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

[billd91]

If history doesn't matter, I guess it's true. But the story of where we are in gaming today starts with TSR.

It's less about history not mattering as much as we already have quite a few facts about the situation that indicate TSR was on the brink and ousting Gary may have extended its life about 10 years. So what do we really need her perspective for? What's missing mostly is Lorraine's perspective on exactly why - what led to her making the decisions she made, etc. And while those would be interesting in creating a more textured picture, I'm not sure they're necessary for us to overthrow the worst of the villainess narratives.

 

[MGibster]

It's less about history not mattering as much as we already have quite a few facts about the situation that indicate TSR was on the brink and ousting Gary may have extended its life about 10 years. So what do we really need her perspective for?

I think of history as being less what happened in the past than it is about why it happened. We all know the stock market crashed on October 24, 1929, that the true king of England died on October 14, 1066, and that World War III was started on October 23, 2077 (October is a bad month), but knowing what happened isn't what makes things interesting. Historians generally try to examine as many perspectives as possible, and Williams' perspective might offer some insight into why things happened. i.e. This knowledge might change our interpretation of the past.

 

[mamba]

In lieu of Williams I'd love to hear more from Adkison.

him and Dancey, from the analysis and decision to buy TSR to the release of 3e, I would be interested in that

 

[humble minion]

him and Dancey, from the analysis and decision to buy TSR to the release of 3e, I would be interested in that

I know Ben Riggs inspires mixed feelings among some on here, but I think he’s currently working on a history of post-TSR d&d. Hopefully it covers some of this ground.

 

[Alzrius]

I know Ben Riggs inspires mixed feelings among some on here, but I think he’s currently working on a history of post-TSR d&d. Hopefully it covers some of this ground.

My understanding is that his next book is supposed to be about the early days of D&D 5E (with the working title being "Total Party Kill," based on his seminar at last year's Gen Con; and if that sounds ominous, it's because he talked about some of what he's researched, and it doesn't make WotC look good).

 

[TiQuinn]

Even before the internet, she was the villain of the story. The evil outsider who stole TSR from it's righteous creator, Gary Gygax, and while I do think Williams' legacy deserves to be reassessed, there's some truth to that. The way she took over involved more than a little skullduggery on her part. But then if Gary hadn't been jerking the Blumes around for the better part of the year in regards to their share, hadn't insulted Williams, and maybe kept an eye on the business instead of chasing Hollywood dreams he wouldn't have found himself so vulnerable.

You might think Williams would welcome the opportunity to tell her side of the story, but it's been almost thirty years, and if she wanted to talk about it she certainly had ample opportunity.

I had never realized Dangerous Journeys was a property he developed while working at TSR. It was always always presented to me that TSR were being a bunch of meanies who sued him over a game that was completely unrelated...but those were the terms of the contract Gary signed when he controlled TSR.

Just my two cents, but it didn’t sound like Williams really was concerned with people’s opinions from a game industry standpoint. She was just about the business and I don’t think she cares too much about legacy from a fan’s perspective. Even if she did, she’d be opening herself up to more than just rehashing the fight with Gary Gygax: she’d have to get into the pretty blatant attempt to benefit herself by pushing Buck Rogers consistently throughout her time running the company. We also know more about the TSR Random House deal and how the company ended up near bankruptcy, and she’d be opening herself up to tremendous criticism.

 

[MGibster]

Just my two cents, but it didn’t sound like Williams really was concerned with people’s opinions from a game industry standpoint. She was just about the business and I don’t think she cares too much about legacy from a fan’s perspective. Even if she did, she’d be opening herself up to more than just rehashing the fight with Gary Gygax: she’d have to get into the pretty blatant attempt to benefit herself by pushing Buck Rogers consistently throughout her time running the company. We also know more about the TSR Random House deal and how the company ended up near bankruptcy, and she’d be opening herself up to tremendous criticism.

Don't forget how she alienated a lot of artists, authors, and other companies including DC Comics.

 

[Alzrius]

You might think Williams would welcome the opportunity to tell her side of the story, but it's been almost thirty years, and if she wanted to talk about it she certainly had ample opportunity.

For what it's worth, Lorraine Williams did offer a few quotes about her time at TSR in David M. Ewalt's 2013 book, Of Dice and Men (in chapter eleven, as I recall).

 

[Mannahnin]

For what it's worth, Lorraine Williams did offer a few quotes about her time at TSR in David M. Ewalt's 2013 book, Of Dice and Men (in chapter eleven, as I recall).

I was going to mention. I picked this up but still haven't read it, as I understand it's very autobiographical and a bit short on good history.

But that a big part of why I bothered buying it is that I heard Ewalt managed to get Williams to talk to him, shortly before the more serious history books started coming out.

 

[Mistwell]

This may shock you (HA!) but I covered Lorraine Williams before.....

I think that a lot of the inchoate dislike towards her that later became calcified into "common wisdom" really needs to be re-evaluated. And the more we get real histories (this, and more importantly, books like Game Wizards) the more we see that a lot of the hate toward Williams is the product of attitudes of the time, and not of actual events.

The Podcast makes it very clear she directly orchestrated a secret takeover of the company, using directly nefarious means to trick Gary into a meeting under false pretenses. She used dubious interpretations of company policy to engage in multiple secret stock purchases, one of which very likely involved a conflict of interest loan from her to the person exercising a stock option. She told the CFO to not tell Gary about it, which runs counter to his fiduciary duty due to his involvement with it, and arranged for the whole thing to happen while Gary was attending a funeral knowing he wouldn't be in the office which also is a breach of fiduciary duty.

That whole takeover of the company is gross and clear violations of corporate ethics.

Saying you dislike Gary for things he did makes perfect sense.

Saying the dislike for Williams is "unwarranted" is frankly in my opinion very weird. She does many bad things. The fact that Gary did worse things doesn't make her OK just because she's OK "in comparison" to Gary.