The Klingons: Blood & Honor (the Previews)

[redwood973]

This morning I was scrounging around the Computer Core of TrekRPGNet taking another peek at the net books and previews from LUG.

I noticed that for the Klingon: Blood & Honor preview the description reads, "Sample chapter from the unpublished book."

That got me thinking. . ."unpublished book". . .so that means that somewhere out there in some company storehouse is a draft copy of the book that was ment to be sent to a printer?

I have no idea how the publishing biz works so if someone could tell me the answer to this: Does that mean that someone may some day actually publish the book? Or did the sale of LUG kill any ICON material from ever appearing again, except in fan base form?

I was also wondering what other projects were in the works that killed, so to speak, by the sale of LUG? I have seen the two 'Untaken Trek' pages on the net so I know of a few (or was that just stuff that was not included in material that was published?).

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by redwood973
That got me thinking. . ."unpublished book". . .so that means that somewhere out there in some company storehouse is a draft copy of the book that was ment to be sent to a printer?

Electronic copy in Quark, but yes.

I have no idea how the publishing biz works so if someone could tell me the answer to this: Does that mean that someone may some day actually publish the book?

No, not in that form.

Or did the sale of LUG kill any ICON material from ever appearing again, except in fan base form?

Yes. The Icon system and those books are property of Wizards of the Coast now.

I was also wondering what other projects were in the works that killed, so to speak, by the sale of LUG? I have seen the two 'Untaken Trek' pages on the net so I know of a few (or was that just stuff that was not included in material that was published?).

I'm no lawyer, but yes, there were a number of books that did not survive the WotC purchase of LUG and the eventual loss of the license. The books affected were:

To Boldly Go: The Starfleet Exploration Handbook (was entirely finished)
The Klingons (again, finished)
Through the Looking Glass Darkly: The Mirror, Mirror Sourcebook (writing done, approved, and mostly laid out)
Merchants and Traders (Written and developed)
Iron and Ash: The Cardassians (Written and developed)
Movie Era Sourcebook (only partially written, not developed)
Voyager Sourcebook (outline approved)

Those books (and their contents) are the property of Wizards. They can not be used/released. After the Trek license was lost the writer's contracts evoked a "kill fee;" a fee that reverts the work back to the individual authors. I, for example, received a kill fee for my work on TBG and the text reverted back to me. That's why several authors have (and are legally able to) post their old material online.

Decipher can not take these works and publish them en masse. They (Decipher) could contact the authors and rework said material for a new product, but if you're thinking there's an electronic copy of the Klingons sitting around and all they have to do is change "LUG/Wizards of the Coast" to "Decipher, Inc." then you are very, very wrong.

[redwood973]

Thanks for the quick reply Don!

Man that is sad! All that great ICON material (and some of it finished ) never to be seen or used. I could cry.

[Capt.Hunter]

Well, get your butt over to http://www.ltcmdrmatt.com/ and help us put together a fan-made version!

[redwood973]

Thanks for the invite Captain but I don't think I would be of much help. I am much better at tweeking existing material than I am creating material.

Don what actually happened to ICON. . .could it ever be used to create other RPGs or is that system tied to LUG and died with them? (I ask becaue of the B5 RPG talk in the general forum. I was just wondering if anyother company could use the ICON system as long as it was not for a Star Trek RPG.)

[Owen E Oulton]

Wizards of the Coast could, if they were so inclined, release other ICON system games. They won't, as they have a vested interest in consolidating everything under the D&D20 system.

[REG]

You would think that after having observed Wizards' business operation in the last two years that included two layoffs just last year, an interested party would contact Wizards to inquire the possibility of acquiring the Icon System IP from them, or at least inquire about the asking price for it.

Either there is no interested party or the price is too high to meet.

[Phoenix]

Given the current economy, I say the later. Price is just a little out of reach to those who are looking.

[Don Mappin]

I'm fairly confident that Icon is the property of Wizards. As others have pointed out, Wizards has no reason to use the system in favor of their D20 strategy.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Phoenix
Given the current economy, I say the later. Price is just a little out of reach to those who are looking.

Did you ask? Did they quote you a price? If so, what was it?

We need details man!

[Pope]

Hmmm, perhaps someone should conduct a Shadowrun-esque raid on WotC and get .pdf copies of those books out to us in the matrix, uh, internet...

[redwood973]

So if Wiz. of the Coast is centered on D20 (thus never meaning to use the ICON system) and the license for the Trek RPG was about to expire anyway. . .the only reason Wiz. o/t Coast purchased LUG was to kill the ICON system?

[Greg Smith]

No, WotC wanted the Trek and Dune licences, and a bunch of experienced RPG designers. They didn't anticipate losing the Trek licence.

They intended to convert Dune to D20, and I imagine Trek too in the long run. Also I guess they wanted the collectible Red Alert game.

They released Icon Dune limited edition and Red Alert, but didn't see any point in releasing books for Trek RPG for which they only had a licence for a matter of months.

When WotC began to trim back their operation, the Dune line was cut. The former LUG-guys worked on other WotC RPGs until WotC made further cutbacks when they were offered the choice of moving to Seattle or losing their jobs. They all chose to stay in LA, and later joined Decipher.

That's from all info that's been posted on these boards. If I've remembered anything incorrectly, I apologise to those concerned.

[REG]

Nope. Originally, they would have used the fine folks in LA to design non-fantasy and licensed RPG products, which includes converting Star Trek and Dune into d20.

(For the record, I am of the brave minority here that supported that.)

But circumstance beyond their control have interfered. Before expiration, Decipher announced acquisition of the Star Trek license on GenCon 2000 (a month after the acquisition of LUG). Months later, after the massive layoff from both Hasbro and Wizards, and after hyping they will do a Dune d20, negotiation for the Dune license fell apart.

(I blame the Herbert Estate.)

Because of the layoff and company reorganization, they wanted to close the newly acquired LA office and requested the LUG folks to move to Seattle. Most refused to move and decided to take the generous severance package (medical benefit included). Months later, Decipher hired them to establish the Decipher RPG Studio.