The History of D&D Hasbro Refused to Learn From

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You gotta understand: a company as big as hasbro sees community preception as a currency they can spend, not as a goal

TSR was also often called "They Sue Regularly" in the late '80s and '90s.

So, the lesson here is: do not let the suits run your game.

I think that WotC repeatedly screwing their creators over is a symptom of perpetual growth. They want to grow infinitely, and will sacrifice everything to get there. Only thing that pulls them back is hurting the profits.

A reminder that D&D is not the only table top RPG out there. If you want fewer rules, or more rules, or less combat, or all da combat, or you want to play in space or be a demigod there is an RPG out there for you.

Not holding my breath given Hasbro's siccing the pinkertons on an MTG fan.

Something that is going to be very interesting to see is how ORC turns out. For those not in the know, after the last OGL debacle, Paizo announced they were going to work with a number of smaller publishers to make their own version of the open games license which would allow them to publish a rule system without having to worry about when the next time Hasbro was feeling litigious. This is not something that has been released yet, but a directly competing open rules system that includes publisher protections against future legal action has the potential to cause some major disruption with D&D's current market if it lives up to the promises.

An interesting side note is that the reason D&D has editions at all was to avoid paying royalties. AD&D was made to cut out Dave Arneson as he only had royalties for D&D, AD&D 2e was made a separate edition so that Gygax wasn't due royalties.

Great job. I have a cousin who works for Paizo, and knowing his story emphasizes how important the development of the TTRPG community is for its long-term health and profitability. He started out writing his own short campaigns and getting them published in D&D magazines back in the 80s. That low bar to getting started is what helped him develop his writing skills over time. I'm betting there are a lot of stories in the industry of similar people who started out as kids just writing their own stuff and learning from the feedback.

Don't forget about the first legal dust up for TSR, when Gary Gygax created Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and refused to pay royalties to Dave Arneson, so Dave sued and won. Gary refused to compromise, and TSR created the Moldvey Box set to replace the Holmes Box set, thus needing to maintain material for Dungeons and Dragons as well as Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

The moment you start seeing your customers as criminals and licensees as liabilities, is the moment your customers look for your competitors, and your licensees will become the competitors they buy from. Thus goeth the Aesop.

Awesome episode. To add to Lorraine Williams' mess-ups there was also her refusal to let workers playtest stuff and her habit of focusing on properties that her family owned (and therefore could personally make more money off) rather than what the players wanted.

Great deep dive into the glorious history. Having lived through a lot of this, and witnessing the successful OGL backlash firsthand, it was great to see this put together and given context. Good job! :)

Honestly the first Dungeons and Dragons movie is worth it just for Jeremy Irons knowing EXACTLY what kind of a movie he was in, and clearly having a ball hamming it up.

D&D was has been popular primarily due to name name recognition. The worst thing they can do is to give people a reason to try other systems.

was waiting to see the Crit Role crew on the Extra Credits art style from the start of the video, and it absolutely paid off, they look adorable

Nice one. I was in the thick of the late 1980's battles as a GM and writer for the RPGA. Shell shock was the best description for most convention players.

There's really no amount of learning from past mistakes that can make up for summoning the Pinkertons to traumatize a family over a two-week-early, accidental leak. Crossing that red line ended my relationship with Hasbro and WotC, full-stop.

Just like Games Workshop - There's a Product team that's invested in making something good that people want to play, and a Corporate team that's invested in using the product to make as much money as possible. Unfortunately, people only ever hear from Marketing and Legal - which are part of the Corporate side - and every time they make a decision without asking the Product team how it's likely to be received by players, it never ends well. Supporting the community has always been more important to growing a game than Enforcing the Brand, but one of those looks like it would hoard more money on paper, so it's always where the revolving door of "innovative" marketeers and lawyers try to steer the company. The constant cycle of clamping down and opening up isn't good for anyone - it burns faiths, breeds resentment, and has the domino effect of killing off long running fan content - no I won't let TTS go! - which will get more people angry and lose them more interest and engagement.