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.
Every cat is unique, but Kraliçe (Kr-ah-lee-ch-ey) has some special elements that I’ve never dealt with before.
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 LaNasa1Justin LaNasa Orcz: Those Pesky Orcz. A Game About Vile, Corrupt, Aberrant Creatures (Adamantite Games, Wilmington NC, 2024) [“Those Pesky Orcz“] (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“New 2024 Player’s Handbook Reveal | D&D” (19 June 2024) D&D Beyond YouTube <www.youtube.com> 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.3Brian Anderson (21 June 2024) Drunkards and Dragons (@The_DrunkDragon) X née Twitter <currently suspended for a rules violation>
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.
Continue reading Orcz: Those Pesky Orcz (2024)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.1Pavlovich, Scarlett v. Gaiman, Neil, 3:25-cv-00078, (W.D. Wis.)
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.2Scarlett Pavlovich v. Neil Gaiman, 25-2754, (7th Cir.) 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.3Technopathy “Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Introduction” (10 January 2026) Substack <technopathology.substack.com> It was recently signal boosted by Gaiman as “reporting”.4Neil Gaiman (3 February 2026) BlueSky <bsky.app>
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 Diana Sterling Jones “Revealed: Neil Gaiman’s Anonymous Substack Defender is an Activist Monk” (5 February 2026) Shooting The Messenger <shootingthemessenger.blog>
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).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> Many 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.7Technopathology “Neil Gaiman Is Innocent: Racial Hoaxes and Antisemitic Tropes” (8 August 2025) <technopathology.substack.com> Also, this Substack was started in April 2025 so they should know about the issues there.8Shane Burley “How Deep Does Substack’s Far-Right Problem Run, Really?” (21 June 2024) Ink Stick Media <inkstickmedia.com>
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 D’Angelo (@d-angelo) “neil gaiman is back and creepier than ever” (5 February 2026) YouTube <www.youtube.com>
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.
Continue reading Neil Gaiman, consent and New ZealandThat’s right, I’m part of this story now.
This one technically started after the on case against Tenkar,1 Lanasa v. Stiene, 1:22-cv-05686, (E.D.N.Y) but was resolved quicker due to the appeal,2 Lanasa v. Stiene, 24-1325, (2d Cir.) 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).
Continue reading LaNasa v Wincen (it me!)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?
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 Craig Hale “Satya Nadella wants us to stop calling AI “slop” – good luck with that” (6 January 2026) Techradar <www.techradar.com> 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 Nicole Carpenter “I’m Not That Nicole Carpenter” (15 January 2026) Aftermath <aftermath.site>
Lady Emily responded to a post I made on Bikini Armor Battle Damage, which was my first star struck moment for the year.
Continue reading Reflecting on January 2026So, 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 TSR LLC v. Wizards of the Coast LLC, 2:21-cv-01705, (W.D. Wash.)
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 Kim Wincen “Dungeon Crawl, TSR Cons & Meltdowns” (9 January 2026) A gentleman with opinions <blog.wincenworks.com>
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 TSR, LLC, 23-01577, (Bankr. E.D.N.C.)
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 Stephen Erin Dinehart IV (8 June 2023) Wonderfilled Facebook <now deleted>
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.
TSR original Tim Kask had a much less sympathetic response to it.5 Tim Kask (Kaskoid) (16 June 2023) Facebook <www.facebook.com/tim.kask.9>
Rest in peace Tim, you were rough around the edges but you were an entertaining man of integrity right until the very end.
Continue reading nuTSR declares BANKRUPTCY!Released in 2010 as a kind of disruptive reinvention of the Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell games (collectively Splinter Cell), my relationship with this title was largely always in comparison to Hitman games. The era of gaming was one where many properties that were shifting from a slow, clunky engagement to faster, smoother and more intuitive approaches to gameplay.
While extremely polarizing at the time, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (Conviction) has largely been forgotten – not even getting mentioned when people bring out their nostalgia for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Chaos Theory). It is, however, oddly relevant to the politics of today.
So, in my opinion, it’s also an interesting case where Capital-G Gamers were right that a game was bad… but they got the explanations backwards wrong. That’s, interesting but a lot to unpack.
Continue reading I (re)played: Splinter Cell: ConvictionThis1 James Veugelers Last Message (25 June 2021) JamesGamesNZ on Steam <store.steampowered.com/app/1141030/Last_Message/> free walking simulator that takes, generously an hour to play properly, is many things. It is a exploration into the experience of a non-heroic survivor in a zombie apocalypse, a meditation on the anxiety of the aftermath of the world’s mediocre response to Covid-19 pandemic, and a fantastic example of how walking simulators can offer amazing immersion in a role.
As its only a short game with a very linear story, I’m not going to go into the plot or characters – I’m instead going to recommend you play it yourself (it’s free, its a small install and a short play). Rather I wanted to put in the context of a conversation I saw a friend having about being over traditional Computer Role-Playing Games,2 Duke Revier (3 January 2026) BlueSky <bsky.app/profile/dukerevier.bsky.social> and how it ties to Robert Yang’s thoughts on the recurring deaths of immersive sims.3 Robert Yang “The second death of the immersive sim (2007-2017) and a dark prophecy for a third-wave immersive sim” (12 October 2017) Radiator Blog <www.blog.radiator.debacle.us>
Continue reading I played: Last MessageIt’s tricky to talk about the other antics that nuTSR got up to directly afterwards, because I don’t have access to the primary sources. I didn’t get access to a copy of Dungeon Crawl, I didn’t got to TSR Con (I’ve never even been to Wisconsin).
But, they were products of TSR LLC and well, they’re more interesting to talk about that the weird rebinds of classic books that they had made,
These were not a terrible idea but:
Now, just to be clear – it is perfectly legal to rebind old books and sell them in the USA, it’s called the First Sale Doctrine. Ordinarily, including the trademark of the original publisher would also be mostly viable. It is not, however a good idea to do this while also trying to pass yourself off as the owner of said trademark, and the divine heir to all its good will.
To the best of my knowledge they never sold a single one of these.
Continue reading Dungeon Crawl, TSR Cons & Meltdowns
You were such a sweet mouse, always so social with Kathy and I, and so kind to the other mice (even when Daisy bullied you). You will be missed.
