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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

TSR is Dead. Long Live TSR!



TSR as we knew it became part of WotC when Wizards bought TSR back in 1997. That bought the games but apparently left the TSR trademark to rot. Abandoned, it has now been scooped up by a company owned in part, by Gary Gygax's heirs.

I had heard earlier this year that someone had grabbed, or was about to grab, the abandoned TSR trademark. Stuff that was mentioned under the cloak of secrecy or whatnot, never to be repeated until the appointed time. When summer came and went, I pretty much forgot about the whole thing and chalked it up to the usual hobby type rumors.

Then we have today's EN World thread and various G+ threads and blog posts about it.

This is from EN World:


          Hi guys, this is Jayson. I'm the editor for Gygax Magazine.
Gygax Magazine is myself, Ernie Gygax, Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, James Carpio, and Jim Wampler. Our first issue is out in December; since it's not finished yet, we've been pretty quiet about things until it's ready. 
Just to address some of the questions, I thought it was best that I leave a reply. We do own the trademark for TSR, and have since December of 2011. We are a new company, not the old TSR, as they were purchased by Wizards in the '90s. The trademark was abandoned about nine years ago, and we registered it in 2011. 
We decided the best thing to release first as TSR was a gaming magazine, because we wanted a way to bridge the traditions of the old guard with the awesome new games that are out today.  
Feel free to ask me anything you like, I'll do my best to answer!
Interesting times. A new gaming magazine as Kobold Quarterly wraps up (gaming conspiracists can draw what conclusions they want, but a true Old School gaming magazine with the Gygax clout behind it would be the big dog in the room). No idea what else the new TSR may have in store, but if I'm allowed to hope, I'll throw some the way of Lejendary Adventures ;)

7 comments:

  1. I have a follow up comment from Tim Kask here:

    http://www.gamersandgrognards.blogspot.com/2012/11/tsr-gygax-magazine-update-from-tim-kask.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This will let you know what the new Gygax has in store.

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    2. very cool and informative link :)

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    3. Well, then, I'm off to be cool and informed. Carry on.

      Delete
  2. Thanks, I've caught the rumor that Jim Ward is involved and I'm waiting for his response to that as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. He had me until the "awesome new games of today". Blargh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah - I suppose that was why the thread was on ENworld instead of a more old-school forum. I think the name is very cool, but I'm very wait and see on the product. Key question: what's the Pathfinder ratio?

      Delete

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