A gentleman with opinions

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.

Orcz: Those Pesky Orcz (2024)

So Justin LaNasa (LaNasa) has released Orcz: Those Pesky Orcz. also titled as Those Pesky Orcs, full title: Those Pesky Orcs: A Game About Vile, Corrupt, Aberrant Creatures By Justin LaNasa¹ (Those Pesky Orcz) and… it’s not very good. In fact, in the time that has passed since its release and my writing this, it has been confirmed it is not just bad, but it is a wrong thing that should not exist.

The evidence of this is that on 19 June 2024, the official Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) channel on YouTube released a 41+ minute video² that briefly features a depiction of orcs as like, a happy people with mixed personalities, and roles, and the old school gamers community collectively shat themselves in disbelief.³

A screenshot of Wonderfilled reposting an X post by "Drunkards and Dragons" (@The_DrunkDragon) 21 June
"It's time to start the trend #DnDIsDead after seeing the new players handbook artwork for Orcs." — Yes, Stephen Erin Dinehart IV also tried to jump on this bandwagon.

There was a torrent of raging Twitter posts (X was called Twitter back then), YouTube videos and all the rest about how this could not be – if orcs were not cartoonishly and ontologically evil, it was not D&D.

But literally nobody pointed to Those Pesky Orcs as an alternative, as a product that supplied a better and more correct explanation. That’s how bad it is.

Now it was taken off the market but it seems that it’s now in this weird situation where 3rd party retailers will sell and also if I try to buy it through Amazon Australia they will try to offer me a Print On Demand copy from the USA.

The product claims to be family-friendly, but I feel the need to provide content warnings for the following things that I personally would not expect in a regular tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG): piss-play (consensual and non-consensual), sexual assault, ritual murder, rape, slavery, and human trafficking.

Oh yeah. Welcome to the final release of the nuTSR saga.

1
Justin LaNasa Orcz: Those Pesky Orcz. A Game About Vile, Corrupt, Aberrant Creatures (Adamantite Games, Wilmington NC, 2024) [“Those Pesky Orcz“]
2
“New 2024 Player’s Handbook Reveal | D&D” (19 June 2024) D&D Beyond YouTube <www.youtube.com>
3
Brian Anderson (21 June 2024) Drunkards and Dragons (@The_DrunkDragon) X née Twitter <currently suspended for a rules violation>

Neil Gaiman, consent and New Zealand

So, some things are happening regarding Neil Gaiman (Gaiman) – the formerly beloved fantasy author whose reputation when up in flames when multiple women came forward with stories of coercion into sexual and physical abuse.

One of these women, Scarlett Pavlovich, (Pavlovich) had initially been introduced to him by Amanda Palmer, (Palmer) and was employed by the couple as a nanny. In addition to supplying a truly horrifying story involving physical abuse with a belt, being assaulted in front of the child and non-consensual urine-play – she has sued Gaiman in the US.¹

Currently the case against Gaiman is on appeal after the judge dismissed it without prejudice – essentially claiming that the first course of action should be to try to sue Gaiman in New Zealand.² I have opinions on this ruling, but was waiting to see how it played out – but then a plot twist occurred.

In the background there has a been a Substack account frantically gathering evidence and building theories as to why Gaiman is innocent.³ It was recently signal boosted by Gaiman as “reporting”.⁴

Apparently the author has been identified by his own trail of online breadcrumbs, according to Diana Sterling Jones, he is a buddhist monk who got infamous for various protests – including the Extinction Rebellion that Gaiman supported.⁵

I don’t think I need to explain that the contents of the Substack are bad. It couldn’t be anything but. It complains sources are too vague, or too long – but then the “short reads” are pages upon pages (I picked one at random and it’s more then 3,600 words) and that what they really needed was 46 pages of private messages (because those definitely confirm what happened in real life).⁶Many of them are clearly desperation and grasping for any straw they think will generate sympathy.

The above is roughly 1,000 words of analysing the professional headshot that Vulture chose for an article and inventing ways that its racist – while using similar headshots on the same blog and making similar decisions regarding the other parties they report on.⁷ Also, this Substack was started in April 2025 so they should know about the issues there.⁸

Going over them point by point would be a Sisphean task for even the most passionate and manic investigator. I think everything worth saying about it in general, has already been said by the amazing D’Angelo.⁹

So instead, I want to just examine how far this plea of consent would go in New Zealand – whether there’s a realistic basis that Gaiman would engage with proceedings taking place in New Zealand, and what legal issues might influence his decision to or not to.

Disclaimer: I have a law degree in New Zealand, but I’m not (yet) a lawyer and more importantly I’m not your lawyer. This is a purely amateur analysis. None of this is personal legal advice and you must not rely upon it as such. And please, please, please, do not tell me about any crimes you may have committed.

Also I believe the women who raised the allegations against Gaiman.

1
Pavlovich, Scarlett v. Gaiman, Neil, 3:25-cv-00078, (W.D. Wis.)
2
Scarlett Pavlovich v. Neil Gaiman, 25-2754, (7th Cir.)
3
Technopathy “Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Introduction” (10 January 2026) Substack <technopathology.substack.com>
4
Neil Gaiman (3 February 2026) BlueSky <bsky.app>
5
Diana Sterling Jones “Revealed: Neil Gaiman’s Anonymous Substack Defender is an Activist Monk” (5 February 2026) Shooting The Messenger <shootingthemessenger.blog>
6
“Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Introduction”, above n 3
Technopathology “Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Contents 2026” (11 July 2025, updated frequently) Substack <technopathology.substack.com>
7
Technopathology “Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Racial Hoaxes and Antisemitic Tropes” (8 August 2025) <technopathology.substack.com>
8
Shane Burley “How Deep Does Substack’s Far-Right Problem Run, Really?” (21 June 2024) Ink Stick Media <inkstickmedia.com>
9
D’Angelo (@d-angelo) “neil gaiman is back and creepier than ever” (5 February 2026) YouTube <www.youtube.com>

LaNasa v Wincen (it me!)

That’s right, I’m part of this story now.

This one technically started after the on case against Tenkar,¹ but was resolved quicker due to the appeal,² so I’m covering it first. We’re on the home stretch, I promise you.

Back on 10 March 2023, I was contacted over Facebook, then phone, by NetSafe to let me know that Justin LaNasa (LaNasa) had lodged a complaint about me and they were following process as they were required to do.

On 30 January 2024, LaNasa filed his follow up with Netsafe, and it was immediately put before Judge P R Rzepecky made a decision on the papers to take no immediate action but to refer the matter to a NetSafe technician (as LaNasa indicated it might involve an order to a hosting service), and then proceed with a case management conference and a half-day hearing.

On 12 April 2024 my wife told me there was someone was here to see me, quite confused why someone wearing a stab proof vest with a notice that it was recording on bodycam was there to deliver a giant parcel of documents to me.

I accepted service from a confused bailiff, who was grateful that I understood what it was about. She had been tasked with serving me over 110 pages, and was mostly screenshots without context, with the front cover being written in Lower LaNasian and Netsafe’s summary buried in the documentation.

They say that a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client, so with God as my witness I immediately made a declaration.

Now, I wasn’t a lawyer that the time I received this – but I was a law student so I treated this as a kind of unofficial extra credit job. So, in the spirit of making this a robust analysis, as would be expected of a law student, I’ll be using the CLEO method.

So, let’s talk about that time I got served by the courts over some blog posts and bunch of comments on Facebook (many of which I didn’t even make).

1
Lanasa v. Stiene, 1:22-cv-05686, (E.D.N.Y)
2
Lanasa v. Stiene, 24-1325, (2d Cir.)

Reflecting on January 2026

I’ve never been much of a diary person, but I’m going to start trying to record at least summaries of the months, to help with some self reflection and documenting things… and sharing because why not. I can’t keep everything in Obsidian – and why shouldn’t I share my bookmarks?

A screencap of grey and red nodes joined up in the "graph view" in Obsidian. — This isn’t my main one, this is the one for the weekly D&D game I DM.

The year has been off to a strong start with Microsoft’s CEO begging us to please stop being honest about his core product (ie to stop calling generative AI output: slop).¹ Thankfully the world in general has said fuck that guy. It also weirdly aligned with a games and tech journalist finding out there was someone else putting out articles under the same name, and that they may or may not have been an AI generated fabrication.²

Lady Emily responded to a post I made on Bikini Armor Battle Damage, which was my first star struck moment for the year.

1
Craig Hale “Satya Nadella wants us to stop calling AI “slop” – good luck with that” (6 January 2026) Techradar <www.techradar.com>
2
Nicole Carpenter “I’m Not That Nicole Carpenter” (15 January 2026) Aftermath <aftermath.site>

nuTSR declares BANKRUPTCY!

So, at this point in the saga, the situation was:

Justin LaNasa (LaNasa) had taken out multiple lapsed trademarks, and was claiming his new company TSR LLC was the divine heir to them, and was now having to throw money into a bottomless pit due to having taken Wizards of the Coast to court over it.¹

This was, not sustainable given that is its products were generally bad and it’s convention failed to generate any buzz for obvious reasons. 16 months in, Justin had clearly noticed it wasn’t going great – hence the numerous meltdowns.²

So naturally, in May of 2023, he decided TSR LLC should just go bankrupt, and it was very funny. Yes, normally bankruptcies are tragic and heart breaking but this one was very funny. Bankruptcy was filed for on 8 June 2023.³

The first area of hilarity was Stephen Erin Dinehart IV, (Dinehart) of GiantLands infamy, immediately jumped into try to blame Wizards of the Coast for nuTSR putting themselves into bankruptcy.⁴

It should be noted that the courts never had to decide who owned TSR, but the answer is Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary (not a Doing Business As) of Hasbro.

LaNasa himself chose to amplify this message, but decided to make no effort in doing so – leaving it open to speculation if he’d agreed with Dinehart – a man who he’d previous branded a traitor and put on his haters list – should basically resume his old job as nuTSR’s public relations.

A screenshot of Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum re-sharing the post by Wonderfilled.

TSR original Tim Kask had a much less sympathetic response to it.⁵

A text on image post by Tim Kask, 16 June 2023, "NuTSR bankrupt? Oh my, waht is the world coming to? Ah, it's senses. Big surprise when you are headed by a slimeball."

Rest in peace Tim, you were rough around the edges but you were an entertaining man of integrity right until the very end.

1
TSR LLC v. Wizards of the Coast LLC, 2:21-cv-01705, (W.D. Wash.)
2
Kim Wincen “Dungeon Crawl, TSR Cons & Meltdowns” (9 January 2026) A gentleman with opinions <blog.wincenworks.com>
3
TSR, LLC, 23-01577, (Bankr. E.D.N.C.)
4
Stephen Erin Dinehart IV (8 June 2023) Wonderfilled Facebook <now deleted>
5
Tim Kask (Kaskoid) (16 June 2023) Facebook <www.facebook.com/tim.kask.9>