Well, I got a bug up my rear end today and tried emailing Decipher again. Monica Jones emailed me back this after noon. Here's what she had to say. Seems almost like the underlying theme is that the RPG will get phased out, but you can draw your own conlcusions. Her email is below, and my initial comments to her are below that.
Enjoy
"Dear Josh,
I really do appreciate your frustration. I know I would be equally as frustrated if I were in your shoes.
It's not that we are being dishonest or don't have respect for your players. I think if you looked at the various gaming companies objectively you would say that Decipher is one of the most accessible companies out there. With that openness, there also is some potential negativity that can arise, such as with this issue we are discussing now. We are making decisions that are in the best interest of the company and of the players; one of those decisions is that we cannot at this time share the inside details of what is being discussed until a final decision and determination has been made. It may be that Decipher no longer produces the LOTR RPG in the future, but that in no way should be perceived as an uncaring gesture. We do care about all of you in a big way, but we also care about the company's bottomline and the livelihood of its employees. We will do our best to get this resolved and make an announcement about the continuation of the Star Trek and LOTR RPGs in the very near future. It's on everyone's minds internally I can assure you.
Monica"
"Hi Monica,
I saw the Decipher product release schedule and noticed that there are no new Lord of the Rings RPG items listed. I'm not trying to be confrontational, and I realize that you are not solely in charge of decision making for the company, but maybe it's time for Decipher to come clean with the RPG community. We've been waiting for some time to be given some sort of information regarding the books that were supposed to be released in August/September and still have gotten nothing. The only statement given was for us to be patient because a product release schedule was being released in March. Now we have recieved the release schedule, in which all items have been removed as potential releases. This very much felt like a slap in the face. I"m assuming that these books not being listed on the release schedule means that your company has discontinued putting any effort into furthering the RPG. I hope I"m wrong, but either way, I really hope that your company has enough respect for your supporters to be honest with us.
So, I will ask; is the RPG being dropped by Decipher? If not, when will we *honestly* see the promised materials. If so, I would ask that you please very seriously consider sub-contracting the liscense as not to leave we devoted RPG fans hanging.
Some of us are incensed at, what we feel, has been mistreatment of the material and fans by your company. Please come clean and let us know what is going on. I understand that perhaps you are not at liberty to give us this information. If this is so, please urge Warren Holland to make a statement, or allow someone else to make a useful statement regarding the future of the product.
Thank you for your time,"