Mongoose doing Star Trek d20?

[Ranger REG]

No, in a perfect world, WotC never woulda bought LUG, LUG would've retained the Dune and 'Trek licenses and gotten the Buffy/Angel license that they were widely rumored as being in the closing stages of negotiation for, and these would've been enough to bankroll into the Aria 2nd ed and Heresy RPGs.

No, that would've been a too perfect world. We'd still lose Steve Long, though, if there is an opening in Hero Games. Said it was his dream to do Hero System.

I'm skeptical about the Buffy/Angel license. In fact I have never heard of them pursuing it. They were too busy trying to get Dune RPG off the drawing board and into the printers.

While we're on this too perfect world wishlist, TSR should never have sold out, Lorraine William was forced to resign yet TSR retained the license to publish Buck Rogers RPG, and all their lines thrive, including Alternity (not that I'm wishing for it but there are other options from TSR).

 

[Cergorach]

Question: If LUG was doing so well, why sell? Who was the owner of LUG?

 

[woodelf]

I'm skeptical about the Buffy/Angel license. In fact I have never heard of them pursuing it. They were too busy trying to get Dune RPG off the drawing board and into the printers.

They were "about to land" some "really big license"--that much is semi-confirmed. In fact, it sounded like it was landed, but they just couldn't announce it yet. People i talked to speculated that, given what was hot at the time, and that Star Trek and Star Wars were already accounted for, that it was Buffy. They were definitely negotiating something, but what the specific license was is pure speculation. Also, i'm talking about conversations at GenCon, so Dune was already out and no longer a primary concern. And Christian was never the sort to be working on only one thing at a time, anyway.

 

[Ranger REG]

They were "about to land" some "really big license"--that much is semi-confirmed.

How?

To the best of my knowledge, the entire RPG studio was dumped last January. I'm not sure which two people you think are left...?

Frankly, I don't recall their names, but they are definitely not the guys we know. No offense intended on the two left behind. But when you hear Hite, Moore, and Isaacs left, it is already assumed the studio is pretty much dead.

 

[woodelf]

Question: If LUG was doing so well, why sell? Who was the owner of LUG?

First, to be absolutely clear, this is nothing more than speculation on my part. Everything else that i've said about LUG had some basis in direct communication. Anyway, keep in mind that when LUG was bought, it was to be a wholly-owned, semi-independent subsidiary of WotC. WotC wasn't just buying the IP, they wer buying the wholse company, including all the creative staff. That creative staff included the owners (Christian, Owen, maybe others--i'm not sure which of the staff were owners, and which were employees). So, perhaps from their perspective, it was an opportunity to expand their distribution channels, get greater resources/bankroll, and increases their clout when going for licenses, all while still getting to do the games they believed in.

Of course, that's not how it worked out. I always wonder what WotC thought they were getting out of the deal--the fact that the Dune license couldn't change owners was apparently pretty clear; the rumors of Paramount not letting the same company do the RPGs for Star Wars and Star Trek go back 15 years, and i think the 'Trek license was pulled before the LUG deal was finalized; and the LUG team was the first to get cut when they needed to trim a few months later, so it doesn't seem like they could've thought them all *that* valuable. Probably, they really wanted 'Trek and the creative staff, and it just didn't work out--but i've always wondered.

 

[woodelf]

How?

From talking to Christian, and others--it may've come up on the Aria mailing list at the time, too--Christian would sometimes drop by and let us know where LUG was headed. Unless i'm hallucinating it all.

 

[Ranger REG]

the rumors of Paramount not letting the same company do the RPGs for Star Wars and Star Trek go back 15 years,

Hmm. Funny how that only applies to RPG and not CCG (Decipher was publishing both at one time).

and i think the 'Trek license was pulled before the LUG deal was finalized; and the LUG team was the first to get cut when they needed to trim a few months later, so it doesn't seem like they could've thought them all *that* valuable. Probably, they really wanted 'Trek and the creative staff, and it just didn't work out--but i've always wondered.

Well, they didn't just cut them. The former LUG office dubbed WotC South were going to be shut down as part of the company restructuring (basically think that leasing a building in LA is unnecessary), so WotC offered them a choice of moving them up to Washington state. I know of Charles Ryan and one other ex-LUG that accepted the offer. The rest took the severance package.

 

[jened]

However, I can say that Decipher will be making an announcement this year concerning the Trek RPG and its future based upon the information I was told yesterday.

actually on sunday, decipher told its volunteers to look for a trek rpg announcement next week so i suppose it will be much sooner than 'sometime this year'.

 

[Ghostwind]

Yeah, I expected it sooner but couldn't give out a date.

 

[Karl Green]

No, in a perfect world, WotC never woulda bought LUG, LUG would've retained the Dune and 'Trek licenses and gotten the Buffy/Angel license that they were widely rumored as being in the closing stages of negotiation for, and these would've been enough to bankroll into the Aria 2nd ed and Heresy RPGs.

AAAARRRGGG NOOO

Sorry had to get that off my chest but anyway NO way NO how should have LUG gotten the rights to Buffy/Agnel games. Eden did VERY well with both those game and I can not imagine the mess LUG would have made of them. While I thought the system was ok, their editing and organization was a mess (creating a character in LUG Star Trek is so a chore it was unfun).

OK sorry about that rant... everyone has their favority/least-fav company I guess