My Day With The FBI

In January 1980, the FBI raided TSR—the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons—after receiving a tip about an alleged plot to assassinate a corporate executive named William Weatherby. The plot and the “target” were both fictional, part of internal playtest notes for TSR’s upcoming espionage RPG Top Secret. A concerned citizen discovered the notes (on TSR letterhead) and reported them. Two FBI agents investigated and quickly realized the “operation” was nothing more than game designers at work.¹

This accidental raid became legendary marketing, highlighting the “realism” of Top Secret during a period when Cold War spy fiction captured American culture.

Designed by Merle M. Rasmussen, Top Secret was released as a boxed set and included a 64-page rulebook and the adventure Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle.² It introduced a skill-focused percentile system and placed players in one of three bureaus—Assassination, Confiscation, or Investigation—within a fictional espionage agency. Early rules were uneven, leading to the later Top Secret Companion, which refined combat, reintroduced character classes, and leaned into the James Bond-style “super-spy” fantasy.³

The incident remains a cautionary tale and a piece of tabletop folklore:
Never leave realistic assassination notes sitting around on official company stationery.

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Chicago-Style Bibliography

1. Zambrano, J.R. “Top Secret: The Espionage RPG That Got TSR Raided by the FBI – PRIME.” Bell of Lost Souls, July 30, 2021.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.