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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[FoolishFrost]

You know, I was actually hoping that I WOULD NOT be a seething, rage filled bugger from the news today. So much for that. Now I just get to wish for a return to the rules we had for nazis in the 1940’s…

Could the vile psychopaths that keep showing up please just get off my planet? Before they decide to do something physical with those ”ideals” of theirs?

 

[cbwjm]

Looked at the whole site. Disappointing, to say the absolute least. It’s a full on, all-you-can-eat buffet of hate.

When I looked at it, the first thing I saw was the image for, presumably, a book cover "It's okay to be white" and I thought, "well yeah, it is okay to be white" then I read the subheading and was like "Oh damn! That's not cool!"

And also everything else I saw. It really is just a site of hateful rubbish.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

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.

The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. We cannot tolerate Nazis in any form, or they will win. We cannot allow Nazism to survive, or it will eventually win. It's the Paradox of Tolerance.

Nazism is one of the few examples of true thoughtcrime. Genocidal monsters don't deserve and should not be allowed a spot in the public forum.

 

[Zardnaar]

The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. We cannot tolerate Nazis in any form, or they will win. We cannot allow Nazism to survive, or it will eventually win. It's the Paradox of Tolerance.

Nazism is one of the few examples of true thoughtcrime. Genocidal monsters don't deserve and should not be allowed a spot in the public forum.

Bit more complicated than that irl.

Basically they want you to fight. It drives even more people to the extremes and forces people to pick a side.

Germany 1930's. Similar reasons as to why as well. Once the army and police make that decision......

That's the paradox there IMHO more you fight then the worse it gets.

And no I don't have a better solution more some ideas that I can't really detail here but it's essentially economics.

 

[Lyandelill]

Bash the fash.

 

[Horwath]

The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. We cannot tolerate Nazis in any form, or they will win. We cannot allow Nazism to survive, or it will eventually win. It's the Paradox of Tolerance.

Nazism is one of the few examples of true thoughtcrime. Genocidal monsters don't deserve and should not be allowed a spot in the public forum.

Do you want more nazis? Because this is how you get more nazis!

This kind of rhetoric will only drive people that have some nazi sympathy completely into their camp.

Hate speech is still only speech and you can battle it with good speech. Not censorship.

To quote GRRM: When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you are only telling the world that you fear what he might say.

 

[Zardnaar]

Bash the fash.

Didn't work so well in Germany.

 

[Geoff Thirlwell]

I thought I’d check the link out to see if this was just dark humour, shock value stuff but it’s clear from his comments that it’s not. I’d chatted online to him before about old school RPGs and he added me as a friend on Facebook. I guess it’s time to remove him

 

[Morrus]

Huge respect for @Morrus for all he has done to bring the foulness of TSR3 and all its iterations to our attention

That is kind, but I'm just the messenger here. Somebody else did all that work, and folks here on EN World pointed it out. I can't take the credit.

 

[Flamestrike]

Advocating or implying imprisonment or government censorship for bad thought is overplaying your hand

But this isn't just 'bad thought' is it?

The dude is literally publicly advocating for and supporting things like mothers murdering trans children, and green lighting the holocaust, while actively publicly promulgating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, racist memes, Nazism and white nationalism. Those are actions based on self evident bigotry.

Thinking those things is bad enough. But actively going out of your way to advocate for them, and show support for them?

Someone who actively desires those things is (amongst many other things) bloody dangerous, as can be clearly seen from the recent mass shooting a few days ago (and all the other ones like in Poway, Charleston, Christchurch etc etc) plus you know, what happened in Germany only 80 years ago.

Someone who is telling you they're a Nazi, is someone who is telling you they're OK with the literal mass murder of Jews, the disabled, LGBTI+ people, ethnic minorities and non whites, and that they would (at a minimum) support what Hitler did.

Not only is that self evidently deluded (if your argument ever starts or ends with 'and that's why Hitler was right' you have issues) it's downright dangerous.