Goodman Games: Our Efforts Have Been Mischaracterized

Goodman Games' CEO Joseph Goodman made a statement via YouTube over the weekend*. The video itself focused on the content of the controversial upcoming City State of the Invincible Overlord crowdfunding product, but was prefaced by a short introduction by Joseph Goodman, in which he reiterates his company's commitment to inclusivity and diversity and its opposition to bigotry, something which they say they "don't want to be associated with".

Goodman goes on to say that the company's efforts have been "mischaracterized by some folks" but does not go so far as to identify the mischaracterization, so it's not entirely clear what they consider to be untrue other than the "inaccurate" statements made by Bob Bledsaw II of Judges Guild about Goodman Games' plans, which Goodman mentioned last week.

For those who haven't been following this story, it has been covered in the articles Goodman Games Revives Relationship With Anti-Semitic Publisher For New City State Kickstarter, Goodman Games Offers Assurances About Judges Guild Royalties, and Judges Guild Makes Statement About Goodman Controversy. In short, Goodman Games is currently licensing an old property from a company with which it claimed to have cut ties in 2020 after the owner of that company made a number of bigoted comments on social media. Goodman Games has repeatedly said that this move would allow them to provide backers of an old unfulfilled Judges Guild Kickstarter with refunds, but there are many people questioning seeming contradictions in both the timelines involved and in the appropriateness of the whole endeavour.

Despite the backlash, the prospects of the crowdfunding project do not seem to have been harmed. The pre-launch page has over 3,000 followers, and many of the comments under the YouTube videos or on other social media are not only very supportive of the project, but also condemn those who question its appropriateness. In comparison, the original (failed) Judges Guild Kickstarter had only 965 backers.

The video is embedded below, followed by a transcript of the relevant section.

Hi everybody, I'm Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games. We recently announced our City State of the Invincible Overlord crowdfunding project for 5E and DCC RPG.

In the video you're about to see, some of our product development team is going to tell you about what makes the City State so amazing and why we're bringing it back to 5E and DCC audiences nearly 50 years after it was first released. It really is an amazing setting.

But we could have rolled this project out with a lot more clarity. Now, to be clear, Goodman Games absolutely opposes any sort of bigotry, racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, transphobia. We don't want to support it. We don't want to be associated with it.

Our well-intentioned effort to launch this project in a way that refunds backers of a former failed Kickstarter from another publisher kind of backfired in the way we announced it. Rest assured, the funds from this crowdfunding will actually fund refunds to backers of the original City State crowdfunding for the Pathfinder edition from 2014.

Unfortunately, our efforts have been—you know, I didn’t clarify them perfectly when we rolled it out—and they've been mischaracterized by some folks since then. But please rest assured, we stand for inclusivity and diversity.

You can read a lot more detail in the post that's linked below, and there's another video linked below where we talk about this in even more detail. But for now, we hope you will sit back and enjoy as some of the product development team tells you about really what makes the City State of the Invincible Overlord so amazing, and why you might want to check it out when it comes to crowdfunding soon.

Thanks, and I'll turn it over to them now.

The statement refers to a post about this that is supposed to be linked below, but at the time of writing no post is linked below the video, so it's not clear if that refers to a new post or one of Goodman Games' previous statements on the issue.

I reached out to Joseph Goodman last week to offer a non-confrontational (although direct and candid) interview in which he could answer some ongoing questions and talk on his reasoning behind the decision; I have not yet received a response to the offer--I did, however, indicate that I was just leaving for UK Games Expo, and wouldn't be back until this week.

*Normally I would have covered this in a more timely fashion, but I was away at UK Games Expo from Thursday through to Monday.

 

[Morrus]

Goodman Games will be the name featured on the book.

I would be astonished if Judges Guild is not clearly credited on this book.

 

[General_Tangent]

According to what has been stated about the structure of the project: as close to 0 as Goodman Games can manage.

Edited after reading the FAQ:

"Goodman Games and Judges Guild have agreed to create an escrow account to receive royalties from this project. This escrow account will be used to refund backers from the earlier failed 2014 City State of the Invincible Overlord project for the Pathfinder edition as run by Judges Guild. Goodman Games will match royalty payments with a donation to charities that supports inclusivity and diversity."

I didn't realise that the refunds are only going to pay off the Pathfinder edition, any idea if the JG Universal system are going to be made whole by the fund?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Fair point on goodwill.

I dont understand why anyone would give credit to Bledsaw for not solving a problem. But people confuse me.

I don't think it's about credit for solving the problem, or gratitude; it's about perceived value of a company. "Goodwill" is a line item on a balance sheet that equates to the delta between a company's assets and its value. People will forget about the details over time, and in the future when people think, "Should I back this kickstarter? Will he deliver?" the collective memory will be that customers were treated fairly, instead of left out to dry. Ergo, "goodwill".

 

[mamba]

I didn't realise that the refunds are only going to pay off the Pathfinder edition, any idea if the JG Universal system are going to be made whole by the fund?

is that the same KS? then I would not expect a distinction between who ordered which version

 

[Argyle King]

I would be astonished if Judges Guild is not clearly credited on this book.

I'm sure their name will be mentioned somewhere. I still don't really see that making much of an impact.

For the sake of discussion, let's say that somebody seeing the name Judges Guild is suddenly overcome with a desire to seek out more of their products.

•Judges Guild currently does not make products for either of the systems (DCC or D&D 5e) that this product serves.
•Realistically, acquiring the older Judges Guild materials that people might actually want requires going through Amazon, a used bookstore, or finding a pdf of questionable legality. So, none of that financially benefits Bledsaw either.

Best case scenario, there is a small gain in brand recognition for a brand that barely exists. 2011 was the last time Judges Guild created a new product, and that one product was the first (and I think only) new thing they had produced since the mid-1980s. Their most popular and enduring product has been CSIO, and the upcoming version will be (I believe) primarily viewed as a Goodman Games product and one that does very little (if anything) to elevate Judges Guild above being a historical footnote.

 

[Argyle King]

I didn't realise that the refunds are only going to pay off the Pathfinder edition, any idea if the JG Universal system are going to be made whole by the fund?

I haven't seen that mentioned.  The Backerkit FAQ for the Goodman Games version of CSIO might answer that.

Edit: I tried to link to it, but I'm having trouble getting the link to work.

 

[Mannahnin]

•Realistically, acquiring the older Judges Guild materials that people might actually want requires going through Amazon, a used bookstore, or finding a pdf of questionable legality. So, none of that financially benefits Bledsaw either.

To my understanding Bledsaw does sell on Amazon and/or eBay and may use at least one alternative business name. I have a vague memory of someone in this thread or a related one mentioning that they sought out and purchased a copy of a JG book on one of those sites with the intention of getting it from a third party so as not to pay Bledsaw, then were dismayed to note that the return address on the package was his.

 

[Argyle King]

To my understanding Bledsaw does sell on Amazon and/or eBay and may use at least one alternative business name. I have a vague memory of someone in this thread or a related one mentioning that they sought out and purchased a copy of a JG book on one of those sites with the intention of getting it from a third party so as not to pay Bledsaw, then were dismayed to note that the return address on the package was his.

I wouldn't be surprised if an alternate name was used.

I'm not sure how Ebay operates nowadays, as I haven't used it in a long time. On Amazon, you can get the details of the third-party before making a purchase.

For example, I just now did a search, and I'm looking at a book called Druids of Doom. There is one copy available from Chris Korczak, Bookseller, IOBA. Pasting that into a search, I find the following: "I am an antiquarian book dealer, and I specialize in vintage role playing games. Based out of Easthampton, MA, I have been operating since 2005."

 

[General_Tangent]

is that the same KS? then I would not expect a distinction between who ordered which version

From the original Kickstarter page:

City State of the Invincible Overlord will be written in both JG Universal and the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. You'll be given an opportunity to choose which version you want after the project is funded. The book will contain the following material:

I haven't seen that mentioned.  The Backerkit FAQ for the Goodman Games version of CSIO might answer that.

Edit: I tried to link to it, but I'm having trouble getting the link to work.

It just seems to mention the Pathfinder edition getting the refunds.

Although it may just be a moot point since neither version was ever produced.

 

[numtini]

I would assume all backers are eligible for a refund and PF1 is just a shorthand.

OTOH, in their latest proclamation from the Overlordbunker, the Bledshaws claimed they were going to be doing their own release of CSIO, now that Goodman has paid their debts off. So possibly it's only the PF backers getting it.

So do the Bledshaws get a 1099 from Goodman for clearing their legally ambiguous debt?