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

 

[Nikosandros]

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

Not at all. There were ads, as in all magazines, but there was plenty of content. Honestly, it is a baffling statement.

 

[Parmandur]

Not at all. There were ads, as in all magazines, but there was plenty of content. Honestly, it is a baffling statement.

The content itself was geared to sell stuff, though. That's most magazines, not even being specific. That's a big reason yhe Internet killed magazines so hard, easier forms of marketing became available.

 

[Nikosandros]

The content itself was geared to sell stuff, though. That's most magazines, not even being specific. That's a big reason yhe Internet killed magazines so hard, easier forms of marketing became available.

Actually, no. The content was geared towards people who already had the manuals and looked for further material. Dungeon actually could be seen as competing against modules.

 

[Parmandur]

Actually, no. The content was geared towards people who already had the manuals and looked for further material. Dungeon actually could be seen as competing against modules.

And an encouragement to get more. Same as the free material they post online today.

 

[dave2008]

Well I didn't see it anywhere else in this thread, so I checked an online inflation calculator and Ed's $5000 in 1987 amounts to $13,035.70 in 2022 dollars. Just an FYI.

 

[Parmandur]

Well I didn't see it anywhere else in this thread, so I checked an online inflation calculator and Ed's $5000 in 1987 amounts to $13,035.70 in 2022 dollars. Just an FYI.

Pretty ludicrously low, but for a Librarian around 30, could be quite the windfall, at the right time.

 

[el-remmen]

Another benefit of magazines: if you run out of TP while perusing them on the toilet it is much harder to wipe your butt with a tablet or phone than it is with some torn out ad pages (though that is not exactly comfortable either, but desperate times call for desperate measures!)

 

[Alzrius]

Well I didn't see it anywhere else in this thread, so I checked an online inflation calculator and Ed's $5000 in 1987 amounts to $13,035.70 in 2022 dollars. Just an FYI.

That was mentioned in the article on Riggs' page:

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).

 

[Von Ether]

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

I’m not sure what zines are referred to here but the tradition Zine was a fan newsletter and the current zine is an indie product often using OSR or original content.

 

[Rabulias]

The content itself was geared to sell stuff, though. That's most magazines, not even being specific. That's a big reason yhe Internet killed magazines so hard, easier forms of marketing became available.

In the golden age of Dragon, they had content for and reviews of non-TSR games, books, and products.