After Dungeons & Dragons Entertainment Corporation was dissolved in 1986, Ernie went back to Lake Geneva but soon followed his father out the door as Lorrain Williams forced him out of the company. Ernie traveled the country for a while but ultimately settled back in Lake Geneva. Those who believe that life comes back in a full circle will not be surprised that Ernie came back to the retail hobby shop business - right back where he started (actually 3 stores down from the original Dungeon Hobby Shop!). The place was the Game Guild, a hobby store owned by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin, two individuals who were no strangers to the fantasy roleplaying hobby. Margaret originally took on a job at TSR as a book editor but was soon writing some of the earliest Dragonlance novels. Don too is an author writing novels for Dragonlance as well.

In 1995 the two of them opened up The Game Guild in 1995 and Ernie dropped in from time to time to help out, regularly running promotional games and tournaments as a celebrity DM and bringing large groups of players in. Then in 1996, Ernie's involvement with helping to run the store increased when Don and Margaret took a trip to Australia.

It was during this time that Ernie created several fantastic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventures, even bringing out the old classic Dungeon Hobby Shop Dungeon weekly to draw people into The Game Guild. He even convinced his father to stop in every now and then for a real treat for those in attendance! These sessions produced some spirited games and spectacular tales.

The newsletter offered here mentions Don and Margaret's upcoming trip to Australia and announces that Ernie will be helping out with the store while they are gone and that their employee, Lizz Baldwin, is off to work for TSR as an editor in their Periodicals Department. The interior of the leaflet has a calendar of The Game Guild events printed inside. A nice little slice of RPG history!

Copyright © 1994-2010, [Paul J. Stormberg]. All rights reserved.