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

 

[Steampunkette]

They can be very, very different. Or exactly the same. Both of these terms cover such a broad range of behaviors that entire shelves of books can and have been written on exploring that nuances.

These are vastly over-simplified message-board-chat-level distinctions:

Drag (Queens )(and Drag Kings, women who adopt a male stage personality) covers a wide range of things, all the way from Madea to gay men using it as a way to explore femininity and/or break down gender limitations. Drag performers can be of any gender or orientation. Most Drag performers are just, that, performers. They adopt a female name and pronoun much as an actor might, while they are on stage. Their drag persona is generally not an integral part of their being like gender identification is.

Transgender individuals are people who identify with a gender that is different from the one they were assigned at birth (usually on the basis of their purely physical bits and parts). This is not 'mere' dressing up or a casual decision, but a very deeply felt disconnect from the bits-and-parts level of their sexuality. Some might begin a physical transformation, using drugs, surgery, etc, and some may not. They also cover the entire range of orientations, as well.

Thank you- that was educational.

Allow me to drop some extra knowledge!

Trans identities exist to a wide range of positions! There are people who choose surgical transition (We're the ones that most of the media focus is on) but we're not the majority. Most trans people are Gender Nonconforming. That can mean people who simply prefer other pronouns than the ones you might assume, to those who describe themselves as explcitly nonbinary, agender, or genderfluid!

There's also various cultural gender identities. Did you know that in addition to several cultures having "Third Genders" like Two-Spirit or Hijra, Judaism recognizes -five- genders within their religion and culture? It's really quite cool!

There's also a significant minority of trans people who use hormone therapy and/or "Top" surgery and feel content with that change with no intention of going any further.

A big part of this is that Gender is not "only" biological, but also cultural and performative. Which is why ancient Greeks and Romans thought there was nothing more Manly than a dude bawling his eyes out, beating his breast, and screaming out his painful emotions, while modern America thinks men need to be quiet, stoic, and never cry. It's also why Pink was a "Boy's" color in the late 1800s because it was "Aggressive" and "Strong" but became "girly" because women dressed their babies in what colors they could get ahold of, for the most part!

Here. Have a picture of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt as a little boy!

No, his parents didn't put him in drag in order to make a humorous picture. Babies and little kids of any gender wore skirts to make it easy for parents to whip off stinky diapers until they were old enough to take care of their own bathroom habits. It was just easier. There was nothing "Feminine" about it.

And here's his successor, Taft, with his sons Robert and Charles, 50 some odd years later.

Because of the way gender presentation changes, culturally, people often feel like they don't fit. They're just not often called "Transgender" through history.

 

[MoonSong]

For many trans people, at least. An analogy that might or might not help: I have a family member who has been sober for about 30 years now. When he used to drink, he went by Mike. When he stopped drinking, he started going by Michael. He can’t stand being called Mike any more because it reminds him of the person he was when he drank. The analogy isn’t perfect of course, but I think it kind of gets the idea across. We associate a great deal with names, so being referred to by a name that you associate with a version of yourself that you want to leave behind you can be pretty painful.

Like I say, names matter.

 

[BPIJonathan]

I don't see how anyone at TSR³ could have possibly thought this was a good idea. This shows a profound lack of planning at the very least.

I know it's probably too late to matter, but if they somehow manage to survive this with any dignity intact, I hope they hire a publicist. A very good one, with a strong background in social media. (They won't, and they won't, but hope springs eternal.)

You know the only good thing I see to come out of this is this: TSR³ That would have made a pretty neat logo. Too bad they are such a dumpster fire.

 

[barasawa]

I haven't heard a whisper of WotC or WotC employees saying anything against them or in any way encouraging anyone else to.
Let's face it, it's the 2020s on the internet. If you so much as sneeze wrong somebody might freak out.

Still haven't seen the original post, or a complete copy (heck, not even an incomplete copy), by Ernie that got somebody riled up, just a lot of people complaining about it and him. Without knowing what was actually said, other than rumors or hearsay, I'm not taking a side.

As to gamers, a third group to hoist the TSR flag is obviously going to come under scrutiny and derided until they prove themselves worthy.
Sorry, but being a Gygax is not the same as being Gary Gygax, and even he had issues.

Those statements about "somebody might get hurt" are rather vague.
Is somebody threatening them? If so, call the cops.
Are they threatening somebody? If so, stop it, and somebody else call the cops.
Are they pointing out the reality of now where psychos will shoot you for not agreeing with them, or worse yet not wanting them to spread the plague in your business? If so, welcome to reality bubs, it's a bit late for a warning.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

But we're not disputing Twitter IS a cesspool, right?

This is a pretty tired position/joke/whatever. Facebook is bad. Twitter is bad. Reddit is bad. Forums too, right?

It's all just people talking, and it's often as gross or as interesting as people are, and as you want it to be. To me Twitter is the best possible source for breaking news, but only if you follow the right people (hint: reporters you like and trust, not your friends or some randos who just aggregate). And while I don't use it for RPG news, Twitter posts have driven much of this entire episode we're talking about, including the infamous "You are disgusting" exchange.

I'm not saying anyone should like or use Twitter, but just realize those blanket "ah what a mess!" dismissals are just sorta...pointless?

 

[Cadence]

Still haven't seen the original post, or a complete copy (heck, not even an incomplete copy), by Ernie that got somebody riled up, just a lot of people complaining about it and him. Without knowing what was actually said, other than rumors or hearsay, I'm not taking a side.

The interview with partial transcription is at TSR - Ernie Gygax on New TSR, WotC Beefs, Trademarks, Licensees, 5E, & More

Links to that interview and some other things, as well as some follow up tweets are at TSR - Companies & Freelancers Distance Themselves From The New TSR

 

[Zardnaar]

Twitter is a complete cesspool anyway and sane people don’t give it any credence. It’s an open secret that marketing departments are constantly surprised that it doesn’t actually reflect their customer base. The sorts of maladjusted social misfits who engage in this high school melodrama Garbage are not the kind of people you want in the hobby anyway.

Ernie was an idiot for using social media and now he’s paying the price. I don’t have any sympathy for him because it’s been public knowledge for years now that Twitter is a cesspool. I can’t say more without violating the no politics rule.

This person gets it.

It's like a strategy game but the games rigged. The winning move is not to play.

Generally I don't watch broadcast TV or post on social media outside forums. IDK how to follow someone, post a meme or share anything.

Waste of time.

 

[Charlaquin]

Those statements about "somebody might get hurt" are rather vague.
Is somebody threatening them? If so, call the cops.
Are they threatening somebody? If so, stop it, and somebody else call the cops.
Are they pointing out the reality of now where psychos will shoot you for not agreeing with them, or worse yet not wanting them to spread the plague in your business? If so, welcome to reality bubs, it's a bit late for a warning.

I believe they’re trying to insinuate that “the woke mob” is dangerous. A less charitable reading might be that they’re trying to incite stochastic violence, but I don’t think that’s the case. This looks more like an attempt to cast themselves as victims to me than an attempt to stir up action,

 

[Zardnaar]

I believe they’re trying to insinuate that “the woke mob” is dangerous. A less charitable reading might be that they’re trying to incite stochastic violence, but I don’t think that’s the case. This looks more like an attempt to cast themselves as victims to me than an attempt to stir up action,

My understanding is they're deliberately trying to provoke violence to force people to pick sides. Much like the 1930's.

They can't convince enough people to support them scaring then as the least bad option is my 2cp.

People don't make rational decisions while scared or in other heightened emotional states.

 

[CleverNickName]

I believe they’re trying to insinuate that “the woke mob” is dangerous. A less charitable reading might be that they’re trying to incite stochastic violence, but I don’t think that’s the case. This looks more like an attempt to cast themselves as victims to me than an attempt to stir up action,

My understanding is they're deliberately trying to provoke violence to force people to pick sides. Much like the 1930's.

They can't convince enough people to support them scaring then as the least bad option is my 2cp.

People don't make rational decisions while scared or in other heightened emotional states.

Yeah, I think you're right. It sounds more and more like a desperate attempt to appeal to his supporters to do his fighting for him.

TSR3 is in a very bad situation. GenCon and the Game Manufacturer's Association have explicitly and publicly cut ties with them, and that's a killing blow for a game company hoping to sell itself on the names "TSR" and "Gygax." Without GenCon and GAMA, a new RPG product will never reach the majority of distributors, investors, and customers of an already small market.

So the situation is growing desperate, and Ernie is in damage-control mode. He could choose to issue a heartfelt apology, make amends to those who have been hurt, and show us examples of how his company intends to change for the better. Or he could choose to stand by his words, insult those who challenge him, and claim to be the victim of an imaginary monster, all in the hope that his online supporters will rally to his aid. And well, you know the rest...