Is there any site online that provides a good overview of Gygax's history with TSR, his reasons for leaving in 85, and, particularly, the debacle with Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventures?

I've never seen it all in one place - just piecemeal in various threads and fora.

Quote from: VectorSigma;622205I've never seen it all in one place - just piecemeal in various threads and fora.

Yeah, same here. Which makes referencing it years later really annoying.

This interview with Gygax originally published in an Italian fanzine (IIRC) is probably the best, and most extensive:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?415-The-Ultimate-Interview-With-Gary-Gygax

This article is noteworthy, since as far as I can tell it's the only one where Brian Blume, Flint Dille and Lorraine Williams give their side of it -or as much as a few sentences will allow.

There was a Wired piece around the time he died, which might have some useful info.

Have you tried Wikipedia? Not to read the article, but to check the references and further reading section?

Quote from: Elfdart;622535This article is noteworthy, since as far as I can tell it's the only one where Brian Blume, Flint Dille and Lorraine Williams give their side of it -or as much as a few sentences will allow.

Very interesting, though at times absurd.

RPGPundit

You ought to get the book "Designers and dragons"  it's a book about the history of Roleplaying games and has a LOT of info about Gary Gygax in there.

The physical book is no longer available, but I purchased the PDF a while back.
Hmm it seems the PDF they released is no longer available.
But Evil hat is working on a re-release updated and split into 4 books here:
http://www.evilhat.com/home/designers-dragons/

Glad I bought the full PDF when I did then!

Quote from: Elfdart;622535This article ...

(YMMV and so on, the following is my opinion/belief/assessment and is not directed at anyone in this thread, the quote is to reference only the link, not the poster who provided it.)


Parts read a lot more like an character assassination than a history of D&D.  His divorce, the number of kids he had with his wife, and his dating habits?  Seriously?  It's like a celebrity gossip article. Trash for the sake of scandal

He also suggests Dave Arneson has never, to this day, received credit for any work on D&D because he owns an old Monster Manual that had Gary's name on the cover  :/  You of course don't print something so accusatory without some research ... this man actually looked at one book he owned, now that's investigative journalism!

Lorraine said nothing big happened, there is no "hidden" story to tell, it was a bunch of small, little things that made the relationship insolvable.  Not scandalous enough I'd wager, so he reports Lorraine William's brother's guess that Gary wanted to stay in Beverly Hills and party away the companies money, and that's why he had to be forced out.  I'd call it hearsay, but even her brother admitted he was just guessing (though the author makes sure to tell us he finds the guess plausible ... how he is qualified to make any sort of judgement is left to your imagination).  


I also wonder if the author has any idea how offensive his take on RPG's can be interpreted.  The problem with so much self-loathing about one's hobbies is you invariably suggest anyone who shares your hobby is worthy of the same amount of disgust you have for yourself.  

The whole thing reads like he had a bone to pick with Gygax, and role-playing in general, but was too passive-aggressive to just come out and state it upfront.  Terrible.

Quote from: SJBenoist;622850It's like a celebrity gossip article. Trash for the sake of scandal

It needed more gossip.  

QuoteThe whole thing reads like he had a bone to pick with Gygax, and role-playing in general, but was too passive-aggressive to just come out and state it upfront.  Terrible.

The writer's a self-loathing dullard.

Obviously he should Kickstart his own retro-clone.

I'll try to re-post up the text of my interview with Gary I did back in 2002.  ALthough it's probably gone over somewhere else too, he did discuss with me how things went down

Quote from: TristramEvans;622203Is there any site online that provides a good overview of Gygax's history with TSR, his reasons for leaving in 85, and, particularly, the debacle with Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventures?

I just recently did an interview with Frank Mentzer that goes over some of the history of TSR and Gary Gygax.

http://randomwizard.blogspot.com/2013/02/frank-mentzer-interview.html

Talks about the Blume brothers, Gary, Lorraine Williams and other things going on at TSR at the time.

At the bottom of each write up on dndclassics.com, you'll find this:

QuoteAbout the Product Historian

This history of this product was researched and written by Shannon Appelcline, the author of Designers & Dragons - a history of the roleplaying industry told one company at a time. Please feel free to mail corrections, comments, and additions to shannon.appelcline@gmail.com.

If I had such a question, I'd fire off an email to Shannon Applecline.  

Quote from: mcbobbo;625113If I had such a question, I'd fire off an email to Shannon Applecline.  

And Shannon Applecline is also the author of the book that was mentioned upthread:

Quote from: danskmacabre;622845You ought to get the book "Designers and dragons"  it's a book about the history of Roleplaying games and has a LOT of info about Gary Gygax in there.

The physical book is no longer available, (...)
But Evil hat is working on a re-release updated and split into 4 books here:
http://www.evilhat.com/home/designers-dragons/

thanks all! Some fascinating reading on this thread. Williams really comes across as a villain, especially as apparently Gygax was the one who brought her in to the company to help it.