You DON'T start your official statement saying you are making the statement because "we need to get out in front of that drama."
I felt it was more of an attempt to protect their licensed project that is in the works than to make a true statement about the current situation with Bob Bledsaw II.
There is no statement regarding any possible future projects licensed from Judges Guild, nor does it mention current properties licensed from Judges Guild and their future.
Jennell and Godman were going to donate 20% of their KS monies to charity. They approached Bob II and through no suggestion from them, he offered to donate all royalties that Judges Guild would receive. Bob's donation does NOT increase the 20% donation, so more monies for Jennell and Goodman and NO MONIES towards the CSIO Kickstarter. Bob II has said in past comment all monies coming into Judges Guild from royalties and PDF sales would go towards making CSIO backers whole.
Compared to other publisher statements regarding Judges Guild, I find it lacking.
Did I mention a small thing about Kickstarter and charities?
So this is all about Janelle and Janelle's journey through life, and Goodman Games redeeming themselves (and their IP) for dealing with BBII thru charitable donation?
ReplyDeleteIt's a nonstatement about funneling money that should be going to a kickstarter to some charity instead which solves nothing and further drives the completition date of CSIO back who knows how long.
DeleteTenkar- for those of us not able to connect the dots, would you please help us out by naming the product in question that GG/JG are working on?
DeleteBasically, GG can't win. If they dump the project and don't deliver, they could have a legal and fiscal penalty (beyond the sunk costs already in play). If they pretend nothing happened, GG will be taken to task for backing a bad actor and suffer a fiscal hit as their customers shun them. This leaves the various in the middle of those two extremes, which is where they are trying to go. IMO, if GG does something like Bat in the Attic games and winds down their business association, then they should be able to come out of it mostly unscathed (beyond what might have been possible had Bob II/III not been (bleeps)). It isn't like GG is rolling in cash and can afford to pick either of the extremes. The donation bit is basically them making the best of a untenable situation.
City State of the Invincible Overlord. 10s of thousands in the hole.
DeleteI misread the question. Reprints of Jennell’s Dungeoneer magazine published by Judges Guild
DeleteThis solves absolutely nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe only proper response from Goodman is to buy out JG. It’s worthless in Bledsaw’s hands. If he doesn’t want to deal, then you do no business with him until he capitulates.
ReplyDeleteGG's JG Kickstarter was the reprints of the guild newsletter, I thought.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I feel this is such weak sauce. I feel bad for Janelle, but I have been messaging GG for days about a statement and they waited so long. I really think they were hoping it would all just blow over.
ReplyDeleteWhat is posted on CSIOL HS page:
ReplyDeleteSo *IF* I see this correctly, Bill posted some horrendous crap on the internet. SJW stepped up and made a huge deal of it. Bill became a persona non grada. No one will do business with him or want his stuff. Business partners withdraw. In a final act of supposed redemption, Bill give what money that is or will be to finish this project to charity. Now Bill has to not finish this project.
TL:DR; Bill posts crap on the internet, causes outrage, no longer be allowed to nor needs to finish this project.
Looks like the gaming community is going to allow him to not finish this project. In fact, they will encourage him NOT to.
Well played Bill, well played.
Bob.
DeleteAch, Thanks for the correction.
DeleteYou are looking for bluecheckmarked boogiemen where none exist. Bob II/III have posted crap like this on the internet, talked about it behind the scenes, and in public. This is all nothing new except we now live in the Internet Age where everyone's words are weapons in someone's hands.
DeleteSo what we are looking at here is:
ReplyDelete1) Judges Guild Collector's Edition Volume 2 is all about the works of Jennell Jaquays;
2) Vol. 2 is going to be funded by a Kickstarter, just like Volume 1 was funded;
3) Profits from the Kickstarter were originally going to be divided between Goodman Games and Judges Guild (and possibly Jaquays herself, though that is not clear);
4) Goodman Games is going to donate 20% of their profits to the ADL and GLAAD;
5) Bob II told Goodman to not pay him his royalties, but instead to include them with the donations made to the ADL and GLAAD;
6) Bob II's share of the royalties was to go to help pay for the completion of the long-overdue CSIO Kickstarter, similar to funds from the Frog God Games Tegel Manor Kickstarter (which, last I heard, have/will be paid according to the contractual agreement, unless Bob II makes a deal with Frog God like he did with Goodman);
7) All funds made by Rob Conley on the Revised Wilderlands maps and booklets are going to him to pay for the work he did on said maps, none are currently going to Bob II, and when Conley is paid in full for his work, a that time he will "revisit having these products listed based on how things have progressed."
8) DriveThruRPG has removed Judges Guild and its products (including my old AGP products, which I had requested Bob II remove anyway) from their site, and they are no longer available for sale.
The summary:
DeleteA) Frog God Games and Bat in the Attic Games will wind down their Judges Guild licenses, at no small cost to themselves;
B) Goodman Game is going to publish JGDE Vol. 2 through their Kickstarter; Bob II will not benefit from it, and they are going forward with it because it is about Jennell and her early work with Judges Guild under Robert Bledsaw I;
C) Judges Guild, and the CSIO Kickstarter, are effectively dead; Bob II has no further income streams from Judges Guild;
D) Judges Guild can only return if a financial angel comes along, buys the company's assets and liabilities, and refunds the Kickstarter before re-launching the product line. At the very least, Bob II is going to want to get out from under the debt of the Kickstarter, so I can foresee him eventually letting Judges Guild go for $1 and assumption of liabilities (~$86,000 for the Kickstarter plus whatever other debts he may have incurred).
With respect, virtue signaling is wanting stuff like more minorities in the industry and in products. What the Bobs did is far past that. Or if you are talking about Goodman games, well, there really isn't a good path to recovery on this one. The JG Collectors Edition stuff is pretty clearly (IMO) going to be on hold once Vol 2 wraps up and I rather suspect it'll sell less copies because of rational, mainstream, not just the VS type people boycotting it.
ReplyDeleteThere is clear and definite evidence of pure racism and anti-semitic comments that were available for all to see when this was reported.
ReplyDeleteYou wanted a comment form GG and now it is not good enough for you? That's bullshit, I've lost much respect for Tenkar over the way he has approached this.
ReplyDeleteThis addressed nothing about current and future licenses. Thankfully Goodmen updated that missing info earlier today. I shared the update earlier.
Delete