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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flying Toaster" data-source="post: 9717502" data-attributes="member: 7052563">OK, as someone who read through every page of those threads as they developed, I will explain the state of play so far and you can make up your own mind.  I will also try to avoid breaking site rules about political discussions.Back in early 2020 Bob Bledsaw II, son of Judges Guild co-founder Bob Bledsaw, posted a now-deleted Facebook rant full of actual literal Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.  Joseph Goodman denounced these views and announced that Goodman Games would wrap up their current JG projects and never work with them again.  GG had worked with game design luminary and trans woman Jennell Jacquays to update her classic JG modules Dark Tower and The Caverns of Thracia as part of their Original Adventures Reincarnated line of deluxe collector editions of classic old school TSR and JG modules. Five years later, GG suddenly announced that they were releasing a new version of City State of the Invincible Overlord.  CSIO has a place in RPG history as one of the first detailed urban settings for AD&D, but it already had a bit of a reputation as a cursed property because under the direction of the younger Bledsaws JG had already promised a new version via Kickstarter, but never delivered the product and kept the backers’ money.  Giving these backers an OAR version of CSIO without lining the Bledsaws’ pockets is one of Joseph Goodman’s chief justifications for working with JG again after promising not to. Not to put too fine a point on it, the OSR scene has more than a few reactionary Comic Book Guys who long for the “good old days” of the 70’s and early 80’s when RPGs were dominated by middle aged WASP wargamers, before TSR marketed the BECMI line to kids, before Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms marked a shift away from sword & sorcery and toward high fantasy, and before 5E and Critical Role brought in a whole new crowd of D&D players including theater kids, women, and POC.  And the OSR has even more “apolitical” types who think it is fine to work with out-and-proud Nazis, but denouncing that is “dragging politics into muh gamez” and therefore beyond the pale.  So a lot of people are furious at Joseph Goodman because they thought he was “one of the good ones” and now it looks like he has betrayed his own principles.  GG had a reputation for inclusion and their store still has lots of rainbow flag Pride-themed merch for sale, so in his mind at least Goodman has not done a heel turn and gone over to the Dark Side of the OSR.  Indeed he seems to have been blindsided by the furor, but his attempts to explain himself have not gone over well.  Folks are trying to sort out the timeline and from the outside looking in it looks like one of two things: either Goodman already had a CSIO project in the works when Bledsaw II posted his Facebook rant, and was lying when he promised never to work with the Bledsaws again, or he was sincere then but something changed his mind so he went back on his word.  There may well be more to the story, but if Goodman is really constrained by an NDA and refuses to explain himself further we may never know.  Bledsaw II has posted more far right political rants while decrying other people dragging politics into games <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🙄" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" title="Face with rolling eyes    :rolling_eyes:" data-shortname=":rolling_eyes:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" />, and claimed that there will be more JG collaborations with GG, which Goodman himself has denied.IMHO Goodman let his sincere devotion to the OAR line and his own nostalgia for the old days of RPGs get the better of him, but I have no special inside information.  Some people in those giant comment threads decided that compensating the KS backers and donating to charities makes up for working with the Bledsaws after promising not to, while many others decided that Goodman is either naive or dishonest and so they are done with GG products once and for all.  You will have to decide for yourself whether GG still deserves the benefit of the doubt.</blockquote>

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