I came across this recently and thought I'd share it:
Note- if you aren't familiar with resources here, the link takes you to a page on enworld; you can download the pdf of the complaint that I uploaded using the download button.
If you're familiar with the history of D&D, you know that along with all the other stuff, there's also been ... THE FUN STUFF! That's right... litigation. So imagine my surprise when I heard that there was another Gygax lawsuit! I mean ... like Alexander, I had wept for I thought there were no more Gygax litigations to learn about. And yet, here it is! What could this be? Some type of dweomercraft? Necromancy, or at least the legal variation in probate?
But alas, the truth is more mundane. This is not THE GYGAX (like the Lorax, he speaks for the fees), but rather Luke Gygax. While I am not one to simply post about things due to family relations, or for no reason (.....), this is an RPG-related lawsuit, so I will share it. Plus, it gives me a chance to explain what a "Complaint" is and how to read it.
PLEASE LOOK AT THE ACTUAL COMPLAINT IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING
Now, I am going to review this and type this in real time, and I have no background knowledge or idea what this is about. So this is simply my impressions as I read it.
1. Basic information from the first page.
The Plaintiff (the person who filed the suit) is Christopher "Chris" Clark.
The Defendant is Lucian "Luke" Gygax.
It was filed in federal court- specifically, E.D. WIs. (the Eastern District of Wisconsin).
Clark is asking for a jury trial- this is standard; absent really exceptional circumstances, the Plaintiff always wants a jury trial.
It was filed yesterday (July 16, 2025).
Finally, for "civil procedure nerds," you realize that you can't just get into federal court. Normally, you go to state court. You can tell from the first page that there are no federal claims that would allow this court to have jurisdiction over the claims, so instead it is alleging diversity jurisdiction (all parties reside in different states, and the claims are for more than $75,000).
2. Cool cool. So what are the facts?
Before going through the facts in the Complaint, it's necessary to remind everyone of a REALLY IMPORTANT THING. The Plaintiff writes the Complaint, and the facts are written by the Plaintiff. That means that they are telling the story. They are including the facts and omitting the facts that they want. In addition, even though you aren't supposed to, it's always possible that a Plaintiff might just lie about things. So when you read a Complaint, always remember that this is just one side's version of event, before the other side gets to reply, there is any evidence, etc.
Clark (I'll just call him Chris) is a game designer and publishes games through Inner City Games Designs ("ICGD"). Clark had a relationship with Gary Gygax (to avoid confusion, I'll refer to Gary Gygax as Gary, and Luke Gygax as Luke). This relationship became a contractual business relationship with ICGD that resulted in Gary contributing work to an RPG (Castle Wolfmoon), and Chris and Gary later formed a partnership to publish Gary's last published game, Lejendary Adventures. There were multiple contractual agreements for Castle Wolfmoon signed by Gary, through and including an agreement to contribute to the third version of the game that was executed in 2001. However, the third version wasn't published, and Gary died in 2008.
Chris and Luke worked together after Gary passed away. Allegedly, Chris did most of the writing and the vast majority of the work from 2011-16, but Luke would claim main authorship. Allegedly, the two of them, and their families, were very close.
Snarf's note ... oh boy. We are paragraph 23 now. There's gonna be a twist. This is going to suck, isn't it? The next section is "KICKSTARTING CASTLE WOLFMOON" and starts in 2024.
So Chris finally gets around to a kickstarter for the third installment of Castle Wolfmoon in 2024 (reminder- this is the one with the contract from 2001). Chris contacted Luke, and on March 13, 2024, Luke agreed to contribute as a writer and executed a contract. There was happiness and good tidings and all was good, apparently, through Gary Con. But then?
On June 14, 2024- the same say the kickstarter was going to launch for Castle Wolfmoon, Luke sent an email saying all, "Naw, not gonna contribute bruh." The same day Luke posted on facebook that Chris was a lying liar and Gary wasn't part of the kickstarter and neither was Luke.
Snarf's note ... the lesson, as always? Don't use facebook. It never ends well. If you have a beef, it doesn't need to go to facebook. In fact, nothing needs to go to facebook.
Anyway, Chris is also claiming that the sudden cold feet from Luke were because Luke didn't want Castle Wolfmoon competing with Castle Zagyg. Chris believes that Luke's false statements really, really hurt the kickstarter for Castle Wolfmoon and it was postponed.
3. Causes of Action
There are four (4) "causes of action," which is fancy legal talk for "you have to be able to show how the facts you allege actually make up something that is a 'wrong' that the law cares about." The four alleged here are defamation, punitive damages, breach of contract, and tortious interference. That's the order they are listed in, but I'm going to analyze them (from my perspective) from weakest to strongest. Please note that this is just off-the-cuff, and I am applying "general principles of law," and actual state law can be different and have different requirements.
A. Punitive damages. Um, this is just weird to me because I've never seen it pled as a cause of action. It's not (again, maybe it's a specific thing for the jurisdiction). It's saying that the defamation was so bad, Luke shouldn't just pay for the damages caused (to compensate for the defamation), but should be punished with more damages. I .... yeah, I find that one hard to swallow. This is a business dispute. And it's not a cause of action.
B. Breach of contract. I want to analyze this fully, but there's a problem. See, paragraph 27 states that Luke "executed a contract with IGCD." This is alleging a breach of that contract. Now, IGCD is a corporation. IGCD is not a party. Chris can't allege, in an individual capacity, a breach of a contract that the corporation entered into.... unless I'm missing something basic (I don't think I am). This is an error that could be corrected, but it's something so basic that I am a little concerned about the care taken with the complaint, because the breach of contract should have been the easiest claim.
C. Tortious Interference. See (B). Chris didn't have those contracts; IGCD did.
D. Defamation. This one is a little harder. If you're curious, here's the full text of what Luke posted on facebook (it's also in an exhibit and available elsewhere):
Lots of people are asking me about a pending Kickstarter called Castle Wolfmoon that’s claiming to be something my father wrote as the primary author. Chris Clark, listed as a second author, did work with my dad in many projects in the late 90s and early 2000s as I recall. I don’t recall my father ever talking to me about a Castle Wolfmoon campaign at all and we talked regularly about gaming and his projects. His focus was Castle Zagyg which is back in development now.
I was asked to contribute to this work and was considering it as Chris has been a friend for many years. However placing my dad’s name cover as the lead author seems a bit disingenuous in my opinion. I am not associated with it. The E Gary Gygax Estate is not associated with it to the best of my knowledge.
Why am I posting this? I don’t want people to back it thinking they are getting a finished work from my father when it is likely something more of a concept/outline from 20+ years ago. I’m not omniscient on all things my father did or didn’t do, however it is worth questioning in my opinion.
I liked this picture of my Dad from People magazine many moons ago. He is making his wolfman-like face which seems appropriate
Gary Con Gaming Convention Gary Con Luke Gygax
Eh ... one more thing, and why it's important to read Complaints carefully. Paragraphs 33 - 38 talk about how terrible this was. Now, paragraph 39 starts with, "Although Luke did eventually delete the post ..." You might ask yourself, "Self, how long is 'eventually'?" Well, I had no idea, and I checked out a link that was in the Complaint and scrolled down- apparently it was within the day.
Now, with all of that said ... it's a plausible claim. Not a good claim. Not a punitive damages claim. Not a claim I'd want to bring. But plausible, based on the allegations.
4. What does all of this mean?
What does anything mean? Well, until I saw this Complaint, I didn't know anything about this, at all. From a legal standpoint, if I was defending against the Complaint I would say that it looks like a fairly weak legal claim overall, and that I was baffled about why basic things (like having the proper parties, apparently?) wasn't done. Moreover, none of the claims allow for attorney's fees, which means that both plaintiff and defendant are just going to be spending money ... this is why defamation claims are rarely pursued unless they are slam dunks.
But that's the legal view. The non-legal view? This is the type of filing that makes me very sad. It is apparent that there was a real falling out, and one party (Chris Clark) feels very wronged. And yet, this won't fix that feeling.
Anyway, throwing this out there. Comment, or not, as you desire.
Resource icon
Note- if you aren't familiar with resources here, the link takes you to a page on enworld; you can download the pdf of the complaint that I uploaded using the download button.
If you're familiar with the history of D&D, you know that along with all the other stuff, there's also been ... THE FUN STUFF! That's right... litigation. So imagine my surprise when I heard that there was another Gygax lawsuit! I mean ... like Alexander, I had wept for I thought there were no more Gygax litigations to learn about. And yet, here it is! What could this be? Some type of dweomercraft? Necromancy, or at least the legal variation in probate?
But alas, the truth is more mundane. This is not THE GYGAX (like the Lorax, he speaks for the fees), but rather Luke Gygax. While I am not one to simply post about things due to family relations, or for no reason (.....), this is an RPG-related lawsuit, so I will share it. Plus, it gives me a chance to explain what a "Complaint" is and how to read it.
PLEASE LOOK AT THE ACTUAL COMPLAINT IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING
Now, I am going to review this and type this in real time, and I have no background knowledge or idea what this is about. So this is simply my impressions as I read it.
1. Basic information from the first page.
The Plaintiff (the person who filed the suit) is Christopher "Chris" Clark.
The Defendant is Lucian "Luke" Gygax.
It was filed in federal court- specifically, E.D. WIs. (the Eastern District of Wisconsin).
Clark is asking for a jury trial- this is standard; absent really exceptional circumstances, the Plaintiff always wants a jury trial.
It was filed yesterday (July 16, 2025).
Finally, for "civil procedure nerds," you realize that you can't just get into federal court. Normally, you go to state court. You can tell from the first page that there are no federal claims that would allow this court to have jurisdiction over the claims, so instead it is alleging diversity jurisdiction (all parties reside in different states, and the claims are for more than $75,000).
2. Cool cool. So what are the facts?
Before going through the facts in the Complaint, it's necessary to remind everyone of a REALLY IMPORTANT THING. The Plaintiff writes the Complaint, and the facts are written by the Plaintiff. That means that they are telling the story. They are including the facts and omitting the facts that they want. In addition, even though you aren't supposed to, it's always possible that a Plaintiff might just lie about things. So when you read a Complaint, always remember that this is just one side's version of event, before the other side gets to reply, there is any evidence, etc.
Clark (I'll just call him Chris) is a game designer and publishes games through Inner City Games Designs ("ICGD"). Clark had a relationship with Gary Gygax (to avoid confusion, I'll refer to Gary Gygax as Gary, and Luke Gygax as Luke). This relationship became a contractual business relationship with ICGD that resulted in Gary contributing work to an RPG (Castle Wolfmoon), and Chris and Gary later formed a partnership to publish Gary's last published game, Lejendary Adventures. There were multiple contractual agreements for Castle Wolfmoon signed by Gary, through and including an agreement to contribute to the third version of the game that was executed in 2001. However, the third version wasn't published, and Gary died in 2008.
Chris and Luke worked together after Gary passed away. Allegedly, Chris did most of the writing and the vast majority of the work from 2011-16, but Luke would claim main authorship. Allegedly, the two of them, and their families, were very close.
Snarf's note ... oh boy. We are paragraph 23 now. There's gonna be a twist. This is going to suck, isn't it? The next section is "KICKSTARTING CASTLE WOLFMOON" and starts in 2024.
So Chris finally gets around to a kickstarter for the third installment of Castle Wolfmoon in 2024 (reminder- this is the one with the contract from 2001). Chris contacted Luke, and on March 13, 2024, Luke agreed to contribute as a writer and executed a contract. There was happiness and good tidings and all was good, apparently, through Gary Con. But then?
On June 14, 2024- the same say the kickstarter was going to launch for Castle Wolfmoon, Luke sent an email saying all, "Naw, not gonna contribute bruh." The same day Luke posted on facebook that Chris was a lying liar and Gary wasn't part of the kickstarter and neither was Luke.
Snarf's note ... the lesson, as always? Don't use facebook. It never ends well. If you have a beef, it doesn't need to go to facebook. In fact, nothing needs to go to facebook.
Anyway, Chris is also claiming that the sudden cold feet from Luke were because Luke didn't want Castle Wolfmoon competing with Castle Zagyg. Chris believes that Luke's false statements really, really hurt the kickstarter for Castle Wolfmoon and it was postponed.
3. Causes of Action
There are four (4) "causes of action," which is fancy legal talk for "you have to be able to show how the facts you allege actually make up something that is a 'wrong' that the law cares about." The four alleged here are defamation, punitive damages, breach of contract, and tortious interference. That's the order they are listed in, but I'm going to analyze them (from my perspective) from weakest to strongest. Please note that this is just off-the-cuff, and I am applying "general principles of law," and actual state law can be different and have different requirements.
A. Punitive damages. Um, this is just weird to me because I've never seen it pled as a cause of action. It's not (again, maybe it's a specific thing for the jurisdiction). It's saying that the defamation was so bad, Luke shouldn't just pay for the damages caused (to compensate for the defamation), but should be punished with more damages. I .... yeah, I find that one hard to swallow. This is a business dispute. And it's not a cause of action.
B. Breach of contract. I want to analyze this fully, but there's a problem. See, paragraph 27 states that Luke "executed a contract with IGCD." This is alleging a breach of that contract. Now, IGCD is a corporation. IGCD is not a party. Chris can't allege, in an individual capacity, a breach of a contract that the corporation entered into.... unless I'm missing something basic (I don't think I am). This is an error that could be corrected, but it's something so basic that I am a little concerned about the care taken with the complaint, because the breach of contract should have been the easiest claim.
C. Tortious Interference. See (B). Chris didn't have those contracts; IGCD did.
D. Defamation. This one is a little harder. If you're curious, here's the full text of what Luke posted on facebook (it's also in an exhibit and available elsewhere):
Lots of people are asking me about a pending Kickstarter called Castle Wolfmoon that’s claiming to be something my father wrote as the primary author. Chris Clark, listed as a second author, did work with my dad in many projects in the late 90s and early 2000s as I recall. I don’t recall my father ever talking to me about a Castle Wolfmoon campaign at all and we talked regularly about gaming and his projects. His focus was Castle Zagyg which is back in development now.
I was asked to contribute to this work and was considering it as Chris has been a friend for many years. However placing my dad’s name cover as the lead author seems a bit disingenuous in my opinion. I am not associated with it. The E Gary Gygax Estate is not associated with it to the best of my knowledge.
Why am I posting this? I don’t want people to back it thinking they are getting a finished work from my father when it is likely something more of a concept/outline from 20+ years ago. I’m not omniscient on all things my father did or didn’t do, however it is worth questioning in my opinion.
I liked this picture of my Dad from People magazine many moons ago. He is making his wolfman-like face which seems appropriate
Gary Con Gaming Convention Gary Con Luke Gygax
Eh ... one more thing, and why it's important to read Complaints carefully. Paragraphs 33 - 38 talk about how terrible this was. Now, paragraph 39 starts with, "Although Luke did eventually delete the post ..." You might ask yourself, "Self, how long is 'eventually'?" Well, I had no idea, and I checked out a link that was in the Complaint and scrolled down- apparently it was within the day.
Now, with all of that said ... it's a plausible claim. Not a good claim. Not a punitive damages claim. Not a claim I'd want to bring. But plausible, based on the allegations.
4. What does all of this mean?
What does anything mean? Well, until I saw this Complaint, I didn't know anything about this, at all. From a legal standpoint, if I was defending against the Complaint I would say that it looks like a fairly weak legal claim overall, and that I was baffled about why basic things (like having the proper parties, apparently?) wasn't done. Moreover, none of the claims allow for attorney's fees, which means that both plaintiff and defendant are just going to be spending money ... this is why defamation claims are rarely pursued unless they are slam dunks.
But that's the legal view. The non-legal view? This is the type of filing that makes me very sad. It is apparent that there was a real falling out, and one party (Chris Clark) feels very wronged. And yet, this won't fix that feeling.
Anyway, throwing this out there. Comment, or not, as you desire.
