New Star Trek RPG

[WSmith]

It's an RPG solution. We had a tactical game, and I read it and commented that I didn't understand why, up until ships start shooting at each other, everything I see and do is from my character's point of view. Then, when it's time for starship combat, we leave our characters behind (and, in my opinion, the idea that we're playing an RPG) and all stand around the table pushing one little ship around a hexmap. I thought we should *stay* with out characters and have them actually issuing orders and making skill checks.

This was one of the things I lked about the original series. When the pooh was hitting the fan, you were always (at least as much as I recall) watching it from the bridge of the Enterprise. Kirk is yelling out orders, Spock is advising of an energy anomally and outside activity that is shaking the ship, while the rest of the crew shout back at thier captain various status reports while funky red lights illuminate the ship. To be able to play spaceship combat THIS way almost makes me want to buy the book on that alone. I think the SW system was a failed attempt at bridging the gap between wargame tactical feel and RPG player perpective feel. If the ST rules work as I envision them, I give Decipher a standing ovation. This type of technique is long overdue in a time when everything is becoming more chesslike.

I have to say, please no one feel insulted cause I am no Trekkie , but Star Trek to me is Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, et al. It is the red shirts transporting to the surface of an unknown planet and their imminent death, with the OIC, the commander of the ship, the head cheese!. It is hearing, "Jim, he's dead." I never got into TNG, DS9, ST:V. The new show Enterprise, as I agree with Col. H., is more of what I like about ST. So, my pick for a game would be set in that time frame.

Some systems *force* you to take flaws, ours doesn't. But you get a reward if you take a flaw.

Well, alrighty then! THAT is good news. I never liked them, and the fact that they are optional is a plus in my book.

Matt, is there any word on a 2nd print of the LOTR AG?

 

[Ranger REG]

One of the reasons I'm reluctant to get into a new Star Trek RPG is mostly because of how quickly LUG and its version sank into oblivion. I'd already bought some of the books, and I also own a ton of the old Fasa stuff too. A whole new version this soon is too much for me. I don't dispute that it may well be a great game; I just can't afford to keep buying new games for old licenses every year or two. Same goes for Star Wars d20. Anew version every 5-10 years is about my limit.

Sorry, but IP owners usually like you to start making money off of their trademarks once that license is given, rather than squat on it just so time has passed before you do a new one. And nowadays, a license only last 5 years (that means you got 5 years to show you are making a profit of their trademark or else) before it can be renewed.

You should fault the IP owners who decide who gets the license and how long they can have it.

Hey, I've watched Star Trek in one form or another since I was a kid in the 70s; Enterprise is the first trek show in a long time that has me watching every week. The last few years of Next Gen, most of the run for DS9, and all of Voyager just didn't interest me. I'd occasionally watch, but mostly I was bored by it. DS9's big war, including some spectacular space battles (I love watching spaceships blow each other up), were about the only thing that got me interested until Enterprise. Enterprise feels more like the orignal show to me, which is a huge plus in its favor.

So far, I get the same sentiment for ENTERPRISE as I have for Voyager: unimpressed.

 

[King_Stannis]

I loved the old FASA game. They handled the setting much better than any of the games i've seen since. THe sourcebooks were top notch and reading the timelines would give TONS of adventure ideas. The only thing that sucked were the pre written modules.

i agree about the modules sucking (but who needed those anyways!) and the quality of the sourcebooks. i still have the klingon sourcebook. and remember those "ship recognition manuels"? those were cool.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Sorry, but IP owners usually like you to start making money off of their trademarks once that license is given, rather than squat on it just so time has passed before you do a new one.

No kidding. Note that I wasn't faulting anyone. I was simply stating that once a decade is enough for me; I bought the Star Wars RPG when it appeared in 1987, and the Fasa ST RPG way back in the early/mid 80s. I bought the new games when they appeared, and I'm not prepared to buy new ones again this soon. It doesn't matter who owns the IP, or who licenses to whom. Of course, I don't know whether LUG's demise was due to the ST license being pulled, but I doubt it. I think that if I have any qualms at all about the company now doing the ST RPG, it's that I haven't heard of them before a few months ago, just as I hadn't heard of LUG before they did the ST RPG. Perhaps if a bigger company that I'd heard of, and which had been around for a while, had the license, then maybe I might be more inclined towards buying it. As it is, I don't want to buy all new stuff and have this company go under and the IP go to yet another company. Is that the fault of the licensor, for choosing to grant the license to less-established companies, or the fault of the licensee, for outbidding everyone else for the license and not having the wherewithal to utilize it?

 

[Razuur]

If they would get a little daring in Enterprise, I would like it.

But right now, it is really just Voyager in the 2200's.

I wish the universe was scary. It just isn't

I wish the crew was scared.

They just aren't.

I wish they would follow established history.

They haven't.

I am glad someone is enjoying them.

I am not saying that they are bad... just kind of boring... like voyager.

Such a great crew...

Such a horrible theme song....

Razuur

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The lack of respect for the history laid out in the earlier series is what bothers me about Enterprise. According to my DVD copy of "Balance of Terror" when the Federation and the Romulans went to war years before the original series they didn't have subspace communications, ie no instant ship to ship communications like they show now. The ship seems too high tech for the time period. Next episode they will probably bust out the photon torps. That and the location of the Klingons compard to Earth is way off, four days at warp 4? In TNG it would be .395 seconds at warp 8. I know they aren't that close together. I view this show as being inspired by the other shows but not in the same continuity. As for the other shows, besides TOS i'd have to say that DS9 was by far the best. Instead of isolated episodes that don't connect very much you had a storyline that streteched over multiple seasons, I think they watced Babylon 5 and realized how much better that show was due to it's overall storyline and tried to do the same, and were sucessful for the most part. Voyager was ok, but then Seven wsa picked up and the show improved dramaticly.

 

[Ranger REG]

No kidding. Note that I wasn't faulting anyone. I was simply stating that once a decade is enough for me; I bought the Star Wars RPG when it appeared in 1987, and the Fasa ST RPG way back in the early/mid 80s. I bought the new games when they appeared, and I'm not prepared to buy new ones again this soon.

Technically, more than a decade has passed if you haven't purchased any of the LUG products.

It doesn't matter who owns the IP, or who licenses to whom. Of course, I don't know whether LUG's demise was due to the ST license being pulled, but I doubt it.

Nah, as with TSR and most game business that have shut down in the past decade (i.e., 1990's), LUG suffered financial problems.

I think that if I have any qualms at all about the company now doing the ST RPG, it's that I haven't heard of them before a few months ago, just as I hadn't heard of LUG before they did the ST RPG. Perhaps if a bigger company that I'd heard of, and which had been around for a while, had the license, then maybe I might be more inclined towards buying it. As it is, I don't want to buy all new stuff and have this company go under and the IP go to yet another company.

You don't have to be a startup company. Even an established long-running businesses like TSR, FASA, Iron Crown are at risk of financial that could lead to bankruptcy and/or business shutdown if the folks in the upper management did not fully utilize their skills at running a company smoothly.

As for Decipher, they seem to be mirroring that of Wizard's success, even though unlike Wizards (which began as a RPG venture), Decipher started their business in the TCG venture. Decipher decided to expand their business into RPG, and with luck were able to hire the former LUG staff to form the RPG Studio. For LUGTrek fans, this is welcome news.

Is that the fault of the licensor, for choosing to grant the license to less-established companies, or the fault of the licensee, for outbidding everyone else for the license and not having the wherewithal to utilize it?

I'd like to say it's the licensee.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Technically, more than a decade has passed if you haven't purchased any of the LUG products.

Ah, but if you'd read my posts, I said early on that I had bought some of LUG's books.

 

[Ranger REG]

Did you like products written by the LUG staff?

If so, would you be open enough to check out their new Star Trek products, published under the Decipher label?

 

[enrious]

Ah, but if you'd read my posts, I said early on that I had bought some of LUG's books.

Col., I meant to post this earlier but was unable to do so.

If you bought material from LUG then you have already bought stuff from most of the Decipher team working on the ST RPG.

Take a look at the their site and look at some of the names responsible, it'll look familiar.

I would have the same concerns as you if it was people I'd never heard of before, but I think the former LUG guys are a known commodity when it comes to ST, for better or worse.

I liked the LUG trek's ability to capture the feeling of the various Treks, so I will at least take a look at the new flavor.