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.

 

[Mallus]

From what I read, Bob Sr was not publicly anti-semitic...

That why I added the ”Jr.”!

 

[HarbingerX]

I was a young teen in the 80s when 'politically correct' became a thing, and I heard all the same arguments we hear today trying to justify using derogatory terms for minority groups and rights to free speech. The arguments failed then and then got revived on the internet because it's so much easier to amplify a single person or small groups speech. I'm optimistic that we'll find ways, like what people are doing here, to remove the message amplification the internet brings. Then the haters can just hate in their pocket universe.

 

[Gradine]

I also don't really get all this talk about an "angry mob". I am, as the kids say, terminally online. And yet I did not hear about these statements until this thread, when two companies had already dropped him. And I didn't hear about Drive Thru being involved in this at all until they announced they were dropping the JG books.

There's a lot of talk of "generalities" which makes me think some people are using this incident as a proxy for a very different battle. This isn't the hill to die on, folx.

 

[Panda-s1]

From what I read, Bob Sr was not publicly anti-semitic...

I mean, idk if you saw the comment I found but: Concerning Judges Guild

 

[Rikka66]

I mean, idk if you saw the comment I found but: Concerning Judges Guild

One random anonymous person claiming to know Bob Sr. claims the man didn't hold any such beliefs. Another random anonymous person claiming to know Bob Sr. claims the man made some troubling statements in private 40 to 50 years ago.

I'm inclined to say there's no documented proof, and therefore think it's best not to engage in any speculations about a dead man's possible hidden bigotry.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I will also call you out for not actually reading what I am saying.

When you start having to repeat this, it's time to consider that you aren't communicating your point as well as you think you are.

 

[Mistwell]

For those saying we should try to persuade people rather than lock them out, I did try. I felt I gave it a pretty good effort until he disappeared.

 

[Mistwell]

One random anonymous person claiming to know Bob Sr. claims the man didn't hold any such beliefs. Another random anonymous person claiming to know Bob Sr. claims the man made some troubling statements in private 40 to 50 years ago.

I'm inclined to say there's no documented proof, and therefore think it's best not to engage in any speculations about a dead man's possible hidden bigotry.

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.

 

[Panda-s1]

One random anonymous person claiming to know Bob Sr. claims the man didn't hold any such beliefs. Another random anonymous person claiming to know Bob Sr. claims the man made some troubling statements in private 40 to 50 years ago.

I'm inclined to say there's no documented proof, and therefore think it's best not to engage in any speculations about a dead man's possible hidden bigotry.

well due to the first anonymous person's claim people are willing to prop Bob Bledsaw Sr. up as faultless, he would never say anything like that your copies of old JG stuff are totally okay to keep and use don't worry!

which honestly makes me uncomfortable, he's from a time where low levels of racism were completely tolerated and oh hey it turns out he wasn't perfect. I still don't regard him as bad as his son or grandson.

 

[Mistwell]

well due to the first anonymous person's claim people are willing to prop Bob Bledsaw Sr. up as faultless, he would never say anything like that your copies of old JG stuff are totally okay to keep and use don't worry!

which honestly makes me uncomfortable, he's from a time where low levels of racism were completely tolerated and oh hey it turns out he wasn't perfect. I still don't regard him as bad as his son or grandson.

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.