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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 8769356" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>Right, but this only hints at it, it doesn't give any of the real details.</p><p></p><p>Like in <em>Slaying the Dragon</em>, Riggs talks explicitly about the contract's origins and WHY TSR entered into it in the first place, back in 1980 or whenever it was (blanking on the exact year). When they needed advance funding to keep printing new expensive fancy hardcovers while still printing the back catalogue of fancy expensive hardcovers (among cheaper supplements). At the time it made perfect sense to make that deal to get the cash flow they needed, and it made sense for Random House to give them that cash to make sure the products kept flowing, while sales numbers kept climbing through the roof. Both parties wanted those sales, for production to be able to keep up with demand.</p><p></p><p>It wasn't until around midway through the Williams years, it seems, that TSR started misusing the deal to pump a firehose of product out to cover their core operating expenses, not just to print books that WOULD sell. And while Ryan Dancy writes "<em>the Random House distribution agreement; an agreement that TSR had used to support a failing business and hide the fact that TSR was rotten at the core</em>" that doesn't really give any details of what the deal did, how it provided that operating cash, or the fact that the deal itself long predated the management regime that misused it. When I read that paragraph originally I inferred that it was some deal late-era TSR struck on bad terms to try to stay afloat.</p><p></p><p>But fair point to GreyLord that this is Dancy referencing the Random House Distribution Agreement decades ago. I'm now trying to remember when the actual details first become widely known. Maybe Alzrius is right that it was <em>30 Years of Adventure</em>, though I'd be a little surprised if an official WotC publication of that period were really candid about the nature of that contract.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 8769356, member: 7026594"] Right, but this only hints at it, it doesn't give any of the real details. Like in [I]Slaying the Dragon[/I], Riggs talks explicitly about the contract's origins and WHY TSR entered into it in the first place, back in 1980 or whenever it was (blanking on the exact year). When they needed advance funding to keep printing new expensive fancy hardcovers while still printing the back catalogue of fancy expensive hardcovers (among cheaper supplements). At the time it made perfect sense to make that deal to get the cash flow they needed, and it made sense for Random House to give them that cash to make sure the products kept flowing, while sales numbers kept climbing through the roof. Both parties wanted those sales, for production to be able to keep up with demand. It wasn't until around midway through the Williams years, it seems, that TSR started misusing the deal to pump a firehose of product out to cover their core operating expenses, not just to print books that WOULD sell. And while Ryan Dancy writes "[I]the Random House distribution agreement; an agreement that TSR had used to support a failing business and hide the fact that TSR was rotten at the core[/I]" that doesn't really give any details of what the deal did, how it provided that operating cash, or the fact that the deal itself long predated the management regime that misused it. When I read that paragraph originally I inferred that it was some deal late-era TSR struck on bad terms to try to stay afloat. But fair point to GreyLord that this is Dancy referencing the Random House Distribution Agreement decades ago. I'm now trying to remember when the actual details first become widely known. Maybe Alzrius is right that it was [I]30 Years of Adventure[/I], though I'd be a little surprised if an official WotC publication of that period were really candid about the nature of that contract. [/QUOTE]
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