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TSR TSR3.5 Launches IndieGogo Campaign to "Stop" WotC

The latest in the TSR3 saga, which has gone quiet for a while, is a new IndieGoGo campaign launched to "stop Wizards of the Coast". They cite wrongful bullying of TSR, and refusal to answer requests that WotC show TSR "proof of their claims" (although the campaign page doesn't mention what those claims are).

The IndieGoGo campaign was launched yesterday and has so far raised $675 (at the time of writing).

The action TSR seeks is a "Trademark Declaratory Judgement of Ownership" which is a court declaration about the status of something in dispute.

TSR has launched a campaign to stop Wizards of the Coast

Become a Champion of TSR and Support TSR’s campaign against Wizards of the Coast!

TSR is taking a stand against Wizards of the Coast (“WOTC”) and its wrongful bullying of TSR, our trademarks, and its public libeling and slander of all those who helped create TSR based Dungeons & Dragons and products.

Wizards of the Coast has continually bullied TSR regarding TSR’s legally owned Trademarks. Wizards of the Coast has refused to answer all of TSR's repeated requests that they show any proof of their claims. Wizards of the Coast has the vast resources behind them and is implying to bring them to bear down on TSR.


The new TSR suffered widespread pushback when it launched, which they blamed on WotC, claiming that they were under a "coordinated assault across various channels being mounted.... by [WotC]" The company announced itself earlier this year, having acquired the TSR trademark after the previous holder accidentally let it lapse. It was run by Ernie Gygax, Justin LaNasa, and Stephen Dinehart. After several weeks of controversy, the company split into two -- Wonderfilled (Stephen Dinehart), and TSR (Ernie Gygax and Justin LaNasa).


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The page also indicates an intention to "fight to have WotC's legacy product disclaimer removed" from older products (that's the disclaimer on the older books available on DMs Guild which indicates that those books are products of their time) by claiming that the disclaimer portrays the creators of those older products as "as supporting those alleged prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry, wrongfully claimed to be part of those products".


TSR will also Fight to Have the WOTC Legacy Disclaimer Removed

TSR is suing WOTC for Trademark Declaratory Judgement of Ownership . TSR will also pursue in the near future having WOTC remove the legacy content disclaimer placed on TSR based Dungeons & Dragons and other products, and retractions of any other libel and slander which alleges that racism and other heinous beliefs are incorporated into those products.

This disclaimer attempts to make a statement of fact argument, and therefore paints all of the writers, editors, artists and consumers of those products as supporting those alleged prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry, wrongfully claimed to be part of those products. This statement by Wizards of the Coast opens the possibility for the producers and players of these "Legacy Products" to face ridicule, and face the labeling as "bigots", "racists", "misogynists", and worse Cyber & Physical Attacks!

Wizards of the Coast legacy content disclaimer.

"We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end".


TSR3's Justin LaNasa spoke about the campaign in a YouTube video.


 

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Anyone notice something fishy about this? he should be lucky he isn't in jail for violating campaign finance laws. I'd think a guy like this would try to stay under the radar, not keep pushing more and more into the limelight.

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I mean, all someone who is a registered voter in NC has to do is file this complaint form, and he could be subject of an audit. So why he would continue to do things to bring unwanted attention to himself is beyond me. Earlier someone posited that maybe they are geniuses in disguise. I think it's not that...
On the one hand it looks like an attempt to get around campaign finance laws.

On the other hand, as far as I know you can donate any amount of funds to your own campaign that you want with no limit on the amount. So there'd be no reason to commit any kind of fraud to waste your own money on a vanity campaign.

On the gripping hand - when given the choice LaNasa always seems to make up his own facts. So an attempt to skirt a law that actually doesn't apply to him sounds about right.
 

On the one hand it looks like an attempt to get around campaign finance laws.

On the other hand, as far as I know you can donate any amount of funds to your own campaign that you want with no limit on the amount. So there'd be no reason to commit any kind of fraud to waste your own money on a vanity campaign.

On the gripping hand - when given the choice LaNasa always seems to make up his own facts. So an attempt to skirt a law that actually doesn't apply to him sounds about right.
Question, in his lame attempt to commit fraud that he didn’t actually need to commit did he in fact commit fraud of a different kind?
 

As far as I can tell, they really seem to believe that because they call themselves TSR, they have some sort of ownership or rights to the products made by the real TSR. Cannot wait for the courts to disabuse them of this (providing they actually are attempting to take legal action here).

EDIT: Catching up on the thread, it looks like they really did file something, albeit badly. So I will rephrase that as "providing they actually think they can win and aren't just doing this for the grift and the attention."

Is that even possible? WotC owns those products; can't they say what they want about their own stuff?

This reminds me of a quote from the Plot Points podcast along the lines of "it's important to speak up when we see problematic content because otherwise we run the risk of encoding it into our software."

I will always have a soft spot for 1e and I love reading Appendix N literature, but yeah, when you absorb all that, not just uncritically but actively resistant to nuanced dialogue, these are the kind of people you get.

Basically, people internalize the media they consume to the point it becomes part of their identity.

And TSRMichael tweets another gem!

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