D&D General When We Were Wizards: Review of the Completed Podcast!

[Cordwainer Fish]

the absolute graveyard of relationships and friendships left behind this path to wealth and success. The battle of egos. The lawsuits...

"And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death Hasbro held illimitable dominion over all."

 

[Jahydin]

Very late to this party, but just finished the podcast over the holidays and have all sorts of mixed emotions. I don't think I've ever been more proud and more disappointed in a single person.

Some thoughts:

• Although not dived into deeply, the inference of how creative Gary was and how well respected he was by the team, despite his bad business decisions and overbearing personality, cemented his importance to TSR for me. This was shown by the sense of relief from the design team when he came back to help get new product out (Unearthed Arcana, Legends of Lore, and Oriental Adventures) and also by Rose Estes, who had every right to pop champagne when he was ousted, commenting sadly that she felt like they killed the heart of the company.
• I can't stop thinking about the game's trajectory if Gary wised up sooner on how damaging his Hollywood period was and got back into the trenches with his team, rolled up his sleeves, and channeled all his energy into building back his close relationships and working on his game. Similarly, if he just took the sweet deal Lorraine was offering and did the same.
• Like others have mentioned, I knew about the lavish rockstar lifestyle he lead, but something about hearing it first and second hand in detail really sickened me. The lack of responsibility, morality, and humility was unbearable. Also, hearing Ernie gleefully recount that period gave me the impression he didn't leave that lifestyle by choice...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Rose comes off as the best person to have worked there in that period.

I'm not sure Gary was capable of straightening up and flying right. No matter how creative he might have been, he was always going to be focusing on how he could double-dip on benefitting financially at the expense of everyone who helped him build the brand.

Which is crazy: If the staff was never anyone than members of the Gygax and Arneson families, it would never have grown to what it was at either its TSR or WotC heights.