TSR Ed Greenwood Sold The Forgotten Realms For $5,000

This week in Ben Riggs' podcast, he interviews Ed Greenwood, father of the Forgotten Realms, about his 1987 agreement with TSR wherein he sold the rights to the Realms for $5,000. "We also discuss the origin and publication of the Realms, and I am able to tell Ed, officially, how many units his game work sold decades after the fact. (You can check out the numbers below!)" Click here to listen!

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Right on! Thanks for posting this link to your podcast, Ben. Listening to it now.

 

[JLowder]

Great stuff. Stellar work, as always, Ben.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

It's still kind of mind blowing considering the realms is probably the most fleshed out world this side of planet earth.

 

[darjr]

And a lifelong career as a fr author

 

[Morrus]

And a lifelong career as a fr author

Well he’d have had that whatever amount he sold it for.

 

[gyor]

$5,000 for a setting that has generated 10's of millions of dollars in revenue over decades. He got screwed, but he is such a good, humble none greedy person he seems at peace with it. Let's be honest Ed is probably the single most humble major setting creator in existance. His IP made millions and it's a trans media empire now, but he still works as a Librarian. I respect his lack of materialism, its a about the art of creation for him.

Video games, RPG books, novels, comics, dice, maps, miniatures, ect... All based on the Forgotten Realms.

And you know TV shows and Movies are coming eventually.

 

[pukunui]

What would $5000 in 1987 dollars be worth in 2020 dollars?

 

[GreyLord]

Rough estimate off the top of my head???

$15K???

 

[gyor]

Rough estimate off the top of my head???

$15K???

$5,000 in 1987 is $11,320.77 is 2020 adjusted for inflation.