From owner-decipher-announce@decipher.com Mon Sep 16 17:58:28 1996 Received: from decipher.com (games.decipher.com [205.242.237.10]) by osceola.gate.net (8.6.13/8.6.12) with ESMTP id RAA182560 for ; Mon, 16 Sep 1996 17:58:26 -0400 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by decipher.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) id PAA24181 for decipher-announce-outgoing; Mon, 16 Sep 1996 15:40:19 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199609161940.PAA24181@decipher.com> To: decipher-announce@decipher.com From: Q@decipher.com Subject: [ST:TNG CCG] An Interview with Tom! Date: September 16, 1996 Sender: owner-decipher-announce@decipher.com Precedence: bulk X-Info: Submissions to decipher-announce@decipher.com X-Info: Subscription requests to majordomo@decipher.com X-Info: Authors retain implicit copyright to their material X-Info: Obtain permission from the author before redistributing messages Status: RO An Interview with Tom Braunlich CAROL. Can you tell me when the Q-Continuum expansion will be available? TOM. Well, the development is completely finished and the printing will take place during September. I expect it will be released either at the very end of September, or in early-mid October. CAROL. What was the main hold-up? TOM. Well the approval process went well this time but we did decide to make some important last minute changes which caused a delay of a few weeks. We have some exciting new plans for premium cards which contributed to the delay. I'm not allowed to announce what those plans are yet ! CAROL. How do you feel about the Q-Continuum expansion? TOM. I'm extremely happy with the final design. There are several new innovative features that we had great fun playtesting and I am sure the players out there will enjoy. CAROL. Can you give me an example? TOM. Well, I know you have posted some cards already on the web site. One of these, Q's Tent, is one example of the new "Side Decks," which are a big part of Q Continuum. There are also tons of new major characters, much more android-related stuff, fixer cards of various kinds, some interesting new card types, and several battle enhancer cards including much enhancement of Away Team battles on planets, etc. And of course much of the set is devoted to capturing the "flavor" of Q's mischief in various ways, including some wild and weird cards that are fun. CAROL. Can you tell me anything about the other expansions that are coming? TOM. No, not yet! I can only mention that we have done a lot of advance work on the remaining sets, Holodeck Adventures and All Good Things..., and I am just as excited about the prospects for them! CAROL. Can't you tell me any more about the premium cards? You're hinting that something special is going to be announced. TOM. No, afraid not. The plans involve the 2-player game as well as some possible new products which are just taking shape. CAROL. OK. Back to Q-Continuum. Is there anything else you can tell me about the expansion? TOM. Well, it will contain 121 cards and there will not be an ultra rare in this set. At the risk of sounding a bit self-satisfied, (:-)) I think the reaction of ST:TNG CCG fans to the new Q-Continuum set will be similar to when Alternate Universe came out -- that is, "WOW!" But even more so. The cards will once again be "must have." The set has a very high degree of "cool factor", and many fun new play mechanics. However, I do have a concern about card availability. The current situation in the CCG industry is that many retailers and distributors who over-bought the low-selling CCGs that flooded the market in 1995 find themselves with low cash flow or financial difficulties. As a result, many of them only have enough money now to order the big-selling CCGs (Magic: The Gathering and Star Wars:CCG) and plan lower orders for ST:TNG:CCG, even though they realize that the demand is higher than their order. They have to make the choice. CAROL. Do you know how big the print run is? TOM. All I know is that because of the current industry situation and the fact that Alternate Universe didn't completely sell out, Decipher will reduce the print run accordingly. I don't know the exact numbers yet. Q-Continuum is definitely not going to be as widely available as Alternate Universe was. Those who want it might discover that it's difficult to find. Players and collectors might be in for a surprise if the retailers in their areas are taking this cautious approach. Q might be gone in a flash (pun intended :-) ). Some people may not get all cards they want before they are gone. There will likely be little time for retailers to reorder. My suggestion is that they should inform their retailer of their interest in Q, so that they can better judge the demand and still get their orders placed in time. If retailers know how much is pre-sold, they will be more likely to have the inventory in stock. CAROL. It sounds like a sales pitch to me! TOM. Well, not really. The set will sell out, no matter what. I just want to make sure the players get their hands on the cards. There are so many cool new play features that I'd like to see in action! I've heard that Decipher is going to start supporting Star Trek:TNG CCG tournaments much more vigorously and I hope to see this CCG being played more and more. CAROL. Yes, we're working on having the same type of tournament structure as the Star Wars CCG system with player ratings based on their performance in sanctioned tournaments. Details will be announced soon. TOM. Well, I'd like to end this interview (and get back to developing Hoth) by thanking Decipher for their dedicated work on the project, particularly Bill Martinson whose eagle eye found numerous clever improvements for the set. CAROL. Thanks, Tom. Thanks, Q ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Decipher Inc. -- The Art of Great Games (tm) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Q@decipher.com -- Star Trek:TNG CCG questions CCGCustomerService@decipher.com -- defective cards, info request, etc RebelBaseLeader@decipher.com -- Star Wars: CCG rules questions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *** DOWNLOAD THE MEGA STAR TREK FAQ FROM EMAILBACK OR FTP!! *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EMailBack@decipher.com -- use subject CATALOG for instructions ftp.decipher.com -- login as "anonymous" -- pub/STCCG http://www.decipher.com -- new and improved! check it out! FaxBack -- call 804-623-NEWS (6397) voice -----------------------------------------------------------------------