D&D General Companies Cut Ties With Judges Guild After Owner's Racist Posts

Several game publishers, including Bat in the Attic, have said that they will no longer do business with Judges Guild after its owner posted a number of racist and anti-semitic statements. They don't need to be repeated here; but there are several examples.

Judges Guild has been around since 1976, producing products compatible with Dungeons & Dragons; the current owner, Bob Bledsaw II, is the son of its co-founder, Bob Bledsaw, and has run the company since 2008. The company is well known for 1976's City State of the Invincible Overlord, amongst other classics. Bat in the Attic and Frog God Games both license Judges' Guild properties.

Rob Conley of Bat in the Attic stated yesterday that the company would no longer do business with Judges Guild, or its properties. "Sunday evening, I called Robert Bledsaw II and discussed the issue. I notified him that I will no longer be doing future Judges’ Guild projects and will only continue to sell what I have currently listed. I stated that I will be calling the other Judges Guild licensee and inform them of the situation and of my decision."

Frog God Games, which has been working with Judges Guild for nearly 20 years, followed suit. "Recently the owner of Judges Guild made a series of racist and anti-semitic posts on Facebook. We will not reproduce them here; they are shown on Rob Conley's Bat in the Attic blog, and we are convinced of their authenticity. Rob wrote his post because, as a licensee of Judges Guild property, he felt he needed to state clearly that he would not be doing business with Judges Guild in the future. We have also licensed property from Judges Guild in the past, and we are seconding Rob's example by cutting off all future business with Judges Guild. The posts made on Facebook were completely unacceptable."

UPDATE — DriveThruRPG has severed ties. “The Judges Guild publisher account has been closed and they are no longer available on DriveThruRPG.”

A few years ago, Judges Guild ran a Kickstarter to bring back City State of the Invincible Overlord, with nearly a thousand backers raising $85K. The Kickstarter has not yet been fulfilled. The latest update was in October 2019.

 

[cbwjm]

as an aside from the current controversy... I have to admit, I was surprised to hear that JG was still around... I thought they'd disappeared years ago...

Me too. I thought it was a 1st edition thing that no longer existed.

 

[numtini]

In terms of whether to boycott or try to convince nazis to stop being nazis, I really don't have time in my life to spend arguing with people who want to kill me in the hope they'll change their minds. If their uncle wants to argue with the Bledshaws and try to convince them to change their ways, and it looks like he might be doing so from the posted facebook pictures, then good luck to him. But I have better things to do with my time.

 

[Sadras]

We’ve been in the USA since the 1840s at least. No excuses.

Sure, I was not speaking to your case in particular, but I find this "old mindset" a lot more foregiving I suppose. Do not get me wrong, I'm not saying it is easy for the person this is being asked of - I speak from experience.

 

[darjr]

@Morrus

Matt From drive thru posted this

The Judges Guild publisher account has been closed and they are no longer available on DriveThruRPG.

M

Bob Bledsaw II and III of Judges Guild go on egregiously racist, Nazi, rants | Tabletop Roleplaying Open

DrivethruRPG needs to dump Judges Guild immediately! DTRPG got back to me. They are aware of the issue and it's currently being discussed internally. The Judges Guild publisher account has been closed and they are no longer available on DriveThruRPG. M

forum.rpg.net

 

[Panda-s1]

Quiet boycotts are a bit like peeing in a dark suit, you get a warm feeling but nobody notices. Part of the point of a boycott is to gather support for it and make it known why. Otherwise, you're just a drop in a vast bucket of non-customers and irrelevant to the company. To work, a boycott needs large numbers of people so that the target of the boycott actually feels the impact and knows why they're feeling it.

boycotts also require a pretty high level of organization. there are a lot of companies I quietly refuse to buy from, but I'm not dumb enough to call that a "boycott". even if you and some of your friends loudly declare to not buy a specific product it doesn't mean a whole lot. I don't want to say education is to blame, but the Platonic ideal of boycott in America is the Montgomery bus boycott. a lot of people don't know the actual work and effort the entire black community of the city had to put in to make the boycott effective, great sacrifices were made for over a year to make it work and all sorts of shenanigans happened to hamper the boycott, but most people seem to think they just didn't ride the bus for a while and that alone was enough to make the boycott work.

I know some disagreed with this, but this HAS happened. I know of a Rabbi who convinced a neonazi who was harassing him of the error of his ways. The man eventually left the movement, married a nice hispanic girl, and even lived with the Rabbi When times were especially tough for him.

...and then there’s this man.

The Darrell Davis method of changing racists hearts and minds, build and relationship with them. His actions lead to the leader off a national KKK organization voluntarily shutting down the organization, and this was a guy linked to terrorism, guarded by Nighthawks (KKK body guards), and he saved the guy from his own evil.

okay I don't want to piss on Daryl Davis's legacy, this man is clearly a saint and way braver than I can ever expect myself to be.

but, and I say this as a PoC myself, I get annoyed by the way people throw him around as an example of how "we" should behave about racial injustice. I swear whenever I saw that article show up on my facebook wall it felt like "see? this guy didn't get angry when his basic human rights were being violated. instead he talked calmly and rationally to people who might murder him in public and arguably get away with it and got them to stop being racist. instead of rioting and looting maybe you should write a letter to your local representative.


....please don't murder me."

 

[Gradine]

In terms of whether to boycott or try to convince nazis to stop being nazis, I really don't have time in my life to spend arguing with people who want to kill me in the hope they'll change their minds. If their uncle wants to argue with the Bledshaws and try to convince them to change their ways, and it looks like he might be doing so from the posted facebook pictures, then good luck to him. But I have better things to do with my time.

Yeah, the purpose of boycotts such as these is not necessarily to philosophically convert Nazis. It's to make it really, really difficult to continue to be a Nazi. That's why things like "he should still be able to earn a living!" completely miss the point. No, no he definitely should not. At least not until he renounces his bigotry.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

More often what happens is that the problematic person calls for people to debate them to try to convince them of the error of their ways. This gives them a platform to talk about their views as well as cost those who are well intentioned their emotional labour. Even worse, sometimes those who don't want to put in work trying to convince the abusive to stop being abusive are called lazy or selfish for not putting in the labour to do that.

No, better I think is to let the person know in no uncertain terms that their actions and views are unacceptable by not engaging with that person anymore.

Either they change because they don't want to be left out in the cold anymore or they don't and they stop having power over others because those people have turned their back on them.

A win either way and requires much less effort.

There are benefits to both approaches, but realize: If they drive you from the “field“ of discussion- if they make you self-segregate- they’re just as likely to view that as a win. In their worldview, you shutting THEM out is morally equivalent to THEM wanting to keep whatever group they dislike at the peripheries of society. See the Popper Paradox...because it pops up ALL the time.

Personally, I consciously try to take the engagement position as often as I can. I don’t ALWAYS do so- one must pick one’s battles- but I try. Even here.

I’ve been an ENWorlder for quite a while. I’ve been a mod for...2(?) of those years or so. Never once have I used my “Ignore” list, because i believe that the people we least want to hear from are many times the people we need to communicate with. Not for us, necessarily, but for them.

Now, as a mod, I have been forced to ban a few people for offensive behavior. I do so because that’s the rules of the owner of this site, and he doesn’t want this place bogged down with discussion of hot button topics & behavior not germane to the topic of the gaming hobby.

 

[ad_hoc]

There are benefits to both approaches, but realize: If they drive you from the “field“ of discussion- if they make you self-segregate- they’re just as likely to view that as a win.

I don't care what they think.

That's the point.

We should stop caring about their views because their views are awful.

We instead need to protect ourselves from them.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

okay I don't want to piss on Daryl Davis's legacy, this man is clearly a saint and way braver than I can ever expect myself to be.

but, and I say this as a PoC myself, I get annoyed by the way people throw him around as an example of how "we" should behave about racial injustice. I swear whenever I saw that article show up on my facebook wall it felt like "see? this guy didn't get angry when his basic human rights were being violated. instead he talked calmly and rationally to people who might murder him in public and arguably get away with it and got them to stop being racist. instead of rioting and looting maybe you should write a letter to your local representative.


....please don't murder me."

Hey, I sincerely doubt I could do a fraction of what he- or that Rabbi- did.

I’m not saying that model of behavior is the ONLY way- engagement is difficult, stressful and slow. Not everyone has what it takes to go that route. But it CAN be done.

So I bring them up as an example of what can be attempted, and thus, achieved. Heck, if you’re a religious person- as I am- that kind of method is preferred & preached as consistent with the tenets of many major faiths...even as they also recognize that it is an exceptional ask.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't care what they think.

That's the point.

We should stop caring about their views because their views are awful.

We instead need to protect ourselves from them.

You’re missing the point: if they think they have won, they can and will preach the “victory” in order to gain followers.