[OK, before anyone gets mad at me, remember that I love SFB, and I'm not
trying to insult the gamers or the game.] 

I've gotten hundreds of people to play SFB over the years, and the problems
facing new players are as follows: 

1. The game is SLOW, particulary in the Damage Allocation and 32 Impulse
systems. Two or three "Magic: the Gathering" duels can be played in the time it
takes to play a single non-eventful SFB turn. Some people like the slow pace of
SFB, most new players (who are generally from a younger generation who play
Doom and Descent) do not. The only way I've gotten those people to stay is to
use "Hard Hits" and an abbreviated 10 impulse system. 

[Remember, I like SFB, I'm just presenting my observations!] 

2. There are too many rules, most of which are in the "lets make a rule for the
sake of making a rule" category. A good example of the stupidity level is the ESG
discussion which Steve Cole just put a stop to recently. Does anyone really care
about this situation? Does anyone think this sort of mindless rules-nitpicking
appeals to new players? This is one of the primary things killing Magic: the
Gathering now (along with staleness in the new products). I *greatly* simplify
(or dumb down) the rules when I play SFB with others. If I didn't simplify the
rules, I would have lost about 3/4 of my player base. Now, dumbing down the
rules does not mean presenting the same rules again with even more wording
and explanation, this killed AD&D some time back (as it is very insulting to the
intelligence of the players). I'm talking about REMOVING elements of the game
which are mindless: Fire Control, Life Support, 1/4 turn delays, nit-picky/obscure
interactions... 

[I need to say this again: Remember, I like SFB, I'm just presenting some
observations!] 

3. The game is behind the times in terms of Trek. Most new players that I've
seen think of Captains Picard, Sisko, and Janeway when they think Star Trek.
Most new players are a little turned off when it is explained to them that SFB
covers only the original series (with a whole lot of new races and such thrown
in). The good news is that the Last Unicorn Games TNG system doesn't seem to
be catching on very well (at least in the 3 areas I game in), so more people may
try SFB after leaving the LUG system. 

[By the way, yes, I know ADB's license only covers the old shows, and they
can't do TNG even if they wanted to. This does not alter the fact that I've seen
people not play the game simply because it does not cover TNG!] 

4. There are hardly any adventure-based struggles to speak of. We've got the
General War, Operation Unity, the ISC Conquest, and a handful of lesser
campaigns, but no "adventures" in the AD&D sense. How exactly would one go
about running a trade campaign (where the players are merchant traders and
you as sort of a gamemaster/storyteller run all the other enemy characters &
ships) during the ISC Conquest, for example?. Yeah, I know there's the (T) and
(U) sections, and there's Prime Directive, but there needs to be a lot more of a
SFB / Role-Playing interaction. FASA and LUG did it, why can't SFB? How about
Adventure Modules like AD&D produces? SFB is presented as a bunch of
non-interacting scenarios for the most part, which turns off role-playing style
players. 

[Yes, I know SFB is a wargame, not a role-playing game. This does not alter the
fact that I have seen people leave SFB because they get tired of running an
endless string of scenarios that don't interact with each other.] 

These four problem areas are (in my experience) the primary factors for new SFB
players leaving the game (or refusing to try). I admit most of these problems
would be very difficult for ADB to fix, but I think the game would sell better if
they were looked at. 

Over the years, I've gone through a lot of work to "fix" the four problem areas of
SFB above. My "keep rate" (people who've I gotten to try my version of SFB and
then stay with the game, sometimes to the point of learning the "real" SFB) is
running about 90% now, which I consider pretty darn good. I'm not exactly sure
what I ended up with (it's not SFB), but it sure is a lot of fun. 

Don