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) etc. to distinguish them. However, all the companies below simply use the term "TSR".

The principle people involved with this story are Ernie Gygax (one of Gary Gygax's children), Justin LaNasa (a tattooist, weapon designer, and briefly a politician who refers to himself as Sir Justin LaNasa*), Stephen Dinehart (co-creator of Giantlands with James Ward), and -- later -- Michael K. Hovermale, TSR3's PR officer.

Also linked to TSR3 is the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Much of TSR3’s commercial business appears to be conducted via the museum.

• 1974. TSR1 creates D&D.
• 1997. TSR1 is bought by WotC (WotC is bought by Hasbro in 1999).
• November 2012. Jayson Elliot registers the TSR2 name as a trademark to launch Gygax Magazine. Luke and Ernie Gygax are involved.
• November 2015. Gail Gygax sues TSR2. Luke and Ernie Gygax are forced to leave. Gygax magazine is forced to close by Gail Gygax. The company continues to sell the Top Secret RPG under the name TSR2.
• October 2020. The Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum claims ownership of various TSR logos and tries to license them to OSR publishers.
• June 19th 2021. TSR3 announces itself with a press release. It claims to be the original TSR1 back again, under the leadership of Ernie Gygax, Gary's son, announcing that "the band is back together". Also involved are Justin LaNasa and Stephen Dinehart. Their flagship product is "GIANTLANDS" by James Ward and Stephen Dinehart.
• June 22nd 2021. TSR3 announces it is rebooting Star Frontiers, a game which WotC owns and is currently selling online. They registered the trademark back in April 2021.
• June 24th 2021. Ernie Gygax does a YouTube interview, and I transcribe it. The interview begins a controversy which rages online and includes digs at newer gamers, WotC, and trans people.
• June 25th 2021. It transpires that TSR2's Jayson Elliot forgot to renew the trademark registration, at which point his former partner Ernie Gygax, along with Justin LaNasa & Stephen Dinehart, swept in and grabbed it before notifying him. They offer to let him use it for a nominal fee.

• Late June 2021. TSR3 embarks on an astonishing social media campaign where they tell people who don't like Gary Gygax not to play D&D, call a trans person on Twitter 'disgusting', thank the 'woke' because sales are up, insult Luke Gygax, and more. They also block or insult those who question them on Twitter.
• Late June 2021. Various companies distance themselves from TSR3, including Gen Con, TSR2 (who rebrand themselves Solarian Games), GAMA, and various individuals such as Luke Gygax, Tim Kask, Jeff Dee, and more. TSR3 responds to being banned from Gen Con by claiming that they created the convention.

• June 30th 2021. TSR3 blames the widespread pushback it is getting on WotC, accusing it of mounting a coordinated assault on them. In the same tweets they claim that they created the TTRPG business. Ernie Gygax and Stephen Dinehart then deactivate their Twitter accounts. Months later it transpires that this is the date they received a C&D from WotC regarding their use of their IP.

• July 2nd 2021. TSR3's Twitter account claims now to be run by a new Public Relations Officer called Michael.
• July 6th 2021. TSR3's Michael has not been heard of since he announced himself prompting a widespread online search for him.
• July 7th 2021. TSR3 rebrands its website 'Wonderfiled'(sic) as Stephen Dinehart publicly blocks WotC and Hasbro on Twitter and announces he is "breaking up with them" because of politics.

• July 9th 2021. Yet another TSR website appears! This one we call TSR 3.5. TSR3 has split into two -- Wonderfiled (later Wonderfilled), and TSR Hobbies. Stephen Dinehart runs the former, which features the GIANTLANDS project, while Ernie Gygax and Justin LaNasa run the latter.
• July 9th 2021. With the new TSR3.5, the company claims that an unnamed individual was running the Twitter accounts of the company, it's affiliate companies, and the individuals involved with the company, and that all posts on any of those social media accounts should now be considered "invalid".
• July 26th 2021. TSR3.5 announces TSR CON to be held on the July 4th weekend in the Horticultural Hall at Lake Geneva, WI, the name location as Gen Con launched in 1968. TSR announces that "TSR CON will always be here" (it never takes places there).

• September 27th 2021. TSR3's Michael K. Hovermale shows up here on EN World.
• October 14th 2021. Michael Hovermale announces that their Star Frontiers game became available and then sold out before they could announce it. Nobody can find anybody who bought this product.
• October 15th 2021. LaNasa calls EN World a 'very big company' and publicly accuses me of making all this up. I publicly ask TSR's representative, Michael K. Hovermale, three times what I've allegedly made up, but get no reply.
• October 20th 2021. TSR Con is moved from the July 4th weekend to March 24-27, the exact same dates as Gary Con. The venue is moved from the Horticultural Hall to the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. A graphic on its website promises that they will not be checking vaccinations or asking people to wear face masks.

• December 6th 2021. A record is found showing that WotC is taking action against TSR3.5 - an administrative procedure to cancel its registration of the trademarks it is using, citing - among other things - fraud.
• December 7th 2021. After a long quiet period, TSR3.5 launches an IndieGogo campaign to "stop Wizards of the Coast". It files for a court declaration of its ownership of the TSR trademarks. The crowdfunding campaign will go to fight the legal battle, with any left over being donated to the Gygax Memorial Fund.
• December 9th 2021. TSR3.5 voluntarily dismisses the suit it filed two days before. The IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign is still running.

• December 11th 2021. The president of the Gygax Memorial fund publicly declares that they were never consulted, and would refuse any donation from TSR3's crowdfunding campaign. TSR3 quietly removes the references to the GMF from the IndieGoGo page.
• December 29th 2021. TSR3.5 refiles its lawsuit, this time in the correct jurisdiction. LaNasa and TSR ask for a trial by Jury.

• January 8th 2020. Wonderfiled[sic]'s Stephen Dinehart threatens to sue Twitter user David Flor for his negative review of Giantlands on the platform.
• January 10th 2022. TSR3's Justin LaNasa sends TSR alumn Tim Kask a profane message, telling him to "Go suck Lukes/wotc/balls you f*****g coward" and accusing him of having been fired from TSR for stealing.
• January 11th 2022. Michael K Hovermale claims that the first edition of TSR3's Star Frontiers: New Genesis game was released and has sold out. He says “It was a very small limited run released and sold on the DHSM [Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum] website. It is no longer available, and probably won’t be reprinted.” As yet, nobody has publicly revealed that they bought a copy.
• January 14th 2022. Michael K. Hovermale resigns as TSR3's Chief Creative Officer and Public Relations Officer after 6 months in the position.
• March 4th 2022. WotC strikes back with a lawsuit naming TSR, Justin LaNasa personally, and the Dungeon Hobby Shop museum. WotC seeks a judgement that TSR hand over all domains, take down all websites, pay treble damages and costs, hand over all stock and proceeds related to the trademarks, and more. TSR has 21 days to respond.

• March 22nd 2022. TSR gets an extension on that WoTC suit. Two waivers of service of summons granted to both Justin LaNasa and the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. He now has 60 days from March 4th to serve an answer or motion, or suffer default judgment.
• March 26th 2022. TSR CON takes place at the same time as Gary Con. TSR claims " lol, actually we asked just about every one of the 800 people stopping by, TSR CON, and about 60% had no idea Gary con was going on, and we tried pushing them to go over and attend."
• March 28th 2022. TSR3 posts images of 'rebound' copies of AD&D 1E books it is selling for $650 each.
• May 17th 2022. Evidence emerges of Nazi connections via TSR3's Dave Johnson. Public Twitter posts include concentrated hateful imagery and messages over a long period of time.
• May 17th 2022. DriveThruRPG removes all Dave Johnson Games titles from the platform.
• May 17th 2022. A jury trial date is set for the TSR/WotC lawsuit for October 2023 (few suits like this actually make it to trial in the end).

• July 19th 2022. A leaked version of a beta version of TSR's 'Star Frontiers: New Genesis' game emerges on the internet. The content includes racist and white-supremacist propaganda, including character races with ability caps based on ethnicity, and various homophobic and transphobic references. Justin LaNasa immediately threatened to sue blogger Eric Tenkar, who shared the information publicly ('Mario Real' is one of LaNasa's online pseudonyms). Various evidence points towards the document's genuine nature, including an accidentally revealed Google drive belonging to NuTSR.
• July 22nd 2022. A video shows a Google Drive that appears to be owned by nuTSR, which contains a list of enemies of the company, usually with the word "WOKE" in caps being used as a pejorative.

(screenshot courtesy of the @nohateingaming Twitter account)​

• August 30th 2022. Wizard Tower Games announces that they have received a subpeona from WotC regarding TSR and Justin LaNasa. Former NuTSR employee Michaal K Hovermale confirms that he has also received a subpeona.
• September 5th 2022. Justin LaNasa sends out customer data, including addresses and credit card numbers. LaNasa responds by publicly claiming the evidence is photoshopped and slandering those who revealed it as liars.
• September 8th 2022. WoTC files an injunction to prevent LaNasa or his companies from “publishing, distributing, or otherwise making available Star Frontiers New Genesis or any iteration of the game using the Marks”.
• June 8th 2023. NuTSR files for bankruptcy. The case between WotC and NuTSR is postponed until March 2024.

Have I missed anything important? I'll continue updating this as I remember things, or as people remind me of things!

To the best of my knowledge, TSR3 is not actually selling any type of gaming product.

*if anybody has any link to LaNasa's knighthood, please let me know!

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Websites
Various websites have come and gone. I'll try to make some sense of it here so you know what site you're actually visiting!

• TSR.com is the original TSR website. For a long time it redirected to WotC. The URL is no longer in use. (WotC)
• TSRgames.com was TSR2 until summer 2021. The site is still running, although TSR2 is now called Solarian Games. (Jayson Elliot)
• TSR.games was TSR3 until summer 2021. It now goes to Wonderfiled(sic)'s website. (Stephen Dinehart)
• TSR-hobbies.com is TSR 3.5, launched summer 2021 by Justin LaNasa and Ernie Gygax. (Justin LaNasa)

 

[Ancalagon]

Man, I hate that mindset. There have been a lot of people that I've seen online who have talked about their gaming styles that have made me think that I wouldn't want to play with them, but I'm still glad they're playing. The more people who buy the game, the more money the company makes that can go into producing more material for me!

I have been thinking about this for a few minutes now, it's a ... layered situation.

On the surface, I agree with you that more players is better, and it's good other people are playing, even if it's in a way we don't like.

But then I wondered, what if they were playing something extremely offensive? I'm sure you can come up with a hair-raising example , I don't think I need to spell them out. I would not be happy about this, and probably neither would you. So that's the second level.

But then the third, and saddest realization is that the people who are so mand about diversity and inclusion etc, see the notion of a book having a bit of lgbtq+ representation (for example), to be extremely offensive - to them, it's just as bad as whatever terrible content my second paragraph conjured up.

And that's... ooof.

 

[Faolyn]

I have been thinking about this for a few minutes now, it's a ... layered situation.

On the surface, I agree with you that more players is better, and it's good other people are playing, even if it's in a way we don't like.

But then I wondered, what if they were playing something extremely offensive? I'm sure you can come up with a hair-raising example , I don't think I need to spell them out. I would not be happy about this, and probably neither would you. So that's the second level.

But then the third, and saddest realization is that the people who are so mand about diversity and inclusion etc, see the notion of a book having a bit of lgbtq+ representation (for example), to be extremely offensive - to them, it's just as bad as whatever terrible content my second paragraph conjured up.

And that's... ooof.

That's all true. I definitely wouldn't want the actual books to reflect that sort of toxic mindset, and I wouldn't buy any D&D material if they started putting out material that deliberately anti-inclusive. On the flip side, however, no matter how inclusive or "inoffensive" D&D books are, there are always going to be tables who turn it into a toxic game, and there's very little anyone can do about it, other than to try to turn new gamers to the light side.

 

[CleverNickName]

no matter how inclusive or "inoffensive" D&D books are, there are always going to be tables who turn it into a toxic game, and there's very little anyone can do about it, other than to try to turn new gamers to the light side.

Yep. I think this is the biggest reason why WotC decided to add the Legacy Content disclaimer on the sales page for their older products. And I suspect it's also the biggest reason why a certain small percentage of players are angry about the Legacy Content disclaimer. I hear that some are so angry that they are even threatening legal action over it.

 

[Shakeshift]

That's what really angers me, honestly. When Ernie dismisses WotC as a "corporate raider" who "stole" the game from his father. No. Just, no. They SAVED the IP from being chopped up and sold off to anyone who bid on it after it was mishandled and driven to bankruptcy. Peter Atkitson and his crew cared about D&D. They cared about the legacy. And they have managed it better than Gary ever did. And Lorraine? She just out-mauveured Gary, who had demonstrated he was equally as morally bankrupt and inept as the Blumes.

The audience that LaNasa's TSR is drawing in is the ignorant and deliberately obtuse faction that seems to think the game BELONGS to them and anyone who doesn't play it the way they say so aren't "doing it right". Or worse, "allowing people to play who shouldn't be allowed to play because they offend me." I'm glad that faction is small and irrelevant.

I get the feeling that someone on their team's been watching way too much Law & Order or NCIS. Real-life court isn't that way. If anything, the focus is on getting it sorted out as quickly as possible. They prefer the two parties reach a settlement long before it gets to court. And if LaNasa is stupid enough to push it that far, he will lose everything. There is NO case for them. Even if they produced some (definitely faked) documentation that TSR could never be sold to Lorraine or WotC because of this or that, possession is 9/10's of the law. WotC/Hasbro has published D&D for years. The time for this kind of lawsuit was at the point of sale.

Ernie Gygax is one of those weak-willed guys who has blocked off any knowledge of the "truth" and is inserting his own twisted (and incorrect) narrative in its place. Because Lorraine Williams sold the company and moved on by 1997, Ernie isn't as fixated with her. He thinks WotC stole his father's legacy, when really both Gary and Ernie are just guys who can easily be tricked by someone much craftier than either of them could ever hope to be. Gary's company wasn't hoodwinked, he was outright leveraged into defeat by someone who preyed on Gary Gygax's business naivete' about how corporations work and they got controlling interest from him in TSR. If Lorraine didn't trick Gary out of his company someone else would have gotten to it eventually. Gary was a creative person, but he was not necessarily a smart one.

Ernie thinking Wizards stole his father's company is the desperate reasoning of a child trying to justify his anger. If he really thought it was an illegitimate sale, he would get a lawyer and investigate it. It's easier though to just hate the CURRENT holder of the IP since they obviously know more about creativity and financial wisdom which surpasses either Ernie or his father's ability ten-to-one. Neither one of the Gygaxes did anything for D&D on the level of what WotC did for D&D. Wizards saved the game in a way that the Gygax's never would have the skill, the brains, or the money to pull off. The current success of D&D is all due to Hasbro/WotC. They have also carried the title longer than any Gygax ever has. Almost 25 years now.

If Ernie is mad that the Gygax's aren't acknowledged as the guardians of D&D, it's because they're not. The true stewards of the Dungeons and Dragons game are Wizards of the Coast, plain and simple. They've cared for it longer, better, and with more time and attention. They've done the work, put in the time, and frankly, have earned it more than any Gygax ever did,

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks! At least Fender and Zelinsky were involved in making each of their own companies. Neither LaNasa nor Ernie were involved in the creation or running of the original TSR, or even worked for them (unless Young Ernie counts as being a presumably volunteer playtester).

True. A better example would have been Electra Guitars, a Japanese company that gave Gibson a scare in the 70s, but had folded by the 90s.

Some industry vets in Florida bought their IP and designs about a decade ago and relaunched the brand. They never claimed to be the same Electra Frampton loved back in the day, just their legal successors in interest.

 

[Faolyn]

Ernie thinking Wizards stole his father's company is the desperate reasoning of a child trying to justify his anger.

Honestly, I think it's more just "child of famous parent" syndrome. When you have a parent who is famed for something, your only real choices are: (A) follow in their footsteps by actually having talent or engaging in hard work; (B) try to ride on their coattails and try to claim the fame yourself without earning it because you don't have (much) talent or don't want to do the hard work; or (C) do something else entirely, even if it means that nobody will know who you are and the legacy ends. Ernie seems quite firmly in the B category (I can't recall if he's actually produced or co-produced anything).

 

[Shakeshift]

Honestly, I think it's more just "child of famous parent" syndrome. When you have a parent who is famed for something, your only real choices are: (A) follow in their footsteps by actually having talent or engaging in hard work; (B) try to ride on their coattails and try to claim the fame yourself without earning it because you don't have (much) talent or don't want to do the hard work; or (C) do something else entirely, even if it means that nobody will know who you are and the legacy ends. Ernie seems quite firmly in the B category (I can't recall if he's actually produced or co-produced anything).

Ernie has done NOTHING in over forty years. No articles on the game, no rules, no empire-building, no professional commentary, no writing, nothing at all. All he does is game, and he doesn't even do that particularly well.

Nothing but a failed Kickstarter for $129,000 that he couldn't and wouldn't complete. His main claim to fame is that his father named a mage in the game after him, and that's all.

Luke Gygax in comparison has twenty times the respect that Ernie has. All Ernie has is a little bit of a pedigree. Luke has the same pedigree but actually puts IN the work. That's why Luke succeeds, and Ernie consistently fails. At GenCon they know Luke and he's a real celebrity. People barely even give Ernie a nod there. They hardly know (or care) who Ernie is, mainly because Ernie's rep is permanently trashed and Ernie's done nothing for the game his whole life and nobody cares who Ernie's dad was in the gaming industry forty years ago. That's all ancient history now. When Matt Mercer walks around with the Critical Role people it's press, autographs, and photographs. Ernie is crazy jealous about that in the arenas of gaming, but still too lazy to do anything about it.

 

[DLIMedia]

Also, a small gaming business called Mick Art Productions, ostensibly owned and run by Mick Art, is selling NuTSR products online and at Grand Rapids Comic Con.

He's been posting several pictures from that con of people with the Dungeon Crawl box in hand. He keeps tagging them all "#tsrcon" even though it's clearly not a photo at TSRCon.

 

[Morrus]

Ernie Gygax is one of those weak-willed guys who has blocked off any knowledge of the "truth" and is inserting his own twisted (and incorrect) narrative in its place. Because Lorraine Williams sold the company and moved on by 1997, Ernie isn't as fixated with her. He thinks WotC stole his father's legacy, when really both Gary and Ernie are just guys who can easily be tricked by someone much craftier than either of them could ever hope to be. Gary's company wasn't hoodwinked, he was outright leveraged into defeat by someone who preyed on Gary Gygax's business naivete' about how corporations work and they got controlling interest from him in TSR. If Lorraine didn't trick Gary out of his company someone else would have gotten to it eventually. Gary was a creative person, but he was not necessarily a smart one.

Ernie thinking Wizards stole his father's company is the desperate reasoning of a child trying to justify his anger. If he really thought it was an illegitimate sale, he would get a lawyer and investigate it. It's easier though to just hate the CURRENT holder of the IP since they obviously know more about creativity and financial wisdom which surpasses either Ernie or his father's ability ten-to-one. Neither one of the Gygaxes did anything for D&D on the level of what WotC did for D&D. Wizards saved the game in a way that the Gygax's never would have the skill, the brains, or the money to pull off. The current success of D&D is all due to Hasbro/WotC. They have also carried the title longer than any Gygax ever has. Almost 25 years now.

If Ernie is mad that the Gygax's aren't acknowledged as the guardians of D&D, it's because they're not. The true stewards of the Dungeons and Dragons game are Wizards of the Coast, plain and simple. They've cared for it longer, better, and with more time and attention. They've done the work, put in the time, and frankly, have earned it more than any Gygax ever did,

Ernie has done NOTHING in over forty years. No articles on the game, no rules, no empire-building, no professional commentary, no writing, nothing at all. All he does is game, and he doesn't even do that particularly well.

Nothing but a failed Kickstarter for $129,000 that he couldn't and wouldn't complete. His main claim to fame is that his father named a mage in the game after him, and that's all.

Luke Gygax in comparison has twenty times the respect that Ernie has. All Ernie has is a little bit of a pedigree. Luke has the same pedigree but actually puts IN the work. That's why Luke succeeds, and Ernie consistently fails. At GenCon they know Luke and he's a real celebrity. People barely even give Ernie a nod there. They hardly know (or care) who Ernie is, mainly because Ernie's rep is permanently trashed and Ernie's done nothing for the game his whole life and nobody cares who Ernie's dad was in the gaming industry forty years ago. That's all ancient history now. When Matt Mercer walks around with the Critical Role people it's press, autographs, and photographs. Ernie is crazy jealous about that in the arenas of gaming, but still too lazy to do anything about it.

I don't think we need this projection of what Ernie Gygax's thought processes or mental state may or may not be. We don't know, and we're not going to just make stuff up here or interject any of our own armchair psychology. Please stick to commenting on facts, actions, and words, not thoughts.

 

[Umbran]

They are literally claiming that NuTSR and the DHSM is the same TSR that was founded in 1976.

They do not literally claim it. That would be like, "TSR, LLC, the same company E. Gary Gygax founded in the 70s..." or the like. They mention TSR and TSR, LLC separately, and allow the reader to assume they are the same entity, when they aren't. Intentional implication is not a literal claim.