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

[Parmandur]

I would say that was my take as well. I didn't realize that there was a differentiation between them in terms of how TSR folks felt about them.

Brian Blume played games, and even designed Boot Hill. To Kevin TSR was just a widget factory, but ut seems it mattered more thar that to Brian.

 

[Zardnaar]

No dog in thus fight Gary and Lorraine are both terrible at running TSR.

To me Lorraine's legacy was she saved D&D once arguably twice.

I like the art and products of Lorraine's tenure better so props for that.

 

[damiller]

Wow episode 14 was a tear jerker, no your the tear jerker!

Anyway. I hope Futurma is right (its cousin Simpsons often is) and Gary is playing with all the people who he loved and loved him.

What a great hobby.

Its like the Eucharist, with doritos and mt dew.

Amen

 

[Mr. Lahey]

People didn't like Kevin Blume, but one thing I learned was that Brian and Doug Blume both seemed popular with staff.

Being someone who works in an office, the idea of a “really great guy” who is just an ineffectual boss really resonates.

 

[Mannahnin]

Finished it yesterday. A saga, with some great and moving moments and insights.

Pretty much agree with Snarf's review on all counts.

I feel like Stormberg and Turner went pretty gentle on Gygax in the denouement. He was right up there with the Blumes in terms of mismanagement and mistreatment of the other TSR staffers and creatives, albeit they couldn't see it as much because he was so absentee. His cruelty to Rob Kuntz in particular was pretty appalling.

I also enjoyed hearing from Lawrence Schick, who seemed on track to do great things at TSR, and then abruptly left.

Can't blame him after how TSR repeatedly screwed him and Zeb Cook over regarding Star Frontiers. They put what, two years of their lives into making a new game which should have been perfectly positioned to be boosted by the contemporaneous popularity of Star Wars? With the promise of royalties which would likely have enabled them to buy houses and go from poor into at least middle class (like royalties did for Jim Ward)? And then be screwed out of first the royalties, then the creative bonuses which were supposed to replace the royalties, then even out of credit, while the C Suite told an editor to mangle their game to get it out in time for a holiday sales push?

I'm glad Schick has seen such success in his ensuring career, including with Larian and Baldur's Gate 3.

 

[billd91]

I just finished it and that was an excellent podcast!

 

[SlyFlourish]

I knew very little of the history of D&D and TSR and absolutely loved this podcast. From it I learned two big things:

1. The management of TSR was pretty much a disaster from day one. It was always a mess and only the popularity of D&D helped it move forward.

2. Gary Gygax was like quadruple-dipping into the company. He was a shareholder of the company. He got royalties on his own work published through the company. He had TSR paying for his entire crazy lavish Hollywood lifestyle, and he still thought that all the IP was his alone if he walked away. He would often pay back the company's debt to him on his royalties to pay for his own expenses living in Hollywood.

Bananas.

 

[Malmuria]

What struck me most about the podcast was not just how terrible TSR management was, but how deplorable they were to their employees. Employees there were exploited, underpaid, and treated with contempt while an incompetent management handed out cushy jobs to friends and family.

And Gygax was totally absent in protecting the creative core for his company. He comes across as selfish, lazy, and indulgent. It's not clear that he ever cares about anyone or anything but himself. Even his design work is all centered on the premise of how he can keep royalties flowing to himself (while the rest of the staff were denied those same royalties largely).

 

[Sanojo]

Thanks for the excellent review, @Snarf Zagyg!

I've enjoyed this series tremendously, and looked forward to every Sunday, when the new episode dropped. Like Snarf, I'm an RPG history junkie. What this series did was humanize many of the other characters in the Gygax story, in a way that perhaps no other presentation has.

For example, Brian Blume (sometimes presented as a villain in the TSR story) came out looking like a likeable, decent man who just got in over his head. I also enjoyed hearing from Lawrence Schick, who seemed on track to do great things at TSR, and then abruptly left.

It follows such a classic narrative arc too, perhaps in the "domestic tragedy" genre. Poor working man gets elevated to high position through talent/work/luck, he then squanders it all through hubris and greed, and finally ends up in a humble place, with some contrition.

One thing that came out strongly was how many people just wanted Gary's attention. Rob Kuntz, Mary Jo, the TSR designers, Rose Estes - everyone seemed to be reaching out for more than he was offering. Whatever people think of Gary, he must have had a real charisma.

Anyway, I highly recommend this podcast. Paul Stromberg (one of the producers) says they want to turn this into a movie (presumable a biopic). I hope it happens.

I'm not sure how much of the history of the podcast is known, but it has its own story which is pretty fascinating and in a way mirrors the story that is being told. It was originally a Kickstarter project and was supposed to be a documentary. The creators have some amazing footage that they took the audio from and I believe they intend to still put together a documentary on the history of wargaming and roleplaying games.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/nyregion/a-quest-to-make-a-dungeons-dragons-film-turns-into-a-legal-battle.html