TSR
Gygax left Guidon Games in 1973 and, with Don Kaye as a partner, founded the publishing company Tactical Studies Rules (later known as TSR, Inc.) in October. The two men each invested US$1,000 in the venture—Kaye had borrowed US$1,000 on a life insurance policy—in order to finance the start-up of TSR. However, this did not give them enough capital to publish the rules for Dungeons & Dragons and, worried that other companies would be able to publish similar projects first, the two convinced acquaintance Brian Blume to join TSR in December 1973 as an equal one-third partner. This brought the financing that enabled them to publish Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax worked on rules for more miniatures and tabletop battle games, including Cavaliers and Roundheads (English Civil War, with Jeff Perren), Classic Warfare (Ancient Period: 1500 BC to 500 AD), and Warriors of Mars.
Dungeons & Dragons appeared in 1973 at EasterCon, and pre-release copies of the game were in circulation by the end of the year. The first commercial version of Dungeons & Dragons was released by TSR in January 1974 as a boxed set. A hand-assembled print run of 1,000 copies, put together in Gygax's home, sold out in less than a year. In the same year, Gygax created the magazine The Strategic Review with himself as editor, and then he hired Tim Kask to assist in the transition of this magazine into the fantasy periodical The Dragon, with Gygax as writer, columnist, and publisher (from 1978 to 1981). The Dragon debuted in June 1976, and Gygax commented on its success years later: "When I decided that The Strategic Review was not the right vehicle, hired Tim Kask as a magazine editor for Tactical Studies Rules, and named the new publication he was to produce The Dragon, I thought we would eventually have a great periodical to serve gaming enthusiasts worldwide... At no time did I ever contemplate so great a success or so long a lifespan." Gygax wrote the supplements Greyhawk, Eldritch Wizardry, and Swords & Spells for the original D&D game. With Brian Blume he also designed the wild west-oriented role-playing game Boot Hill in 1975. The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, a variation of the original D&D geared towards younger players and edited by J. Eric Holmes, was released in 1977.
In 1975, Gygax and Kaye were only 36 years old, and Kaye had not made any specific provision in his will regarding his one-third share of the company. When he unexpectedly died of a heart attack in January 1975, his share of TSR passed to his wife, a woman whom Gygax characterized as "less than personable... After Don died she dumped all the Tactical Studies Rules materials off on my front porch. It would have been impossible to manage a business with her involved as a partner." Neither Gygax nor Blume had the money to buy the shares owned by Kaye's wife, and Blume persuaded Gygax to allow his father, Melvin Blume, to buy the shares and take Kaye's place as an equal partner. Later, Brian Blume persuaded Gygax to allow his brother, Kevin Blume, to purchase the shares from Melvin. This gave the Blume brothers a controlling interest at TSR, Inc.
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