Star Trek Communicator blurb on the RPG

[Ineti]

Got the new issue in the mail today. There's a full-page ad for the RPG, with the PG and NG pictured with the usual fluff text. Interestingly, the ad states "Starting with the Starfleet Operations Manual in July, a new resource book or accessory will become available every month."

Wow. That's a lot of product.

And hey, it's only March and the SF Ops manual is already out.

Later in the issue, there is a short blurb on the RPG. It states that the SF Ops manual was released in February, and that the Starships manual was due out in March. And there's a little pic of the Starships book. Looks cool--I can pick out the Enterprise-D, a D'deridex warbird, a Jem'Hadar fighter, what I think is the Borg sphere, and some big ship right in the middle of the cover that I have no idea what is (either something from VOY or NEM).

FWIW.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

INteresting Ineti. So that shows that they already have the layout done for Starships. Another positive sign that Decipher is on the right track.

[CorpBoy]

There's a new post about the future of the RPG on GamingReport.com:

http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=7673

[Jesse Heinig]

The monstrosity in the middle of the <i>Starships</i> cover is in fact a Breen warship from DS9.

J.H.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Jesse Heinig
The monstrosity in the middle of the <i>Starships</i> cover is in fact a Breen warship from DS9.

Ah! No wonder I didn't recognize it. I still haven't seen all of DS9's 6th and 7th seasons. That will be remedied by the end of the year, of course.

Thanks, Jesse!

[AslanC]

So do they have the Matrix license or not?

I must know!

And just to whet the appetite . . .

Check it out

[Modem]

This month's Previews (by Diamond Distributing) has the Matrix listed to Decipher as a CCG. But no news as to an RPG...yet.

Who knows how things will go over in time, with the way things are going now (LOTR finishes this year, Trek's in a tailspin, Decipher might consider increasing their RPG market...if only for 'survival')

[Doug Burke]

Originally posted by Modem
This month's Previews (by Diamond Distributing) has the Matrix listed to Decipher as a CCG. But no news as to an RPG...yet.

Actually, there has been definitative news elsewhere on these boards. At this time, Decipher is not planning a third licensed RPG property. Sorry.

Who knows how things will go over in time, with the way things are going now (LOTR finishes this year, Trek's in a tailspin, Decipher might consider increasing their RPG market...if only for 'survival')

Um, things just starting to get back in the swing constitutes a tailspin?

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Modem
Who knows how things will go over in time, with the way things are going now (LOTR finishes this year, Trek's in a tailspin, Decipher might consider increasing their RPG market...if only for 'survival')

Oh, I don't know about that. I'd say Decipher's sitting on a goldmine with the two licenses they do have. They have 30+ years worth of Trek to turn into RPG products, and there is still a lot of places they can go with the LOTR RPG. As long as they don't lose their licenses anytime soon, we'll see RPG products for a while.

[Lowly Uhlan]

Every time my LGS gets a new Trek RPG product it sells out right away.The second shipment of the same product does too.Seems like Decipher still has a hot license.How is the 2E Trek CCG selling and how long is the Trek license good for?

[Lt. Dade]

Doug said:

Um, things just starting to get back in the swing constitutes a tailspin?

I think/trust the "tailspin" comment was a reference to Star Trek in general, and the woes being experienced in non-fiction book sales, movie tickets and television ratings. To my mind, the RPG is the big winner in Trek right now. (I've finally got the Operations Manual and it is simply splendid.

Ineti said:

I'd say Decipher's sitting on a goldmine with the two licenses they do have.

In my experience, there are no goldmines in the RPG business. Honestly, though, I hope these games escape the dwindling RPG sales I've been hearing about since the GAMA trade show. The two new books are real treats, each in their own way.

And who wouldn't want to see the design sensibilities of the Lord of the Rings and Star Trek RPGs take advantage of the images available with a Matrix license? I'm not trying to support a disproven rumor, I'm just saying!

word,
Will

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Lt. Dade
In my experience, there are no goldmines in the RPG business.

Oh, I know. It's just that if Decipher holds onto the licenses and if the books sell well, we could be seeing great Trek and LOTR products from them for the forseeable future.

[Modem]

The L.T. got it in one. Go here, and hit ‘audience is dwindling’; I’ll wait…:
http://www.tvguide.com/features/startrek/
Back? Good; so let’s highlight:
Enterprise:
- Has dropped (or rather plummeted) by 24% of it’s audience from season one.
- Only about 4 million people watch (at the time of the article, I’d say it’s even lower now…and will get lower yet again) now, that would put it somewhere around the 55-65 range for ‘top 100’, and I’d place it in that 60’s range.
- Continues to ‘drop the ball’ creatively (Frengi? Borg? Kirk? [WTF on that last one] Yeah, real ‘original’ there B&B), technically (the ship’s WAY too ‘new’…and don’t bring up the PT Cruiser argument again, it doesn’t wash. We saw Starfleet ships prior to the Fed. Dedalus and Grissom. And Cronos being two day at warp 5 from Earth…WTF), and Historically (Roddenberry said “Don’t let continuity get in the way of a good story.”…so what their excuse? Much of this…’stuff’ [technology, ‘first’ contacts, event] are happening either a) too early, b) out of sink, or c) shouldn’t have happened ‘that way’/at all.)

Nemesis:
- Lowest box office of any Trek movie (8 million dollars? That might cover SFX, possible catering…)
- 45mins of cut footage, which hearing about it make me think ‘why? I would have liked most of those scenes, and they probably would have helped tie the movie together better’

If this isn’t a tailspin, what is? Still, Braga has the best quote:
“…and it ain't goin' anywhere.”
Couldn’t phrase that better if I wanted to.

Now yes; I acknowledge the game is good, but sellouts don’t happen where I live, heck even in the next city (with about 2-2.5 time the populous of my city’s), it doesn’t happen.

In fact, most of the time non-D20/D&D games have to be special ordered (a problem when my local game store [also comic store] only can stock stuff from 'Previews'…and Decipher hasn’t place any Trek RPG products in there for a loooooooooong time).

Plus, the gaming community around where I live is so D20/D&D sentric, trying to get people to play something other than that is royal pain.

(Oh, sorry if this a bit of a 'hijacking', I just wanted to make sure people knew where I was coming from on this "...if only for 'survival'"-thing)