A gentleman with opinions

The Whitman Method

I read it¹ and watched all the videos² so you don’t have to.

That’s right. Ken Whitman, the least trusted man in table top role-playing games (TTRPGs) wants you to watch his videos buy his book so he can teach you how to be a master Games Master(GM) via the magic of Manicipatonts, Porkon Cows, Connectiarg, Envclgments and Coural Done—and I am could not stop myself from gazing into this abyss, now I need to share the curse.

1
Ken Whitman The Whitman Method: Becoming a Great Games Master in the Face of Chaos (2026) Ken Whitman as Ken Whitman Game [Ken’s Book]
2
Ken Whitman (as Whit Whiman) & Google NotebookLM The Whitman Method: Episode 1 — The 12 Steps To Masterful Game Directing (15 April 2026) Whit Whitman (@whitwhitman) YouTube <www.youtube.com> [Ep1]
Ken Whitman (as Whit Whiman) & Google NotebookLM The Whitman Method: Episode 2: Mastering The Essential Session Zero (17 April 2026) Whit Whitman (@whitwhitman) YouTube <www.youtube.com> [Ep2]
Ken Whitman (as Whit Whiman) & Google NotebookLM The Whitman Method Surviving Tabletop Chaos (21 April 2026) Whit Whitman (@whitwhitman) YouTube <www.youtube.com> [Ep3]

Gina Carano – 2 years later

So, a little over 2 years ago I wrote about the hilarity of Gina Carano trying to sue Disney for the consequences of her own actions, namely to compare modern day conservatives to Jews in Nazi Germany.¹

About 6 months ago she reached a settlement with Disney, claiming she was smiling and grateful to Elon Musk for funding her lolsuit. Oh how I laughed. But, was this sincere or just more acting by the former MMA fighter? Well, let’s see.

1
Gina Carano v. The Walt Disney Company, 2:24-cv-01009, (C.D. Cal. Feb 06, 2024) [Carano v. Disney]

I watched: Black Bag (2025)

This film is equally strange for being one of the most expensive and highly produced pieces of fan fiction that completely missed the point – and also for being an incredible attempt by domestic abuser Michael Fassbender to reinvent himself as a character actor placing himself around good actors and looking blankly into space.

The plot is essentially a modern fan fiction of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) but with a complete lack of appreciation for what made the original work – counting instead on there being a lot of talking to have labelled as a psychological and clever.

Between this at The Killer (2023) I am starting to think there’s a pattern here and Fassbender is now basically on a quest to erase past with forced accolades – and Netflix is either trying to make Fetch happen or exploiting him as cheap talent.

Spoilers ahead for Black Bag (2025) and The Killer.

LaNasa v. Tenkar – Defamation how?

So, the sage seemed the saga mostly over. nuTSR was banished via the conditions of a confidential agreement of settlement. The house which had been the source of it was destined to dispense cheese, and the Dungeon Hobby Shop page was reduced to posting weird nonsense. Wizards of the Coast(WotC) had gone back to business as usual.

However, it seems that Justin LaNasa(LaNasa) still wanted to try to make the world a little bit worse. He had already started a defamation suit against Tenkar,¹ but he continued it, lost, and then — seemingly just to set more money on fire — as he appealed the defamation suit against Tenkar.² The one where after two amendments to the complaint, the judge concluded there was no actionable claim.

When discussing the TSR LLC v. Wizards of the Coast LLC(nuTSR v. WotC)³ case, I specifically did not name LaNasa’s lawyer as while I disagreed with some of their decisions – I felt they were sincerely doing the best with what they could work with, and trying to resolve the matter ethically. They did not deserve to be dragged down in the mud with him.

The lawyer in the defamation case, was not. Bernard V. Kleinman(Bernie) from start to finish, was a disgrace to the profession, made a mockery of the process and demonstrated nothing but contempt for the concepts of law and justice. He facilitated a petty grievance and conspiracy theory — apparently pocketing over a hundred thousand dollars while blundering around in an area of law he had no understanding of or apparent respect for.

1
LaNasa v. Stiene, 1:22-cv-05686, (E.D.N.Y) [LaNasa v. Tenkar]
2
LaNasa v. Stiene, 24-1325, (2d Cir.) [LaNasa v. Tenkar II]
3
TSR LLC v. Wizards of the Coast LLC, 2:21-cv-01705, (W.D. Wash.)

Jobst v Mitchell : ROUND TWO!

So, having spent years mocking Billy Mitchell(Billy) and then suffering a humiliating defeat in court against him – followed by declaring bankruptcy and having to deal with an audience who feel betrayed Karl Jobst(Karl) decided to press Start to continue and launched a lawsuit against Billy in Florida.¹

Of course, since Karl is bankrupt, he’s filing this pro se, meaning after losing a law suit in Australia² where he had the best representation that Notch’s money could buy – he is no proceeding without a lawyer in a foreign legal system.

This is not something I would recommend. But, so far Karl seems to have spent $405 US (~$567 Australian) on this so… I guess he’s not taking advice on it. For some reason it makes me think of Llamas with Hats. If you know, you know. If you don’t… you can go watch it I guess?

So, let’s have a look at Karl’s complaint, whether it’s got legs and what the scope of possible outcomes are. The complaint and the exhibit are a mess, so I’m going to try to structure them in a more familiar method and skip going over the entire background.

1
Jobst v. Mitchell, 0:26-cv-60997, (S.D. Fla.)
2
Mitchell v Jobst [2025] QDC 41

I watched: Splinter Cell – Deathwatch (Season One)

So, the reason I played Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction(Conviction) is because I had watched Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch(Deathwatch), the Netflix show led by John Wick writer Derek Kolstad.

Apparently Koldstad was a huge Tom Clancy fan,¹ and enjoyed the games as well – and that makes it very odd how the series diverges from games and from the general approach taken by Clancy. Of course, he was also the executive producer of The Continental: From the World of John Wick mini-series that cast infamous antisemite and all round shitbag Mel Gibson in a major role. So, understanding the audience isn’t his strong suit.

This leads to a weird scenario where it doesn’t quite feel like a Splinter Cell story, or John Wick story, but some sort of third thing that references Splinter Cell while trying to point to the latter. It’s fun, but its also very scattershot in that way which properties designed to try to reinvent a thing by making it more like an unrelated thing often end up being.

I’ve written this to contain minimal spoilers, however it is impossible to talk about elements of characters and narrative without touching on major spoilers – so be warned.

1
Joe Deckelmeier & Grant Hermanns “Netflix’s Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Creator Talks Franchise’s New Era” (14 October 2025) Screenrant <screenrant.com>

nuTSR v WotC (inevitable outcome)

By now it’s a fact of history that eventually, Justin LaNasa(LaNasa) came to a confidential settlement with Wizards of the Coast(WotC) over the lawsuit he started over trade marks he poached for culture war nonsense and profit.¹ This effectively ended his crusade to try to usurp the history to the table top role-playing game(TTRPG) hobby as well as Dungeons & Dragons(D&D).

I think its worth examining the final outcome in order to understand how absurd it was, how many lies it required to keep the campaign going, and how much waste it resulted in for a wet fart of an ending.

The settlement means there’s not really any fascinating statements on trade marks, since we never got to an actual trial and hence a decision by the courts.

Before we commence, I want to clarify that I will not be naming LaNasa’s counsel during these proceedings as – based off what I can see – she was simply doing her job. While I find some of the decisions questionable, based on the rest of the nuTSR ordeal I think she was just doing the best she could.

We’ve seen what she was working with, and a fundamental pillar of law in a free society is even terrible people deserve competent representation. There’s also good odds that she helped him realize he needed to settle.

1
TSR LLC v. Wizards of the Coast LLC, 2:21-cv-01705, (W.D. Wash.), [nuTSR v. WotC] Document #66, 29 May 2024

Gnolls, Hyenas and “Matriarchy”

I’ve been catchup on my Slovenly Trulls episodes, now that I once again have time to listen to slay feminists Dungeons & Dragons lore podcasts. Recently I listened to Gnoll & Beholder¹ and was entertained by Shardae and Lyssa puzzling over the oddity that gnolls are, in all other lore, misogynistic patriarchal assholes… but in Monster Manual IV (2006)² and Dragon Magazine #367 (2008),³ it seems to claim it’s a matriarchy, and specifically explains that the female gnolls are indistinguishable form the males?

What happened around 2006 – 2008 that inspired this fascination with the ideas of gnolls being a reverse patriarchy with reverse dimorphism… that seemed unsourced and faded away?

Or to put it another way, why we all briefly agree that female gnolls had massive alpha male big dick energy? What was the “magic” element?

Allow me to offer my not so humble theory as a ~~wise~~ old man who was active in a bunch of online communities at the time.

1
Shardae & Lyssa Episode #53 “Gnoll & Beholder” (1 August 2025) The Slovenly Trulls
2
“Monster Manual IV” (July 2006, Wizards of the Coast, Seattle WA), at 67-71
3
Keith Baker “Playing Gnolls” in Dragon Magazine #368 Editor-in-Chief: (September 2008, Wizards of the Coast, Seattle WA), at 47-54

GiantsLands: The 3rd Age (2026)

The "Somehow Palpatine returned" screenshot from Rise of Skywalker, but with the GiantLands word art over Palpatine.

Having failed to take the world by storm with GiantLands: The 5th Age (5th Age),¹The Broken Road,² or Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword: Book One³ — Stephen Erin Dinehart IV (Dinehart) has released yet another product he attributes development of to dead men with most prestigious names than his.

So, what is GiantLands: The 3rd Age (3rd Age)?⁴ How does it stand up on the world of table top role-playing games?(TTRPGs)

Essentially its a stripped down version of 5th Age which seems to be set during an ice age. No more alien races, robot people, energy weapons* or familiar geography.

Technology is pre-historic but many of the other elements remains – indicating that the 4th Age (ie the world we live in) is an aberration where nobody gets magic powers or 3 bonus lives. Kind of depressing to think about.

The book stresses that this is is not a prequel, but a foundation. So, with that in mind, let’s look into what the foundation is. The game does use its own terminology, so instead of Game Master we have a Bone Keeper (BK) – that term is never explained, player characters are Spirits and non-player characters are… well they’re non-player characters (NPCs).

Inside the book it claims it was Printed in California, and in the back of mine Amazon says it was Made in Sydney, Australia. This basically sets the tone for the entire thing perfectly. Also, given he recently accused me of a “ongoing defamation” in (of course) a now-deleted-Facebook comment I sent him a right of reply over what I consider the most serious issues raised in this and other posts.

To date, he has not responded.

1
Stephen Erin Dinehart IV & James M. Ward GiantLands: The 5th Age (2021, Wonderfilled Inc, Lake Geneva WI) [5th Age]
2
Stephen Erin Dinehart IV & James M. Ward The Broken Road (2025, Wonderfilled Inc, Lake Geneva WI via Amazon Print-On Demand)
3
Stephen Erin Dinehart IV & James M. Ward Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword: Book One (2025, Wonderfilled Inc, Lake Geneva WI via Amazon Print-On Demand)
4
Stephen Erin Dinehart IV & James M. Ward GiantLands: The 3rd Age (2026, Wonderfilled Inc, Lake Geneva WI via Amazon Print-On Demand) [3rd Age]

Hello Kraliçe

So, last year my wife and I adopted a cat. Specifically a Turkish Angora who was named Kraliçe Kultan (“Queen Bitch”, after a David Bowie song). She is, adorable.

Kraliçe, a white turkish angora, resting on the top of her cat tree.

Every cat is unique, but Kraliçe (Kr-ah-lee-ch-ey) has some special elements that I’ve never dealt with before.

Kraliçe, now napping on my open and running laptop.