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

 

[Parmandur]

What do you suppose "before someone gets hurt" means here?

Probably trying to indicate that The Man and the Woke Mob are gunning for them. BS market, basically.

 

[Abstruse]

Listen...if Wizards of the Coast wanted to launch a "coordinated attack" on TSR Games (LaNasa), they would have started with a Cease & Desist order if not a flat out lawsuit for copyright infringement for using the original Star Frontiers artwork (which they own) in promotion of their "reboot", or for the use of copyrighted TSR artwork owned by Wizards of the Coast including the logos from the 70s and 80s (trademark only protects rights to use text and images in commercial use, it does not grant you the copyright to that text or images).

In fact, unless I missed something, Wizards of the Coast has been very quiet about this entire thing.

Of course, the whole thing is a paid conspiracy and everyone speaking out against TSR Games (LaNasa) is getting paid for it. Which if true, somebody owes me a big check for my viral Twitter thread.

 

[CleverNickName]

What do you suppose "before someone gets hurt" means here?

That phrase gets thrown around a lot in certain forums online that I won't mention (the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here.) I think the gist is to make something sound more dangerous and urgent than it really is, which is supposed to to hasten an aggressive reaction from their readers.

 

[Parmandur]

Listen...if Wizards of the Coast wanted to launch a "coordinated attack" on TSR Games (LaNasa), they would have started with a Cease & Desist order if not a flat out lawsuit for copyright infringement for using the original Star Frontiers artwork (which they own) in promotion of their "reboot", or for the use of copyrighted TSR artwork owned by Wizards of the Coast including the logos from the 70s and 80s (trademark only protects rights to use text and images in commercial use, it does not grant you the copyright to that text or images).

In fact, unless I missed something, Wizards of the Coast has been very quiet about this entire thing.

Of course, the whole thing is a paid conspiracy and everyone speaking out against TSR Games (LaNasa) is getting paid for it. Which if true, somebody owes me a big check for my viral Twitter thread.

I'll wager they did finally get Hasbto CDO, hence the weird panic.

 

[Yaarel]

That's my feeling as well. It looks an awful like that when someone joins a cult.

A way to clearly and unambiguously identify a cult, is by how they treat former members.

If people who no longer adhere to the organization are still treated in a friendly way, then it is a healthy organization.

However, if people who no longer adhere are shunned and demonized, then it is a 100% cult. It doesnt matter what kind of organization it is.

 

[Scribe]

What do you suppose "before someone gets hurt" means here

Considering the victim act being pulled this entire time? The insinuation would be that he feared for himself, as he feels (somehow) threatened by Wizards.

This entire travesty is sad and weird enough on its own, I don't believe we need to imply anything more than what is already on display.

 

[Dausuul]

Seems to me that much of this could have been avoided if they had just marketed 3SR as a "return to RPGs with a wargaming lineage" and focused on being an alternative to narrative-heavy games which have become more popular in recent years. I imagine they'd have found an audience. That they chose to pander to the absolute dregs of this hobby is a disappointing choice.

Let's be honest, they were never going to do that. Ernie's track record with projects like this is abysmal--has he ever in fact delivered anything he said he was going to? And LaNasa is a green dragon, he just breathes poison. There are plenty of folks in the OSR right now delivering quality games; all TSR(3) brought to the table was a famous name and a questionable trademark registration.

 

[Ancalagon]

A way to clearly and unambiguously identify a cult, is by how they treat former members.

If people who no longer adhere to the organization are still treated in a friendly way, then it is a healthy organization.

However, if people who no longer adhere are shunned and demonized, then it is a 100% cult. It doesnt matter what kind of organization it is.

I'm not sure if that's the only criteria...

... buuuuut it's a 1000 foot tall red flag.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Anyone else think it would hilarious if there was a way for Jayson to re-register those Twitter handles now that they are deleted?

 

[Dessert Nomad]

Seems to me that much of this could have been avoided if they had just marketed 3SR as a "return to RPGs with a wargaming lineage" and focused on being an alternative to narrative-heavy games which have become more popular in recent years. I imagine they'd have found an audience. That they chose to pander to the absolute dregs of this hobby is a disappointing choice.

If they had just taken a positive track, they could have done what another poster mentioned is called 'white-labeling' and just offered to let game designers sell their game under their label for a fee or cut of profits. The Gygax and TSR names could work for that, both sides would come out better (TSR gets the fee, indie game designer gets more recognition) and there'd be no need for controversey or for Ernie to actually do much work. It's obviously not a $1 billion/year setup like 5e is, but I would expect it to make pretty good money with low overhead.

Instead we get this tire fire that's going... I really don't know. I'm not sure how they expect to make any money off of this, and I kind of doubt that it's good reach for far-right types since we've already seen them object to Ernie's semi-pologies.