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.

 

[Retreater]

I just bought FG's Tegel Manor and started running it a few weeks ago. I own numerous JG products, and many of them are excellent (including the Wilderlands of High Fantasy and Jennell Jaquays' awesome Caverns of Thracia). This is sad to see, but understandable why many companies would want to distance themselves from this kind of speech. Maybe Bob Jr. will sell off JG and distance himself from these great products?
In any case, purchasing from the secondary (used) market should not be giving support to Bob Jr., so that's an option?
And I just want to add that - as someone who has done some minor work on JG products and a fan of the game industry - that I'm appalled by these statements and I hope that no one out there thinks this is the norm.

 

[JeffB]

Racism/Anti-Semitism, etc, were around long before political partys and their lines. It exists on both sides of the aisle folks.

Back to the crux- Has Bledsaw had any response to all this? I don't Facebook.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Bummer news. I'm a big fan of the old Judges Guild products. Certainly won't be supporting anything from Judges Guild under Bledsaw II's reign, that's for sure. A sad end to a legendary company.

It looks like Bledsaw II has locked down his FB profile. He figured that much out, at the least.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Panda-s1]

Bummer news. I'm a big fan of the old Judges Guild products. Certainly won't be supporting anything from Judges Guild under Bledsaw II's reign, that's for sure. A sad end to a legendary company.

It looks like Bledsaw II has locked down his FB profile. He figured that much out, at the least.

I'm surprised he had a long history of doing that in public and only now he's getting called out? like he runs a niche company in an arguably niche hobby, but it's still fairly egregious, you'd think a peripheral friend or even casual fan would've seen his posts and be like "uhhhhhhhhh"

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Too bad the people who need those changes the most won't be able to benefit from them because they'll be dead.

I mean, we already live in an era where, for the overwhelming majority of the world’s population, the world has never been safer, healthier, or more equitable, in all of human history.

 

[Gradine]

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.'

This is all good and well in theory... in practice however it tends to amount to: "I respect that you are black/jewish/gay/disabled/etc, but it's very, very important to me, philosophically speaking, that you have to put up with constant harassment and verbal abuse. It's the American way!"

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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.

Stop equating racism with mental disability. It is ablest, and quite gross.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I mean, we already live in an era where, for the overwhelming majority of the world’s population, the world has never been safer, healthier, or more equitable, in all of human history.

I'm sorry, but this is just another flavor of "Look at all the stuff and friends you have! You can't possibly be depressed!"

That line of reasoning is bullcrap and ends up not actually reflecting how experiences are.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*