Latest TSR / Justin LaNasa Screenshot Dump Post & More

Ah, you just gotta love Justin LaNasa. When he isn't encouraging female employees to wrestle in grits, he's mocking gamers - the very community he wants to fleece. Justin has decided it's best to antagonize. Similar to Ken "Whit" Whitman, he thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Like Ken, he thinks he can intimidate his way to success. But then he shows traits similar to Zak Smith and blocks anyone on social media that dares to question him. Hell, he even shows shades of Gareth Skarka, being addicted to Twitter. LaNasa has defined himself as the cartoon villain of the OSR, if not tabletop gaming in general. No easy feat, as we already have had our Bob Jr. incident. Oh wait, there's a bit of Bob Jr in LaNasa too because as I'll show below, Justin MIGHT be a bit racist. Maybe. Just don't hold it against him.

Below you will find screenshots that show Justin LaNasa, the newest version of TSR, as well as the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum, in their own words. Initial screenshots will be on this page, later ones will be linked via DropBox (as this page will get slow to upload if I drop them all here). If I include private conversations, the parties other than the ones listed above have given me explicit permission to share. Additionally, there will be links to videos and articles on the above subjects from both sides of the argument as I come across them. I offer this to bloggers, podcasters, vid-casters, and news organizations to use as they see fit. A mention or link back is appreciated but not necessary.

This page is a living resource. When it initially goes live, it will be, by necessity, incomplete. Screenshots and links will be added as found. Screenshots and links can be sent to tenkarstavernAT that gmail thing.

Note: This is literally being updated right now. Links and Videos are still being added, and likely will be completed within the next few hours - until there are more - Tenkar 6/26/21 2232 EDT

ENWorld: TSR (2) Confirms TSR (3)'s Acquisition of Trademark, Ernie Gygax on New TSR, WotC Beefs, Trademarks, Licensees, 5E, & More, The Mystery Deepens -- Jim Ward Knows Nothing About A New TSR!  TSR Announces a Star Frontiers Reboot, TSR Is Back.... Again!

Tenkar's Tavern: If I Had to Choose Between Luke Gygax and the Latest TSR..., Erik is Prophetic with Regards to Folks not Getting Trademarks, TSR Trademark Assigned June 16th - Let the Flurry of Pointless Announcements Begin!

The Other Side: TSR's Not So Great Start

Start at 44:10

If I Had to Choose Between Luke Gygax and the Latest TSR...

 

https://twitter.com/tsr_games/status/1408617566176690178?s=21&fbclid=IwAR0z-Px8JlvJZwRdYibEmH-RsUKTTwVHpfo25upCtXwcTuB0fri5V3oYGIc

I'd choose Luke. No hesitation. No question.

I'd say I'm sad to see TSR go down in flames, but this isn't the TSR of old risen from the grave. It's a carpetbagger tugging on the heartstrings of nostalgic gamers, seeking to pick their pockets - or worse - roll them in a dark alley and leave them naked, bereft of all valuables.

This TSR is built off of deceit. Not just from how they jacked the TSR logo, but their use of imagery copyrighted by WotC to advertise their unwritten projects and their undated convention.

I stand with Luke.

I'll get that document and screenshot dump out later today, so others can do their own due diligence of this TSR.

Tenkar

Deal of the Day - Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting

Sometimes all you want out of a setting is useability. Midlands is that and more. Normally 10 bucks in PDF, until tomorrow morning, Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting is a mere 5 bucks. (a huge thanks to a Tavern Regular for the heads up)

But what do you get? A setting, tools, and more!

The Midlands PDF (original version softcover/hardcover available via Lulu) is 365 pages of low magic, low prep, customisable sandbox, in a “points of light” medieval fantasy realm. The setting is written for the Low Fantasy Gaming RPG system, a d20 variant under the OGL, but is easily adapted to any fantasy RPG.

The Midlands is half setting, half DIY toolkit (per the Contents in the preview); filled with tables and tools to assist the GM to run an improvised sandbox, including fifty Adventure Frameworks to sprinkle around the region (mini adventures with enough meat to kickstart an adventure, but enough flexibility to expand/adapt to player choices).

The Midlands' main themes include:

Grim Cities - Humanity shelters behind six isolated, walled cities, struggling for opportunity.

Deadly Outlands - One hundred leagues of trackless wilderness, plagued by skorn, thuels, & monstrous beasts.

Dangerous Magic - Sorcery was not meant for mortals; magic is rare, dark, & inherently dangerous.

Silent Gods - Deities are ineffably distant; offering no miracles, nor intervening in the world in any obvious way.

Ancient Mysteries - Despite the dangers, the wilds beckon with crumbling ruins, lost treasures, & forgotten secrets.

Free Downloads - High resolution images of the isometric Region Map, Six City Maps, 1st level Pregens, Illustrated Character Sheets & GM Screen Inserts are available for free download via the Low Fantasy Gaming RPG site.

Hex Map - As of Feb 2019, a top down colour Midlands Hex Map (with and without labels) is separately available for $5 via DTRPG.

Open Game Content - For those interested in publishing related materials, the vast majority of the Midlands is designated Open Game Content under the OGL.

 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Kickstarter - A Discordance with Dzyvatz (DCC RPG)

I love it when I have the PDF in hand when I post about a current Kickstarter. I'll give A Discordance with Dzyvatz a proper review this weekend. I've given it a quick perusal and it looks fun as hell.

Obviously, it's already written and laid out, so there should be little if delay in delivery.

A Discordance with Dzyvatz is 8 bucks in PDF, 20 for print plus PDF.

The Black Root of Abysmal Domination, sent to the material plane to beguile all humankind by Dzyvatz, a demon with a thirst for power and followers. His initial attempt was foiled, but the power of the root perseveres. Now a band of adventurers must destroy the root before it sews chaos across the land. This will be no easy task—the root must be returned to the domain of Dzyvatz, the depths of the Abyss!

A Discordance with Dzyvatz can be run as a standalone, level 5 DCC-compatible adventure or as a follow-up to The Tainted Forest Near Thorum in Crawl Fanzine #4.

The adventure is written by Yves LaRochelle, the author of The Tainted Forest Near Thorum and creator of the Gnome class from Crawl! Fanzine #6. This 40-page adventure has been given the Purple Pirate Games treatment and is packed full of original art on every page. It's simply beautiful. It features 6 hand-drawn maps, new monsters, new magic items, a new DCC character sheet, and printable status tokens for Abysmal Evolutions (found in the adventure).

The book will be of the same quality as our previous offering, Secrets of the World Harvesters, saddle-stitched and printed locally on 8 1/2 x 11 premium silk paper. I'll personally pick up the books, so there's no wait.

 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

The Newest TSR - Talking Crit Special with Bad Mike & Tenkar

Earlier tonight Bad Mike and myself recorded our weekly Talking Crit YouTube episode. This week's episode was focused on the latest iteration of TSR, which has certainly been making waves and news in the past week or so.

We knocked on nearly 50 live viewers in our audience at one point, and actually did show prep and used visuals ;)

I'll be adding a follow up post later this week to supply other bloggers, YouTubers and such with the resources Mike and I used for tonight's episode, including many screen-caps that did not make it on the air (once identifiers have been removed where necessary). I expect this will be up Friday. Feel free to use.

Without further ado, tonight's special episode:

Kickstarter - Cha'alt After Dark (OSR)

To my surprise, it looks like Venger is going back to his OSR roots. Not O5R, but truly OSR. 

I've said it before and it bears saying again. In my honest option, Venger was best when he first hit the scene, before he tried to rely upon shock or create his own scifi system. It wasn't the soft porn references I found offensive, it was O5R and trying to bring the shock level up to 12.

V has an amazing ability to write useable adventures and his presentation is often second to none. Sadly, some of his attempts at attention gaining actually distracted from him gaining traction. Hopefully, Cha'alt After Dark is a return to Venger's early days, just with more sleaze. I suspect it is.

Normally, Cha'alt adventures are on the edge of "family-friendly".  Ok, maybe over the edge.  Cha'alt After Dark, on the other hand, is way off the map.  We're into darker and sleazier territory now, hoss.

Buy-in is 5 bucks for the PDF or 15 bucks if you want all of the Cha'alt releases in PDF thus far. There are also hardcover options.

For 5 bucks, it's a no-brainer.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

DTRPG Sales and Freebies for the OSR & Beyond

There are some OSR sales (or just dirt cheap PDF pricing) and OSR adjacent freebies on DTRPG at the moment. Here are some quick links:

Top Secret: New World Order - Price: Free

The new espionage role-playing game from Merle M. Rasmussen, creator of the first espionage role-playing game

The White Queen - a Top Secret New World Order mission - Price: Free

Tall Tales BX Wild West RPG - Price: 1.99

TALL TALES is a wild west-themed retro-clone intended to be compatible with the original fantasy RPG. The rules presented can be used as a complete game or a companion to fantasy games using the same overall system. This book is a resource for Referees to pick and choose from!

The Front World War II RPG - Price: 1.99

Welcome to THE FRONT. This is a WW II Roleplaying game that lets you game in a world at war. The Front roleplaying game is a streamlined roleplaying game that uses the Original 1970s  rpg as its base. Just roll and play. It’s time to be part of the Greatest generation!

Tome of Horrors (5e) - Normally 29.99 - On Sale for $10 - MUST USE LINK FOR DISCOUNT!

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Erik is Prophetic with Regards to Folks not Getting Trademarks

 

First off, a little background about me: I've got degrees in Library Science, Information Systems Mgmt, Business Management, and HR Management (the last one doesn't have much bearing here, but if I'm listing my education....). I've run a few small companies and have done some small business consulting....enjoyed it actually, but I really dislike trying to "drum up business" so I don't do it much anymore.

Between my education and experience I've learned a lot about forming a company, from a legal compliance aspect, and trademarks/copywrite.

Yeah....Erik called it yesterday, "TSR Trademark Assigned June 16th - Let the Flurry of Pointless Announcements Begin!"

For some reason I was actually surprised when I go this off of Google news:

Now I read the article and wow, just wow. Now I do realize that actual writers/journalists, unlike bloggers, don't write the titles to their articles, BUT if you read the article (just click the pic above), you might come to the same conclusion as I have that the title accurately depicts the contents of the article.

I'm not hating on Jr. or TSR, but this is clearly NOT a "relaunch" of an old company. This is a brand-fricken-new-company with no legal ties to the old company, despite the fact that there are personal ties to the old company and whatnot. A lot of people just don't understand the difference.

I'll try to explain, but first off....have you seen "The Distinguished Gentleman" with Eddie Murphy? The gist of the film is that Eddie' character, Thomas Jefferson Johnson, is a con man and when he learns that his state's Congressman, Jefferson Johnson, has passed away before an election he runs in his place. By just using his middle and last name, the con man gets elected as a Congressman.

I'm not saying that the new TSR or Jr. are con-men, but there is a bit of an analogy. In a real and legal sense companies are basically people. When the old TSR became WotC and then became Hasbro it was more like a name change for a "regular person". Now TSR didn't "die" like Jefferson Johnson did in the movie, but basically its name did. You see TSR and WotC might now be known as Hasbro but in a legal sense they still kept a hold on to their old names. Think of it maybe like someone who goes by one name in High School, another in College, and then another (maybe they got married or something) after college, but when they go "back home"....like maybe a High School reunion, they get called by the old name everyone from back then knows them as. With this analogy, the old TSR that is now Hasbro legally let the old name (Trademarks) "die" so they simply can't go "back home" and let people call them that old name....because somebody else is using it.

Trademarks are basically just fancy names representing a legal entity. When you reserve a trademark, it has to be designated for a specific audience, AND you have to make sure that you protect that name. Simply paying to register one isn't enough. You know how people tend to use Kleenex to describe any facial tissue? Yeah, "we" can do that, but if a company making facial tissues calls their product Kleenex they are getting sued to oblivion because the actual Kleenex has to defend their trademark. Evidently Hasbro, or more than likely Hasbro's legal compliance team, let the various TSR trademarks "die" by not renewing them. Since the legal entity that was TSR became Hasbro and Hasbro still makes RPGs, as long as they maintained (and was willing to defend) the old trademark, it was theirs.

Once they didn't care, those trademarks were up for grabs. Literally that's all this is...a name. No intellectual, or real, property goes with the name. I've seen folks think that just because you now have an older company's legal name/trademarks you have X,Y, or Z from the old company.

Nope.....all you have is a name. In the movie Thomas Jefferson Johnson didn't just "get" all of Congressman Johnsons "stuff" because he now was using the same name. He did get a lot of "stuff", but only because the Congressman's widow gave it all away. Hasbro isn't giving up anything other than some old trademarks.

I wish TSR all the best and I hope the new company works out well for them, but this is not a "re-launch" of an old brand, but a new company using an old name. Don't expect to be getting new reprints of old TSR product or anything......

.......maybe I should have used Face Off for my analogy?