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 Justin LaNasa, Stephen Dinehart, and Ernie Gygax. The controversy has been raging for over a week, since TSR3 announced itself with a press release.

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

Stephen Dinehart and Ernie Gygax have since deactivated their Twitter accounts; Justin LaNasa doesn't appear to have one, but it is believed he is the person operating TSR3's Twitter account. A couple of days ago, Ernie Gygax posted about recent events on Facebook (note that he edited the post, but the original can be seen here).

I wish to state in the strongest terms that I never meant to hurt anyone of any race, creed or color. My video From the Bunker caused some to feel that they would not be welcome or would be looked down upon. That was never the intent, I was reacting to focus of modern role play into a more background and Role Play rather than the wargame that so made so many lives happy over 40 years ago.

As a gamer it meant that most of us were not worthy of any attention from others of our own age. We were Nerds. We were brainy-acks and others would snicker. Older classmen would ask to "borrow" something of ours to then pass back and forth a game of keep away. I used to receive some special attention from about 4 Juniors in my Freshman year. I played the Violin and often I began to wish that I had Super Powers, perhaps become a Giant.. I was far to shy and then embarrassed as attractive ladies would just lower the eyes while the jocks or other socially vibrant fellows had some fun at another geeky nerds expense. Thank goodness I grew 4 inches my junior year.

The only real comfort zone we all could share was a table in the lunch room. At least the fledgling TSR found fertile minds in those who had only those like us - gamers. Rather than have to risk embarrassing myself, since Phy Ed was going to force us to dance with those wonderful and yet scary girls. Well to get my Diploma I had to slave for a month to Mr. Gerber the head of the Phy Ed department. Fortunately I knew all about janitorial work as before D&D and TSR dad only made $5,000 as a Cobbler (five children) and we had food stamps and even free school lunches. Yes you had to go to the councilors office every week to collect your free lunch passes. Obviously you could feel all the eyes on you and the talk about....

Everyone has been welcome at my gaming table and multitudes of new friends have been created by the time spent playing the games we Love. Look at pictures of gaming on my site or anywhere I run games. Everyone is welcome, just like a Boot Hill game leave your guns at the bar until you leave town. If you come to the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum Jeff R. Leason will show you courtesy and a smile and you will see that gaming with elder gamers is a safe and entertaining environment.

TSR - Ernie Gygax on New TSR, WotC Beefs, Trademarks, Licensees, 5E, & More

A YouTube channel, 'Live From the Bunker', interviewed Ernie Gygax about the new TSR. I've watched and decided to try to transcribe the most relevant parts of it, but the full hour-long video is below if you want to see the whole interview and full context. Ernie Gygax is one of D&D...

www.enworld.org

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

In a reminder that we shouldn't trust LaNasa in any capacity, my brother pointed this out (from Justin LaNasa - Ballotpedia):

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about those donor names that seems familiar...

Looks to me like LaNasa is trying to make a conspicuous martyr of himself. He's had political ambitions in the past, maybe he still has them. 'I was oppressed by the Woke Mob and all i got was CANCELLED and this lousy t-shirt, ask me how' is a sales pitch that can get you attention and publicity in certain media circles. I suspect he's trying hard to pull those political/media levers, even though WotC seems to be bent on giving him as little as possible justification to do so.

 

[Azzy]

He keeps trying to duck responsibility and find an easier way out than self-crit, a sincere apology and change of tack.

I am such a D&D nerd that my first though upon seeing "self-crit" was not "self-criticism", but instead "self-critical hit". Though it appears that Ernie has done just that—performed a self-imposed critical hit.

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

I see a lot of other conversation happening but this ... this is infuriating :
"We created this business."
No. No you didn't.
In fact none of the people running this new TSR have created much of anything. On top of being clueless and everything else you've managed to demonstrate this past week what have any of you done in the RPG industry over the last 40+ years? Just about nothing.

"We are TSR."
No, you're not that either. Not in the sense you're trying to claim.

This is very much akin to a Stolen Glory situation. Here we have people trying to claim credit for something they have not done. They also want to claim ownership of things they do not own which just adds to the ridiculousness.

On top of everything else they've managed to screw up they can't even get the game stuff and the gaming business stuff right.

 

[imagineGod]

I don't feel that's the right way to look at it, at all.

Ernie took a potshot in a culture war. Why? Dunno. But he did it. He made a choice. He fired first. What followed wasn't bullying, it was simply the consequences of that action.

I'll buy the idea that he didn't know what he was getting into, but that doesn't earn him sympathy, because he was still punching down in an effort to lift himself up. If he couldn't handle people punching back, he shouldn't have stepped into the ring.

Again, this is about consequences. If he had done that interview without mentioning gender issues, if his business partners hadn't decided to call trans people "disgusting", and so on, he'd have been fine. Heck, if he'd practiced what his people preached - keeping his fantasy games separate from reality - and not referenced these real-world problems in an effort to appeal to a market for sales, he'd just be another small-game publisher now. Completely unforced error.

And zi addressed your point. That a callout is different ftom bullying.

However, Twitter is less known for callouts than it is for, "character assassination". I have been online for years and notice a terrible pattern that is rarely called out.

Person A (Ernie) says something bad. No defense gor this.

Person B (Luke) calls out Person A, perfectly valid and right to do that.

Sadly, that is not how social media works. An online blood frenzy starts forming. Persons X, Y and Z, with no direct knowledge of the situation but with bad thoughts about Person A, begin piling in, some with good callouts, but more often just personal attacks and insults that are mean and would be called bully tactics if the target was a beloved entertainer.

Everyone looking from an unbiased perspective sees the role of bully reversed. And a crowd always punches down, it is never considered a fair fight when a lone man stands against a crowd. I saw the Twitter spats that targeted Ernie Gygax. The wave upon wave of piling up on him was a terrible sight.

 

[Gradine]

He did not attack a creed. Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community (or an ally) isn't a "creed". I have never, ever seen it describe it thus. If you had said he had attacked a specific subculture I might have agreed with you (it's not 100% right either, but the difference is small enough I wouldn't have bothered posting about it).

Now, I'm not disagreeing with you about this to be pedantic though, it's an important point because you know him so well. If Ernie also believe that creed "encompasses" sexual orientation, gender expression etc., then his apology looks better. But he needs to realize that to many, creed doesn't "cover" the group he offended, and that this is in part (only in part!) why his attempts to apologizes have failed so badly.

I hope that this commentary will be useful to you.

Yes, this, all of this

 

[imagineGod]

In a reminder that we shouldn't trust LaNasa in any capacity, my brother pointed this out (from Justin LaNasa - Ballotpedia):

View attachment 139397

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about those donor names that seems familiar...

That looks like fraud, but probably, not provable, sadly.

 

[Echohawk]

That looks like fraud, but probably, not provable, sadly.

Or possibly just not particularly diligent data capturing from a longer list of donations.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Regarding Ernie and his now edited bully killing fantasy, in the time period he went to school, mass shootings of students by another student was unheard of. I was in high school in the early 80's too and there was little to no security in schools, yet no matter how many bullied kids thought about this stuff, they just didn't do it. Until the late 90's and Columbine, a mass shooting at a school was a once in a decade kind of thing. So among the bad things that made him a product of the time, knowing better than to live out your revenge fantasy was one of the good things that shaped him. It is not a topic for this thread, or maybe even this site, but it baffles me what changed in kids' heads starting in the late 90's that made acting out these fantasies an acceptable option.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Regarding Ernie and his now edited bully killing fantasy, in the time period he went to school, mass shootings of students by another student was unheard of. I was in high school in the early 80's too and there was little to no security in schools, yet no matter how many bullied kids thought about this stuff, they just didn't do it. Until the late 90's and Columbine, a mass shooting at a school was a once in a decade kind of thing. So among the bad things that made him a product of the time, knowing better than to live out your revenge fantasy was one of the good things that shaped him. It is not a topic for this thread, or maybe even this site, but it baffles me what changed in kids' heads starting in the late 90's that made acting out these fantasies an acceptable option.

But he didn't write that in the 80's. He wrote it in 2021.

 

[Dessert Nomad]

But he didn't write that in the 80's. He wrote it in 2021.

Right - if someone dug up and scanned an old journal where Ernie wrote that in the 80s, 'what it was like in the 80s' would a legitimate defense. But he wrote it 4 decades later, 3 decades later than the 90s where there was a big shift. And it's even worse because the group Ernie was attacking is a group that is much more likely to be the victims of physical violence or depraved neglect from medical personnel than the population at large.

I often have violent fantasies when another driver annoys me in traffic. But I don't write those fantasies out as part of what's supposed to be an apology to a group I've gone out of my way to alienate and expect it to garner me sympathy.