Drawmij's TSR

Jim Ward played in Gary Gygax's earliest games, and worked for TSR as VP for Creative Services until 1996. Not only was the wizard Drawmij named after him, he designed Metamorphosis Alpha, co-authored Deities & Demigods.

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June 18 2024

The Making of Original Dungeons & Dragons: 1970-1977

(Dungeons & Dragons)
History of D&D.
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July 16 2024

Quests From The Infinite Staircase

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Adventure anthology for character levels 1 to 13.
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September 17 2024

D&D Player’s Handbook (2024)

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Revised 2024 Player's Handbook.
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October 1 2024

Monstrous Menagerie II

(Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition)
The sequel to the acclaimed monster book!
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November 12 2024

D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024)

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Revised 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide.
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February 18 2025

D&D Monster Manual (2025)

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Revised 2025 Monster Manual.
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Drawmij's TSR

Gaming With Gary Gygax

I met Gary Gygax at a book store. He told me he had a game where I could play Conan and fight Set. Just like that I was hooked. I went over to his house and rolled up a wizard character in D&D. For the first adventure we went to Kong Island. Gary wanted to play test that adventure. I was first level and all the rest of the players were 5th and 6th. We wandered in the night a bit and found a...

Jun 4, 2020 21

Drawmij's TSR

Jim Ward: Interplanetary War (TSR)

You won't be surprised to know that the highly creative people at TSR often did amazing things in their game playing. I can distinctly remember having a fun lunch with Gary Gygax and he told me that he was very jealous of a few of the designer types at TSR because they ran their own home games. Gary explained to me that he was so busy running the company that he didn't have time to DM a game...

May 22, 2020 23

Drawmij's TSR

At TSR: Walking Around The Building

Let me give you a little background. I became the Director of Creative Services at TSR. Upper management wanted me to have that title so when I tried to manage the editors and designers my words carried a bit of weight. I had edited, designed, and worked on many types of production projects at TSR and other companies. This ensured that I spoke their language and I was difficult to give crazed...

Apr 3, 2020 25

Drawmij's TSR

The Naming of Names: Metamorphosis Alpha, Boot Hill, & Gangbusters

First, let me correct a mistake I made when I wrote that Zeb Cook thought up the 'Baatezu' & 'Tanar'ri' demon and devil new names. My friend Jim LaFountain quite rightly pointed out that he was the creator of those terms. Sorry Jim. My blunder transitions perfectly into this article. When I was at TSR the process of naming products was very important. I spent many an hour with sales...

Mar 10, 2020 17

Drawmij's TSR

Gary Gygax Things

Let me start by saying that I believe Gary Gygax was a gaming genius. That genius included a lot of skills in crafting D&D designs. I have experienced literally hundreds of DM styles. Gary's style was head and shoulders better than the best of those. He was able to make the adventuring experience come alive in your minds. I have seen just as many written dungeons. I got a look at Gary's...

Feb 14, 2020 20

Drawmij's TSR

Theon's Underwear Experience

First, let me say, that every word of this is fact and I am not exaggerating one word of it.

Jan 21, 2020 5

Drawmij's TSR

April 4th, 1984: TSR's 3rd Purge

Life at TSR was very good and very bad. It started out in 1983. TSR had 386 employees and nepotism had raised its ugly head. You couldn’t throw a rock anywhere in the TSR offices without hitting a cousin, daughter, son, uncle, wife or husbands of any of those, or aunt of the Blume brothers and the Gygaxs working or barely working at TSR. Off topic for a second, the person that replaced me...

Dec 20, 2019 22

Drawmij's TSR

TSR's "Designeritus"

We had a lot of design talent in the heyday of TSR. Zeb Cook and Jeff Grubb strode the world like giants and put together some amazing million dollar profit centers. There were other designers and editors and supervisors that also generated great stuff. However, I often had to get after those designers for something I called "Designeritus." Jeff Grubb bless his heart was the worst, but Troy...

Nov 22, 2019 22

Drawmij's TSR

Jim Ward: Demons & Devils, NOT!

In the very early to mid '80s religious nongamer people discovered AD&D had magical spells and demons and devils in its rules. The problems started with Sears and Penny's retail stores. TSR was selling thousands of Player Handbooks and Dungeon Master's Guides every month to both of those companies. I know this because I was in sales and inventory control at the time.

Oct 28, 2019 241

Drawmij's TSR

Jim Ward: SSI, Dungeons & Dragons and the Computer Industry

The time is about 1987. I had played Ultima and thought a computer game license could be great for TSR; besides I wanted to play a D&D computer game. I was surfing the net on a Commodore 64 and that was interesting and that effort gave me a little insight into the computer game industry. I went to upper management and pitched them the idea of searching for a computer game license. They didn't think much of the concept.

Oct 7, 2019 53

Drawmij's TSR

Jim Ward: Laser Tag and TSR

In the '70s and early '80s the United States military used a system of infrared beams called the MILES system. The beams would hit sensors on a chest set of units and start beeping. This would cause the hit soldier to know they took a deadly strike. Training with these systems was an effective way for troops to learn combat situations.

Sep 18, 2019 9

Drawmij's TSR

The Origin of Monty Haul

The time is 1975. I'm a substitute teacher and I've learned how to play D&D at Gary Gygax's house. He and his family are wonderful hosts. Every Saturday in warm weather we are playing on his side porch. The group is Gary's son Ernie in 9th grade; some of Ernie's friends, and some of Gary's adult friends including Brian Blume, Gary's partner in TSR.

Aug 26, 2019 57

Drawmij's TSR

Elf Stranded on the Warden: A Short Gary Gygax Story

One of the great joys of working at TSR was being part of the group that played in Gary Gygax's weekly game. Over the years we had been the test subjects for many of the now classic Gygax adventures.

Jul 29, 2019 22

Drawmij's TSR

TSR's Amazing Accounting Department

The time is 1987 and I was the Vice President of the design and editors. It was a great job because TSR had amazing people doing the design and editing of product. I wasn't liked much by upper management at TSR after Gary left the company. I don't do well with authority figures that I do not believe know what they are doing. So I was fairly sure I didn't have long to work at TSR. However, I didn't count on the product schedule keeping me there for as long as it did.

Jun 27, 2019 98

Drawmij's TSR

The Making and Breaking of Deities & Demigods

Gods, Demigods, & Heroes was a D&D supplement that I suggested to Gary [Gygax] and it was published in 1976. It presented gods and heroes for D&D. In those days there was no google or internet research features and so I had to do a great deal of library research to get the book done. I used the Golden Bough for a great deal of the legendary treatment. I read all the novels of the authors I mentioned in the book. The concept was a first attempt at combining gods into the game and sold well.

May 28, 2019 166

Drawmij's TSR

Young Jim Ward and the Dice Monster

As “Young Jim Ward” I started out in the sales department as the inventory controller. It was my job to order the boxes and parts for the games and especially the D&D box set. That game was selling 100,000 units a month. One of “Young Jim Ward’s” jobs was to make sure the Hong Kong dice came in on time to fill the next batch of 100,000 boxes.