D&D General The real Queens of D&D

[overgeeked]

right behind Lorraine Williams

You should read Game Wizards by Jon Peterson.

 

[Retreater]

You should read Game Wizards by Jon Peterson.

I read Game Wizards and I ended up with a conflicted opinion of Lorraine Williams. She performed a pretty underhanded takeover of TSR, but honestly, it needed it. Would I have preferred a more benevolent fan of gaming to have taken it over? Yes, absolutely. But Gygax and the Blumes were destroying the company.

 

[MGibster]

I read Game Wizards and I ended up with a conflicted opinion of Lorraine Williams. She performed a pretty underhanded takeover of TSR, but honestly, it needed it. Would I have preferred a more benevolent fan of gaming to have taken it over? Yes, absolutely. But Gygax and the Blumes were destroying the company.

While I think Lorraine Williams deserves some credit for keeping TSR afloat (and later the credit for running it into the ground), I don't associate her with AD&D save that it was the company she ran that produced it. What involvement did she have in the development of settings? Does she have any writing credits for any of the supplements or adventurs TSR produced under her leadership? The Queen of D&D? Nah, maybe a grand vizier or something.

 

[Tonguez]

Aleena
Tiamat
Takhisis
Raven Queen
Jean Wells - the Sage
Andre Norton - Quag Keep

 

[jdrakeh]

Jennell Jaquays and Darlene, for me. Two towering creatives from back in the day who are still relevant and influential now.

Same for me.

 

[Shardstone]

Everyone keeps naming queens but forgetting LOLTH HELLO???

 

[Mannahnin]

Those Endless Quest books really got TSR in bookstores and jumpstarted the novel line - if I remember the history.

That's a fair point. Estes' Greyhawk Adventures books, IMO, were somehow even worse than Gygax's, but her Endless Quest books were pretty good, and had MASSIVE distribution.

I remember (as a homeschooled kid in a small rural NH town) going in for standardized testing at the local school once a year, and when I finished the tests with plenty of time to spare, finding Endless Quest books on the classroom shelves to read while I waited for my folks to get me at the end of the designated time.

 

[Arilyn]

Lee Gold. The APA Alarums and Excursions has been coming out monthly since 1975! This is true dedication.

 

[Mannahnin]

Lee Gold. The APA Alarums and Excursions has been coming out monthly since 1975! This is true dedication.

I KNEW I was forgetting someone!

Absolutely Lee Gold. Right up there with Jennell and Darlene.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Rose Estes' Endless Quest books provided a definite on-ramp for many D&D players in the 80s. That her contributions have been continually minimized (Erik Mona apparently had a Rose Estes hate page for a time. Which, considering the more recent Paizo scandals, isn't a great look) is a shame.

Those Endless Quest books really got TSR in bookstores and jumpstarted the novel line - if I remember the history.
I do understand not liking some of what they did. But I think both of them played a role in prolonging TSR's existence so it would still be around to be purchased by WotC. Had Gygax kept up the mismanagement even one more year, I think TSR would've died. If TSR collapsed by 1990 (for example), there would've been little interest in bringing D&D back at all. At the best, it would be in a position like Palladium.

But as I pointed out in the original thread, my vote is for Jennell Jaquays. She's a great writer, one of the earliest contributors to the game, a surprisingly talented visual artist, and a seemingly decent human being to boot - long active in equality movements. Her DMing advice was some of the first practical tips I recall reading.