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

 

[Umbran]

No.

Mod Note:
Moderator posts are not an invitation to discussion in-thread. Per the Terms and Rules - if you feel a need to discuss, you can raise your points to any of the moderation staff via PM. Otherwise, please simply consider your approach to the thread, and your fellow posters, and move on.

 

[Faolyn]

Actually I was referring to some of the very specific examples you gave such as and I quote, "Person experienced prejudice (possibly severe, possibly just cruel taunts) due to being transgender and now stands up for anyone being hurt for who they are, and will loudly announce that fact." (Faolyn). So this is a prime example of the kind of knee jerk insincere questioning I am talking about. You ask the question and responded not out of a desire to dialogue but rather for confrontation. You say a thing (like the example given above that YOU gave). Then when someone responds you act like they are coming from left field. That particular example is a real world issue.

That was one idea I had. One. I see you're ignoring the others.

Actually no it is not because just playing a gender in and of itself is not saying they left home because of cruel taunts and so forth like the aforementioned example.

What if they left home because of cruel taunts for being a cis-gendered male or female? Imagine a male drow adventurer who left home because of the cruel sexism of drow society.

Or ignore gender: what if they left home because they're a half-whatever and were tormented for that fact? Or because they're naturally magical in a village full of nonmagical people (or vice versa)? Or because they have something else that marks them as different (dwarfism/gigantism, albinism, a really big strawberry birthmark).

Adventurers have a zillion reasons for being adventurers. Being chased out of town is one reason.

Well, first your statement is again a strawman with confrontational intent. I never said there was no reason to bring trans gender people into the game. In fact, again I have said the opposite. What I have said is the fact that they are trans would rarely come up as being trans is not readily apparent per se (as you acknowledged). And, yes many of the very specific examples you gave above (a prophecy that only a transgender person can fulfill...again your example) definitely makes it a campaign focus. I did not say that was good or bad per se but it is a focus yes.

Here's your quote:

Very well. I will accept that argument. Given the scenario provided I would be offended and would want the group (Blacks) to be mentioned in the apology. My only point of contention is that given the above scenario I am still not going to come into the game and DEMAND that the DM say my character is Black. When I do my character sheet and put my character's description in there as Human why would the discussion of real world human race then come up in game? Likewise if I list my PC character as male or female (of whatever origin cis, etc.) Why would the exact nature of the character's gender ever come up again in the game unless I demanded that the DM say my character is trans or something? It would not.

What you are saying here is that if you put "trans" down on your sheet, you are saying it's pointless, because it will never come up unless you DEMAND that the DM make a big deal about it. You then go on to talk about how it would force the game to focus on you and your trans-ness--that basically, by playing a transgender character, you are trying to be a spotlight hog.

 

[OakenHart]

edit- Missed the mod note on what we do in our personal home games not being appropriate for this thread before posting, editing out. My apologies.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

There's a pretty strong sentiment on social media that straight D&D and gay D&D are two completely different games.

The anecdotes in this thread are reinforcing that concept in my mind.

 

[Mind of tempest]

There's a pretty strong sentiment on social media that straight D&D and gay D&D are two completely different games.

The anecdotes in this thread are reinforcing that concept in my mind.

can you elaborate I wish to know?

 

[The Green Hermit]

sealioning

What is this? I haven't heard this term before (except for the actual pest of an animal).

 

[PsyzhranV2]

can you elaborate I wish to know?

Gay people play D&D as if it was Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

(They'd probably be better off playing Thirsty Sword Lesbians instead, unless they really need to scratch that tactical combat itch, but I digress).

In all seriousness, I skimmed the past few pages, so correct me if I'm wrong, but the general perception I got from the discussion was about how "personal" issues such sexuality, among others, are deemphasised or not really engaged with. At tables where the DM and all the players are LGBTQ+, the general stereotype I've seen (backed by ample anecdotal evidence) is that those issues are front and centre. It's not limited to sexuality though; from the play reports and game stories I've read, the entire play culture places a lot more emphasis on the personal moments, the quiet time between the action. A lot less killing, or at least a lot less glorification of killing. A lot more talking. A lot more intimate moments (not necessarily physically so, more social intimacy). This doesn't mean that a play style and culture focused more on social play than combat mechanics is automatically LGBTQ+; it's just that from what I've seen, gay and trans players who are bringing their LGBTQ+ identity to the table front and centre tend to gravitate towards that playstyle.

Also tieflings. Tieflings as far as the eye can see. A few elves here and there, definitely some "monstrous race" presence, but it's under a deluge of tieflings. And say goodbye to any sense of the typical heroic fantasy gravitas; it's either gonna be super sappy and sentimental, or it's gonna be a total farce.

 

[The Green Hermit]

Gay people play D&D as if it was Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

(They'd probably be better off playing Thirsty Sword Lesbians instead, unless they really need to scratch that tactical combat itch, but I digress).

In all seriousness, I skimmed the past few pages, so correct me if I'm wrong, but the general perception I got from the discussion was about how "personal" issues such sexuality, among others, are deemphasised or not really engaged with. At tables where the DM and all the players are LGBTQ+, the general stereotype I've seen (backed by ample anecdotal evidence) is that those issues are front and centre. It's not limited to sexuality though; from the play reports and game stories I've read, the entire play culture places a lot more emphasis on the personal moments, the quiet time between the action. A lot less killing, or at least a lot less glorification of killing. A lot more talking. A lot more intimate moments (not necessarily physically so, more social intimacy). This doesn't mean that a play style and culture focused more on social play than mrchanics is automatically LGBTQ+; it's just that from what I've seen, gay and trans players who are bringing their LGBTQ+ identity to the table front and centre tend to gravitate towards that playstyle.

Also tieflings. Tieflings as far as the eye can see. A few elves here and there, definitely some "monstrous race" presence, but it's under a deluge of tieflings. And say goodbye to any sense of the typical heroic fantasy gravitas; it's either gonna be super sappy and sentimental, or it's gonna be a total farce.

Relationships are relationships. If you want to have them in your games, go for it. If you don't, avoid that situation. That is a table decision that has absolutely nothing to do with the personal sexual preferences of the players. It has more to do with the style of game they want to play.

And just because they choose to have relationships among their PCs and/or NPCs does NOT mean they should play something other than D&D.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

What is this? I haven't heard this term before (except for the actual pest of an animal).

"Sealioning (also spelled sea-lioning and sea lioning) is a type of trolling or harassment that consists of pursuing people with persistent requests for evidence or repeated questions, while maintaining a pretense of civility and sincerity.[1][2][3][4] It may take the form of "incessant, bad-faith invitations to engage in debate".[5]"

Spoiler: Origin of the term

Relationships are relationships. If you want to have them in your games, go for it. If you don't, avoid that situation. That is a table decision that has absolutely nothing to do with the personal sexual preferences of the players. It has more to do with the style of game they want to play.

I'm saying that there is a noticeable correlation between a preference the talk-heavy, relationship-heavy playstyle and being LGBTQ+ and being actively engaged in "queer culture"; not that relationship-focused tables are a direct result of the majority of the players being gay or trans. Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal, but I've seen a lot of people make this observation.

 

[billd91]

Gay people play D&D as if it was Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

(They'd probably be better off playing Thirsty Sword Lesbians instead, unless they really need to scratch that tactical combat itch, but I digress).

In all seriousness, I skimmed the past few pages, so correct me if I'm wrong, but the general perception I got from the discussion was about how "personal" issues such sexuality, among others, are deemphasised or not really engaged with. At tables where the DM and all the players are LGBTQ+, the general stereotype I've seen (backed by ample anecdotal evidence) is that those issues are front and centre. It's not limited to sexuality though; from the play reports and game stories I've read, the entire play culture places a lot more emphasis on the personal moments, the quiet time between the action. A lot less killing, or at least a lot less glorification of killing. A lot more talking. A lot more intimate moments (not necessarily physically so, more social intimacy). This doesn't mean that a play style and culture focused more on social play than mrchanics is automatically LGBTQ+; it's just that from what I've seen, gay and trans players who are bringing their LGBTQ+ identity to the table front and centre tend to gravitate towards that playstyle.

I'm not really surprised. It's easy for issues of sexuality and gender - whether gender identity or sexual preference - to fade to the background when your own demographic is the societal "default". It's not an issue because it has never been contentious as an issue, so it's just background, not important, never been questioned. It's along the same lines as why Straight Pride isn't really an appropriate, positive thing. There's no adversity overcome to be proud of by being straight.
And to be honest, while sexuality came up in previous games I've run (virtually all heterosexual since that's what virtually all of us were in the groups I was in), it only became important when one female player decided to play a homosexual male character in a Cyberpunk game I ran in college... and then came out as a lesbian the following term. I strongly suspect that her playing a gay character, even if of a different gender, was an element of her exploring the ideas swirling in her head about her own identity. So, yeah, I have a better understanding how an RPG can be helpful when open and welcoming to the exploration of gender identities and sexual preferences and I try to run a more open and welcoming game as a result.