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

It's been an interesting two months, that's for certain!

Prior to leaving for Gen Con 2000 I wrote a "Past, Present, & Future" article explaining how we should all prepare for the inevitable switch to Star Trek D20 by Wizards of the Coast and the uncertain future of Icon/LUG Trek.

Since that time, at Gen Con, Decipher, Inc., makers of the Star Trek collectible card game announced that they had been awarded the Star Trek license by Paramount. This includes the RPG, miniatures, and disk-based games starting on January 1st, 2001.

This, quite obviously, changed the landscape somewhat dramatically.

I was at Gen Con, working for LUG/WotC, and to say this came as a surprise to us is something of an understatement. Everyone there, including Ryan Dancy (WotC) were stunned by this announcement of Decipher obtaining the license, surreptitiously, behind everyone's back. At the time of this writing, details on exactly what Decipher is going to do with their license (purported to be five years long) are still up in the air.

However, quite clearly, this means the end of Icon Trek as a published product.

It is unlikely that "The Klingons," "To Boldly Go," or the "Mirror, Mirror" sourcebook will ever see print. Although these products are completed, it would be costly and a poor business decision to print these products for the mass-market retail chain by the December 31st deadline. Now, I can't say that for certain, but they've been done for four months already, so if Wizards was going to print them, they'd done so by now.

There's always electronic, of course. Two weeks ago I was at Wizards of the Coast at a job interview (more on that later) and brought up the topic of electronically publishing these completed Star Trek products, either for free or at a nominal fee. Those in the Online Media group were quite supportive. At this time, I've heard nothing further, however. I do intend to do what I can to push for this avenue of release through my contacts.

Certainly it's Wizard's decision: they own the books now and all material, and certainly might want to hold onto them should they get the Star Trek license back in the future. However, in the short term, it would be something of a public relations coup to provide three high-quality Star Trek products for free just prior to Decipher taking over the license.

Hey, I'm not bitter - I love writing material that people may never get to read! :-)

Actually, I'm not bitter. I've always said this is a business, and in business these types of things happen. Were I Wizards, I certainly wouldn't publish any more Star Trek RPG products - the distributors wouldn't want them and it just wouldn't be a wise move. Electronic, however, would go a long ways to soothing those customers that feel slighted by the whole LUG/Wizards buyout, the limited Dune release, and general contempt for the company. (BTW, I don't understand why people view the largest, most successful gaming company as evil - strikes me as very shortsighted.)

Speaking of Wizards, I had the opportunity to spend a day at their offices, tour the facility, and meet some wonderful people. A very large and class organization, indeed. These are people with a genuine love of gaming and having fun, and it clearly shows. As it happens, I was afforded the opportunity to become part of their organization through a very generous offer.

While it was a very difficult decision, in the end I had to turn them down and elect to stay where I currently am. Perhaps in the future, when the timing is a bit better, things will be different. Until then I get to tell everyone I got to turn down a job at Wizards of the Coast! Whoo hoo! (Really, it was my loss, as they by all appearances look to be a wonderful company to work for.)

So, back to the future. Last time around I said that TrekRPGNet would continue to support Icon Trek. I continue to stand by this statement. In fact, now that there will be no D20 Star Trek (for the foreseeable future), support for Icon Trek is needed now more than ever.

As for Decipher, I don't know. It isn't even known if there really will be a third Star Trek game, or when. As for supporting it, that's difficult to say. How can I commit to support a game that doesn't yet exist?

Again, you, the visitors, drive these issues. If Decipher's game is the greatest thing since sliced bread and no one want to play/support Icon Trek anymore, then TrekRPGNet will have to adapt to survive. Likewise, if support for Icon Trek remains strong, I see no reason why TrekRPGNet can't continue to provide you with all your Star Trek gaming needs.

As for me, I plan to continue to write Star Trek material and provide it here (unless Decipher gives me a call). I'm working with several groups of individuals on putting together high-quality Icon Trek resource "books" for electronic publishing. Among them, the "Star Trek: Voyager Sourcebook."

So, overall, I think the future looks pretty bright - I hope you think so as well.

Regards,
Don Mappin
Webmaster, TrekRPGNet

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