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.

​

 

[Morrus]

I do think a lot of this 'all cishet white men are bad' stuff in the media hurts, TBH. There are a lot of lower- and middle-class men in that demographic who aren't particularly privileged, and it definitely has a radicalizing effect from what I've seen.

I find it frustrating that in 2022 people are still mistaking what 'privilege' is. For the record, privilege does not mean you have no hardships. Lots of people have hardships. Lots of people are poor. Lots of people suffer daily. 'Privilege', specifically, means those hardships are not due to your identity, whether that be as a person of colour, a transgender person, etc. This should not need to still be repeated after all this time. So yes, cishet white men, even those with hardships, are privileged.

I know the word 'privilege' sounds like its means 'has no hardships' but that's not what it means. And it's important to understand that. You can have hardship and still be privileged.

 

[HammerMan]

Oh, I genuinely am against Nazis.

I’m glad. I hope all or at least 99% of us can agree with that.

But you still repeated there propaganda.
Now you may have heard it from someone that didn’t know and THEY may have but when you go back far enough you will find what you said originates in hate.

 

[FoolishFrost]

I'm too lazy to dig up references, but I remember reading something (maybe in the Economist?) about how one of the most effective way to counter Nazis is to laugh at them. They're just hoping somebody will start a fight at one of their rallies because it drives recruitment, but if you line the route of their march dressed in clown outfits, with signs that say "Wife Power!" and throwing white flour (get it?) in the air, with everybody laughing their heads off, it makes it very difficult for them to find new recruits.

Or cosplay as the joker and try to help them recruit in the worst ways, and then go "Wait? You're NAZIS? What do you think I am, CRAZY?"

 

[Blue Orange]

None of them precludes you buying into a false narrative and perpetuating it. We all do it sometimes, but it is important to recognize and rescind it.

I've thought it over, and I think, as TVTropes has it, 'Villain Has a Point'. (Villain being the far-right here. And yes, they want to kill me too, I'm aware of that. Evil people can be right about stuff--Philipp Lenard wasn't wrong about cathode rays because he was a Nazi.)

So for a long time there were a lot of negative portrayals of ethnic minorities in TV, movies, etc. (One of the original ten rules of the mystery story concerns the fad at the time for Chinese villains.) They got together and made pressure groups to stop that, with the result that villains tend to be predominantly white males these days (look at the recent Star Wars movies for a recent example). You can see how that would backfire.

Similarly, you get all kinds of cases where the media hides the race of a gunman if he's a minority, refers to 'mostly peaceful' protests, etc. (Quite a few merchants had their stores burnt down.) Are they doing the right thing in trying to avoid ethnic stereotyping? I guess, but if you're a member of the declining majority it sure starts to look conspiratorial.

On a larger scale, while I can see affirmative action for African-Americans and Native Americans/First Nations as a form of reparations, it's not clear why someone whose relatives voluntarily come here should get preference over a native (of course, they shouldn't be discriminated against either)...and I say that as the first generation born in the USA!

And about that declining majority...I don't know, given the history of ethnic conflict in just about every nation in the world (and not just European-descended ones either...look at the violence against overseas Chinese merchants in other parts of Asia), I can see them being worried about outnumbered.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

this is at best a misrepresentation and at worst (I hope) a dog whistle repeated unknowingly.
There is NOT a movement against straight white men.

I also very much doubt the "radicalizing effect".

I can only speak for Britain in detail but there's one thing that radicalizes men, and it's not being told cis-het white men are bad, it's being self-pitying losers. Long before "cis het men are bad" was even dreamed over, back in the 1950s and even earlier, self-pitying losers were buying into extremist ideologies.

Simple as that. The same goes for Islamist terrorists and no doubt for many other kinds of terrorist too. You look at their personalities and histories, and where it's discussing, what they post about. They're universally self-pitying losers. And this has been true through history, very clearly.

I also think the media leans left, albeit a sort of business-friendly left that divides by race and gender rather than class.

What does that even mean though?

I think what you're trying to say is that the US news media tends not to support bigotry on the basis of race/gender/sexuality, except for the massive section that does, and none of the news media, either bigot-supporting or otherwise, supports any kind of leftist fiscal policies at all even slightly (this is what I think you mean by "business friendly" - solidly right-wing fiscal policies).

And even that requires an incredible Overton-window shift. Eisenhower's "right" is far, far to the left of where the US center is now, for example.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

“Privilege” isn’t an aegis against hard times & difficulties, it’s a set of baked in advantages. As someone else put it, you’re playing the game on the “Easy” setting while others play on “Normal” or “Hard”- you can still lose, but your odds of winning are boosted.

 

[Vaalingrade]

What people who are advocating talking and understanding don't get is... they aren't understanding how authoritarians work.

And authoritarian is someone who recognizes internally that they don't have their crap together, but either through ego or upbringing, cannot abide by actually entering into a give and take relationship to get help. Instead, they want a big powerful daddy who will in turn empower them as their vassal.

And the only power they value is force and shows of force. That's why the love military parades and pageantry and symbols and regalia: the only power they understand or respect is the projection of force. They see trying to talk to someone, showing tolerance, leaving people alone -- as weakness. So when you try and talk to them, tolerate them, or leave them alone, they take that as a win. It encourages them to roll over you because you are not presenting any of the resistance they recognize as such.

Cutting their force, via deplatforming, via public humiliation, etc absolutely works. Look at all the oinking sadness that comes up whenever they get so much as a ban until they remove their tweet calling for violence. Another big, strong daddy stepped in and removed their power and they can't handle it. But when that daddy just slaps them on the wrist, they learn they can get away with more and more just like the sad toddlers they are.

The key is to remove and undermine their power however and whenever possible without offering them any of the respect or 'politeness' they demand because if you concede anything, you are rewarding their behavior.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I've thought it over, and I think, as TVTropes has it, 'Jerkass Has a Point'. (Jerkass being the far-right here. And yes, they want to kill me too, I'm aware of that. )

So for a long time there were a lot of negative portrayals of ethnic minorities in TV, movies, etc. (One of the original ten rules of the mystery story concerns the fad at the time for Chinese villains.) They got together and made pressure groups to stop that, with the result that villains tend to be predominantly white males these days (look at the recent Star Wars movies for a recent example). You can see how that would backfire.

Similarly, you get all kinds of cases where the media hides the race of a gunman if he's a minority, refers to 'mostly peaceful' protests, etc. (Quite a few merchants had their stores burnt down.) Are they doing the right thing in trying to avoid ethnic stereotyping? I guess, but if you're a member of the declining majority it sure starts to look conspiratorial.

On a larger scale, while I can see affirmative action for African-Americans and Native Americans/First Nations as a form of reparations, it's not clear why someone whose relatives voluntarily come here should get preference over a native (of course, they shouldn't be discriminated against either)...and I say that as the first generation born in the USA!

And about that declining majority...I don't know, given the history of ethnic conflict in just about every nation in the world (and not just European-descended ones either...look at the violence against overseas Chinese merchants in other parts of Asia), I can see them being worried about outnumbered.

So... just doubling down then?

Cool. Cool.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

They got together and made pressure groups to stop that, with the result that villains tend to be predominantly white males these days (look at the recent Star Wars movies for a recent example). You can see how that would backfire.

This is extremely silly, facile and superficial thinking, I'm afraid.

Your example shows how muddled and confused your thinking is here. The original SW movies, 4/5/6, have villains that are solely white men (and I guess Jabba? but he's not human). No-one on those starship bridges is female or non-white.

Whereas in 7/8/9, where female villains, and we have non-white villains - admittedly most of the latter only have a single line or the like, but people discussed it quite a lot and somehow it seems you totally missed it? Did you actually watch the recent SW movies?

Your point is thus obviously wrong by your own example. 4/5/6 = white males sole villains - 7/8/9 they are joined by women and non-white villains.

 

[HammerMan]

I've thought it over, and I think, as TVTropes has it, 'Villain Has a Point'. (Villain being the far-right here. And yes, they want to kill me too, I'm aware of that. )

This isn’t helping. In theory a Nazi and I could agree on our favorite color but when you start even a little seeing there political theory as having a point you are on a SUPER slippery slope.

The fact is (meaning to or not) you have just doubled down on the propaganda.