Yet matters are never so black and white. Control of TSR was something that Gygax possessed but fleetingly in the decade-long history of the company. In fact, Gygax had only decisively acquired controlling interest as of March 1985, at a time of great upheaval in TSR’s business. Previously, TSR followed a consensual governance model, one that the industry celebrated during TSR’s ascent but disparaged after the company’s fortunes faltered. As Dungeons & Dragons took the world by storm, Gygax led by virtue of his design talent and his extraordinary community presence, rather than his financial stake in the company.

Control of Dungeons & Dragons depended on many contingencies of TSR’s founding. TSR Hobbies formally incorporated as a Wisconsin entity in July 1975—but that was eighteen months after the publicationof Dungeons & Dragons. Previously, there existed the partnership of Tactical Studies Rules, which formed in October 1973 with two principals: Gygax and his childhood friend Donald Kaye. They lived blocks apart in Lake Geneva, and both were members of a local wargaming group called the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association, from which Tactical Studies Rules took its name.

At the time the partnership was formed, Gygax had not held a steady job in nearly three years. He repaired shoes in his basement for subsistence income, but dedicated his creative energies to game rules, for which he received little by way of royalties but widespread acclaim in the hobby games community. Thus Gygax was unable to make a capital investment in the Tactical Studies Rules partnership; it was Kaye