactly what I was looking for. I was also interested in the fluff of LUG/Decipher and I was also wondering if they contradicted each other or complimented each other?

I might use LUG/CODA but I might have to convert them if I don't like the systems. Which game has better setting info?

Do they promote different types of games?

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I might use LUG/CODA but I might have to convert them if I don't like the systems. Which game has better setting info?

The LUG sourcebooks. Decipher's books are generally broad, multi-era, relatively shallow treatments. There's some cool things in the Decipher books here and there (I like the Tellarites from Aliens a little bit better, and their Tholians and Zaranites were really neat) but overall, LUG has more details. If you're going to buy any of the books, I'd suggest the LUG TOS core (which has a map of the TOS federation), the DS9 core, the Andorian and Vulcan sourcebooks, the Time Travel book, and Planetary Adventures.

[Blustar]

The LUG sourcebooks. Decipher's books are generally broad, multi-era, relatively shallow treatments. There's some cool things in the Decipher books here and there (I like the Tellarites from Aliens a little bit better, and their Tholians and Zaranites were really neat) but overall, LUG has more details. If you're going to buy any of the books, I'd suggest the LUG TOS core (which has a map of the TOS federation), the DS9 core, the Andorian and Vulcan sourcebooks, the Time Travel book, and Planetary Adventures.

How hard would it be to convert to CODA , if for instance I liked that system better? I'm not sure which system to run yet, but I do want to try a Star Trek RPG, always wanted to. Thanks for the info...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

How hard would it be to convert to CODA , if for instance I liked that system better? I'm not sure which system to run yet, but I do want to try a Star Trek RPG, always wanted to. Thanks for the info...

There's little mechanical information in LUG that wasn't converted to Decipher's CODA system; a lot of the second was written by the same guys who wrote the former.

[C5]

Well there have been some conversion guidelines on how to switch from ICON to CODA (some can be found here).
I agree that using the information from ICON with the rules from CODA can be a good compromise.
As far as I can recall, the major non-canon races in LUG were the Taurhai (mainly described in the Romulan extension), and the Centaurans as possible PC race (they are not specifically non-canon, but I think actually Centaurans are never officially referenced on the show). CODA was closer to canon but contained less information (or extrapolation).

[The Tatterdemalion King]

but I think actually Centaurans are never officially referenced on the show). CODA was closer to canon but contained less information (or extrapolation).

The Centaurans were in SOM, if I recall correctly...

[K.G. Carlson]

I'd agree with LUG for fluff and CODA for crunch as a good way to go, especially if you dig starship combat.