Arneson vs Gygax lawsuit

[Janx]

Much appreciated!

And you're at NINE posts! Welcome to the forums. What brings you here, and what's your interest in the case (I mean that in a friendly way)?

Answering that in any kind of serious or silly fashion will net you your tenth post and the ability to upload links and stuff!

 

[Brian Baier]

I hate saying something without really saying anything. I'm either in contradiction, now, or merely obfuscating.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

So this looks like part of just one lawsuit. Aside from wrangling technicalities what _I_ got from it is that Arneson was being paid royalties just as Gygax was for the earliest versions of D&D under partnership/agreement/thingy with "Tactical Studies Rules". Tactical Studies Rules was entirely and permanently dissolved and "TSR" was incorporated in its place several years prior. TSR assumed all rights and responsibilities of "Tactical Studies Rules". Arneson was employed by as well as a minority stockholder of TSR. Gygax was not the majority stockholder but had less than 1/3 of the stock. I assume Blume had the majority stock at this point with Blume being chairman of the board and Gygax being employed as CEO. TSR then developed, marketed and began selling AD&D (which did not yet include the DMG). They didn't pay Arneson royalties for those sales on the principle that although he had participated in the development of the original game of D&D he had little or no influence in the development of Advanced D&D. Arneson seemingly wanted royalties for anything developed from the original D&D rules despite no longer being a part of substantial changes and development. Part of the issue then is whether AD&D was really still the same game or if it was something bigger/better and entirely new that he had no hand in or rights to. That would have been an issue for the actual trial or a settlement agreement and neither such is in the original link.

Part of the legalistic wrangling had to do here with Gary being named specifically as a defendant with Arneson claiming that Gygax personally ran the whole show and the counter-claim that he couldn't possibly since he wasn't even the majority stockholder. It seems the great bulk of the back-and-forth noted by the documents would have been avoided if Arneson's lawyers had simply filed suit in Wisconsin instead of Minnesota.

Oh, and I saw that purchase of _A_ computer and software in 1979 amounted to upwards of $50,000. Unbelievable.

 

[Brian Baier]

Brian from the UND Archives popping back in with an updated link to the Judge Devitt collection (after multiple permutations of our website):

Judge Edward J. Devitt Papers, 1927-1992 | Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections

Finding aids to special collections held by the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.

apps.library.und.edu

 

[aramis erak]

From what I understand, Arneson recieved a sum of money after a final out of court settlement. He used that money to start his own gaming company Adventure Games, which was eventually merged with Flying Buffalo Games.

It is interesting and sad that Dave and Gary invented such a huge cultural phenomenon, yet neither of them ended up with much wealth from their creation.

-Havard

It would have helped if Gary hadn't exhibited a serious lack of personal restraint while in Hollywood. His partying was notorious.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

yet neither of them ended up with much wealth from their creation.

Untrue! Both of them mismanaged their wealth and Arneson actually received more D&D royalties over his lifespan than Gary did.

 

[Dire Bare]

Untrue! Both of them mismanaged their wealth and Arneson actually received more D&D royalties over his lifespan than Gary did.

Interesting! I probably wouldn't have done much better, I don't manage my lack of wealth very well right now. But the situation still is sad, that TSR did their best to screw both men out of profit, and that the money they did receive wasn't managed well.

Also seems ironic that Arneson received more royalties than Gygax, as Gygax worked to disenfranchise Dave early on. The whole mess in TSR's early days has always seemed sordid to me.

But to my knowledge, neither man died penniless and poor, which has been the fate of more than one beloved sci-fi or fantasy author.

 

[Rob Kuntz]

Interesting! I probably wouldn't have done much better, I don't manage my lack of wealth very well right now. But the situation still is sad, that TSR did their best to screw both men out of profit, and that the money they did receive wasn't managed well.

Also seems ironic that Arneson received more royalties than Gygax, as Gygax worked to disenfranchise Dave early on. The whole mess in TSR's early days has always seemed sordid to me.

But to my knowledge, neither man died penniless and poor, which has been the fate of more than one beloved sci-fi or fantasy author.

Listen, Gary once showed me a royalty check (in 1980) for three months (six figures, nearly $300,000) while he was drawing a six figure salary on top of it. Arneson was making MORE than he was in royalties. Problem with Dave he made some bad investments and his lawyers who had done the contingency suit took a whopping cut of his royalties until the end of his days.

 

[Umbran]

Being a visionary creator does not mean one has good business sense.

 

[Dire Bare]

Being a visionary creator does not mean one has good business sense.

The early D&D and TSR story reminds me of the early computer industry, both Microsoft and Apple. Some of the creative partners came out way ahead of the others there also.

I imagine that "garage companies" (small companies founded in somebody's garage or home) often suffer similar issues as success overtakes the original partnerships.