The Tabletop Adventure Sues Geek Therapeutics For 'Libel, Slander, and Copyright Infringement'

Shawn Thomas of The Tabletop Adventure is suing Geek Therapeutics and its founder, Dr. Anthony Bean, for "libel, slander and copyright infringement" over Realms of Kymoria, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch (ICD). Shawn authored Realms of Kymoria, and discussed manufacturing, marketing, and distributing the setting with Geek Therapeutics. "Despite the alleged lack of a finalized licensing agreement between Thomas and the Texas company, Geek Therapeutics launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to get Realms of Kymoria to market."

The active campaign is live on Backerkit, not Kickstarter, though there is a Kickstarter "coming soon" launch page. ICD's original article offers details reprinted in its entirety here via ICD's use of Creative Commons:

A “certified therapeutic game master” from Iowa is suing a Texas company called Geek Therapeutics for libel, slander and copyright infringement over a planned Dungeons & Dragons spinoff.

Shawn Thomas and his Ankeny company [The] Tabletop Adventure are suing Geek Therapeutics and its founder, Dr. Anthony Bean, a licensed psychologist, in U.S. District Court for Southern District of Iowa.

The lawsuit revolves around Thomas’ development of a role-playing tabletop game called Realms of Kymoria. The lawsuit claims that players of the game inhabit a fictional world that provides an inclusive and welcoming environment for all types of individuals.

Thomas alleges that in creating Realms of Kymoria, he produced graphical maps, stories in the form of written prose, and graphic depictions of various characters within those stories. In 2021, he created a limited liability company, [The] Tabletop Adventure, to hold the copyrights, trademarks, and other rights associated with the game.

That same year, the lawsuit alleges, Thomas acquired his “therapeutic game master certification” from Geek Therapeutics, signaling his ability to host role-playing games in therapeutic environments. Soon thereafter, Thomas and Bean allegedly began discussing a potential licensing agreement whereby Geek Therapeutics would manufacture, market, and distribute Realms of Kymoria.

The lawsuit alleges Thomas was concerned about losing control of the intellectual property rights associated with the game and that Bean agreed all such rights would remain with Thomas. Negotiations continued through December 2022, when it was learned that a California company called Wizards of the Coast was planning major changes in its licensing agreements that allow third parties to create games using rules that are compatible with its popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

Among the planned changes was one that would grant to Wizards of the Coast a perpetual royalty-free license to use the officially licensed third-party games for any purpose. The lawsuit claims this plan triggered “an uproar in the tabletop gaming community” because many game developers had created business models centered on their compatibility with Dungeons & Dragons rules.

Thomas was among the concerned developers because he had intended to make Realms of Kymoria compatible with Dungeons & Dragons, but was opposed to the Wizards of the Coast licensing arrangement, according to the lawsuit.

Geek Therapeutics, however, opted to pursue compatibility and it moved forward with its marketing plans for Realms of Kymoria. Despite the alleged lack of a finalized licensing agreement between Thomas and the Texas company, Geek Therapeutics launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign to get Realms of Kymoria to market. In April 2023, Thomas allegedly demanded that Geek Therapeutics immediately cease all efforts to reproduce and distribute his game.

According to the lawsuit, Geek Therapeutics announced, earlier this month, plans to distribute and sell the game through its Kickstarter campaign. “Hundreds of people have pre-registered” to provide support for the game, the lawsuit claims, and various websites and merchandise have been created to promote and sell the game.

In addition to an injunction, Thomas’ lawsuit seeks damages for copyright infringement as well as libel and slander, with Thomas alleging the defendants sent its Kickstart backers a supportive email that falsely claimed to be from him.

The defendants have yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

• Realms of Kymoria A Therapeutic TTRPG Quickstart Kit for 5e crowdfunding on Backerkit through Mar 21, 2024 at 2:59am EDT.
  • Realms of Kymoria from Geek Therapeutics listed as coming soon on Kickstarter.
• Realms of Kymoria website.
• Geek Therapeutics website.
• Iowa Capital Dispatch's article. Original article written by Clark Kauffman for the Iowa Capital Dispatch (ICD). Reprinted via ICD's Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

 

[CellarHeroes]

Paid GM'ing is rather large in online gaming. So much so that Reddit forums Looking for group/player/GM are required to note in the heading of all new threads whether it is paid for free.

There are lots of gamers looking for groups. I put up a notice for a player just before starting my for my current campaign (on Reddit), and within 45 minutes had three candidates, one of whom passed the vetting process. I closed the thread an hour after posting. The campaign is in the Fading Suns setting using modified Zweihander rules, so I can't claim a wide base of setting or system followers.

And this with my house rules already posted.

I'm aware of paid games. But most of the ones I've seen were like $5 to $10 for a 4-hour session.

But P.T. Barnum was right.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm aware of paid games. But most of the ones I've seen were like $5 to $10 for a 4-hour session.

But P.T. Barnum was right.

No joke.

Most that I have seen lately have been hourly, but likewise in the single digits.

But tacking on 'Therapy' could be a workable approach for a higher rate. I'm now thinking of 'Life Coach GM' as an option.

 

[GreyLord]

WOW...lot's of pessimism about things in this thread.

From what I can tell...

1) Therapeutic Gamemaster - A company is "licensing" individuals to be able to (in theory) use Roleplaying games in a psychological environment as a type of Psychological/Psychiatric treatment.

This means that the Gamemaster is cognizant of different conditions and situations and has been trained, at least to a degree, to be able to do some therapy at the same time as they are Game mastering and be able to be in the environments to help others. It's being cognizant and able to deal with others disabilities, problems, or grow individuals in regards to various difficulties.

Most often used to increase the abilities and understanding for someone who is already a Psychologist, Social Worker, or otherwise in these disciplines to increase their tablet of tools that they can use to help patients in their care. However, being certified in one of these degrees is not a pre-requisite to taking the courses and getting your certification.

Therapeuticgamemaster

Medical Record Documentation - Understand what to document from TTRPG therapy and how to correctly place it within medical records.

Break Stereotypes - Defend against common stereotypes and demystify false conceptions while promoting inclusivity.

ACT Therapy Model - Integrate therapeutic tabletop RPG interventions into the ACT therapy model.


Foundational Session Planning - Build successful sessions through planning and understanding the logistics of how a session is conducted.

Therapeutic Encounters - Learn how to design interesting worlds that are full of therapeutic encounters for the individual or group.

Documentation Skills - Notate and comprehend the documentation you will need to use in your sessions for therapeutic encounters.

Helpful Challenges - Design practical ways to challenge your clients with cognitive, emotional, and social skill building within TTRPG narratives.

Character Creation With Players - Apply practical skills to assist participants in not only creating a character, but building emotional insight through development of backstory and inter-character communication.

This does NOT seem like a bad thing. Therapy can take several various ways, and this does not seem a bad thing to have in therapy. It probably also works best if you have a Licensed Therapist working or leading it, but if they are busy, having someone else in their office able to lead these types of sessions is not a bad idea either.

I'm not so sure why people (at least it appears that way in this thread) are so hostile towards Therapy and what it is and does. I also do not understand why people SEEM (at least that is my impression from what I've read in the thread thus far) to think anyone can be a therapist without any training.

I am not a Therapist, nor do I use Gaming in therapy, but I understand that there are many who do use therapist and this type of medical treatment is a vital resource today, just as much as any other medical professional that does things like surgery, fixing broken limbs, and other medical procedures.

B) On the case itself, it looks like one party is simply pushing a lawsuit against the other for trying to publish a game which they feel the other doesn't have the rights to publish or have breached a contract in order to publish (aka...for a bigger and more recent example...see Rebel Moon RPG).

I have no idea what the other complaints may be, but simply put, from what I see, it depends on what contracts and paperwork were or were not signed already. That's basically what the evidence probably will boil down to.

 

[kenmarable]

WOW...lot's of pessimism about things in this thread.

From what I can tell...

1) Therapeutic Gamemaster - A company is "licensing" individuals to be able to (in theory) use Roleplaying games in a psychological environment as a type of Psychological/Psychiatric treatment.

This means that the Gamemaster is cognizant of different conditions and situations and has been trained, at least to a degree, to be able to do some therapy at the same time as they are Game mastering and be able to be in the environments to help others. It's being cognizant and able to deal with others disabilities, problems, or grow individuals in regards to various difficulties.

Most often used to increase the abilities and understanding for someone who is already a Psychologist, Social Worker, or otherwise in these disciplines to increase their tablet of tools that they can use to help patients in their care. However, being certified in one of these degrees is not a pre-requisite to taking the courses and getting your certification.

Therapeuticgamemaster



This does NOT seem like a bad thing. Therapy can take several various ways, and this does not seem a bad thing to have in therapy. It probably also works best if you have a Licensed Therapist working or leading it, but if they are busy, having someone else in their office able to lead these types of sessions is not a bad idea either.

I'm not so sure why people (at least it appears that way in this thread) are so hostile towards Therapy and what it is and does. I also do not understand why people SEEM (at least that is my impression from what I've read in the thread thus far) to think anyone can be a therapist without any training.

I am not a Therapist, nor do I use Gaming in therapy, but I understand that there are many who do use therapist and this type of medical treatment is a vital resource today, just as much as any other medical professional that does things like surgery, fixing broken limbs, and other medical procedures.

B) On the case itself, it looks like one party is simply pushing a lawsuit against the other for trying to publish a game which they feel the other doesn't have the rights to publish or have breached a contract in order to publish (aka...for a bigger and more recent example...see Rebel Moon RPG).

I have no idea what the other complaints may be, but simply put, from what I see, it depends on what contracts and paperwork were or were not signed already. That's basically what the evidence probably will boil down to.

I am fully, 1000% supportive of therapy and absolutely do NOT think anyone can be a therapist.

Also, RPGs can definitely be used effectively in therapy sessions.

That being said, not everything that calls itself therapy is therefore a good thing. I'm not trained in therapy, but from my experience in both IT and academia, there are different ways of building skills and visibility of new ideas in a field. They can run the whole spectrum from being genuinely beneficial to being nothing more than a cash grab of little actual use. The concerns in this thread aren't that therapy itself is useless, but where something like Geek Therapeutics certification falls in that spectrum.

After doing some digging into this area, I found one approach is like Geek Therapy, that has had a free podcast with varying guests for years, and runs/works-with a 4-day conference (costing $100-$150) where professionals can meet, present, and discuss their ideas. Another approach is Geek Therapeutics which charges ten times that amount ($1500) per year to get a certification and approval to use a title (which, according to Geek Therapy, they tried to argue no one else could legally call themselves a Geek Therapist without their course).

Both may be great! I don't know. But from my experience in other fields, one approach tends to be run by those trying to share information and spread expertise, and the other approach tends to be run by entrepreneurs trying to turn a profit. "Degree mills" and "certification schools" are a common cash-grab bane on many fields where they charge extremely high fees to get an allegedly prestigious certification that is anything but. I have no idea if Geek Therapeutics is one of these or not, but I do know they are out there by the dozens in many fields.

Again, this is just from my experience in other fields where different organizations have very similar feels to these two approaches and I am more confident in my assessment. But, FWIW, a licensed therapist did comment earlier in this thread that they were highly skeptical of the Geek Therapeutics approach as well (and in fact, their language was disdainful enough that a moderator stepped in). So even an actual therapist took issue with this approach.

So the impression you seem to be getting from this thread that it's overly anti-therapy and seeming like anyone can provide quality therapy may be inaccurate. Many of us are skeptical of Geek Therapeutics precisely because it's one thing to have a fancy website and expensive courses, but sometimes it is something else entirely to actually provide a solid benefit to a field of medicine. It is because we think good therapy is so important and challenging that we are skeptical of this approach. Plus, I doubt the actual licensed therapist who very harshly criticized Geek Therapeutics would be considered anti-therapy!

 

[Gradine]

Certification is a pretty normal thing within any professional field, psychology included, as is the use of games, role-playing, and also role-playing games. None of what's happening with this particular group is shady or exploitative* (to say nothing of other, err... anti-Semitic synonyms being thrown around) outside of trying to sell somebody else's product without an agreement in place. I would think that even the suing party in this instance is down for what this company basically sets out to do (if he wasn't it seems doubtful he'd have engaged in talks to work with them in the first place).

And while it is one thing to have a working professional in the field be critical of this effort, it's definitely another that the field's leading professional organization (in this case, the APA) appears to have to offered their approval, and their clientele seems to be primarily other working professionals in the field.

Using this lawsuit as an excuse to attack the company's general design when it doesn't actually warrant it is, if nothing else, completely off-topic from what the lawsuit is actually about.

*at least no less exploitative than the professional therapeutic model in the U.S. in general, which is a whole other can of worms not worth embarking on in this thread

 

[Austin Conrad]

And while it is one thing to have a working professional in the field be critical of this effort, it's definitely another that the field's leading professional organization (in this case, the APA) appears to have to offered their approval, and their clientele seems to be primarily other working professionals in the field.

Thanks for pointing that out - that's very interesting.

Looking around a bit more on their site, it's not entirely clear to me if all of Geek Therapeutics' courses are accredited, or just some. The "Problematic Gaming Specialist" course has stated accreditations from the APA, ASWB, and the NBCC. I'm not seeing similar language on the other courses/certifications on their site. But, I agree that it's unwise to jump to assumptions.

Do you know if accredited organizations are required to host the documentation somewhere?

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Wizards of the Coast is a... Rhode Island company? Washington company? How does one determine that?

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Wizards of the Coast is a... Rhode Island company? Washington company? How does one determine that?

Isn't every company a Delaware company these days?

 

[mamba]

I'm not so sure why people (at least it appears that way in this thread) are so hostile towards Therapy and what it is and does. I also do not understand why people SEEM (at least that is my impression from what I've read in the thread thus far) to think anyone can be a therapist without any training.

people are not hostile towards therapy, they are hostile to the idea that paying $1500 to some dubious company qualifies you to be a therapist

 

[Jd Smith1]

Wizards of the Coast is a... Rhode Island company? Washington company? How does one determine that?

Some people use where the articles of incorporation were first filed. Others use where the headquarters are.