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) etc. to distinguish them. However, all the companies below simply use the term "TSR".

The principle people involved with this story are Ernie Gygax (one of Gary Gygax's children), Justin LaNasa (a tattooist, weapon designer, and briefly a politician who refers to himself as Sir Justin LaNasa*), Stephen Dinehart (co-creator of Giantlands with James Ward), and -- later -- Michael K. Hovermale, TSR3's PR officer.

Also linked to TSR3 is the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Much of TSR3’s commercial business appears to be conducted via the museum.

• 1974. TSR1 creates D&D.
• 1997. TSR1 is bought by WotC (WotC is bought by Hasbro in 1999).
• November 2012. Jayson Elliot registers the TSR2 name as a trademark to launch Gygax Magazine. Luke and Ernie Gygax are involved.
• November 2015. Gail Gygax sues TSR2. Luke and Ernie Gygax are forced to leave. Gygax magazine is forced to close by Gail Gygax. The company continues to sell the Top Secret RPG under the name TSR2.
• October 2020. The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum claims ownership of various TSR logos and tries to license them to OSR publishers.
• June 19th 2021. TSR3 announces itself with a press release. It claims to be the original TSR1 back again, under the leadership of Ernie Gygax, Gary's son, announcing that "the band is back together". Also involved are Justin LaNasa and Stephen Dinehart. Their flagship product is "GIANTLANDS" by James Ward and Stephen Dinehart.
• June 22nd 2021. TSR3 announces it is rebooting Star Frontiers, a game which WotC owns and is currently selling online. They registered the trademark back in April 2021.
• June 24th 2021. Ernie Gygax does a YouTube interview, and I transcribe it. The interview begins a controversy which rages online and includes digs at newer gamers, WotC, and trans people.
• June 25th 2021. It transpires that TSR2's Jayson Elliot forgot to renew the trademark registration, at which point his former partner Ernie Gygax, along with Justin LaNasa & Stephen Dinehart, swept in and grabbed it before notifying him. They offer to let him use it for a nominal fee.

• Late June 2021. TSR3 embarks on an astonishing social media campaign where they tell people who don't like Gary Gygax not to play D&D, call a trans person on Twitter 'disgusting', thank the 'woke' because sales are up, insult Luke Gygax, and more. They also block or insult those who question them on Twitter.
• Late June 2021. Various companies distance themselves from TSR3, including Gen Con, TSR2 (who rebrand themselves Solarian Games), GAMA, and various individuals such as Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, Jeff Dee, and more. TSR3 responds to being banned from Gen Con by claiming that they created the convention.

• June 30th 2021. TSR3 blames the widespread pushback it is getting on WotC, accusing it of mounting a coordinated assault on them. In the same tweets they claim that they created the TTRPG business. Ernie Gygax and Stephen Dinehart then deactivate their Twitter accounts. Months later it transpires that this is the date they received a C&D from WotC regarding their use of their IP.

• July 2nd 2021. TSR3's Twitter account claims now to be run by a new Public Relations Officer called Michael.
• July 6th 2021. TSR3's Michael has not been heard of since he announced himself prompting a widespread online search for him.
• July 7th 2021. TSR3 rebrands its website 'Wonderfiled'(sic) as Stephen Dinehart publicly blocks WotC and Hasbro on Twitter and announces he is "breaking up with them" because of politics.

• July 9th 2021. Yet another TSR website appears! This one we call TSR 3.5. TSR3 has split into two -- Wonderfiled (later Wonderfilled), and TSR Hobbies. Stephen Dinehart runs the former, which features the GIANTLANDS project, while Ernie Gygax and Justin LaNasa run the latter.
• July 9th 2021. With the new TSR3.5, the company claims that an unnamed individual was running the Twitter accounts of the company, it's affiliate companies, and the individuals involved with the company, and that all posts on any of those social media accounts should now be considered "invalid".
• July 26th 2021. TSR3.5 announces TSR CON to be held on the July 4th weekend in the Horticultural Hall at Lake Geneva, WI, the name location as Gen Con launched in 1968. TSR announces that "TSR CON will always be here" (it never takes places there).

• September 27th 2021. TSR3's Michael K. Hovermale shows up here on EN World.
• October 14th 2021. Michael Hovermale announces that their Star Frontiers game became available and then sold out before they could announce it. Nobody can find anybody who bought this product.
• October 15th 2021. LaNasa calls EN World a 'very big company' and publicly accuses me of making all this up. I publicly ask TSR's representative, Michael K. Hovermale, three times what I've allegedly made up, but get no reply.
• October 20th 2021. TSR Con is moved from the July 4th weekend to March 24-27, the exact same dates as Gary Con. The venue is moved from the Horticultural Hall to the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. A graphic on its website promises that they will not be checking vaccinations or asking people to wear face masks.

• December 6th 2021. A record is found showing that WotC is taking action against TSR3.5 - an administrative procedure to cancel its registration of the trademarks it is using, citing - among other things - fraud.
• December 7th 2021. After a long quiet period, TSR3.5 launches an IndieGogo campaign to "stop Wizards of the Coast". It files for a court declaration of its ownership of the TSR trademarks. The crowdfunding campaign will go to fight the legal battle, with any left over being donated to the Gygax Memorial Fund.
• December 9th 2021. TSR3.5 voluntarily dismisses the suit it filed two days before. The IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign is still running.

• December 11th 2021. The president of the Gygax Memorial fund publicly declares that they were never consulted, and would refuse any donation from TSR3's crowdfunding campaign. TSR3 quietly removes the references to the GMF from the IndieGoGo page.
• December 29th 2021. TSR3.5 refiles its lawsuit, this time in the correct jurisdiction. LaNasa and TSR ask for a trial by Jury.

• January 8th 2020. Wonderfiled[sic]'s Stephen Dinehart threatens to sue Twitter user David Flor for his negative review of Giantlands on the platform.
• January 10th 2022. TSR3's Justin LaNasa sends TSR alumn Tim Kask a profane message, telling him to "Go suck Lukes/wotc/balls you f*****g coward" and accusing him of having been fired from TSR for stealing.
• January 11th 2022. Michael K Hovermale claims that the first edition of TSR3's Star Frontiers: New Genesis game was released and has sold out. He says “It was a very small limited run released and sold on the DHSM [Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum] website. It is no longer available, and probably won’t be reprinted.” As yet, nobody has publicly revealed that they bought a copy.
• January 14th 2022. Michael K. Hovermale resigns as TSR3's Chief Creative Officer and Public Relations Officer after 6 months in the position.
• March 4th 2022. WotC strikes back with a lawsuit naming TSR, Justin LaNasa personally, and the Dungeon Hobby Shop museum. WotC seeks a judgement that TSR hand over all domains, take down all websites, pay treble damages and costs, hand over all stock and proceeds related to the trademarks, and more. TSR has 21 days to respond.

• March 22nd 2022. TSR gets an extension on that WoTC suit. Two waivers of service of summons granted to both Justin LaNasa and the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. He now has 60 days from March 4th to serve an answer or motion, or suffer default judgment.
• March 26th 2022. TSR CON takes place at the same time as Gary Con. TSR claims " lol, actually we asked just about every one of the 800 people stopping by, TSR CON, and about 60% had no idea Gary con was going on, and we tried pushing them to go over and attend."
• March 28th 2022. TSR3 posts images of 'rebound' copies of AD&D 1E books it is selling for $650 each.
• May 17th 2022. Evidence emerges of Nazi connections via TSR3's Dave Johnson. Public Twitter posts include concentrated hateful imagery and messages over a long period of time.
• May 17th 2022. DriveThruRPG removes all Dave Johnson Games titles from the platform.
• May 17th 2022. A jury trial date is set for the TSR/WotC lawsuit for October 2023 (few suits like this actually make it to trial in the end).

• July 19th 2022. A leaked version of a beta version of TSR's 'Star Frontiers: New Genesis' game emerges on the internet. The content includes racist and white-supremacist propaganda, including character races with ability caps based on ethnicity, and various homophobic and transphobic references. Justin LaNasa immediately threatened to sue blogger Eric Tenkar, who shared the information publicly ('Mario Real' is one of LaNasa's online pseudonyms). Various evidence points towards the document's genuine nature, including an accidentally revealed Google drive belonging to NuTSR.
• July 22nd 2022. A video shows a Google Drive that appears to be owned by nuTSR, which contains a list of enemies of the company, usually with the word "WOKE" in caps being used as a pejorative.

(screenshot courtesy of the @nohateingaming Twitter account)​

• August 30th 2022. Wizard Tower Games announces that they have received a subpeona from WotC regarding TSR and Justin LaNasa. Former NuTSR employee Michaal K Hovermale confirms that he has also received a subpeona.
• September 5th 2022. Justin LaNasa sends out customer data, including addresses and credit card numbers. LaNasa responds by publicly claiming the evidence is photoshopped and slandering those who revealed it as liars.
• September 8th 2022. WoTC files an injunction to prevent LaNasa or his companies from “publishing, distributing, or otherwise making available Star Frontiers New Genesis or any iteration of the game using the Marks”.
• June 8th 2023. NuTSR files for bankruptcy. The case between WotC and NuTSR is postponed until March 2024.

Have I missed anything important? I'll continue updating this as I remember things, or as people remind me of things!

To the best of my knowledge, TSR3 is not actually selling any type of gaming product.

*if anybody has any link to LaNasa's knighthood, please let me know!

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Websites
Various websites have come and gone. I'll try to make some sense of it here so you know what site you're actually visiting!

• TSR.com is the original TSR website. For a long time it redirected to WotC. The URL is no longer in use. (WotC)
• TSRgames.com was TSR2 until summer 2021. The site is still running, although TSR2 is now called Solarian Games. (Jayson Elliot)
• TSR.games was TSR3 until summer 2021. It now goes to Wonderfiled(sic)'s website. (Stephen Dinehart)
• TSR-hobbies.com is TSR 3.5, launched summer 2021 by Justin LaNasa and Ernie Gygax. (Justin LaNasa)

 

[Mannahnin]

Just dug back through the thread a bit, and found these references.

A couple of mentions of the DHSM being stocked with a third party collection of classic D&D books bought for around $10,000. Which is a collection I sure wouldn't mind having, but no indication that they have any (or at least none specifically mentioned) unique artifacts or TSR mementoes of particular historical note.

The purpose of the leatherbound editions is entirely marketing, but it has nothing to do with gaming. It's part of the sideshow hustle used to prop up the DHSM as an actual "museum" to tourists.

This is what the DSHM looks like (from their own photos):

View attachment 256634

They have very little in terms of actual "artifacts" from the history of D&D. As you can see, it's mostly glass cases full of old game books.

Now, anyone who actually collects RPGs will know that most of those books aren't terribly expensive. A copy of the AD&D 1e PHB can be bought on ebay for $20~50 depending on condition. And most of the books aren't especially rare or desirable. From close-ups, some of them aren't even that old; one pic showed that the center display had Stranger Things items in it. Which means those shelves of books really aren't that impressive. They probably have less net value that the average bookshelf at a public library.

But, if a tourist sees a special, leatherbound copy of a book for $650, it gives the impression that every item in that case is really valuable. After all, the ones behind glass are the super rare ones they won't sell for any price, so they must be worth more than $650, right? Now that case of books feels like it's worth a fortune! And, lets be honest, leather bound books look cool and old-timey, just like you expect in a fantasy library. Almost anyone who isn't a collector of old books will be more visually impressed by a nice looking leather edition than an old book with tatters and tears.

At the end of the day, it's all about image. It's about selling the idea that the The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum has important, expensive history in it. It's no more dishonest than any sideshow amusement or curio shop that you'll find on any boardwalk or small town main street. And there's (normally) no shame in enjoying that kind of experience, either.

But the illusion falls apart when NuTSR tries to pretend it's more than it is. The DHSM isn't a mecca of gaming, it's a tourist trap. A little bit of honesty or self-awareness would go a long way, but unfortunately is seems like that's not an option on the table right now.

I keep going back to this picture and the early days of this crap show when Earnie and Duck were "partners". How does one become a partner? By volunteering? or by investing?

There is a persistent rumor that Duck sold property and just recently someone suggested to me that Ernie had access to Mamoreal Tomb money So despite all the denials I seriously think these two brought money to the table.

In the early days of the dumpster fire there was cash being thrown around 70k to purchase the building and its reported to be a cash purchase and 10k to buy the D&D collection and any other cash would likely have been burned through on the remodel and stuff. The early assumption was that Lanasa being a business man brought the financing. I don't think he did. Sure running a tattoo shop keeps him flush with cash but most of his money is tied up in the 20 some odd properties he owns in NC. Why was the DHSM building bought with cash instead of leveraging equity in the NC properties?

My belief is that Ernie and Duck foolishly committed cash to Justin's hands and Lanasa has set this all up on other peoples money. he tried to use other peoples money to fund the lawsuit with WotC which failed and he sold a property in NC in January most likely to cover the mounting legal fees.

In the early days Duck and Ernie were touted as partners but once the lawsuit was started and WotC counter sued I think fear set in for Duck and Ernie and they got manipulated to say they were only volunteers and that Justin would take the heat. If they lack paper on that partner deal, and that is possible, they have to trust promises from Lanasa like Ernie said to me. Lanasa is laughing in that they've stated they are volunteers and if they cant prove the investment then he can blow them off for the money. He can also keep them holding on and volunteering hoping he makes good on his promises. If they don't do what he wants they can kiss that money goodbye.

This is what I think is going on and the hold that Lanasa has over these two.

EDIT: My theory effectively makes Duck an indentured servant to Lanasa.

I'm assuming, based on observations of various accounts - that Justin reached out to Griff Morgan to help him out, make TSR a star of the (tiny) convention he ran etc and Griff pragmatically realised there'd be nothing but suffering in it for him (and the Arneson family almost certainly agreed) so said No. (As a side note, the Blume family have also clearly never wanted anything to do with him).

That and Justin is trying trying to claim that he has "secret" items of value like this letter, so that he substantiate the $5 million dollar price even though the actual collection in the museum consists mostly of a third party collection purchased for (reportedly) $10,000 cash.

Examination of anything that would allow a party to evaluate anything requires approval by Justin, signing an NDA and not bringing any recording devices - so it seems he's hoping that the whispers and rumours will inspire some eccentric billionaire D&D history fan to pay up or otherwise provide him leverage against Wizards of the Coast.

I believe that when it was first listed, it included the content of the museum with the house (although, IIRC, he bragged about only spending $10k on that, so it's not particularly valuable in terms of known extant TSR collections).

 

[DLIMedia]

Today's a big day for Justin... His bootlegging hearing is on the docket.

 

[DLIMedia]

Welp... Guess it's official now.

"Unforseen"... Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.

 

[LordEntrails]

I'm glad they at least are saying they will return all loaned items. And I think others have said the GL Museum would be a good caretaker.

 

[jmsetzer]

I'm glad they at least are saying they will return all loaned items. And I think others have said the GL Museum would be a good caretaker.

Saying it and doing it are two different things. I wouldn't trust a word he says.

 

[Nylanfs]

I'm glad they at least are saying they will return all loaned items. And I think others have said the GL Museum would be a good caretaker.

"saying"

 

[Deset Gled]

When the DHSM does shut down, I feel like it will be an important endpoint. The day Lanasa lost the trademarks was obviously the most critical turning point, but he still held onto his self-manufactured influence with the museum. With the DHSM gone, he's out. Sure, there's still going to be some aftermath from the trademark case (and finishing the @tenkar case, etc.). But from here on out it's all his personal garbage, not him dragging RPG history through the dirt. I'll drink to that this weekend.

I also think there's good reason to suspect these recent changes (the closing, the "RPG addiction" stuff, etc.) are largely influenced by his personal life. Lots of signs point to the Lanasas being divorced next May/June. Planning for that is going to change his legal strategy a lot.

The DHSM closing also means it's basically too late for Jeff Leason and Ernie Gygax to show any sincerity by separating from Lanasa. Turning on him now would be a completely hollow statement. If they were to attempt any sort of an apology, they'll need a different tactic.

 

[DLIMedia]

Now would be a good time to show how much you care for and support the industry by... uh... oh.

Well OK then... bye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

That reminds me: I can't help but wonder what's going to happen to the famous door now, the one that's signed by everyone (including Justin, unfortunately). I'm hoping it goes to the GLM.

ETA: The amount of people asking for a GoFundMe is laughable. I bet the WotC lawyers are salivating over the notion of him doing that so they can take every cent he gets from it.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

ETA: The amount of people asking for a GoFundMe is laughable. I bet the WotC lawyers are salivating over the notion of him doing that so they can take every cent he gets from it.

Eh. Remember his last one, where practically the only contributors were spending $1 to be able to tweak him in the comments? Bet the same thing would happen.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Once this ghoul wearing the skin of TSR is finally put down, Enworld can return to its true purpose! People telling each other their playstyle is wrong!!!