STAR TREK RPG LAST UNICORN GAMES FOR FREE
While the "To Boldly Go," "The Klingons," and the "Mirror, Mirror" sourcebooks have actually been completed for several months, Wizard squandered the opportunity to publish them before the deadline and hence they seem destined to languish in limbo, unless Wizard elects to publish them electronically for free or a small fee as some fans would like.
STAR TREK RPG LAST UNICORN GAMES LICENSE
The Decipher acquisition of the Trek RPG license pretty much spelled the end for the LUG Trek RPG line as it was, making it both unprofitable and unfeasible to develop and attempt to mass-produce both the completed and uncompleted projects before the deadline of December 31 this year, after which Decipher will hold the exclusive rights in North America.
Also in the wind was a change over to the much-hyped D20 System, apparently used to great effect in Wizards' 'new' Dungeons & Dragons, from the Icon system being used as LUG's gaming system at the time, though its reception from all quarters of the Trek RPG world was uncertain. Projects under development before and after the take-over by Wizards included 'Star Trek: Red Alert', designed in conjunction with Fantasy Flight Games, a ship-based space-combat RPG comprising of 5 factions (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, and Ferengi) and 8 unique starter sets. Their 'Next Generation' RPG won Origins "Best RPG of 1998" and they were the developers of the award-winning Aria game system in 1994. Last Unicorn acquired the RPG license in 1998 and have since marketed a successful range of games based in the Star Trek universe, including the 'Original Series', 'The Next Generation', 'Deep Space Nine' and 'The Expanded Universe', in addition to their 'Dune' series. We now have a little more information of what exactly this meant for Last Unicorn, and what projects they had in the works or even had completed that now look unlikely ever to see the light of day. At the time, Last Unicorn had just been acquired by Wizards of the Coast, one of the largest and most prominent RPG companies around, and thus was in an excellent position to deliver the Star Trek range to a larger audience, while Decipher had no RPG experience whatsoever.
Earlier this year we reported on Last Unicorn Games' surprise loss of the Trek Role Playing Games license to Trek CCG license holder, Decipher.