The only way to escape the sporting goods store is to destroy the sporting goods store.
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RIP Hadeel. RIP Peanut.
Also hopefully that is the last we see of Ian/Fake Martin, functioning at least; I’m just waiting for a cut away scene next time of Arnehan’s undercover team having taken over the Crux investigation on planet of the explosion and they pull Ian’s remains from the rubble and recover final data from his implant, which will no doubt lead to more pressure on the PC’s needing to get off planet quickly. This could literally come down to a race between Dioclease’s connections securing them transport off planet and Arnehan’s troops chasing them to the spaceport.
Such a good episode and such a roller-coaster. So glad that Autumn is still alive, but so sad to lose Hadeel even though she was a combat synth there is almost no chance that she survived that explosion given she was feet away from the ignition point.
The end of the episode was eye opening and Johnny could be in for all sorts of new experiences, not only because of what just happened with Rocket but also because Rocket likely knows how to add more ‘free will’ into Johnny’s programming, the Bud’s certainly seem to be able to shake off their auto responses a little.
Also I’m sad but also happy that I called Peanut being stuck in the bathroom. Sad to see him go out like that but Peanut was a good NPC while he lasted.
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They’re all good NPCs, Brent!
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Ian and Hadeel and Christine are all basically off the board now, yeah. I think we’ve already seen enough “he’s not dead!” from that gang for the time being.
As far as the last scene goes, I talked to the cast and we all expressed a dissatisfaction with how it went. We’re going to talk more as a group about how to go forward in a way that’s safer for everyone. That’s all on me, I wanted to do one thing and ended up not noticing it going to an uncomfortable place. My intention is that we roll the scene back to the point where Rocket and Johnny go into the back for repairs and play it differently. The group’s safety and well-being as people, as players, is a lot more important to me than anything else. So, while there’s no post-show for this episode (we spent the time chatting as a group, instead) I’ll be addressing it at the start of the next show and we’ll talk a little about it.
To anyone who found the scene uncomfortable to watch, I’m sorry. This is a completely appropriate place (as is the Discord, or just PMing me here or on my personal site) to talk more about that, if that’s something you’re interested in.
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Just finished watching the last bit of the episode and just watching everyone’s reactions I’m so happy you said this and there isn’t a post show. I just thought to myself “man I hope Adam checks in with everyone and they scrap the post show if need be”. Having watched a ton of your stuff I was thinking Adam can’t be meaning this scene to be the way I’m reading it to be. So happy you can speak openly about this stuff, it’s allowed me to learn so much about being a better DM.
On a more upbeat note and I get the feeling this is one of those nebulous questions that won’t be answered but thought I would ask. When synths were originally created were they considered sentient or just extremely advanced AI? My assumption is they were made to be sentient for better decision making and the reason they are being exterminated is because of the inability to tell the difference between them and humans vs toasters like Johnny that seem to have the same level of sentience but are allowed to live. Did Johnnys tech level of robot go from being an advanced AI into developing sentience and they just made robots after that to have sentience, because it seems like toasters shift between being purely programming and others like Johnny that seem to have free will?
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I guess I’m glad, that the last scene is going to be rolled back. It was indeed hard to watch, especially, because Elspeth is playing very true to her character and as such had no way to evade Jonny giving consent to something he didn’t understand, except maybe making an insight roll during the encounter.
While I don’t mind, awfull things happening to the characters, that’s just going as far as the cast is comfortable with it too. Seeing that you have talked it out amongst yourselves, I just hope nobodies feelings have been hurt. Because I’m looking forward to the journey of this iterations Far Verona for months to come.
Also, I hope you @AdamKoebel don’t feel too bad about this. I figure most of the audience will understand (and hopefully the cast too), that some nuances can be missed when things get heated and the immersion of the story is at its peak. I for one enjoy boundaries being pushed, so even when it was hard to watch, it was still engaging material. In my mind, this episode will serve as a learning experience and next time, you will find the sweet spot with what works for (most) everybody, once again.
Edit: After rereading my post, I hope my feedback doesn’t seem too presumptous. It is meant to be encouraging, but I understand, that this topic isn’t as easy to talk about, as others and I’m not sure if I hit the right notes. I will leave it up regardless, because I feel like community feedback doesn’t always have to be flawless.
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Yeah it was a strange end to the episode, I think maybe it could have been described differently, or not left for the end of the episode, so that there could have been some in-game reaction so it wasn’t left unresolved. I’m surprised it’s gotten this much of a reaction though, it wasn’t overtly sexual or gratuitously explicit, and it is part of the conversation of what it means to be a person - even if the conclusion of the character is “that was gross and weird please never do that again” and Johnny figures out that they’re asexual. I’m certain that there was no malice involved either on the part of the weirdo technician or Adam, so I don’t know why ppl on Twitter are freaking out, but maybe I’m the toaster.
Love y’all
I don’t know what people on twitter are saying, but I get what part people could freak out about. Think about this real life example:
You go to the dentist, he flirts with you and you don’t outright refuse him. Then when you have to get your teeth done, after sedating you, instead of working on your teeth, your dentist has sex with you unexpectedly when you can’t refuse him.
In my mind this is a really risquee story to tell, much better suited to a different format. In comparison to reading a book or watching a movie, its easier to emphasize with the characters of a roleplay show, because there are real people visible behind the role. And this is just combined with many people not wanting to be confronted with this topic to begin with. The implementation of the X card would have gone a long way here for sure. I’m glad, that JP and Adam had come to the same conclusion.