Since its debut in 2014,The Elder Scrolls Onlinehas continued to expand for its player base with a variety of new content and expansions each year. That of course has continued with the next upcoming expansion calledThe Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr, and while a promotionalD&Dcampaign based around the expansion was meant to get players excited for the new setting, it has since been pulled for unfortunate reasons.
Earlier in the week, Bethesda released aDungeons & Dragonscampaign on the official Facebook page forThe Elder Scrolls Onlineas a way of promoting the upcoming expansion, which is expected to arrive forESOplayers early next month. However, after the campaign’s release, it was quickly discovered by users that the campaign drew numerous similarities with a previously-releasedD&Dcampaign from 2016 called"The Black Road,“which was written by Paige Leitman and Ben Heisler. “The Black Road” campaign is available on the officialD&DAdventurers League website.
Several users on Facebook began commenting on the post (which has since been removed) to compare the similarities between theESO-themed campaign and “The Black Road,” with author Paige Leitman adding to the conversation with further comparisons between the works and clear marks of plagiarism.
According to Bethesda, the adventure was created by “our friends over at Bethesda Netherlands,” with the campaign being credited to an author named Karrym Herbar, though it’s unknown whether this was the work of an employee or someone contracted/freelanced to write the campaign. While theESO-themed adventure itself is no longer publicly available,an archive still existsviaArs Technica.
In response to the claims, Bethesda stated that the campaign has been pulled and that the company will “investigate the source,” given that theESO-themed campaign drew numerous similarities from “The Black Road” campaign.
The Elder Scrolls Onlineis available now on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac, with theElsweyrexpansion to release on July 22, 2025.
