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...

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[Rob Kuntz]

The cynicism here is... truly breathtaking.

There, fixed it.

Ahh, thought a new game was coming out, Giantworld or something of that name?

Hi there Morgan'. Welcome back to ENWorld! I note you joined in 2018 and are making your first seven comments in these topical threads! At that rate we should see another seven by the year 2025! Enjoy your current outing. And it's Giant Lands, just to be helpful.

Disclaimer Edit: Posted this as @Morrus was posting and didn't see the warning due to that.

 

[Morgan Zoe Clan Them]

Not sure how many ways or times this needs to be said but if you don’t even know what the discussion is about, and would rather start blindly posting instead of spending 60 seconds Googling for it (or reading the OP which has links aplenty) maybe…don’t comment?

More importantly though, no one, truly no one, cares if you don’t think this is a big deal. You weren’t asked, and you aren’t adding any new info or insights, and you said yourself you aren’t even familiar with what’s being discussed. A cursory search would also show that the game you’re wondering about doesn’t exist in any form that can be assessed. So…what are you doing, exactly?

There, fixed it.

Hi there Morgan'. Welcome back to ENWorld! I note you joined in 2018 and are making your first seven comments in these topical threads! At that rate we should see another seven by the year 2025! Enjoy your current outing. And it's Giant Lands, just to be helpful.

Nice, yes it has been awhile, I have been disappointed in 5E, checking to see if anything better is being produced. So maybe Giantlands is better, anyone know?

 

[Morrus]

Nice, yes it has been awhile, I have been disappointed in 5E, checking to see if anything better is being produced. So maybe Giantlands is better, anyone know?

I asked you to stop posting on this topic. You ignored me. Now I have to give you a vacation from the site, which I hate doing, which irks me even more.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Well, . . . that happened.

I spent yesterday and this morning getting caught up on this topic, and it really freaking angers me that not only have none of Ernie's statements been actually apologized for, but they've been trying to excuse them by him being bullied and being on the Autism Spectrum to make him seem like the victim of this recent crapshow.

I'm autistic. I was bullied in school, all the way from 1st grade to 10th. I know how difficult and how absolutely infuriating it can be to have who you are be a roadblock to connecting with other people, because you just can't seem to get the words out in the right way or understand what other people are saying/implying. I know how painful it is to be bullied, picked on, and excluded from society based on who you were born as instead of anything that actually matters, like opinions/ideas, attitude, and how you treat others. I know how hard it is to be Autistic in this world, but that is absolutely no excuse for being transphobic, racist, and otherwise bigoted, especially against other marginalized communities.

If Ernie as actually autistic, he's been outed by someone that had no right to do that, and it was in an attempt to do a "Gotcha! You're the bigot!" on someone that was criticizing the harmful things Ernie said. I know how much it sucks for someone to say "Oh, they're autistic, they don't have any control of their actions", and I know firsthand how that statement is complete BS and ableist towards the autistic community. If he isn't autistic, that's even worse, because that's the leaders of TSR 3.0 lying in order to try and do the same "Gotcha, bigot!" on a false premise.

Ernie is in control of himself and what he says, even if he is autistic, and especially if the things he said are exclusionary and bigoted. As someone that has been bullied and discriminated against based on who he is, that gives him a higher responsibility to not spread that kind of awful behavior than those that don't know what that's like, because they're simply ignorant/uninformed.

 

[Faolyn]

Edit: Deleted. Person I was replying to is no longer here.

 

[Faolyn]

If Ernie as actually autistic, he's been outed by someone that had no right to do that, and it was in an attempt to do a "Gotcha! You're the bigot!" on someone that was criticizing the harmful things Ernie said. I know how much it sucks for someone to say "Oh, they're autistic, they don't have any control of their actions", and I know firsthand how that statement is complete BS and ableist towards the autistic community. If he isn't autistic, that's even worse, because that's the leaders of TSR 3.0 lying in order to try and do the same "Gotcha, bigot!" on a false premise.

This exactly.

I'm autistic and I don't really mind if random people know because I am going for visibility, and to normalize autism (I used to work with developmentally and intellectually disabled adults for a living, and it always pained me how little people know about these sort of disabilities). But I made this decision for myself and I wouldn't go around talking about other peoples' diagnoses without their express permission.

We don't know if Ernie told LaNasa it was OK to tell the world he was autistic--to the best of my knowledge, Ernie hasn't said that publically. And for all we know, he might not be officially diagnosed with autism but acts in a way that LaNasa has deemed autistic. I've seen a lot of posts on r/rpghorrorstories that contain lines like "So B was a problem player and was probably on the spectrum" and then judging that individual with this non-diagnosis.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The thing that always gets me about this topic is. if we put aside the mountain of crap that is the exclusionary and bigoted language. All of that massive mountain of trouble, let's just act like the people who agree with it and defend TSR3 and say it doesn't matter.

(It does, it totally does, but I'm going somewhere with this)

Then you still have a company throwing around brand names and name recognition like they are divined from the stars, and putting out claims that people who do not work for you are under your employ, and that you are somehow lifted up from the 1970's whole cloth without any gaps.

Seriously? Even if he hadn't said the things he said, I'd expect the community to be raking them over the coals for lying about their employees and hoping to pretend that they have the "old band" back together again. I honestly have to wonder, for all those people who are posting videos and tweeting and pledging to defend Ernie and TSR3 from the "woke mob", do they agree that it is right to lie to your customers about who works for your company? Wouldn't that, alone and by itself, be a death knell for any start up if some of the big names you claim are spearheading your company respond with "what do you mean? I don't work for them."

And then ON TOP of that, we get the whole fiasco. And many many worryingly out-of touch statements like the call out to school shooters. Which anyone in this day and age above the age of 10 should realize has no place in an apology for how you talked about your RPG on a podcast.

Honestly, it is kind of depressing to realize that many people are flocking to try and support TSR3 because they either A) hear the dog whistles and are gathering or B) Heard that little TSR is being bullied by Twitter and WoTC and so they rush to defend them with no idea what is going on.

 

[darjr]

A fool and their money are easily parted. I mean it looks like it's going to have it's own built in karma loop.

 

[TechOgre2000]

A fool and their money are easily parted. I mean it looks like it's going to have it's own built in karma loop.

Indeed. Based on the past actions, the marks will never see any product, unless some other company steps in.

 

[Michael Mornard]

I've known Ernie since 1971. I like Ernie.

I am sad.