Col_Pladoh said:
My manner of operating TSR differed radicaly frm that of the Blume brothers who took over management of the company and ran it into the ground. Then Lorraine Williams directed things so that it was, to the best of my knowledge, at least over $30 million in debt when WotC acquired TSR. I do believe that the method of doing business by Wizards is not one that best serves the D&D game audience or the game itself, but time will tell.
Well, I'm no expert on the marketing of RPG by any stretch of the imagination, but from reading the bits on the background of the various D&D settings that was presented in Dragon 315, I got the impression that TSR spent a great deal of time during the 2e era trying to come up with the next Dragonlance. According to the issue, the original Dragonlance modules and novels were unexpectedly a big hit, and it seems that TSR management wanted another big hit along the same lines. So there were a number of different campaign settings released, each with adventures, expansions, novels and so on. Several people who worked for TSR near the end who later went over to WotC have blamed TSR's bankrupcy on the fact that the different settings essentially fragmented the D&D player base by having too many diverse products but not enough players to support them.
I'm sure TSR's attempt to cash in on the collectable card game fad in the mid 90's with not 1 but
2 different games didn't help either. Their 1996 release schedule had something like two dozen or so splatbooks and adventures for core AD&D, maybe a half a dozen campaign settings each with at least 1 or 2 adventures/expansions/novels being published each month, whatever products (and I think there was at least 3 or 4 of them) they were releasing for Spellfire (TSR's big CCG), several expansion sets for Dragon Dice (their collectible dice game), and probably an assortment of other various products. And all this when they were supposedly having difficulty paying their bills on time.
And the silly decision to sue people who were putting up home brewed material on the web for copyright infringement was a rather boneheaded move that alienated a number of players that TSR couldn't affor to lose at the time.
As for WotC, I think a lot of people are suspiscious of them because of all the screw ups TSR made in their last few years. TSR was run by a bunch of suits who didn't know jack about the game industry and didn't really care what the average gamer thought, and a lot of people seem to think the same thing about WotC. There's also gamers who liked some of the settings that TSR cranked out, but that WotC decided to axe in favor of focusing support on the 2 big settings instead: Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms, and some of them are still bitter. Another common gripe is that WotC doesn't bother to publish adventures. WotC was moving away from DM-only material there for a while, since such products have less potential buyers, and there's publishing costs for them to consider. However it seems they've changed their mind on that a little bit as I've read here on ENWorld that they're planning to produce some adventures again soon. WotC's revision of the 3e rules 2 years ago also created a great deal of suspicion that they're only interested in profiting off the game. But on the whole, I think they're doing a fair job with the game. I'd say their biggest problem is not doing enough to promote the game to new players.
I have watched and rooted for the Packers since Bart Starr was the QB, and if the Bears can't make the playoffs, than I am 100% behind the Pack. I am wondering who they can get to step into Favre's shoes, although he might have another few good seasons, he is getting old for a football player.
