~i . 45?. m; 11:! SJ 5 {:191?3?3- ENTERED IN SEARCHED INDEXED 30 Z. DTART I MAY 251995 FBI -- SAN FRANCISCO 3 @m-st 3., 304/3 7% b6 b7C (Rev. 3-10-82) - 1 FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Date of transcriptiOn 4 2 8 9 5 SE INCORPORATED 201 be Sheridan Springs Road, LaEe Gen?vdT??isco iE, telephone number b7c was adv1sed of the identity of the interviewing Agents. The interview was conducted in anrattemnt_to_determine the relationship between TSR. INCORPORATED GAMI ASSOCIATION AND COMPANY. I ITSR, INC. was present during the intervie provided the follOwing information. TSR, INC. (TSR) is an entertainment industry which produces publications and holds licenses related to fantasy role? playing games. The games are researched, written and illustrated by TSR employees or by freelance artists. The material is finalized and forwarded to a print agency and returned to TSR for packaging. TSR derives a majority of their profits from publications and the licensing of its copyrighted gaming materials. TSR licenses computer games as well and participates in numerous industry conventions nationwide. TSR founded and Operates the largest gaming convention in the world called GEN-CON was originally named with reference to the GENEVA CONVENTION. The convention attracts approximately 25,000 attendees and focusses primarily on role- playing rather than war gaming. It is routinely held in August of each year and is marking its 27th year in 1995. TSR employs approximately 120 persons and is considered to be the largest national role playing gaming corporation. noted that TSR has an extremely high"concentration of b6 very intelligent persons in employment. She added that many of the employees have parents in academia, often outstanding in' their respective fields. TSR formerly operated two offices in California, one in Beverly Hills and one in Westwood. Both California offices have been closed and TSR only maintains offices in Lake Geneva and England. E. a. Investigation on 4 f2 8195 at Lake Geneva Wisconsin File if 3349.25.24 SF-11052 Q4 SA by SA Date dictated 4428495 This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBIloaned to your agencydistributed outside your agency. (Rev. Ibis-83) Continuation page 2 TSR originated in the 1970s as a direct result of the gaming activities of persons affiliated with the GENEVA WAR GAMING ASSOCIATION. TSR originally was an acronym for TACTICAL STUDIES RULES, however only the initials have.been retained as the name of the corporation. War gaming and fantasy role playing differ in that war gaming involves a reenactment of historical wars and fantasy role playing involves adventures of fictional scenarios and characters. War gaming traditionally involved the staging of one day of battle in one war for strategic review by the war gamers. Miniature figures, often hand painted in the appropriate colors for the battle, would be arranged in a manner identical to the troop placement at the actual battle. The subsequent day of battle may not be reenacted for a month while the strategic possibilities are examined. The miniature figures originally were 25mm lead fi ures, but were-later formed of aluminum and pewter alloys. that war gamers are generally b5 extremely intelligent individuals. Often they will live frugally b7C to su ort the cost of the war gaming hobby. advised that the typical war gaming enthusiast is overweight and not neat in appearance. ame originally named CHAINMAIL, produced by GARY GAX and DAVE ESON in 1972 and 8 1d from basementM 973, GYGAX, formed a partnership in the gaming indu try that evo ved in 1975 into TSR. GYGAX operated the TSR branch office in Beverly ills, California, doing business as DRAGONS ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION (DDEC). DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS (D D) was a fan sy role playing In ?In approximately 1976, the war gaming industry experienc?d a realignment that reSulted in the traditional war gamers becoming very angry and resentful toward TSR. A major war gaming company named SIMULATION PUBLICATION, INC. (SPI) encountered significant financial trouble and was purchased by TSR. At the time of the buyout, SPI was a war gaming company and TSR was a fantasy role playing company. Many of the war gamers believe that SPI was sabota ed by TSR so that they could be acquired and quashed. I Ibelieved that the purchase of b6 SPI, which occurredl involved a b7c es of debt and no funds actually changed hands. has not been able to locate an itemization of game titles which were included in the deal and advised that there is (Rev. 11-15-83) 3 b6 Continuation of FD-302 ,Page still some confusion about the details of the purchase. noted that some war gamers continue to hold the anger from this purchase. She recalled a message on the Internet approximately three weeks ago which recalled TSR's acquisition of SPI in a derogatory connotation. War gamers from the era of the 1970s are now aged in their late 40s to early 50s. Following the sale of SPI, they became further enraged at TSR when TSR began to scale back the war gaming their company until it was almost non- existent. . advised that war gaming appealed to a small but fiercely loyal population and war game production was not even profitable enough to be maintained at SPI's levels. A major portion of production costs were devoted to ?counters" which were cardboard punch- -out pieces -designed to represent war vehicles. The "counters" reduced the profitaszlit of war gaming sets to a level that TSR found unacceptable. Inoted that fantasy role playing sets seldom required counters, could be produced for a fraction of the cost and appealed to a much larger audience. In thel IFRESNO had promised the reissue of the SP1 titles to their constituents and had allegedly engaged in copyright infringement of certain games which had not come under their legal control. TSR dealt with litigation against FRESNO for years and then forwarded the management of the copyright infringement matter to JENNER BLOCK, 1 IBM PLAZA, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. Through JENNER threatened to sue FRE 'rneys for TSR forwarded a ?Cease and Desist" order learned that FRESNO blamed TSR for their impending bankruptcy. The attorneys at JENNER BLOCK who handled this matter included All records related to this .itigation are maintained at the b6 offices of JENNER BLOCK. With the sale of the SPI titles to b7C DECISION GAMES, the litigation against FRESNO became the concern of DECISION GAMES. TSR retains only 7 or 8 war gaming titles of the original 200 obtained with the purchase of SP1. I Idescribed the com any as financially unstable and in need of TSR continued to produce war gaming sets and even sold severe strategy modules to the Pentagon, howeve fohnd the interaction with GYGAX at TSR to be very difficult. In 1986 TSR bought out GYGAX's stock and guaranteed him a royalty on his (Rev. 11-15-83) Con?nua?on?ofFD-SOZ Page gameware from 1986 through 1989. That agreement involved approximately $3 million. GYGAX later infringed TSR copyrights and was sued by TSR. that a settlement was more financially sound and GYGAX was guaranteed $50_ 000 per year for ten years. In the early 19805, GYGAX had been generating about $1 million per year in income. advised that GYGAX spent his mo lously. GYGAX was involved in an unpleasant divorce an i . \er advised that GYGAX was a drug abuser. GYGAX is any - 55 years of age and is currently He lives on Madison Street in ?a WisconS1n an- oe contaCted at (414) 248- 7380. tess as follows: P. O. Box 388, Lake record of personally answering any letterucoming from a prison. GYGAX set up a holding company in Liberia to avoid paying taxes. He is known to be a member of the Libertarian Party. GYGAX is probably familiar withl believes that GYGAX would be extremely uncooperative if the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI attempts rview him regarding his knowledge iadded that war gamers are very loyal to one another and in erv1ewees should be selected carefully so that the investigation is not jeopardized. In 1988 TSR sold approximately 25 of the war gaming titles which TSR had acquired of SP1. The purchaSer of these titles was WORLD WIDE WARGAMES which ma have California (Rev. 11-1583) b6 Continuation of Fla-302 b7C Page sold about 100 of the formEr?SPI titles to DECISION GAMESI IFRESNO GAMING ASSOCIATION (FRESNO) prior to the acquisition of SPI by TSR. FRESNO was an informal club composedvof a variety of war~gamers however the organization did not appear to function as a companyf Ultimately, FRESNO may have to dues to cover the cost of publication. I lwas not aware of official capacity in the organization. She recalled that was involved with SP1 prior to purchase and had offered a small amount of mone? for war gaming titles which TSR had made available for sale. did not obtain the rights to any of the titles. In the historical war context, F.C. stood for "Forward Center" which was a troop movement designation. It was also inscribed on cannons in the Franco?Prussian War, probably as an insignia. b7C Iwere presented with the photograpas of the wooden box utilized for the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which was mailed aboard American Airlines flight #444 on 11/15/79. Neither could provide information regarding the origin or purpose of the box. Neither was familiar with the hinge On the box as depicted in the photographs and further described by the Agents. I Iwere presented with the composite b5 drawing of the suspect in the captioned matter. Neither had ever met and therefore could not comment on any rese ance. I advised that TSR employee and may be contacted regarding this (Rev. 11-15-83) 149A-SF-106204 Continuation of FD-302 Page 6 b6 b7C was the victim of two separate bomb threat incidents. No detonation occurred and the perpetrator(s) were never determined. The first incident occurred in 1986 and involved a series of phone calls which served as a countdown to the alleged day of detonation. Another threat in 1992 or 1993 was also received at TSR. TSR agreed with the conclusion of the Lake Geneva Police that most recent threat was probably just a prank. The Lake Geneva, Wisconsin olice departments should have record of these incidents. could not provide additional information re ised that she would contact for additional information. that it would not be in the best interests 0 to broadcast the receipt of the aforementioned threats. that the employees were not made aware of the presence of Agents of the FBI at TSR. added that this kind of information could easily end up posted on the Internet system by the end of the day. b6 b7c suggested that the dates of the placement and detonation of the captioned case devices may coincide with events . 1 I (Rev. 11?15-83) Continuation of FD-302 Page b6 b7C 'of the Vietnam War. the passion of the students at UCB during the War and suggested that the suspect may have arisen from that era. recalled a scandal in the mid to late 1980s involving several Professors at UCB and some east coast universities wherein renowned research was later determined to have been plagiarized.