What did you do during TSR's dark days of '97

[Davelozzi]

Best Post by someone in the business EVAR.

I absolutely agree.

 

[Piratecat]

Ahh, I love this place. In case anyone hasn't mentioned it recently, Ryan - thank you. And thank you to all you guys who sweated out those horrible couple of months at TSR by doing what you could. I'm glad things worked out the way they did.

 

[Bass Puppet]

What did you do during TSR's dark days of '97

The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!

Seriously (ass kissing time) thank you to everybody who I know and don't know who made an effort in bringing back D&D. It's better than I could have ever imagined it to be (except for a couple of things that I will not mention) and I'm sure there are several on here who would disagree with me.

 

[Shemeska]

At the time I was busy graduating from highschool and it would still be two years before I picked up a single DnD book.

 

[johnsemlak]

Ahh, I love this place. In case anyone hasn't mentioned it recently, Ryan - thank you. And thank you to all you guys who sweated out those horrible couple of months at TSR by doing what you could. I'm glad things worked out the way they did.

Ditto. And thanks for dropping by

 

[Ranger REG]

So, D&D junkies - how'd you cope?

Well, that's the thing. I'm not a D&D junkie. I'm a RPG addict. I go from D&D to RoleMaster to MechWarrior to Star Trek or whatever my gaming group decides to play. Sometimes, we look at what other TSR products that look interesting that I would have passed initially.

So, I cope pretty well, unlike those 89% of the members on Wizards' current messageboards. Hehehe.

 

[Impeesa]

I was just getting into gaming at the time, having picked up Magic in fall of '96 (beginning of grade 8 for me) and 1E AD&D a year later. The 1E books came from a friend's dad, when we got the budget we upgraded to a 1E/2E hybrid (ever see Combat & Tactics munched-out characters go up against 1E style dragons? Not pretty...). We played a whole lot of Alternity during its short lifetime, too. We had no idea TSR was in such poor shape - the first I heard of it was a blurb in an InQuest about the buyout (which I promptly forgot, since I didn't pick up AD&D until the next fall). Since I'm a terrible pack rat, I have it handy - here's a quick blast from the past.

TSR BACK FROM THE GRAVE

New TSR-brand roleplaying products should be on the shelves by the time you're reading this.
Wizards of the Coast CEO Peter Adkinson, whose company purchased TSR in June, is serving as TSR brand manager. "The products are back on the press. All the right people are coming over," he said. "Everything's going really well."
WotC hasn't cancelled any product lines, but Adkinson said that will happen if sales are poor. The AD&D worlds of Planescape, Ravenloft, and Birthright, as well as the Spellfire and Dragon Dice games, will be closely monitored.
On the flip side, WotC will add product lines next year by launching the science fiction RPG Alternity and reintroducing the popular Greyhawk AD&D campaign setting.
These products will sport the familiar TSR logo. "There are a lot of fans of TSR and a lot of old gamers who have very fond memories of TSR," Adkinson said. "The TSR brand has... a lot of good associated with it." He expects the "new" TSR to turn a profit by year's end.
Since TSR designs its products well in advance, WotC's influence won't be felt until next year. Adkinson said that TSR's only big creative change would be to target more mature audiences. This is being done "not because we want to leave young players out but because we think that young players are generally pretty mature," he said.
By the end of August, TSR employees should be settling into their new offices at WotC's Seattle-area headquarters. WotC will run out the lease on TSR's Wisconsin offices, which expires next spring.
Approximately 50 TSR workers, including most of the design staff, are making the move. Adkinson said that TSR had 85 employees when TSR purchased it, and 70 were asked to stay.
In the long term, the biggest challenge will be evaluating AD&D's fundamental rules. "Many would consider the game a little outdated," Adkinson said, noting that the pioneering RPG is 20 years old. "The flip side is that you have a very large installed player base who would probably resist change." WotC, he said, will take a long, hard look at whether or not to update the game.

This was accompanied by a picture of some undead-looking things and the caption "'Don't bury me.. I'm not dead yet!' - TSR's new corporate motto?" True IQ style. Looking back on it, some of that is kind of interesting.... targetting more mature audiences, indeed. And the last paragraph.... we all know what became of that.

--Impeesa--

 

[Creamsteak]

I was playing on my Playstation I believe... that's what I had in 97, I'd think...

 

[Nightfall]

I was asleep or playing Magic the Gathering then. So if TSR was putting stuff out...I didn't notice.

 

[BOZ]

Went to TSR.

Determined what needed to be done to get product flowing again.

Got that done.

Ryan

that's easy for you to say!


seriously, thanks for being there when someone was needed!