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.

 

[CleverNickName]

"Cancelled" isn't really a thing. It's an alt-right buzzword

Yikes, I had no idea. Gross.

 

[Zarithar]

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.'

We also have the right to cut ties with naughty words. They are free of course to spew whatever vile vitriol they want. I am free to not support them. I backed the Tegel Manor KS and I now regret that. The book itself is a terrible mess in my opinion (a whole different topic) for a FG book... as usually their products are of excellent quality. Anyhow, screw Bledsaw and people like him. I won't support it in any way.

 

[Retreater]

We also have the right to cut ties with naughty words. They are free of course to spew whatever vile vitriol they want. I am free to not support them. I backed the Tegel Manor KS and I now regret that. The book itself is a terrible mess in my opinion (a whole different topic) for a FG book... as usually their products are of excellent quality. Anyhow, screw Bledsaw and people like him. I won't support it in any way.

I'm running Tegel at the moment. My main gripe is the map is too cluttered and busy for me to read accurately. What other messes are there I should be on the lookout for? (I've also made another post on here if you'd like to elaborate there.) Interested in your feedback.

 

[Zarithar]

I'm running Tegel at the moment. My main gripe is the map is too cluttered and busy for me to read accurately. What other messes are there I should be on the lookout for? (I've also made another post on here if you'd like to elaborate there.) Interested in your feedback.

Sure where is this post located?

 

[Mistwell]

"Cancelled" isn't really a thing. It's an alt-right buzzword to describe natural social consequences of behaviour.

I don't know the origins [edit - now I do after looking it up, and surprise surprise, it was created by black activists on the left on Twitter as a hashtag and not by the alt-right], but I think your view is an outdated one at this point. It's a mainstream concept, which was most prominently used just a couple days ago during the Oscars (by a prominent liberal Joaquin Phoenix as he accepted the best actor award), and which has reached the level of the nightly news now. It's also been raised (in criticism) by President Obama, and I am pretty sure you're not calling him alt-right.

You can agree with it, or disagree with it, or argue about when it should and should not be used, but I don't think it belongs to the alt-right anymore if that's the origin. It's gone well beyond fringe in the United States at least, in terms of use as a concept. In fact, given The Guardian's use of the phrase, it sure looks like it's gone beyond fringe as a term in the UK as well.

 

[Retreater]

Sure where is this post located?

I guess that might be helpful. Haha.
Thanks!

D&D 5E - Anybody Seen/Played Frog God's Tegel Manor?

I'm looking at dropping this in as a dungeon in one of my ongoing games for 5e, but I'm curious about the level range, page count, and general quality of the product. I have been unable to find these details on their official page or in general Google searches. And I'd like to know more before...

www.enworld.org

 

[Panda-s1]

"Cancelled" isn't really a thing. It's an alt-right buzzword to describe natural social consequences of behaviour. What's actually happening is some people are choosing not to do business with somebody who has espoused values that do not align with their own. Do you think I shouldn't be allowed to not do business worth somebody whose values are antithetical to my own? And if so, why should I be forced to do business with that person?

Yikes, I had no idea. Gross.

"cancelling" doesn't even seem to mean much in the long run. JonTron got "cancelled" a few years ago for his racist statements, but just last year he started posting videos again and apparently has an even bigger following now. James Gunn almost lost control of Guardians of the Galaxy, but he was put back in last year. like damn, are there any good examples of famous people getting "cancelled" and not managing to bounce back? I can only think of Harvey Weinstein, but his trial isn't even over yet.

 

[generic]

"cancelling" doesn't even seem to mean much in the long run. JonTron got "cancelled" a few years ago for his racist statements, but just last year he started posting videos again and apparently has an even bigger following now. James Gunn almost lost control of Guardians of the Galaxy, but he was put back in last year. like damn, are there any good examples of famous people getting "cancelled" and not managing to bounce back? I can only think of Harvey Weinstein, but his trial isn't even over yet.

Jeffrey Epstein got murdered, so, that was a pretty nice way to cancel a nasty pedophile out of existence.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Do you think I shouldn't be allowed to not do business worth somebody whose values are antithetical to my own? And if so, why should I be forced to do business with that person?

Some people do indeed feel that you should not have a choice of selecting business partners.
Legislation or policies intended to curtail Collective Action, restrictions passed to inhibit divestment or boycott campaigns, in effect limit individual action by preventing cooperation with your peers.

As a Singleton, you have a right of choosing economic association, you know when statistically most of us are not significant, but it is evil and wrong when like minded individuals band together...they might become effective

Also, respectfully I think for fairness we need to close this thread. If this board is supposed to be RPG related only, no politics, and even Morrus is talking politics, general politics, but politics nonetheless, then I think we owe it to the Board Rules as written to end this.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*