Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons

Secrets revealed!

Read the untold story of how the company that created Dungeons & Dragons was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, and then purchased by their bitterest rival! Buy it here now!

TSR was the company that created Dungeons & Dragons.

It created the role-playing game industry, produced bestselling novels, and even had production offices in Hollywood. Despite this, by 1997 the company was staring bankruptcy in the face, with unpaid debts to freelancers, its distributor, and even its printer!

Simultaneously, TSR faced competition the likes of which it had never seen in the form of a collectible card game named Magic: The Gathering, which was produced by Wizards of the Coast. The company failed to produce a product for months.

TSR and Dungeons & Dragons appeared to be dead. Then Wizards of the Coast stepped in to buy the foundering company, saving Dungeons & Dragons from an unknown fate. TSR’s fiercest foe had become its savior.

The tale of the death of TSR is one of monumental managerial mistakes, feuds with some of the biggest companies in America, opportunities squandered, mass layoffs, cash wasted, and creative genius turned to ruinous ends. The story of how TSR nearly destroyed Dungeons & Dragons but Wizards of the Coast repaired it is a case study of brand management for the 21st century.

Furthermore, for the millions of fans of D&D, it tells a heretofore untold true story of how the oldest and greatest role-playing game was nearly annihilated, but then miraculously saved. Ben Riggs has had access to files, documents, and interviews never before seen by any journalist, making this the true and never before heard history of how D&D almost died.