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

 

[Umbran]

Folks, you don't need a zine when you have a website you can post articles and such with.

This IS the zine: Articles

 

[darjr]

Folks, you don't need a zine when you have a website you can post articles and such with.

This IS the zine: Articles

Maybe, but it did seem like they said they had some other thing they were going to do. Specifically in reference to the title of Dragon.

They dint label those articles as being Dragon Magazine articles (or dragon + or any other kind of dragon moniker) for instance.

 

[Umbran]

Maybe, but it did seem like they said they had some other thing they were going to do. Specifically in reference to the title of Dragon.

Maybe. But I'm not sure why they'd bother, for reasons already stated.

 

[Parmandur]

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

I mean, they were all ads. That's what all magazines and zines are.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

I wonder how much he has made total, considering all the FR writing he has done since (Dragon articles, supplements, novels, etc.).

As well the work Ed's done ghostwriting for other authors down the years. Also writing novels and short fiction for other lines.

 

[GreyLord]

I think he has probably made more from being associated with it via novels, books, and other ways then he may have made if he had never sold it to TSR.

At least that's what I suspect.

 

[Von Ether]

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.

I would argue that it could be a taught skill set for creators. While not everyone can have the business savvy and talent of Brandon Sanderson and achieve his level of success, we could stand to have a lot more "mini-Sandersons."

He might be a genius, or lucky, but it's more likely he grew up in a rare household that helped teach him both sets of skills or a passion for both. Regardless, he was supported on both side of the equation being a creative and a creative business.

We need to demystify being creative and artistic. From the artistic side, making money off your efforts should not a bad thing. From the business side, one shouldn't assume that a creative career is a bad choice.

 

[Parmandur]

I think he has probably made more from being associated with it via novels, books, and other ways then he may have made if he had never sold it to TSR.

At least that's what I suspect.

Per Greenwood himself, it was worth it to him in order to get other people to create in his world so that it could surprise him.

 

[darjr]

Ed ghostwrites? I didn’t know that….

 

[Alzrius]

I mean, they were all ads. That's what all magazines and zines are.

Magazines rely heavily on ads for a lot of their revenue, certainly, and that results in a lot of pages being devoted to ads, but to call them "all ads" is very much an overstatement. I don't think that Paizo Publishing was formed to put out Dragon and Dungeon magazines because the founders were that excited to advertise for WotC.