lorraine williams (includes opinions from Gygax et al)

[The Grumpy Celt]

Gygax (Soprano Singing)

Attend the tale of Lorraine Williams.
Her skin was pale and her dress was odd.
She shoved game testing in a bin
and good ideas were thereafter never heard of again.
She trod a path that few have trod
did Lorraine Williams
the devil manager of game ing.
She throttled the Geneva con.
until most fan were long gone
and what if church nearly had the game banned
by the end most everyone was canned.
By Lorraine,
by Lorraine Williams
the devil manager of game ing.

TSR Employees (Chorus Singing)

Swing your budget wide!
Lorraine, hold it to the skies.
Freely flows the blood of those who game-ize.
Her needswere few, her room was bare.
A silly-big desk and a fancy chair.
A mug of puppies-blood, and a leather strop,
an purse, a throw pillow, nail polish, and a can of pop.
For neatness she deserves a nod,
does Lorraine Williams,
the devil manager of Game Ing.
Inconspicuous Lorraine was,
quick, and quiet and clean she was.
Back of her smile, under her word,
Lorraine heard music that nobody heard.
Lorraine pondered and Lorraine planned,
like a crazy computer she planned,
Lorraine was smooth, Lorraine was subtle,
Lorraine would blink, and writers would scuttle
Lorraine was smooth, Lorraine was subtle
Lorraine would blink, and artists would scuttle
Lorraine was smooth, Lorraine was subtle,
Lorraine would blink, and customers would scuttle
Lorraine was smooth, Lorraine was subtle,
Lorraine would blink, and printers would scuttle
Lorraine! Lorraine! Lorraine! Lorraine!
Lorraine!

Lorraine Williams (Base Singing)

Attend the tale of Lorraine Williams!

TSR Employees (Chorus Singing)

Attend the tale of Lorraine Williams!

Lorraine Williams (Base Singing)

She served a dark and incompetent God!

TSR Employees (Chorus Singing)

She served a dark and incompetent God!

Lorraine Williams (Base Singing)

What happened then, well that's the play,
and she wouldn't want us to give it away...

TSR Employees (Chorus Singing)

Not Lorraine
Not Lorraine Williams
The devil manager of Game...
Ing...

 

[prosfilaes]

Even though the grounds for the suit (that it is a derivative of D&D) is pure garbage, and that fact is obvious to anyone with a brain.

I understood that there was a legally valid beef about how Gygax had spent TSR company time on the project, which made it TSR property. But of course, TSR ended up throwing away a lot of money attacking something that was never going to have a noticeable impact on their bottom line.

 

[The Little Raven]

I think most gamers could care less about events that took place more than a decade ago.

Unless it had a personal and significant impact, like, say, getting a cease-and-desist letter from your favorite RPG company one week before your 14th birthday because of a crappy little campaign site you posted about the game you and your friends were playing.

 

[tenkar]

I have no hate for Ms. Williams... but I do have a healthy dose of dislike for her.

I remember the cease and desist period of TSR quite well thank you very much.

I remember buying Mythus at the one and only GenCon I attended... I followed the death of the game fairly closely.

I remember wasting my money on the Buck Rogers in the XXV Century and wondering why TSR had published this trash.

So, like i said... i don't like the woman

 

[Thurbane]

I had (still have) much love for AD&D 2E, so add me to the names of those who revile Lorraine Williams name as the greatest blight on the history or RPGs. Strangely enough, she would probably be proud of the fact that she is so universally despised by the "unwashed masses" of D&Ders...

I hope Asmodeus is keeping a seat of honor for her warm on the most desolate layer of the Nine Hells!

 

[Ranger REG]

if she really was the horrible person and short sighted manager that everyone likes to spit on, how comes that LOADS of gamers were thrilled and excited about the games produced by her company?

Because by her business actions, she killed the company created by Gygax, Kaye, and later Blume (who is the real bastard that sold his stocks to Ms. Williams and made her a major shareholder to control TSR). She let it be sold to WotC. TSR is just a memory.

But everything has to happen for a reason, right? Everyone have their roles to play, for goods or ills in history. She meant to owned TSR, who then later sold it to WotC.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Becuase of the way she handled the business end of our hobby, a lot of people seem to assume she eats puppies for fun when really she is apparently just a poor manager.

What a cruel thing to say! Puppies may be the world's most perfect food, and the thought that Ms. Williams might enjoy a Broulet au Bowser half as as much as I do is criminal, I say! Criminal!

In all honesty, I never really attached a name to what I thought of as 'TSR silliness', aside from the 'anti-dark gaming' crusade that Roger E. Moore indulged in.

When TSR started going after fan-sites I just chalked it up to the same forward thinking that led to them not allowing Spielberg to show the kids playing D&D in the movie E.T.. There was plenty of stupidity to spread around.

The Auld Grump

 

[Spell]

Because by her business actions, she killed the company created by Gygax, Kaye, and later Blume (who is the real bastard that sold his stocks to Ms. Williams and made her a major shareholder to control TSR). She let it be sold to WotC. TSR is just a memory.

you see, to me the blumes were much worse managers! sure, they didn't drive the company into nothingness, but only because they found someone to sell their stocks to, before it was too late. TSR was in dire financial straits, thanks to them... and that was when D&D could not fail.(*)

(sure, the market was smaller, but D&D was *the* fantasy game. warhammer was still to come. and runequest... come on, seriously! )

 

[Spell]

... I just chalked it up to the same forward thinking that led to them not allowing Spielberg to show the kids playing D&D in the movie E.T...

you are kidding, right?!?
even the mickey mouse of management would have PAID for such an opportunity!!!!!

 

[EATherrian]

you are kidding, right?!?
even the mickey mouse of management would have PAID for such an opportunity!!!!!

Well, Mars Corporation sure is kicking themselves.