Gary Gygax Leaving TSR

In 1979, a Michigan State University student supposedly disappeared into the school's steam tunnels while playing a live-action version of D&D. Negative mainstream media attention focused on Dungeons & Dragons as a result. In 1982, Patricia Pulling's son killed himself; blaming Dungeons & Dragons for his suicide, Pulling formed an organization named B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons) to attack the game and the company that produced it. Gygax defended the game on a segment of 60 Minutes,1 which aired in 1985 and also featured Pulling. When death threats started arriving at the TSR office, Gygax hired a bodyguard.2 In 1982, however, TSR's annual D&D sales increased to $16 million,3 and in January 1983, The New York Times speculated that Dungeons & Dragons might become "the great game of the 1980's" in the same manner that Monopoly was emblematic of the Great Depression.4

TSR was split into four companies in 1983. Gygax became the President and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TSR, Inc.,5 and the President of TSR Entertainment, Inc. As part of TSR Entertainment, Inc. (later Dungeons & Dragons Entertainment Corp.), Gygax went to Hollywood, where he became co-producer of the licensed Dungeons & Dragons animated television show for CBS.6 The series led its time slot for two years.7

While Gygax was involved in the making of the cartoon series and exploring the possibility of a film adaptation of the game (starring Orson Welles), he left the day-to-day operations of TSR to his fellow board members, Kevin and Brian Blume. By the time he came back to Wisconsin in 1984, the company was $1.5 million in debt.8 In response he hired Lorraine Dille Williams to manage the company. The Blumes soon sold their stock to Williams. Gary Gygax then sold his remaining stock and departed TSR in 1985;9 meanwhile, sales of Dungeons & Dragons reached $29 million.

I was pretty much boxed out of the running of the company because the two guys, who between them had a controlling interest, thought they could run the company better than I could. I was set up because I could manage. In 1982 nobody on the West Coast would deal with TSR, but they had me start a new corporation called "Dungeons and Dragons Entertainment." It took a long time and a lot of hard work to get to be recognized as someone who was for real and not just a civilian, shall we say, in entertainment. Eventually, though, we got the cartoon show going (on CBS) and I had a number of other projects in the works. While I was out there, though, I heard that the company was in severe financial difficulties and one of the guys, the one I was partnered with, was shopping it on the street in New York. I came back and discovered a number of gross mismanagements in all areas of the company. The bank was foreclosing and we were a million and a half in debt. We eventually got that straightened out, but I kind of got one of my partners kicked out of office. [Kevin Blume, who was removed as TSR CEO in 1984]. Then my partners, in retribution for that, sold his shares to someone else [Lorraine Williams]. I tried to block it in court, but in the ensuing legal struggle the judge ruled against me. I lost control of the company, and it was then at that point I just decided to sell out.10

Before leaving TSR, Gygax authored two novels for TSR's Greyhawk Adventures series, featuring Gord the Rogue, Saga of Old City11 (the first Greyhawk novel)12 and Artifact of Evil.13 Subsequent Gord the Rogue adventures from New Infinities Productions, Inc. (also published in Italian) included Sea of Death,14 Night Arrant (a collection of short stories),15 City of Hawks,16 Come Endless Darkness,17 and Dance of Demons.18

Another of Gary Gygax's creations was Dragonchess, a three-dimensional fantasy chess variant, published in Dragon #100 (August 1985). It is played on three 8x12 boards stacked on top of each other - the top board represents the sky, the middle is the ground, and the bottom is the underworld. The pieces are characters and monsters inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons setting: King, Mage, Paladin, Cleric, Dragon, Griffin, Oliphant, Hero, Thief, Elemental, Basilisk, Unicorn, Dwarf, Sylph and Warrior.

• 1. Sullivan, Patricia (March 5, 2008). "E. Gary Gygax; Co-Creator Of Dungeons & Dragons", Washington Post. Retrieved on 17 October 2008.
• 2. "Gary Gygax", The Times (March 6, 2008). Retrieved on 7 October 2008.
• 3. Sacco, Ciro Alessandro. "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax". thekyngdoms.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-24.
• 4. "Topics; Updates; Playing Games; [Editorial]", The New York Times (1983-01-19), p. A.22. Retrieved on 19 December 2008. (Registration required)
• 5. "Ask The Globe", The Boston Globe (1983-10-05). Retrieved on 19 December 2008. (Registration required)
• 6. Rausch, Allen (2004-08-16). "Gary Gygax Interview - Part 2". Gamespy. Retrieved on 2006-07-05.
• 7. "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
• 8. La Farge, Paul (September 2006). "Destroy All Monsters". The Believer Magazine.
• 9. Kushner, David. "Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax". Wired.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-16.
• 10. Rausch, Allen (2004-08-16). "Gary Gygax Interview - Part 2 (page 1)". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment, Inc.. Archived from the original on 2008-10-04. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
• 11. Gygax, Gary (1985). Saga of Old City. TSR. ISBN 0-88038-257-0.
• 12. Winter, Steve; Johson, Harold; Adkison, Peter; Stark, Ed; Archer, Peter; additional contributions by numerous others (October 2004). 30 Years of Adventure: A Celebration of Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3498-0.
• 13. Gygax, Gary (1986). Artifact of Evil. TSR. ISBN 0-88038-257-0.
• 14. Gygax, Gary (1987). Sea of Death. New Infinities Productions. ISBN 0-44175-676-X.
• 15. Gygax, Gary (1987). Night Arrant. New Infinities Productions. ISBN 0-441-29863-X.
• 16. Gygax, Gary (1987). City of Hawks. New Infinities Productions. ISBN 0-44110-636-6.
• 17. Gygax, Gary (1988). Come Endless Darkness. New Infinities Productions. ISBN 0-44111-446-6.
• 18. Gygax, Gary (1988). Dance of Demons. New Infinities Productions. ISBN 0-42511-342-6.