Past, Present, and Future
(an opinion-laced editorial)

Next week, TrekRPGNet will be celebrating its two-year anniversary! That’s also roughly how long the Star Trek RPG by Last Unicorn Games has been out, as TrekRPGNet was one of the first (the first?) web sites to support this great new game.

Well, two years later and there are definitely some changes in the wind.

Of course, the most prominent is the purchase of Last Unicorn Games by Wizards of the Coast. As the largest publisher of role-playing games and the de facto standard by which all other gaming companies are measured, Wizards is in a position to get our favorite RPG in the hands of more people than we collectively dreamed possible.

Unfortunately they also have a history of canceling game lines and making widespread changes to mirror their corporate strategies, both strategic and tactical. (For those of you who don’t have a business background, don’t worry, I’ll translate later!) I know that has more than a few of you worried.

As many of you know, I have a long-term relationship with Last Unicorn Games and have been involved in a number of projects with the company. This affords me an opportunity to see the situation from two viewpoints: first, that of a customer.

I was a customer, just like you, before I became more involved with Last Unicorn Games. I run a continuing Star Trek campaign using the Icon system twice a month. I demo the game at conventions. I’ve dropped my hard-earned money on product. I have a vested interest in the game, not only materially, but also in my familiarity and experience with it. Hell, I have more experience with the Icon System than some of her designers! ;-)

Secondly, because of my close dealings with Last Unicorn Games, I am familiar with the design process. I do know what goes into making these products – the blood, the sweat, and most of all, the tears. I know the people behind the names that you see when you turn to your credits page. Good people. No, Great People.

So, with that said, let me answer the first question that people have been asking me and filling my Inbox with: is TrekRPGNet going away?

For the record, “no” – not at this time. Yes, I know I left myself some fudge room, but that’s my prerogative. As long as there is interest in the Star Trek RPG by Last Unicorn Games using the Icon System, TrekRPGNet will stay. Now, should interest sway (say to an alternate mechanic system) I may have to re-evaluate that decision. My participation may be less than in the past as I shift more duties to Editors online, but I will continue to pay the bills and keep the site running. (That’s a significant bill, by the way.)

What about The D20 System?

<sigh> Like you, I don’t know much about the D20 System. I’ve seen the previews in “Dragon Magazine,” I’ve read the comments by the play testers, and I’ve heard the hype. Is it good? Well, I think the “new” Dungeons & Dragons is going to kick serious ass. It will likely be the most successful RPG of all time and no doubt I’ll be playing a game or two in my area. We all will.

Is it for Star Trek remains to be seen.

Now, I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but if you shudder at the idea of your 11th level Captain being shot at by a 5th level Ferengi, checking his disruptor damage against your “armor class” and making a saving throw for ½ damage, you’re not alone! I worry about these things too! Truth is, until we see the D20 System separate from D&D, we really don’t know where one begins and the other ends.

Is the Icon System going away? Has the decision been made to convert Star Trek over to the D20 System?

I don’t know.

You’re deluding yourself if you think it isn’t going to happen, though.

Step back for a second and instead of being a LUG/Star Trek fan, think like a businessperson. The D20 System, the foundation of Dungeons & Dragons, an RPG which over half of all role-players play (how many millions is that?) will be in everyone’s hands within a few weeks of writing this. Internally, do you continue to support an alternate system that has a very small share of the RPG market, or do you revamp your product to leverage against the number of people out there already familiar with the D20 System? There will be millions of people familiar with Dungeons & Dragons and the Harry Potter RPG, at some point they’ll want to play something else. Given the choice, they’re going to play a game that they don’t have to learn a new set of rules. They’re going to play a game that they already know, just in a different setting. One of the reasons TSR failed in the end were their multiple game lines, all using different mechanics, competing against each other.

Even other game companies, by their own choice, are going to convert their games to the D20 System. They’d be fools not to. If you’re running FASA, creators of Battletech and Shadowrun, why wouldn’t you create a 128-page soft cover book that shows D20 players how to convert your product line to D20? You’ve just tapped into a market of potential customers ten (a hundred?) times larger than your current base!

I’m sorry to break the illusion folks, but role-playing games are a business. Just like any other business, you have to make money. That means making unpopular decisions. That means trimming the fat. That means doing what is strategically (short and medium-term) important to make a profit and tactically (long term) preparing yourself to succeed. Wizards is doing both of these things. That’s why they’re succeeding and other companies are struggling (or failing).

Hey, it’s all speculation. We won’t know anything for a while yet. Until then, we still have the Icon System. We can still play our favorite Star Trek RPG. When the move to D20 comes (I continue to assert, from a business perspective, that it will come) TrekRPGNet, along with many other sites, will still be here to support your Icon games. I also think we need to give the great people at Last Unicorn Games some credit that they’ll continue to create great Star Trek product no matter what company name is hung on the shingle over their door.

While many may view the last few weeks as “the end,” personally I consider it only the beginning.

But hey, that's just my opinion -- I could be wrong.

I’d like to thank everyone who participated in the online poll and invite you to do so if you haven’t already. Your comments have been invaluable in helping me make a decision on what type of visitors TrekRPGNet has and how to best support you in the future.

So, until then, lets all bask in the great two years we’ve had thus far and remember that the future is what we make of it!

Regards,
Don Mappin
Webmaster, TrekRPGNet

P.S. As a treat for making it all the way through this, here’s a link to part two of the Klingon preview and a glimpse of the prototype new TrekRPGNet logo.

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