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]

If they had bothered to come up with an interesting gaming concept and hyped it in a positive way, they'd probably be at 10x that right now and on the way to contributing to the hobby.

Turns out, creating something interesting and affordable, that people will want to buy, is really hard.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Turns out, creating something interesting and affordable, that people will want to buy, is really hard.

Tell me about it....

 

[J.Quondam]

Turns out, creating something interesting and affordable, that people will want to buy, is really hard.

Somehow I suspect that even if making a real game was really "not very hard at all", they'd still choose the whiny route.

 

[Staffan]

If they had bothered to come up with an interesting gaming concept and hyped it in a positive way, they'd probably be at 10x that right now and on the way to contributing to the hobby.
Instead they chose to make a few pennies by complaining about how persecuted they are. Whiny dumbaxes.

Eh, even before this nonsense I'd have been wary of buying into a crowdfunder associated with Ernie Gygax, after the Marmoreal Tomb fiasco.

 

[Ancalagon]

Turns out, creating something interesting and affordable, that people will want to buy, is really hard.

I've published a number of classes for the GLOG system on my blog and people have used them in their games which is very flattering...

... and those cost 0 dollars.

 

[Saracenus]

Can you indeed make another LLC (a legally incorporated entity) a DBA? My understanding is that a Doing Business As name is an alternate trade name or "fictitious name" (depending on the state), but is not a legally-incorporated entity of its own.

You can of course have a separate legal entity which is a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of its Parent company, a Disregarded Entity for tax purposes (meaning it pays taxes through its parent, rather than on its own). Line 2 of a w9 is for both DBA names or Disregarded Entity names, where the taxpaying entity's name goes on Line 1, but to my understanding these are separate concepts. DBAs being trade names or just internal departments or divisions of the single legal entity, and Disregarded Entities being a separately-incorporated entity which is wholly-owned by and pays taxes under the Parent. Technically any incorporated entity gets its own Tax ID; it just can choose not to use it and file through the Parent.

Like I said this gets really complicated fast because nested LLCs are serving two masters:

1) Legal. This is the limited liability aspect that is done at the state level. I cannot speak to various states laws on this because my experience is with only one, Oregon.
2) Financial. LLCs are not Federally recognized business entities and thus they are taxed as either Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, or Corporation depending how the LLC is structured. You then layer in State, County, and Local taxes based upon your entity's location.

I am not a lawyer (I have an accounting degree, but I am not a CPA). Getting into the weeds this far is above my paygrade. This is why my businesses have a really good CPA doing my tax preparation.

The above is not given as legal or financial advice, please consult a professional.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Can you indeed make another LLC (a legally incorporated entity) a DBA? My understanding is that a Doing Business As name is an alternate trade name or "fictitious name" (depending on the state), but is not a legally-incorporated entity of its own.

A DBA (doing business as) is just that- a fictitious name. It's the corporate equivalent of f/k/a (frequently known as).

Example-

You have 666 Peachtree Street, LLC. The LLC owns the assets (the property and business). 666 Peachtree, LLC also registers a fictitious name (dba) of "Mom's Diner." That's what people refer to the business ... as. The actual legal entity remains 666 Peachtree, but it operates as Mom's Diner. A more common instance would be the sole proprietorship- an individual runs a store, and doesn't feel like forming a business entity for the store, so they do a dba (don't do this).

It's like a legally registered nickname. Say my legal name was Snarf Zagyg, but everyone called me "El Guapo." My legal name remains the same, but everyone calls me El Guapo.

Most (all?) states codify their fictitious names for businesses, and require registration of the fictitious name.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Turns out, creating something interesting and affordable, that people will want to buy, is really hard.

Waitaminit…

What if…what if all of this is being filmed like The Blair Witch Project and it’s actually a “mockumentary” to be released on someone’s streaming service?

(Because, in all honesty, this is starting to sound like it was paraphrased from rejected Arrested Development scripts.)

Who will be laughing then?*






* not me, because this stuff ain’t funny, and I don’t stream anything.

 

[Mannahnin]

A DBA (doing business as) is just that- a fictitious name. It's the corporate equivalent of f/k/a (frequently known as).

Example-

You have 666 Peachtree Street, LLC. The LLC owns the assets (the property and business). 666 Peachtree, LLC also registers a fictitious name (dba) of "Mom's Diner." That's what people refer to the business ... as. The actual legal entity remains 666 Peachtree, but it operates as Mom's Diner. A more common instance would be the sole proprietorship- an individual runs a store, and doesn't feel like forming a business entity for the store, so they do a dba (don't do this).

It's like a legally registered nickname. Say my legal name was Snarf Zagyg, but everyone called me "El Guapo." My legal name remains the same, but everyone calls me El Guapo.

Most (all?) states codify their fictitious names for businesses, and require registration of the fictitious name.

Yes, that's 100% in accord with my understanding from the last ten years of working with contracts (though I have no formal education in contract law).

Saracenus' reference to an LLC entity being used as a DBA happened to follow on the heels of me having fairly recently seen a couple of vendor w9s where they listed another LLC name AS a DBA, which didn't seem right, so I figured I'd ask him to confirm, in case I'm missing some special case.

 

[Saracenus]

Yes, that's 100% in accord with my understanding from the last ten years of working with contracts (though I have no formal education in contract law).

Saracenus' reference to an LLC entity being used as a DBA happened to follow on the heels of me having fairly recently seen a couple of vendor w9s where they listed another LLC name AS a DBA, which didn't seem right, so I figured I'd ask him to confirm, in case I'm missing some special case.

Our structure is really a single Parent LLC over two other LLCs. The the sibling LLCs are protected from one another but the Parent can be put into play if the child is sued. The only reason we are structured this way is the Parent LLC has little or no assets to go after and it simplifies the Federal and State tax filings. If we wanted to all three entities equally protected we would have 3 different Tax IDs and the managing LLC would just bill anything it needed (reimbursing Accounts Payable stuff like Lowe's or any other vendor).

Just as a side note we are in the process of moving to a structure without a parent company and each entity will be completely siloed. We sold a property and that LCC is gone leave only one Child left with the Parent and that just doesn't make sense.

Anyway, to the lay person it is just easier to say that taxwise the Parent is the company and the children are DBAs. And in Oregon our CPA refers to the child entity as a DBA. So, that might be an Oregon thing.

Sorry for the derail off the topic at hand but these details are important when you get a penalty phase of suit and a lot of people just don't have a clue how businesses are structured and function in a legal and financial way.

When I got to my accounting capstone my professor told us to took at each other and then proceeded to tell us the most chilling thing in my academic career, "You all in this room are in the top 5% in the US, if not the world, that understand how economic/financial/accounting systems work."

We all looked each other had that sinking feeling because we all understood how little we knew. We were all ready to go apprentice to really learn our profession and that we were in that rare air was not comforting.