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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 8925810" data-attributes="member: 177">So, I wonder at this a little bit.&nbsp; Especially with respect to a one property in particular - Star Trek.Back in the beginning, there was one captain - Kirk.&nbsp; He was the only one we saw enough of, and in playing an early Trek RPG, everything would be a Kirk knock-off of, or direct contrast to, Kirk.&nbsp; And that was it until 1987, when there was Kirk and Picard.&nbsp; And now there's Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, several Disco Captains, Freeman and Pike.And through all those, the entire canon has broadened out.&nbsp; It is hard to claim now that it is about being the captain, because now we think of it as a horde of captains.&nbsp; The implication is that you can be your captain, which is altogether better for the idea of a role-playing game.&nbsp; The limitation of the characters should be somewhat lessened for a property that's had hundreds and hundreds of hours of media about many very different characters.But, Trek still hasn't taken off as a major RPG player.Because, there's also genre to consider.&nbsp; Any licensed property has its own very tight genre considerations.&nbsp; Leverage is a great little system for playing a very specific kind of game.&nbsp; Playing that one specific game is fun, sure, but as a constant diet, it can get kind of boring.&nbsp; I could certainly run a session of it.&nbsp; A short arc.&nbsp; Maybe even a &quot;season&quot;.&nbsp; But do it over and over, for years?&nbsp; Probably not so much fun.&nbsp; This brings us back around to the Cheesecake Factory metaphor.&nbsp; A successful media property has focus, and therefore can't really be the Cheesecake Factory it needs to be in order to take a dominant position in the market.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 8925810, member: 177"] So, I wonder at this a little bit. Especially with respect to a one property in particular - Star Trek. Back in the beginning, there was one captain - Kirk. He was the only one we saw enough of, and in playing an early Trek RPG, everything would be a Kirk knock-off of, or direct contrast to, Kirk. And that was it until 1987, when there was Kirk and Picard. And now there's Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, several Disco Captains, Freeman and Pike. And through all those, the entire canon has broadened out. It is hard to claim now that it is about being [I]the[/I] captain, because now we think of it as a horde of captains. The implication is that you can be [I]your[/I] captain, which is altogether better for the idea of a role-playing game. The limitation of the characters should be somewhat lessened for a property that's had hundreds and hundreds of hours of media about many very different characters. But, Trek still hasn't taken off as a major RPG player. Because, there's also [I]genre[/I] to consider. Any licensed property has its own very tight genre considerations. [I]Leverage[/I] is a great little system for playing a very specific kind of game. Playing that one specific game is fun, sure, but as a constant diet, it can get kind of boring. I could certainly run a session of it. A short arc. Maybe even a "season". But do it over and over, for years? Probably not so much fun. This brings us back around to the Cheesecake Factory metaphor. A successful media property has focus, and therefore can't really be the Cheesecake Factory it needs to be in order to take a dominant position in the market. [/QUOTE]

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