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.

 

[Rikka66]

Just to be clear, the first person who says he did not hold those beliefs is not anonymous - he's pretty well known actually, he just doesn't post here at ENWorld much anymore (this may have been his first post here in many years). His recollection is also backed up by James Mishler over on James' website. I don't know the person who said Bob Sr. did hold those beliefs, but he may not be anonymous either.

Well that's one of them accounted for, with support even. So I'll amend my statement to, "I won't believe the anonymous (my apologies if Bill from blogspot is in fact a known industry figure I'm unaware of) poster over the two known individuals with history in the industry (and I presume a history with Bob Sr.)

 

[Panda-s1]

Two non-anonymous people who did know Bob said it. Can we stop with the claims they're anonymous? They're not. These are two people in this industry.

we're not saying they're anonymous in the sense that we don't know who they are so much as in the sense they're completely unrelated to the story at hand.

 

[Mistwell]

we're not saying they're anonymous in the sense that we don't know who they are so much as in the sense they're completely unrelated to the story at hand.

Uh, that's not what the word "anonymous" means however. I am not aware of any definition of "anonymous" which includes "unrelated to the story at hand".

 

[CleverNickName]

@Mistwell I'd go one step further: you don't owe anyone the effort to change their minds. You don't owe them a platform to explain themselves, you don't owe them an opportunity to be heard, and you don't owe them an education on things their parents failed to teach them. If someone demonstrates hateful and toxic behavior, you have every right to walk away from them without comment or explanation.

I have nothing but respect for those who go above and beyond, like you did. It's a fine example, but not everyone can (or should, or needs to) follow it.

 

[Panda-s1]

Uh, that's not what the word "anonymous" means however. I am not aware of any definition of "anonymous" which includes "unrelated to the story at hand".

is this good enough for you?

 

[Morrus]

Folks, if you're at the point of arguing over the definition of random words just to score points over each other, you might want to consider walking away from the thread. The first sign of this common internet affliction is always the point where somebody screenshots a dictionary definition. Let's drop that little argument, eh? The thread's not entitled "Who's got the best grammar?"

 

[Mistwell]

@Mistwell I'd go one step further: you don't owe anyone the effort to change their minds. You don't owe them a platform to explain themselves, you don't owe them an opportunity to be heard, and you don't owe them an education on things their parents failed to teach them. If someone demonstrates hateful and toxic behavior, you have every right to walk away from them without comment or explanation.

I have nothing but respect for those who go above and beyond, like you did. It's a fine example, but not everyone can (or should) follow it.

I am not saying it's an act done out of duty because someone is owed something. I do wish more people would try harder though because I think it's better for society, and persuasion is a skill like any other that improves with use. I believe in the marketplace of ideas, but that concept only functions when people actually try to persuade others that their side is wiser.

I think a lot of people give up too quickly, are cynical, or never learned how to persuade people they deeply disagree with. If I ran the universe debate would be a required course for seniors in high school or general ed in the first two years of college. Where you're required to argue both sides of a controversial issue. It not only builds argumentation skills, but it also builds empathy for how people with differing views think. These are skills I find are more lacking lately in society, and which are not as valued as they used to be. Which is a shame because they're necessary for many aspects of society, including getting along with a significant other and raising children and interacting with a boss or colleagues at work.

 

[Panda-s1]

Well that's one of them accounted for, with support even. So I'll amend my statement to, "I won't believe the anonymous (my apologies if Bill from blogspot is in fact a known industry figure I'm unaware of) poster over the two known individuals with history in the industry (and I presume a history with Bob Sr.)

Bill name-dropped Chuck Anshell. unfortunately the fact that Bill Owen is a founder of JG obfuscates a lot of searches, but JG works involving Chuck Anshell also include Bill Paley or Bill Seligman. this commenter is likely one of those Bills.

 

[billd91]

okay I hate to be That Guy™ (except when I do, like right now), but I went through the comments of the original blog post I found this unfortunate gem:
View attachment 118353
I don't Bob Bledsaw Sr. too well, or Judges Guild, but I figured given his age he wasn't perfect, and well it turns out that's the case. maybe he wasn't anywhere near as bad as his son and grandson, but he probably didn't help much either.

Definitely unfortunate, but it is kind of surprising how many people use ethnic slur verbs without knowing they're doing so. I would think that jewing might be at least a little more obvious than gypping or welching, but the one guy I chewed out for using it back in high school (you don't need to know how long ago that was) had no clue and I don't think it was blatant antisemitism on his part.

 

[Panda-s1]

Definitely unfortunate, but it is kind of surprising how many people use ethnic slur verbs without knowing they're doing so. I would think that jewing might be at least a little more obvious than gypping or welching, but the one guy I chewed out for using it back in high school (you don't need to know how long ago that was) had no clue and I don't think it was blatant antisemitism on his part.

I mean sure, like I said he's from a time when that sort of thing wasn't viewed as "racist".

but I started thinking about my own dad probably used Jew as a verb, and then distinctly remembered one time when I was like 12 when he told me how people used to say that and how it was not at all okay. he then told me I might meet other people who still say that and that it's not okay for them to use it. he brought up a few other words, too (like "gyp"). my dad is of an ethnic minority, and even he still says some racist stuff and I have no doubt in my mind he thought words like that are okay when he was younger, but clearly something happened that got him to change his mind.

there's about a 30 year difference between those 2 anecdotes, and I want to believe Bob Sr. got better and that his kid and grandson strayed away from their father, but hearing him say something like that could have set them down that road in the first place.

 

[Bacon Bits]

There is a case to be made that the Internet in general, and social media specifically, amplifies "mob" behavior and that it can cause damage to people's lives and businesses far out of proportion to anything they actually said or did.

This incident is not an example of that.

I mean, probably.

I'm entirely willing to condemn Bledsaw II, and I don't think we should spare JG here, but it's certainly gone down shockingly fast. Potentially faster than JG could defend itself if it wanted to. We have one blog post that was made on Feb 10, 2020 -- that's four days ago -- and it appears to have resulted in ties being permanently cut from at least one storefront.

It's not like we don't have examples of cancelling gone awry. Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard. Zoe Quinn vs Alec Holowka. Tati Westbrook vs Justin Charles, which was the subject of Contrapoints' excellent video on cancelling.

I can't say that I'm willing to defend a racist or a bigot, but we're still taking the accusations of one blogger as gospel plus the rumors that we can find online. I don't see why that would mean the knee-jerk reaction would be the right one. It's not like waiting a week to see what's really going on is going to hurt, either.

Think of it this way: Just how difficult would it be to fake a couple Facebook posts?

 

[Mistwell]

I mean, probably.

I'm entirely willing to condemn Bledsaw II, and I don't think we should spare JG here, but it's certainly gone down shockingly fast. Potentially faster than JG could defend itself if it wanted to. We have one blog post that was made on Feb 10, 2020 -- that's four days ago -- and it appears to have resulted in ties being permanently cut from at least one storefront.

It's not like we don't have examples of cancelling gone awry. Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard. Zoe Quinn vs Alec Holowka. Tati Westbrook vs Justin Charles, which was the subject of Contrapoints' excellent video on cancelling.

I can't say that I'm willing to defend a racist or a bigot, but we're still taking the accusations of one blogger as gospel plus the rumors that we can find online. I don't see why that would mean the knee-jerk reaction would be the right one. It's not like waiting a week to see what's really going on is going to hurt, either.

Think of it this way: Just how difficult would it be to fake a couple Facebook posts?

There is no question this isn't faked and is in fact posts from him going back years. So I'd ask what amount of proof you'd need to see to satisfy yourself that it's real? Though frankly, the easiest way is to ask Bob yourself - when I messaged Bob, he was very upfront in taking credit for the posts and stating he still agreed with them wholeheartedly and then tried to argue the reasonableness of his posts with me.

This isn't in any way the "accusations of one blogger". It's confirmed from probably five sources at this point. I say again, how much proof do you need to meet your personal criteria for proof that this is legit?

 

[Morrus]

Think of it this way: Just how difficult would it be to fake a couple Facebook posts?

They were public until a couple of days ago.

 

[Panda-s1]

I mean, probably.

I'm entirely willing to condemn Bledsaw II, and I don't think we should spare JG here, but it's certainly gone down shockingly fast. Potentially faster than JG could defend itself if it wanted to. We have one blog post that was made on Feb 10, 2020 -- that's four days ago -- and it appears to have resulted in ties being permanently cut from at least one storefront.

It's not like we don't have examples of cancelling gone awry. Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard. Zoe Quinn vs Alec Holowka. Tati Westbrook vs Justin Charles, which was the subject of Contrapoints' excellent video on cancelling.

I can't say that I'm willing to defend a racist or a bigot, but we're still taking the accusations of one blogger as gospel plus the rumors that we can find online. I don't see why that would mean the knee-jerk reaction would be the right one. It's not like waiting a week to see what's really going on is going to hurt, either.

Think of it this way: Just how difficult would it be to fake a couple Facebook posts?

okay, this is starting to feel like a conspiracy theory. Bob Bledsaw II has been posting stuff like this on his facebook for years. multiple people have confirmed they knew about this but mostly kept silent. also his facebook was apparently public so it's not like you yourself couldn't have known about it.

JG was dropped "shockingly fast" because it's that objectively appalling for the owner to say that sort of thing in public. it doesn't help either that Bledsaw already has a spotty history on how he handles his company. also Bledsaw could instead have decided to give up his ownership of JG, in which case DTRPG might not have dropped them, but that wasn't the case.

honestly, I'm not even sure why there needs to be a week's time to figure this out. Bob Bledsaw II was revealed to have made some racist and anti-semetic posts on facebook. these posts were unapologetically bad. multiple parties not only confirmed this but also added that this behavior stretches back for years. his facebook was open and anyone could go see for themselves.

also what motivation is there for Bat in the Attic, et al. to even do that? Bledsaw already had a bad reputation with gamers outside of his racism so it's not like they needed to make up an excuse for the public to buy, and Judges Guild carries a lot of nostalgia amongst old school gamers so it's not like cutting off ties without a good reason would do them any good. being alarmed because they didn't take an arbitrary amount of time before dropping them makes no sense.



as an aside, that website you posted for making fake fb posts doesn't help your argument at all. the formatting is bad, and is based off a very old version of facebook; the like icon is ancient, and other reactions don't exist. you're better off taking an existing facebook post and shopping it instead tbh.

 

[CleverNickName]

I don't know how much time a person or company should be allowed to have, in this situation, before they are made to face the consequences of their actions. All I have to go on is my own personal judgment and experience...and both are telling me that 24 hours is about 23.99 hours too long.

When someone spews garbage like that, I never think "gosh why did they say that, I should let them explain." Some things are indefensible.

 

[Bacon Bits]

This isn't in any way the "accusations of one blogger". It's confirmed from probably five sources at this point. I say again, how much proof do you need to meet your personal criteria for proof that this is legit?

They were public until a couple of days ago.

As I tried to make clear in my post, my point isn't to defend Bledsaw or JG. I know only about the information given in the title post and the pages I've skimmed through in this thread (roughly a dozen or so). I saw no links to anything else except Bat's post.

My point is that knowing only that it's not really clear what's going on and it's unwise to just assume what's what. My point is that all I know is what's in this thread, and there are basically no links or anything. It's all just people making claims. Most of those people are anonymous to me. Morrus is the only name I can associate with an individual, and he has a vested interest in credibility on this site so I'm tending to accept his interpretation as most likely correct. He's got a lot more on the line here than anyone.

However, in the general sense I will not feel guilty or ashamed for pleading for a moderate response while a situation develops instead of immediately grabbing a pitchfork and a torch when I only know a very minimal amount of information. Especially when most of that information that I have seen is in the form of uncited claims from anonymous individuals.

okay, this is starting to feel like a conspiracy theory. Bob Bledsaw II has been posting stuff like this on his facebook for years. multiple people have confirmed they knew about this but mostly kept silent. also his facebook was apparently public so it's not like you yourself couldn't have known about it.

Why not? Nobody acted on it before Feb 10, 2020, apparently.

JG was dropped "shockingly fast" because it's that objectively appalling for the owner to say that sort of thing in public. it doesn't help either that Bledsaw already has a spotty history on how he handles his company. also Bledsaw could instead have decided to give up his ownership of JG, in which case DTRPG might not have dropped them, but that wasn't the case.

honestly, I'm not even sure why there needs to be a week's time to figure this out. Bob Bledsaw II was revealed to have made some racist and anti-semetic posts on facebook. these posts were unapologetically bad. multiple parties not only confirmed this but also added that this behavior stretches back for years. his facebook was open and anyone could go see for themselves.

If both everybody knew and the evidence was so overwhelming that it's immediately incontrovertible to everybody involved... but Judges Guild has had business arrangements with Bat and DTRPG for quite some time... why didn't anything happen until four days ago? Everybody knew, but nobody acted? And then because of one post everybody acts in four days? You're contradicting yourself and it's got nothing to do with the facts you're stating. Your logic just doesn't hold water.

Quite clearly, either everybody didn't know, or the evidence wasn't incontrovertible. By overstating that everybody already knew and the evidence was unimpeachable... it makes me question your motivations and question what else you might be lying about because that's not how things work.

This is exactly the problem I'm trying to highlight. You're making claims that contradict yourself when you don't even have to do that. You're not making your claims more credible by overstating them. I can only imagine an extreme circumstance where Bledsaw didn't do everything he's accused of based on only what Morrus has posted, but you're so exaggerating your claims that it makes you sound infinitely less credible.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't know how much time a person or company should be allowed to have, in this situation, before they are made to face the consequences of their actions. All I have to go on is my own personal judgment and experience...and both are telling me that 24 hours is about 23.99 hours too long.

When someone spews garbage like that, I never think "gosh why did they say that, I should let them explain." Some things are indefensible.

Who are you referring to? Judges Guild or Goodman Games?

Because I don't see Bledsow trying to walk back what he's said.

And I think Goodman, if they don't have a statement up by the end of business today, are risking their own backlash.

 

[the Jester]

Definitely unfortunate, but it is kind of surprising how many people use ethnic slur verbs without knowing they're doing so. I would think that jewing might be at least a little more obvious than gypping or welching, but the one guy I chewed out for using it back in high school (you don't need to know how long ago that was) had no clue and I don't think it was blatant antisemitism on his part.

This. There are tremendous amounts of both overt and subtle racism built into our culture ('our' being Western European-derived cultures, including the USA). When I judge people on racist behavior in the past, I need to remind myself that the awareness that some of those behaviors were racist wasn't really there. I didn't even know that "welching" on a bet was a racist turn of phrase until I was an adult- it had never been pointed out to me, and the word was so normalized that I never even thought about it. So yeah, I've unthinkingly used those terms, not realizing that was even a racial component, when I was younger. Now that I'm aware of their racist origins, I don't.

The bottom line is, I do think it is worth drawing a distinction between racist behaviors that come from those sorts of cultural norms and those that come from active malice.

 

[CleverNickName]

Who are you referring to? Judges Guild or Goodman Games?

Because I don't see Bledsow trying to walk back what he's said.

And I think Goodman, if they don't have a statement up by the end of business today, are risking their own backlash.

Neither. I was just commenting on the discussion between @Bacon Bits and @Panda-s1 , and the amount of time a person/organization should be given before having to face public backlash. I agree with you: I don't see Bob trying to walk this stuff back. I bet he would love the opportunity to pontificate for hours about his views and how unfairly he has been treated, though. Some might be interested in hearing that, but not this moogle.

I agree with your sentiment about Goodman Games. I've had my eye on their Isle of Dread reboot for several weeks now, but I'm waiting to see what their stance is on this issue before I make a $50 purchase.

 

[darjr]

I would like to see something about this from Goodman Games other than “soon”