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.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I don't suppose we can get Bledsaw to come here and explain himself? I'm sure it would be enlightening and/or hilarious.

 

[Panda-s1]

I don't suppose we can get Bledsaw to come here and explain himself? I'm sure it would be enlightening and/or hilarious.

look as funny as that might be, he might also just use this as a venue to espouse his awful beliefs (also literally nothing is stopping him from making an account and writing a post?).

 

[Mallus]

To ensure that us non-vile and non-bigoted people are acting right and just.

Dulce et decorum est ceasing to do business with a bigot and antisemite.

So I'll ask you as well, who did his behavior harm?

You mean besides himself, his business, Jewish people, and his (nominally) fellow Christians?

 

[FrogReaver]

Dulce et decorum est ceasing to do business with a bigot and antisemite.

I don't speak whatever language that is. Maybe you will translate.

You mean besides himself, his business, Jewish people, and his (nominally) fellow Christians?

Yes, he certainly hurt himself and his reputation and his business. He certainly offended Jewish people and reasonable people in general. But I'm curious - what harm did he cause to Jewish people?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes, he certainly hurt himself and his reputation and his business. He certainly offended Jewish people and reasonable people in general. But I'm curious - what harm did he cause to Jewish people?

"Antisemitism isn't harmful to Jewish people" is very creative, I'll give you that. Is there a subreddit where all of this stuff is workshopped?

 

[seebs]

In general we are talking about behavior that is objectionable. I think having some historical context is appropriate.

What that context illustrates is that social consequences for "objectionable behavior" is a tool that can be used against any behavior.

This is true of any tool, and is not relevant in any obvious way. That a tool could be used in any way doesn't mean that it's a bad tool to use in other contexts. No one is saying that the existence of social consequences for objectionable behavior is always good, just that it happens to seem appropriate in this particular case.

I've not seen one person here defend that behavior.

I have.

Let me ask you this - who did his behavior harm?

This right here is, however weak, a "defense" of the behavior -- an implied assertion that it is not in fact harmful.

Sometimes, harms are indirect and tend to happen in aggregate. Any specific instance of anti-Semitic speech may not, directly, result in harm. But if the frequency of such speech increases, the frequency of violence against specific Jewish people goes up. As indeed it has, sharply, after the last couple of years of people making excuses for it and pretending it isn't harmful.

How many people shot up synagogues in 2018-2019? How many in, say, any given decade from 1950 through 2010?

 

[FrogReaver]

"Antisemitism isn't harmful to Jewish people" is very creative, I'll give you that. Is there a subreddit where all of this stuff is workshopped?

Stop broad brushing. If you believe this guys speech was harmful to Jewish people then you should be able to articulate why.

 

[Gradine]

LOL that "anti-semitism hurts Jewish people" is being treated as some sort of novel idea that demands a rigorous defense.

 

[HarbingerX]

Stop broad brushing. If you believe this guys speech was harmful to Jewish people then you should be able to articulate why.

So are you really saying that promoting anti-semitic views is not harmful? Incel speech is not harmful? Racist comments are not harmful? Are Jihadist speeches not harmful?

The burden of proof is not on whether the speech is directly harmful or not. Speech that promotes hate of others can be directly linked to individuals taking action and killing others. So as a societal group, we prefer to sanction those who propagate hate to prevent the hate from finding someone who will then take action.

 

[Azzy]

Google is a thing you know, because I'm absolutely positive you're posting this in good faith.

LMGTFY

Thank you, I was about to link to an article on the subject (despite knowing what's going on here), and you saved me the trouble.