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.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Only all of American law, free speech in the context of the United States, and a whole lot of legal cases.

Those legal cases have nothing at all to do with what we're talking about here (this has already been covered in the thread. No one is talking about the government taking action against the person who made these comments. It is about the gaming community distancing itself from the person who made them.)

 

[generic]

Those legal cases have nothing at all to do with what we're talking about here (this has already been covered in the thread. No one is talking about the government taking action against the person who made these comments. It is about the gaming community distancing itself from the person who made them.)

Of course it is, why did you assume that I meant anything different?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Very glad to hear that Bledsaw Sr. was not of that same rotten ilk.

Link to the post about Bob Sr.

Bob Bledsaw II and III of Judges Guild go on egregiously racist, Nazi, rants

So this is a multi-generational thing? Was the father like this as well, just in an age without social media, or is this a more recent family development? No, Bob Sr. wasn't like that at all. We only discussed race, religion, and politics about the Wilderlands Campaign setting. He was from...

forum.rpg.net

 

[Alzrius]

So DrivethruRPG seems to have removed almost all Judges Guild products from their storefront at this time. Right now, the only things that are available are two bundles: one collecting the first twelve issues of Pegasus magazine, and the other with collecting the Sword and Sorcery Studios d20 Wilderlands books.

I should point out that, insofar as I recall, DriveThruRPG's standard operating procedure is to pull stuff while internally discussing if they should de-list a product or not (which, according to someone in the RPG.net thread, is what they're currently discussing); it's not necessarily an indicator that these books are gone from their storefront forever.

 

[tommybahama]

Bonus round-

Where is the freedom of association in the Constitution?

SPOILER
It isn't. It's, um, the period at the end of the First Amendment? It's the penumbras and emenations?

I kid. Again, mostly. It's one of those structural things that isn't in the words.

"The right of the people peaceably to assemble," also known as the right of association, is iirc in the First Amendment and also part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Of course it is, why did you assume that I meant anything different?

Because you responded to my question about the relevance of the constitution with something about case law when neither of those things are relevant to the discussion at hand.

 

[Morrus]

Only all of American law, free speech in the context of the United States, and a whole lot of legal cases.

What does free speech have to do with anything? Did the owner of Judges Guild get arrested by the US government and imprisoned while I wasn’t looking?

 

[generic]

Because you responded to my question about the relevance of the constitution with something about case law when neither of those things are relevant to the discussion at hand.

Well yes, of course they're not relevant, but, others had made references to them, so, we must not discount them. The examples are indeed irrelevant.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[generic]

What does free speech have to do with anything? Did the owner of Judges Guild get arrested by the US government and imprisoned while I wasn’t looking?

Please read my other posts, I am in complete agreement with you.