Hey kids, guess what time it is!

[First of Two]

It's Dec Trek Update time, it's Dec Trek Update time...

By my count, it's been a month (at least, on the Dec msg. boards,) since our last useful progress report, which said, rather succinctly...

Narrator's Screen: Still at the printers. No ETA at this time.
Limited Edition: Still awaiting final approval. Shooting for a holiday release.
Starfleet Ops Manual: Goes to the printer next week

Tha's it. Nay word on' Starships, Personal Log, etc...

So, what's the scoop? Is the printer being improperly fed and watered, or are we going the way of LUG (and thusly, the Dodo?)

[KillerWhale]

I hope we will not have to wait for much longer, I'm beginning to be really annoyed by these delays.

Why? Why? I ask: why?

[Setvenharis]

If Decipher doesn't kick the asses of the printers, they'll lose a lot of faith of the customers IMHO.

Surely the PTB can take the contract to a more reliable printers......If I was the boss, I would scrap the current contract with those idiots! (I used to work in a Ad Agency that had a contract with a professional printer, and if we were jerked around like that, we'd cancel the contract and go elsewhere!)

[KillerWhale]

Same here!

I work in the editorial field; we would have kept no printer with a delay only half as long...

My faith in Decipher has already several hull breaches. I really wonder what's on their minds... They have D20 to commercially fight against, this is no time to wait for releasing stuff!

[Dr. Jonas Bashir]

If I were to see this situation from a publisher's perspective, I'd have some things to consider. This is one of the few ventures Decipher has made into 'normal' bookprinting. In fact, this is the first time they are printing a series of books.

Printing a book, once you acquired the materials (paper, printer time, carton for the covers, etc.), is no more than waiting for the printer to return to you with the product ready.

What if the printer has made a mistake? One page has come up twisted, or badly binded? The product must be remade. That means: the printer must replace the spoiled materials, and assign printing time for that book, again.

Unless the people from Decipher has been lying about the true stage in what their books are, this is one of the most likely explanations.

[KillerWhale]

There is certainly some problem with the printer - but with a delay like this, I cannot help but wonder if the printers there know how to do their job right!!

What is beginning to infuriate me is the lack of explanation from Decipher... What the h..., we want to buy the stuff, so the least they could do is to keep us posted as to how - when - why.

Or am I being irrational? Is this too much to ask? (the question not ironical, it is seriously asked).

[Joe Dizzy]

I don't think Decipher HAS to explain anything to potential customers.

Would it be sensible, to keep people posted and letting them know about delays and keeping the interest in the product up? Yes, of course. But that doesn't mean customers have the right to demand information with righteous indignation.

I do think that the PTB at Decipher might be underestimating the effect frustration about uncommented delays has on potential customers. Nonetheless, waiting for the products doesn't bother me, although I have no idea whether I'm in the minority there.

Joe

[Phantom]

To be sure they have no obligation to the customers to say when a product is/isn't coming out. It would just be nice that's all.

[Dr. Jonas Bashir]

You're forgetting a couple of details here. Clients will probably buy the product anyway, when it's released. But the intermediate steps are of more concern here.

Distributors and bookshops are facing a delay in a release date. If they promote those books in any way, they usually are the visible 'face' for the prospective customer. Going up in the ladder, distributors launch catalogs and flyers for bookstores, so they know what the next releases are. So, there's also a source of conflict between them.

This all goes back to the publisher, who might be faced with late-release fines by the distributor (those sometimes exist, depending in the arrangement made).

Not releasing a book in time is an economical hindrance for the publisher, in many ways. So, I don't think Decipher likes this situation at all.

[C5]

In my own paranoid mind, I'm starting to build a theory according to wich the Trek games were only a way to beta test the CODA system. Now that LOTR is out, Decipher has no use for Trek and is slowly letting the line die down...

Okay, this is just me with some sleep deprivation and a lot of accumulated frustration against Decipher...

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Joe Dizzy
Would it be sensible, to keep people posted and letting them know about delays and keeping the interest in the product up? Yes, of course. But that doesn't mean customers have the right to demand information with righteous indignation.

At least some people IMO have a right to demand just that - namely anyone wo made the decision to buy the game based on the advertised support for this product line. Sure, release dates are never set in stone and always prone to change without prior notice, but try to imagine somebody bought the books feeling that this game would only be complete with more aliens and spaceships. He might have been willing to wait a few months for that information, but if he had know that he might have to wait a year or more he might have spent his money on another game.

Originally posted by C5
In my own paranoid mind, I'm starting to build a theory according to wich the Trek games were only a way to beta test the CODA system. Now that LOTR is out, Decipher has no use for Trek and is slowly letting the line die down...

Oh, I don't think they will let the line die, but that "beta test theory" is a thought that has crossed my own mind more than once.
And just that you are paranoid doesn't mean that no one is out there to get you.

[Joe Dizzy]

Originally posted by Lancer
but try to imagine somebody bought the books feeling that this game would only be complete with more aliens and spaceships.

The keyword here being "feeling".

I don't think you can claim the game is incomplete with both the PG and the NG available. Decipher sure didn't.

Would additional sourcebooks about Aliens and Starhships be helpful? You betcha. But the game itself is complete and playable.
Everything published from now on is optional. Gravy so to speak. The NG has rules to create starships, alien races, planets, etc.
As far as background is concerned, well.. there is that TV show thingee isn't there? Watch some shows, take notes. Or screw it altogether and create your own alien civilisation to plague the players.
Sure it's more work for the GM, but not THAT different from preparing a regular adventure.

Joe

[Lancer]

Joe, I am not disputing that the game can be played with only the PG and NG - I am doing so myself - I am only saying that there may be some people around for whom the advertised support for this game line may have been a deciding factor in their decision to spent their money on this game.

[First of Two]

Exactly.

I started to buy the books for this game, knowing that the other sourcebooks would be forthcoming, because those books are the books that make it worthwhile for me to change my system and way of playing to a completely different one (In my case, FASA to CODA - not exactly an easy jump)

It's like... buying a computer without peripherals, but knowing that the peripherals (like the color printer, zip disk, scanner, or what have you) will be available "soon"... and then having the maker cancel the peripherals.

Yes, I don't NEED the peripherals to make the computer work... but I do need them to make my decision to buy the computer worthwhile.

[KillerWhale]

I wouldn't have said it better, First of Two

I have the whole LUG product line, yet I decided to move to Coda, first because I like the system, then because I had faith I would have new material...

...and here I go... I don't even have a screen, which IMO is mandatory for effective narrating...

:sigh: