I always forget this mediocre day in history for me and Gaming because it’s always a week before the anniversary of my move to Austin. Not this time though since I was laughing to myself over GDW’s demise 11 years ago while I was recently reading the rather sparse (but generous) Wikipedia entry about them. There’s also two lawyers (real ones, not rules lawyers) in our gaming group and I’ve never really discussed much about the TSR v. GDW & Gary Gygax suit with them. Their expertises are criminal cases not copyright but I’m sure they know the essentials.
So way back in 1992, GDW published Gygax’s come back fantasy roleplaying game Mythus which is an ugly story in itself. TSR chose to sue GDW and Gygax’s company for copyright infringement. The short version of their argument is based upon the rules and concepts Gygax wrote when he was still a part of TSR; he had been contemplating some revisions and simplifications of D&D as early as 1982. Since he was an employee of TSR until 1985, the company owned everything he wrote. TSR was very keen on this after the appearance of Pacesetter Games’ acknowledgements proving those people did it on their nickel. Therefore, their suit claimed that GDW published a game containing material derivative of their property, even if it was never used in any product. Anyone familiar with the Tim Burton versus Disney fight over The Nightmare before Christmas would understand this lawsuit. I had been dragged in for a deposition in late 1993 along with former art director Steve Bryant (then at FASA) and former head editor Lester Smith (then working for TSR, talk about discomfort). By early 1994 the whole trial was underway and I had to attend as a witness at TSR’s request. (I’ll have to ask Lester and Steve why they got to skip that annoying part.) Meanwhile, GDW was seriously on the financial skids because Traveller: The New Era wasn’t a big hit and their other lines had faded off from neglect so TSR suing wasn’t their only problem, just the biggest.
I was in pretty good spirits that day though. TSR paid me some kind of per diem for driving out to Peoria. I had quit my job with DG a week earlier and I would be in Austin by the next. My move was no secret neither. I can’t remember who I joked with at the courthouse but I told them I was going to make it expensive for TSR to drag me into this mess in the future (I was moving to Austin for other reasons.) I have no recollection of what the heck was asked of me on the stand, probably the destruction of the evidence angle TSR wanted to pursue, not the technical parts of Mythus. I do know the judge gave me crap for not using the words “Yes” and “No” since I said “Yeah” or something the old fart didn’t like. It was pretty short thankfully and the quick answer is no, my participation didn’t really matter with the outcome. Still puzzles me as to why I got called up.
As for the outcome of the lawsuit. TSR and GDW settled in late 1994 with TSR buying out all the remaining unsold inventory of Mythus books (at least a few thousand is my guess) and the rights to the game. I’m sure Gygax received something too, he only cared about himself. GDW’s demise remained inevitable. The lawsuit only sped it up for two reasons and both can be blamed on Frank Chadwick (GDW’s president).
- He really didn’t know jack about roleplaying games, dismissing the successful ones was a common tactic of his. A great chestnut of his was ripping on FASA’s BattleTech: people playing a board game thinking they’re playing a miniature warfare game. FASA’s bank statements didn’t seem to mind.
- He continued to waste GDW’s finite capital, manpower and equipment on the less profitable wargame lines despite that market dwindling since the Eighties with the rise of computer versions from SSI.
It’s all ancient, obscure history now. No wonder I kept forgetting about it.