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Rob Kuntz Recounts The Origins Of D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 7797294" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>My understanding is that the quilting company TSR acquired was due to Brian Blume's brother, Kevin. As I heard it, it was basically something he did for his wife so that there'd be something at TSR that she'd be interested in.</p><p></p><p>If that sounds ridiculous, well, that matches what I've read. I don't have my books in front of me, but as I recall, after Don Kaye died and Melvin Blume gave his son Brian the money to buy Kaye's widow out, the Blumes gained a controlling interest in the company. Kevin Blume was installed on TSR's board of directors alongside Brian Blume and Gary Gygax. The Blumes later brought in three more people to sit on the board, none of whom were gamers (as I've heard it, those three individuals sounded like they came from the setup of a joke, being a doctor, a lawyer, and a businessman, or something like that). When Gary was subsequently shipped off to Hollywood to explore options with regards to commoditizing D&D for film and TV (and where he admittedly got completely caught up in the ritz and glamour), Kevin was the one who started running TSR into the ground.</p><p></p><p>When Gary eventually heard that TSR was on the verge of bankruptcy and being shopped around, he hurried back. Once he'd reviewed what had been happening, he assembled the board and put forward a motion to remove Kevin Blume from his position. Supposedly, Kevin voted for himself to stay, Gary and the three non-gamers voted for him to go, and Brian Blume, Kevin's own brother, abstained. Gary then started cranking out books such as <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/170096/Unearthed-Arcana-1e" target="_blank">Unearthed Arcana</a> and <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17334/Oriental-Adventures-1e" target="_blank">Oriental Adventures</a> to try and raise enough cash to save the company (and also try and regain control of it). While those books weren't exactly his own new, original work, they did well enough that he was able to make his play to retake TSR.</p><p></p><p>And then Lorraine Williams happened, but that's another story.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 7797294, member: 8461"] My understanding is that the quilting company TSR acquired was due to Brian Blume's brother, Kevin. As I heard it, it was basically something he did for his wife so that there'd be something at TSR that she'd be interested in. If that sounds ridiculous, well, that matches what I've read. I don't have my books in front of me, but as I recall, after Don Kaye died and Melvin Blume gave his son Brian the money to buy Kaye's widow out, the Blumes gained a controlling interest in the company. Kevin Blume was installed on TSR's board of directors alongside Brian Blume and Gary Gygax. The Blumes later brought in three more people to sit on the board, none of whom were gamers (as I've heard it, those three individuals sounded like they came from the setup of a joke, being a doctor, a lawyer, and a businessman, or something like that). When Gary was subsequently shipped off to Hollywood to explore options with regards to commoditizing D&D for film and TV (and where he admittedly got completely caught up in the ritz and glamour), Kevin was the one who started running TSR into the ground. When Gary eventually heard that TSR was on the verge of bankruptcy and being shopped around, he hurried back. Once he'd reviewed what had been happening, he assembled the board and put forward a motion to remove Kevin Blume from his position. Supposedly, Kevin voted for himself to stay, Gary and the three non-gamers voted for him to go, and Brian Blume, Kevin's own brother, abstained. Gary then started cranking out books such as [url=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/170096/Unearthed-Arcana-1e]Unearthed Arcana[/url] and [url=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17334/Oriental-Adventures-1e]Oriental Adventures[/url] to try and raise enough cash to save the company (and also try and regain control of it). While those books weren't exactly his own new, original work, they did well enough that he was able to make his play to retake TSR. And then Lorraine Williams happened, but that's another story. [/QUOTE]
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