TSR TSR3.5 Launches IndieGogo Campaign to "Stop" WotC

The latest in the TSR3 saga, which has gone quiet for a while, is a new IndieGoGo campaign launched to "stop Wizards of the Coast". They cite wrongful bullying of TSR, and refusal to answer requests that WotC show TSR "proof of their claims" (although the campaign page doesn't mention what those claims are).

The IndieGoGo campaign was launched yesterday and has so far raised $675 (at the time of writing).

The action TSR seeks is a "Trademark Declaratory Judgement of Ownership" which is a court declaration about the status of something in dispute.

TSR has launched a campaign to stop Wizards of the Coast

Become a Champion of TSR and Support TSR’s campaign against Wizards of the Coast!

TSR is taking a stand against Wizards of the Coast (“WOTC”) and its wrongful bullying of TSR, our trademarks, and its public libeling and slander of all those who helped create TSR based Dungeons & Dragons and products.

Wizards of the Coast has continually bullied TSR regarding TSR’s legally owned Trademarks. Wizards of the Coast has refused to answer all of TSR's repeated requests that they show any proof of their claims. Wizards of the Coast has the vast resources behind them and is implying to bring them to bear down on TSR.

The new TSR suffered widespread pushback when it launched, which they blamed on WotC, claiming that they were under a "coordinated assault across various channels being mounted.... by [WotC]" The company announced itself earlier this year, having acquired the TSR trademark after the previous holder accidentally let it lapse. It was run by Ernie Gygax, Justin LaNasa, and Stephen Dinehart. After several weeks of controversy, the company split into two -- Wonderfilled (Stephen Dinehart), and TSR (Ernie Gygax and Justin LaNasa).

TSR - TSR3 Blames Widespread Pushback On WotC

In an unexpected turn of events, the primary individuals behind TSR3 have claimed the pushback they've received on social media and elsewhere was orchestrated by .... D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast (a company which has thus far remained completely silent on recent events). TSR3 is run by...

www.enworld.org

The page also indicates an intention to "fight to have WotC's legacy product disclaimer removed" from older products (that's the disclaimer on the older books available on DMs Guild which indicates that those books are products of their time) by claiming that the disclaimer portrays the creators of those older products as "as supporting those alleged prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry, wrongfully claimed to be part of those products".

TSR will also Fight to Have the WOTC Legacy Disclaimer Removed

TSR is suing WOTC for Trademark Declaratory Judgement of Ownership . TSR will also pursue in the near future having WOTC remove the legacy content disclaimer placed on TSR based Dungeons & Dragons and other products, and retractions of any other libel and slander which alleges that racism and other heinous beliefs are incorporated into those products.

This disclaimer attempts to make a statement of fact argument, and therefore paints all of the writers, editors, artists and consumers of those products as supporting those alleged prejudices, stereotypes and bigotry, wrongfully claimed to be part of those products. This statement by Wizards of the Coast opens the possibility for the producers and players of these "Legacy Products" to face ridicule, and face the labeling as "bigots", "racists", "misogynists", and worse Cyber & Physical Attacks!

Wizards of the Coast legacy content disclaimer.

"We (Wizards) recognize that some of the legacy content available on this website does not reflect the values of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise today. Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed. Dungeons & Dragons teaches that diversity is a strength, and we strive to make our D&D products as welcoming and inclusive as possible. This part of our work will never end".

TSR3's Justin LaNasa spoke about the campaign in a YouTube video.

TSR - Companies & Freelancers Distance Themselves From The New TSR

The new TSR (which I refer to as TSR3 to avoid confusion) has doubled down on its stance--which has been widely condemned online--via an ongoing series of tweets and replies from its TSR Games, Giantlands, and Dungeon Hobby Museum social media accounts (possibly operated by Justin LaNasa) in an...

www.enworld.org

 

[CleverNickName]

Up to $717 now. Look out!!

One of the (two) comments includes a vague plea for coverage from the Babylon Bee...the right-wing version of the Onion.

The stupidity, it's spreading!

Heh. Michael J. Arellano might be an ENWorld member, and he might be following this very thread! (Hi Mike!) I mean, nothing happened at all for hours, and then I get a response and a new pledge just minutes after I posted about the progress.

His comments are gold. I wasn't aware that WotC had made a mockery of the game, tarnished the legacy of the game, etc. In fact, the game seems to be enjoying an all-time surge in both popularity and profits. D&D is at the top of the charts and breaking its own records every year, with no sign of stopping. The game and its reputation seem to be doing just fine to me.

And I fundamentally disagree that we need a Gatekeeper...we absolutely do not need anyone in that role. However, I do wish that more and more people would publicly voice their objections to 'woke culture.' It would make it very easy for my gaming group (and gaming dollars) to avoid their products.

 

[Orius]

No "flex" is involved here. Merely presenting alternate hypothetical scenarios to make people think before making their minds up about the guy.

Heck, with this crowdfunding, a bunch (including me) are more than willing to accept the idea that it is a scam. Do you think the scam started with the crowdfunding? Maybe Ernie was one of the first victims - "Hey, I snapped up the trademark! If we pool our money, we could make something of this...!" And now Ernie can't afford to leave....

Go ahead - tell me that's implausible.

Everything I've heard about Ernie from those who have known him for a long time, including people I respect, all say a similar thing. He's a genuine nice guy who wants to help people, but is easily manipulated and desperately wants to cement his name in the D&D legacy as more than just "Gary's son." Those latter two things make him especially vulnerable to people like Justin.

I'm not excusing his comments, or saying he doesn't have responsibility (he's a grown man, after all).

That makes all of this even worse.

This whole time, nothing about LaNasa has ever come off as trustworthy to me, and the more I read about him, the worse it gets.

Ooh! It is up to $696!

Probably LaNasa found some change in the couch.

 

[Parmandur]

I bet WotC has told them to stop trying to make claims on Star Frontiers.

 

[Professor Murder]

Sigh. Culture war grifters trying to work yet another subculture. Lovely.

 

[Fenris-77]

Nu-TSR is saving up to unlimber the really big guns. Like this...

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

If you look at the dates of the communication by WoTC (stop this by July 2021), and look at how LaNassa has doubled down with this stupid ridiculous grift....er...fundraiser, if I were a betting man I'd bet he's gonna get crushed. @TSR-Hobbies, you might want to start looking for other work. LaNassa is literally forcing WotC to play their hand. He started it by getting their attention by using the Star Frontiers cover image, and now is threatening to sue them? The one and only thing they are basing their company on is to tie themselves to the old TSR games and confuse people that there is a connection. They certainly aren't basing their company on actual products. LaNassa might be successful in painting himself as the victim by a big corporation to his base (despite him starting this whole mess and forcing them to respond), but he'll lose the one thing his company is built around: capitalizing on the old TSR IP and imagery to get people to pay money to him.

I'm sure Hasbro would rather not have anything to do with this, but their lawyers are probably saying "I get paid either way, so here we go."

My guess is that if (when) they get their asses handed to them in the lawsuit, they're going to start going crazy online trying to rile up whatever their "base" is, and do the whole "we're being silenced/persecuted by a giant corporation" thing all over again, like they tried to do a few months ago.

 

[MGibster]

Give it a decade or two, we'll likely realize other things that are "products of their time" now that we'll have grown past.

You never know. In a decade or two attitudes might shift and they might say, "What's up with all these disclaimers? These people were cry babies. They should know something produced twenty years before they were born is going to have something in it they might find objectionable."

The disclaimer is the most reasonable and unintrusive way to acknowledge that and keeping the original work complete and unaltered.

This I agree with. I think the disclaimer is silly and unnecessary, but it's not intrusive and it's certainly within WotC's rights to publish material they own in the manner they see fit.

 

[Parmandur]

You can download the court filing (and Exhibit A) over at The Tavern

TSR3 Files "Complaint for Declaratory of Judgement" Regarding Trademark and Copyright Disputes with WotC

Oh, hey, yeah, WotC told them to back off of Star Frontiers. Interesting!

 

[Sacrosanct]

My guess is that if (when) they get their asses handed to them in the lawsuit, they're going to start going crazy online trying to rile up whatever their "base" is, and do the whole "we're being silenced/persecuted by a giant corporation" thing all over again, like they tried to do a few months ago.

It might buy them a meal, but it’s a bad play from a business sense. Their base isn’t large. Even many of the OSR fan groups think what they are doing is stupid.

 

[Fenris-77]

It might buy them a meal, but it’s a bad play from a business sense. Their base isn’t large. Even many of the OSR fan groups think what they are doing is stupid.

The number of people who think it isn't stupid can be measured in antique measures of volume that only measure total weight of lobotomized goats.