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Grynning
2008-04-23, 10:48 AM
So, with the unexpected cancellation of our OA campaign, we're exploring other options to fill it's slot in our monthly schedule. I've been wanting to do some kind of Sci-fi game, and after a friend showed me his Decipher Star Trek Role-playing game handbook I was intrigued. I've always loved the Trek universe and have never had a good opportunity to RP in it. When Decipher grabbed the license from Last Unicorn, it seems they did a pretty good job.
I've read over the book, and overall, I like the system - the character system is a nice hybrid between classes and point-buy, the rules seem well-suited for the kind of role-play heavy, combat-light games you would expect, and the book is decently put together.

Unfortunately, the system is out-of-print, and as far as I know no gaming company has picked up the Trek license again. Since we're dealing with a selection of out-of-print books, I'd like to ask others if they have any experience with either the Decipher system or the Last Unicorn system that preceded it, and if one is definitely better/worse than the other. Basically, I'd like to know which one I should look for before I start hunting down out-of-print books for either one.

Ascension
2008-04-23, 11:03 AM
I've read and almost played the Last Unicorn system, but the campaign never quite materialized. It's a pretty good system, but its major flaw is that due to some annoying wording in their license, they were legally obligated to put out a separate core rulebook for each show rather than putting out a core rulebook and then a series of sourcebooks to cover each specific show. They updated the mechanics as they went along, so the Next Generation rulebook has more complex rules than the TOS rulebook but also has updated technology. It's incredibly frustrating if you want to play an Original Series game, because the later rulebooks have a more polished ruleset but also have more advanced technology than you want to play with. Also, the line collapsed before reaching Voyager, so if you want rules for Species 8472 or the Hirogen or whatever, you'll have to homebrew them. Same goes for anything from Enterprise... Xindi and the like.

It's pretty easy to find the Next Gen and TOS rulebooks used. Don't know about the DS9 book. The Next Gen time period was by far the best supported, getting up to twelve books and a set of miniatures before the end. TOS and DS9 only have three books each. A TON of stuff for the Last Unicorn system went unpublished, but fragments of many of these unpublished books have found their way online, so they would provide a good (and free) resource for further fleshing out your campaign.