Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
We've had a lot of threads recently about nuTSR, and the various grifts that they have run, and while I can feel alternately bemused (at the stupidity of the principals involved with nuTSR) and angry (at the actions they take and the negative effect it has in sowing needless division in the hobby today), the one emotion I feel most is a deep and abiding sadness. And I thought I'd do something productive with that sadness, and write a thread talking about why this matters- why people like me still care about TSR, and about this brand, and these logos, and why the actions of nuTSR are so abhorrent.
1. The Necessary Disclaimer
I need to start by saying that when I am describing the good things about TSR, I am not absolving the corporate entity (TSR) or all the people associated with it from all sins. If you're familiar with the history of the company, you know TSR was not always a force of unalloyed good. The recent book about the early history of TSR exposed a great deal of the disfunction- such as the use of the company to pad the extended Blume family's coffers, and how good employees who questioned this were summarily dispatched. Nor do I question the unenviable position that iconic early contributors and/or employees like Darlene and Jean Wells were put in.
In addition, as TSR moved into the later 80s and 90s, it became increasingly synonymous in many people's minds within the gaming community with lawsuits, and as the internet took its first, nascent steps into the mainstream, with crushing any attempts by fans to show their love. TSR, as a corporate entity, could be high-handed, misguided, and also somehow managed to tragically squander its advantages in the industry not once, but twice (both the 80s boom and its position in the 90s ended in retrenchment in the first case and utter financial ruin in the second). Many times, it seemed like the products succeeded not because of TSR's corporate stewardship, but in spite of it.
So knowing all of that, why does nuTSR make me so sad? What is this legacy that I see some continually tarnishing?
2. The Power of a Brand
A lot of times, we think of "IP" as something big corporations, like the House of Mouse, uses to browbeat the rest of us and to extract what little money we have. Well, you're not wrong! But it has other, beneficial effects as well. One of those is the way we think of the protection of brands- which are really "marks" (trademarks for goods, service marks for services). All the fancy law is just a codification of a simple idea- consumers associate certain things (words, logos, etc.) with a brand, and when they see that brand, they expect to get the product associated with it. I could go on a long digression about this, but if you're confused, Coming to America has a good (if not entirely correct) illustration of this with the whole McDonalds/McDowells bit.
And TSR is a powerful brand for older gamers. Because those three letters evoke a lot of feelings. That sense of nostalgia for those products, for that time, for the people and the games you had... all of that is inextricably tied up for many of us with those letters and the products that we saw. So when it comes to TSR, we don't think of the corporate entity, or the various foibles, the way some of its employees and contractors were mistreated, or the internal fights.
Instead, we remember the products created by amazing people, and the powerful memories associated with them. This play on nostalgia is fairly common- its why old brands keep getting bought up ... sometimes with less-than-pleasant consequences (I'm looking at you, Intellivision Amico). But at its core, it can remain powerful. When I think back to old TSR, to REAL TSR, the first memory that pops in my head, always, is unwrapping I3, Pharaoh, that I had just bought at a Waldenbooks and staring at the amazing cover while hearing Doctor Doctor by the Thompson Twins blaring from a radio in another room (the 80s!!!). But there are so many like that- the first time I saw the DMG Efreet cover ... or cracking open the boxed set of World of Greyhawk which became my de facto campaign setting through today ... or getting each new copy of Dragon in the mail. I still can envision setting up the maps and chits for Star Frontiers on a big table while I was staying with my grandparents and working in another state. TSR, its products, its writers, and its artists was part and parcel of my life for decades.
3. The Products, and the People Who Made Them
And that's what I really want to emphasize. None of this is to trivialize the amazing creatives working on D&D today, or for the last two decades. But as good as it is, there is something about the magic of the original TSR products and the people that still calls to me and still evokes those memories.
OD&D- just all of it. And Dr. Holmes!
The 1e DMG and PHB and MM. The core three that started it all.
The "golden age" series of modules- the S Series, the I1-6, X1-5, B1-4, A1-4, GDQ, C1-2, T1, U1-3, WG4. So many great ones.
The B/X of Moldvay and Cook. And then Mentzer's BECMI with Aleena.
The crazy Fiend Folio, which brought us monsters iconic (the Gith) and ...less so (Carbuncle).
The different games- I was always a Star Frontiers and Gamma World stan.
The publishing arm in the 80s and 90s which started with Dragonlance and then moved to, well, a lot of stuff.
The 2e campaign settings... Athas, Spelljammer, and Planescape.
And, of course, the art. So much great art by so many great artists. The early, weird art and line drawings (exemplified by artists like Otus) and the switch to the more Elmore, realistic style of art, before eventually going in different directions in the 90s (Brom et al). And my favorite bit- Darlene's Greyhawk map, oft-imitated but never to be equaled.
I'm sure other people have other things that they think of, but when I think of TSR, I think of all the amazing products, by the amazing people, that created amazing experiences for me.
4. And This is Why nuTSR Sucks
I enjoy dunking on nuTSR as much (if not more) than the next person, but this is why their actions make me sad. As I wrote in the first section- TSR wasn't perfect back then, far from it. But despite TSR's many problems, TSR had an amazing group of creative people that put out a lot of great products for a very long time, and those products meant a lot to a lot of people, like me.
And it makes me incredibly sad that people are trading on the name of TSR (and Gygax, even if it is a family member) to capitalize on those warm feelings... when all they are doing is hurting this hobby. Every .... single .... time ... that TSR is brought up now, it's in the context of the joke that is what they are doing. And that's the biggest disservice possible to the many amazing people that made products that were beloved by so many.
Anyway, I had to get that out.
There are enough threads bashing nuTSR (which they deserve)- maybe if people want to use this to put up some good memories of TSR's products and/or the people that made those products?
1. The Necessary Disclaimer
I need to start by saying that when I am describing the good things about TSR, I am not absolving the corporate entity (TSR) or all the people associated with it from all sins. If you're familiar with the history of the company, you know TSR was not always a force of unalloyed good. The recent book about the early history of TSR exposed a great deal of the disfunction- such as the use of the company to pad the extended Blume family's coffers, and how good employees who questioned this were summarily dispatched. Nor do I question the unenviable position that iconic early contributors and/or employees like Darlene and Jean Wells were put in.
In addition, as TSR moved into the later 80s and 90s, it became increasingly synonymous in many people's minds within the gaming community with lawsuits, and as the internet took its first, nascent steps into the mainstream, with crushing any attempts by fans to show their love. TSR, as a corporate entity, could be high-handed, misguided, and also somehow managed to tragically squander its advantages in the industry not once, but twice (both the 80s boom and its position in the 90s ended in retrenchment in the first case and utter financial ruin in the second). Many times, it seemed like the products succeeded not because of TSR's corporate stewardship, but in spite of it.
So knowing all of that, why does nuTSR make me so sad? What is this legacy that I see some continually tarnishing?
2. The Power of a Brand
A lot of times, we think of "IP" as something big corporations, like the House of Mouse, uses to browbeat the rest of us and to extract what little money we have. Well, you're not wrong! But it has other, beneficial effects as well. One of those is the way we think of the protection of brands- which are really "marks" (trademarks for goods, service marks for services). All the fancy law is just a codification of a simple idea- consumers associate certain things (words, logos, etc.) with a brand, and when they see that brand, they expect to get the product associated with it. I could go on a long digression about this, but if you're confused, Coming to America has a good (if not entirely correct) illustration of this with the whole McDonalds/McDowells bit.
And TSR is a powerful brand for older gamers. Because those three letters evoke a lot of feelings. That sense of nostalgia for those products, for that time, for the people and the games you had... all of that is inextricably tied up for many of us with those letters and the products that we saw. So when it comes to TSR, we don't think of the corporate entity, or the various foibles, the way some of its employees and contractors were mistreated, or the internal fights.
Instead, we remember the products created by amazing people, and the powerful memories associated with them. This play on nostalgia is fairly common- its why old brands keep getting bought up ... sometimes with less-than-pleasant consequences (I'm looking at you, Intellivision Amico). But at its core, it can remain powerful. When I think back to old TSR, to REAL TSR, the first memory that pops in my head, always, is unwrapping I3, Pharaoh, that I had just bought at a Waldenbooks and staring at the amazing cover while hearing Doctor Doctor by the Thompson Twins blaring from a radio in another room (the 80s!!!). But there are so many like that- the first time I saw the DMG Efreet cover ... or cracking open the boxed set of World of Greyhawk which became my de facto campaign setting through today ... or getting each new copy of Dragon in the mail. I still can envision setting up the maps and chits for Star Frontiers on a big table while I was staying with my grandparents and working in another state. TSR, its products, its writers, and its artists was part and parcel of my life for decades.
3. The Products, and the People Who Made Them
And that's what I really want to emphasize. None of this is to trivialize the amazing creatives working on D&D today, or for the last two decades. But as good as it is, there is something about the magic of the original TSR products and the people that still calls to me and still evokes those memories.
OD&D- just all of it. And Dr. Holmes!
The 1e DMG and PHB and MM. The core three that started it all.
The "golden age" series of modules- the S Series, the I1-6, X1-5, B1-4, A1-4, GDQ, C1-2, T1, U1-3, WG4. So many great ones.
The B/X of Moldvay and Cook. And then Mentzer's BECMI with Aleena.
The crazy Fiend Folio, which brought us monsters iconic (the Gith) and ...less so (Carbuncle).
The different games- I was always a Star Frontiers and Gamma World stan.
The publishing arm in the 80s and 90s which started with Dragonlance and then moved to, well, a lot of stuff.
The 2e campaign settings... Athas, Spelljammer, and Planescape.
And, of course, the art. So much great art by so many great artists. The early, weird art and line drawings (exemplified by artists like Otus) and the switch to the more Elmore, realistic style of art, before eventually going in different directions in the 90s (Brom et al). And my favorite bit- Darlene's Greyhawk map, oft-imitated but never to be equaled.
I'm sure other people have other things that they think of, but when I think of TSR, I think of all the amazing products, by the amazing people, that created amazing experiences for me.
4. And This is Why nuTSR Sucks
I enjoy dunking on nuTSR as much (if not more) than the next person, but this is why their actions make me sad. As I wrote in the first section- TSR wasn't perfect back then, far from it. But despite TSR's many problems, TSR had an amazing group of creative people that put out a lot of great products for a very long time, and those products meant a lot to a lot of people, like me.
And it makes me incredibly sad that people are trading on the name of TSR (and Gygax, even if it is a family member) to capitalize on those warm feelings... when all they are doing is hurting this hobby. Every .... single .... time ... that TSR is brought up now, it's in the context of the joke that is what they are doing. And that's the biggest disservice possible to the many amazing people that made products that were beloved by so many.
Anyway, I had to get that out.
There are enough threads bashing nuTSR (which they deserve)- maybe if people want to use this to put up some good memories of TSR's products and/or the people that made those products?
