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Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
@RobertGReeve
Jun 8, 2022 • 91 tweets • 33 min read • Read on X
Two leading figures in the tabletop industry wanted tattoos from an artist who did work for Post Malone.

They berated him over a disagreement about the contract: “Be happy I am not punishing you for your lack of experience”
In another instance, Jamison Stone put a writer he hired for his $300,000 tabletop RPG Kickstarter on a blacklist, simply because she asked for clarification on a late invoice.
Pat was a writer for the Red Opera: Last Days of the Warlock, a 5e supplement that Jamison Stone produced through his company @ApotheosisStu.
@ApotheosisStu Crystal supports @Miss_Jess03's account.

When I did freelance writing for a tabletop RPG book, my contract told me up-front my word count, the ¢/word, and the date I'd be paid.

My pay had nothing to do with the editor's time or output.
@Miss_Jess03 Ray freelanced for Sirens: Battle of the Bards with Jess and wrote a thread about his experience with it here.
@Miss_Jess03 Another freelance writer on Red Opera: Last Days of the Warlock ALSO struggled to get paid. Someone else on the project had to pay him on Jamison's behalf.
I want to add Anthony's nice note. The people who spoke out here aren't alone. You're talented and you belong in this community of creators.

Calling out bad behavior can be 🍿, but this is also some people's livelihood.
Jamison Stone has pivoted from a confrontational Instagram post and issued an #apology (quoted in Laura's tweet here).

He sidesteps the freelancer issues raised here, directing them to an inbox. (Don't send hate mail; he can just use it for sympathy.)
After this apology, @realmsmithtv disputed Jamison's claims that his behavior back in 2020 has since changed with therapy. Jason alleges that Jamison and Satine were treating collaborators badly at @SatinesQuest just last week.
Still no word from Satine, who said @nerdytattooer's contract “puts us at great risk and could be seen as a manipulation” and told him “It's clear you don't understand the gravity of the situation and the ramifications it has on your personal and professional career.”
According to the @originsgames x @TheGDEX convention schedule, Jamison Stone and Satine Phoenix have cancelled four of their ten events:

· Inclusivity in TTRPGs
· Indie TTRPG Publishing & Kickstarter
· both sessions of the Tentacles in the Deep game
Tickets currently still on sale:
· Storytelling for Writers and Game Masters ($202)
· both sessions of the Battle of the Bards game ($40)

Free events:
· Storyteller's Guide with Satine Phoenix!
· GM Tips With Satine Phoenix Live!
· their Sirens: Battle of the Bards actual play
This thread seems to be about getting muscled out of business arrangements by stronger personalities.

Still, Jason announced in June 2021 he'd be talent & gaming coordinator for @D3atSea and a month later @SatinesQuest's first tweet advertised a cruise.
Jamison Stone has been removed from Origins Game Fair's special guest page. Wayback Machine for comparison: web.archive.org/web/2022042920…
Must-read thread from Tristan + Katie. THEY paid Satine and Jamison for a gig but were turned into the help.

T+K say they fetched protein shakes and coffees, got unsolicited relationship & workout advice, & were threatened with blacklisting. A trend.
I want to call attention to this part of Tristan's thread:

This suggests a self-aware façade (busting out the cedilla) to look presentable when the attention is on them. It sows dissent within Tristan's relationship: “they were so nice to me, though?”
Pat's back with specifics: he & his co-creator brought Red Opera to @ApotheosisStu as a complete manuscript.

Pat alleges Jamison Stone repeatedly renegotiated contracts to reduce payouts, demanded more work, & even tried to oust Pat from his own project.
You know what these stories are reminding me of?

The Art of the Deal.

The piano salesman who took a $100,000 contract from Trump and had to suck it up when, after months of unpaid invoices, Trump said "lol no I'm only paying you $70,000. deal with it." usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
Cosplay models @Bunny_Bii and @snowyspidey are preparing videos about their experience with Jamison Stone. They describe a “cult” in addition to unpaid convention costs.

Stone's bio does include a lot of new age buzzwords. With degrees in Contemplati...
Today Apotheosis Studios updated their staff bio page to remove Jamison Stone and replace him with Satine Phoenix. They also removed a number of other former collaborators.

Two additional employees announced they have left the company but are still listed as staff.
Muri is a Colombian graphic designer who quit Apotheosis Studio four months ago but until today was still listed as staff on their site.

She alleges that they called a meeting while she was fighting Covid where they threatened her with a blacklist too.
The staff bio page updated today still lists Diana Sousa as an employee.
The staff bio page updated today still lists Ashley Benson as an employee.
Diana Sousa has now been removed from the staff bio page. This pretty much confirms to me that they're reading my thread, lol.
Jamison Stone has resigned as CEO of Apotheosis Studios. What that actually means on a practical level for the company he founded, I can't say. apotheosisstudios.com/blog/2022/6/10…
Pat's co-creator on Red Opera and the driving force behind the Sirens: Battle of the Bards book is trying to do right by the many creatives he worked with.

He's working with Apotheosis Studios's chief operating officer Sarah Urfer to make that happen.
This is a complex situation, but Rick doesn't want people to request refunds through Kickstarter.

Read his thread for more info. Refunds would disproportionately harm all the creatives who worked on the project more than it would Jamison and Satine.
Mass resignations from @GildingLight, Satine Phoenix's “Los Angeles Studio for Collaborative Art,” a network of community of streaming shows.

These were unpaid volunteer positions. It's amazing how much free or cheap labor can be extracted when you're perceived as powerful.
@GildingLight Lori spent two years as the Gilding Light discord's community manager and head moderator.
Grey Ghost was a producer and showrunner for Gilding Light and the Battle of the Bards shows that came out before its Kickstarter.
Kurt was the social media manager for Gilding Light and one of the show's game masters.
DC produced many Battle of the Bards shows, and was a producer and game master for other Gilding Light shows including The Inspectres and its follow-up, The Echoing Dark.
Tony is the DM for Action Pact. Now that he's left Gilding Light, he's looking for a new home for that show.
Lori, DC and Crystal are cast members of The Inspectres: The Echoing Dark.
HTTPaladin is a critically acclaimed designer and one of my idols in the community and it's his BIRTHDAY!! Honor him

He (and @Road_Block, in Paladin's quote tweet here) discuss not getting paid for Gilding Light shows to promote Battle of the Bards.
It's unbelievable to me that Satine seems to think she's going to weather this storm and that Jamison will bear all the fallout.

They're removing references to him across multiple platforms, and she hasn't acknowledged her role in any of this. Satine Phoenix tweets on Ju...
Good morning, tabletops and tablebottoms. I'm sitting on some absolute bombshells right now, but I have some updates I can share.

Then I have to run some errands. I just received my late dad's guitars in the mail, and mom went strawberry picking and has a quart for me. 🍓
Earlier in the thread I mentioned @crankybolt working with Apotheosis Studios's COO to get his Kickstarter across the finish line.

Based on a screenshot leaked to me from a private channel, it seems there's animosity between him and Jamison that predates Rick going public. A Discord screenshot from M...
Also leaked to me from a private channel, some insight into Jamison and Satine's PR strategy:

“I also am ensuring behind the scenes ... we shield Satine as much as physically possible from damage.”

It's unclear who exactly told him to stop making public statements. A discord screenshot dated ...
Jaron worked on The Red Opera and then was introduced to Jamison, who asked him to set up Discords.

Jaron talks about feeling starstruck and gassed up by Jamison. He even got an invite to Jamison and Satine's livestreamed wedding (but he didn't go) Stonephoenix the wedding, T...
Jamison publicly shamed one of his own Discord moderators: “hear me well, for I will only say this once: it's disrespectful to blatantly disregard something I say ... I won't warn you about this again”

Reminds me of the interactions with @nerdytattooer.
Disclosure time! This one's gonna put me in the doghouse but it's funny and you minxes love drama: Jaron is my partner's ex.

I haven't ever interacted with him before today, but the tabletop Twitter community sure feels small sometimes.
welp
Had a nice visit with mom, got some ice cream, and now we're back at it. I didn't intend for this thread to be my project for the weekend, but we're making it work over here in Roberttown.

Some people asked about the guitars. Here's the important one.
FYI: I'm a little slower than some other folks to report on certain stories because I am doing my best to vet them. “Trust, but verify.”

Thank you to the people who've DM'ed me leads, but I'm giving new accounts saying “Let me tell you my Jamison/Satine story” extra scrutiny.
If you come to me anonymously, I'll do my utmost to protect your identity while I corroborate your story.

Social media moves fast and it's easy for misinformation to happen. This isn't to say I've seen any—just that this scrutiny is a safeguard for me AND the tabletop community.
Liisa is an LA voice actress with credits in Dying Light 2, and Devil May Cry 5, and Netflix’s live-action Rurouni Kenshin film.

She’s got a 60-tweet thread here that’s pretty heavy on tabletop industry knowledge, but I’ll do my best to sum up.
In the front half, Liisa’s talking about unfair practices in Maze Arcana, a livestream that both @RutyWoot (now @HeyRuty) and Satine Phoenix headlined back when they were partners.

RutyWoot’s display name is “Routine Anomaly.” That’s important for later. 💣🐚 A screenshot from Satine Ph...A screenshot of a YouTube c...
Ruty has serious credits, including Adamantine bestsellers Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron and Xanathar’s Lost Notes to Everything Else.

Less than 1% of Dungeon Masters Guild content hits the 5,001 sales necessary to become Adamantine. Both of those did. dmsguild.com/browse.php?aut…
Liisa alleges that she was brought on to write for Ruty’s Eberron content and that her work was being published without credit or pay to the Maze Arcana patreon.

After Liisa talked to a personal connection at Wizards of the Coast, Ruty and Satine cut ties with her.
In the back half of her thread, Liisa describes how Satine worked behind-the-scenes to undermine her business networking during the Stream of Many Eyes (#SoMEDND).
In this LARP stream, Liisa plays Bonnie the Barmaid, Ruty plays Durnan the Barkeep (with the massive sideburns), and Satine a PC with elf ears and red hair.

Satine’s opening line at 9:25 in this improv scene is an in-character neg directed at Liisa.
Liisa's post is significant because she alleges mistreatment from Satine that predates Satine's involvement with Jamison. She alleges that Satine influenced people to deny Liisa A-list tabletop opportunities.
Satine plans on making a statement tomorrow. This screenshot was leaked to me from a @GildingLight Discord channel exclusive to Patreon subscribers. A Discord screenshot from J...
Meanwhile, Origins released a statement about their special guests cancelling several events this weekend. I don't envy the social media manager who had to press send on this one.
In this thread, Lilah alleges a friendship with Satine where Lilah provided a significant amount of uncompensated labor in multiple roles, building up Gilding Light while her creative contributions were diminished.
Industry pro H.H. Carlan edited Lilah’s work and supports her account. H.H. describes her own unpaid work for Satine and adds her perspective to Satine's personal critique of Lilah in a writers' meeting.
These two describe mistreatment from Satine writing for Sirens in May 2019.

Earlier in this thread, @qualthis and two others described mistreatment working on later Sirens projects with Jamison in February 2022.

Ray remarked in his thread how “silence aids the aggressor.”
@qualthis Travis McElroy (of Adventure Zone and My Brother, My Brother and Me) has made a statement about Jamison Stone and Satine Phoenix.

This is arguably the most high-profile statement about them yet.
Satine Phoenix has released a statement.

Given the sheer quantity of people who have brought up past issues, it sounds like this is the first of many: she will “address specific posts individually”
I asked Gary Con about Satine Phoenix's removal from the guests section of their website.

Luke Gygax told me they're in the process of updating the site for Gary Con XV. “We haven’t announced guests for GC XV. But we will do so in the coming weeks.”
I know we don't like tone policing, but:

There's a unique level of vitriol directed at women on social media. Pause and think whether you're simply excited to have an acceptable target to blow up on. There's a fine line between righteousness and being part of the problem.
Satine Phoenix has NOT posted her statement of apology to Instagram, Facebook, or Patreon.

I wonder if she sees this as “a Twitter problem.”
Meanwhile, both Satine Phoenix and Jamison Stone have been removed from the @dndinacastle website's list of Dungeon Masters.

Jamison already ran sessions in Round 2, and she was slated to be there for rounds 3 through 8, from the beginning of September through Halloween.
@dndinacastle Jasper's Game Day, a not-for-profit dedicated to suicide prevention (and fellow Michiganders!), has dropped Satine Phoenix from their advisory panel.

JGD is a big deal—in May they partnered with D&D Beyond for Jasper's Game Week.
@dndinacastle And there's the official statement from D&D in a Castle on the removal of Jamison and Satine.
Here's that bombshell I mentioned. Great reporting from @CHofferCBus here.

@HeyRuty filed an embezzlement lawsuit against Satine Phoenix for over $40,000 from their contracted work on the Maze Arcana show. comicbook.com/gaming/news/du…
@CHofferCBus @HeyRuty “Rutenberg and Phoenix ran the streaming network Maze Arcana, until it went dark in 2018. According to the lawsuit filing posted on the Los Angeles County Superior Court website, Rutenberg's Routine Anomaly LLC accuses Phoenix of misappropriating $40,000 of Maze Arcana's money...
...taking the money and transferring it to personal accounts while helping to run the channel. This money was never returned to Maze Arcana, leading to the lawsuit. That lawsuit is still pending.”
This poor, oblivious library tweeted on June 8 that Satine would be a special guest for an event today. This one's not a big deal I just think it's funny

I had missed this statement from another tabletop game company, but Christian mentioned it in his article.
Christian updated his article: “Satine Phoenix has filed a countersuit, claiming breach of oral contract and breach of fiduciary duty.”
Christian's posting a few screenshots from the court documents with specifics.
These are excerpts from Satine's countersuit against Ruty. Satine is the plaintiff and Ruty is the defendant.

I am not a lawyer (on r/LegalAdvice, which I read for fun, they use the incredible acronym IANAL), so I will refrain from making conjecture. 11. In early 2017, Plaintif...30. Plaintiff and Defendant...
Noura alleges she wasn't paid for Maze Arcana shows.
Jen's posting receipts about Maze Arcana shows in this thread.
B. Dave Walters has a thread about his experiences with Satine and Ruty at Maze Arcana as well.

Literally just a week ago he was DMing for the cast of Stranger Things on Netflix's Geeked Week, so I'm glad to see him adding his voice to the conversation.
Ladee's also got a bad experience with Maze Arcana.
Satine Phoenix is live on Instagram. instagram.com/satinephoenix/…
Satine is discussing her messages to Chad and the situation from the very first tweet in this thread. She alleges that Jamison changed her writing in the messages she sent to him. “Jamison was an asshole and I tried to stand up to him.”
FYI, I'm not the best live-tweeter. I'm not going to be able to capture every point that's made. Things like this move fast and I don't want to misquote.
Satine contests the experience of D3 at Sea and Satine's Quest, saying that she was approached to do a separate experience. I'm recording this and I'll revisit it to be a little more precise later.
She says she takes ownership of her interactions with Tristan and Katie: “I was a diva” but then later, “If I was a diva, please let me know and tell me how.”
Satine says, “I dunno what I’m going to do with my life now but at least I can be a better person, and that’s what’s important.”
Satine says she can't talk about Maze Arcana because of the lawsuit but she disputes the came. She wrote about her relationship with Ruty but can't discuss it.
She says Ruty still owns Maze Arcana and if @BDaveWalters and @nouralogical would like to be paid for their work, talk with him.

Ruty's suit is between Routine Anomaly LLC and Burning Quill, Inc. There are no records of a business called Maze Arcana in the CA Sec. of State site
@BDaveWalters @nouralogical I’m relatively new to watching tabletop live streams, so the streaming network Maze Arcana was before my time. It ran in the early days of actual plays, 2017 to 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_D… An ad for Maze Arcana: Inkw...An ad for Maze Arcana: Sire...An ad for Maze Arcana Prese...A screenshot from Orphan Ec...
The livestream is over and I'm gonna go eat dinner.
Satine put up blog post with her script and a YouTube recording. It does not include the Instagram Live comments, which are available in another recording one viewer uploaded to YouTube.
A few minutes in, Satine says of the comments: “Man, you guys are real mean out there. I mean, this is really, I, do I deserve it, I don’t know? I know that I said mean things. I didn’t mean to.”

Instagram Live allows the streamer to disable comments at any point in the stream.
You know, I think I'm done talking about Satine. IMO, there's enough information to hold her accountable for past behavior, and now it's becoming gossipy. Once the Maze Arcana stuff came up I felt like I was tiptoeing through a minefield.

It's been an exhausting week.

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More from @RobertGReeve

Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
Aug 23
No, D&D's not about to delete your stuff to make you buy new books. There are some bad takes re: an update to 2024 content.

The reality relies on D&D's "basic rules."

I love content design, so let’s look at how D&D Beyond’s legacy content management plan is Good, Actually. 🧵 An article from the blog Wargamer.com reads: We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more. DnD Beyond is deleting all 5e spells and magic items The digital platform DnD Beyond is keeping most of 5e, but deleting all its old spells and magic items, replacing them with 2024 content.
First we have to understand the basic rules.

They're completely free and include almost all of the 3 core rulebooks, but with all the lore, intellectual property, and illustrations removed.

You can give $0 to Wizards of the Coast and still play D&D on their website.
The 2014 basic rules include:
· 9 races (1 subrace each)
· 12 classes (1 subclass each)
· 1 background (acolyte)
· 1 feat (grappler)
· core game mechanics

and most...
· spells in the Player’s Handbook
· magic items in the Dungeon Master’s Guide
· monsters in the Monster Manual
Read 17 tweets
Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
Dec 11, 2022
I saw a viral Twitter thread on “pre-Jackson Tolkien/Middle Earth aesthetica” full of white supremacist dogwhistles.

Let's dissect some of them and talk about how white supremacists love Lord of the Rings.

🧵
For a better reading experience with more detail, subscribe to my substack, where I write about gaming, tech, and culture. robertgreeve.substack.com/p/how-lord-of-…
The alt-right pipeline uses the same principles as every business's marketing team, but instead of promoting, like, Minecraft, it wants to turn you into a brand evangelist for pure hwite culture, Bobby. A graphic of the Marketing Funnel. Step one: Attract / Buil
Read 16 tweets
Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
Dec 6, 2022
I had a wonderful #PAXUnplugged this year—I feel like Twitter-Rob is serious and unapproachable but convention-Rob lets down his hair (literally).

Here's just some of the great people who I crossed paths with this year. Follow 'em, they inspire me. 🧵
I finally got to hug @Persephiroth, who introduced me to the crew of the Shikar actual play after their panel. I wish I had more time to talk to Jasmine about Green Knight and to @LordBalvin about samurai movies
And @GabeJamesGames really is one of the kindest, most supportive spirits in all of tabletop. I was shy about our split-second meeting last year but I love what he's doing with the Session Zero System, so it was nice to have a few more minutes to talk this year.
Read 11 tweets
Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
Dec 2, 2022
OpenAI’s ChatGPT designed this 5e D&D rogue archetype in 15 seconds.

It got the subclass levels correct (3, 9, 13, 17). It appropriately tied memories to psychic damage & wisdom saves. I asked it to make the 17th level stronger and it knew “memento mori” had to do with death. We are writing rules for th...Memory Shield: At 13th leve...give me an alternative 17th...
I’m talking with @alyssavisscher and she asked for a spell with the same theme and y’all we are freaking out. The formatting is great. The editorial style is great. The clarification that the target is unaware makes sense (a little less when it adds damage at a higher level tho) next, design a 2nd-level sp...great! How about a 5th leve...A continuation of the previ...
I’m at #PAXUnplugged today and ahh there’s too much to write about this week! Dragonlance; AI text in 5e design; the new One D&D update from both a mechanical and a cultural perspective.

I’m gonna have a busy week so stay tuned for more.
Read 5 tweets
Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
Nov 3, 2022
I went looking for a logical or ideological consistency to Elon’s decisions about Twitter.

I remembered his chats on Joe Rogan's podcast, just dudes being guys, and that's when it clicked:

the Gen X entrepreneur. 🧵
In a PBS interview during the Bush presidency, Elon said he distrusts politicians generally but loves Reagan.

“Bush is like Reagan without the brains...Reagan actually had strong intellectual underpinnings for his decisive actions.” pbs.org/thinktank/tran…
Reagan said: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the Government and I'm here to help.’”

Elon isn't the only Gen X entrepreneur who nods along with that. wired.com/story/reagan-e…
Read 24 tweets
Robert G. Reeve Profile picture
Oct 21, 2022
🌶️ take:

It's nigh-impossible to have an original D&D campaign because you're using the same basic building blocks of lore and mechanics as everyone else.

(no, hiss, not another “system matters” thread) 🧵
D&D's old bones are itself a mash-up of every successful sci-fi/fantasy epic from the 19th century:

· races from Lord of the Rings
· cosmic alignment from Elric
· magic from Jack Vance
· adventurous themes from Conan, John Carter of Mars, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
And the most popular D&D adventure is refreshed every 10 years for each new edition.

Each time, it closely follows the characters & conflict of Dracula: a vampire lord; his reincarnated lover; his hunter; his brides; his Romani thralls.

(The party is Jonathan Harker, I guess.)
Read 13 tweets

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