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.

 

[Celebrim]

but, and I say this as a PoC myself, I get annoyed by the way people throw him around as an example of how "we" should behave about racial injustice. I swear whenever I saw that article show up on my facebook wall it felt like "see? this guy didn't get angry when his basic human rights were being violated. instead he talked calmly and rationally to people who might murder him in public and arguably get away with it and got them to stop being racist.

All true and I totally get that. Daryl Davis is a Paladin. Don't attempt to try to do what he does if you aren't commissioned to be one, because it will not work out well for you.

But it's also true that in your day to day life you probably will never encounter anyone face to face who holds the views that the people he's seeking out to rescue hold. I don't think anyone is holding that up as an example except as an example of hope. People with those views are not nearly rare enough, but they are rare enough that you may have never encountered someone that holds them. He's not just running into these people at random. The majority of people you encounter, even those with problematic views, won't have nearly so extreme of problematic views, and certainly aren't likely to murder you.

Give an example. When I was working my wife through her college at LSU, one of the jobs I held was a truck driver delivering construction equipment to chemical plants. One of the other drivers for the same company was an ex-professional boxer: big guy with fists like hams and knuckles like steel rivets. The guy had just converted to Christianity, so we had something in common. Unfortunately, the sort of Christianity he had converted to was heavily influenced by the Nation of Islam, and was in good standing with the same temple that produced John Allen Mohammed - the DC sniper. Despite this, somehow, we managed to become friends. One hot afternoon setting on the bundles of hemp rope in the back of the warehouse after finishing our respective routes, he told me, "__, it's a real shame that you are a white man, because I won't be able to see you in heaven." You see, _ believed that white people weren't real humans, but mockeries of humans that had been made by Satan, and as such he didn't believe I had a soul.

That's at least of a problematic of viewpoint as anyone in the KKK I ever met, but I never thought this guy was going to murder me. And his philosophy is a really rare and extreme case, that's not really indicative of the majority of people that are out there. Even so, it would have done me or him no good if I'd tried to cancel him from my life, and if I'd decided that I was super offended well it would have just made all the problems worse. I'm not the Hero Daryl Davis is. I couldn't rescue the guy. I wish I was even half the man Daryl Davis is, because I really liked the man.

You want more racism in the world, then divide everything into "us" versus "them" and assume the worst of "them". It doesn't really matter who "us" and "them" are, it will all end up in the same place, and before you know it, you'll hold just as many ridiculous ignorant views as the publisher that sparked this thread.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yeah, the purpose of boycotts such as these is not necessarily to philosophically convert Nazis. It's to make it really, really difficult to continue to be a Nazi. That's why things like "he should still be able to earn a living!" completely miss the point. No, no he definitely should not. At least not until he renounces his bigotry.

In a different arena, there’s a christian Metal band called As I Lay Dying, whose lead singer (Tim Lambesis) was arrested, tried, convicted, and served 2 (of 6) years for attempting to have a hit man kill his wife. He has rejoined the band and attempted to relaunch his career. Apparently, his (Ex?) wife has forgiven him.

Many of the band’s hardcore fans want him back at the microphone, but many in the metal community- including several of the bands they’ve shared a bill with- don’t want to be associated with him. Many do not believe his apologies or that his prison term was sufficient punishment for the crime he committed. As a result, AILD has been booted from more than one tour or venue In the past year.

There are, of course, the cries that everyone should let him sing with his band, since, after all, his wife is OK with it; that he’s being denied a chance to earn a living.

When I participate in those discussions, I point out that no one has a right to a particular form of work, and he can find employment elsewhere, and that people are perfectly within their rights to not associate with him.

 

[ad_hoc]

You’re missing the point: if they think they have won, they can and will preach the “victory” in order to gain followers.

No, I get it.

The thing is, caring about what they think is them actually winning. We can't make them think the way we want them to. If they did, then there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

What we can is protect each other and put our emotional labour into building each other up.

We need to stop caring about what the bigots think of us.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

No, I get it.

The thing is, caring about what they think is them actually winning. We can't make them think the way we want them to. If they did, then there wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

What we can is protect each other and put our emotional labour into building each other up.

We need to stop caring about what the bigots think of us.

By the fact that you want to shut them out, it shows you CARE what they think. It’s just a question of what you do in reaction.

 

[Retreater]

@Morrus

Matt From drive thru posted this

Bob Bledsaw II and III of Judges Guild go on egregiously racist, Nazi, rants | Tabletop Roleplaying Open

DrivethruRPG needs to dump Judges Guild immediately! DTRPG got back to me. They are aware of the issue and it's currently being discussed internally. The Judges Guild publisher account has been closed and they are no longer available on DriveThruRPG. M

forum.rpg.net

Sad to see this end to a storied publisher.

 

[gyor]

boycotts also require a pretty high level of organization. there are a lot of companies I quietly refuse to buy from, but I'm not dumb enough to call that a "boycott". even if you and some of your friends loudly declare to not buy a specific product it doesn't mean a whole lot. I don't want to say education is to blame, but the Platonic ideal of boycott in America is the Montgomery bus boycott. a lot of people don't know the actual work and effort the entire black community of the city had to put in to make the boycott effective, great sacrifices were made for over a year to make it work and all sorts of shenanigans happened to hamper the boycott, but most people seem to think they just didn't ride the bus for a while and that alone was enough to make the boycott work.


okay I don't want to piss on Daryl Davis's legacy, this man is clearly a saint and way braver than I can ever expect myself to be.

but, and I say this as a PoC myself, I get annoyed by the way people throw him around as an example of how "we" should behave about racial injustice. I swear whenever I saw that article show up on my facebook wall it felt like "see? this guy didn't get angry when his basic human rights were being violated. instead he talked calmly and rationally to people who might murder him in public and arguably get away with it and got them to stop being racist. instead of rioting and looting maybe you should write a letter to your local representative.


....please don't murder me."

I don't expect everyone to be a Darrel Davis or to take it to that extreme, but I do think there are lessons to be learned from his approach and not just for PoC or on the issue of racism, but on a Plethora of issues. It's not PoC that I tend to use him as an example for anyways, it's the violent and often hypocritical Antifi activists and their cheerleaders with their punch a Nazi attidude that drives me to keep holding up Darrell Davis as a better way for those that want to fight racism. It's really to show their is a more effective option then violence.

 

[ad_hoc]

By the fact that you want to shut them out, it shows you CARE what they think. It’s just a question of what you do in reaction.

No, it shows that I do not tolerate what they think.

I don't care about their positions and rationales of why they think that way.

I recognize their threat and protect myself and my community from them.

These are very different things.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Goodman Games responded to people on Twitter that they are aware of the situation and preparing a statement.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

@Celebrim

i know the kinds of people you’re talking about. One of the reason I don’t have the luxury of ignoring ALL bigots is that I’m related to a few.

When they were in their late teens, 2 of my cousins on my Mom’s side started spouting off some anti Semitic stuff, as was growing in popularity in the balck community at the time. I took them aside and showed them pictures of Jews marching alongside blacks in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

Then I dropped the REAL bomb: our great-grandmother (I knew her personally, but she died before they were born) was Jewish as well as black. And that most of the caucasian side of the family had treated her as much like an equal as they could in New Orleans at the time.

It shocked them. It’s been 20+ years, and I haven’t really heard any echoes of that past hate from them.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

I don't expect everyone to be a Darrel Davis or to take it to that extreme, but I do think there are lessons to be learned from his approach and not just for PoC or on the issue of racism, but on a Plethora of issues. It's not PoC that I tend to use him as an example for anyways, it's the violent and often hypocritical Antifi activists and their cheerleaders with their punch a Nazi attidude that drives me to keep holding up Darrell Davis as a better way for those that want to fight racism. It's really to show their is a more effective option then violence.

Is it really more effective though? When it comes to dealing with movements of thousands of people, I doubt it.

As others have said in the thread, trying to reach out to bigots and appeal to their better nature only works if you either already have an existing emotional connection with them or take the time to build that connection. If you don't, if your opponent is just another face in the crowd to you, then it's better to just shut them down outright. Don't give them a platform to spread their views with if you can't trust yourself to keep both hands on the wheel and your foot on the throttle.

Also, don't disparage people who engage in antifascist action like that. They're good folks, it's not always violent, and when it is it's in no way hypocritical.

I'm basically going through the Breadtube Greatest Hits, but here's another video:

Timestamps for the video:
Part 1 - Meet the Antifascists - 0:53
Part 2 - Fascism - 8:18
Part 3 - Violence - 20:47
Part 4 - Free Speech - 39:58
Part 5 - There Is No Peaceful White Nationalism - 53:30