Yeah, in any case, it was still shifting around money for personal benefit.

Still no proof of any of that being true Pundit.

Come back when you're got some actual facts not suppositions based on internet rumour and let's post it to a Linda Williams thread so this one that was supposed to be about the game, that most seem to agree was pretty excellent, can get back OT.

Lorraine Williams. I don't see what evidence is necessary. If I have an Insurance firm and inherited a coffee brand and decide that my Insurance Firm will buy all its coffee from the brand I inherited, where I'm getting profits from coffee sales of my Insurance company to my coffee fortune, it's obvious I'm not doing that at a loss.

The woman was a vampire. Her only real interest in TSR was bleeding it dry.

It's only profitable to you if the return you're getting from the license deal exceeds the value the company is losing due to your mismanagement of it. Williams bought TSR for cash. I don't know the sale price...did she sell it for more or less than she bought it for?

Was there a bankruptcy and creditors in the middle, or did WotC buy it directly from her?

The story as I heard it on the internet, possibly from Chrine, Gronan, or Shannon's columns, is that Gary brought Lorraine in to help him get control of the company after he came back from California and she bought the Blume's shares which with someone else gave her controlling interest and let her oust Gary from management.  I don't know if he sold off his shares after that or still had a few.  I think it was Jeff Grubb who wrote the bit I read about the climate at TSR after she took charge with playtesting disallowed and her disdain for their customer base.  Yes, weak citations, I suspect someone out there who has a more academic bent has collected a lot of these things.  My google fu is weak but fortunately there's Wikipedia!

Jon Peterson wrote the only properly researched article on what happened here. Gygax had the opportunity to purchase the Blumes shares but after promising to do so failed to do so.

That's a very good article.

The whole history of TSR, even in its most brilliant era (to say nothing of later) was a long epic of gross mismanagement.

Quote from: David Johansen;1004906... I think it was Jeff Grubb who wrote the bit I read about the climate at TSR after she took charge with playtesting disallowed and her disdain for their customer base.  Yes, weak citations, I suspect someone out there who has a more academic bent has collected a lot of these things.  My google fu is weak but fortunately there's Wikipedia!

I have read Grubbs complain about management at TSR (who doesn't complain about management at work?) but not Williams in particular, but Mike Breault refuted the claims that playtesting was disallowed and is quoted by Pundit himself on this thread about Lorraine Williams.

I'd suggest further discussion of Williams be moved to that thread.

Fair enough.