Ben RiggsBesprekingen

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!
As someone who really enjoys D&D but only recently got into playing it for myself, this book unlocked a part of the game that I'd never delved into before, the history of the company that published it. I'm not usually big on nonfiction reads, but this was engaging, informative, and had, at times, a fun sense of humor to go along with the mind-boggling story of this game and TSR.
I was going to give this one 4 stars, because I normally need something really memorable about a book to give it all 5, but that didn't come until the final chapters of the book. I found myself actually excited and overjoyed at the way things played out and how Riggs included them in the history of the company, and I think he managed, the entire time, to remain very neutral on some topics in a way that I really appreciated. It was a great story, well told, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys RPG's or gaming in general.

While Riggs can be a bit exhausting in his fan-boy enthusiasm, and slings around the word "genius" a bit too much for my liking, he does give you a good account of how an industry gets created, and how the original business at the center of the industry gets run into the ground. A particular plus is that Riggs doesn't believe in the myth of Gary Gygax as "St. Gary," as Gygax made pretty much every mistake that a person going from penury to almost instant wealth can make, which is why he lost control of his creation.

The silent force in this story is Lorraine Williams, the businesswoman who took control of TSR after Gygax, and who initially did rather well with it. However, what became an addiction to quick profits, and the lack of serious market research, led to a business plan that almost destroyed the company and would have led to its intellectual property being scattered to the winds. Williams didn't deign to be interviewed by Riggs, but he mostly respects her accomplishments.

This finally gets you to the take-over by Peter Adkinson of Wizards of the Coast, the company that gave you "Magic: The Gathering," and who was finally the perfect conservator of the legacy of "Dungeon & Dragons." This is seeing as he was an enthusiast himself, had the deep pockets to undo the financial damage while not making money in the short run, and was willing to "get right" with all the players who had a monetary interest in D&D, but who had been stiff-armed by various management figures over the years. Arguments over intellectual property is a big part of this book.½

Not a bad book, but a little more into the esoteric personalities and publishing than I could have wished. I basically read it to see what became of Gary Gygax.½

Great stuff. A lot of it I knew from other books on the subject, but much I had never heard it read anywhere before. It doesn't engage in the Gygax worshipping that many writers bathe themselves in which is a very good thing, and gives Lorraine Williams a much fairer shake than many takes. It's a well-researched and put together tale of a company that was plagued with nonsensical business decisions and ill-advised money expenditures no matter who was in charge and a lot of things that seemed to be successes back in the day simply were not. The author occasionally loses me when seemingly every creative talked about is either "a genius" or "brilliant", but this does not detract from the book.

I haven’t read any other books documenting the rise and fall of Gary Gygax’s brainchild, but this was a fascinating look at the business practices of TSR before it sold Dungeons & Dragons before it became Wizards of the Coast’s property. It’s written by someone who was a journalist for Geek and Sundry (Felicia Day‘s brainchild) who took his articles and turned them into a thorough book telling us what exactly went wrong. The author has no skin in the game, so it’s an impartial look.

It’s not surprising that such a company might lose business in the age of the Internet or as time drags on and attention focuses elsewhere. But that’s not what happened. The actions that TSR took that drove them into the ground are really bizarre and worth being noted (for example, trying to make Buck Rogers happen again).

There’s also some stuff about creatives (like writers and artists) and their business of writing licensed stuff and how that worked, which I’m particularly interested in. They were actually treated well before someone else took over and treated them as disposable.

I received an Uncorrected Digital Galley from the publisher St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. I'd requested it because I have a long fascination with TSR and D&D (and I read Of Dice and Men about nine years ago.) I was introduced to D&D back in the late 1970s, played a little, bought one of the supplements Eldritch Wizardry, had the original AD&D books, introduced my older two sons, and then my younger two, even stinting a couple of times as DM. Still, I've not been a big player. The younger two, both adult now, continue to play, and when the family can, all of the brothers plus two wives enjoy their sessions with my third son DMing. All that backstory informs why I requested the book. It's a sad story for the old fans. TSR did something nobody else did. And... they weren't that good at the business part of it. Riggs investigates and compiles a timeline that probably has a few new tidbits for the diehards. Rapid rise, long slow fall (with a crest or two) until Wizards finally bought them. Which worked out because the game is still going. I can't keep up with the latest round of rules - AD&D was as advanced as I ever wanted - but then I don't have to.

This is a good book for the fans, particularly those of us who experienced the earliest days.

Not a lot of notes on this, so here's one:

[on an early Gygax game] It was a set of medieval combat rules cowritten with Jeff Perren called Chainmail. Chainmail introduced a number of innovations to the game table. It provided rules for “man-to-man” combat (instead of combat with massed armies) and a fourteen-page supplement for fantasy that included rules for using elves, dwarves, trolls, and dragons at the table. The game sold well, but was not a hit.
{It may not have been a hit, but I had a copy of the rules…}

[for the publisher, a typo] Probably already caught in final editing, but in Chapter 11, the story about Steven Grant and writing some new Hardy Boys books, "A publisher decided to resurrect the twee teen sleuths..."
"twee"?

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads program in exchange for an honest review.

TSR just appear to be three letters, but it was the company founded to publish Dungeons & Dragons which launched the role-playing game genre and would impact fantasy throughout pop culture. Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons by Ben Riggs tells the story of a small company in a little Wisconsin city that changed pop culture.

Riggs account of the company that literally invented a game genre, not only covers the beginnings of the rise of geekdom into the pop culture zeitgeist but also the creative individuals a part of the company that created fascinating new worlds to play in or as time went on to delve into through fantasy novels both augmented by amazing art. In addition to interviewing scores of former employees and executives of TSR, Riggs delved into internal sales numbers, contracts, lawsuits, and other related financial details to full detail the health of the company over its lifetime while relating the information in easily readable prose. Although he tried to get her first-hand account, Riggs had to examine the role of Lorraine Williams—who came in to save the company but ultimately whose decisions resulted in its death a decade later—through the eyes of others each with their agendas and or grievances.

Slaying the Dragon records the history of a company that created and dominated its own industry until it collapsed trying to grow its customer base and broaden its portfolio. Ben Riggs does an excellent job in revealing the individuals that ran, sustained, brought it down, and ultimately though that saved its legacy.