FASA Adventure modules

[jedimuldoon]

Sooo...what should my post be about.............................................


Writer's Block!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


mmm...ok how about Decipher conversion for the above books?

I keep reading about "I'm keeping the Triangle"

i found some stuff at

thetriangle.prohosting.com

www.barrayar.demon.co.uk


but that's it


Time for Commercial Break

Anyone checked out my 22nd Century Forum in Star Trek Chat???

Thx for reading


"To explore where we're going, where we've been. The pitfalls, the possibilites and the promise. Maybe find the answer to the ultimate question, Wny?

-Doc Brown

[Dan Stack]

A Decipher Conversion would be a little tricky at this point, since the only people who have the knowledge to do so would be violating Non-Disclosure Agreements to do so.

That said, there's not a whole lot to convert - most of the ships have already been converted - a search of Spacedock will find most of them and I imagine we'll see people convert individual ships as they see fit to Coda.

Adapting for a 24th century setting would be more of a challenge - can a frontier stay wild for a hundred years?

[jedimuldoon]

welllllllllllllll there's always the Gamma and Delta Quardrants

[Owen E Oulton]

"I keep reading about "I'm keeping the Triangle"

i found some stuff at
thetriangle.prohosting.com
www.barrayar.demon.co.uk "

Unfortunately, neither of those sites has anything at all to do with the FASA "Triangle" setting. The Triangle was detailed in two game books, The Triangle and The Triangle Campaign. The first gave game statistics for the notable planets in the Triangle and a section on the political and economic situation in the area. The second was a series of adventures set in the Triangle itself. These adventures were all interlinked and set against a background of predetermined events.

[tonyg]

And the biggest obstacle to converting the setting is that the people who can write for Decipher don't own the rights to the product.

Theroetically if enough people told Decipher that they wanted and will willing to buy such a product they might work towards aqauring the rights for the old FASA stuff, but ti would take a lot of people to make it worth Decipher's tribble-er trouble.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

I'm still wondering about the legal issues invovled in PDFing the old FASA modules and making them available online (possibly with ICON or CODA adaptations). I'd be willing to do this, but ONLY if it can be done without violating the law (though I'm guessing this is probably likely to be the case). And of course, it would be a long term project, if it was even legally possible.

But does anyone know exactly where the copyright for the old FASA stuff lies these days? I seem to recall FASA went bust, but I'm not sure if I recall that correctly.

[Dan Stack]

FASA is indeed among the departed. However, their copyrights are like any other asset - they go somewhere. They may revert back to the authors or in the case of licensed property it is possible it reverts back to Paramount. Not sure.

I really wish that copyright laws would loosen up - the intent of them was to make something under copyrighted for a limited amount of time. In 1790 an item was under copyright for just 14 years with an ability to renew another 14 years.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

It's a pity FASA went the way of the Dodo. Too many games companies (and games) seem to go the same way.

Still, I've been slowly filling all the gaps in my FASA Trek collection, and I would dearly love to be able to share this stuff. I feel it's just too good to let it fade quietly into Trek RPG history.

So knowing the legal status would be really helpful. Of course, if it's a no go, so be it.

I just love my old FASA modules. And I recently, finally (after having lost a bid three times previously) got my hands on a copy of the Triangle campaign book. Much coolness

[Dan Stack]

I don't have the webpage handy, but a lot of the original creators of the Trek game can be found at MC+ Productions. They might know the copyright status. Really nice guys - corresponded with Guy McLimore a few times post-FASA-Trek, pre-LUG-Trek.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Great suggestion Dan, cheers

I'll try and see what I can find out.

[tonyg]

Hmm,

With WotC having such success with an Open Liscense product line (D20) and BTRC coming out with thier own Open Liscense line, I wonder if someone at Decipher might consider an Open Liscense for CODA? It seem like a good market strategy.

With all the people who are fond of the FASA TREK stuff, people like Greg Poehein and Guy McLimore could do quite well writing new adventures. Although I suppose that as Star Trek belongs to Paramount open CODA TREK is out of the question.

[Owen E Oulton]

There's two issues at hand here - the copyright on the actual material, and the rights to use the trademarked characters, setting and indicia.

The copyrights may have reverted to the authors, or they may still reside with the owners of the now-defunct FASA Corporation. Even were the copyright holders inclined to reissue their works (I dunno, maybe they are), the license is no longer in effect, so if they did so they could be in trouble with Paramount, owners of the aforementioned trademarks, at least if they did so in commercial format. They might be able to issue them for free in .PDF oe other electronic format, as some of the former LUG writers did with their unpublished stuff.

I understand that Steve (Spacedock) Long is a copyright lawyer by training, so he'd know much more about it than I do. On the other tentacle, he's busy with his own games company and doing Spacedock supplements in his spare time (what's that?), so don't everyone go bothering him about it.

[Maltese_Falcon]

Does anyone have any idea about what the starship combat system for Decipher's TREK RPG will be like? Frankly, I liked FASA's Starship Combat system. It seemed a bit simplistic, but it was quick to learn and easy to use, though some of the earlier versions of it (like what came with the First Edition Rules) left a lot to be desired.

I just got Decipher's TREK RPG Player's Guide today and it looks great! Can't wait to start using it (need to build a playing group first). I only wish they released most of the gaming material at once.

Since many of us are FASA fans to some degree, what's to keep anyone from using the old FASA gaming system to run new campaigns? I only ask because I've got the complete FASA rules plus some supplements. Also, how does one contact Gui McLimore about possibly writing more adventures? Thanks.

-John

"And those are just some of the benefits of an all-cheese diet." -- Dogbert