Kenzer & Company

• 1. Introduction

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  Kenzer and Company almost had a different name. In the spring of 1993, a law student named David Kenzer was trying to incorporate a new company with five friends, including Brian Jelkey and Steve Johansson. He typed "Kenzer and Company" on the paperwork as a placeholder, expecting his friends to object and propose something better. They did object. They just never agreed on anything else. Kenzer gave them a week. No better name came in. So the placeholder became the company name, and it stuck.

  What grew from that accidental naming would become one of the more unusual corners of the tabletop game publishing world: a Waukegan, Illinois company that tangled with trademark giants, published its own satirical roleplaying games, and launched a monthly magazine that blended comics with gaming culture. The story of how they got there involves a Monty Python card game, a very specific argument about intellectual property law, and a recruiter who drove to a convention to convince an editor to switch teams.

• 2. The Kalamar Gamble

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  David Kenzer was studying Intellectual Property law when he made a bet that most publishers would have refused. In 1994, Kenzer and Company released their first product, an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons adventure called The Kingdom of Kalamar, without any license from TSR, which owned the Dungeons and Dragons trademark at the time. The back cover stated outright that the book was "suitable for use with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons," and included a disclaimer acknowledging that the trademark belonged to TSR Hobbies and that its use was not sanctioned by the holder.

  TSR had a track record of threatening legal action against similar unlicensed supplements from other publishers. Kenzer and Company was never threatened. That outcome validated Kenzer's read of the law, and the company produced another adventure before deciding to expand in a different direction entirely. The Kalamar setting itself would remain central to the company for years, eventually earning an official stamp of approval from Wizards of the Coast after they acquired Dungeons and Dragons.

• 3. Python, Licenses, and a Bestseller

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  In 1996, Kenzer and Company produced a licensed collectible card game based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and it proved to be a bestseller. That success signaled that the company could move beyond adventure modules and into broader product categories, which would come to include board games and miniature games alongside roleplaying titles.

  Around the same time, Kenzer developed a casual relationship with Alderac Entertainment Group, which was publishing the RPG magazine Shadis with a writer and editor named Jolly Blackburn. Kenzer wanted Blackburn on the team after he left AEG in 1995. In November 1996, during a local convention, Kenzer and members of his staff visited Blackburn in person. That visit proved decisive. Blackburn later described Kenzer as having the business sense and integrity he wanted in a partner, and he agreed to join.

• 4. Knights of the Dinner Table

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  Jolly Blackburn was the creator of Knights of the Dinner Table, and Kenzer and Company began publishing the comic books after Blackburn came aboard. Starting with issue number five, dated February 1997, the comic became the work of a group credited as the KoDT Development Team, made up of Blackburn, Kenzer, Jelke, and Johansson.

  Knights of the Dinner Table evolved into a monthly publication that is part comic book and part roleplaying game magazine. The company eventually expanded the line to include spinoffs such as Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated and the fantasy literature magazine Black Gate. Barbara Blackburn joined as assistant editor and staff writer, while Mark Plemmons took on a range of responsibilities including senior editor, art director, convention manager, and manager of the HackMaster Association.

• 5. HackMaster and the License Fight

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  Kenzer and Company acquired a license from Wizards of the Coast that allowed them to release HackMaster in 2001 as a satire of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. That license was an unusual arrangement: Wizards announced it jointly with Kenzer and Company, tying the deal specifically to the Kalamar setting.

  When Wizards released the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons in 2008, they introduced a Game System License that was far more restrictive than the Open Game License that had governed third-edition material. Kenzer declined to sign it. Instead, he published a 501-page PDF for Kingdoms of Kalamar in 2008 without seeking authorization from Wizards. The approach mirrored the original 1994 strategy: the book stated it was for use with the new version of the game, relying on the legal concept of nominative use. David Kenzer is identified as an expert in copyright law. Aces and Eights: Shattered Frontier, co-authored by Kenzer along with Jolly R. Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson, Jennifer Kenzer, and Mark Plemmons, won the Origins Award for Roleplaying Game of the Year in 2007, as well as a Silver ENnie for Best Game of 2007.