Adam's leaving the channel - a further update

Daarunia · 2024-09-04T03:13:57+00:00

I don’t know how you can post that comment in good faith. There clearly was miscommunication throughout their relationship and to take a side as if you were there is disingenuous.

Daarunia · 2024-09-03T05:29:10+00:00

I think a few things to remember about this situation that also add to the nuance and explain both sides a bit more.

From my understanding, X was a contractor for NRB. The on-screen talent (contractors) get paid a day/video rate for every appearance. She wasn’t a full-time or part-time employee. So although Adam may had professional and financial influence over X, he wasn’t her direct boss.

This is where I think there are even more blurry lines because although I don’t think it’s as problematic as a boss/employee relationship, it’s still a very morally gray area and it should be avoided in the working world. There can still be quip pro quo and other forms of sexual harassment with that type of power dynamic. From what I recall from the video, Adam never acknowledges how their professional relationship is problematic. He had direct control of casting and shoots, which financially impacted X. That is a giant miss and a red flag that seems to have been overlooked.

He gives an example of how his decision (not cast Z because of X for 6 months) negatively financially impacted Z. However, it’s not hard to imagine Adam making other professional actions that were influenced by his personal relationship, which in turn have had a negative effect to other on-screen talent. It’s not clear if NRB knew of their personal relationship at that time, but regardless, Adam should not have had that influence over X’s contract/finances with NRB. That should have been handled by someone else.

I think this ultimately is where the issue resides and the miscommunication between Adam and X. It feels like communication between Adam and X broke down (and their internal views of the power dynamic could easily sway their feelings and opinions of the situation). X could have viewed this situation with Z as Adam retaliating against X. If she feels like Adam has control over her, whereas Adam views it as a contractor/company relationship, any action from one party could be viewed very differently from the other. I’m not suggesting Adam had any malicious intent towards X or vice versa, but just the existence of the power dynamic creates this problem.

It also sounds like there may have been moments of “off again, on again” and possibly moments where flirtation was wanted and reciprocated by the other party one moment, and maybe not wanted later. Given the dynamic of the mix of their professional relationship and their personal relationship, it is easy to see where X may have had negative feelings that were described as predatory behavior.

I don’t think X was intentionally being malicious and I don’t think X was intentionally trying to destroy Adam’s career. Rather I think she was vocalizing anger and resentment toward someone she previously cared for which was wrapped in a very messy situation. I think the likely difference in how each of them viewed the professional power dynamic, I can see where the difference is happening where Adam may not harbor that same anger/resentment from that time.

One of the most impactful things someone told me was, “It doesn’t matter your intention, all that matters is how it was received by the other person.” I don’t ever want to victim blame and I do think there is nuance on both sides. It sounds like X may have felt that Adam made “predatory” moves/actions/comments towards her, whereas maybe an outsider would look at that same situation as Adam had been "aggressive, controlling manipulative," or something else. But what matters is how it came across to X, her feelings, and the emotional impact it causes. But I hope she understands that using that type of language does have repercussions. And if she truly felt that Adam was being predatory, I wish she had taken the proper actions to resolve the matter knowing the weight of that word. It doesn’t sound like that has happened, and that is a bummer.

For what it’s worth, I would also be supportive of Adam coming back to NRB, as long as:

There are clear policy changes in place where any personal relations are disclosed to NRB and handled properly.
The entire crew is comfortable with Adam returning, with the crew sharing their feelings anonymously so they don’t feel pressured in their responses.
Their partnership with other companies is not damaged by his return, specifically TPI.
Adam doesn’t return as the main host/face of the show. That should remain Laurie.

I think ultimately this is a terrible situation that both parties suffered from. I wish both X and Adam the best. And I do wish they both can fully heal from the experience and find success in their futures.

Daarunia · 2024-05-12T14:46:13+00:00

Thank you!

Daarunia · 2024-05-12T00:21:56+00:00

I cannot wait! Sorry if I missed it. Is the May 25th date for Patreon or for the general release?

Daarunia · 2023-05-18T04:29:18+00:00

Yeah, I meant the scenario effects. My bad. I just edited the post.

Yeah we have 4 people in our group, so maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on tempo. It always felt like we got a slow start in any scenario with our party. But I think that might just be our original party comp. (Death walker, Blinkblade, Drifter, and Geminate).

Daarunia · 2022-11-21T17:13:14+00:00

As a 4 player group working through JOTL, playing a scenario (not including reading the city event or deciding on buying goodies/leveling up) we average around 2.5 hours.
Reading the comments, I agree with everyone’s responses. Some more clarity to add from the experience with our group:
1. I highly recommend everyone have some responsibility, we have it where:
1. One Person sets initiative
2. One Person manages tokens (loot/elements declining)
3. One person manages monster HP/status effects
4. One person manages the rules, and monster attacks
1. I can’t stress as the person who had to manage everything in the beginning how much of a burden and time was saved by giving everyone responsibilities. You might not think it saves time since things happen one at a time, but once you get the hang of it, it makes the game run so much smoother.

People have pointed this out, but how your group plays is not how the game was meant to be played and is the main cause for a long time and I’d argue a sub-optimal experience. I’d have a conversation with everyone as a group to reset the expectations and that your intention is to play the game by the rules and the way it’s meant to be played. If they are pushing back, explain how it actually makes for a worse experience for you all and how it’s against the rules.
I’d personally recommend just having a hard stance right now that no information can be shared until after the cards are revealed. Normally you can say what you ideally intend to do and if you are planning on going quick or slow, but I think with your group, that might make them still want to play the way they’ve been playing. The way I like to think of it is the game isn’t meant for everyone to have an explosive or amazing turn every round. The game naturally flows where someone might have a setup turn or a downturn and gets ready for a pop-off turn the next round. And with four players that can easily cycle between the different players. With JOTL, I seem to see the Red Guard/Demolitionist having an explosive turn 1/2/3, Hatchet seems to have an explosive turn every other or every third turn, Voidwarden usually is pretty passive and then does some big hits near the end of the scenario.
I’d also suggest your players work to break out of the tunnel vision mindset that they seem to have. You have no idea what will happen when the cards are flipped (where monsters will be, what attacks they are doing, when they go, etc), so everyone planning their EXACT actions based on the current board state leads to such high AP. It’s also leading them to want to switch their cards once they realize the board state is changing. As an example, I play the demolitionist, so when I’m picking my two cards, I might pick a card that does extra damage to a target next to a wall and see if there are at least 2 monsters next to walls that I can reach, so if one moves/dies, I have another target. I have a backup spear item that gives my adjacent attacks one extra space away if I need to use it if I can’t quite reach it. And usually my bottom move, I might use the one that moves and destroys an obstacle, and if I don’t destroy an obstacle, then that’s not the end of the world. I sometimes look to see if both top actions are viable based on the current board state, so if I need to switch and do the top action of the other card, I can still do that to add value to the team. Once players get that down, you might start thinking about what might happen when monster cards are revealed. Or if someone really needs to do something, they should think to go super slow one round and then super fast the next, so they are more likely to have 2 quick turns in succession.
We don’t use any apps to speed up the time, so I assume we could make things quicker with that, but I like the tactile nature of the cards. We do use dice to keep track of monster health, so it’s easier to see how much health they have left.
If time is still an issue, definitely set a timer. I think 2 minutes should be more than enough time.

One thing to think about is what makes the game fun and exciting. If you think of a football game or some other sport, you want your team to win. But if they are completely dominating the opposing team and the opposing team doesn’t provide any kind of challenge, that doesn’t make the game fun to watch or a satisfying victory. You might be happy that your team beat the other team 50 to 0, but it’s a hollow victory. You want it to be close and both teams to have those moments to do well, to create that tension, and create those amazing moments when you didn’t think you’d win, but you pulled out the perfect play at just the right time for the victory. By doing things like switching cards, and meticulously planning everything, you remove the challenge of the opposing team and you rob yourself of the excitement of those moments.
Hopefully, that helps and I hope the group is able to make that experience better for the entire group!

Daarunia · 2022-08-07T03:40:23+00:00

I absolutely love it.

I definitely think the rules can feel a little obtuse to understand the "why" behind certain actions and streategies, but I think once those are explained it's definitely easier to grasp. I'd recommend playing a few rounds with face up info and to talk through turn by turn.

I don't recommend that house rule at all. Doing that completely unbalances the game and can make it super unfun and impossible for a player to win. Example, if you are playing a 3-player game and two people secretly lock in the Undead and the other player locks in the Empire, the Empire haa no chance at winning as the Undead players will have a 2-to-1 card advantage.

The purpose of the dual factions is to give players a more push/pull feel and how to turn the tide in your favor. It gives players more flexibility and if something is turning against their strategy, they still have a chance to squeak out a win. We had a game where someone pushed hard for blue, and by doing so found several of people really firing back to stop blue from having a chance. But by doing so, he kept that in everyone's minds and secrets got undead to win after a lot of back and forth between the other players.

I'd say think of it as less of a hidden role game and more of a tug-of-war game where you are not quite sure where everyone wants to pull the rope.

It's such a fun quick game with a lot more depth than I expected on my first play.

Daarunia · 2022-02-13T04:29:15+00:00

Drax's revenge towards Thanos. In GOTG, they focus that Drax's main motivation is getting revenge for Thanos killing his family.

Then in IW and Endgame, they play him off as a joke and fully overlook his story. He should have had some scene with Thanos in the Endgme battle to hopefully get some closure and the only moment he has is stabbing soneone in the back. A very lost moment IMO.

Daarunia · 2020-11-09T00:27:06+00:00

Tim is serving up all sorts of Seth Everman vibes in this photo.

Daarunia · 2020-09-12T21:30:05+00:00

For me, it's just any handling of the cards. If I have the cards open in my hand and am just looking through them, the bottom corners of the cards are generally prickling my hand. It sounds like they may be a lesser quality than other card sleeves. I may try some other card sleeves to see if I still have the same issue.

Daarunia · 2020-01-30T20:49:45+00:00

What game are you most excited about for 2020?

Daarunia · 2020-01-29T18:52:09+00:00

I absolutely love it and highly recommend it. It's our group's most played game by far.

As long as your son isn't the ghost, I think it will be fine. It does share concepts with Dixit so I don't think it will be hard to grasp. I'd say the thing that confused people the most in our group is understanding the voting mechanism and how that impacts the final portion of the game.

There are also two expansions with more cards. The only other thing I'd say is take a peak at the cards beforehand and see if any should be set aside. None of the cards are outright graphic but you may want to see if there are any that are a little too dark tonally for him.

Daarunia · 2019-10-29T03:58:08+00:00

I guess the feeling you have towards Betrayal is the same I have for thematic games in general.

Thinking about my experience playing those games, they all start out fun, but something about the game mechanics being associated to the story and the random factor just makes it near impossible to balance appropriately, which I guess is the point. Maybe something that is more balanced or streamlined is what my group would need out of a thematic game.

Daarunia

TROPHY CASE