TSR, Inc. is an American publishing company and publisher of Dungeons & amp; Dragons ( D & amp; D ).
When Gary Gygax can not find the publisher for D & amp; D , the new type of game he and Dave Arneson are developing together, Gygax and Don Kaye founded the Rules of Tactical Studies in October 1973, to self-publish their products. However, requiring immediate financing to bring their new games to market before several similar competing products were released, Gygax and Kaye brought Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Association of Tactical Tactical Studies was restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and received an investment from Blume's father, Melvin. With the popularity of D & amp; D as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the gaming industry in the late 1970s. Melvin Blume finally transferred his share to his other son, Kevin, making the two Blume brothers as the largest shareholder in TSR Hobbies.
TSR Hobbies experienced financial difficulties in the spring of 1983, which prompted the company to divide it into four independent businesses, with continued game publishing and game development as TSR, Inc. (TSR) After losing their executive position due to poor corporate performance, Blume's brothers then sold their stake to TSR Vice President Lorraine Williams, who in turn engineered Gygax's dismissal from the company in October 1985. TSR saw prosperity under Williams, but at in 1995, have fallen behind their competitors in overall sales. TSR was left unable to cover its issuing costs due to various factors, thus facing bankruptcy, TSR was purchased in 1997 by the Wizards of the Coast (WotC). WotC initially retained the use of the TSR name for products D & amp; D them, but in 2000, the TSR moniker was dropped, coinciding with the release of the 3rd edition D & amp; D .
Video TSR (company)
History
Tactical Study Rules
The Rules of Tactical Study (TSR) was formed in 1973 as a partnership between Gary Gygax and Don Kaye, who raised $ 2,400 for startup fees, to officially publish and sell the D & D , one of the first modern role-playing games (RPGs). They first published the Cavaliers and Roundheads game, a miniature game, to start generating revenue for TSR. This partnership was followed by Brian Blume and (temporary) by Dave Arneson. Blume admitted a partnership to fund the issuance of D & amp; D rather than waiting for the Cavaliers and Roundheads to bring in enough revenue. In the original configuration of the partnership, Kaye served as President, Blume as Vice President and Gygax as Editor.
In 1974, TSR (with Kaye basement as headquarters) produced 1,000 copies of D & amp; D , selling it for $ 10 each and extra dice required for $ 3.50 more. In January 1975, TSR scored 1,000 second copies of D & amp; D , which only takes five or six more months to be sold out. Also in 1974, TSR published the Warriors of Mars, a miniature rule book set in Barsoom's fantasy world, originally envisioned by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his novel series about John Carter of Mars, paid Gygax homage in " Preface "first edition D & amp; D . However, Gygax and TSR publish Martian books without permission from (or payments to) real Burroughs, and as soon as the order stops and stops being issued and the Warriors are withdrawn from the distribution. In 1975, TSR published Blume's Panzer Warfare , a set of World War II wargaming miniature rules for use with 1: 285 scale micro armor.
At its inception, TSR sold its products directly to customers, shipped to gaming stores and hobby shops and only sold to three distributors who were producers of miniature sculptures. In 1975, TSR took one or two regular distributors. The following year, TSR joined the American Hobby Industry Association and began exhibiting at their annual trade show, and began building a regular distributor network.
When Don Kaye died of a heart attack on January 31, 1975, his role was taken over by his wife, Donna Kaye, who remains in charge of accounting, delivery, and partnership records over the summer. In the summer of 1975, the tasks became quite complex so Gygax himself became a full-time employee of the partnership to take over them from Donna Kaye. Arneson is also entering into a partnership to coordinate research and design with its circle in Twin Cities.
TSR Hobby, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, having a larger share. From the beginning, Gygax served as President of TSR Hobbies, and Blume as Vice President and Secretary. Initially, TSR Hobbies was created as a separate division to market miniatures and games from several companies, a company that also connected with the opening of the Dungeon hobby shop on Lake Geneva. Dungeon will be the company's effective headquarters, including the Blume and Gygax offices. On September 26, 1975, the first partnership assets were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc. TSR Hobbies subcontracted printing and assembly work in October 1975, and a third print of 2,000 copies D & amp; D sold out in five months. The Kask team was employed in the fall of 1975 as Editor Periodicals, and the company's first full-time employee.
Empire of the Petal Throne became the first game product published by TSR Hobbies, followed by two supplements for D & amp; D , Greyhawk and Blackmoor . Also released in 1975 is a Dungeon board game! and Wild West RPG Boot Hill . The company took $ 300,000 in revenue for the fiscal year 1976. TSR began hosting the Gen Con Game Fair in 1976, and featured the first open tournament D & amp; D that year. D & amp; D supplements Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-de & amp; Heroes was released in 1976, and the original D & amp; D Basic Set was released in 1977. Also in 1977, TSR Hobbies published the original Monster Manual , the first hardbound book ever published by a gaming company, and the first product in Advanced Dungeons & amp; Dragons ( AD & amp; D ) line. The following year, Players Handbook , followed by a series of six adventure modules that were previously only used in tournaments. Also in 1978, TSR Hobbies moved from Gygax home and to downtown Lake Geneva, above the Dungeon Hobby Shop. In 1979, the Dungeon Master's Guide was published, and a radio advertisement featuring "Morley the Wizard" was broadcast.
During this era, there were a number of unofficial competitors and supplements for D & amp; D is published, arguably infringing on the TSR copyright, used by many players D & amp; D next to the book TSR. Among these are Arduin Grimoire , Manual from Aurenia, and variants like Warlock and Tunnel & amp; Troll . TSR takes this very carefully, and in cases where they feel their trademark is being misused, they issue letters that do not contain their contents. More often than not, these legal attitudes produce little change in the work of competitors, but cause significant hostility in society.
Gygax granted exclusive rights to the Games Workshop to distribute TSR products in the UK, after meeting Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. The Games Workshop prints some original material and also prints their own versions of various titles D & amp; D and AD & amp; D to avoid high import costs. When TSR was unable to reach an agreement with the Olympic Workshop on a possible merger, TSR created a subsidiary operation in the UK, TSR Hobbies UK, Ltd. in 1980. Gygax hired Don Turnbull to head the operation, which would extend to the European continent during the 1980s. British branch of operations, TSR UK publishes a series of modules and original Fiend Folio . TSR UK also produces Imagine magazine for 31 issues.
First campaign settings for AD & amp; D , Greyhawk World, was introduced in 1980. The role of espionage roles Top Secret came out in 1980; reportedly, a note written on TSR stationery about a fictitious murder plot, part of a new game game, took the FBI to the TSR office. That same year, the Role Playing Game Association was formed to improve the quality of the game and bring together game players across the country. In 1981, Inc. (magazine) listed TSR Hobbies as one of the hundred fastest growing private companies in the US. In the same year, TSR Hobbies relocated its offices again, this time to the former medical supply building with attached warehouse. In 1982, TSR Hobbies broke the 20 million mark in sales.
In 1982, TSR Hobbies decided to terminate the Grenadier Miniature license and begin producing mini-lines AD & amp; D itself, followed by a line of toys. Part of license from toy line AD & amp; D go to LJN. Also that year, TSR introduced two new games, Gangbusters and Star Frontiers . Exclusive distribution of games D & amp; D was founded in 22 countries, with games first translated into French, followed by many other languages ​​including Danish, Finnish, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, and Swedish. In 1982, an education department was established to develop a curriculum program for reading, math, history, and problem solving, with the most successful program being the Endless Book series.
Melvin Blume's stock was then transferred to Kevin Blume. With a board of directors consisting of Kevin and Brian Blume plus Gygax, Gygax in an interview later described his position as primarily a puppet president and corporate CEO, with Brian Blume as creative affairs president and Kevin Blume as operations president, in 1981. In that year, TSR Hobbies has revenues of $ 12.9 million and salaries of 130.
TSR Hobbies seeks diversification, acquiring or initiating new business ventures; these include the needle handicraft business, manufacturing miniatures, toys and gift businesses, and entertainment divisions to pursue film and television opportunities. The Company also acquired the trade marks and copyrights of the SPI TSR
In 1983, the company was divided into four companies, TSR, Inc. (main successor), TSR International, TSR Ventures and TSR Entertainment, Inc.
Gygax went to Hollywood to find TSR Entertainment, Inc. (later Dungeons & Dragons Entertainment Corp.), which seeks to certify the products of D & amp; D to film and television executives. His work will eventually only produce a license for what later became Dungeons & amp; Dragons cartoons. However, this series spawned more than 100 different licenses, and led the time slot for two years.
TSR, Inc. released the Dragonlance drama in 1984 after two years of development, making TSR the number one publisher of fantasy novels and science fiction number one in the United States. Dragonlance consists of a completely newly promoted game world both by a series of game supplements and novel trilogy written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The Dragons of Autumn Twilight , the first novel in the series, topped the New York Times Best Sellers list, prompting TSR to launch novel long novel series based on various official settings for D & D .
In 1984, TSR signed a license to publish Marble Super Heroes Indiana Jones , and Conan role-playing games. In 1985, the Gen Con game game moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, due to the need for additional space. Oriental Adventures hard drive for AD & amp; D was released in the same year, becoming the biggest seller for 1985. TSR introduced my All My Children games, based on ABC's daytime drama, with over 150,000 copies sold. In 1986, TSR introduced Dungeon Adventures magazine, a bi-monthly magazine featuring only adventure scenarios for D & amp; D .
Williams Ownership
Hearing rumors that Blumes tried to sell TSR, Gygax returned from Hollywood and found the company in poor financial condition despite healthy sales. Gygax, which at that time had only about 30% of the shares, asked the board of directors to remove Blumes as a way of restoring financial health to the company. The Blumes were forced to leave the company after being accused of misusing corporate funds and amassing huge debts in pursuit of acquisitions such as latchhook carpet equipment that are considered too broadly targeted. Within a year of Blumes' departure, the company was forced to post a net loss of USD $ 1.5 million, resulting in about 75% of staff dismissal. Some of these staff members went on to form other leading game companies, such as Pacesetter Ltd and Mayfair Games, or to work with Coleco's video games division.
However, in a move widely seen as retaliation, Blumes sold their stake to Lorraine Williams. Gygax tries to make sales declared illegal; After that failed, Gygax sold the rest of his shares to Williams and used the capital to form New Infinity Productions.
Williams is a financial planner who sees the potential to rebuild debt-ridden companies into highly profitable companies. However, he underestimated the field of gaming, seeing himself as a superior player.
TSR released the campaign settings of Forgotten Realms in 1987. That year, a small team of designers began working on the second edition of the game AD & amp; D . In 1988, TSR released Bullwinkle & amp; Rocky RPG, complete with spinner and hand puppet. In the same year, TSR released a wargame based on Tom Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October, which became one of the biggest selling wargames of all time. In 1989, AD & amp; D second edition was released, with new Dungeon Master Guide , Player Handbook , first three volumes of the new Monstrous Compendium , < i> Full Fighter Handbook , Thief Handbook Full of , and new campaign settings, Spelljammer Spell , all released in the same year.
Under Williams's direction, TSR established expansion into other areas, such as magazines, paperback fiction, and comic books. Through his family, he personally holds Buck Rogers license rights and encourages TSR to produce games and novels Buck Rogers. TSR will eventually publish board games and role-playing games, the latter based on the rules of AD & amp; D Second Edition.
In 1990, the Ravenloft setting was released, and Count Strahd von Zarovich soon became one of the most popular and enduring criminals. West Coast Division TSR was opened to develop various entertainment projects, including a series of science fiction, horror, and action/adventure books. In 1991, TSR released the Dark Sun campaign settings . TSR also released the first of three sets of annual collector cards in 1991. In 1992, TSR released the al-Qadim setting. The first hardcover novel of TSR, Legacy by R. A. Salvatore, was published that year, and climbed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list in a few weeks. In 1992, Gen Con Game Fair solved all previous attendance records for every US gaming convention, with over 18,000 people. In 1993, DragonStrike Entertainment released the new approach to recruit new players, including a 30-minute video explaining the concept of role playing. 1994 saw the release of Campaign settings Planescape .
In 1994, TSR signed an agreement with Sweetpea Entertainment for the film rights D & amp; D .
In 1995, TSR has lagged behind both the Games Workshop and the Wizards of the Coast in sales volume. Looking at the profits generated by the Wizards of the Coast with their collection card game (CCG) Magic: The Gathering , TSR attempted to enter this market in 1995 in a new way with Dragon Dice > me. Similar to collectible card games, each player starts with a variety of random basic dice, and can improve their assortment by purchasing a booster pack from a more powerful dice. In addition to this initiative, TSR also decided to publish twelve hardcover novels in 1996, despite previously publishing only one or two hardcover novels each year.
The sales of Dragon Dice through game trading started off strongly, so TSR quickly produced some expansion packs. In addition, TSR tries to aggressively market Dragon Dice in a mass-market bookstore via Random House. However, the game did not manage to penetrate the book trade, and sales of expansion sets through traditional game stores were very bad. In addition, twelve hardcover novels did not sell as well as expected.
destruction TSR
In 1996, TSR encountered many problems, as outlined by Shannon Appelcline: "The CCGs continue to shrink the RPG industry.The distributors will be out of business.The TSRs have been unbalanced with their AD & amp; D game through a series of lucrative supplements that ultimately harm the long survival of the game. In the meantime they have developed so many settings - many of them popular and well received - that they both sacrificed their only sales and shrink the gamers from taking the settings that might be lost in They may have sacrificed their own sales through excessive book production or supplements as well. "David M. Ewalt, in his book Of Dice and Men , adds that Spellfire and < i> Dragon Dice "are both expensive to produce, and not sold very well".
Despite total sales of $ 40 million, the TSR ended in 1996 with little cash reserves. When Random House returns an unexpected percentage of unsold stockpiles, including year inventory of novel and unsold sets of Dragon Dice , and charges several million dollars, TSR finds itself in a cash crunch. Without cash, TSR can not pay their printing and shipping bills, and the logistics company that handles pre-printing, printing, warehousing and shipping TSR refuses to do any more work. Since the logistics company has production plates for key products such as the core book D & amp; D , there is no way to print or transmit core products to generate safe short-term income or financing. Despite the high sales, the company is deeply indebted and does not profit big because of the return. Thirty staff members were dismissed in December 1996, and other staff left disagreements about how the crisis was dealt, including James M. Ward. In large part due to the need to return Random House, TSR entered 1997 over $ 30 million in debt. TSR is threatened by lawsuits due to unpaid freelance and lost royalties, but TSR generates enough money from existing products on the shelf to pay the remaining staff until the first half of 1997. With no viable financial plan for TSR survival , Lorraine Williams sold the company to the Wizards of the Coast in 1997. Before the company's offices in Lake Geneva were closed, some TSR employees accepted a transfer offer to the Wizards of the Coast office in Washington. The Wizards of the Coast continues to use the TSR name for the D & amp; D for three years, until the third edition D & amp; D was released in 2000 under the Wizards of the Beach logo only. In 1999, the Wizards of the Coast itself was bought by Hasbro, Inc.
In 2002, Gen Con was sold to Peter Adkison.
Maps TSR (company)
Products
TSR's main product is role-playing games, the most successful is D & amp; D . However, they also produce other games such as card games, boards, and dice, as well as publishing magazines and books.
role-playing game
Wargames
Other games
Magazines
Comics
From 1987-1991 (and one title in 1996), TSR published a series of comic book series, some of which were based on their role playing games. See also Dungeons & amp; Dragons (comics).
Fiction
In 1984, TSR started publishing novels based on their game. Most D & amp; D campaign settings have their own novel rows, the most successful being the Dragonlance line and Forgotten Realms, with dozens of every novel.
TSR also publishes the 1995 novel Buck Rogers: A Life in the Future by Martin Caidin, the man who re-imagined the world of Buck Rogers and is unrelated to the game of Buck Rogers XXVC TSR .
TSR publishes quite a few fantasy and science fiction novels unrelated to their gaming products, such as L. Dean Kings novels "Wynne of Wynnamyr", The Sorcerer's Stone (1991) and Kingslayer (1992); Mary H. Herbert the five "Gabria" novels ( Valorian , Dark Horse , Lightning's Daughter , City of the Witch and Winged Magic), and funny fantasy fiction, including Roy V. Young's "Count Yor" novel Captains Outrageous (1994) and Yor's Revenge > (1995). However, these projects never represent more than a fraction of the company's fictional output, which maintains a strong emphasis on works derived from the game.
Criticism
After its initial success faded, the company turned to the legal defense of what it considered its intellectual property. In addition, there are several legal cases relating to who finds what is inside the company and the sharing of royalties, including some lawsuits against Gygax. This includes companies that threaten to prosecute individuals who provide game material on websites. In the mid-1990s, this led to the frequent use of the nickname "T $ R" in discussions on Internet and Usenet related RPG mailing lists, as the company was widely perceived as attacking its customers. Increased product proliferation does not help matters; many of the product lines are overlapped and separated by what appear to be small dots (even the classical troika Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance suffered in this case).
The company is the subject of an urban myth stating that he tried the trademark the term "Nazi". It is based on a supplement to the Indiana RPG, where several characters are marked with "Nazi (TM)". This notation is due to compliance with a list of trademarked character names provided by Lucasfilm's legal department; all such numbers are marked with trademark symbols, and the Nazi numbers are also marked by accident. Then a reference to the error will forget its origin and slowly transform into an urban myth.
See also
- The Geneva Lake Tactical Study Association
Note
External links
- Game interview with Gary Gygax on TSR history (among others)
- The Ambush at Sheridan Springs , history of TSR corporate governance and Gygax dismissal in 1985
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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