The YouTube role-playing series was canceled after the live stream

The rise of “real” podcasts and live news dreams has introduced more people than ever before to how tabletop games work. Tens of thousands of viewers regularly access services like YouTube and Twitch to watch Dungeon Masters-led teams and game masters (GMs) in real time. However, that kind of show also shows how fast news lines can run on a train. This was the case in late March when the popular reality TV show broadcast an incident involving sexual assault in front of a live audience.

The long-running series is called Far Verona, and uses Stars Without Numbers background. Part of RollPlay network, the last of which includes 90 episodes with nearly 250,000 views. After the incident, however, all Far Verona fans left the show and the second season of the series was canceled. GM executives of the incident said they were moving away from RPGs yet to seek counseling.

(Warning: This text contains a description of sexual assault.)

The Far Verona team was led by game master Adam Koebel, award-winning playwright and famous graphic designer Dungeon World an RPG tablet is a program. Players include Mark Hulmes, Havana “Vana” Mahoney, Marcus “DJ” Wheat, and Elspeth Eastman. An incident of sexual assault occurred on March 24 and involved an Eastman character, a man made up of Johnny Collins.

After some injuries, Johnny stopped at an old friend's house to get ready. Instead of doing the requested repairs, that old friend – a non-player (NPC) character made by Koebel – commits an act of sexual assault. You can watch the event being played on YouTube, where the live archive remains.

The reaction of other players at the table while the event is playing out is telling. It turns out that no one expected this storyline to go anywhere.

Photo: RollPlay

On March 31, Koebel and RollPlay network founder JP “itmeJP” McDaniel returned RollPlay YouTube channel to correct the incident. At the time, Koebel admitted that he was wrong, and said it was a crime not to secure security at the table.

"We're not going through difficult situations," Koebel said in half. “Sometimes playing games can be difficult or difficult or someone will tell something that did not go the way they expected. We have seen it over and over again over the years, and often when something like this happens we have the opportunity to discuss the break, or take some time off between episodes, and that sometimes means we have to fix or re-create an event.

"We've done this before," continued Koebel. "That is usually enough to make sure that the broadcaster continues to move forward and feels comfortable and safely investigating the stories we tell.

A number of standard tabletop RPG safety measures are available, and include strategies such as X-Card and “lines and novels. ”

The X-Card is simply a physical device – sometimes a card, sometimes an action, or maybe a code word – that players can use to stop a game at any time if they are uncomfortable. Rows and rows, on the other hand, are agreed before everyone at the table. Lines are lessons or activities that the game won't include, and veils are situations that will only happen on screen without the player's input. Prices for these strategies are common in today's tabletop RPGs, especially those concerning sexuality. For example, both were recently included in version 5 of The Vampire: Masquerade, after the first print was neglected to include them in sufficient detail.

However, Far Verona's strategy was not implemented, and Koebel said he and McDaniel would "devote themselves to the safety of everyone at the table." He also revealed that the show will not continue with its current distribution, and will be included in a permanent hiatus.

Many fans of the program, and Eastman himself, felt that Koebel's statement missed the apology itself. Most importantly, it seemed to further support the damage done. On April 2, Eastman recorded his statement again is published on YouTube.

"I lost faith and trust in Adam as a GM, even after playing with him before," Eastman said. “Well, I might even have lost faith in him as a friend. Adam goes on to say that the mechanics of the game were not in the right place and as a team we should have discussed this before starting the show. Of course, that's a good idea to look back on. But if you need to have a talk with the person who made it in advance who plans to introduce a rape NPC to one of their actors I can assure you that no one is a good person. Especially not in front of hundreds of people. This is not a question about what would have been prevented if Adam himself was in charge. ”

The next day, April 3, Koebel posted a series of comments on Twitter. Among them is a careful plea.

"I deeply regret not doing better by giving up players and fans," Koebel said. “I have a long road ahead, one that will last the rest of my life, if I want to combine my behavior with my behavior. I work with a counselor on this, and ever since. Sorry to have hurt the cast, and to any of the viewers who have been hurt, to apologize for this is yours too. I will re-dedicate myself, and I will continue to work on doing a better job. ”

Both Koebel and Eastman have asked for privacy as they face an outbreak of these issues. The broadcast of other programs on the RollPlay network will continue.