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.

 

[Umbran]

The good news is these political leaders...

Mod Note:
Maybe you missed this upthread. Please allow me to reiterate...

Leave politics out of this, please. We have a company that has an owner that has voiced opinions many of us find unacceptable. We have human behavior we can discuss, related to that incident.

The board rules are no real-world religion or politics. So, please leave governance, and the people who are in the business of governance, out of it. If folks can't do that, we will need to start removing them from the discussion, and I would prefer not to do that.

Thank you.

 

[ccs]

One thing I never understand about things like this. I intellectually understand that there are people who hold strong racist (or other equally objectionable) views; that's clear and apparent. What I don't get is why they post them publicly; surely they know what will happen? Or do they literally just not care about the consequences?

Or, if they must let the world know how they feel, at least post under a pseudo-name or something.

 

[Jimmy Dick]

Mod Note:
Maybe you missed this upthread. Please allow me to reiterate...

Leave politics out of this, please. We have a company that has an owner that has voiced opinions many of us find unacceptable. We have human behavior we can discuss, related to that incident.

The board rules are no real-world religion or politics. So, please leave governance, and the people who are in the business of governance, out of it. If folks can't do that, we will need to start removing them from the discussion, and I would prefer not to do that.

Thank you.

You are missing the point. Politics are part of it. They are a major reason why the mentally challenged racists are emboldened to open their mouths and spew their hate. Whether you like it or not, we have to become political to put a stop to the hate.

 

[Rikka66]

I think you are making the mistake of generalizing. Individuals are not their demographics but demographics are comprised of those individuals. I am nearly 50. So gen-x. The internet was becoming a thing available to the masses as we became adults. It was the wild west. You could say anything without consequences because most people older than you were not on the internet at all. But some of us started to notice the change...enworld was founded on some very good advice: don't say anything you wouldnt say in front of Eric Noah's grandmother. That is advice I passed on to my kids in modified form...dont say anything on social media you wouldn't say in front of your friends' parents.

Some of gen-x figured it out enough to warn your generation...but that doesn't mean everyone did. And there are plenty of examples of millennials and younger saying and doing dumb stuff to make the case that a nontrivial portion of them have not learned the lesson either.

I don't disagree. I wouldn't want my musings to be applied to any group entirely. Just a possible perspective of how this one man ended up in such a position.

 

[Umbran]

You are missing the point.

Mod Note:
No, you are missing the point. These are the board rules. I am one of the people who enforce those rules. Please work within those rules, or we will have to remove you from this discussion. Period.

I would prefer to be kind about this, but it is not open for debate. Please do not continue to argue with me in this thread. If you want to discuss, we have a Private Messaging system you can use - but the rules on this are abundantly clear.

 

[Jimmy Dick]

Mod Note:
No, you are missing the point. These are the board rules. I am one of the people who enforce those rules. Please either work within those rules, or we will have to remove you from this discussion. Period.

This is not open for debate. Please do not continue to argue with me in this thread. If you want to discuss, we have a Private Messaging system you can use - but the rules on this are abundantly clear.

Then censor me for speaking up and saying the truth.

 

[Panda-s1]

The good part about this is that they are the minority. We do not support these mentally challenged people as a community. It is shown in these posts and in how we spend our money on our hobby. That's probably the best way to fight these mentally challenged people. Deny them money. Deny them support. Ignore them and move on from them. Let them exist in their bubbles of evil.

Dear World...
Please understand that these ignoramuses DO NOT represent Americans as a whole. Although our political climate appears to approve of, or even encourage, this line of thought/behavior - it really isn't so!

Even though they try their hardest to sound like they represent the majority of thinking and belief in the U.S., they don't. I'll quote from Jimmy Dick, because this really needs to be re-stated again, and again, and again:

"The good part about this is that they are the minority. We do not support these mentally challenged people as a community. It is shown in these posts and in how we spend our money on our hobby. That's probably the best way to fight these mentally challenged people. Deny them money. Deny them support. Ignore them and move on from them. Let them exist in their bubbles of evil."

Well Said Jimmy D.

Jesus Christ, I was actually enjoying this post until you decided to call all racists "mentally challenged". again can we not throw the mentally challenged under the bus? like I have very little faith in your views now that you've said that.

just 'cause you're not saying the r-word doesn't make it better.

 

[ad_hoc]

You are missing the point. Politics are part of it. They are a major reason why the mentally challenged racists are emboldened to open their mouths and spew their hate. Whether you like it or not, we have to become political to put a stop to the hate.

Please don't be ableist.

If they are mentally challenged enough to be racists in the first place, then it follows they are stupid enough to declare it to the world.

Please stop. Your attitude is gross.

Well Said Jimmy D.

No, no it isn't.

It's disgusting.

 

[Umbran]

Then censor me for speaking up and saying the truth.

Okay, you're done. But this has nothing to do with "the truth" - as if you hadn't noticed, I'm not hapy with racism myself. This has to do with the rules of the space in which you are speaking, and how you are unable to abide by them.

Please, folks, the rules are clear. You may find them arbitrary, or limiting. But work with them, or take your discussion elsewhere.

 

[tommybahama]

Whether you like it or not, we have to become political to put a stop to the hate.

I don't know where you are from, but here in the U.S. we have a strong comitment to free speech, especially objectionable speech. It is usually summed up as 'I detest what you say, but I would give my life to defend your right to say it.'