Star Trek for Traveller / Cepheus Engine

domingojs23 · Post by **domingojs23** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 4:35 am

Dear Friends,

As we eagerly and patiently await TPD - a Star Trek setting for Cepheus Engine, the open-source rendering of the Classic & Mongoose Traveller 1st Ed Rules, has come out: Star Trek: Alpha Quadrant.

Here it is:

--> URL deleted <--

Enjoy !

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:41 pm

I am sorry, but we can't put that link here.

Basically, this is an unauthorized work that is using Paramount intellectual property. Whether it actually passes Paramount's fair use policy (which I doubt and am not going to check), hosting such a link on ADB's website is simply too risky to allow. Doing so can violate ADB's own agreement with Paramount, and that risk simply cannot be taken.

To the larger issue, I realize that it has taken a very long time to try and get TPD done, and it still isn't, but ADB is a small operation and they can only do so much at any given time. And they need to prioritize that which is going to best help them continue to go forward. It just takes time, sometimes a lot more time than anyone wants, particularly ADB.

Maximara · Post by **Maximara** » Sat Jun 01, 2019 3:28 pm

mjwest wrote:I am sorry, but we can't put that link here.

Basically, this is an unauthorized work that is using Paramount intellectual property. Whether it actually passes Paramount's fair use policy (which I doubt and am not going to check), hosting such a link on ADB's website is simply too risky to allow. Doing so can violate ADB's own agreement with Paramount, and that risk simply cannot be taken.

Paramount or CBS? I ask this because, as of this writing, there are two Star Trek licenses.

CBS holds the main license (the TV series, paper back books, toys, etc) while Paramount owns the movies and nothing else.

CBS didn't want to make more Star Trek but Paramount did and so an alternate Star Trek license was created by CBS that was leased to Paramount and prevents Paramount from creating anything in the main Star Trek Universe and, according to rumor, what Paramount makes has to be at least 25% different from canonal Star Trek.

Midnight Edge goes into this in Star Trek Discovery: The Prime Deception though glosses over the reasons Star Trek Discovery, planned to be under the canonal license, wound up being made under the Kelvin license "due to a series of legal issues and subsequent deal making" even though CBS was the one producing it.

One only have to look at the moderate success of the Starship Farragut and Star Trek Continues fan projects having something that visually looks like it was made in the 1960s might be viable.

Hopefully the remerger of CBS and Paramount while get things back on track. CBS seems to be more tolerant of fan versions of Star Trek then Paramount.

Post by **Steve Cole** » Sat Jun 01, 2019 5:06 pm

If Paramount (or whoever) wants to be tolerant of fan work, swell, but that still does not mean we can risk promoting or allowing others to promote on our site anything that doesn't have specific written and published permission. Even then we'd have to ask Paramount.

Maximara · Post by **Maximara** » Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:33 pm

Steve Cole wrote:If Paramount (or whoever) wants to be tolerant of fan work, swell, but that still does not mean we can risk promoting or allowing others to promote on our site anything that doesn't have specific written and published permission. Even then we'd have to ask Paramount.

Got you. One could clobber an alternate Star Trek + Traveler world together from GURPS as they have an active license on the Traveler stuff.

If you use GURPS Traveler you have to shuffle the TLs 8 and above around a bit as that used the 3e Tech level scale.

GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is better if you are using the 4e tech level scale and part of it even fits the Star Fleet Universe timeline.

TL9^-10^ that both settings have at this time period (22nd century) also make tech issues a lot easier to deal with.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Sat Jun 01, 2019 11:59 pm

Maximara wrote:... GURPS as they have an active license on the Traveler stuff.

That expired recently. GURPS Traveller is firmly in the past now.

Maximara · Post by **Maximara** » Sun Jun 02, 2019 2:23 am

mjwest wrote:
Maximara wrote:... GURPS as they have an active license on the Traveler stuff.
That expired recently. GURPS Traveller is firmly in the past now.

Actually "The rights to this material have shifted, but fortunately the new owners have decided to keep it all available via W23." (2015) This is why all the GURPS Traveler stuff is still available via Warehouse 23 in 2019 some 4 years after the old license expired.

In fact, Far Future Enterprises sells GURPS Traveler through their website including CD-ROM packages. This is what I meant by active license. I don't know if it includes the rights for Steve Jackson Games to make new material or if it is like their Conan license (keep putting out PDFs of old material but nothing new).

Not all the licensed properties were so lucky as 19 core books and any related supplements they had are gone.

domingojs23 · Post by **domingojs23** » Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:17 am

mjwest wrote:I am sorry, but we can't put that link here.

Basically, this is an unauthorized work that is using Paramount intellectual property. Whether it actually passes Paramount's fair use policy (which I doubt and am not going to check), hosting such a link on ADB's website is simply too risky to allow. Doing so can violate ADB's own agreement with Paramount, and that risk simply cannot be taken.

To the larger issue, I realize that it has taken a very long time to try and get TPD done, and it still isn't, but ADB is a small operation and they can only do so much at any given time. And they need to prioritize that which is going to best help them continue to go forward. It just takes time, sometimes a lot more time than anyone wants, particularly ADB.

Ooops so so so sorry !!!

Been waiting soo long for Traveller: PD that I forgot all about the limitations of the ADB-Paramount legal framework ...

Post by **Steve Cole** » Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:52 pm

We have been waiting for it, too. Jean should be finished with the GURPS revision this month and I'm determined that she's going to get busy on Traveller immediately thereafter. She's busy (so is everyone else who works here) and there are not enough hours in the day to do everything immediately.

domingojs23 · Post by **domingojs23** » Tue Aug 06, 2019 9:58 pm

Thanks Steve !

Post by **Steve Cole** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:03 pm

Well, it's August and she is not done with GURPS yet, but she's close.