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

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So did the "rogue social media manager" get control of the GiantLands account again? They can't even keep their gaslighting straight...

View attachment 140421

Well Giantland just doesn't care it seems.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Drawmij stays. It's a branding element with much greater reach than the small number of people even aware of anything happening right now with this topic.

Drawmij doesn't even crack the top 50 of iconic D&D characters. I'm not sure anyone would care if the name was removed. I'm still upset about Chariot of Sustarre, but that's a complaint I've literally never heard anyone else echo.

 

[Mistwell]

Drawmij doesn't even crack the top 50 of iconic D&D characters. I'm not sure anyone would care if the name was removed. I'm still upset about Chariot of Sustarre, but that's a complaint I've literally never heard anyone else echo.

I am bothered by the Chariot of Sustarre too! I think it's because it was a higher level spell and so fewer games encountered it.

 

[Mistwell]

So did the "rogue social media manager" get control of the GiantLands account again? They can't even keep their gaslighting straight...

Wrong company! Giantlands apparently left with the guy who was the rogue social media manager.

 

[Mistwell]

Just as a reality check, there is a TTRPG thread on another board dedicated to a different hobby I participate in. It is a major board for its subject matter, used by amateurs as well as famous professionals- IOW, it has a large, international membership base.

And absolutely none of the TSR saga has been mentioned there. Nor have most of the major controversies that have gone through the gaming subculture of the last decade.

That is my experience as well. I've seen this topic being discussed at length one other place. And it's Pundit's site. All the other places do not seem to know or care about any of this stuff. Though I did see a mention on one Facebook group too.

That's not a knock on EnWorld. I love that Morrus is so on top of RPG news. I think he's the best in the industry at gathering news.

I just think a lot of people only want to discuss gameplay topics, if they're going to discuss the game online at all. Which is fine. But, we shouldn't mistake our interest in this topic for widespread interest in these types of topics across the wide spectrum of the vast RPG players out there.

 

[Stephen Shomo]

All the other places do not seem to know or care about any of this stuff.

I think there is word for that.

 

[darjr]

The TSR debacle was in rpg.net in a positive only thread, shutdown. It was on dragons foot thread, shutdown, it was all over Facebook a lot of groups just deleted and blocked. A whole new Starfrontiers splinter group was made and blew up over it. Lots of folks fled to the OSR Facebook group. Also all over Twitter. Lots of high profile twitch streamers from Matt Colville to SlyFlourish talked about it. Tim Kask roasted TSR, LeNasa and Ernie, getting his largest views, in the thousands, ever. He’s actually talked about it in a couple of his videos now. Tenkar had two live streams about it. It blew up in TikTok so bad that Luke went there to defend himself and set his record right.

edit to add I forgot Reddit and the chans and several other forums.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I am bothered by the Chariot of Sustarre too! I think it's because it was a higher level spell and so fewer games encountered it.

Yeah, the move away from evocative (and usually unexplained) named spells makes me sad. Many a table created their own mythology from the snippets of names in the PHB and DMG (and the antecedents in OD&D).

Just from the 1e PHB's spells, we had:
Sustarre (Chariot of)
Nystul (Magic Aura)
Tenser (Floating Disc, Transformation)
Leomund (Trap, Tiny Hu, Secret Chestt)
Rary (Mnemonic Enhancer)
Mordenkainen (Faithful Hound, Sword)
Bigby (So many hands!)
Otiluke (Freezing Sphere,
Drawmij (Instant Summons)
Otto (Irresistible Dance)
Serten (Spell Immunity)

Then again, do you know who I always wanted to meet? "Hello. My name is Power Word. Nice to meet you!"

 

[Mistwell]

The TSR debacle was in rpg.net in a positive only thread, shutdown. It was on dragons foot thread, shutdown, it was all over Facebook a lot of groups just deleted and blocked. A whole new Starfrontiers splinter group was made and blew up over it. Lots of folks fled to the OSR Facebook group. Also all over Twitter. Lots of high profile twitch streamers from Matt Colville to SlyFlourish talked about it. Tim Kask roasted TSR, LeNasa and Ernie, getting his largest views, in the thousands, ever. He’s actually talked about it in a couple of his videos now. Tenkar had two live streams about it. It blew up in TikTok so bad that Luke went there to defend himself and set his record right.

edit to add I forgot Reddit and the chans and several other forums.

Some good examples there and one objective one we can measure. Tim Kask got his "most number of views ever" and it's....5000 views. In a hobby of 20 million.

The OSR facebook group is so small it doesn't even show up on the first page of search results for that topic.

If Matt Colville talked about it, I cannot find it on either of his channels as a topic. Slyflourish talked about it and got...4000 views.

You're talking about a big splash in a very tiny pond. These are rounding error numbers in the number of D&D players out there.

 

[Mistwell]

Yeah, the move away from evocative (and usually unexplained) named spells makes me sad. Many a table created their own mythology from the snippets of names in the PHB and DMG (and the antecedents in OD&D).

Just from the 1e PHB's spells, we had:
Sustarre (Chariot of)
Nystul (Magic Aura) - in the game still
Tenser (Floating Disc, Transformation) - in the game still, twice
Leomund (Trap, Tiny Hu, Secret Chestt) - in the game still, twice
Rary (Mnemonic Enhancer) - in the game still
Mordenkainen (Faithful Hound, Sword) - in the game still, four times
Bigby (So many hands!) - in the game still
Otiluke (Freezing Sphere) - in the game still, twice
Drawmij (Instant Summons) - in the game still
Otto (Irresistible Dance) - in the game still
Serten (Spell Immunity) - no longer in the game

Then again, do you know who I always wanted to meet? "Hello. My name is Power Word. Nice to meet you!"

From that list, only Sustarre and Serten are no longer in the 5e spell list! Bring back Systarre and Serten!

Sustarre (Chariot of) - no longer in the game
Nystul (Magic Aura) - in the game still
Tenser (Floating Disc, Transformation) - in the game still, twice
Leomund (Trap, Tiny Hu, Secret Chestt) - in the game still, twice
Rary (Mnemonic Enhancer) - in the game still
Mordenkainen (Faithful Hound, Sword) - in the game still, four times
Bigby (So many hands!) - in the game still
Otiluke (Freezing Sphere) - in the game still, twice
Drawmij (Instant Summons) - in the game still
Otto (Irresistible Dance) - in the game still
Serten (Spell Immunity) - no longer in the game