TSR Just when you thought it was all over.... now there’s a fourth TSR!

In the story that will never end, after having this week turned itself into Wonderfilled, Inc, and deleted its Twitter account, TSR is BACK AGAIN! Like again, again, again, again. Complete with old-school logo! And Michael appears to actually exist!

Michael K. Hovermale says in a press release that an unnamed individual (I’m guessing Stephen Dinehart) apparently ran all the social media accounts for TSR, Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum, Ernie Gygax, Justin LaNasa, and Giantlands. He goes on to say that this person has been replaced, and that all posts on those social media accounts are "invalid". There's no mention of Stephen Dinehart's social media accounts though.

Dinehart has left TSR3, taking Giantlands with him. Given that Star Frontiers mentions have been quietly removed a week or so ago, that would leave TSR3.5 without any roleplaying game products, as far as I can tell.

The existing (TSR3} website still says it's WONDERFILED (sic), Inc. However there’s now a NEW one at TSR Hobbies. We’ll call that TSR3.5 for now. I’m struggling to distinguish TSRs from tribbles at this point. They just keep on coming!

TSR - TSR3 Throws In Towel, Rebrands Wonderfilled

In the news story that never ends, after reversing its position earlier and admitting that it was NOT the original TSR reincarnated, the new TSR company, embroiled in acrimony for the last two weeks, and having blamed the widespread criticism it has received on Wizards of the Coast, has deleted...

www.enworld.org

I don't really know what to say anymore, but my job is to report the news. So here's the news.

TSR Appoints New Public Relations Officer; Responds to Social Media Mismanagement - PR.com

TSR has replaced the individual that was serving as both social media manager and information technology manager for TSR and The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum.

www.pr.com

TSR Appoints New Public Relations Officer; Responds to Social Media Mismanagement​

Lake Geneva, WI, July 09, 2021 --(PR.com)-- TSR has replaced the individual that was serving as both social media manager and information technology manager for TSR and The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. This individual was also the social media manager for Giantlands, Justin LaNasa, and Ernie Gygax.

All posts on all social media accounts for TSR and Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum should be considered invalid.

All posts on all social media accounts of Justin LaNasa and Ernie Gygax should be considered invalid.

TSR is in the process of recovering the social media accounts of TSR, The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum, and the personal Twitter accounts of Justin LaNasa and Ernie Gygax.

Michael K. Hovermale
Public Relations Officer
TSR

Ernie Gygax:
“I wish to speak directly to the transgender community regarding this incident. The individual who was speaking to you on Twitter does not represent me or TSR in any way. Trans people are always welcome to play with us. Everyone is welcome at our table.”
Contact
TSR LLC
Michael K. Hovermale PR Officer
(209) 819-7504

 

[Sunsword]

With 6 TSRs you get egg rolls!

 

[Sacrosanct]

Revised logo

 

[Steampunkette]

Revised logo

View attachment 140315

I'm not kidding. You start up that company, I will write for you.

I will write up an Old School setting and adventures. I'll do system designs for optional mechanics people can use to expand their game into different mechanical paths. Whole nine yards.

I would work for T5R out of spite and delight.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'm not kidding. You start up that company, I will write for you.

I will write up an Old School setting and adventures. I'll do system designs for optional mechanics people can use to expand their game into different mechanical paths. Whole nine yards.

I would work for T5R out of spite and delight.

So do I. As long as someone can correct my English, I'm usually pretty original in my designs. So you can count on my motivation and goodwill, if not design experience.

 

[Faolyn]

I write races into the setting. Classes, too. And I'm very much unafraid of chopping out races that don't have a strong Niche for the setting. As far as anthro races... I'm always leery of them because they can quickly make a setting take on a very different tone. Especially when someone decides to make an uwu kittehboi in a harsh desert land.

Yeah, there is that. Ick. 'Course, you'll still get the same people making kawaii chibi humans,

If I were to have an S&S world with any anthro races, I'd go for jackal/coyote people. Appropriately themed for the location but with enough of a scavenger feel to it to keep it from being an adorable lil' fox or wolfie. Or maybe something animal-headed but human bodied--more Egyptian-deity style than aarakocra/anthro-style (but not Egyptian in culture or anything).

So while there will probably be at least one race with animalistic features of some kind, I'm much more likely to add in Shifters than Tabaxi, if that makes sense.

Shifters are cool. That could even be a sort of ritualized skin-changer or token thing if you like, so any heritage could be a shifter.

Pretty much how I'd be doing all the gods, yeah. Obey the Priesthood, Obey the Tenets, and your God won't curse you as bad as everyone else. Your life won't be apples and cinnamon, but it won't be as bad as it was before you started tithing 10% of your harvest to the church.

I meant more like there being gods who actually take care of their worshipers--not just not curse them, but actively aid them. Of course, these gods require sacrifices and the like in return, but they actually do something to earn it.

And these gods are actually powerful monster-things that the heroes can at least attempt to kill, freeing the land from a monster that demands frequent human victims but at the same time also enraging their worshipers, who have lost their patron.

Ever read "Tower of the Elephant"? It's where I'd kind of lean toward with Demigods or Godlings. Interesting and powerful creatures that could do wonderful things... largely captured, tormented, and weakened by evil sorcerers who steal their power.

Sadly, I haven't. Although I had a similar idea for a setting a friend and I worked on... geez 10-15 years ago.

But the desert scenes resonated more strongly with audiences. The harsh landscapes were more engaging and interesting, possibly because of a subconscious cultural bias towards viewing deserts and prairies in film as "Borderlands" to Wilderness after decades of Westerns. So it became the standard S&S setting.

That sounds about right; I'll take it.

Deserts and scrublands are cool, anyway.

Wouldn't replace clerics. Would have to make a different Cleric Class, though. One which goes for light or no armor and a closer to 2e flavor in weapons: No edges or Points. That'd be a freaking twist and a half...

Well, they should at least be proficient in sacrificial daggers...

Bards would need a source of power in an S&S setting that isn't Sorcery so they can be heroic. They might just be music-wizards as a concept, but it might be better to make Song-Spells into their own unique form of magic with it's own narrative and pitfalls.

As I said, I'm not well-versed in S&S, but that doesn't seem quite genre-appropriate to me.

I am all in on Druids being baddies. Love that angle and I'd run with it... Make them into a Sect of a Bestial God, perhaps, rather than benevolent nature-casters.

Definitely some good options, yup!

If you like the ideas, take them! Enjoy!

 

[Steampunkette]

Yeah, there is that. Ick. 'Course, you'll still get the same people making kawaii chibi humans,

If I were to have an S&S world with any anthro races, I'd go for jackal/coyote people. Appropriately themed for the location but with enough of a scavenger feel to it to keep it from being an adorable lil' fox or wolfie. Or maybe something animal-headed but human bodied--more Egyptian-deity style than aarakocra/anthro-style (but not Egyptian in culture or anything).

Shifters are cool. That could even be a sort of ritualized skin-changer or token thing if you like, so any heritage could be a shifter.

The animal-headed people thing could work. It comes from the Contending which is a -wild- ride...

But what I meant by "Like Shifters" is humans with lightly animalistic features. Yuan-Ti Purebloods are another good example. Some scales, forked tongue, slit eyes, but human otherwise.

I meant more like there being gods who actually take care of their worshipers--not just not curse them, but actively aid them. Of course, these gods require sacrifices and the like in return, but they actually do something to earn it.

It's a thing. I'm not sure I'll actually -do- it because then why would anyone worship any god BUT the one who actually makes everything better?

And these gods are actually powerful monster-things that the heroes can at least attempt to kill, freeing the land from a monster that demands frequent human victims but at the same time also enraging their worshipers, who have lost their patron.

Often, yes. But not always. Or, at least, their physical manifestations in the world rather than their true selves. Sort of like Conan the Destroyer killing Dagoth.

Sadly, I haven't. Although I had a similar idea for a setting a friend and I worked on... geez 10-15 years ago.

It's a short-short story. But yeah.

Well, they should at least be proficient in sacrificial daggers...

Should they, though? Whenever you see someone trying to fight with a Sacrificial Dagger they immediately lose! Conan grabs their wrist and makes them drop it, or they throw it and it hits the wall, or whatever. Clearly nonproficient!

As I said, I'm not well-versed in S&S, but that doesn't seem quite genre-appropriate to me.

It kinda depends on how it's done. I really like LevelUp/A5e's song-powers. And honestly it might make more sense to transfer their style ENTIRELY toward performances as magic with no spellcasting whatsoever.

If you like the ideas, take them! Enjoy!

It makes me think of Grim Hollow's transformations. Could work suuuuuper well to adapt that to corruption of -any- source and have both Magic and Wickedness apply the corruption that leads to them.

 

[grimslade]

Have you looked at Symbaroum and how they handle corruption? Every magic spell learned corrupts and everything cast corrupts. You pass a threshold and turn into evil twisted NPC. Different ‘classes’ provide ways to mitigate corruption.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I didn't like the first year of the Buffy or Angel comics since they seemed... a bit silly at times (I recall Dawn turning into a centaur, I believe), but I may give the more recent ones another go.

The new series, from the new publisher, is a reimagining of Buffy in the present day. So some things are the same, but lots of other things are different, like Willow being out from the start and things don't always go the way you expect them to. Storylines that dragged originally are fast-forwarded through until the good parts start, etc.

 

[Faolyn]

The new series, from the new publisher, is a reimagining of Buffy in the present day. So some things are the same, but lots of other things are different, like Willow being out from the start and things don't always go the way you expect them to. Storylines that dragged originally are fast-forwarded through until the good parts start, etc.

Oh, nice! I'll definitely check it out.

 

[Kannik]

"Anyone over 40 that played back then and enjoyed it, they want it back! They are hoping this TSR becomes something that mirrors the old company!" just... just... just.... sigh...

Over 40? Check!
Played back then? Check!
Enjoyed it? Check check check!
Want it back? Well... not really...
Want it back in the way they mean? -Pulls the ejection seat handle-