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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JLowder" data-source="post: 8693094" data-attributes="member: 28003">It didn't have to be wholesale cheating or financial shenanigans. The company was paranoid about suits from Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, for example, and from other people who had been screwed over in various ways since the company launched. So they wanted to keep all information locked down, even if it was mundane. Some caution is always justified in business circles with trade secrets and sales data. TSR management took it to extremes. Not a shock. They were fast to threaten legal action against others and literally sent new staffers who might not be recognized to spy on Gary Gygax at Gen Con, so they expected the same in return. Management also feared creators finding out how successful their products were, as that might lead to them considering themselves more important than the brands. Creators who recognize their value demand better treatment, better contracts, and more money. So some publishers try not to let them know how many books they're selling or translation deals they have going. (You also fight to keep their names smaller on the covers than the logos. Or you keep the fiction author names off the spines of their books so the novels get shelved by series and not author. Keep the focus away from the creators.)My take is that TSR management did not know how to work with creative people and Lorraine frequently hired VPs who saw the games, books, and magazines as widgets. They understood neither the products nor the market. Both problems are quite common with management for business ventures in the arts, and the hobby market is weirder and more difficult to navigate than average, even for the arts.</blockquote>

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