Gary Gygax Post-TSR Essay

Gary Gygax Post-TSR Essay

Mr. Gygax and TSR parted ways in the mid-eighties due to the poor and
erratic way that he was running the company. 

After leaving TSR, Gygax immediately created the gaming company 
New Infinities Productions with the idea of gaining revenge against TSR.
Gygax wrote the outline for what became the game Cyborg Commando.
Published in 1987, the game garnered poor reviews and sold poorly.
New Infinities was poorly run and it went out of business in 1989.

Following this setback, Gygax next tried to get revenge on TSR by partnering
with Games Designer Workshop to create a game to compete with Dungeons &
Dragons D&D). At first, this project was known as Dangerous Dimensions, however TSR
threatened to sue over the initials being DD, almost the same as that for Dungeons & Dragons.
The new role-playing game was now renamed Dangerous Journeys, but TSR sued anyways.
Eventually, TSR gained ownership of the new game and Gygax was out in the cold yet again.

In 1999, Gygax took another stab at creating a game to gain revenge upon TSR with. This was 
Lejendary Adventure (LA) that was published by two companies thaat were run by friends of Gygax, Hekaforge
Productions and Troll Lord Games. LA has fared better than Gygax's previous non-TSR games, but it still has not
been much of a rival to D&D.

In 2004, Gygax had a hand in the creation of the RPG Castles & Crusades. Its not known how important 
this role was, but his name was used in promoting the game. This game has only been a limited success.

Additionally, after leaving TSR, Gygax wrote two books, "Master of the Game" and 
"Role-Playing Mastery." He also wrote some fictional works as well. None of these books
sold well. Gygax's books were of generally poor quality. They were derided by the hard
core gamer members of the Little Rock Science Fiction Society of which I was a member during the years 1997-2000.

Gygax spent the last three decades of his life in Lake 
Geneva, WI, where he led aquiet life marked by being a frequent guest at 
gaming conventions. He passed away in 2008.