D&D General Ed Greenwood's $5K Contract To Sell The Forgotten Realms

D&D historian Ben Riggs has a copy of Ed Greenwood's original Forgotten Realms contract and spends a few words covering it, calling it "The best $5,000 D&D Spent". The setting was sold to TSR for $4,000 in 1987, with another $1,000 for comsulting services.

Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Realms, said he never regretted the decision to sell the property to TSR, the first company to make D&D. The five grand he made was $4,000 for the Realms itself, and then $1,000 for services as a design consultant. (That’s $13,000 in 2022 dollars).

The Best $5000 D&D Spent: Buying the Forgotten Realms — Ben Riggs

How did D&D manage to snag its flagship setting for the price of a car?

www.writerbenriggs.com

 

[Burnside]

TSR was taking a bit of a risk at the time. Neither they nor Ed knew how popular and profitable the Forgotten Realms would be. If FR had flopped big time, today we would be saying how Ed made out like a bandit.

$5k was not a risk.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

$5k was not a risk.

TSR spent a hell of a lot more than $5K to market and publish the Realms as the new setting for D&D.

 

[LordEntrails]

Maybe we'll get a new online 'zine?

You mean after the failure of Dragon+?
I doubt it, ezine's really don't seem to work anymore.

 

[Jimmy Dick]

I absolutely loved FR when I got that 1e boxed set. My only regret was that I lived in the middle of nowhere and had no one who wanted to play D&D at all. When I eventually found the 4e version of FR, I was really disappointed. Hopefully they will put out a new version of FR for their 50th anniversary cash grab because that looks more and more like Pathfinder every time I look at it.

 

[Zaukrie]

You mean after the failure of Dragon+?
I doubt it, ezine's really don't seem to work anymore.

That was a terrible advertisement, not a zine. But I agree, that was a hopeful post, not a believable one.

 

[Parmandur]

That was a terrible advertisement, not a zine. But I agree, that was a hopeful post, not a believable one.

What do you think a zine is...?

Also, what do you think old magazines, including Dragon and Dungeon, were...?

 

[Erdric Dragin]

No idea why he didn't also request royalties. Or some measure of autonomy. I, for one, could never sell my creation without some level of authority and monetary gain.

 

[Zaukrie]

What do you think a zine is...?

Also, what do you think old magazines, including Dragon and Dungeon, were...?

I owned nearly all of them. I'm assuming this is a pedantic reply, as they were nothing alike. Seriously. Just. Wow.

 

[Umbran]

The trouble with so many people is that they don't understand the value of themselves, and of what they produce.

Well, that's because it is potential value, that may or may not be realized. And, for most of the history of humankind, realizing the full potential value requires skills and resource that aren't part of the creation skillset.

So, Greenwood made something cool. His ability to realize that value on his own was minimal.

 

[Umbran]

No idea why he didn't also request royalties. Or some measure of autonomy. I, for one, could never sell my creation without some level of authority and monetary gain.

Because hindsight is 20/20, and the things we are realizing today that creators should get were not yet all that common.