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.

 

[lowkey13]

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[lowkey13]

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[StormbringerAUS]

I am also sad to hear this,it feels like losing a good friend. Back when I started playing, Judges Guild products were the inexpensive but very usable products that kept me in the game.

But this type of thing cannot be in our game or in the world in general.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

It’s a tragic turn of events but it would have been even worse if no one had called him on it.

 

[Sadras]

It is already on the wikipedia
'

Founder Bob Bledsaw died of cancer in 2008. The company was inherited by his son, Bob Bledsaw II, a bigot and anti-Semite, who destroyed its reputation.[3]

 

[lowkey13]

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[Horwath]

hahaha,
what a plonker.

This is what happens when lesser sons inherit Business from greater fathers.

Now,
I usually separate the "work" for the "author" or just the owner in this case.
If the work does not have this kind of B.S. in it.
But, this is little too much.
It would be not so bad if it just those 3 comments, but when you dig deeper, he totally lost it.

He is not only one in those projects and it's a shame that more people now suffer because of one dumb "#$% foul mouth.

But, I wonder how he got to the WW2 conspiracies about who to send to the meatgrinder.

Guess that happens when you are a racist and watch Alex Jones Show

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Looking at the story on some other sites, there are further posts too (its not a one-off) and there are some similar posts by Bledsloe III, so, double yikes.

 

[BrokenTwin]

I clicked through to verify it's what is claimed.

Yep. Racist and anti-semitic.SUPER anti-semitic and racist. If you're looking to reflexively push against political correctness or whatever, you probably should see the posts in question before you make a fool of yourself. Jus' sayin'.

I'm a big fan of "trust, but verify", and yeah. Wow.

I also lurked around the other major RPG boards that I know about (which arguably span the entire political spectrum), and none of them are defending this guy. Which definitely says something.

Thankfully this won't change my buying decisions any, since I've never bought anything from them before (just not much of a module buyer).