Extra, Extra, read all about it!

[KillerWhale]

Who's in favor of allowing Decipher to publish only one Star Trek supplement a year or two, and just let the fans do the rest?

I'm definitely not...!
Access to Trek is much more difficult and time-consuming than LOTR. In LOTR, you have tons of books on Middle-Earth (HOME to say the least) that provide you with all the info you wan, while Trek has lots of info, canonical, semi-canonical, not canonical, invented, parallel etc... and you need full-time developers to have supplements, with the approbation of TPTB.
I would rather favor a reverse situation... One LOTR supplement a year and all the rest for Trek.

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by KillerWhale
while Trek has lots of info, canonical, semi-canonical, not canonical, invented, parallel etc... and you need full-time developers to have supplements, with the approbation of TPTB.

Well thats good then, as your list immediatly trims the workload right down.

I believe that the liscencing deal means that of your list of source material, only canonical and invented are allowed, with approval.

So if anyone is bored and looking for something to do, its the semi-canonical, not canonical, invented, parallel lines that should be explored...

Things like the New Frontier, the Stargazer novels, species of your own invention, conversions of other universes (like a B5/Trek parralel universe, imagine Captain James Kirk of the Earth Alliance cruiser, Enterprise. Sounds funny, but the dates are about right)

[REG]

Originally posted by KillerWhale

I'm definitely not...!
Access to Trek is much more difficult and time-consuming than LOTR. In LOTR, you have tons of books on Middle-Earth (HOME to say the least) that provide you with all the info you wan,

Actually, Decipher's LOTR RPG license is limited to LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit books.

while Trek has lots of info, canonical, semi-canonical, not canonical, invented, parallel etc... and you need full-time developers to have supplements, with the approbation of TPTB.
I would rather favor a reverse situation... One LOTR supplement a year and all the rest for Trek.

Trim it and focus on canonical information ... from film & television series with accepted reference source such as the Star Trek Encyclopedia.

I don't want semi- or non-canonical information from Decipher. I prefer to get those from fandom.

Personally, the big money-maker is Lord of the Rings. Even though the game is not tied to the film version, it is catching on with the mainstream audience. Any marketing suit with enough gray matter (or one functioning brain cell) would try to promote tie-in with the movie openings and DVD sales.

Sorry, but that's the Ferengi Merchant in me.

[KillerWhale]

Excellent point Dan. I agree the fan sourcebooks should focus, either on sources that ain't canonical, or on subjects that would be deemed not-commercial for Decipher (as science or medical sbs). For instance, it would make no sense to do a Starships or Aliens books (or, maybe, when Decipher is done with these subjects). But a science sourcebook would definitely hit the nail on the head.

But I think the fanbase cannot replace Decipher when it comes to canon stuff, be it rules or content. The folks at Decipher must spend a helluva time playtesting things, balancing the game and checking things, which obviously, due to a lack of time (we got other jobs ) fans cannot do. When it comes to canon, they need Paramount's approval - which IMO makes the stuff solid.

(Of course I'm not including Spacedock in here - after all it was to be an official LUG supplement, which makes it different)

[Ineti]

Originally posted by REG
Don't get me wrong. I simply want those former LUG staff to keep their job at Decipher a little longer. If we let the fans do it, then what are they going to do?

I don't get it. How would a fan publication stop Decipher from doing anything? Once I finish the medbook, nothing's stopping Decipher from making one of their own.

Say Decipher says "We won't be doing a series sourcebook for TNG until 2008." And say there's a fan or three out there who can get a TNG series netbook made well before then. If they make it, do you really think Decipher will say, "Oh, there's already a fan version. We can't do it." ??

Originally posted by REG
Who's in favor of allowing Decipher to publish only one Star Trek supplement a year or two, and just let the fans do the rest?

Hell, no. I can do netbooks because they're fun to put together and create, but I want to see this game last for a long time. I'll support the Trek RPG as long as they keep bringing out the quality products they've been doing. I'd like to see Decipher bring out 7, 8, 9 supplements a year if possible.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by KillerWhale
But I think the fanbase cannot replace Decipher when it comes to canon stuff, be it rules or content. The folks at Decipher must spend a helluva time playtesting things, balancing the game and checking things, which obviously, due to a lack of time (we got other jobs ) fans cannot do. When it comes to canon, they need Paramount's approval - which IMO makes the stuff solid.

I have to disagree. If a fan decides to write a netbook and bases it on canonical sources, the only thing missing once it's done would be Paramount's seal of approval on it. If the writers are dedicated to making it a quality netbook, they will take the time to playtest it and checking it.

[tmutant]

I vote science. Anything to help players get a handle on their character, get into the role.

[REG]

What if the netbook is better than (Heaven forbid!) the Decipher product? Since netbooks are usually free, if this occur, I would take the netbook. That means one unsold Decipher product.

Now if others also agree with me then there will more unsold Decipher products.

Of course, if the writer of the netbook purposely intend to make the netbook of a lower quality than any commercial print version, then Decipher do not have to worry.

Which begs the question, is netbook more popular than commercial print these days? If a netbook have the same level of quality as a commercial version and it's free, wouldn't you choose the netbook instead?

[Ineti]

Originally posted by REG
If a netbook have the same level of quality as a commercial version and it's free, wouldn't you choose the netbook instead?

I'd take both. I'd download the netbook and tell the writers what a good job they did (assuming it was quality work), and I'd buy the Decipher product, even if there was an overlap of information.

I don't think I'm stretching things by saying that sales will determine the longevity of the RPG. If Decipher releases products and no one buys them, they won't be releasing products for long.

My goal is to support the game by writing and/or reading netbooks, and by buying Decipher's products. (And by hopefully being a Product Champion, but that's another thread.)

[KillerWhale]

If the writers are dedicated to making it a quality netbook, they will take the time to playtest it and checking it.

True - but that kind of writers would have to be a minority, I think. There are tons of good coders here, but I believe only a handful would be ready (or have the time) to invest themselves into developing something like Linux...

[Ineti]

What? Oh! Silly me - we may be using different terms for different things. When I say "netbook" I'm thinking of a supplement that's available for download somewhere, like the SRMs and the Dominion War sourcebooks that Steve Long did. I see those as netbooks.

Sounds like you're thinking of an online supplement accessible only online.

I meant like a PDF version of a fan-written RPG supplement. Sorry for the confusion.

[KillerWhale]

No no, we're on the same wavelength Ineti

What I am merely meaning is, while there are lots of fans out there ready to invest the time to write netbooks, only a handful (a really small minority) would have the time / experience to develop something as complex and balanced as Spacedock. Like, only a few coders would have the time to develop Linux.

[Novalar]

Science Gets my vote. TNG covered by LUG and Enterprise needs another season especially after the 'Minefiled' ep. I want to see where they take the rest of this season.

[Perrryyy]

Voted for science, just because I like to play the geek

[Capt.Hunter]

Hey! I'm a scientist - we're not all geeks (he says hanging out on a BBS devoted to Star Trek AND RPGs...)!

Still... SCIENCE! TNG and VOY never really put the role of Science Officer to full use. Sure, engineers and Ops officers know a bit, but what you need is someone with a knowledge of several fields, who can tie it all together. Someone like that should be in on any discussion of a new phenomena, trying to modify systems to do the unusual, etcetera.