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.

 

[Bolares]

To me, free speech is the freedom to say whatever you want, but that freedom does not prevent you from suffering the consequences of your speech. If you use your speech to hurt, malign, slander or hate someone, you should suffer the consequences from that damage.

 

[Bolares]

and about the acusations of the Mods censoring those who desobey the rules here... well, this is an RPG forum, not a democracy or a state. Comparing that to real censorship seems, at least a simplification of what censorship really is. And thinking that our cause is so big that it superceeds rules of conduct is a very dangerous line of thought.

 

[Alzrius]

Idiot lol. I just stay off social media

Same here. I prefer to conduct my racist conspiracy-theorizing in more private venues. That and most social media is controlled by the mind flayers and their Illithilluminati anyway.

 

[generic]

I decided to trust @lowkey13 , but I did check the comments, and they are deeply inappropriate and vile. Please don't defend this man.

 

[billd91]

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.'

That doesn't stop us from using politics to stop the hate - or more directly, stop the effects of the hate. We don't directly censor, we put into place means to ameliorate or block the effects of discrimination rather than let the sentiments expressed by racists, bigots, and others set the terms of appropriate behavior.

 

[Umbran]

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

Okay, so.. it isn't actually a line of reasoning. It is a point. You need multiple points to make a line.

The world is, in fact, measurably safer, and all that. This a point of fact you can see in a ton of statistics. That does not in any way mean that we don't still have a whole lot of work to do. "Safer" does not mean "safe enough."

If we never recognize that progress has been made, we cannot examine and adjust how we proceed in a rational manner. We cannot tell what does and doesn't work unless we acknowledge what has been achieved, and what was necessary to achieve it. Also, if we never admit that we make progress, despair is just around the corner.

So, yes, we can and should honestly say that we are moving in the right direction, and the world is better than it used to be. What we cannot do is take that as justification for resting on our laurels.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[CleverNickName]

I take everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt until I have had the opportunity to check things for myself. So like a handful of others, I looked around online to find the comments that were made, and they are as vile as you are imagining. A human capable of thinking, let alone publicly speaking, those comments is likewise vile.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Like a couple of others, I clicked through to see what it was all about.

Some judgements are earned, correct, and just.

I clicked through it as well. Like it or not, my statement stands.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*