Iowa ‘game master’ sues Texas company over control of his role-playing game

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

Shawn Thomas and his Ankeny company 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.

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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, 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.

Clash over Dungeons & Dragons change leads to lawsuit

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.

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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.

Find this story at Iowa Capital Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions:kobradovich@iowacapitaldispatch.com. 

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Role-playing game at issue in suit between its Iowa inventor, company