Diamond Comic Distributors, a recently bankrupted company that distributed RPG books for companies like Paizo, Wizards of the Coast, and other third-party D&D and Pathfinder publishers, has asked the bankruptcy court to allow it to liquidate its remaining consignment inventory. Essentially, this would mean that Diamond Comic Distributors can sell the comics, books, and RPG products still in its warehouses in order to pay off its creditors - all without giving a penny to the original publishers.
Retail consignment is when goods are sent to a second party who facilitates their sale in exchange for a cut of the profits. Legal ownership remains with the sender (consignor), but the recipient (consignee) is responsible for storing and selling the stock. This is how tabletop RPG publishers like Paizo ended up with some of their stock still in Diamond Comic Distributors' hands when it filed for bankruptcy on January 14, 2025.
Diamond Comic Distributors filed a motion to sell its consigned inventory "free and clear of liens, claims, interests, or encumbrances" on June 25. 128 companies are listed as having consignment inventory housed with Diamond Comic Distributors. This includes comic book giants like DC and Image Comics, as well as four TTRPG publishers: Paizo, Goodman Games, Roll for Combat, and Green Ronin.
According to Roll for Combat owner Stephen Glicker, this means "they are going to take all the inventory that they have currently in their warehouse, and Diamond is going to liquidate it and keep all the profits." Glicker explains in a YouTube video from July 1 (see above) that Roll for Combat was notified about these plans last week.
"I couldn't believe it when I read this, and I spoke to my attorney", Glicker continues. "He looked it over, and his exact quote to me was 'It's not as bad as you think it is; it's much worse.'"
Glicker explains that not only will Roll For Combat lose revenue from the sale of those books, they'll also potentially lose money from having to compete with themselves if Diamond decides to sell Roll For Combat products for a more competitive price.
Wargamer asked Roll For Combat what potential losses it could face, and Stephen Glicker estimates losses of "approximately $50,000 in potential profit if everything in inventory was sold and we received payment from Diamond." "However, they currently have approximately $120,000 worth of our product in their warehouse", Glicker tells Wargamer.
Chris Pramas of Green Ronin publishing tells Wargamer that "we do stand to lose a substantial amount". "They have at least 8500 of our books, with a retail value of $300,000+." "To be very clear, the books in question are ours and have always been ours.", Pramas adds. "We had a consignment contract with DBD [Diamond Book Distribution], which states clearly that this is the case."
According to ICv2, a hearing will take place on July 21 to give vendors time to object to the motion. Wargamer has reached out to Diamond Distributors and confirmed the date of this hearing, as well as the time (10am EST).
Despite the hearing, Glicker doesn't seem optimistic about Goodman Games' chances to change the situation. "The bankruptcy law is really not in my favor", he says in the YouTube video. "They actually have the right to take products that they don't own and sell them at any price they want - basically liquidate them - and then keep all the profits for themselves and use that money to pay off the banks and to pay off the bankruptcy debt."
Speaking to Wargamer, Glicker says that Roll For Combat's lawyers are investigating ways to get the consignment inventory it owns back from Diamond. "The majority of our inventory currently being held by Diamond was shipped to their warehouse after the Chapter 11 bankruptcy and shouldn't be subjected to liquidation as it wasn't part of the original inventory when Diamond declared bankruptcy", he explains. "We believe this is currently our strongest position, as anything shipped and stored by Diamond after the initial Chapter 11 bankruptcy date shouldn't be subjected to any judgment regarding the initial Chapter 11 filing."
Diamond Comic Distributors' debt appears to be substantial. In March 2025, Publishers Weekly reported that the company owed $9.2 million to Penguin Random House, $1.7 million to Disney Consumer Products, over $500,000 to Lunar, as well as additional funds to publishers like D&D's Wizards of the Coast.
Though Wizards of the Coast appears unaffected by Diamond's consignment motion, it has also played a part in the company's bankruptcy story. In April, Alliance Entertainment terminated a deal to purchase Diamond Comic Distributors and sued the company for apparently concealing the end of a distribution contract with Wizards of the Coast.
"I would like to thank the tabletop RPG community for coming out to support Roll For Combat and other smaller publishers in this difficult time", Glicker tells Wargamer. "Although this is a painful setback for our company, we continue to publish new books and are moving forward with plans to release dozens of new products for the remainder of this year and next."
"We also want to assure that our issues with Diamond will not affect our ability to fulfill our upcoming Kickstarters in any way. The vast majority of our inventory remains in our possession and is stored in our own warehouse. The inventory currently being held by Diamond only represents a small portion of our full inventory."
In light of these events, Paizo CEO Jim Butler says: "Please support your favorite game and comic publishers by buying from the directly or going to your favorite local game store and asking them to order upcoming releases".
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This article was updated on July 9 to include comments from Paizo, Green Ronin, and Diamond Comic Distributors' legal counsel.