TSR ALMOST GOT MIDDLE EARTH RIGHTS IN 1992!

Middle Earth has been always considered one of the hottest properties in gaming, including role playing games, and many companies have sought (and some got) licensing rights, starting with US Archive miniatures and UK Minifigs line in the 70s, moving to ICE (that published RPGs, boardgames, CCGs and gamebooks) and currently residing with Cubicle 7 that publishes The One Ring RPG and the Adventures in Middle Earth setting for Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition. Benjiamin Riggs has revealed that TSR too attempted to obtain Middle Earth rights but in the end passed on this chance. Here is his post: "So, in 1992, TSR almost acquired the rights to JRR Tolkien's work. John Rateliff was sent to London to negotiate the deal, missing Gen Con. (Apparently, no TSR employees were allowed to miss Gen Con, but he was for this...) He met Christopher Tolkien at the Harper-Collins offices, where he asked for the rights to make RPGs, merch, and new books set in Middle-Earth. Chris Tolkien said yes to the RPGs, and some merch, but no to the fiction line. Back in Lake Geneva, Rateliff communicated this to TSR CEO Lorraine Williams. Rateliff said, "Her immortal words were, ‘Not worth our while.’”She then passed on the whole deal". What could have happened if the deal happened? TSR in its long history got many licenses (2001 A Space Odissey, Conan the Barbarian, Indiana Jones...) but apparently the only lines successful enough (for TSR's standards) were Marvel Super Heroes and (unsurprisingly, considering that Lorraine Dille Williams was TSR's president/CEO) Buck Rogers. All the others were shut down very quickly after a boxed set and some modules (2001 never got a boxed set being designed to be used with Star Frontiers albeit having absolutely nothing to do with the game's setting) and are now prized collectors' items.