What do you think of DecTrek?

[Maltese_Falcon]

Maybe I'm just biased toward FASA, but I found that system well laid out, easy to understand, and fun to use. This is my first exposure to the CODA system under Decipher, so it took a little getting used to. I think in time I'll learn to like it, but like I said, it's gonna take me time to get used to it.

[AllenS]

In most respects, I like the new game. I am getting used to the character creation aspect and it's pretty decent. I have actually ran one session and it went fairly well. I personally don't see a problem with the fact that characters are more able to take damage. I can always institute a "knockout called shot" rule if I want someone to able to take out a guard in one punch or some such.

I have been working on recreating the characters from my presently dormant campaign and so far have not ran into one that I can't make work.

I am very much looking forward to the Narrator's Guide.

Allen

[Lockhart]

Let me qualify my glowing review of I must be dreaming. First, it has taken me a bit longer than I expected to get the hang of the character creation and the system itself. But this is so simple once you drop your previous LUG experience and pick it up, that people who have never played Icon will not be hampered at all. It's very easy to pick up if you read the chart at the top of pages 20-21. You can construct a character easily enough going in order from the attribute section onward.

I'm also glad that if I want to become a captain, I can do so within 2 to 4 advancements (depending on if the character should have the right amount of Promotion or not). I can also spend those advancement picks to become a kick-butt security chief/engineering officer/introspective wanderer, etc..

Secondly, this game system has expansion capability beyond the genre of Star Trek that is unbelievable. I for one can't wait for the Lord of the Rings game. I've never been as excited about a game as I am about this one after getting my hands on it. It was well worth the wait.

Now to scrounge up the odd hundreds of dollars I'm gonna need to get the new releases for both games when they come out....

Lockhart

[Troy_Of_Borg]

I really like the system.

I find it a fast and easy to make new characters.

Also running a game will be really easy too.

I can't wait to get the Narrator Book.

[Gabriel]

I voted a 3, but that's not too much of a compliment. I don't like most things coming out in terms of RPGs nowadays. I was about to give the book a 2 (while I do agree with the sentiment listed for rating it a 1, I don't think the new book is that horrible), but I decided to be optimistic.

The game is d20 with the d20 terms filed off and ICON terms put in their place. The game has classes and is actively hostile to anyone that wants to progress a character outside of whatever class they are.

The game is incomplete. Its strange how $30 and 256 pages doesn't get you much of anything in terms of an RPG today. I got a character generation method and a basic mechanic, and I have to wait for the Narrator's Guide for the rest. I knew that was what I was getting, but it's still depressing.

On the good side, I thought it would be a $35 or $40 book, so the $30 price tag was oddly a pleasant surprise.

Unlike d20 Star Wars, which was so bad I immediately wanted to make a Gungan Jedi Guardian who constantly would say "Usa da force!" I didn't have the urge to make a Talaxian Merchant or Scientist or anything else generally dumb. I almost immediately wanted to make a serious character and play. So, the game passed the first major acid test.

I am hoping that the Movie Era sourcebook will be one of the first things out of the gate after the Narrator's Guide. I want TOS stuff, and the movie era was sorely missed under ICON Trek.

[Dan Stack]

The game is d20 with the d20 terms filed off and ICON terms put in their place. The game has classes and is actively hostile to anyone that wants to progress a character outside of whatever class they are.

Having played (and enjoyed) both d20 Star Wars and Coda Star Trek, I think I disagree, though I'm not certain what "actively hostile" means.

Is it trivial to change from a Starfleet Officer to an Ambassador? No, it requires some commitment, planning ahead of time, etc.

In the real world, is it trivial to change from an engineer to a businessman? Typically you are talking about a few years persuing your MBA part-time (non-professional skills?) followed by convincing people you can actually do marketing, sales, etc.

It is actually easier in d20 to change professions. In D&D, you can be Reldigard the Bold, Dragon Slayer, and then, at least according to the rules, decide you want to be a wizard next time you go up a level. Similarly, in Star Wars, the journey from Bounty Hunter to Jedi Knight is the acquisition of the Force Sensitive Feat and advancing your next level in a Force-using class.

(My opinion only. I was just a playtester and don't have access to the contents of Ross', Don's, etc. brains.. )

[AllenS]

Originally posted by Gabriel

The game is d20 with the d20 terms filed off and ICON terms put in their place. The game has classes and is actively hostile to anyone that wants to progress a character outside of whatever class they are.

I'm not sure you and I read the same book then, but I guess you're entitled to your opinions.

In some ways, yes, the Coda system has cosmetic similarities to d20..and this is not a bad thing. Like it or not, d20 in it's D&D incarnation is the world's most popular RPG system. From a business standpoint, you can be different for the sake of being different and sell far less copies, or you can use tried and true design elements and maybe woo some of those players away from d20 Star Wars and the like. Coda also has some signficant design DIFFERENCES from d20, and I like those differences.

As for flexibility and changing "classes" and all that..I see no classes in Star Trek. I see professions, which are essentially skill packages. I also a game that does one thing that NONE of the preceding Star Trek games do. As you may recall according to "canon". Jim Kirk started out in Security and transferred to command. Can't really do that in FASA, and it was hard to do in ICON, but it can be done in Coda. Yes, making a character who, say, was a Merchant and then becomes Starfleet Officer is more difficult...and it should be. I only know of one character in all of the franchise who has done that, and that's Mayweather on Enterprise.

Allen

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Originally posted by Gabriel

The game is d20 with the d20 terms filed off and ICON terms put in their place. The game has classes and is actively hostile to anyone that wants to progress a character outside of whatever class they are.

The game is incomplete. Its strange how $30 and 256 pages doesn't get you much of anything in terms of an RPG today. I got a character generation method and a basic mechanic, and I have to wait for the Narrator's Guide for the rest. I knew that was what I was getting, but it's still depressing.

As someone who actually plays D&D 3e I strongly disagree. I don't think it's that similar to D20. OK, so they both have a Player's and a Narrator's book, but the idea of a PG and an NG is a good, one IMHO (though I would have rather had both released together). Hey, if you don't like it don't bother buying the NG. No one's making you buy or play the game

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Gabriel
I didn't have the urge to make a Talaxian Merchant or Scientist or anything else generally dumb.

Dumb to you, that is. Sounds like a narrow-minded view that everyone will play the game as you will/would.

A Talaxian merchant? I think I've seen that on a show somewhere on how that could be a viable character concept...

The books were split up for the reason that player's wouldn't have to spend a lot of money to get in the game, purchasing information they wouldn't need (the NG stuff). Typically only 1-2 people in a group bother to get anything beyond what the players need. In the group of six I play with with, D&D for example, five own PHBs, only two of us have anything of substance beyond that (DMG, FRCS, etc).

So, have a $40 buy-in for everyone, not covering everything in as much detail as one would like, or split the books up, with a $30 buy-in for players and another $30 for the Narrator--with the added advantage of covering the material in more detail? Guess I'm not seeing the problem.

All IMO, of course.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Well as a player and narrator I would have much preferred the PG and NG to be released simultaneously, but that's a minor gripe given that it's only another month to wait.

I like the idea of a PG and an NG, for the simple act that my players can get the PG, and get the basic stuff, and I can get the PG and the NG with the more detailed stuff in it. And my players don't have to worry about that other stuff. Besides, £40 for the two books is rpetty good IMHO.

So it works for me, but I don't doubt there's plenty who will hate it because "it isn't FASA" or "it isn't ICON" or "it's too much like D20" or "Prime Directive is much better" or whatever.

Each to their own I guess.

[Lee T]

The fact that it looked so much like d20 was a big problem for me (since I don't like AT ALL the d20 system).

BUT there are enough difference to make me like it, the combat sstem use skills instead of being based on that stupid level/class/feat system, and the advancement system can easily be reworked so that nothing remotely looking like a level will be there. So while looking like a d20 book it's not a d20 book.

Better than I expected.

[Samurai]

It was better than I expected, and contrary to a previous poster, one thing and one thing ONLY made me get this book: The large number of options for non-starfleet characters.

The Trek universe is SO much bigger than just Starfleet, but that is all the Icon TNG game let you play. Because of that, I was never able to get anyone to play even a single game of it. Besides the goody-goody image, lack of character choices, and fairly limited campaign choices, there was always the huge spector of the CHAIN OF COMMAND! Yes, you must take orders from me, I'm your superior officer!

Although I looked through the Icon DS9 book, it still did not have enough non-starfleet options to satisfy me, and by then, my group was dead set against anything Trek.

When I saw all the choices available in the Coda version, I was overjoyed! FINALLY, a Trek game that opens up the universe of possible characters instead of forcing you to play Starfleet Bridge Crews! That single fact alone is what made me buy the book, and I hope the trend continues!

Its about time the Trek universe went "where no one has gone before..." ...outside Starfleet!

[AslanC]

I say this with no shame.

This is what D20 should have been.

Smooth and by the numbers, with a graceful logic thus far.

[Karg]

I should be picking up my copy tommorow. From what i saw of a friends copy, I like. I can see the D20 influance

Karg

PS 400 Posts Woohoo

[Wraith2000_uk]

I can see the D20 influance

This is the point I think people are missing, The basic mechanic of the game IS different from "The D20" system, but the ESSENCE of that mechanic ( dice roll+attribute mod+skill level ) is the same.
Are we saying rolling 2d6 is better or worse than rolling d20?. To me, all that matters is that I own a game that I enjoy playing. And I will enjoy playing this.


Wraith