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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sanguinemetaldawn" data-source="post: 4125741" data-attributes="member: 23390">Hmm, thats interesting spin, to put it mildly."In order to finance the publication of D&D in 1974, he and his partner Don Kaye had brought in a friend named Brian Blume, whose father, Melvin, was willing to invest money in the company. Kaye died in 1976, and Brian got his brother Kevin named to TSR’s board. Gygax was the president of TSR, but the Blumes effectively controlled the company; to keep Gygax further in check they brought in three outside directors, a lawyer and two businessmen who knew nothing about gaming but always voted with the Blumes." What is your source for the reference: "didn't want to actually run a business day-to-day"?My understanding was as minority owner the Blumes ignored his guidance/direction/wishes, and being effectively marginalized, he went to LA in an attempt to actually accomplish something.  And once again, he did, in the form of the D&D cartoon.And bringing in the three outside directors who did not know gaming, only to see TSR fail, doesn't exactly buttress your case.You know, its strange that you feel the need to emphasize this when I not only already explicitly stated this, but referenced anecdotes.  And now that you are arguing the point, I am curious, to what degree were the Blumes actual gamers?  Anyone know?I suppose Brian's contributions in the form of Boot Hill and a WWII wargame say something, but given the lack of success of either game, coupled with Rigby, Digby and Bigby, I am not sure it says what you think it says.Investing in latchhook rug kits is a bizarre direction for a gamer guiding a business to go, but not for the "Medium Rary" Blumes.OK, but THIS IS EXACTLY MY POINT  (heh)Gary didn't need to do market research because everytime he sat down to play, he was doing market research.  Everytime he went to a convention he was doing market research, etc.Thus the difference.Well, he was certainly defrauded by Baker, but it is precisely because Gygax WASN'T working in a business role that this happened.  Trusting Baker was a mistake, but that has more to do with being a judge of character.  When a person in a position of responsibility chooses to become a fugitive, thats not really business acumen.  That has more to do with background, and even then, it can be totally unpredictable as our intelligence agencies have found out the hard way.I suspect you are incorrect.  Aside from children possibly, most people people don't think you need to be a gamer to arrange for book printing/binding contracts, or accounting, or other mundane duties typical to many businesses.  And none of these functions is terribly critical; all of these functions can be (and often are) subcontracted out to some reasonably competent 3rd party.If, however, you are asserting that creative oversight, line development, and editing for a game would be done as well or better by a non-gamer than an otherwise equivalent gamer, then I would like to see some evidence for that.  I am trying to think of an RPG company successfully run by a non-gamer, and not coming up with anything.  You'd think with the dozens of companies out there, there would be at least one.Can anyone think of one?</blockquote>

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