D&D General When We Were Wizards: Trailer for the Podcast

[Iosue]

It's been interesting hearing about the mid-80s troubles for the company, and how much Gygax's royalties were a factor. Including their payment hampering the company, their non-payment contributing to the rift between Kevin Blume and Gygax, and their deferral leading to Gygax being able to take control of the company.

Though they brought on themselves with egos and early profligacy, it's hard to not feel some sympathy for everyone involved. The company just grew too big, too fast, and Gygax and the Blumes weren't equipped to manage it. Not to mention the difficulty of being a pen-and-paper RPG company in the first place.

 

[Parmandur]

It's been interesting hearing about the mid-80s troubles for the company, and how much Gygax's royalties were a factor. Including their payment hampering the company, their non-payment contributing to the rift between Kevin Blume and Gygax, and their deferral leading to Gygax being able to take control of the company.

Though they brought on themselves with egos and early profligacy, it's hard to not feel some sympathy for everyone involved. The company just grew too big, too fast, and Gygax and the Blumes weren't equipped to manage it. Not to mention the difficulty of being a pen-and-paper RPG company in the first place.

Yeah, being able to sympathize and understand where moat of the actors involved are coming from kind of just makes the whole situation more tragic, in a way.

 

[Iosue]

Anyone know what’s going on with the latest episode? I got a notification and saw the ep (“Dispel Magic”) in my Apple podcast app, but when I got home and opened the app to listen to it, the new episode was gone.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Anyone know what’s going on with the latest episode? I got a notification and saw the ep (“Dispel Magic”) in my Apple podcast app, but when I got home and opened the app to listen to it, the new episode was gone.

I see it, and I started it to make sure it was there. It was. Check and make sure you didn't accidentally delete it?

For everyone else, I am caught up (with the exception of the most recent episode that just dropped). When it's completely done, I will do a full review. But my brief thoughts-

1. Overall, love it! Love the history, love the interviews, think it's a great podcast. Highly recommend. However, I have two big quibbles.

2. Main issue is the concern that some people will treat this as actual history, especially what people are saying. Remember, what people recall today is not necessarily what happened in the past. I devoted a full thread to this before. This is a wonderful supplement, but it's not the same as a real history of the subject matter. ... I mean, it's better than nothing, definitely! But recommend reading Game Wizards and other sources as well.

3. I had an issue with some of the comments they made about the lawsuit between Arneson and Gygax. Specifically, they made errors. I'd have to go back and catch them all, but I was getting pretty annoyed. The worst was a reference to the "court deciding" something when that wasn't true- it was part of the settlement, not a court decision.

They got the gist, kinda, but this is the one part where I feel that they could have used a better editorial summary.

 

[Parmandur]

Main issue is the concern that some people will treat this as actual history, especially what people are saying. Remember, what people recall today is not necessarily what happened in the past. I devoted a full thread to this before. This is a wonderful supplement, but it's not the same as a real history of the subject matter. ... I mean, it's better than nothing, definitely! But recommend reading Game Wizards and other sources as well.

Yup, that ar least is clear from some of the interviews basically contradictomg each other. This a collection of remembrances, not a period document grounded and fact-checked history like Peterson writes.

Srill, though, some of these memories do suggest the muscularure on the hiatorical skeleton.

I had an issue with some of the comments they made about the lawsuit between Arneson and Gygax. Specifically, they made errors. I'd have to go back and catch them all, but I was getting pretty annoyed. The worst was a reference to the "court deciding" something when that wasn't true- it was part of the settlement, not a court decision.

That's an especially weird error, since at least one of the Podcaster is a lawyer IIRC?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

That's an especially weird error, since at least one of the Podcaster is a lawyer IIRC?

Dunno! I might be overly harsh. They didn't do a terrible job, and arguably did a better job than most newspapers do, but I am especially attuned to that issue.

The weird part about that one bit (with the statement about the court deciding something) is that they correctly stated that it ended in a settlement!

 

[Clint_L]

I'm on episode 4 and this podcast is fantastic. it's heavily reliant on anecdotes and recollections, so you have to make some judgment calls as to what was actually going on, but thus far does a fantastic job of giving a sense of the creative and chaotic environment of early TSR.

They definitely would have benefitted from hiring some professionals into their management team.

 

[M.T. Black]

I've enjoyed the podcast greatly. It complements the more academic histories by giving a lot of the personal stories. I've especially enjoyed hearing from Mary Jo.

One thing that has come up several times in the series is how likeable a guy Brian Blume was. The Blumes have tended to be excoriated in some discussions of TSR history, but it seems like Brian was genuinely popular with most people at the company.

 

[M.T. Black]

[duplicate]

 

[Riley]

This week’s episode was excellent, heartbreaking - and uncannily timely:

“Dispel Magic” recounts Gygax’s sudden ouster as President, CEO, and Majority Shareholder of TSR - and of Lorraine Williams’ sudden ascension.