President, while Gygax held the title of Editor.

When Dungeons & Dragons first came to market in January 1974, no one yet thought to call it a role-playing game. TSR marketed it as a wargame, a game of conflict simulation: the legend on the box read “Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns,” a construction that situated the game in a niche hobby market for such wargames that had existed since the 1950s. It was largely through his leadership in the wargaming community that Gygax initially popularized the game, which sold around one thousand copies its first year on the market. While this may sound like a paltry figure by mainstream standards, it was promising enough for a wargaming title to warrant a second printing early in 1975.

Tragedy intervened whenKaye died suddenly of a heart attack on January 31, 1975. As a result, Blume and Gygax entered into a new partnership agreement which named Kaye’s widow, Donna, as an equal partner. While the official TSR offices stayed at the Kaye residence on Sage Street in Lake Geneva, and Donna Kaye remained in charge of accounting and shipping through the spring, she had no interest in gaming and, especially as the business grew, little time for an enterprise that could not afford to employ her.

Gygax recognized that in the absence of salaries, only love of games could fuel the partnership. As a result, he committed TSR to a stark governing principle. He promised in a letter to David Megarry, designer of the Dungeon! board game, dated March 6,