TSR's Leaked Star Frontiers: New Genesis Playtest Contains Racist Descriptions

thegamer.com:

TSR Hobbies' upcoming tabletop RPG, Star Frontiers: New Genesis has had its playtest leaked, and it contains racist descriptions of a "Negro sub race". This isn't the same TSR that invented Dungeons & Dragons, but a new company launched after the original trademark wasn't renewed - in fact, several new TSRs have emerged, confusingly.

This new TSR, TSR Hobbies, was made on June 19, 2021 and has been involved with multiple controversies with Wizards of the Coast - which bought the original TSR back in 1997. After numerous name changes it has returned to the TSR brand and its tabletop RPG, Star Frontiers: New Genesis, is being written by Dave Johnson, also mired in controversy after numerous bigoted tweets.

RELATED: Interview: How The Elder Scrolls Online Team Made A Real Tabletop Game In A Digital World

The Star Frontiers: New Genesis playtest has been leaked by NoHateInGaming. They shared pictures from the game's rules that detail a "Negro sub-race", describing them as a "Tall thick bodied dark skinned brown-eyed race with large strength average intelligence ALL Attributes are in the 10+ range except intelligence which is maximum a +9". That poor writing is all Star Frontiers: New Genesis, by the way.

This is a deeply racist characterisation of Black people, rooted in colonial eugenics. There are further causes for concern in the leaked images. The Nordic race - not marked as a "sub-race" - has "exceptional attributes and powers ALL attributes are in the 13+ range."

The leaked images also show the rules state "Races in SFNG [Star Frontiers: New Genesis] are not unlike races in the real world. Some are better at certain things than others, and some races are superior than others. We get into this later on in the manual."