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I think it was my dad and it was while I was in Boy Scouts (yes. I was a Boy Scout until my Atheism made it difficult) and he meant it a means of choosing good over evil, right over wrong. The point is that sometimes making the choice is hard and sometimes good or evil is not clear cut or easily defined.
Sometimes though choosing the right side is easy.
Growing up in Central Illinois it was easy to be a fan of Judges Guild. They were "local guys" by the standards of TSR being all the way up in WI and other companies even further. I remember playing in the City-State of the Invincible Overlord a lot back then and lamenting that we didn't have all the products we wanted for it. I picked up Witch's Court Marshes and other books and added them happily to my collections. Even in my D&D/TSR "purity" days, Judges' Guild products got a pass.
I liked Judges Guild.
Yet with the recent posts by current JG owner (and son of the founder) Bob Bledsaw II has changed all of that. I was not friends with Bob Bledsaw, so I had not seen that this was a pattern of behavior that was one of those "open secrets".
I can no longer support Judges Guild.
Frog God Games and Bat in the Attic are also cutting ties with BBII/JG and I applaud them for it. You can see more posts from BBII's Facebook on Rob's site so I do not feel the need to repost them here.
My financial contribution to JG's bottom line is practically non-existent; anything I did buy was on the second-hand market for rare items. But I was planning on doing a series of posts on The Dungeoneer and Pegasus magazines and I wanted to review a couple of adventures. I cannot in good conscience do that now.
Gaming is inclusive. We welcome all and actively seek to bring in others that may not have a place to call their own. That's our DNA, that is who we should be always. Gaming was there for the disenfranchised teens of the 70s and 80s that were not part of the in-crowds. We are not part of a movement to bring in so many others that want a place to be themselves.
But there is no room for bigots, racists, anti-semites or anyone at all like that.
Hate has no place in my games.
I actually am a bit confused by the whole JG as an entity thing. I assumed that the JG from back in the day was defunct and the current incarnation only came up after the OSR started becoming bigger. Was that not the case?
ReplyDeleteObviously no one can support JG now. But I will keep my good memories of classic JG. I’ve never heard anything but good things about the founder, or Bill Owen. Life experience has taught me that the apple can bounce and roll far from the tree. And JG’s products, produced by many hands, had value and character.
ReplyDelete@gmkeros, from what I understand Bob BlesaW I founded Judges Guild and when he passed JG passed to his son Bob Bledsaw II.
ReplyDeleteHe has racist and antisemitic posts on Facebook. Apparently, his son, Bob Bledsaw III has similar posts.
@Tim, if we don't stand up for something, we'll never stand for anything. I'm saddened that bigots in our country feel empowered by our President. I'm a conservative and I've left the GOP over it. There is no place in the world for hate, especially at my table.
Like you, I haven't supported them directly. I own the old Mayfair Games version of the City of the Invincible Overlord and there won't be anything new coming for me.
Thanks for being a mensch.
*sigh*
ReplyDelete@Cross Planes, thanks for the post!
ReplyDelete@A Peak Oil Survivor. I am with you. I went through my collection of JG material yesterday and decided by the end of the day to sell off about 3/4s of it. I never heard anything bad about BB1 and of course, many of the authors at the time (Jennel Jacquays being one of the main ones) were then and still are top-notch. So it was a hard call. I might still end up getting rid of some material.
@JB, yeah it is a clusterfuck.
agreed, brother
ReplyDelete