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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[Imaculata]

Well, if the last few years have taught us anything... it is that apparently we are surrounded by nazis. So, I really can't be all that surprised.

 

[Mistwell]

Never mind, @jdrakeh ninja'd me.

He's sneaky like that.

 

[Scarlet.Knight]

He joined 34 minutes ago and this was his first post. I'm going with "probably a sock puppet of a banned nuT$R supporter" here.

Very alt-right-fly-by-night-social-media-account-like... common shayte spewing stratagem

 

[Vaalingrade]

Unsurprised. I knew where this was going the second they deployed the same playbook we've seen all over the place over the past decade plus: drop into a community bend tradition and fear of change into a fear outsiders to their hobby, splinter off and isolate the people who buy it, radicalize them not just against outsiders to their hobby but to... well at this point every non-evil person by feeding a persecution complex and somehow every time a severe misunderstanding of copyright, pick a fight with a corporation as cover, blame the people they attack. Later, rinse, repeat.

All we need now is a twisted lie forged into a slogan. Heritage not hate, ethics in games journalism, something catchy like that, and I'll fill my bingo card.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm not going to look at the twitter feed. Has anyone seen any real evidence of the allegation made by the anonymous person on that website?

 

[jdrakeh]

I'm not going to look at the twitter feed. Has anyone seen any real evidence of the allegation made by the anonymous person on that website?

Yes. The Twitter feed is full of said evidence, but I've also seen similar posts on Dave Johnson's multiple Facebook accounts, as I mention above. Not quite as virulent as the dozens of tweets, but the red flags were definitely there (especially with regard to homophobia and transphopia).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Given how awful the stuff on that Twitter feed is, I'm surprised it hasn't been shut down entirely. Surely it violates all sorts of Twitter's TOS?

Twitter isn’t going to get rid of the Nazis. If they had any intention of doing so, they’d have done it already.

But that shouldn't be the end of it. Out of sight, out of mind shouldn't be the end goal for people like this. I don't want them gone from the small circle that is tabletop gamers and creators; I want them, and their hateful kind removed from mainstream society as a whole. I don't want them influencing or being influenced by others like them to commit heinous crimes like those in Buffalo or Laguna Woods in the past few days. As someone who is of Native heritage, who is pansexual, who is overweight, who is an outspoken liberal, I am among several of his and his kind's targeted groups, as are many of my family members and friends, and the way this jackwagon and others like him think terrifies me.

Damn right.

Scratch a lie, find a thief. Thinks like this are why being ambivalent about White Supremacy can just be a public cover for good old fashioned enthusiastic endorsement.

Yep. This is why WSs need to be publicly called out, exposed, shut down, and then deplatformed.

Making fun of them, arguing with them, all that stuff that works with normal people, doesn’t work. The Nazi Bar Rule applies to all social spaces, not just bars. You can kick them out, by physical force if necessary, or you can watch your space become their space.

 

[OakenHart]

Well that's just gross.

I don't understand that "replacement" nonsense. Where the hell do they think white people are going to go? It's just weird and gross.

 

[bonchon]

The fact you are posting nazi content on this website in order to
1) Create controversy
2) Promote racists and anti-LGBT views
is digusting.
3) Drive traffic to sell products.
You call yourself a "news" site, but the reality is that you are just a site promoting your own products.
Reposting racist content for the sole purpose of driving traffic to fill your coffers.
At least when they post it, it is in a small tiny bubble that nobody sees.
When you repost it, you reach way more including young nazi wannabes.

You are just as bad and I am going to work on videos to tell everyone to stay away from this site since you are reposting disgusting content and then profiting off of that disgusting content.

Since you just joined today to post this silly attack on Morrus, I gotta wonder if this is a sockpuppet account from one of the NuTSR people.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The fact you are posting nazi content on this website in order to
1) Create controversy
2) Promote racists and anti-LGBT views
is digusting.
3) Drive traffic to sell products.
You call yourself a "news" site, but the reality is that you are just a site promoting your own products.
Reposting racist content for the sole purpose of driving traffic to fill your coffers.
At least when they post it, it is in a small tiny bubble that nobody sees.
When you repost it, you reach way more including young nazi wannabes.

You are just as bad and I am going to work on videos to tell everyone to stay away from this site since you are reposting disgusting content and then profiting off of that disgusting content.

Mod Note:

Morrus is perfectly capable of fighting his own fights, but... You really need to be able to discern the difference between warning against something and promoting it. Especially online.