Elder Scrolls Online Tabletop Adventure Recalled Due To D&D Plagiarism
Recently, a tabletop adventure set in Elsweyr was released by Bethesda Netherlands in order to promote the upcoming expansion set in Elder Scrolls Online and the Khajit homeland. Players were able to download and print digital pages of the tabletop RPG while they wait for the upcoming Elsweyr expansion to arrive, however, the adventure has since been taken down due to the blatant plagiarism of Dungeons & Dragons.
The Black Road was written by Paige Leitman and Ben Heisler as a Dungeons & Dragons adventure and was released back in 2016. Fans were quick to realize that the recent Elsweyr tabletop adventure shared some uncanny similarities with the Black Road. In fact, the works were similar enough that the writers of the Black Road were able to put together an annotated PowerPoint presentation providing proof that the two were nearly identical. Heisler shared a bit of this on Twitter and it’s clear to see that with the exception of changing the words to it within the Elder Scrolls universe quite a bit of the adventure is essentially the same.
Nice, so it looks like @bethesda_nl @bethesda "put together" an adventure for a tabletop RPG. Apparently "put together" means "make a few text changes to a copy of The Black Road by the great @PaigeLeitman and put our name on it". Classy move, Bethesda.
— Joe Grover (@velkkor) May 8, 2019
— Ben Heisler 🦄 (@ZhentarimPR) May 8, 2019
Bethesda quickly pulled the Elsweyr adventure once the plagiarism was brought to their attention and later posted to social media explaining that they will be doing some investigation into who was responsible for the copy and pasted content. The developers also pulled any announcement of the adventure as well, though fans can still find it through a report that details that compare the entirety of the ESO adventure with D&D’s the Black Road.
We have pulled a previously shared ESO tabletop RPG adventure while we investigate the source. Thank you to those who reached out with concerns.
— The Elder Scrolls Online (@TESOnline) May 8, 2019
It’s disappointing to see something of this nature making its way into being released but on the bright side, it seems that Bethesda and ZeniMax are handling the situation as best they can. Let us know your thoughts on the recalled Elder Scrolls Online tabletop adventure and more in the comment section below. As always don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.
Chris Calles1560 Posts
Known as "Stash" or Yippee Calles. He's a student of everything, avid adrenaline junkie, and creator of random things. When he's not delving into a game, book, or movie - He's out teaching himself new things or taking part in some pretty epic adventures. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.
