TSR

TSR, Inc. was a gaming company, founded in 1973. Their most famous product was Dungeons and Dragons, though they also published The Battle of the Five Armies board game and Dragon Magazine. Both games came under legal scrutiny in 1977 for unlicensed use of rights held by Tolkien Enterprises.

After Iron Crown Enterprises got into trouble with its Tolkien Quest series, Tolkien Enterprises approached TSR about the license. TSR was by that time making most money with its tie-in novels, leading Lorraine Williams, who then owned the company, to instead primarily aim for the ability to publish sequels. As John D. Rateliff puts it: “Lorraine wanted all the rights to create fiction, and computer games, and calendars, and spin-offs. Everything except publishing the books themselves.” Seeking to obtain permission from the Tolkien Estate, Rateliff was sent to England around 1992 to negotiate with Christopher Tolkien. Nothing came out of it, however.

Deep in debt by the 1990s, TSR was acquired by Wizards of the Coast in 1997.