Wizards of the Coast, owned and operated Dungeons & Dragonstaking a publisher behind a new one sci-fi RPG goes to court in an attempt to block the game’s release. They are arguing not only it violates D&D’s intellectual property rights, but it contains “blatantly discriminatory and racist content”.
Like GeekWire reportthis is just the latest round in a protracted battle between WotC and TSR LLC, a company founded by D&D co-creator Ernie, son of Gary Gygax in 2019 and claimed to be the reincarnation of TSR, the original company behind Dungeons & Dragons (went bankrupt in 1997).
The game in question is called Star Frontiers: New Genesiswhich claims to be a refreshed version of one of TSR’s original role-playing games, but has been at the center of a large amount of controversy all year. Yoyou can catch some movies here in this Dice cutter reportbut suffice it to say that there have been some bad things.
For this suit, Wizards are citing things as an initial build of Star Frontiers released in July, contains text alike:
…Races in Star Frontiers NewGenesis are no different from races in the real world. Some are better at certain things than others, and some races are superior to others….
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$663 Total Value
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The suit also cites documentation saying “a ‘negro’ race is de-scribed as a ‘Subrace’ in the game and as having ‘average’ intelligence with a maximum intelli-gence rating of 9, while the ‘norse’ race has a minimum intelligence rating of 13.”
“The game also refers to the Black Lives Matter movement as ‘radical’”, it continues, while adding “Star Frontiers New Genesis also contains offensive transphobic material: it includes a specific gender option for the characters ‘Male/Female no bonuses, and no Trans’”.
While claiming that some aspects of Star Frontiers infringe on D&D IP, WotC are also concerned about the potential for confusion among players, who might associate the game’s hateful content with their own, official product.
Wizards would be irreparably harmed by the publication and distribution of the game using its trademarks because consumers may mistakenly associate Wizards with the reprehensible content of the game, damaging its reputation and goodwill and undermining its efforts to foster a culture that embraces diversity around its games.
Wizards now wants an injunction to “prevent [the] dinformants from any other distribution of this objectionable, degrading product containing the Wizards Mark — or any other repetition of Star Frontiers New Genesis games — to avoid irreparable damage to Wizards’ reputation and brand. “
A modified version of the game is said to be in production; Reveal its contents shows some, though not all of racist material deleted (or at least edited).
