Quote from: jrientsMore thany anyone else, she is responsible for running TSR into the ground.  She reputedly had absolute contempt for the customers.

And then moved to Germany, presumably to get away from gamers.

Moving to Germany to get away from gamers is like when David Bowie and Iggy Pop went to Berlin to get off drugs. "The heroine capitol of the world" they called it.

Quote from: McrowWhos the female RPG designer who talks about how she has a degree in role-playing design?

Hmm. That sounds vaguely familiar, for some reason... Someone associated with D&D? It's not Borgstrom, in any case: she has a doctorate in computer science.

Quote from: Jack Spencer JrAnd then moved to Germany, presumably to get away from gamers.

Moving to Germany to get away from gamers is like when David Bowie and Iggy Pop went to Berlin to get off drugs. "The heroine capitol of the world" they called it.

:rotfl:

Quote from: GrimGentHmm. That sounds vaguely familiar, for some reason... Someone associated with D&D? It's not Borgstrom, in any case: she has a doctorate in computer science.

Possibly someone listed here?

Who's the moron(s) who put Lorraine Williams in charge of TSR anyway? How did she manage to stay there if she so clearly hated gamers? Whoever that(those) person(s) is(are) is who I'm getting my hate on for.

Quote from: SigmundWho's the moron(s) who put Lorraine Williams in charge of TSR anyway? How did she manage to stay there if she so clearly hated gamers? Whoever that(those) person(s) is(are) is who I'm getting my hate on for.

IIUC, she was when she bought control of TSR.

Quote from: Jack Spencer JrIIUC, she was when she bought control of TSR.

Keeping this simple...

Lorraine Williams bought her way into the company. At the time the two main blocks were the Blumes (a pair of brothers) and their allies, and Gary Gygax and his allies. Both sides were determined to see the other ousted.

Williams formed a third block, brought in people of her own, and gained allies from the other two blocks. A big change came when Gary's first wife agreed to give her support to Lorraine. (She and Gary were going through a divorce at the time, and it was nasty.)

Then came the golden opportunity.

We all know, now, that Lorraine Williams was bad for TSR. Believe it or not, the Blumes were worse. I was once informed by Gary that the Dragonlance trilogy and module series saved TSR's ass. For all the bone-headed moves Williams made, at least she didn't do what the Platypus Brothers of RPGs did, offer to sell their shares to somebody who wanted to take over the company.

I kid you not. Kevin and Brian Blume made an offer Lorraine Williams could not refuse. They sold her their shares.

Apparently they thought she would take TSR over, then sell the shares back to them, after which they and their allies would oust Williams. Didn't work out that way.

Some of their allies went with the Williams block, others aligned themselves with the Gygax group. After some legal wrangling Lorraine wound up with a majority share, and ousted both Gary Gyagx and the Blumes.

That's right, she decided she was going to keep the shares Brian and Kevin sold to her, which was her right.

Gary brought suit in court, claiming that Williams' use of his wife's stock was improper because the divorce had not been finalized at the time. The court ruled against him. He was forced to sell his shares back to the company and removed from the board.

And that is the short version of how Lorraine Williams became head and owner of TSR.

My God.  It's like every game company in history was run by starry-eyed fatbeards who thought the Money Fairy would bail them out at the first sign of trouble.

I like Sean "Dr. Kromm" PUnch, he's a great guy both as a game writer and as a person. His work is excellent and he's quite pleasant and intelligent.

Dave Pulver is a genius and does great work.

Loren Wiseman is a true veteran of the game biz, going back to the 70's with traveller and is still a nice, personable fellow.

Steve Jackson is a pompous ass who lets his fucking conservative social and political views contaminate the projects he works on.

Quote from: Dominus NoxSteve Jackson is a pompous ass who lets his fucking conservative social and political views contaminate the projects he works on.

Steve Jackson (I assume you mean the American one) is still working? I thought he basically retired and just puts his name under some projects. Where do I find these conservative views in the GURPS Basic Set or Banestorm

Quote from: SosthenesSteve Jackson (I assume you mean the American one) is still working? I thought he basically retired and just puts his name under some projects. Where do I find these conservative views in the GURPS Basic Set or Banestorm

In the basic set, under the character description for the chinese woman whose name escapes me just now, it talks about a paralell earth literally, physically dieing because (GASP!) most of society went socialist in the 2oth century.

That's pretty far out on the whacko right wing fringe, to assume that if socialism became prominent, the earth would just literally, physically die as a result. Only a neocon could come up with something like that and just expect people to automatically believe it.
 
In the current Murphy's rules compendium there's a reference to unemployed people as 'parasites', another conservative viewpoint. (BTW, it's funny that conservatives would look down on the unemployed so much, as it's often the conservatives and their policies that result in so much unemployment.)

It is a fact that (the american) Steve Jackson has some pretty strong political views.  However, in my experience I can't recall ever having seen anything in any GURPS book that actually seemed to reflect that, in comparison to a whole swath of ultra-leftwing RPGwriters who's work regularly stinks of liberal fashion-of-the-moment.

I don't recall seeing either of the instances that Nox mentions, not saying they're not true; but even if they were that's two small instances in hundreds of GURPS book, which strikes me as a pretty strong record of being able to keep his personal political views out of his games.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPunditIt is a fact that (the american) Steve Jackson has some pretty strong political views.  However, in my experience I can't recall ever having seen anything in any GURPS book that actually seemed to reflect that, in comparison to a whole swath of ultra-leftwing RPGwriters who's work regularly stinks of liberal fashion-of-the-moment.

Dude.  Crack open any GURPS Autoduel book.  It's basically NRA post-apoc porn.

Quote from: jrientsDude.  Crack open any GURPS Autoduel book.  It's basically NRA post-apoc porn.

In other words, the stuff good post-apoc games are made of? It can be a nice coincidence when your projects match your interests.

QuoteCJ Carella is probably my favorite. He's the creator of the Unisystem, author of Buffy, Angel, Witchcraft, and Armageddon among others. He doesn't tend to get too involved in online discussions, I like him purely for his writing ability. Clean and straightforward, with a lively style that makes even combat modifiers easy to read.

...he also is one of the most clear and imaginative Palladium Books writers. Nightbane, South America, Pantheons of the Megaverse, Phase World or Juicer Uprising are staples of PB-Gamers, as well as bright stars in the adventure gamers background-book heavens.