Is Gary Gygax collecting royalties from Wotc?

[Tobus Neth]

Just wondering?

[The Eldritch Mr. Shiny]

He'd better be.

[James Keegan]

I'm sure someone with more grounding in the matter will be able to inform you better than myself, but my understanding is that all of the rights belonged to TSR and then to WoTC after that. So Gary doesn't make money off of the new releases/new editions in the game. It's similar to Stan Lee and Marvel comics, in a way (not every way; Gary may have sold the rights to D&D, whereas Stan Lee did work for hire); every Spider Man comic and movie brings in a ton of money every year to Marvel which Stan Lee doesn't see anything but his own paycheck (which is supposedly still pretty big, but not nearly as huge as if he collected royalties).

[James Jacobs]

Yeah... as far as I know.. very VERY few Game Designers receive royalty payments on books. None of the work I've ever done for WotC hardcovers or for the magazines (back to Dungeon #12) has ever involved royalties. Generally, you get paid a lump sum for it all and that's that.

Of course, with Gary it's all a lot more complicated, and while I'm not sure how all that works, I'm nearly positive that he doesn't receive anything like royalties for current D&D products. That's just not the way the RPG industry works.

[Chris Mortika]

FWIW -- Way back in the DC Heroes days, Mayfair paid on royalties. To hear my friend Steve tell, way, waaay back in the Villains and Vigilantes days, so did FGU.

[Tobus Neth]

So he and Dave Arneson just get a credited mention-Based on the original Dungeon&Dragons Game.