David Armstrong
Feb 18, 2019, 11:45 PM (2 days ago)
I want you to stop badmouthing Izzy, beacause I said so.

David Armstrong
Feb 18, 2019, 11:46 PM (2 days ago)
And I'll outright say why, and it's because as much as his PCs failed, he might thrive in other games. Ones where the GM will work with him to improve in ways t

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:46 PM (2 days ago)
I won't promise that period, but I'll exercise greater politesse around you

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:46 PM (2 days ago)
But that's an area where I think you're not looking at the full picture

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:47 PM (2 days ago)
Or rather, only his perspective

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:47 PM (2 days ago)
You know what the biggest thing Izzy did, on his end, that made him so unhappy?

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:47 PM (2 days ago)
Actually, I think I said this to Pete, let me pull it up

David Armstrong
Feb 18, 2019, 11:47 PM (2 days ago)
Just say it.

David Armstrong
Feb 18, 2019, 11:48 PM (2 days ago)
You don't need to go and try and find your most succinct example of a conversation

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:49 PM (2 days ago)
Well, I'm lazy

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:49 PM (2 days ago)
Though hilariously, that's actually what it was

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:49 PM (2 days ago)
In part

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:50 PM (2 days ago)
There are a ton of things he did wrong as a player, but the biggest one? He never actually tried to fix things

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:50 PM (2 days ago)
Like, Pete's infamous for his long feedback bitch-posts

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:51 PM (2 days ago)
That piss me off to the point that I withhold XP, because "you're violating the game's social contract expecting rewards for my unhappiness"

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:51 PM (2 days ago)
But Pete at least expressed that he was unhappy

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:51 PM (2 days ago)
He said what was wrong

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:51 PM (2 days ago)
He was shit about proposing solutions

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:51 PM (2 days ago)
And left me to do all of the work there

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:52 PM (2 days ago)
But Pete at his worst, most pessimistic, most entitled, most intellectually dishonest, most screaming bitch fest, was still better than Izzy was

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:53 PM (2 days ago)
Because he laid out what he was unhappy over and laid out a path forward, however muddled

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:53 PM (2 days ago)
Izzy couldn't be assed to do that

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:53 PM (2 days ago)
When he was unhappy, he'd just sulk and shut down

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:53 PM (2 days ago)
Boy would I still try to reach out to him

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:54 PM (2 days ago)
I know he's young and not every player has Pete's confidence

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:54 PM (2 days ago)
I know what it's like to feel intimidated by the GM and that if you say you're unhappy, he'll just explain all the ways you're wrong and seem totally right

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:55 PM (2 days ago)
But I went pretty out of my way to get in his shoes, make him comfortable, and pull him back

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:55 PM (2 days ago)
Anticipate his wants all without him ever expressing them

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:56 PM (2 days ago)
Bringing back Em from the dead wasn't his idea

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:56 PM (2 days ago)
(Nothing ever was)

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:56 PM (2 days ago)
I'd observed he'd been playing at 50% ever since Em died, and offered to let him "redeem" the PC

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:56 PM (2 days ago)
Brought him back and gave him a second fighting chance to right his wrongs

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:57 PM (2 days ago)
Let him tell off Bud, save Amelie, ascend towards the heavens on a shaft of pure light

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
Player tells me that felt incredibly therapeutic

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
Why yes, I'm sure it did

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
But nothing was ever enough for Izzy

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
I was always available as a GM to talk with him

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
Suggest ideas

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
Flesh out his PC

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
Expand his background

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:58 PM (2 days ago)
Provide plot hooks

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:59 PM (2 days ago)
Ask him to weigh in on the OP interview

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:59 PM (2 days ago)
The wiki work player preferences list

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:59 PM (2 days ago)
All of it was pissing into the wind

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:59 PM (2 days ago)
Sometimes it caught his attention, for a little bit

Calder Rooney
Feb 18, 2019, 11:59 PM (2 days ago)
But he could never really be bothered, not really

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:00 AM (1 day ago)
And heaven almighty forbid if it involved any OOC effort on his part, like spending a few minutes to respond to the OP interview

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:00 AM (1 day ago)
A purely OOC thing 0% risk to his PC, even

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:00 AM (1 day ago)
Izzy's problem is that he moves on from shiny to shiny

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:01 AM (1 day ago)
Like, the game grabbed his interest when he first stumbled across it, because shiny

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:01 AM (1 day ago)
But he doesn't see the huge amount of blood and sweat I've poured into making it what it is

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:01 AM (1 day ago)
All the effort it demands

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:02 AM (1 day ago)
He was not ever interested in supplying any effort of his own

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:02 AM (1 day ago)
He wanted everyone else to carry the weight

Calder Rooney <calderrooney@gmail.com>
Feb 19, 2019, 12:02 AM (1 day ago)
to David
Like those damn character sheets

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:02 AM (1 day ago)
Him and Navy

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:02 AM (1 day ago)
I asked him a thousand times, please keep your sheet up to date

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:03 AM (1 day ago)
It makes GMing an easier job

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:03 AM (1 day ago)
It's a little thing that helps so much

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:03 AM (1 day ago)
Dude just could not be assed

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:03 AM (1 day ago)
For that ridiculously simple task

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:03 AM (1 day ago)
I update Hazel's sheet every time she earns a Beat, it's as automatic a task to me as breathing

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:04 AM (1 day ago)
For him that was apparently too onerous

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:04 AM (1 day ago)
And expected me to GM with his out of date sheets that throw sand into the gears of everything

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:04 AM (1 day ago)
I told him and Navy, who was also guilty, that they were basically being players who brought food into my house, spilled it over the carpet, and expected me to

Calder Rooney <calderrooney@gmail.com>
Feb 19, 2019, 12:05 AM (1 day ago)
to David
I asked them nicely a thousand times to update those damn sheets, but no, they just did not care about my enjoyment or helping out my workload

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:05 AM (1 day ago)
They were here purely for themselves and their own gratification
6

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:08 AM (1 day ago)
"It feels punitive and doesn't foster a positive OOC atmosphere."

Calder Rooney <calderrooney@gmail.com>
Feb 19, 2019, 12:08 AM (1 day ago)
to David
Well, you already took away from that by not showing the basic courtesy in updating those damn sheets

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:09 AM (1 day ago)
Sheets are just the most egregious way

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:09 AM (1 day ago)
There's a thousand and one others Izzy made a name for himself essentially shitting on the game and expecting me to clean up

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:10 AM (1 day ago)
And for all that, I constantly worked to make him feel included and valued

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:10 AM (1 day ago)
He wants to take a three month hiatus? Sure

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:10 AM (1 day ago)
He wants to talk about the various forms of petty theft Em practiced to sustain himself, despite not playing the PC in two months?

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:11 AM (1 day ago)
Sure. GM will step up to bat and provide him a ton of ideas

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:13 AM (1 day ago)
("He could've filed a false disability claim" "He could have applied for food stamps he doesn't need" "He could be on weflare and lie about having kids" "He cou

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:14 AM (1 day ago)
My vision of the game might be firm, but boy, did I try to include him in it

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:14 AM (1 day ago)
He pooh-poohs it all

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:15 AM (1 day ago)
Plays PCs who are too chickenshit to even start conversations with NPCs he's bought Merits for

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:15 AM (1 day ago)
He took and took and took, and there was never any give back

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:15 AM (1 day ago)
He genuinely loved B&B for what it was, a huge and complex undertaking of the sort that he'd love to build himself one day

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:16 AM (1 day ago)
But won't, because he is unwilling to put in any of the work that goes with it

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:16 AM (1 day ago)
Even OOC work

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:16 AM (1 day ago)
He never once approached me about what was wrong and said he was unhappy

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:16 AM (1 day ago)
He relied, essentially, on my charity and intuition

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:17 AM (1 day ago)
To identify what he was unhappy with and provide solutions out of thin air, all without speaking a word to him

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:17 AM (1 day ago)
That's not a fair or equitable relationship

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:18 AM (1 day ago)
You want the GM to change the game, you need to step up and say what you'd like changed

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:20 AM (1 day ago)
Bare minimum. All before things you might have to change yourself, that's the bare minimum

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:20 AM (1 day ago)
He couldn't be assed to do even that though

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:21 AM (1 day ago)
Couldn't even be assed to write a feedback post on why he wanted to step away

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:21 AM (1 day ago)
It's just plain laziness

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:21 AM (1 day ago)
I frankly wish I'd cut him loose long before now

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:21 AM (1 day ago)
Because he took so much and gave so little

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:22 AM (1 day ago)
His seat could've gone to another, frankly better player who could've had all that time to get settled in the group and made their PC part of the world

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:22 AM (1 day ago)
He naturally doesn't see it, but there was a tremendous opportunity cost to keeping him in the game for as long as I did, past all of his hiatuses

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:23 AM (1 day ago)
I could go on a lot longer, but there you have it

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:23 AM (1 day ago)
Those are some of the reasons I told him he was a failure as a player

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:24 AM (1 day ago)
Could I have been an even better GM to him? I can actually think of multiple ways, yes

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:24 AM (1 day ago)
But I can think of ten thousand more he could have been a better player

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:24 AM (1 day ago)
And if the GM is operating at 50%, you don't have any right to demand 100 when you're sitting at 0

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:25 AM (1 day ago)
Since this is, in fact, as you and he so ardently believe, a collaborative hobby

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:36 AM (1 day ago)
to me
You touched on a few things I think I should expand on, as I think you've not (Or so far as I've been able to tell) had the kind of experience with that level of confidence as Izzy or even me to a point. I can put myself in Izzy's shoes and see why all this happened. Inaction though lack of confidence, you feel as though the moment you do something the person above you is going to shit on you for what you said, and call what you did shite. Even when people offer advice the way it comes from on high makes it difficult to follow through with. And as much as you may or may not believe that happens in B&B, it very very much does. I think you and Pete especially have issues when it comes to when enough is enough, like the fact I had to step in and ask you to cool it with the dyke jokes. I can see where and why Izzy was not doing anything, and knowing the kind of person he was, he felt like shit not being able to play at the level that newer and less savvy players feel they have to in your game without being smeared around and feel 'whats the point'. All while looking up to you. He could have been a better player, he could have done all these things, but when you think that everything you do is going to just smash you down further, and that every idea you have ends up kicking you in the teeth, why would you? The sheets were an issue I'll take a knee on because you're absolutely right, but motivation and confidence still go hand in hand.

You said you tried to put yourself in his shoes, but I think that's difficult from where you stand at this point in your table top career. Doing all the shit for him may not have taught him anything, but seeing as how he still asks for status updates and still seems very upset about the whole deal, you going on and just saying he's a failure not only makes me uncomfortable because it makes me wonder about me, but I know from being in his shoes that he's absolutely ripped up about the game, and his inability to 'play with the big boys'.

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:36 AM (1 day ago)
to me
It comes to the point even where I have to write big blocks like that because you step in if I write like you do and talk around me.

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:37 AM (1 day ago)
I have been in your guys' shoes, 100%

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:37 AM (1 day ago)
You hate hearing about Kain days, I know that

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:37 AM (1 day ago)
Okay stop

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:38 AM (1 day ago)
You're talking around me again

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:38 AM (1 day ago)
I let you get it all out, have the same courtesy

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:38 AM (1 day ago)
I'd have written a bigger damn block, but hangouts has a character limit

Calder Rooney
Feb 19, 2019, 12:38 AM (1 day ago)
Fair enough, I thought you were done

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:38 AM (1 day ago)
Character limit

David Armstrong
Feb 19, 2019, 12:48 AM (1 day ago)
to me
Either way, frankly, you're just better educated than people like me and Izzy. You've had more time from a better standpoint to get more confident in the hobby. You had the game with Kain, but from the sounds of it you've had others as well. You've study skills I'm sure, as you mentioned your father is extremely educated. And the way you go on about Kains games, I've been able to pick up pieces of what he was doing. But I'd argue that all of this can put you at different disadvantages too. You say you've 'been where we are' but your stories tell otherwise. You tell about all this time you did shit and it never worked out with Kain, but I have my doubts from your personality that you ever had the same kind of fear for starting than Izzy might have. You played a game with personalities like Pete's, as well, where if he seems like he believes if he isn't moving forward he'll fucking explode.

As much as you might have feelings for Izzy and what happened though, I don't know if you realize the kind of effect having someone you look up to calling you a failure as a D&D player would have on you. Because beginner players don't often SEE what Gms do, it's like some punk looking at a boxer, and not knowing what makes his movements so special. Izzy agonized and tried, but maybe bringing his character that failed so badly back was seen as rubbing salt in a wound and not giving him a chance for redemption. Maybe him not saying anything was him thinking he'd be wasting his time trying to explain things to someone who what feels to him like you said, just tells him he's wrong and makes him believe it, only to fail at what he thinks you want him to do. All in all I'm uncomfortable with you just throwing him around as a bad example because I step into his shoes and I feel like he does sometimes already. I don't think you get it anymore that to new players, people like you, Sam, and Pete who have the confidence to put in this amount of effort and it just be right according to you