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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[Wolfram stout]

1) According to the Twitter location tracking, whoever posted on Twitter is in the same CITY as DaveJ... Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

That's one town over from me. I had no idea. It is one thing to know this type of hate is out there, but to Know how close is truly just grossed and icky and scary. I have a son that this man would gleefully do harm to for no reason other than being who he is.

 

[Juomari Veren]

I see I'm just a liiiittle too late for the violent vs. nonviolent response conversation, so I'll just say this; The reason violent protest is "less" effective is, while not baseless, also not the entire truth. A truly evil force would always build up the notion that nonviolent protest is the only real way to do it because, when it's successful, it usually makes it hard for them to continue to enforce their rhetoric and build a base of power up (because, you know, they will probably be killed). The success rates of violent vs. nonviolent protests is a statistic, I can't deny that. Is it one that I think accurately represents a tailored response to years of slowly integrating totalitarian surpression into the market of free thought? Absolutely.

I don't want to beat up a dead horse or make the conversation that isn't about TTRPGs drag on, but as a final point; I think that there's a clear tipping point where nonviolence just won't work - One that we have a very good metric for thanks to WW2 - and one that I personally fear we've long crossed.

Also, since I'm here and I'm already veering on going off-topic, I would like to say that I'm not particularly surprised at this turn of events, since the politics of LaNasa were well documented thanks to his endeavors. Misery loves company. I obviously have strong opinions on what to do in situations like this, but thankfully since their product is only a step removed from the TTRPG equivalent of vaporware, I'm not too worried if their audience is self-contained, and I'm thankful but sorry to anyone who invested in the digital product just to figure out how awful it is for the rest of us so we didn't get tricked into thinking that terrible people could somehow also be good game designers. Hopefully nobody's invested in that $650 OD&D product they were trying to hype up, or whatever it was.

 

[Ancalagon]

.

That's an unhealthy tract. Advocating or implying imprisonment or government censorship for bad thought is overplaying your hand, as you have no way to actually make it happen and anyone with even the slightest sympathy for them will view them as slightly more reasonable for receiving such comments. Making this an existential "it's us or them" issue is what these bastards want, don't give it to them.

Funny, there are a number of free democratic countries where this kind of garbage is not tolerated (see the paradox of tolerance, also see how not to have a nazi bar). The free speech maximalism position is not the only "ethical" one.

 

[DLIMedia]

In case you're wondering how NuTSR would respond to yesterday's revelation that their primary staffer has morally questionable opinions (edited so as not to offend moderators)... the Discord admin posted this and is deleting offending posts.

 

[Horwath]

Funny, there are a number of free democratic countries where this kind of garbage is not tolerated (see the paradox of tolerance, also see how not to have a nazi bar). The free speech maximalism position is not the only "ethical" one.

I would love to have a nazi bar in my city.

That would decrease the random chance of getting into argument(or worse) with those a##hats at a random bar everywhere, as they would be concentrated in their bubble. Just have a patrol car nearby for "just in case".

I would just stay clear of that specific location.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The fact you are posting nazi content on this website in order to

everyone in NEWS (even gaming) has this impossible tight rope to walk. I do not envy @Morrus at all. How do you report something that is something we should know without showing it (unless you want to be accused of makeing it up with no proof) but also in a way not to promote it.

Over all yes, do not support is right, someone some small faction will take this news and go support them, but I HAVE to believe the OVERWEALMING majority of people here do not like nazis (man that is a weird sentence to write)...

so in the end is it better to let this hide in the shadows, or to expose it to the light? again it's a tight rope every reporter will have to walk.

For what it is worth I am glad it was reported.

 

[GuyBoy]

I would love to have a nazi bar in my city.

That would decrease the random chance of getting into argument(or worse) with those a##hats at a random bar everywhere, as they would be concentrated in their bubble. Just have a patrol car nearby for "just in case".

I would just stay clear of that specific location.

I would hate to have anywhere in my town, or anyone’s town, where that type of sickening view gathers and is promulgated. Nazis and their allies need to be fought at all times and by every available means.
Today in UK the leader of the new-Nazi group National Action was found guilty of promoting hate in the crown court in Winchester. Good. I hope his sentence is significant. We must use every aspect of the legal system to fight Nazis.
We must also use every aspect of media to fight them. The superb work on this site is a tiny part of that, and it makes me proud to be a part of it.
We must educate our young people to fight against this type of hate. I have played a role in taking students to Auschwitz as part of this and there are thousands of wonderful people who work hard to do this every day.
We must vote them, and their apologists, out at every election possible using democracy.
And lastly, I agree with @AcererakTriple6 that we must, if able to do so, be prepared to use violence against them. I have a five inch scar on my face from my time with the Anti-Nazi League in the late 1970s, delivered by a broken bottle in the hands of a neo-Nazi National Front thug, and I’m conscious that millions of people through history have suffered much worse than me to defeat the hatred of Nazism.

So, no, I don’t want a Nazi bar in my city, and I don’t want them in my hobby either.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The history of non-violent resistance to oppression says you're incorrect. Love and peace messages can and have countered oppression at the highest level - governments, wars, groups have all been defeated with it. Not every time and it's not a guarantee. But the idea non-violence peaceful response to political oppression cannot result in changes for the better is not in line with the history of non-violent resistance.

yes we 100% need people willing to be nonviolent. One of the scariest part of the last few years is not the number of people who are violent for evil ends, and is not those able and willing to do violence to oppose them... its the number of those willing to do violence to oppose them that threaten violence against the non violent on there side.

I can 100% beyond a doubt support Nazi's are the bad guys. I can find people 1/2 as bad and label them already as bad enough to be bad guys. I am not going to punch one, and I am not going to say others should... but I have been threatened by people who would even when I said I support that they are doing things there way and are still on the right side. It isn't all. But I never suspected that 'good guys' fighting back would want to fight 'good guys' opposing without fighting before 2017.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I came here to complain that as much as we might dislike TSR3, calling them Nazis is too slanderous and is...

...wait up. Yep, they have Nazis among them. Well...carry on...

yeah... like this isn't 'someone called someone they disagreement one' this is they said things about hitler... crazy

 

[DLIMedia]

And DaveJ's response to yesterday's allegations is... to change his Facebook avatar?!?