Judges Guild was founded on July 4, 1976, utilizing concepts developed by co-founder Bob Bledsaw, in his home "Dungeons & Dragons" ("D&D") campaign. Bledsaw, along with partner Bill Owen, travelled to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to visit the headquarters of Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), publishers of "Dungeons & Dragons", on July 17, 1976. Bledsaw and Owen had hoped to convince TSR to publish some of the materials they used in their "D&D" campaigns, as well as Owen's rules for a game set during the American Civil War. While at TSR, they met with D&D co-creator Dave Arneson, who gave Bledsaw and Owen verbal approval to produce some supplemental game materials (known as "play aids") for both "Dungeons & Dragons" and "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" ("AD&D"). At that time, TSR's only published play aids for "D&D" were the "Dungeon Geomorphs", and the general feeling at TSR was that no one would be interested in supplemental materials. All materials were subject to review in order to maintain continuity within the game systems.