[News] Decipher RPG Product Lines Transferred

[Jason Durall]

Originally posted by Ergi
I am beginning to share that wish. All it would have taken us to do in order to have a class-less system is convert the skills, feats and attack modifiers into a point-based character creation system and everyone would have been happy.

On rpg.net, Matt Colville spoke about the Dune d20 adaptation - my impression was that it was mostly done, as well as an Arrakis campaign.

[Tobian]

Well except that you both forget that Wizards intended to shelve the product. They only bought it because it was a rival product to it's (then) new Starwars. Actually that's not totally fair - they shelved it due to extensive internal restructuring of their company just after they aquired LUG.. So if we'd had D20 Startrek we'd have nothing at all right now.

[Capt. Anderson]

Decipher changed the status on the Worlds Manual from awaiting stock to sold out or nor longer available. What's the deal?

[jeffearley]

That cannot be a good sign, unless it has been pushed so far off the burner, it won't be until the end of the year till we see anything. That is my opinion, Decipher is in complete chaos right now. Hopefully they will make an announcement one way or the other so us fans can get on with our lives and live in a fantasy world where our books would be availible three to four times a year. Oh well, keep your fingers crossed

[REG]

Originally posted by Tobian

Well except that you both forget that Wizards intended to shelve the product. They only bought it because it was a rival product to it's (then) new Starwars. Actually that's not totally fair - they shelved it due to extensive internal restructuring of their company just after they aquired LUG.. So if we'd had D20 Startrek we'd have nothing at all right now.

With all due respect, WotC intended to publish Dune d20 but the license expired and Herbert Estate have asked for a much higher royalty payment in the negotiation.

Coupled with a lot of internal business factors going on that eventually led to a company re-organization (and subsequent layoff across the parent company Hasbro and subsidiaries, including WotC), they decided to pass on the license.

To this date, no other company have officially acquired the Dune RPG license.

In a perfect world, Wizards would have retained the LA Office, which would be responsible for publishing Star Trek AND Star Wars (and anything licensed and non-D&D), while Seattle HQ would be responsible for TCG and D&D lines.

But we all know this is not a perfect world.

[REG]

Originally posted by jeffearley

That cannot be a good sign, unless it has been pushed so far off the burner, it won't be until the end of the year till we see anything. That is my opinion, Decipher is in complete chaos right now. Hopefully they will make an announcement one way or the other so us fans can get on with our lives and live in a fantasy world where our books would be availible three to four times a year. Oh well, keep your fingers crossed

I dont' know if they're in complete chaos. Then again, I don't know how well they're doing with their TCG lines at the moment.

All we know is that they're in a transition period while they re-organize their company.

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by Capt. Anderson
Decipher changed the status on the Worlds Manual from awaiting stock to sold out or nor longer available. What's the deal?

Please notice that just below the buttons is the following caveat: "Manufacturer's delivery schedule not yet finalized. Estimated stock availability is January/February." February ain't over yet, and dates given typically refer to the end of the month.

[jeffearley]

I know, but it seems like all they do is change the name of the month when it gets closer to the deadline. It used to say August/September so untill I have the book in my hands, than I really dont trust what Decipher says.

[AslanC]

Does anyone else remember the end of LUG and how we went through this stuff before?

I'm not saying that it is the same deal, but it feels simillar. So please forgive me if I have a hard time being positive about this whole affair.

[Setvenharis]

The way Decipher is fannying on, they don't deserve any role playing game license!

I think another company should take the license from them.


There used to be a time when I thought Decipher done a excellent job with their ST:CCG, but now they just infuriate me with their shoddy customer services/support.

[D.S.McBride]

Agreed. What rankles most about this whole thing, at least for me, are the endless promises Decipher made about how "we're not like Last Unicorn - no advertising of books/products before they're ready"; and after the NG's appearance in June '02 the whole thing started to come apart at the seams.

Sigh. As has been stated before, many times, the news is still relatively new, and considering Decipher's water-wearing-away-stone approach to informing the consumers, my humble opinion is that we should all get good and comfortable while waiting for action - any action. We've got the e-mail address for their Customer Service department, we can send in polite requests for information and support, and we can keep doing what we've been doing since August '98 - playing the game.

[Balok]

Maybe the right course of action isn't to try Decipher. Maybe the right course of action is to try Paramount.

Because Paramount is a much larger company, and therefore this is a much smaller part of its business, the pleas may fall on deaf ears.

But if people were to send mail (real mail, not email) to Paramount, it *might* have some effect. I'd recommend that such a letter politely state the following:

• There are real customers who will pay real money for an opportunity to to roleplay in their worlds.
• Decipher, the company to whom they have assigned the license is either uninterested in publishing, or unable to publish, based solely on observation (i.e. we can only go by what we see, not by what we think might be the case -- and what we see is no books, layoffs of most of the RPG studio, and no reliable schedules.)
• Decipher seems uninterested in communicating with its customers and potential customers, and is possibly damaging the role-playing facet of the Star Trek brand by alienating those customers.

It's impossible to be sure how seriously Paramount takes the Star Trek franchise given Enterprise's poorer ratings ... but they've made a great deal of money from it over the years, so maybe the right people would read such a letter. It's certainly better than nothing at all.

For the LoTR folks, a similar letter to the Tolkien estate might be appropriate.

[Chris Landmark]

Originally posted by Fesarius
For the LoTR folks, a similar letter to the Tolkien estate might be appropriate.

This will be absolutely useless. They don't have any say in the matter.

Try either New Line Cinema or Tolkien Enterprises (aka the Saul Zaentz Co.). They're the ones controlling the license.

-Chris Landmark

[Capt. Anderson]

Activision dumped Star Trek becasue of a lack of support from Paramount, what makes you think they will give a da*n about a RPG game?

[Balok]

Originally posted by Capt. Anderson
Activision dumped Star Trek becasue of a lack of support from Paramount, what makes you think they will give a da*n about a RPG game?

Nothing at all. But in the several weeks since Decipher all but shut down its RPG operation, we've got little or nothing from them. Paramount might be similarly disinterested.

It's up to each person to decide whether there's enough chance to invest 15 minutes or so in a letter.