Does TSR3 Have Nazi Connections?

Evidence has been compiled by an anonymous website which suggests that TSR3's Star Frontiers: New Genesis (Star Frontiers being one of the trademarks under legal 'dispute' with WotC right now) is written by an author with extreme Nazi sympathies.

TSR - The Full & Glorious History of NuTSR

Because the Saga of TSR3 has been ongoing for a while, with many landmarks, I thought I'd do a quick timeline for those who haven't had the time (or, frankly, inclination) to keep up with the whole palaver. As multiple entities refer to themselves as TSR, I will use the nomenclature (1), (2)...

www.enworld.org

I'm not going to directly post the hateful images and tweets here because the content is extreme. It's one of the most focused outpourings of hate that I've personally seen.

But there is a website [CONTENT WARNING -- I need to post the link as evidence but I honestly do not recommend that you click on it] where somebody has anonymously and comprehensively compiled screenshots which indicate that a Twitter feed called 'DaveFilmsUS' (that they allege belongs to New Genesis author Dave Johnson) is filled with hate speech and Nazi imagery. These tweets include racist, homophobic, and transphobic content, along with Nazi and white supremacy memes. There are images of swastikas, and messages about the 'replacement' of white people. The tweets cover a long period of time, going back to at least 2017. They are extreme.

Star Frontiers: New Genesis is a book whose existence many doubt. It shows up as 'sold out' on TSR3's webstore on Dungeon Hobby Shop. Earlier this year, TSR3 posted manipulated images of piles of books (below) made to look like they were Star Frontiers stock. To the best of my knowledge, nobody has seen this book. The game was announced in June 2021.

Meanwhile, Star Frontiers owner Wizards of the Coast continues to sell the game on DriveThruRPG. TSR3 attempted legal action against WotC last year with the goal of claiming ownership of some of WotC's IP; WotC responded with a countersuit which is still ongoing.

Johnson, who runs Dave Johnson Games, also publishes an ezine called Alarms & Journeys, a name presumably 'inspired' by the the well-known zine Alarums and Excursions by the award-winning game designer Lee Gold. Alarums and Excursions has been running since 1975, and is still published to this day.

TSR3 is run by Justin LaNasa (a tattooist, weapon designer, and briefly a politician who refers to himself as Sir Justin LaNasa), who sent (real) TSR alumnus Tim Kask profane messages in January of this year. TSR3 is the third company to bear the name, and is in no way connected to the TSR which published Dungeons & Dragons from the 1970s to the 1990s.

WotC's countersuit against TSR3, which names the company and Justin LaNasa personally, currently remains ongoing.

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[Faolyn]

For anyone who doesn't want to actually go to the site--and I don't blame you, it definitely calls for some brain bleach afterwards--in addition to the nazi imagery and the racist, homophobic, and transphobic imagery, there's insults for basically everyone: there's Islamophobia, misogyny, ableism, fat shaming, and more.

 

[Abstruse]

In case anyone's curious but doesn't want to click on the link: This is not subtle. This is not dogwhistles. This is not "if you read between the lines" or "place it in context with other posts" or anything like that. This is a collection of overt, blatant, and straightforward declarations of the worst and most vile hate you can possibly think of directed at pretty much every single marginalized group in the most disgusting ways possible.

 

[Dire Bare]

For anyone who doesn't want to actually go to the site--and I don't blame you, it definitely calls for some brain bleach afterwards--in addition to the nazi imagery and the racist, homophobic, and transphobic imagery, there's insults for basically everyone: there's Islamophobia, misogyny, ableism, fat shaming, and more.

Well, you know, when you want to be awful . . . go all in, don't hold back.

And again, TSR3 shows they are still in the game. The hateful, toxic, and incompetent game.

 

[Jedion357]

It's pretty hideous, you need a shower afterward. I did a video digging into the white supremacy woven into the limited info released on SF NG

 

[Parmandur]

Doesn't surprise me. ..

 

[Jedion357]

It cannot be understated how bad the material is - stuff like "Hitler was right" and blatant use of the N word.

 

[bonchon]

This certainly puts more context on the video that @Jedion357 posted above.

Without knowing the background of the creator, the dog whistles in Star Frontiers New Genesis might be explained away. When you see into the mind of the author, it really changes things.

Calling out a few notable dog whistles or maybe even not such subtle things, as mentioned in Jedion's video, here's some of the SFNG lore in Alarms & Journeys:

The organization for the "good guys" goes by two names - the Confederation of Civilized Peoples, and later the United Confederation of Planets & Systems. Their starships get the moniker CSS, which just happens to be the same letters warships had for the Confederate States of America.

The positive mention of eugenics, and of the "Nordics" who come to save the Confederation all sounds a lot more sinister now that I've seen Dave Johnson's tweets.

There's quite an obsession in the text with "purity" and "health," and a disdain for "weakness." The whole narrative about milk even has a bizarre neo-Nazi connection: Milk, a symbol of neo-Nazi hate

I don't know what I was expecting out of SFNG, but coded neo-nazi propaganda was definitely not on my bingo card.

 

[Steampunkette]

This kind of person is the reason a significant portion of the population cannot ever be or feel truly safe.

He and other Nazis like him want us dead. That's their politics that's their goal.

Self Defense is the only defense we can have, these days.

Anywho, yeah. If I wasn't going to buy anything from TSR and their attendants, before... now I'll be cutting people out of my life who do.

 

[LordEntrails]

My first question is, for those of interest, how reliable has that Twitter account been linked t the SFNG author Dave Johnson? Strong enough to hold up in court? Almost certainly? Probably? Likely? Possible? or less?

And then the regardless of that; who's surprised? I mean come on, we already knew these people are hateful and ugly and <add your own word>. Is it it really going to change how anyone interacts with these folks? Not me.