Judges Guild

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Judges Guild is a small game publisher in the business of creating and selling role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related material. Currently most of their publications are available as licensed d20 items through Necromancer Games.

Judges Guild was started July 4, 1976 utilizing concepts developed in Bob Bledsaw's local D&D campaign. The Guildmasters, Bob Bledsaw & Bill Owen, had traveled to TSR in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin from Decatur. Illinois ostensibly to ask them to publish Bill's American Civil War rules. There they met with Dave Arneson who critiqued the ACW rules then gave the GMs verbal approval to produce some play aids for D&D. At that time, TSR's only play aids for D&D were Dungeon Geomorphs. The geomorphs were poorly received since they gave no help with the writing the dungeon contents just its graphic outline.

Owen first invested $200 and Bledsaw put in $200 later to pay for printing the first City-State maps, and took them to Gen Con in August 1976 to sell out of the trunk of Bill's Mustang. After selling dozens of subscriptions (which the maps were the initial installment, lettered "I") and passing out fliers that got them many more, they had "broken even" in a matter of weeks. That fall TSR said they wanted royalties for use of their name (which they had not sought) so many months of negotiation got that benefit established.

Some customers kindly said that buying JG's detailed dungeon denizens and reorganized materials was like buying gasoline for 2 cents per gallon. The most popular products was the original City State Maps & description, Tegel Manor (a haunted house) and Judges Shield (a compilation of monsters and rules that were scattered across numerous TSR rulebooks then printed on 3 8.5x11 pieces of yellow cardstock in a portrait/landscape/portrait format that looked like the crenellations of a castle wall!) By gathering the data and alphabetizing D&D's Monsters into one convenient reference, it may have helped to make D&D even more successful than it already was.

Owen left the partnership and Judges Guild was incorporated in 1978. At its peak in the early 1980s it employed 42 people and had over 250 products in print. Wilderlands maps and JG logo items are available at www.cafepress.com/judgesguild.

The original Judges Guild is most noted for the products it produced that were licensed for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller. They also produced "official" products for Chivalry and Sorcery, DragonQuest, Empire of the Petal Throne, Tunnels and Trolls, RuneQuest, Superhero 2044 and Villains and Vigilantes. They also produced generic supplements, as well as two RPG magazines, The Dungeoneer and Pegasus.

Necromancer Games has, under license, published a revised edition of the City State of the Invincible Overlord, the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy compilation boxed set, and a revised edition of the Caverns of Thracia adventure module, all for use with the d20 System. The final Judges Guild product scheduled to be produced by Necromancer Games will be a revision of the Tegel Manor adventure module, scheduled for release in 2007.

At Gen Con 2006, Judges Guild announced that it has licensed the Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting to Adventure Games Publishing, which would publish a variant campaign setting, the Wilderlands of High Adventure, as well as Wilderlands products compatible with the Necromancer Games edition of the Wilderlands. The Adventure Games Publishing products will, however, use the Castles & Crusades rules, under license from Troll Lord Games, rather than the generic d20 System rules.

Goodman Games recently announced the publication of another famous Judges Guild title, Thieves Fortress of Badabaskor, updated for the d20 system; two additional updated titles are to follow.

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