Somehow, even with a pair of successful movies in the last five years, Star Trek hasn't had a game in print for ten years now. Why not? Is the era for Trek in tabletop gaming over? I just don't think so. The Attack Wing miniatures game seems to be doing OK. Star Fleet Battles lives on. Other boardgames seem to do alright. The MMO is chugging along, doing well in the free-to-play era. Why not Star Trek?
D&D has a new edition, Pathfinder is rolling along, Star Wars has a current edition (even if I'm not its biggest fan it had one I did like recently), DC had a good run with Green Ronin. Game of Thrones has a game! Editions come and go, publishers and rights holders to various settings come and go, yet Trek still sits on the sidelines.
I'm assuming it might be feared interference from CBS/Paramount. It might be the short lifespans of the last two attempts (both LUG and Decipher Trek flamed out in about 3 years). Maybe it's the cost of the license, I don't know. It just seems like someone out there should be able to find a way to put together a Trek RPG and stay in the black for a few years. I don't care who so much as I would like to see what someone could do with it using current design and production trends.
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I'm assuming there's still a clause that prevents Star Trek and Star Wars from going to the same company and that's a shame because I'm sure FFG could make some beautiful books that would be very expensive and probably use some radical new system but at least it would be well done and well supported for a few years. WOTC hopefully has their hands full with D&D and Paizo with Pathfinder as I don't think d20 is a great fit for Trek, but it could be worse. I don't know that Savage Worlds is a great fit either but they would find a way to do some cool stuff with it.Green Ronin probably has the best track record in this area and I'd love to see what they could do if they were given the chance.
I'm not sure what it's going to take, but one of these days ...
Runner up: How does Marvel still not have a game with all of these damn movies coming out? Even with that last attempt blowing out early, there has to be someone who could make that work too.
3 comments:
It's funny, I didn't think of the 'new edition' question this way.
I thought it meant an old RPG that could use a new edition of itself. For example a third edition of Hunter Planet, when there had only been two editions made (that's what I voted for on my blog).
I too would love to see a new Star Trek RPG, and while it would be great to see one of the previous ones makes a return appearance (except maybe Deciphers. Thank you Decipher, no. That'll be all), a brand new one would be totally OK with me as well.
We'll see. If they could only come back to television...without the lens flare...
I really like the LUG version, still have several of the books on my shelf, though never did get a copy of the original series book.
I've been pretty loose in my interpretation of these topics anyway when my "favorite something" ends up covering 3 or 5 or 10 different games.
Most games seem to have longer runs with a single publisher or creator. After FASA Trek jumped around so much I don't think any single previous version is "it" but I wouldn't mind seeing some of the people who worked on the older version involved with a new one. Or a completely different team ... I'm pretty flexible here, I'd just like to see one.
As far as TV, seems like there are a half-dozen fan films running kickstarters that think "talking to CBS" means they have a real chance at being the ones to bring it back to life on TV. I'm doubtful, but I guess we will see.
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