A gentleman with opinions

Star Frontiers: New Genesis (Unreleased Beta)

Disclaimer: The unreleased Star Frontiers: New Genesis product written by Justin LaNasa and Dave Johnson is not sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast (“WotC”) or any person involved with the original TSR Inc. It is entirely the product of hate monger grifters with no noteworthy connection to the history of Dungeons & Dragons (“D&D”) and role-playing games in general. The trademark that was registered for it has been cancelled.¹ and ownership purchased by WotC through the bankruptcy proceedings. The game itself was not listed as an asset, so theoretically still belongs to someone. However it is, in all likelihood, never going to be released beyond the “playtest” versions.

Also, this is will be heavily cited in all matters relating to the product, specifically because Justin LaNasa initiated at least two legal actions against his critics (including a Harmful Digital Communication Act complaint against me)

Content warnings: This is a deplorable product made by deplorable people, to do the discussion justice requires the discussion of slavery, sexism, anti-black racism, white supremacy, Nazi ideologies such as eugenics and truly terribly bio-essentialism.

Before TSR LLC went into bankruptcy, and the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum closed, thus essentially guaranteed that WotC would prevail in court – it had a product in the works that was baffling on so, so many levels it defies simply summary.

It was a product that got them noticed and invited into communities for one of TSR Inc’s classic but less well known games. It was a game that initially led people to believe they must have obtained all the proper licensing etc.

That game was Star Frontiers: New Genesis, a game which was announced both as a reboot, and as a spiritual successor, and as a sequel, and so, so many things. Initially it was pitched as being completely legitimate – then as a sort of protest product that seemed to go against everything the original stood for.

It was never released, and as the fate of nuTSR becomes both clearer, and darker – it becomes evident that it never will be – all we have to go off is rumours, and court filings. So, let’s have a look at what (allegedly) might have been:

1
US Trademark #90276506 <https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=90276506&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch>

I watched Alien: Romulus

It’s… not great.

A latest in the weird reboot of the property since Prometheus (2012), this one appears to be an attempt to combat the poor reception to the other movies by going back to the roots. Unfortunately, it appears that Ridley Scott has both forgotten everything that people liked about Alien (1979) and fired everyone who mentions what worked or questions the genius of his new Prometheus ideas. In this case, he didn’t even bother to make it himself, but he did watch it after the fact.

It tries to play the greatest hits, and it seems somewhat inspired by the hit video game Alien: Isolation (2014), but ultimately it falls flat because whenever it has the choice of being a horror movie or trying to be the fresh take… it always chooses the later. I’m not sure how much control director Fede Alvarez had, but this seems to be his third attempt to redo a classic horror and so far… none of them seem to be working.

The saving grace of the film is the amazing standout performance by David Jonsson. It is a brilliant display of talent and craft from beginning to end.

A promo shot of David Jonsson as Andy, courtesy of Disney's presskit.

From here on, there be spoilers:

Vale Pearl

You were an elusive trickster and loving sister to Daisy, and companion to Prudence.

Rest now in the great beyond, snuggling with Pru eternal. I hope you know you were loved unconditionally, despite your habit of escaping or hiding away for weeks at a time.

BABD Crosspost: Baldur’s Gate 3 (Part 2 – Minthara)

Originally written for Bikini Armor Battle Damage.

Okay, I covered the stuff in Baldur’s Gate 3 is mixed and complicated. Let’s talk about an objectively well executed character and visually designed – Minthara.

From a general writing perspective, she’s exactly what I mean when I say it’s not enough to support, women’s rights – we need to support their wrongs. She is complicated, ruthless and villainous in a way we rarely get to see female characters – and every aspect of her design supports and conveys it.

Spoilers below the cut.

Why 3.5E gotta be like that?

So in the recent Slovenly Trulls episode,¹ Shardae asks (screams really) “3.5 E why you gotta be like this!?” in regards to its strange love of adding terrible content that barely qualifies as “edgy” and just pushing it out there like it’s cool.

So, after 29 years of growth, why did Dungeons & Dragons (“D&D”) slip back into being a socially awkward, edgy teenager for 5 years in the way that only product owned by a mega corporation can? Why did Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition (“3.5E“) seem to do a complete 180 from its previous approach of trying to be horny yet accessible to everyone? What was Wizards of the Coast thinking?

Despite the mind-breaking, eldritch incomprehensibility of it we can solve this, we can make it make sense – but to do that we need to go on a journey. So, strap on your Armour of Protection from Evil and grab your Vomit Bag of Holding. It’s history time.

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Lyssa & Shardae Slovenly Trulls # 39: The Devil’s in the Details (1 June 2024, Podcast) <slovenlytrulls.com>

BABD Crosspost: Baldur’s Gate 3 (Part 1 – Introduction)

Originally posted on Bikini Armor Battle Damage.

It’s a great time to be an old school Dungeons & Dragons player, you get to smugly observe millions of people realizing the game is good actually… or at least that the game can facilitate heart touching romances with imaginary, terrible people.

Screencaps to provide front-on photos of Astarion and Shadowheart, similar to a line-up. — (To be clear, I’m not judging you – these two are, but I’m not)

As one of the biggest AAA games of 2023, it’s unsurprising that it’s big and complicated – and there’s a lot that can be talked about with many aspects of it – including female armour and costumes. Indeed, there’s already a lot of commentary on it and community activity, from the confusing, to the life affirming.

It has also been the topic of how corporate practices continually reward those who participate in the creation successful art with notice of dismissal.

And of course, both Dungeons & Dragons and Larian Studios have histories that we’ve touched on before – and I can confidently say it represents a huge improvement in quality, style and attitudes. Plus sometimes their advertising is just gay.

A screencap of the Patch 6 promotion, which was released two days after Valentine's day and used an image of Lae'zel & Shadowheart kissing.

I read: Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress

Published by Wizards of the Coast as part of their 3.5 Edition Dungeons & Dragons (“3.5E“) promotion materials, Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress (2007)¹ (“Confessions“) by Shelly Mazzanoble is a modestly sized book which enjoyed limited success following a very odd release by Wizards of the Coast. It hasn’t generated enough nerd buzz to get it’s own Wikipedia page, and my “new” copy has stickers indicating it has been sold and resold among distributors at least three times.

I vividly remember being on the official Dungeons & Dragons (“D&D“) forums at the time and a thread being created in this book’s honour, with the bold declaration “This thread is a safe space for women.”

Naturally the thread was immediately hijacked by weird Mens Rights Activists (“MRAs”) types who wanted to fight over the whether women were allowed to have a safe space, spewing the theorized projections from The Myth of Male Power (1993)² as though they were long established facts. Moderators dealt with this by periodically reposting “This thread is a safe space for women.”

Largely though, the release was overshadowed by other issues relating to the changes to the Forgotten Realms, such as the thread on The Orc King (2007)³ which was released at roughly the same time and raised the issue of impact of both the Spellplague, and how would kill off the protagonist Drizzt Do’Urden’s ~~woman-as-reward~~wife Catti-brie (until she comes back). Oh and it seemed to reinvent orcs as Emancipation Era African Americans right down to marrying above their race and having their own version of the Ku Klux Klan, the “Casin Cu Calas“.

It’s different because it’s in elven so let’s not think too hard about the implications.

2007 was a wild time for people who played D&D and had any sense of social sensitivity or awareness at all. Weird none of the nerds writing the Wikipedia articles want to talk about that. What’s up with that? Anyway.

So, I never read it during that time but recently decided I should do so to see if it could purge those memories from my memory and my conclusion is – I understand the reason for it less than I did when my only knowledge of it was a bad thread. Only time will tell if scrutinizing and externalizing my observations changes that.

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Shelly Mazzanoble Confessions of Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl’s Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game (September 2007, Wizards of the Coast, Seattle WA)
2
Warren Farrell The Myth of Male Power: Why Men are the Disposable Sex (1993, Simon and Schuster, USA)
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R. A. Salvatore The Orc King (25 September 2007, Wizards of the Coast, Seattle WA)

Prestige Classes, Power Creep and DM Autonomy

So recently the Slovenly Trulls (who I love) did an episode where they tried to puzzle out the purpose of and general role of prestige classes in 3E/3.5E, and why they might have some caveats like “only if your DM approves” and “must stay in x region”.¹

As an old white man who spent too much of his youth reading shit for nerds, I naturally had to rush in and write way too many words. But hey, they like sources and explanations… I hope.

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Lyssa & Shardae Episode 36: Rashemen Gynarchy & Other False Promises (Slovenly Trulls, Podcast, 2 March 2024)

LaNasa v. Tenkar – Dismissed with Prejudice

Throughout out the TSR Saga, there have been many reporting on it – doing varying avenues and degree of investigating. One of those was the proprietor of the Tenkar’s Tavern web presence… who we’ll refer to as Tenkar (who is an old D&D character of his, of course).

Background

Tenkar is a long time player of D&D who has a general interest in role-playing games, which he primarily expresses through his website, Tenkar’s Tavern and the connected YouTube Channel. He is also a former Internal Affairs officer with the New York Police Department and a big advocate for OSR. He also (like everyone) injects his politics and his personal opinions in there, but for the most part here’s what you need to know:

Tenkar did a lot of videos covering the various mistruths and questionable claims of the nuTSR crowd, sometimes with accompanying blog posts writing things up and linking to relevant information.
Tenkar has a lot of opinions on old school games styles, often making videos to discuss the idea of playing now vs then, talking about the principles of OSRIC, etc.
Tenkar also made a consistent effort over the years to expose people trying to grift or otherwise exploit the nostalgia for old school gaming. Ken Whitman, for example, has featured frequently and generally in an unflattering manner since at least as far back as October 2014.¹
Tenkar is wary of the pitfalls of commentary, and takes steps to prepare his receipts and evidence in advance – and to always show the material he’s using to substantiate his opinions.
Tenkar’s long involvement with the hobby, conventions and the history of the hobby have made him quite well networked within the niche hobby.

Naturally this did not bode well for Justin LaNasa, the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum or the nuTSR crowd in general.

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Tenkar A WTF are They Thinking!?! Kickstarter – Castles & Crusades: Blacktooth Ridge (T.V. Pilot) (3 October 2014) <www.tenkarstavern.com>

Giancola v. WotC

So, the Magic the Gathering¹ drama circles have ignited by a public statement² issued by legendary fantasy artist Donato Giancola, calling out Wizards of the Coast³ (“WotC”) over the work of their contracted artist,⁴ At the time of writing it has 1.7 k “likes” and 481 shares.

For reasons that are unclear to me… there seems to be a trend to claim a lawsuit is in the works and that Wizards of the Coast will lose because… some hands look like other hands. So, briefly let’s look at the causes of action that people think are available… and how that’ll go.

At this time, I can’t find any evidence of an actual lawsuit. Anyway, my name is Kim, I’m a law student in New Zealand – I’m not a lawyer, certainly not a US Copyright lawyer and most importantly I am not your lawyer. None of this is legal advice and please, do not take legal advice off blogs or assume you have a confidence relationship like lawyer-client with the a blogger.

1
Wikipedia Magic the Gathering <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic:_The_Gathering>
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Donato Giancola, 26 March 2024, Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/donato.giancola.7/posts/pfbid02sseDdjseRuve7SBXfWAcdKB2vVmjd5fkjZGQv4idrJVteKgeUHJqvGHaDW19y6gZl>
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Wikipedia Wizards of the Coast <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_of_the_Coast>
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Fay Dalton. Personal web site of Fay Dalton <https://www.faydalton.com/about>