TSR The Full & Glorious History of NuTSR

Deadstop said:

Since you're here, sir, a question. I know there were fake "Michaels" running around on the internet for a time after your name was first dropped as the new PR guy -- there was considerable disbelief at first as to whether you even existed -- so maybe I ran into one of them.

But I asked someone claiming to be you about Ernie's initial interview that set the whole thing off (with the gender identity/concept of gender comment), and got the response (I kid you not) that video of Ernie saying that was "a Deep State deepfake."

May I safely assume that was a fake Michael? If it was by chance really you, were you making a joke? It seems unlikely that you would actually have been convinced of such fakery even if Justin and co. were being on good behavior around you at first.

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Hi Deadstop,
You are correct that would be a fake.
There were multiple fake accounts of me, and I think there are still some on Twitter. The one that shows the NuTSR logo in orange is a fake, and Twitter refuses to do anything.
I would never joke about such a thing.
Thank you for asking.

Sacrosanct said:

Yep. And for full disclosure @Graph Paper Architect , it's why I asked you the question to clarify where you stood, because you had defended LaNasa publicly as their CCO after he had sent that nasty letter to Tim Kask, so at some point you knew what kind of person he was. You then announced your departure (thanking Justin for all he did) 3 days after Darlene released her statement.

So I hope you can understand why I asked the question. I suppose I have a follow-up. Were those two things contributors to your leaving? The timeline seems to suggest that, but I don't want to assume.

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Hi Sacrosanct,

Short answer: I never defended Justin's posts, or actions, towards customers, clients, or TSR Alumni. Yes Mr. Kask, and Darlene's posts were a factor in my leaving because it was only when I confronted Justin the following week that I learned the truth.

Darlene Artist posted her NO on Thursday January 6th.
Tim Kask posted about his message from LaNasa on Sunday January 9th.
I resigned on Thursday January 13th.

When I became aware of these posts, I confronted Justin about them because from what I was always told by him, was that things were going great, Darlene was on board and he was just waiting to hear back from her about the specifics, Justin also said that Tim Kask was on board and looking forward to editing materials.

When I would ask for contact information for these and other individuals or organizations that were supposedly on board with NOTSR I would be told by Justin, I didn't need to contact them, that they preferred to work directly with him and they didn't want to be contacted by me.

There should be absolutely no defense of Justin LaNasa's posts by me out there. I do not recall ever stating to anyone that his posts or behavior were appropriate.

@Deadstop Did bring up that there were, and still are some, fake Michael accounts out there that may have said something to that effect, but I most certainly never attempted to justify or defend Justin's actions at all.

Finding out that Justin had been lying to and gaslighting me the whole time, was a big part of my decision to leave, and coupled with the then usage of language by Justin that indicated prejudice attitudes, it became painfully clear what was really going on.

Thank you for asking

Sacrosanct said:

As a fan, the whole thing is just....really sad. I mean, I'd love to have a D&D museum, and that house would be a great place for it. But I have no idea what they are doing. I'm no expert, but if I were doing a museum, I'd:

• actually have important items there from the history. There is a treasure trove of rare items (Frank and Jim Ward have been ebaying them) that no one else has. Those things should be in the museum. For someone flashing wads of cash, Justin should have been buying up those things and make the museum stand out, rather than displaying items a lot of other gamers already own and his own Frankenstein creations (like the black covered AD&D books). I would want to go to a museum to see original draft notes from the company, not to see a copy of 1e mass produced books. I mean, knowing that Frank and Jim have a ton of original unique stuff and are selling it, the first thing I'd do is approach them to see what they would be willing to sell
• run it like an actual business, on the up and up, and not shady backroom deals with "volunteers"
• If it's a D&D museum, then it has things from every edition of D&D and pop culture, not just pre-1985 stuff. Is it a D&D museum, or personal shrine to Gary?
• for all that is holy, treat people politely and have a professional public attitude.
• stay away from white nationalists, neo-nazis, and other hate groups. Seriously, how hard is that?

But alas, I'm not in charge lol.

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Honestly, even such a museum likely wouldn't last that long. Geppi's Entertainment Museum, run by the guy who is CEO and President of Diamond Comic Distributors, and which was located in downtown Baltimore literally right to the convention center where the Baltimore Comic Con is held, only lasted 12 years. And Geppi had a ton of money invested in it. I went several times; it was really cool. And comics are more wildly read than D&D is played.

darjr said:

Also I have a relative who ascribes to a racist UFO cult ck conspiracy theory that now rings a bell with some of the things in NG from Dave Johnson.
Someone on rpg.net suggested it might be a copy paste from a UGO setting.
Maybe Dave Johnson based his racist game on that racist UFO conspiracy theory?

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They probably have the same roots, at least. I don't know if the Nordic aliens were actively meant to be racist at first, but even if they weren't, it's super-easy to see how they could be co-opted for racist purposes. And I wouldn't put it past Johnson to simply copypaste someone else's work.

For a company that feels it's important to use Facebook to post about the Federal Reserve, Nazi elves, and anti-LGBTQ memes, it's pretty disappointing that NuTSR has let Gygax Day go by without any comment.

Deset Gled said:

For a company that feels it's important to use Facebook to post about the Federal Reserve, Nazi elves, and anti-LGBTQ memes, it's pretty disappointing that NuTSR has let Gygax Day go by without any comment.

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I noticed that too. Not even a post from Ernie on his own FB account.

I saw the NoHateInGaming Twitter account posted a praise of Gary, which got some vicious responses.

Sacrosanct said:

actually have important items there from the history. There is a treasure trove of rare items (Frank and Jim Ward have been ebaying them) that no one else has. Those things should be in the museum. For someone flashing wads of cash, Justin should have been buying up those things and make the museum stand out, rather than displaying items a lot of other gamers already own and his own Frankenstein creations (like the black covered AD&D books). I would want to go to a museum to see original draft notes from the company, not to see a copy of 1e mass produced books. I mean, knowing that Frank and Jim have a ton of original unique stuff and are selling it, the first thing I'd do is approach them to see what they would be willing to sell.

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At least one item on display should be a mimic. Ideally, several different ones…rotated in and out of the collection, randomly.

Also, they should sell 10’ poles.

Sacrosanct said:

As a fan, the whole thing is just....really sad. I mean, I'd love to have a D&D museum, and that house would be a great place for it. But I have no idea what they are doing. I'm no expert, but if I were doing a museum, I'd:

• actually have important items there from the history. There is a treasure trove of rare items (Frank and Jim Ward have been ebaying them) that no one else has. Those things should be in the museum. For someone flashing wads of cash, Justin should have been buying up those things and make the museum stand out, rather than displaying items a lot of other gamers already own and his own Frankenstein creations (like the black covered AD&D books). I would want to go to a museum to see original draft notes from the company, not to see a copy of 1e mass produced books. I mean, knowing that Frank and Jim have a ton of original unique stuff and are selling it, the first thing I'd do is approach them to see what they would be willing to sell
• run it like an actual business, on the up and up, and not shady backroom deals with "volunteers"
• If it's a D&D museum, then it has things from every edition of D&D and pop culture, not just pre-1985 stuff. Is it a D&D museum, or personal shrine to Gary?
• for all that is holy, treat people politely and have a professional public attitude.
• stay away from white nationalists, neo-nazis, and other hate groups. Seriously, how hard is that?

But alas, I'm not in charge lol.

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Yes please!

Jer said:

But I get the feeling that what the Hobby Shop Museum actually is is more like a roadside novelty attraction. Like a "come see the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" sort of thing. There's no archival work going on or any real preservation work going on, they just happen to own a building where the hobby started and they figured they could make some money off of it. it's a carnival side show operation, not an actual museum.

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For anyone who doesn't know, Justin Lanasa has been running tourist-trap businesses like you describe for years in North Carolina.

In addition to his tattoo shop and vape shop, he has a for-profit museum called the Museum of the Bizarre in Wilmington, NC. It's cheap to get in (I think $3), and the kind of place you take your kids to get 5 minutes out of the sun or rain if you're on vacation there. There are a number of videos online that show quick walkthroughs. It's exactly the kind of kitschy place you would expect. A combination of fake movie props, collectible odds and ends, and pseudo-historical stuff like hair from dead presidents. By itself, I would consider it mostly harmless.

Justin also used to run a pirate-themed tour service called Pirates on the Cape Fear. It shut down a number of years ago. Pirates on the Cape Fear sets sail in downtown Wilmington | WilmingtonBiz

adamantyr said:

I think an injunction would require the product to actually be sold. However, as they claim the "1st edition" comb-bound sold out months ago, that may be enough basis for one, even though it was an outright lie.

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NuTSR's trademark on Star Frontiers was officially "published for opposition" on June 21, 2022. Based on the date, I believe they gave up on the ashcan edition from last year and are claiming Dave Johnson's Alarms and Journeys 13 as the formal first printing with the mark. I think WotC would avoid filing for an injunction against this to avoid the Streisand Effect. It's a no-name rip-off virtual magazine that no one has ever heard of; best to not give it the attention.

nuTSR did make a Gygax Day post. With a lovely drawing of Gary as a youthful man.