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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9369170" data-attributes="member: 907">My understanding is that there were three major things that made TSR nonviable.<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Overextension. They were publishing dozens of game products per month across multiple semi-independent product lines. I mean, 25 books for the Birthright setting alone in two years (sure, many were just 32-page mini-sourcebooks for various kingdoms, but still).</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Poor judgment in opening new product avenues. You had Dragon Dice, as well as not one but two CCGs trying to compete with Magic. You also had additional RPGs like Boot Hill, Gamma World, Amazing Engine, and of course Buck Rogers (which was likely a way for Williams to siphon some money from the company).</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Novels. At one point, Dragonlance novels did save TSR. So of course TSR went all-in on novels, not all of which were even as good as Dragonlance. However, the book trade paid in advance for the books, which was good. What was less good was that they had the right to &quot;return&quot; unsold copies (where &quot;return&quot; really means destroy) for refunds – initially taking credit toward the next release, but eventually wanting actual money back. This would turn out to be the actual death blow, though a company in a better overall financial situation could have weathered that. A side effect of the heavy novel production was that they tended to drive metaplot in the actual game settings, which was Bad.</li>
</ol>For D&amp;D, I usually use the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/wiki/collectors_guides/" target="_blank">Collector's Guides</a> on some shoddy-looking website.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 9369170, member: 907"] My understanding is that there were three major things that made TSR nonviable. [LIST=1] [*]Overextension. They were publishing dozens of game products per month across multiple semi-independent product lines. I mean, 25 books for the Birthright setting alone in two years (sure, many were just 32-page mini-sourcebooks for various kingdoms, but still). [*]Poor judgment in opening new product avenues. You had Dragon Dice, as well as not one but two CCGs trying to compete with Magic. You also had additional RPGs like Boot Hill, Gamma World, Amazing Engine, and of course Buck Rogers (which was likely a way for Williams to siphon some money from the company). [*]Novels. At one point, Dragonlance novels did save TSR. So of course TSR went all-in on novels, not all of which were even as good as Dragonlance. However, the book trade paid in advance for the books, which was good. What was less good was that they had the right to "return" unsold copies (where "return" really means destroy) for refunds – initially taking credit toward the next release, but eventually wanting actual money back. This would turn out to be the actual death blow, though a company in a better overall financial situation could have weathered that. A side effect of the heavy novel production was that they tended to drive metaplot in the actual game settings, which was Bad. [/LIST] For D&D, I usually use the [URL='https://www.enworld.org/wiki/collectors_guides/']Collector's Guides[/URL] on some shoddy-looking website. [/QUOTE]

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