I haven't seen an example like this before, but I would broadly say, "seems legit."

On the company name, at the beginning of 1975 they called themselves the "Tactical Studies Rules" partnership and after the end of the summer they called themselves "TSR Hobbies, Inc." However, there were then internal divisions of the TSR Hobbies business called "TSR Games", "TSR Rules", and "TSR Periodicals." You will see "TSR Games" on boxes like Fight in the Skies in 1976, for example. "TSR Hobbies" though was the main name of the corporation, and what appeared on the letterhead (well, apart from the brief window where they experimented with "Tactical Studies Hobbies" in 1975).

So, probably the green character sheet would be from before the summer of 1975. Orange with "TSR Hobbies" from late 1975, and then orange with "TSR Games" in 1976.

ExTSR wrote in TSR Dungeons and Dragons Character Record:imho: This is not from TSR. It seems to be a knockoff made by a third party (probably in a very limited quantity and not commercially) to imitate the only known character sheets of the 1974-78 period. It very well may have been made in the 1970s by someone with a small sheetfed or single-sheet press.

Hmm. Let's talk that through a bit. I think if you were making a knock-off sheet in 1975, you might make a better sheet like Bob Ruppert did. I also don't think the 1975 internal TSR character sheet was well enough known outside of TSR to knock it off. And the only reason I can think you'd put a TSR Hobbies copyright on it, if you were knocking it off, is if this were a deliberate forgery intended to deceive people into thinking this was an official TSR product when it wasn't. No one would have bothered to do that then, so it would have to be later. While I wouldn't rule it out without seeing the sheets in person, let's grant for a moment this is wasn't made last week on a laser printer.

The reason why I say it looks legit is that the green 1975 sheet and this orange 1975 specimen are identical except for a) the page color and b) the attribution to the right of the copyright date. In the green sheet the attribution seems oddly offset and in a font not used elsewhere on the sheet; in the orange specimen, the attribution was clearly typed. We know when the company's name changed; if they were ordering more of sheets after that, they could have hastily blotted out the defunct "Tactical Studies Rules" from the master and replaced it with a typed name for the company to produce sheets that look like this. That seems like the kind of thing that could actually happen, but not what you'd forge if you were trying to deceive someone, exactly because it gives rise to these sorts of suspicions. If you're forging it, why not just leave the "Tactical Studies Rules" there, so that it would be identical except for the page color?

Gerald Reis, formerly of Seattle. Now appears to be an artist in San Francisco according to his LinkedIn profile.

Interesting that the PotVQ apparently didn't sell at $51 looks like it had photocopies and was listed as 'vintage manufactured' whatever that means.

muaddib5 wrote in TSR Dungeons and Dragons Character Record:

FoulFoot wrote in TSR Dungeons and Dragons Character Record:I'm not throwing aspersions, but stratochamp has been seen hanging around unsavory characters at conventions.

....

wait a minute, how did i get dragged into this mess?

Yes Bill, please tell us where were you during all the nights between 1971 and 1975? Have you got any witness???

A story I've told elsewhere...but I'll recap.
In the summer of 1977 I was 11 and had not yet played d&d. My sister (who is 15 years older) and her husband were going to take me to Gencon 10 at the Playboy club, but my mom said no. The Holmes blue box debuted there and they came home with a copy of it for me and I was hooked.

increment wrote in TSR Dungeons and Dragons Character Record:I haven't seen an example like this before, but I would broadly say, "seems legit."

On the company name, at the beginning of 1975 they called themselves the "Tactical Studies Rules" partnership and after the end of the summer they called themselves "TSR Hobbies, Inc." However, there were then internal divisions of the TSR Hobbies business called "TSR Games", "TSR Rules", and "TSR Periodicals." You will see "TSR Games" on boxes like Fight in the Skies in 1976, for example. "TSR Hobbies" though was the main name of the corporation, and what appeared on the letterhead (well, apart from the brief window where they experimented with "Tactical Studies Hobbies" in 1975).

So, probably the green character sheet would be from before the summer of 1975. Orange with "TSR Hobbies" from late 1975, and then orange with "TSR Games" in 1976.

Thanks Jon for weighing in, that makes a lot of sense. I am still skeptical but that's OK, it's good to know that it was at least possible for this to exist.

Jeff

I have several of these sheets, will pull them out to take a look and see how they align with the copyright statements.  (Alas, I have no full pads ).

Allan.

Should probably add this, too:

Gerald Reis Design

Not to feed the forgery machine, as I have no idea, but he is actually a current graphic design artist....