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.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Well, to simply clarify, what I said wasn’t a line of reasoning, it was a statement of objective facts. Nearly every part of the world is safer than it has ever been. Maternal and childhood mortality is lower than its ever been even in the places where it is still too high. illiteracy is less common than its ever been. Access to medicine, economic opportunity, participation in governance, and education, are all more widely spread than they have ever been.

These aren’t “reasoning”, or “opinions”, or a “point of view”.

And no, I won’t accept for a moment the idea that these facts shouldn’t be celebrated because a few people who weren’t going to do anything anyway use progress as their excuse. They’d just use pessimism as their excuse if optimism didn’t seem viable. And in fact, I know far more people who fatalistically accept the (wholly nonsensically false) “fact” that they can’t do anything meaningful, or that “there is no future”, or whatever such garbage, as a reason not to bother, and what’s more to not even really give a damn, than I know people who are full of hope for the future and pride in how far weve come who then don’t bother working toward an even better future.

IME, hope inspires action. The ancient Greeks were full of crap.

Again, "You shouldn't be upset about things because look how good you have it is some serious, serious bullcrap that is seriously harmful. Going back to the example of telling a depressed person how good they have it so they shouldn't be depressed. (if I seem like I'm harping on that, it's because I have heard this exact thing said to me before, and it doesn't help. At all)

As for the "there is no future" thing. Just take a look at what is happening around the world. IMO, we are at the beginning of the end of human civilization and there's basically nothing we can do about it except for fiddle as the world burns

So... don't speak the truth, because some folks misuse it?

Honestly? yes.

Look at how people use statistics to "prove" certain things about certain people. They take the truth and completely strip it of any and all context and use it to promote their agenda. Not even going to get into the fact that, for most people, trying to convince them of something only makes them dig in deeper, even in the face of evidence completely disproving them. (keep in mind that this would apply to you as well)

 

[Ace]

I guess some peoples need for attention outweighs the good sense not to post politically offensive material on a public forum. Well actions have consequences.

Frankly I think in the current climate posting anything on almost any social media is probably a bad idea, present location expected of course.

 

[cbwjm]

FWIW, “cancel culture” is just a new (loaded and weaponized) term for organized, sophisticated shunning/boycotting, and it’s a tool that has been used by people all across the spectrum of socio-political views. Those who think it’s just a left wing thing are ignoring or forgetting the Dixie Chicks. And others.

Haha, oh man, I'd forgotten about the Dixie chicks. Talk about not knowing your audience.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Again, "You shouldn't be upset about things because look how good you have it is some serious, serious bullcrap that is seriously harmful. Going back to the example of telling a depressed person how good they have it so they shouldn't be depressed. (if I seem like I'm harping on that, it's because I have heard this exact thing said to me before, and it doesn't help. At all)

As for the "there is no future" thing. Just take a look at what is happening around the world. IMO, we are at the beginning of the end of human civilization and there's basically nothing we can do about it except for fiddle as the world burns


Honestly? yes.

Look at how people use statistics to "prove" certain things about certain people. They take the truth and completely strip it of any and all context and use it to promote their agenda. Not even going to get into the fact that, for most people, trying to convince them of something only makes them dig in deeper, even in the face of evidence completely disproving them. (keep in mind that this would apply to you as well)

No.
Find and quote where I told anyone they shouldn’t be upset about something, for a start. Right, I never did, so kindly don’t put words in my mouth. I’ve been told that too. That and what I said aren’t related, much less the same thing.
As for your cynical “the world is doomed” rant...nah. Pessimism isn’t any more rational than optimism. It’s just another bias through which you filter the world.

frankly, if you don’t beleive anything can be done, stay the hell out of the way of those of us who understand the fact that you’re wrong about that.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

frankly, if you don’t beleive anything can be done, stay the hell out of the way of those of us who understand the fact that you’re wrong about that.

I welcome you to try. I don't have hopes that you'll do anything, (mainly because you need other people, and the more heads that are on something, the stupider it gets) but if you do? Good, for now, now go fix this and that and the other thing. Oh wait, the first thing got screwed up and doesn't work anymore, come up with something new, wait you should be focusing on this problem instead it's much more important, wait why did you do that we didn't do that for a reason and now everything is screwed up.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I welcome you to try. I don't have hopes that you'll do anything, (mainly because you need other people, and the more heads that are on something, the stupider it gets) but if you do? Good, for now, now go fix this and that and the other thing. Oh wait, the first thing got screwed up and doesn't work anymore, come up with something new, wait you should be focusing on this problem instead it's much more important, wait why did you do that we didn't do that for a reason and now everything is screwed up.

Enjoy sitting in the dark while other people fix the world, I guess.

Luckily, everything you just said is incorrect.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Enjoy sitting in the dark while other people fix the world, I guess.

Luckily, everything you just said is incorrect.

I'm just saying that trying to fix the world's problems is like trying to break down a brick wall with your face.

Sure, you might do something, but you're going to have done serious damage to yourself in the process, success or failure.

 

[CleverNickName]

You're assuming that @doctorbadwolf is all alone, doing all of this by himself, all at once. That's not the case, nor the intent.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

You're assuming that @doctorbadwolf is all alone, doing all of this by himself, all at once. That's not the case, nor the intent.

Well that's even worse.

A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm just saying that trying to fix the world's problems is like trying to break down a brick wall with your face.

Sure, you might do something, but you're going to have done serious damage to yourself in the process, success or failure.

Yeah, I mean it’s not like the world has ever changed for the better, at all.

Well that's even worse.

A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.

Nah. Thats just myopic pessimism trying to wear “realism”’s hat. It doesn’t fit.