Rashomon and Palace of the Silver Princess

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[darjr]

Thank you for finding this and doing some real research. This is very sad. There is an interview with Darlene on the YouTube’s that has some similar accounts.

 

[Parmandur]

The account in Art & Arcana is more complex than that presented in the Wired article, too: it's a pretty shabby article, really.

 

[Parmandur]

Wow, listening to that interview with Wells is so sad. What a dumpster fire the TSR office environment was...

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Parmandur]

I know. It's even more sad knowing that she passes shortly after it.

And it's even more more sad when you realize what people keep saying about her. I mean ... she was a vibrant young woman who was preparing to be an elementary school teacher, and not only was she treated like that, but she was the first female game designer at TSR and you still have people (FALSELY) talking about her like she was some torrid S&M queen.*

It makes the blood boil.


*Not that there would have been anything wrong with that. It's just so ... sadly ... typical.

It sounds like there was some anti-Hippie bias, too: neighbors accusing the TSR staff of having orgies, which she seems seriously bemused by...

 

[darjr]

Darlene being interviewed by Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito at Gary Con XI 2019 on Dragon Talk

 

[Parmandur]

Interesting tidbit at the end of the Wells interview: apparently the infamous FBI raid of the TSR offices during the development of Top Secret was occasioned by TSR staff running around Lake Geneva pretending to shoot passers-by with toy guns...

 

[Parmandur]

Darlene being interviewed by Shelly Mazzanoble and Greg Tito at Gary Con XI 2019 on Dragon Talk

You know, it's interesting, but as much as this further highlights how messed up TSR was an organization, it also goes to show why people generally do remember Gygax fondly, warts and all. He was genuinely supportive of talented people, insofar as he was able.

 

[jayoungr]

I was curious, so I looked up this module. Seems pretty tame today. On a quick skim, I couldn't see anything that qualified as "navel-gazing pseudo-porn," as the "Racy Module" article describes it.