Lorraine Williams
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Lorraine Dille Williams is an American businesswoman. She was hired as manager of
TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...
by company co-founder
Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...
in 1984, and was in charge of the gaming company from 1986 to 1997. Williams gained control of TSR in October 1985 when the Blume brothers sold her their controlling shares of the company. In 1996, an unexpectedly high cost of returned (unsold) fiction books and an expensive, unsuccessful foray into the
collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...
market caused a cash flow squeeze, and Williams sold TSR to
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...
in 1997. Williams inherited the rights to
Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...
and a large collection of Buck Rogers memorabilia. She sold the memorabilia at auction in 2010.


Early life

Lorraine Williams is the granddaughter of John F. Dille who, while president of the National Newspaper Service
syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...
in the 1920s, arranged for
Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...
to be turned into a syndicated
comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
. After Dille's death in 1957, ownership of Buck Rogers and other works passed into the Dille Family Trust through the Dille family trust, making Williams one of the beneficiaries of the Buck Rogers franchise. 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 attended the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
, where she earned a B.A. in history. After graduating, she worked at the National Newspaper Syndicate. She then became an assistant administrator at the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center. Later, she joined the National Easter Seal Society, where she worked as an administrator.


TSR


Brought into TSR by Gary Gygax

Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax created an ...
, co-inventor of the
role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is 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. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...
game ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'' 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 Brian John Blume (January 12, 1950 – March 27, 2020) was an American game designer and writer, principally known as a former business partner of Gary Gygax at TSR, Inc., original publishers of the fantasy role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons' ...
. 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 Flint Dille (born November 3, 1955) is an American screenwriter, game designer and novelist. He is best known for his animated work on ''Transformers'', ''G.I. Joe'', ''An American Tail: Fievel Goes West'', and his game-writing, ''The Chronicles ...
, with whom he collaborated on a series of choose-your-own-adventure-type novels and a script for an unmade ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'' 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 Williams turned down Gygax's invitation to invest in TSR, Gygax did hire her, on the basis of her management experience, to manage TSR. Williams was able to deal with TSR's creditors and get money flowing back into the company again. Gygax subsequently engineered the removal of Kevin Blume as CEO due to fiscal mismanagement. However, Kevin's brother Brian had a longstanding stock option which he triggered; both brothers then sold their stock to Williams, making her the majority shareholder. Gygax considered trying to fire Williams in order to replace her with his future wife, Gail Carpenter, but was advised not to. Gygax did go to court to have the sale of stock declared illegal, claiming he had a verbal agreement with the Blume brothers to buy their stock. When the judge ruled against him, Gygax sold his remaining stock and left TSR.


In control of TSR

Williams was a financial planner who saw the potential for transforming the company into a highly profitable one. However, she supposedly disdained gaming, viewing herself as superior to gamers. Former TSR employee
Mike Breault Michael Breault (born May 28, 1958 in Central Falls, Rhode Island) is a game designer and editor, and an author of multiple products for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game from TSR. Early life and education Mike Breault was bor ...
has stated that he does not recall a rumored ban by Williams on playing games in the company during his time in TSR, but does go on to say that the vast majority of the products were not playtested. Upon leaving TSR, Gygax had founded
New Infinities Productions New Infinities Productions was an American game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements. History Immediately after leaving TSR, Gary Gygax helped form New Infinities Productions, Inc. (Registration required) Wargamer and acc ...
, Inc., and subsequently developed a new fantasy role-playing game, spanning multiple genres, called ''
Dangerous Journeys ''Dangerous Journeys'' was 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 ...
''. When the product was released by
Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) 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. The founding m ...
, (Registration required) Williams immediately sued, claiming that the game infringed 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's 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 is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...
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 also published a Buck Rogers board game, a ''
Buck Rogers XXVC Buck Rogers XXVC (sometimes written as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) 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 (RPG), board game, and video ...
'' role-playing game based on the ''AD&D'' 2nd Edition rules, over a dozen supplements for the role-playing game, comic books (1990–1991), a line of 11 novels and graphic novels (1989–1993), and two computer games produced by SSI (1990–1992). As Williams' family owned ''Buck Rogers'', TSR paid them royalties on the character.


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 Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...
and
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...
in terms of sales volume. Seeing the profits being generated by Wizards of the Coast with their
collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...
''
Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a tabletop and digital collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro), ''Magic'' was the first ...
'', TSR attempted to enter this market in 1996 in a novel way with ''
Dragon Dice ''Dragon Dice'' is a collectible dice game originally made by TSR, Inc., and is produced today by SFR, Inc. It is one of only a handful of collectible dice games produced in the early 1990s. The races and monsters in ''Dragon Dice'' were created ...
'', 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 is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
. 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. Despite total sales of $40 million, TSR ended 1996 with few cash reserves. When Random House returned an unexpectedly high percentage of 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 available, 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. Bob Abramowitz of
Five Rings Publishing Group The Five Rings Publishing Group (FRPG) was formed as a spin-out of Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA. History In 1996, Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) and ISOMEDIA divested themselves of their joint operating venture, and created Five Rin ...
met with Williams and was able to negotiate and secure an option to purchase TSR, using funding from
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...
. With no viable financial plan for TSR's survival, Williams sold the company to Wizards of the Coast in 1997.


Auction of Buck Rogers collection

In August 2010, Williams announced that she was selling what she described as the world's largest collection of Buck Rogers original comic art, prototypes, toys, books, and collectibles. This was material she had helped her father to catalog and pack up many years before. She said at the time of the announcement that her instinct had been to hold on to everything, but she had come to realize that it was more important to get the collection out into the public. The pieces of the collection were subsequently sold at auction on August 28, 2010.


Buck Rogers Lawsuit

In 2017, Williams advanced $250,000 to fund a trademark lawsuit between the Dille Family Trust and the Nowlan Family Trust (who represented the estate of
Philip Francis Nowlan Philip Francis Nowlan (; November 13, 1888 – February 1, 1940) was an American science fiction writer, best known as the creator of Buck Rogers. Biography Nowlan was born on November 13, 1888. While attending the University of Pennsylvania, N ...
, the creator of "Buck Rogers") over who owned the rights to the "Buck Rogers" character.Eriq Gardner
"The Legal Battle to Bring Buck Rogers to the Big Screen"
''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'', July 20, 2018. Retrieved
In February 2019 the Dille Family Trust (DFT) entered into a Settlement Agreement with the Nowlan Family Trust selling the Trust's assets and assigning all their intellectual property rights to Buck Rogers to the Nowlan Family Trust; US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Civil Action NO 15-6231 case dismissed with prejudice on March 4, 2019.


References


External links


"Buck Rogers" official website—The Dille Family Trust
(
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lorraine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American businesspeople UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni