Lorraine Williams
Encyclopedia
Lorraine Dille Williams is an American businesswoman who was in charge of the gaming company TSR, Inc.
from 1986 to 1997. Williams was hired as TSR's manager by company co-founder Gary Gygax
in 1984. She gained control of TSR the following year when the Blume brothers
sold her their controlling shares of the company. For several years after that, TSR was the games industry leader. In 1996, an unexpectedly high return of fiction books and an unsuccessful and expensive foray into the collectible card game
market caused a cash flow squeeze, and Williams was forced to sell TSR to Wizards of the Coast
in 1997.
Williams inherited the rights to Buck Rogers
and a large collection of Buck Rogers memorabilia. She later sold the memorabilia at auction.
in the 1920s, arranged for Buck Rogers
to be turned into a syndicated comic strip
. After Dille's death in 1957, ownership of Buck Rogers and other works passed into Lorraine's hands through the Dille Family Trust, making Lorraine the inheritor of the Buck Rogers fortune. When the trust was sold, the Dille family retained the licensing of Buck Rogers, as well as a collection of Buck Rogers memorabilia that John F. Dille had accumulated over thirty years. Williams helped her father to catalogue and pack all of the items.
She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in history. After graduating she worked at the National Newspaper Syndicate, then became an assistant administrator at the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. She then joined the National Easter Seal Society, where she worked as an administrator.
, co-inventor of the role-playing
game Dungeons & Dragons
and partner in the company TSR
, had been sent to Hollywood in 1982 to work on licensing the Dungeons & Dragons
brand, leaving the day-to-day operations of TSR to his fellow board members, Kevin and Brian Blume
. While in Hollywood, he was involved in the making of the Dungeons & Dragons animated television show
and exploring the possibility of a film adaptation of the game. In the course of his work, Gygax met Flint Dille
, with whom he collaborated on a series of choose-your-own-adventure-type novels and a script for an unmade Dungeons & Dragons
film. In 1984, Gygax was alerted to the fact that TSR was $1.5 million in debt and the Blumes were looking for a buyer. In an attempt to bring new investment money into the company, Gygax asked Flint Dille to arrange a meeting with his sister, Lorraine Williams. Although she turned down Gygax's invitation to invest in TSR, Gygax did hire her, on the basis of her management experience, to manage TSR. Gygax subsequently engineered the removal of Kevin Blume as CEO and the removal of three of Blume's friends from the board as well but, in an act many saw as retaliation, the Blumes soon sold their stock to Williams, making her the majority shareholder. Gygax tried to fire Williams and replace her with his future wife, Gail Carpenter, but was advised not to. Gygax tried to have the sale of stock declared illegal; after that failed, Gygax sold his remaining stock to Williams and left TSR at the end of 1985.
has stated that there was no such policy.
She also continued to try to thwart Gary Gygax's attempts to stay in the games industry. Upon leaving TSR, Gygax had founded New Infinities Productions, Inc., and subsequently developed a new fantasy role-playing game spanning multiple genres called Dangerous Journeys
. When the product was released by Game Designers' Workshop
, Williams immediately sued, believing that it infringed on TSR's intellectual property. The suit was eventually settled out of court, with TSR buying the complete rights to the Dangerous Journeys system from New Infinities and then permanently shelving the entire project. With no product to sell, Gygax's new company was driven out of business.
Under Williams' direction, TSR initially maintained its leadership position in role-playing games, and solidified its expansion into other fields, such as magazines, paperback fiction, and comic books. Through her family, Williams personally held the rights to the Buck Rogers
license and encouraged TSR to produce Buck Rogers games and novels. In 1988 she edited Buck Rogers: The First 60 Years in the 25th Century. TSR would also publish a Buck Rogers board game, a Buck Rogers XXVC
role-playing game based on the AD&D 2nd Edition rules, several dozen expansion modules for the role-playing game, a line of novels and graphic novels, and a computer game version of the role-playing game produced by SSI
using their Gold Box
game engine.
and Wizards of the Coast
in terms of sales volume. Seeing the profits being generated by Wizards of the Coast with their collectible card game
Magic: The Gathering
, TSR attempted to enter this market in 1996 in a novel way with Dragon Dice
, a game that used packs of collectible dice instead of cards. In addition, despite a history of publishing only one or two hardcover novels each year, TSR also decided to publish twelve novels in 1996.
Sales of Dragon Dice through the games trade started strongly, so TSR quickly produced several expansion packs. In addition, TSR tried to aggressively market Dragon Dice in mass-market book stores through Random House
. However, Dragon Dice did not catch on through the book trade, and sales of the expansion sets through traditional games stores sold poorly. In addition, the twelve hardcover novels did not sell as well as expected either. Despite total sales of $40 million, TSR ended 1996 with few cash reserves. When Random House returned an unexpectedly high percentage the year's inventory of unsold novels and Dragon Dice for a fee of several million dollars, TSR found itself in a cash crunch.
With no cash, TSR was unable to pay their printing and shipping bills, and the logistics company that handled TSR's pre-press, printing, warehousing and shipping refused to do any more work. Since the logistics company had the production plates for key products such as core D&D books, there was no means of printing or shipping core products in order to generate income or secure short-term financing.
With no viable financial plan for TSR's survival, Williams sold the company to Wizards of the Coast in 1997.
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
from 1986 to 1997. Williams was hired as TSR's manager by company co-founder Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
in 1984. She gained control of TSR the following year when the Blume brothers
Brian Blume
Brian J. Blume is noted for being a business partner of Gary Gygax in TSR, Inc., producers of the fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons.-Biography:...
sold her their controlling shares of the company. For several years after that, TSR was the games industry leader. In 1996, an unexpectedly high return of fiction books and an unsuccessful and expensive foray into the collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
market caused a cash flow squeeze, and Williams was forced to sell TSR to Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
in 1997.
Williams inherited the rights to Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
and a large collection of Buck Rogers memorabilia. She later sold the memorabilia at auction.
Early life
Lorraine Williams was the granddaughter of John F. Dille who, while president of the National Newspaper Service syndicatePrint syndication
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. They offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own/represent copyrights....
in the 1920s, arranged for Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
to be turned into a syndicated comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
. After Dille's death in 1957, ownership of Buck Rogers and other works passed into Lorraine's hands through the Dille Family Trust, making Lorraine the inheritor of the Buck Rogers fortune. When the trust was sold, the Dille family retained the licensing of Buck Rogers, as well as a collection of Buck Rogers memorabilia that John F. Dille had accumulated over thirty years. Williams helped her father to catalogue and pack all of the items.
She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in history. After graduating she worked at the National Newspaper Syndicate, then became an assistant administrator at the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. She then joined the National Easter Seal Society, where she worked as an administrator.
Brought into TSR by Gary Gygax
Gary GygaxGary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
, co-inventor of the role-playing
Role-playing
Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role...
game Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
and partner in the company TSR
TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
, had been sent to Hollywood in 1982 to work on licensing the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
brand, leaving the day-to-day operations of TSR to his fellow board members, Kevin and Brian Blume
Brian Blume
Brian J. Blume is noted for being a business partner of Gary Gygax in TSR, Inc., producers of the fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons.-Biography:...
. While in Hollywood, he was involved in the making of the Dungeons & Dragons animated television show
Dungeons & Dragons (TV series)
Dungeons & Dragons is an American fantasy animated television series based on TSR's Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. A co-production of Marvel Productions and TSR, the show originally ran from 1985 through 1987 for three seasons on CBS for a total of twenty seven episodes.The show focused on a...
and exploring the possibility of a film adaptation of the game. In the course of his work, Gygax met Flint Dille
Flint Dille
Flint Dille is a screenwriter, game designer, and novelist. He is best known for his animated work on Transformers, G.I...
, with whom he collaborated on a series of choose-your-own-adventure-type novels and a script for an unmade Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
film. In 1984, Gygax was alerted to the fact that TSR was $1.5 million in debt and the Blumes were looking for a buyer. In an attempt to bring new investment money into the company, Gygax asked Flint Dille to arrange a meeting with his sister, Lorraine Williams. Although she turned down Gygax's invitation to invest in TSR, Gygax did hire her, on the basis of her management experience, to manage TSR. Gygax subsequently engineered the removal of Kevin Blume as CEO and the removal of three of Blume's friends from the board as well but, in an act many saw as retaliation, the Blumes soon sold their stock to Williams, making her the majority shareholder. Gygax tried to fire Williams and replace her with his future wife, Gail Carpenter, but was advised not to. Gygax tried to have the sale of stock declared illegal; after that failed, Gygax sold his remaining stock to Williams and left TSR at the end of 1985.
In control of TSR
Williams was a financial planner who saw the potential for transforming the debt-plagued company into a highly profitable one. However, she supposedly disdained the gaming field, viewing herself as superior to gamers. Williams is rumoured to have implemented an internal policy under which playing games was forbidden at the company. However former TSR employee Mike BreaultMichael Breault
Michael Breault is a game designer and editor, and an author of several products for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game from TSR.-Early life and education:...
has stated that there was no such policy.
She also continued to try to thwart Gary Gygax's attempts to stay in the games industry. Upon leaving TSR, Gygax had founded New Infinities Productions, Inc., and subsequently developed a new fantasy role-playing game spanning multiple genres called Dangerous Journeys
Dangerous Journeys
Dangerous Journeys is a roleplaying game created by Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the original Dungeons & Dragons system. The game was originally announced as Dangerous Dimensions but was changed to Dangerous Journeys in response to a threat of a lawsuit from TSR, Inc., the publishers of Dungeons...
. When the product was released by Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop
Game Designers' Workshop was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.-History:Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973...
, Williams immediately sued, believing that it infringed on TSR's intellectual property. The suit was eventually settled out of court, with TSR buying the complete rights to the Dangerous Journeys system from New Infinities and then permanently shelving the entire project. With no product to sell, Gygax's new company was driven out of business.
Under Williams' direction, TSR initially maintained its leadership position in role-playing games, and solidified its expansion into other fields, such as magazines, paperback fiction, and comic books. Through her family, Williams personally held the rights to the Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
license and encouraged TSR to produce Buck Rogers games and novels. In 1988 she edited Buck Rogers: The First 60 Years in the 25th Century. TSR would also publish a Buck Rogers board game, a Buck Rogers XXVC
Buck Rogers XXVC
Buck Rogers XXVC is a game setting created by TSR, Inc. in the late 1980s. Products based on this setting include novels, graphic novels, a role-playing game , board game, and video games...
role-playing game based on the AD&D 2nd Edition rules, several dozen expansion modules for the role-playing game, a line of novels and graphic novels, and a computer game version of the role-playing game produced by SSI
Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Strategic Simulations, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher with over 100 titles to its credit since its founding in 1979. It was especially noted for its numerous wargames, its official computer game adaptations of Dungeons & Dragons, and for the groundbreaking Panzer General...
using their Gold Box
Gold Box
Gold Box is the name for a series of computer role-playing games produced by SSI. The company won a license to produce games based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game from TSR, Inc...
game engine.
The downfall of TSR
During the 1980s, TSR was the top games company in North America. However, in the early 1990s, TSR fell behind both Games WorkshopGames Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
and Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
in terms of sales volume. Seeing the profits being generated by Wizards of the Coast with their collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
, TSR attempted to enter this market in 1996 in a novel way with Dragon Dice
Dragon Dice
Dragon Dice is a collectible dice game originally made by TSR, Inc., and is published today by SFR, Inc. It is one of only a handful of collectible dice games produced in the early 1990s. In 1995, Dragon Dice won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science-Fiction Board Game...
, a game that used packs of collectible dice instead of cards. In addition, despite a history of publishing only one or two hardcover novels each year, TSR also decided to publish twelve novels in 1996.
Sales of Dragon Dice through the games trade started strongly, so TSR quickly produced several expansion packs. In addition, TSR tried to aggressively market Dragon Dice in mass-market book stores through Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
. However, Dragon Dice did not catch on through the book trade, and sales of the expansion sets through traditional games stores sold poorly. In addition, the twelve hardcover novels did not sell as well as expected either. Despite total sales of $40 million, TSR ended 1996 with few cash reserves. When Random House returned an unexpectedly high percentage the year's inventory of unsold novels and Dragon Dice for a fee of several million dollars, TSR found itself in a cash crunch.
With no cash, TSR was unable to pay their printing and shipping bills, and the logistics company that handled TSR's pre-press, printing, warehousing and shipping refused to do any more work. Since the logistics company had the production plates for key products such as core D&D books, there was no means of printing or shipping core products in order to generate income or secure short-term financing.
With no viable financial plan for TSR's survival, Williams sold the company to Wizards of the Coast in 1997.