Why aren't Star Wars and Star Trek dominating the RPG market?

[Nisarg]

Something I've been wondering about a lot lately...

Why aren't Star Wars D20 and Star Trek (Decipher) dominating the RPG market?

Star Wars d20 is, if I'm not mistaken, THE most popular D20 product after D&D. Thus you could say its dominating the market within reason. D&D outsells it because its the archetypal paragon of RPGs.

If your question is "why aren't more SW fans playing it?" the answer is the same as to why aren't more fantasy novel fans playing D&D; namely that many fans seek their entertainment in other means. Aside from just enjoying the movies themselves, or reading the novels, there's the massively popular computer rpgs for SW, and the convention scene. Just because you like a license doesn't mean you're going to play RPGs if you don't already.

Regarding Star Trek, the reason is that Decipher is a lousy company for RPGs that flop at everything they do in the RPG market. They got the LoTR license (arguably THE most desireable license to have for an RPG, period), and they blew it, because they really didn't put any real effort into it, choosing to focus on CCGs instead. The RPG was an afterthought.

Their decision not to go with the D20 system (for either Star Trek or LoTR stuff) is also culprit in this. I guarantee that if someone made a (decent) LoTR D20 game or Star Trek D20 game, both these licenses would be massive.

Nisarg

 

[Shard O'Glase]

cisko is a sissy, all should fear the power that is o'brian.(especially kardies)

 

[S'mon]

I thought SW d6 was a good RPG for playing in the universe of the original movie & to a lesser extent that of Empire & Return; I bought 1st release SW d20 and it sucked horribly, convincing me that d20s & SW just don't mix.

Basically, IMO most RPGers are free-thinkers not fanboys*, most SW & Trek fanboys are not RPGers.

*I saw a thread here with D&Ders described as "the fan base" - horrific notion. I'm a keen player & GM of D&D but I damn sure am not a fanboy of WotC or any other RPG publisher!

 

[S'mon]

I think d20 is fundamentally unsuited to Star Wars, where the heroes can never be 'balanced' - WEG d6 much better. I'd think that d20 Trek, with a heavy skills focus, could work very well though; something like d20 Traveller with a less armour-focussed combat system.

 

[Nisarg]

I thought SW d6 was a good RPG for playing in the universe of the original movie & to a lesser extent that of Empire & Return; I bought 1st release SW d20 and it sucked horribly, convincing me that d20s & SW just don't mix.

Basically, IMO most RPGers are free-thinkers not fanboys*, most SW & Trek fanboys are not RPGers.

*I saw a thread here with D&Ders described as "the fan base" - horrific notion. I'm a keen player & GM of D&D but I damn sure am not a fanboy of WotC or any other RPG publisher!

I don't know, you might not be a fanboy but I've certainly seen my share of fanboys on the forums (ENWorld, RPGnet, etc).

Nisarg

 

[Gundark]

If all the Lord of The Rings(book and fim) fans bought a players handbook, D&D would give Magic the Gathering a run for it's money.

Is MtG still a big seller for WotC

 

[swordsmasher]

You may as well ask why aren't lots of soap opera RPGs since so many people like daytime soap operas. Or why hasn't Law and Order: The RPG come out yet?

Pal, you just described my d20 modern and Vampire: The Masquerade games perfectly.

 

[Acid_crash]

Here's my beef with licensed games, and especially Star Wars and Star Trek. Both of these games are games that are unique in how their respective universes feel, play out, and execute. To do a really good rpg of these two, and frankly many more, each should be designed and created with their own universes, with their own unique dice system, and not butchered to fit into someone elses dice system.

Star Wars would be much better if it had it's own unique dice mechanics, and it should definately not be classified into a class/level system like it is in d20. To me, Star Wars is free flowing, action packed, where people are versatile, adaptable, free thinking, and anybody is capable of using the Force, either minorly or as a full-fledged Jedi. Sure, we can look at Han Solo and call him a scoundrel, but in reality he was more than that all in one, and the same for all the characters. Star Wars is better off with its own system.

Star Trek is even more deserving of its own system, probably the most deserving of its own system and should get it.

 

[Ranger REG]

I disagree. I prefer the d20-based SW. I find this more enjoyable than the original d6-based SW. I truly do.

But it all bogs down to marketing. How you market the product is as important as the product itself. That's why Nike is one step ahead of Converse, no pun intended.

As for Star Trek, ehhh. At least their CCG is still going strong. As for the RPG, we have yet to await Decipher's announcement whether they are continuing the lines or not. So far, we know that 80% of their RPG studio employees are gone, including the LA office.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I love the SW d20 game. I think its one of the best d20 systems there is. It fits PERFECTLY for SW, IMO. A lot of people complain that they feel restricted in SW, but really...its an entire galaxy. You can always find a place with nothing going on to set a story if you're that worried about things. As a reader of all the books and such, I've done my best to implement the timeline into the games as accurately as I can...the players have loved it. I have to agree with others that it is a better system that the d6 version(which I enjoyed, just had a few issues with).

Really though, I think the main reason is that SW/ST fan =/= RPG Gamer