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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, we’re discussing this in a thread about one of the most prominent publishers in the community, and talking about other publishers with issues. To me, that’s the most visible folks. Ones with actual skin in the game. I don’t know what online means in that context.

If they’re not standing up, I can’t imagine what average Joe Schmoe the OSR fan thinks. Again, I come back to the conclusion that some of these people are afraid that they can’t stand up to bigotry within the community, which is a capital P - Problem.

I suspect the average OSR fan doesn't give much thought to these issues. They just enjoy the games for themselves. That's pretty much where I and my DCC and Shadowdark players stand.

 

[Belen]

Okay, shrug.

Guess it must not be a thing then.

I am sure it is a thing. It obviously matters to you and others and you have every right to be upset.

I feel like the larger community is just not aware. Why? Because the online community is tiny.

Most probably do not follow designers or companies. They buy a product if it sounds cool. Outside of a fee designers, I just could not name the people who write the products I buy.

I do not follow people or use social media. I only became aware of the Goodman issue after I started visiting ENW again after being away for 10 years.

Bledsoe is a problem. I am glad I learned about it.

I just think that these issues are not on the radar for most folks so you cannot infer that an entire community is sus based on a small segment or even poor companies because a huge number never engage at a deeper level.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Okay, shrug.

Guess it must not be a thing then.

Not a thing for @Belen it seems, and I suspect others feel the same. None of any of that should have anything to do with how you, I, or anyone else feels. We all make our own choices.

 

[mamba]

I suspect the average OSR fan doesn't give much thought to these issues. They just enjoy the games for themselves. That's pretty much where I and my DCC and Shadowdark players stand.

Not giving something much thought is not a good look though. It's one thing to say they do not know about it because they are not in online spaces this comes up in, but knowing about it and not caring requires a certain level of privilege at a minimum.

 

[Artamo]

It's generally a bad idea to include "publishers who don't want to speak out are cowards and maybe closet racists" in the same wall of text of specific people's names.

I think you misunderstood my comment and that’s probably my fault.

I think Gal and Dionne are part of a new generation taking the OSR game space into a great direction. I think others are clearly problematic individuals (Bledsaw, Zak S are the obvious examples but past them are the people who also enable them), and then there’s still a third group that don't want to piss people off and are afraid of speaking out against bigotry or sexism in the OSR community at all for fear of losing fans.

Hoping that clears up my position.

 

[Belen]

Not a thing for @Belen it seems, and I suspect others feel the same. None of any of that should have anything to do with how you, I, or anyone else feels. We all make our own choices.

I do not play OSR games or really pay attention to designers or companies. Unless I read something here that informs me, I’d never even hear about these issues. It is hit or miss even here.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Not giving something much thought is not a good look though. It's one thing to say they do not know about it because they are not in online spaces this comes up in, but knowing about it and not caring requires a certain level of privilege at a minimum.

I think you're allowed to know about what people are saying about this stuff and still enjoy the games these folks make. What you're saying sounds like judgement against any OSR fan with access to the internet.

 

[mamba]

I think you're allowed to know about what people are saying about this stuff and still enjoy the games these folks make. What you're saying sounds like judgement against any OSR fan with access to the internet.

There is no law against it so I guess that, yes, you are allowed to.

I would not go so far as saying that anyone on the internet knows about these things, but if you do and do not care then yes, I am judging you, much like Questing Beast got judged for not addressing it in one of their videos. To be clear, there are much worse possible offenses, but as I wrote earlier, it is not a good look

 

[Belen]

Not giving something much thought is not a good look though. It's one thing to say they do not know about it because they are not in online spaces this comes up in, but knowing about it and not caring requires a certain level of privilege at a minimum.

Hence my original comment that I had never heard of the people that are issues. It is a small space and I just do not “follow” people or even companies.

I just believe that social media is mentally toxic in the same way that any obsession may become. It is designed to be addictive and I stay far away from anything than can be addictive. I have too many alcoholics etc in my family tree.

 

[myrkulyte]

I got into the OSR ~1.5 years ago after ignoring it and most D&D adjacent rpg stuff for the past decade. I've got to say, I've never entered into a part of any hobby where I've been recommended so many products or blogs created by bigots. The OSR seems to me to be way too comfortable with these people as a part of the community and with encouraging newcomers to invest in their products. Here, on ENWorld, I'm glad to say that the OSR people are vocal about speaking out about this stuff. That has absolutely not been my experience on other discussion platforms.

The thing about a lot of OSR creators is they're doing it themselves, and when you buy their stuff your helping them out directly. This is great! Except when that person has made transphobic/racist/whatever comments. Then your dollar going straight to them is not so good.

There have been many creators that I have been eager to buy from after hearing glowing reviews of their dungeons/adventures only to find out have been making all sorts of hateful comments online. It's not a one off thing for me, it happened like three times in a row, and each time I had to dig into it because the OSR community seems to be extremely reluctant to talk about or acknowledge that these people even exist.

Now, I get why people feel defensive when people talk about the OSR having a bigotry problem, but come on. A minority of loud bigots it may be, but I only heard about these people because when I was pointed their way and told their stuff was good, and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one that got my first exposure to the OSR that way. I don't want to be impolite or start a huge argument here, but I'm really sick of being told the OSR is just as welcoming as anywhere else. I'm glad that you guys have only had positive experiences, but man, I've seen the bigots, I've seen people recommend buying their stuff, and I've seen people say that what they said or did isn't a big deal. Well, it is a big deal to me, and it's a big deal to me that so many people in the OSR deny that it is.

I just want to reiterate, the OSR community here on ENWorld is way better than anywhere else and I don't wan't to insult anyone on this site. But I do think ENWorld is something of an oasis, not just for the OSR but rpg discussion online in general.