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.

 

[marurun]

Who they? JG or Goodman? I feel better towards Goodman for making me whole.

They is JG. Meaning JG may not benefit greatly from having Goodman cover their ass, but they do net some benefit, even if it's just slightly reduced negativity over the experience of being shafted by them for a few years before Goodman bailed them out.

 

[mamba]

Their most popular and enduring product has been CSIO, and the upcoming version will be (I believe) primarily viewed as a Goodman Games product

The GG campaign made the CSIO more of a known entity imo, and with its limited run and potentially renewed interest, JG could try to meet that demand. From Bledsaw’s post it sounded like they wanted to release their own version this year (I doubt that is realistic…).

They could also release their own version of Wilderlands as a larger setting the CSIO resides in.

In any case, the interest in JG products cannot be a bad thing for JG, whether they can capitalize on it is a different question

 

[mamba]

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

I assume that was just Goodman not considering that there were two version in the KS, rather than this being an intentional decision

 

[Argyle King]

The GG campaign made the CSIO more of a known entity imo, and with its limited run and potentially renewed interest, JG could try to meet that demand. From Bledsaw’s post it sounded like they wanted to release their own version this year (I doubt that is realistic…).

They could also release their own version of Wilderlands as a larger setting the CSIO resides in.

In any case, the interest in JG products cannot be a bad thing for JG, whether they can capitalize on it is a different question

I would agree that (hypothetical) interest in JG products would not be a bad thing.

Though, I posit that this version of CSIO will be viewed as (and is) a Goodman Games product.

It could be the case that Judges Guild finds some way to capitalize on the success of the GG project. That would fall outside of what the usual pattern has been for Judges Guild, but I can't say that it is wholly impossible.

However, I'm inclined to believe that future interest is more likely to be in Castle Whiterock and other Goodman Games products.

 

[mamba]

I'm inclined to believe that future interest is more likely to be in Castle Whiterock and other Goodman Games products.

I believe that interest was ‘always’ there, GG created it and CSIO either did not change it or had a negative impact (tbd) whereas CSIO had a positive impact for JG, even if small and without them being able to exploit it (also tbd).

So, GG 0 : JG 1

 

[Riley]

GG is deleting critical comments regarding the CSIO on the page promoting CSIO on their still-undelivered Backerkit campaign for Jennell’s Caverns of Thracia.

Well, they deleted my comment at least.

Not surprising. But I feel like noting that here merely because I can’t do so there.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

GG is deleting critical comments regarding the CSIO on the page promoting CSIO on their still-undelivered Backerkit campaign for Jennell’s Caverns of Thracia.

Buildin' bridges, man, just buildin' bridges.

 

[Riley]

Buildin' bridges, man, just buildin' bridges.

To be fair, my comment was 1) I’m really looking forward to receiving this!, and 2) after that, I’m out of here because you violated your own right-good-and-proper 2020 pledge.

So that bridge was already burned, by one or both parties.

 

[timbannock]

To be fair, my comment was 1) I’m really looking forward to receiving this!, and 2) after that, I’m out of here because you violated your own right-good-and-proper 2020 pledge.

So that bridge was already burned, by one or both parties.

I was planning to do the exact same thing, actually.

I really can't justify any more benefit of the doubt for Goodman. They are showing us exactly who they are.

 

[Thagdal]

Having someone else pay the debt is not something that I believe gives Bledsaw a more favorable position. Assuming people know who he is at all, he'll still have a reputation for never making an effort to fulfill the previous project (on top of the other ill will be has generated).

If anything, I think Bledsaw becomes more invisible to the general community (than he already was). For people who actually do know who he is, whatever sentiments that they hold toward the man now won't be changed by this. Bledsaw will only be "normalized" for those who already view him with a lens of normalcy. For most, what is normal and what will continue to be normal is not knowing who he is.

Goodman Games will be the company getting the credit for this project and making it happen. Goodman Games will be the name featured on the book. Whether your group is playing 5E or DCC, fun generated by this project will be linked to the efforts of Goodman Games.

Bledsaw appears to consider it a win for themselves, given their post, regardless of how factual the details of involvement are.
They didn't agree to the whole thing unless they saw it as a positive. Goodman's motivations seem to be a lot less clear, (for cash, for history, not thinking ahead, et el) but Bledshaw would only be agreeing to this deal if they felt it benefited them. And he knows the details of the deal better than any of us.

The kickstarter has also shown that people dont know or care about Bledsaw's history and vile statements. So when those people google city of the over world, or judges guild, they will get Bledsaw's works in the results, potentially netting sales. Bledsaw can also offer the license out to other or use it himself to make more supplements for the city too, give how successful this run has been. Maybe he'll release or license another version of the city to catch the people will missed out of the kick starter in the manner like those knock off block busters that have similar titles and covers to a big hit.