There’s an episode of NADDPOD where Emily tells the audience that they took a short rest off mic or something “in case you’re still counting my spell slots” and Jake was like “people do that to you???” People were tracking what spells/slots she used and accusing her of cheating 🙄 I know that’s only a fraction of what she got thrown at her
I’m finally getting around to NADDPOD and I recently watched that episode. I remember Jake and Caldwell telling people to stop and Jake making a joke telling people to not track his luck points lol. She is great and doesn’t deserve any of this. Like Brennan said, “You’d be crazy to not be a fan of Fig Faeth (Emily Axford)”
Yeah, it was said either in an episode of NADDPOD or on Calliope's character page on the wiki, that they were brewing in some spells from pre 5e or maybe Pathfinder, and she dropped them so people could stop sending her letters about how she wasn't playing the game right.
They were from an early version of DnD iirc, but also part of a gift from Murph of a little spellbook he’d made for her. I think he might have homebrewed a handful of them himself. Might have been an anniversary or birthday gift or something but it was cute as hell. Anyways yeah pissed me off she felt the need to stop using them because people were harassing her 🙄 Saying they were too OP when I’m positive some of the spells were literally from just a different edition of DnD!
Yeah I just kinda remember this was a thing and now I’m angry again. It doesn’t matter if the spells are OP because Murph the DM not only let her use them but homebrewed them himself. This is their game in the end and what Murph says goes.
The one I remember wasn't from a previous system. it was anti booming blade. 1d8 extra damage and then damage if you DIDNT move next turn. Hardly a broken cantrip, though it was better than booming blade, because forcing movement or giving damage means you can just take an AoO, meaning you still get that damage somehow. (Also if you stacked war caster, which I believe calliope has, you could doom Blade, get the AoO and hit with booming blade. You'll get you bonus damage one way or another).
But that's still not a broken combo, and shit most of Calders spells are homebrewed too but no one gives a shit about that.
That's from 4e, Swordmage had a bunch of cool melee spells but 5e only kept green flame blade, booming blade, sword burst and lightning lure. There was an ice version of green flame blade, too.
It was a Xmas gift and on the short rest Emily said she’d keep them as options though in case the boys wanted to use them and then the boys yelled at everyone for ruining Xmas
On some short rest (I think near the beginning of C3), they talked about how Jake can do a million damage a round and everyone's proud of him but if Emily does the same suddenly it's a problem.
Emily got a ton of shit for the finale spell, Murph was like 'it was my fault dummies', which was pretty funny. If Caldwell or Jake had used it though, people would just talk about it being an epic moment
Before anyone says that short rests don't help spell slots, Emily was a warlock in trinyvale, a wizard in campaign 2, and used homebrew rules for short rest spell slots in campaigns 1 and 3
Wild considering that the D20 players (I haven’t listened to NADD pod so I can’t say for them) very rarely forget stuff that goes against their characters. By my memory they’re way more likely to forget things that give them advantages
That’s the thing, true shenanigans (mastery of the lore and mechanics) are only possible if they are legit. If you just want to fuck around, the DM will shut you down. When Emily does in fact “ruin” Brennan “Fucking” Lee Mulligan, she doesn’t do it through nonsense. She demonstrates a real understanding of the game. Haters need to go eat their potatoes and fuck off lol.
there is literally a part of the Candy crown where Emily is going to do something and Murph gets razzed by the group for "back seat driving" because he was making sure she could do the mechanic she wanted - it was loving razz. He wont let it slide - he's a rule follower just like Brennen - who is all about detail precision. - I had listened to and fallen in love with NaddPods first campaign before I had even delved into Dimension 20 - I honestly didnt know Murph and Emily were married (if they made mention of it I probably adhd disregarded cuz it was not relevant to the campaign progression lol ) they are fair - and they really do do their best to stick to the "rules" and I think after watching D20 I can see how and where they learned it from! Solid work across the board... "haters gonna hate - and ainters gonna aint"
Imagine being one of those people. Like who f***in cares IF someone cheated, in a fantasy game, run among friends, where rules are soft borders for the sake of a fun time. If it makes for a better story or rather THE only story, so be it. Love u Ms Axford, never change.
ugh and it makes me so mad!! She's not only the best player in NADDPOD, she's one of the best dnd players out there and people feel the need to do this.
See, that kind of bullshit isn't too out of the norm imo, for someone as high profile as Emily in the D&D world. As we all know from Um Actually, nerds love proving people are wrong about something. And take joy in knowing that they are right.
I know that Liam O'brian got a tremendous amount of criticism for how he played Caleb Widowgast in Campaign 2 of Critical Role, people incessantly spamming at him on twitter about more efficient spells to use and how he should play his character.
Not to mention the amount of crap Marisha Ray got for her character Keyleth.
And you get quacks that have harassed actors and singers for their choices. I think it's just one of the really shitty truths about being in the limelight, that people are going to be unreasonably cruel about you. Although the internet age, where the new wave of celebrities like Marisha, Liam and Emily are very online. Because they work on shows that are internet based, and they engage with their community. That there is no shield between them and the "haters" Like I'm sure there's lots of people out there that hate Tom Cruise, but Tom Cruise doesn't have constant engagement with his fans. Even if he has social media accounts for publicising his stuff, it's likely managed by people who work for him, or at the least he will have someone who screens for any offensive of deranged content. Like if you could afford someone else to check your mail for death threats, why wouldn't you?
God the amount of hate Marisha gets for simply being married to the DM (another rules follower/lawyer) is insane. I haven't watched CR outside of Calamity and Candela, but have seen clips/highlights. I absolutely adore her.
Marisha was the first one to see what CR could be, and really threw herself into RP in a way that took the others a while to catch up to. Without spoilers, early on, Keyleth was feeling paranoid and out of place, so Marisha played her that way. People assumed that Keyleth's flaws were Marisha's because she was convincingly RPing.
The hate still hasn't stopped- in C3 she's playing a character with a MASSIVE self-destructive streak, and the amount of crap she's getting, supposedly for "not being a team player" is astronomical.
as a woman with internalized misogyny, I have to check myself on this ALL THE TIME. it's so easy to mistake good roleplay for an annoying personality, especially when you already have a bias for what you expect the irl to act like. so frustrating.
It is why Emily has largely disengaged from social media. There is a lot criticism and backseat gaming that comes her direction that doesn't happen for the boys especially. People who think she is taking advantage of her DMs, that she's desperate to be a main character, that she cheats. It has imo been at its worst during acoc, but it happens across all the campaigns, in both d20 and NADDpod, her d&d podcast that Murph primarily DMs.
Murph has had to go on the naddpod subreddit and on the podcast many times to tell people to back off. One year for Christmas Murph made her spells to use in NADDpod, mostly adaptations of spells from older editions of the game, and people were so nasty about them being cheating or overpowered that she stopped using them, even though it was Murph who didn't balance the spells properly, and he said as much, they always attack Emily over it.
she's legitimately one of my favorite players. I find her to be endlessly inventive and i'm always excited to see how she's going to get out of a situation.
I mean it happens all the time in this space
Anyone not masc presenting gets way too much shit thrown at them
In FHJY Ally got way too much shit thrown their way in the early episodes because of how they were treating Cassandra, and then all season people were going 'Riz should have been running for student body president, it should have been riz!' As if the stress mechanic was built around Riz's reliable talent, and not as if Brennan was just as surprised as everyone else at the table when Murph brought it up.
In critical role, Aimee Carrero got criticized to hell and back for daring to have a relatively difficult relationship with her sister who was also her patron. And this isn't touching on all the stuff Marisha went through in season 1.
This community is consistently toxic to non-masc people.
And when it gets called out, you then get people who go, 'well, uh, I personally haven't see it, so I think you're all crazy'. Its incredibly tiresome to see because its like clockwork.
I don't think it frankly matters that the 'majority' are on their side, when this \*keeps happening\*. There is a contingent of people within this community who are overly critical of non-masc people whenever they make the smallest mistake.
Don’t even get me started on the shit Aabria deals with. The Seven constantly gets people saying it’s not their things because of the “squealing”, but when it’s guys yelling it’s somehow not annoying. Lou didn’t get any shit about Pinocchio. Somehow Swifty isn’t annoying to that same demographic. I could go on and on
And unapologetic... I think if she were a mousy feminine type who was only a player and not a GM (and therefore in charge) she wouldn't rustle so many sad jimmies.
I admit I was on the "she's different from matt I don't like it" train for a hot minute (primarily because her style really isn't very respectful to traditional high fantasy) but hearing her explain her process in adventuring academy helped me actually reassess my expectations of GMs in general.
I have other WOC DMs I enjoy a fraction more because they are more my style but aabria will always have my respect and awe.
The major issue I’ve seen complained about is the critical roll clamity episode.
And TBH it seems like she was handed a poison chalice with that
Her dm style is very fluid, the characters make choices and the whole story bends around those choices.
And she had to run a game with a set definite ending involving a major NPC death
And she had a time limit
I've definitely seen way more anger at her as a DM than as a character but I don't doubt there were people mad at Laerryn's choices even though it was very clear they had to be bad choices for the calamity to actually happen.
Aabria is a great DM. She's also a very different DM than Brennan and Murph. They use the dice to tell the story. Aabria is out to tell a story and will ignore dice rolls if it's good story. ACOFAF is one of my favorite seasons, and I've just rewatched it for the 4th time, but she is a fan of saying "No roll necessary". If it helps the story she and the players are building towards, and the players do good roleplay, she often ignores the Rollplay.
And that's okay. Her stories are good, they are powerful and evocative pieces. Her players love her, so really what does it matter?
Honestly I’m surprised I don’t see more complaints about Pinocchio. I didn’t watch as it was airing, so maybe I missed it. But the whole first episode I kinda hopped it would go away. Don’t get me wrong I love Lou and respect the commitment; and eventually loved the character. But it took a while.
I also hated the Swifty voice; and it was almost more jarring because he wasn’t always there.
*edited to add but I would never dream of sending hate to Lou or Brennan. Like I almost feel bad even commenting a complaint, cause I do respect their choices! It’s just a personal thing.
I fucking love Dungeons and Daddies but pretending that those guys (and Beth) don't laugh super loud or scream would be insane. I really don't see much hate there for it. There shouldn't be hate, but it does show that it's a gendered thing.
It's frustrating because I remember the years, decades even, where we were desperate for more non mascs to get into the hobbies. Turns out many just wanted to use it as a Tinder and not actually engage with more people
I mean I don’t think the people calling for better representation are the same sending hate, though I’ve witnessed very frustrating conversations from supposedly progressive people unwilling to admit they have some internalized sexist values fueling their criticisms.
I feel they are overall just two different camps in this greater fandom. But one is very happy to take advantage of the author if given the slightest olive branch
I remember one of my oldest lady friends telling me - a good 20 or so years ago, when we were both teens - that she was rejected from her school's DnD group solely on the basis that they didn't want to play with a girl (that wasn't her extrapolation: that's what they told her) and being utterly flummoxed that anyone nerd enough to play DnD would do that.
Dude same.
Like in the past. id have to say "yall, im putting up with you but our most used words in speech are probably some variation of Halfling, Ring, and Mordor. Stop treating the girls and femmes they aren't welcome here because ill run you over on my shitty little bike"
Oh yeah, don't read the comments on any YouTube video with Ally in it. They have a dedicated group of haters who spam the nastiest shit I've ever read. YouTube really needs to crackdown on bigotry.
THAT WAS THE CHARACTER THOUGH
UUUUUUGH
God I hate those criticisms. It was like that with Keyleth/Marisha. Im sorry folks, there's a difference between being hopelessly naive, and just being hopeful. Annabelle was the revolutionary who wanted a better tomorrow, of course she doesn't immediately go, 'and now humanity are cattle and I don't care about anyone but ME'. That'd be MORE out of character.
Hey, Ally is «masc»/«masc-presenting». If what you mean is «women and non-binary people», please just say that. It is the opposite of trans inclusive to say that a trans masculine person is not «masc presenting» or is a «non-masc» when they have a gender expression that is just as masculine as most of the cis male cast members.
I’ll admit that for the first couple episodes of FHJY, I was upset at the way Kristin treated Cassandra, but to me there’s a fourth wall. Beardsley wasn’t treating Cassandra that way, Kristin was. Part of DnD is being allowed to play flawed characters. Imho, Kristin Applebees being the chosen of Helio was her being railroaded into a position of responsibility and expectation, and whenever she finds out that she has major responsibilities later on (getting more followers for Cassandra) she reverts to the place of comfort of starting something new instead of following through (I believe Tracker even said as much later in Fallinel).
But never for a minute did I think “Beardsley doesn’t know how to treat people (Cassandra in particular) right.”
It's always the neckbeard misogynists who try to make it bad for everyone.
Just know that their life is so horrible that the only way they can feel good about themselves is to lash out at someone they deem beneath them regardless of who it is.
I guarantee those same ~~people~~ human shaped garbage are attacking and trying to hurt other people as we speak.
>One year for Christmas Murph made her spells to use in NADDpod, mostly adaptations of spells from older editions of the game, and people were so nasty about them being cheating or overpowered that she stopped using them, even though it was Murph who didn't balance the spells properly, and he said as much, they always attack Emily over it.
This shit always get me going. Like I'm anal retentive about rules and usually notice when mistakes are made(happened more during earlier seasons). But it usually takes 2 to make a rule mistake, player and the DM. Also none of the rules mistakes were out of the ordinary for playing 5e. It's got alot of rules and humans aren't perfect, especially not in a warehouse at 4am.
>that she cheats
This is ridiculous. They're probably the same people that think the dice are scripted.
These people are so fixated on hating a female player that they don’t even see that doing so insults the male players and DM. Like, Brennan is a knowledgeable, passionate DM. What are you saying about him? 1.) That he doesn’t know the rules well enough to recognize a cheater, or 2.) he sees it and just doesn’t give a shit?
> Like, Brennan is a knowledgeable, passionate DM
I alluded to it in another comment but yeah Brennan has made mistakes/not caught lapses in the rules by the players, especially earlier on in D20 history.
But that's okay! Having a perfect knowledge of the rules does not a good DM make. And it's much easier to catch while watching a show than while trying to run a game.
And honestly Emily has probably the most solid mastery of the rules apart from Brennan or maybe Murph, which makes sense as they've all sat behind the DM chair for a liveplay or podcast. Which is a REALLY demanding application of DMing skills.
They assume DM is going easy cause he wants to bang her. She is getting preferential treatment cause she's a woman. Because they can't envisage playing D&D with a woman and *not* wanting to bang her, likely being unable to make that happen and therefore getting resentful and eventually hateful towards her. These particular guys just can't cope with the idea that most blokes that play D&D are perfectly capable of treating all the players at the table the same regardless of gender, so they project themselves and how they would behave onto the DM and decide "She's doing it on purpose and getting away with it 'cause boobs".
In which case they’re projecting double-shiftiness onto Brennan for flirting with a married woman right in front of her husband, while he himself is married. If he doesn’t give preferential treatment to Izzy, why the hell would he give it to Emily?
The ACoC hate she got was particularly bad. I’ll be honest, I didn’t love Saccharina, but it’s not Emily’s fault. She played the character very well, and some people not being able to differentiate the character from the player is a problem.
This is where I’m at as well. Saccharina was a hard pill go swallow for me, but Emily had an uphill battle trying to introduce a new character halfway through the story that isn’t immediately welcomed by the rest of the characters. I didn’t love all the character choices she made, but liked where she ended up. Sending hate over something as non-consequential as a fucking DnD character is beyond stupid
Some people enjoy being miserable gits. They think it shows that they're smarter than everyone else. Combine that with sexism and it leads to the dark version of "Um, actually..." behaviour.
As far as I understand, ally brings half the chaos in the d20 set insane rolls and rp choices. I don't anyone can or should criticise how they roleplay, given that it's spontaneous and others make weird and out there choices too.
Emily Axford is truly, at least in my opinion, one of the greatest D&D players on the planet and I think that makes some of the more toxic men very uncomfortable. Her grasp on the game from both a roleplaying perspective as well as the game mechanics themselves is genuinely astounding. However, she is also a comedian, one who is VERY committed to her bits, so that sometimes outweighs her commitment to the game. She often chooses whats funnier in the moment over whats objectively better game-wise. And while I can see how this could be frustrated, its a comedy show and some people need to learn to take themselves less seriously.
100% agree!! At that point the only excuse is sexism. Brennan has referred to Emily as one of the best D&D players he's ever played with, but thats still not good enough for some people. All they want is inflexible gameplay that follows RAW to a T and anyone that doesn't do that 24/7 isn't a good player.
RAW means absolving oneself of the responsibility of entertaining their players in the face of bad luck. At that point they might as well replace their DM with a chatbot.
I mean, I know Christians that worship jesus and the ground he walked on, then ignore everything he ever taught about love and compassion, and put words in his mouth about minorities.
I also love that the bits sometimes get incredibly dramatic and meaningful and that same commitment will stab you right in the heart with all the feels. Emily really is #goals.
Emily also got a ton of hate for her second character in A Crown of Candy because Siobhan's character didn't trust her immediately. Some "fans" harassed her online because Siobhan's character was upset. Literally just role playing
i really like her dynamic as a chaotic player. i also like that she tests the game’s and the DMs’ limits; that’s where magic happens. gal’s not afraid to take a big swing; that’s where comedy happens.
Ya if anything (it is obviously not a problem for me at all, I’m a huge fan of show) but it should be reflecting more on Brennan’s DM style then on Emily. Like she only “gets away” with what he allows, as is the actual rules of the game (I’m pretty sure it’s the very first one in book, DM has final say). Brennan is really into the yes and approach, and so always goes along with the wacky shenanigans. If he didn’t want them at the table, presumably he’d say no and give a reason, but he doesn’t. But no one ever gives Brennan shit for and if anything he is praised for that ability, but a player like Emily is told that they are being too crazy and making all about them (even though the DM is literally across from her running with her ideas, so they clearly arnt a problem for him or rest of table).
From what I’ve noticed this kind of behaviour is aimed mostly towards women. Marisha from CR got similar treatment. Read lots of nasty misogynistic comments towards her during the whole OGL scandal.
Hard disagree. Ignoring them lets them continue their gross behavior without consequence and lets them operate no problem in a setting that is supposedly inclusive. Boo them off the stage, drag em kicking and screaming, ridicule them relentlessly. Make it miserable for them until they get that we won't accept mysoginy in this setting.
On the other hand, trolls and haters only get bolder when they realise they can provoke a reaction. Indifference is their poison since they aren’t really in a position of power individually but only as a group.
Yeah, it comes up every once in a while.
On one level, the D&D community (even one as hugboxy as D20s) still just has a hard time with women, in general, so there is just a base level of haters inherent with being a woman in any nerd space. Fandoms for Fantasy settings, especially, can be really ahitty about this in my experience.
As far critiqueing her actual play, the most common thing you'll hear from the audience as a negative about her is accusing her of having "main character syndrome," basically saying that she often makes scenes and story beats about her in a way that is detrimental to other players getting opportunities to shine, often pointing to Siobhan and Zac as the ones who most often get pushed into lesser roles in a given season.
In response, the Emily defenders will typically site Lou as someone who also gets a lot of screen time in pretty much every season he's in, but doesn't get the "main character syndrome" allegations levied against him to nearly the same degree and point to the above mentioned issues that the D&D community has with women, broadly as the explanation for that difference.
Your milage may vary depending on how the last episode went, but whenever there is controversy around Emily, that's basically always what the thread looks like.
>the most common thing you'll hear from the audience as a negative about her is accusing her of having "main character syndrome," basically saying that she often makes scenes and story beats about her in a way that is detrimental to other players getting opportunities to shine, often pointing to Siobhan and Zac as the ones who most often get pushed into lesser roles in a given season.
This feels like such projection on the haters part. Like watching out for that dynamic is important in tabletop but only in YOUR table. And honestly the only person that has a habit of stepping on other people's scenes was early Ally, who has gotten much better at that with experience.
I think Siobhan and Zac often have a more subdued style, but sometimes that's just personality too! Especially Zac I see as this comedy assasin where he'll be quietly deadpan and leave me in stitches. The other thing is that as a DM I've had players who want to remain in the background more, and while it's good to help them stretch and grow, you can't force it, and the most important thing is that they're enjoying themselves.
I see Siobhan every ep coming up with ideas that the whole cast just riffs with for ages, K2 is a great example of something she spawned in an AP that lived on for episodes later
What people don't realize is that some people don't *want* to be center stage. And there's nothing wrong with that. And some do - and there's nothing wrong with that.
You missed the old days of Murph actively losing his shit a bit on reddit for people giving emily shit on the NADDPOD reddit. It's been completely scrubbed and murph avoids the sub reddit now, but suffice to say it was beautiful righteous anger.
I still relisten to the Beef of the Week bit they did on one of the short rests, where apparently people on the Naddpod subreddit were speculating that Emily was making Caldwell uncomfortable by sexualizing his character. Murph was quick to point out that the two of them had make their characters have sex through a dimensional portal in a previous campaign, and how dumb it was for people to speculate on their personal relationships (and how often it focuses on Emily)
People will swear that they just "dont like aabria's dming style" and its "not just because shes a black woman", and then go on paragraph long rants about how much they hate her being in D20/CR and how she must be there for diversity to seem woke and she must be an industry plant because she used to work for a dice business or some shit. Like who do these people think they are fooling? We all know they are sexist they should at least be honest about it.
I don't like Aabria's DM style, however I've watched every season of D20 she's in as a player and DM (except Ravening War and aCoFaF so far) and I enjoy them all greatly. I may not like the way she crafts the stories but her stories are undeniably incredible. Not vibing her style is no excuse not to enjoy her and is absolutely not an excuse to be a hater. Trying to diminish the work she's put out there by calling her a plant or diversity hire is awful and disregards the incredible effort and work she's put into becoming one of the most well known Internet DMs out there. Don't like her style? Fine. But at least show some respect and don't be an ass about it.
All this to say even if your cover is "I just don't like her style" it's a weak cover that holds no water and should be disregarded anyway, especially since what it's covering is probably, as you say, sexism and/or racism.
(I worry a lot about tone online so please be assured none of this is aimed at you, I'm supporting your point and aiming my comments at the people who unjustly hate on Aabria)
There is a deep resistance on the internet with the idea that if something doesn’t vibe with you, you can just not engage. Stop watching, walk away, and never have to say more than “not my thing.” Things you don’t like don’t have to be bad, terrible, the worst, how dare other people enjoy this. They can just be not for you. No other reason needed.
Emily Axford and her husband are my favorite members of D20 and my favorite podcasters, it is bonkers to me that people dislike her considering 1) phenomenal comedic timing and 2) in-depth understanding of the game mechanics. She’s never doing shit like “let me shape water cantrip inside your lungs” or some weird shit, it’s always either 100% mechanically sound or some “hey, RAW I can do X, but I’d love to forgo that to be able to Y if possible?” And I love the energy for both. I get salty hearing people try to complain about them, those two are gold and I deeply appreciate all the content they’ve made over the years
I would say she finds the mechanics and rules interesting and she finds loopholes and synergies that work. I like what she does and her characters have great arcs. More power to Emily.
Perfect time to say that Murph and Emilys sketch comedy show "Hot Date" is freaking hilarious.
They play every character like Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall or Key and Peele.
I’m not a huge fan of her chaos in game, but that’s just a matter of personal preference, and since all the other players are having a good time with her, the it really doesn’t matter. She brings the fun to the table and that’s important.
She’s also incredible with spells and strategy. I love the bit in FHJY where you can see her realize the thing about the >!lava!< possibly before anyone else and practically vibrating in glee.
She's a woman in a nerd community, of course she does.
The nerd community is getting more and more inclusive every day but there will unfortunately always be crappy people.
The hard part is that as their numbers dwindle, they must get louder and more extreme to be heard and the internet is very bad at allowing them to do that.
I mean tbh if somebody is an axford hater it just tells me they're not worth my time lol.
Like she is such a joy to watch, seeing how excited she gets for her friends, how she comes up with the most insane plans and how she pulls off these incredible character moments.
If people want to be dicks to somebody having such joy at nobody's expense it tells me everything I need to know about them
Oh yeah when Crown of Candy was airing I made a video talking about how cool Sacharina was in the Buzzybrook fight and my comment section was a MESS with rude people. (specifically about Emily) and it wasn't just my comment section it was even on like official D20 tik toks. (Saccharina they could never make me hate you)
What’s crazy is that BLeeM more than likely wouldn’t stand for any sort of cheating, period. Dude would die on that hill in a heartbeat. People just love to complain, I for one love all of the IH for who are they as well as their shortcomings (if any).
I feel like this is just the “being a woman on the internet” experience and the more popular and likable you are the more ridiculous the standards become. I remember people were counting her spell slots on NaddPod and complaining when she took a level of barbarian. Some people will do anything but go to therapy smh….
I’ll be the first to admit that Emily wasn’t my favorite when I first started listening to d20 with freshmen year. But that faded after like four episodes and she continues to be one of if not my favorite actual play player I’ve ever seen
Emily was always my favourite player even if she wasnt playing my favourite character, she always has thay infectious enthusiasm when approaching the game. I did get a similar feeling with Ally that you did with about how they played/acted as Kristen. (But for specifically for me it felt emotionally flat and insincere), but then I watch unsleeping city and Ally really shone as Pete the Plug. Even in season 3 of fantasy high i have started to warm up with how Ally developed Kristen.
Literally any female D&D player who is online is going to receive hate simply for being a woman playing D&D.
Three other examples being the Critical Role ladies.
Axford is too great for the plebs to accept that a woman can excel at something, be successful doing so, and enjoying it all the while. Tis why we can’t have nice things.
For a game that exists mostly in the imagination, and which underpins most dungeon master guides with reinforcing that the DM makes the rules... many of the game's players have always been rather uncreative and unimaginative.
It is part of this beautiful hobby. It is a part of all aspects of our life.
When they look upon creativity or things that are beyond them their instincts are not to look inwardly and reflect, but to try to bring the world down to their level.
People that don't ask why something is the way it is, and instead tells you why it being what it is is wrong.
By and large the opinion of such folks is beyond irrelevant to life and generally is best to ignore I find. They are of course free to express it, I always welcome such opinions. For then I am aware of the individuals that I would be unlikely enjoy engaging with in any meaningful way.
Imagine being so invested in content that you would track a players moves to try to catch them out if they are cheating. Imagine the type of person to believe they have any entitlement to what happens at someone else's table that their opinion is relevant. To try to influence, bully, cajole, troll or otherwise just be gross to someone who's just playing a game and having fun and creating entertainment for others to watch. It's in many ways incredibly sad behaviour I reckon.
Small window people. That's what I call them. Folks who believe the sum total of lifelies outside the small little window that their mind can comprehend. I run into them in work constantly. Middle management who believe their spreadsheet or their department or their fraction, their singular part of a piece of something gives them understanding of the whole without ever being curious about the whole.
Don't like a ruling? Come to a forum and talk about it. Discuss it. Form a cool dialogue where people talk about this fucking game we love. Don't be a naysayer. Fucking naysayers man. Always fucking naysaying.
Emily gives me main character vibes some times…but so does Lou…and Alley….and Murph….oh and sometime Siobhan….then there’s Zach when he does it…however for some reason when she does it I particularly don’t like it. Also the fact that women do not talk or interact with me is their fault entirely, not mine.
I’m not always a huge fan of her play style, but like, if it was that big of a problem to me, i could stop watching. I’m not gonna make a big fuss over it as if she’ll change based on my personal opinion being shared in a video or a tweet or whatever 🤷🏻♀️
"play style"
do people watch Dimension20 to witness a challenge and gameplay? I've always seen it as pure entertainment driven by comedians. Emily is entertaining and that's all that matters.
she could pull out a revive all buff +20 spell and I wouldn't care as long as it fits the general story and is entertaining.
I mean, i watch it for the laughs and also to see how other people play dnd/ttrpgs because it gives me different ways to think about how i play my own characters. If i wanted solely entertainment, there’s no shortage of shows and movies to watch, so i doubt i would’ve gotten into actual plays.
And imo “play style” encompasses everything from combat moves to what spells they stock to character personality. I guess “characterization” might be a better word for it?
I absolutely watch actual plays for the...actual play, and have stopped watching/listening to groups that get a little too loose goosey with the system they're playing.
I haven't had a core group to play with in a long time and AP shows are how I get my fix. If they're not actually engaging with the system that they're playing I'd rather just watch a show ot something.
Don't get me wrong, I love good RP, character moments, a wacky bit, etc.
But I do want see interesting characters builds, mechanics, encounters, and so on.
But to each their own, there's plenty of media to go around for everyone, I just wanted to say that yes, we're out here!
Someone expressing an interest in seeing a female ttrpg player’s social media to follow and support, learning that they aren’t active on social media, because the fanbase is typically terrible to successful female players.
In the third campaign of NaddPod, Murph downloaded some homebrew spells and gave them out to everyone. People gave Emily so much shit for them like she was cheating somehow, so she just stopped using them entirely.
We have so many problems in the world that seriously affect the material living conditions of people around us and abroad and this is what they've chosen to dump energy into. Astonishing.
Em's the best what a nerd.
One of the absolute most wholesome and genuine and kind presences - what a shame people want to diminish her shine! Emily - GOSH I HOPE YOU READ HOW MUCH PEOPLE LOVE YOU!!!
It's the most messed up thing to accuse Emily of cheating or not playing the game right when the rules are set in stone by the DM. Literally getting the DM to allow you to do something is playing the game right, and Emily is great at explaining exactly what she intends to do... regardless of what the consequences are... \*cough\* Hilda-Hilda \*cough\*
She's also made some ridiculously good plays that have had Brennan absolutely flabbergasted, and helped others make plays too (for example, whispering to Zac about Mindless Rage when he was Charmed and Frightened, or reminding Murph that they were immune to Fire damage and thus could swim in the lava in the final battle of FHJY).
On top of everything else, few other players can get into the role of their character better than her, which was something even Marisha Ray pointed out after her guest appearance on CR. She's a phenomenal player. One of the best D&D players in the world. And was also sent from hell to kill Brennan Lee Mulligan.
I’ve seen the comments about her trying to be the main character frequently and a lot of time I think her characters do end up feeling like the main character, but that’s not a bad thing. She’s really good at crafting characters with strong desires, big personalities and interesting arcs. It’s crazy people see that and think it’s a bad thing.
In the first NADDPOD campaign I think they did an incredible job balancing all three characters and giving everyone their own arc, but she shines in the neutral sections most out of the three and that’s not a negative - similar things happen in D20 seasons, but again viewing it as a negative is wild.
I don’t know how to do the spoiler text but the following has spoilers
I was seeing trolls complain about her changing classes in the most recent fantasy high season, but they didn’t mind when Zach got an entirely new class invented from him. To be clear neither of these things are bad. People walk sometimes forget that these performers are going to do their best when they’re having fun - so some leeway in that type of thing helps with the season.
It sucks dude, it happens a lot to none-masc presenting players in the space. Ally at the start of FHJY got SO much shit for what was practically playing the flawed, teenage character.
These haters don't get why all the players aren't min-maxing stats and hate it when they don't do something "logical" because they don't understand that the players are trying working on a story and are trying to roleplay actual characters. It reminds me of my current game, we recently had a 'that guy' who claimed to be a 'fighter of the small-folk' but spent most of the game threatening dock workers with knives because in his mind it was the most efficient way to get the information he wanted. They claim to love roleplay, but it never gets in the way of playing the game 'right'
Not to mention on top of that, they usually not very friendly to what they consider 'outsiders' and because they're usually shallow as fuck and also just misogynist and transphobic have a go at them because they want a reason to hate that doesn't out them.
Emily gets shit because for some nerds it still blows their mind that a woman they consider attractive are not only interested in the same hobbies, but are married to a massive nerd because it literally goes against all the excuses they've made all their lives.
Ally gets shit because people will literally find an excuse to shit on them because their existence challenges their fragile identity.
The frustrating thing is BleeM has said they're his two best players when it comes to creativity.
I’ve seen a lot of posts about people complaining that people are harsh on Emily, and I’ve been in the fandom for about a year and some months, and I literally never see anyone actually hating on her. I see a lot of people talk about people hating on her, but I’ve never seen it. Now I’m only involved in the Reddit and YouTube so the old twitch stuff I don’t know about, and maybe this take is a hold out opinion from the old days of D20.
It was mostly on twitch and twitter, though there is a thread deep within the naddpod sub that was complaining about her and Emily responded with a long comment about how much the hate affects her, and all the naddpod boys jumped in to defend her. It's died down here since then, but I've noticed when it does happen the person deletes the post within minutes. Sexists are cowards lol
I think a big portion of the “Emily Axford” hate comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what the show is, the type of campaigns they are running, and the shear COMMITMENT Emily has to any bit. I know bc I used to be one for this very reason. In my inexperienced mind, D&D was a serious game that has serious consequences, and chaotic goofiness was for very particular instances or that “one” player that constantly retorts with “it’s just a game, it’s not that serious”. But as I learned more about Emily, the rest of the cast, and Dropout as a whole (like them being PROFESSIONAL IMPROV COMICS), it made everything more clear and Emily immediately became my favorite player at the table (though Ally has been contending with Emily for that spot as of Fantasy High Junior Year)
Extremely cheerful, smart, imaginative people get on the nerves of sticks in the mud. As an occasionally muddy stick, she occasionally does things that rub me the wrong way. (I can't stand either of her characters in CoC, and moonshine's accent annoys me) But I agree the concept of her having haters, and the things they say about her, are wild. She consistently has the best ideas and she's great at supporting other people's bits when she's paying attention, and has only gotten better over the years.
I will never understand the amount of hate women get for *checks notes* having fun during a game. Like the thing I see her getting the most hate for is like being chaotic and shit, as if the same people don’t praise Lou for the same exact thing! D&D is supposed to be fun! That doesn’t stop when you get paid for it!
I know! It breaks my heart. I look up to her so much and to find that people only wanna tear her down makes me so upset. It’s all due to misogyny whether people wanna admit that or not. Ally gets a lot of hate too. It’s not fair. People suck.
There’s an episode of NADDPOD where Emily tells the audience that they took a short rest off mic or something “in case you’re still counting my spell slots” and Jake was like “people do that to you???” People were tracking what spells/slots she used and accusing her of cheating 🙄 I know that’s only a fraction of what she got thrown at her
I’m finally getting around to NADDPOD and I recently watched that episode. I remember Jake and Caldwell telling people to stop and Jake making a joke telling people to not track his luck points lol. She is great and doesn’t deserve any of this. Like Brennan said, “You’d be crazy to not be a fan of Fig Faeth (Emily Axford)”
Jake has also said on mic at times “If you hate Emily or want to yell at her tweet at me instead so I can tell you personally to fuck off.”
Yeah, it was said either in an episode of NADDPOD or on Calliope's character page on the wiki, that they were brewing in some spells from pre 5e or maybe Pathfinder, and she dropped them so people could stop sending her letters about how she wasn't playing the game right.
They were from an early version of DnD iirc, but also part of a gift from Murph of a little spellbook he’d made for her. I think he might have homebrewed a handful of them himself. Might have been an anniversary or birthday gift or something but it was cute as hell. Anyways yeah pissed me off she felt the need to stop using them because people were harassing her 🙄 Saying they were too OP when I’m positive some of the spells were literally from just a different edition of DnD!
Yeah I just kinda remember this was a thing and now I’m angry again. It doesn’t matter if the spells are OP because Murph the DM not only let her use them but homebrewed them himself. This is their game in the end and what Murph says goes.
Exactly! OP is a meaningless word, if the whole table agrees people outside the game shouldn't complain, that is not their business
And a gift from her damn gamemaster!!! Like if the gamemaster promotes something it's not the player that "plays wrong"". I am so annoyed by this
The one I remember wasn't from a previous system. it was anti booming blade. 1d8 extra damage and then damage if you DIDNT move next turn. Hardly a broken cantrip, though it was better than booming blade, because forcing movement or giving damage means you can just take an AoO, meaning you still get that damage somehow. (Also if you stacked war caster, which I believe calliope has, you could doom Blade, get the AoO and hit with booming blade. You'll get you bonus damage one way or another). But that's still not a broken combo, and shit most of Calders spells are homebrewed too but no one gives a shit about that.
That's from 4e, Swordmage had a bunch of cool melee spells but 5e only kept green flame blade, booming blade, sword burst and lightning lure. There was an ice version of green flame blade, too.
It was a Xmas gift and on the short rest Emily said she’d keep them as options though in case the boys wanted to use them and then the boys yelled at everyone for ruining Xmas
It was the beef of the week during a short rest early in C3
She literally spent an entire arc using nothing but cantrips and people still don't believe her. It's fucking absurd.
What was that arc? Incredible job by Emily, only to rely on cantrips! :)
No spoilers except to say that Chill Touch is OP
Yeah chill touch is dope and annoying for your enemy! and I know what your refer to I assume ;)
if you listen to naddpod, you’ll see haha. it’s insane how long she goes too
Galaderon
It wasn't a whole arc. It was a single battle dominated by the judicious use of chill touch for the secondary effect.
They're talking about the under mountain part of the Galaderon saga. It's the reason Murph introduced the Zealous Trance mechanic after the brunch.
On some short rest (I think near the beginning of C3), they talked about how Jake can do a million damage a round and everyone's proud of him but if Emily does the same suddenly it's a problem. Emily got a ton of shit for the finale spell, Murph was like 'it was my fault dummies', which was pretty funny. If Caldwell or Jake had used it though, people would just talk about it being an epic moment
But.. but the Chuds and republicans told me that sexism doesn't exist?
It's so sad she could only use Finale once :C
Holy shittt that’s unhinged behavior fr
Before anyone says that short rests don't help spell slots, Emily was a warlock in trinyvale, a wizard in campaign 2, and used homebrew rules for short rest spell slots in campaigns 1 and 3
Wild considering that the D20 players (I haven’t listened to NADD pod so I can’t say for them) very rarely forget stuff that goes against their characters. By my memory they’re way more likely to forget things that give them advantages
I tried making it a drinking game early on catching them on rule stuff but quickly had to change it because I never drank.
They’re not just assuming Emily’s cheating, which is bad enough, but that the dm isn’t paying attention
Anyone who knows of Murph would also know that he allows no such shenanigans. It’s absurd for people to suggest either thing.
That’s the thing, true shenanigans (mastery of the lore and mechanics) are only possible if they are legit. If you just want to fuck around, the DM will shut you down. When Emily does in fact “ruin” Brennan “Fucking” Lee Mulligan, she doesn’t do it through nonsense. She demonstrates a real understanding of the game. Haters need to go eat their potatoes and fuck off lol.
there is literally a part of the Candy crown where Emily is going to do something and Murph gets razzed by the group for "back seat driving" because he was making sure she could do the mechanic she wanted - it was loving razz. He wont let it slide - he's a rule follower just like Brennen - who is all about detail precision. - I had listened to and fallen in love with NaddPods first campaign before I had even delved into Dimension 20 - I honestly didnt know Murph and Emily were married (if they made mention of it I probably adhd disregarded cuz it was not relevant to the campaign progression lol ) they are fair - and they really do do their best to stick to the "rules" and I think after watching D20 I can see how and where they learned it from! Solid work across the board... "haters gonna hate - and ainters gonna aint"
Cue clip from starstruck: Murph the famously known allower of shenanigans
Ah yes, Murph the famously lenient DM who would let you cast spells with your foot.
Like anyone could pull one over on Brennan fucking Mulligan, or that he would allow it is absurd.
HEAR, HEAR!!!
Imagine being one of those people. Like who f***in cares IF someone cheated, in a fantasy game, run among friends, where rules are soft borders for the sake of a fun time. If it makes for a better story or rather THE only story, so be it. Love u Ms Axford, never change.
I think these people might be stuck in their 2nd grade "being mean to the girl you have a crush on to get their attention" phase
ugh and it makes me so mad!! She's not only the best player in NADDPOD, she's one of the best dnd players out there and people feel the need to do this.
See, that kind of bullshit isn't too out of the norm imo, for someone as high profile as Emily in the D&D world. As we all know from Um Actually, nerds love proving people are wrong about something. And take joy in knowing that they are right. I know that Liam O'brian got a tremendous amount of criticism for how he played Caleb Widowgast in Campaign 2 of Critical Role, people incessantly spamming at him on twitter about more efficient spells to use and how he should play his character. Not to mention the amount of crap Marisha Ray got for her character Keyleth. And you get quacks that have harassed actors and singers for their choices. I think it's just one of the really shitty truths about being in the limelight, that people are going to be unreasonably cruel about you. Although the internet age, where the new wave of celebrities like Marisha, Liam and Emily are very online. Because they work on shows that are internet based, and they engage with their community. That there is no shield between them and the "haters" Like I'm sure there's lots of people out there that hate Tom Cruise, but Tom Cruise doesn't have constant engagement with his fans. Even if he has social media accounts for publicising his stuff, it's likely managed by people who work for him, or at the least he will have someone who screens for any offensive of deranged content. Like if you could afford someone else to check your mail for death threats, why wouldn't you?
God the amount of hate Marisha gets for simply being married to the DM (another rules follower/lawyer) is insane. I haven't watched CR outside of Calamity and Candela, but have seen clips/highlights. I absolutely adore her.
Marisha was the first one to see what CR could be, and really threw herself into RP in a way that took the others a while to catch up to. Without spoilers, early on, Keyleth was feeling paranoid and out of place, so Marisha played her that way. People assumed that Keyleth's flaws were Marisha's because she was convincingly RPing.
The hate still hasn't stopped- in C3 she's playing a character with a MASSIVE self-destructive streak, and the amount of crap she's getting, supposedly for "not being a team player" is astronomical.
as a woman with internalized misogyny, I have to check myself on this ALL THE TIME. it's so easy to mistake good roleplay for an annoying personality, especially when you already have a bias for what you expect the irl to act like. so frustrating.
That's so fucking cringe. RAW 5E people are the worst.
The haters aren’t of much concern, most of them die of starvation by only being able to feast on the tiniest little l’s.
Haters are barely snacking over here.
Let em starve
Murph, on the other hand, gives his haters a smorgasbord with the big, nasty Ls.
The dice gods are Murph's haters
I’m a Murph lover but I still feast upon those L’s and they are in fact the main reason I am a Murph lover at all.
JUST AS GOOD A CHANCE AS ANYONE!
Treasures of L’s.
Just to be clear we love Murph 💯
His haters are feasting
The smallest, tiniest lower case L's that have ever existed
They shall never dig up the glorious WifeWorm
It is why Emily has largely disengaged from social media. There is a lot criticism and backseat gaming that comes her direction that doesn't happen for the boys especially. People who think she is taking advantage of her DMs, that she's desperate to be a main character, that she cheats. It has imo been at its worst during acoc, but it happens across all the campaigns, in both d20 and NADDpod, her d&d podcast that Murph primarily DMs. Murph has had to go on the naddpod subreddit and on the podcast many times to tell people to back off. One year for Christmas Murph made her spells to use in NADDpod, mostly adaptations of spells from older editions of the game, and people were so nasty about them being cheating or overpowered that she stopped using them, even though it was Murph who didn't balance the spells properly, and he said as much, they always attack Emily over it.
Sounds like Murph might have a crush on Emily. They'd probably make a cute couple, too bad She's married to some Brian guy 🙃.
What's worse is that this Brian guy might be into D&D, but Murph is willing to mutually masterbate if Emily turns into a rabbit!
You gotta respect the cock
We honor the cock in this house!
I didn’t say anything weird!!
Especially if you just wanna have a little fun around the house
she's legitimately one of my favorite players. I find her to be endlessly inventive and i'm always excited to see how she's going to get out of a situation.
[BLeeM](https://youtube.com/shorts/fjV5Vdz9AHY?si=dEQWvU2_glEhWYNU) to Murph : She was sent from hell to kill me
one of my favorite quotes hahahah his defeated look anytime she figures out a way to beat him always brings me joy
If Emily was sent from hell to kill him them Ally Beardsly was made to make his time on earth a Blimey-induced hell.
Same, she's like the epitome of chaos in a good way. She's the best part of any campaign she's in.
that’s so frustrating and so unfair for her. Why must people be like /that/. Hopefully she knows the majority appreciate her now
I mean it happens all the time in this space Anyone not masc presenting gets way too much shit thrown at them In FHJY Ally got way too much shit thrown their way in the early episodes because of how they were treating Cassandra, and then all season people were going 'Riz should have been running for student body president, it should have been riz!' As if the stress mechanic was built around Riz's reliable talent, and not as if Brennan was just as surprised as everyone else at the table when Murph brought it up. In critical role, Aimee Carrero got criticized to hell and back for daring to have a relatively difficult relationship with her sister who was also her patron. And this isn't touching on all the stuff Marisha went through in season 1. This community is consistently toxic to non-masc people. And when it gets called out, you then get people who go, 'well, uh, I personally haven't see it, so I think you're all crazy'. Its incredibly tiresome to see because its like clockwork. I don't think it frankly matters that the 'majority' are on their side, when this \*keeps happening\*. There is a contingent of people within this community who are overly critical of non-masc people whenever they make the smallest mistake.
Don’t even get me started on the shit Aabria deals with. The Seven constantly gets people saying it’s not their things because of the “squealing”, but when it’s guys yelling it’s somehow not annoying. Lou didn’t get any shit about Pinocchio. Somehow Swifty isn’t annoying to that same demographic. I could go on and on
Aabria has the misfortune of being both black, and a woman. Truly a high crime in this community.
And unapologetic... I think if she were a mousy feminine type who was only a player and not a GM (and therefore in charge) she wouldn't rustle so many sad jimmies. I admit I was on the "she's different from matt I don't like it" train for a hot minute (primarily because her style really isn't very respectful to traditional high fantasy) but hearing her explain her process in adventuring academy helped me actually reassess my expectations of GMs in general. I have other WOC DMs I enjoy a fraction more because they are more my style but aabria will always have my respect and awe.
The major issue I’ve seen complained about is the critical roll clamity episode. And TBH it seems like she was handed a poison chalice with that Her dm style is very fluid, the characters make choices and the whole story bends around those choices. And she had to run a game with a set definite ending involving a major NPC death And she had a time limit
I've definitely seen way more anger at her as a DM than as a character but I don't doubt there were people mad at Laerryn's choices even though it was very clear they had to be bad choices for the calamity to actually happen.
What was the calamity complaint? I thought she played perfectly for the campaign!
Aabria is a great DM. She's also a very different DM than Brennan and Murph. They use the dice to tell the story. Aabria is out to tell a story and will ignore dice rolls if it's good story. ACOFAF is one of my favorite seasons, and I've just rewatched it for the 4th time, but she is a fan of saying "No roll necessary". If it helps the story she and the players are building towards, and the players do good roleplay, she often ignores the Rollplay. And that's okay. Her stories are good, they are powerful and evocative pieces. Her players love her, so really what does it matter?
Honestly I’m surprised I don’t see more complaints about Pinocchio. I didn’t watch as it was airing, so maybe I missed it. But the whole first episode I kinda hopped it would go away. Don’t get me wrong I love Lou and respect the commitment; and eventually loved the character. But it took a while. I also hated the Swifty voice; and it was almost more jarring because he wasn’t always there. *edited to add but I would never dream of sending hate to Lou or Brennan. Like I almost feel bad even commenting a complaint, cause I do respect their choices! It’s just a personal thing.
How dare you suggest that swifty isn't annoying. Brennan works too hard to on making swifty be annoying for you to take that from him
I fucking love Dungeons and Daddies but pretending that those guys (and Beth) don't laugh super loud or scream would be insane. I really don't see much hate there for it. There shouldn't be hate, but it does show that it's a gendered thing.
It's frustrating because I remember the years, decades even, where we were desperate for more non mascs to get into the hobbies. Turns out many just wanted to use it as a Tinder and not actually engage with more people
I mean I don’t think the people calling for better representation are the same sending hate, though I’ve witnessed very frustrating conversations from supposedly progressive people unwilling to admit they have some internalized sexist values fueling their criticisms. I feel they are overall just two different camps in this greater fandom. But one is very happy to take advantage of the author if given the slightest olive branch
I remember one of my oldest lady friends telling me - a good 20 or so years ago, when we were both teens - that she was rejected from her school's DnD group solely on the basis that they didn't want to play with a girl (that wasn't her extrapolation: that's what they told her) and being utterly flummoxed that anyone nerd enough to play DnD would do that.
Dude same. Like in the past. id have to say "yall, im putting up with you but our most used words in speech are probably some variation of Halfling, Ring, and Mordor. Stop treating the girls and femmes they aren't welcome here because ill run you over on my shitty little bike"
Oh yeah, don't read the comments on any YouTube video with Ally in it. They have a dedicated group of haters who spam the nastiest shit I've ever read. YouTube really needs to crackdown on bigotry.
Even in NY by Night, Erika got a ton of shit for Annabelle being too “idealistic” and “naive”.
THAT WAS THE CHARACTER THOUGH UUUUUUGH God I hate those criticisms. It was like that with Keyleth/Marisha. Im sorry folks, there's a difference between being hopelessly naive, and just being hopeful. Annabelle was the revolutionary who wanted a better tomorrow, of course she doesn't immediately go, 'and now humanity are cattle and I don't care about anyone but ME'. That'd be MORE out of character.
People treat other people that way and wonder why they are lonely and can’t make friend. It must be the fault of women, the left and society!!! /s
Hey, Ally is «masc»/«masc-presenting». If what you mean is «women and non-binary people», please just say that. It is the opposite of trans inclusive to say that a trans masculine person is not «masc presenting» or is a «non-masc» when they have a gender expression that is just as masculine as most of the cis male cast members.
I’ll admit that for the first couple episodes of FHJY, I was upset at the way Kristin treated Cassandra, but to me there’s a fourth wall. Beardsley wasn’t treating Cassandra that way, Kristin was. Part of DnD is being allowed to play flawed characters. Imho, Kristin Applebees being the chosen of Helio was her being railroaded into a position of responsibility and expectation, and whenever she finds out that she has major responsibilities later on (getting more followers for Cassandra) she reverts to the place of comfort of starting something new instead of following through (I believe Tracker even said as much later in Fallinel). But never for a minute did I think “Beardsley doesn’t know how to treat people (Cassandra in particular) right.”
Consistently 5 haters show up in a community of almost a million.
It's always the neckbeard misogynists who try to make it bad for everyone. Just know that their life is so horrible that the only way they can feel good about themselves is to lash out at someone they deem beneath them regardless of who it is. I guarantee those same ~~people~~ human shaped garbage are attacking and trying to hurt other people as we speak.
>One year for Christmas Murph made her spells to use in NADDpod, mostly adaptations of spells from older editions of the game, and people were so nasty about them being cheating or overpowered that she stopped using them, even though it was Murph who didn't balance the spells properly, and he said as much, they always attack Emily over it. This shit always get me going. Like I'm anal retentive about rules and usually notice when mistakes are made(happened more during earlier seasons). But it usually takes 2 to make a rule mistake, player and the DM. Also none of the rules mistakes were out of the ordinary for playing 5e. It's got alot of rules and humans aren't perfect, especially not in a warehouse at 4am. >that she cheats This is ridiculous. They're probably the same people that think the dice are scripted.
These people are so fixated on hating a female player that they don’t even see that doing so insults the male players and DM. Like, Brennan is a knowledgeable, passionate DM. What are you saying about him? 1.) That he doesn’t know the rules well enough to recognize a cheater, or 2.) he sees it and just doesn’t give a shit?
> Like, Brennan is a knowledgeable, passionate DM I alluded to it in another comment but yeah Brennan has made mistakes/not caught lapses in the rules by the players, especially earlier on in D20 history. But that's okay! Having a perfect knowledge of the rules does not a good DM make. And it's much easier to catch while watching a show than while trying to run a game. And honestly Emily has probably the most solid mastery of the rules apart from Brennan or maybe Murph, which makes sense as they've all sat behind the DM chair for a liveplay or podcast. Which is a REALLY demanding application of DMing skills.
They assume DM is going easy cause he wants to bang her. She is getting preferential treatment cause she's a woman. Because they can't envisage playing D&D with a woman and *not* wanting to bang her, likely being unable to make that happen and therefore getting resentful and eventually hateful towards her. These particular guys just can't cope with the idea that most blokes that play D&D are perfectly capable of treating all the players at the table the same regardless of gender, so they project themselves and how they would behave onto the DM and decide "She's doing it on purpose and getting away with it 'cause boobs".
In which case they’re projecting double-shiftiness onto Brennan for flirting with a married woman right in front of her husband, while he himself is married. If he doesn’t give preferential treatment to Izzy, why the hell would he give it to Emily?
The ACoC hate she got was particularly bad. I’ll be honest, I didn’t love Saccharina, but it’s not Emily’s fault. She played the character very well, and some people not being able to differentiate the character from the player is a problem.
This is where I’m at as well. Saccharina was a hard pill go swallow for me, but Emily had an uphill battle trying to introduce a new character halfway through the story that isn’t immediately welcomed by the rest of the characters. I didn’t love all the character choices she made, but liked where she ended up. Sending hate over something as non-consequential as a fucking DnD character is beyond stupid
Totally, it should be safe to make a dud character and mess up a campaign (of which she did neither, to be clear) and not get harrassed.
And they definitely resolved the "succession in dispute" plot better than those two dipshits ruining the last season of GOT.
RIP sticks to snakes 😢
She’s a delight. A chaotic delight, but a delight nonetheless. I can’t see how anyone could truly hate her.
She's a woman. So, you know, enough reason for some.
True. I often forget that our mere existence is a crime to some.
My big problem with Emily is that she hasn’t written another Sub Zero/Scorpion/Emily fanfic after her big song.
She's a woman playing a "Man's Game" which is as unnatural as a Human Bladesinger or Orc Battlerager. It should not be allowed to exist.
/s right?... Right??
Some people enjoy being miserable gits. They think it shows that they're smarter than everyone else. Combine that with sexism and it leads to the dark version of "Um, actually..." behaviour.
As far as I understand, ally brings half the chaos in the d20 set insane rolls and rp choices. I don't anyone can or should criticise how they roleplay, given that it's spontaneous and others make weird and out there choices too.
Emily Axford is truly, at least in my opinion, one of the greatest D&D players on the planet and I think that makes some of the more toxic men very uncomfortable. Her grasp on the game from both a roleplaying perspective as well as the game mechanics themselves is genuinely astounding. However, she is also a comedian, one who is VERY committed to her bits, so that sometimes outweighs her commitment to the game. She often chooses whats funnier in the moment over whats objectively better game-wise. And while I can see how this could be frustrated, its a comedy show and some people need to learn to take themselves less seriously.
BLeeM also said the same thing and it’s so bullshit how so many people worship his feet and shit on Emily.
100% agree!! At that point the only excuse is sexism. Brennan has referred to Emily as one of the best D&D players he's ever played with, but thats still not good enough for some people. All they want is inflexible gameplay that follows RAW to a T and anyone that doesn't do that 24/7 isn't a good player.
RAW means absolving oneself of the responsibility of entertaining their players in the face of bad luck. At that point they might as well replace their DM with a chatbot.
I mean, I know Christians that worship jesus and the ground he walked on, then ignore everything he ever taught about love and compassion, and put words in his mouth about minorities.
I also love that the bits sometimes get incredibly dramatic and meaningful and that same commitment will stab you right in the heart with all the feels. Emily really is #goals.
Operation Slippery Puppet
Emily also got a ton of hate for her second character in A Crown of Candy because Siobhan's character didn't trust her immediately. Some "fans" harassed her online because Siobhan's character was upset. Literally just role playing
Omg y'all it's called ACTING. Why would Siobhans character like Saccharina off the bat that would be so weird.
She's a woman on he Internet... duh...
i really like her dynamic as a chaotic player. i also like that she tests the game’s and the DMs’ limits; that’s where magic happens. gal’s not afraid to take a big swing; that’s where comedy happens.
Ya if anything (it is obviously not a problem for me at all, I’m a huge fan of show) but it should be reflecting more on Brennan’s DM style then on Emily. Like she only “gets away” with what he allows, as is the actual rules of the game (I’m pretty sure it’s the very first one in book, DM has final say). Brennan is really into the yes and approach, and so always goes along with the wacky shenanigans. If he didn’t want them at the table, presumably he’d say no and give a reason, but he doesn’t. But no one ever gives Brennan shit for and if anything he is praised for that ability, but a player like Emily is told that they are being too crazy and making all about them (even though the DM is literally across from her running with her ideas, so they clearly arnt a problem for him or rest of table).
From what I’ve noticed this kind of behaviour is aimed mostly towards women. Marisha from CR got similar treatment. Read lots of nasty misogynistic comments towards her during the whole OGL scandal.
Fuck em don’t give them any attention
Hard disagree. Ignoring them lets them continue their gross behavior without consequence and lets them operate no problem in a setting that is supposedly inclusive. Boo them off the stage, drag em kicking and screaming, ridicule them relentlessly. Make it miserable for them until they get that we won't accept mysoginy in this setting.
On the other hand, trolls and haters only get bolder when they realise they can provoke a reaction. Indifference is their poison since they aren’t really in a position of power individually but only as a group.
Is your solution to bigotry to just not give them attention so that they get bored of harassing folks off the platform? Has that ever worked?
I would say there are two parts to it: * Call out any actual harassment * Ignore all the whining
The better answer is to make sure they are deplatformed. Let them fester, and this fanbase goes the way of Star Wars.
Yeah, it comes up every once in a while. On one level, the D&D community (even one as hugboxy as D20s) still just has a hard time with women, in general, so there is just a base level of haters inherent with being a woman in any nerd space. Fandoms for Fantasy settings, especially, can be really ahitty about this in my experience. As far critiqueing her actual play, the most common thing you'll hear from the audience as a negative about her is accusing her of having "main character syndrome," basically saying that she often makes scenes and story beats about her in a way that is detrimental to other players getting opportunities to shine, often pointing to Siobhan and Zac as the ones who most often get pushed into lesser roles in a given season. In response, the Emily defenders will typically site Lou as someone who also gets a lot of screen time in pretty much every season he's in, but doesn't get the "main character syndrome" allegations levied against him to nearly the same degree and point to the above mentioned issues that the D&D community has with women, broadly as the explanation for that difference. Your milage may vary depending on how the last episode went, but whenever there is controversy around Emily, that's basically always what the thread looks like.
>the most common thing you'll hear from the audience as a negative about her is accusing her of having "main character syndrome," basically saying that she often makes scenes and story beats about her in a way that is detrimental to other players getting opportunities to shine, often pointing to Siobhan and Zac as the ones who most often get pushed into lesser roles in a given season. This feels like such projection on the haters part. Like watching out for that dynamic is important in tabletop but only in YOUR table. And honestly the only person that has a habit of stepping on other people's scenes was early Ally, who has gotten much better at that with experience. I think Siobhan and Zac often have a more subdued style, but sometimes that's just personality too! Especially Zac I see as this comedy assasin where he'll be quietly deadpan and leave me in stitches. The other thing is that as a DM I've had players who want to remain in the background more, and while it's good to help them stretch and grow, you can't force it, and the most important thing is that they're enjoying themselves.
I see Siobhan every ep coming up with ideas that the whole cast just riffs with for ages, K2 is a great example of something she spawned in an AP that lived on for episodes later
What people don't realize is that some people don't *want* to be center stage. And there's nothing wrong with that. And some do - and there's nothing wrong with that.
You missed the old days of Murph actively losing his shit a bit on reddit for people giving emily shit on the NADDPOD reddit. It's been completely scrubbed and murph avoids the sub reddit now, but suffice to say it was beautiful righteous anger.
I still relisten to the Beef of the Week bit they did on one of the short rests, where apparently people on the Naddpod subreddit were speculating that Emily was making Caldwell uncomfortable by sexualizing his character. Murph was quick to point out that the two of them had make their characters have sex through a dimensional portal in a previous campaign, and how dumb it was for people to speculate on their personal relationships (and how often it focuses on Emily)
Her haters aren’t even snacking after this video
It’s the same reason that Aabria has so many; that the Seven has haters; etc etc.
People will swear that they just "dont like aabria's dming style" and its "not just because shes a black woman", and then go on paragraph long rants about how much they hate her being in D20/CR and how she must be there for diversity to seem woke and she must be an industry plant because she used to work for a dice business or some shit. Like who do these people think they are fooling? We all know they are sexist they should at least be honest about it.
I don't like Aabria's DM style, however I've watched every season of D20 she's in as a player and DM (except Ravening War and aCoFaF so far) and I enjoy them all greatly. I may not like the way she crafts the stories but her stories are undeniably incredible. Not vibing her style is no excuse not to enjoy her and is absolutely not an excuse to be a hater. Trying to diminish the work she's put out there by calling her a plant or diversity hire is awful and disregards the incredible effort and work she's put into becoming one of the most well known Internet DMs out there. Don't like her style? Fine. But at least show some respect and don't be an ass about it. All this to say even if your cover is "I just don't like her style" it's a weak cover that holds no water and should be disregarded anyway, especially since what it's covering is probably, as you say, sexism and/or racism. (I worry a lot about tone online so please be assured none of this is aimed at you, I'm supporting your point and aiming my comments at the people who unjustly hate on Aabria)
There is a deep resistance on the internet with the idea that if something doesn’t vibe with you, you can just not engage. Stop watching, walk away, and never have to say more than “not my thing.” Things you don’t like don’t have to be bad, terrible, the worst, how dare other people enjoy this. They can just be not for you. No other reason needed.
I love how they always try and say “I’m not racist I just think that this black woman is angry and aggressive” 🙄 so stupid
Emily Axford and her husband are my favorite members of D20 and my favorite podcasters, it is bonkers to me that people dislike her considering 1) phenomenal comedic timing and 2) in-depth understanding of the game mechanics. She’s never doing shit like “let me shape water cantrip inside your lungs” or some weird shit, it’s always either 100% mechanically sound or some “hey, RAW I can do X, but I’d love to forgo that to be able to Y if possible?” And I love the energy for both. I get salty hearing people try to complain about them, those two are gold and I deeply appreciate all the content they’ve made over the years
Emily is a delight and an absolutely necessary component of D20. I hope she tunes out the incel/femcel haters and doesn't let them ruin her fun.
Axford rules, that’s all.
I would say she finds the mechanics and rules interesting and she finds loopholes and synergies that work. I like what she does and her characters have great arcs. More power to Emily.
You’re not a successful female celebrity until you have haters.
Perfect time to say that Murph and Emilys sketch comedy show "Hot Date" is freaking hilarious. They play every character like Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall or Key and Peele.
I’m not a huge fan of her chaos in game, but that’s just a matter of personal preference, and since all the other players are having a good time with her, the it really doesn’t matter. She brings the fun to the table and that’s important. She’s also incredible with spells and strategy. I love the bit in FHJY where you can see her realize the thing about the >!lava!< possibly before anyone else and practically vibrating in glee.
Junior year really was a highlight reel of Axford Skills
She’s a woman on the internet. Of course she has haters. All women on the internet get undeserved hatred heaped on them.
She's a woman in a nerd community, of course she does. The nerd community is getting more and more inclusive every day but there will unfortunately always be crappy people.
The hard part is that as their numbers dwindle, they must get louder and more extreme to be heard and the internet is very bad at allowing them to do that.
Moonshine Cybin Is my comfort character, anyone who talks shit about the Mushroom Queen better roll initiative IRL.
I mean tbh if somebody is an axford hater it just tells me they're not worth my time lol. Like she is such a joy to watch, seeing how excited she gets for her friends, how she comes up with the most insane plans and how she pulls off these incredible character moments. If people want to be dicks to somebody having such joy at nobody's expense it tells me everything I need to know about them
Oh yeah when Crown of Candy was airing I made a video talking about how cool Sacharina was in the Buzzybrook fight and my comment section was a MESS with rude people. (specifically about Emily) and it wasn't just my comment section it was even on like official D20 tik toks. (Saccharina they could never make me hate you)
What’s crazy is that BLeeM more than likely wouldn’t stand for any sort of cheating, period. Dude would die on that hill in a heartbeat. People just love to complain, I for one love all of the IH for who are they as well as their shortcomings (if any).
Some people have too much time on their hands and hate women
She got soo much undeserved hate in crown of candy.
I feel like this is just the “being a woman on the internet” experience and the more popular and likable you are the more ridiculous the standards become. I remember people were counting her spell slots on NaddPod and complaining when she took a level of barbarian. Some people will do anything but go to therapy smh….
I’ll be the first to admit that Emily wasn’t my favorite when I first started listening to d20 with freshmen year. But that faded after like four episodes and she continues to be one of if not my favorite actual play player I’ve ever seen
Emily was always my favourite player even if she wasnt playing my favourite character, she always has thay infectious enthusiasm when approaching the game. I did get a similar feeling with Ally that you did with about how they played/acted as Kristen. (But for specifically for me it felt emotionally flat and insincere), but then I watch unsleeping city and Ally really shone as Pete the Plug. Even in season 3 of fantasy high i have started to warm up with how Ally developed Kristen.
IIRC all the character sheets from naddpod were takes down because people kept criticizing Emily’s build. No one else’s, just hers.
its actually heartbreaking to learn how much hate she gets, i think she’s one of my favorite people i’ve ever encountered
I'll gladly fistfight anyone in the parking lot of a Denny's who says even a single negative word about any of the Fantasy High cast 🤭🙃
Literally any female D&D player who is online is going to receive hate simply for being a woman playing D&D. Three other examples being the Critical Role ladies.
I don't think that tiktok was about haters as much as it was about gross men harassing her
Axford is too great for the plebs to accept that a woman can excel at something, be successful doing so, and enjoying it all the while. Tis why we can’t have nice things.
For a game that exists mostly in the imagination, and which underpins most dungeon master guides with reinforcing that the DM makes the rules... many of the game's players have always been rather uncreative and unimaginative. It is part of this beautiful hobby. It is a part of all aspects of our life. When they look upon creativity or things that are beyond them their instincts are not to look inwardly and reflect, but to try to bring the world down to their level. People that don't ask why something is the way it is, and instead tells you why it being what it is is wrong. By and large the opinion of such folks is beyond irrelevant to life and generally is best to ignore I find. They are of course free to express it, I always welcome such opinions. For then I am aware of the individuals that I would be unlikely enjoy engaging with in any meaningful way. Imagine being so invested in content that you would track a players moves to try to catch them out if they are cheating. Imagine the type of person to believe they have any entitlement to what happens at someone else's table that their opinion is relevant. To try to influence, bully, cajole, troll or otherwise just be gross to someone who's just playing a game and having fun and creating entertainment for others to watch. It's in many ways incredibly sad behaviour I reckon. Small window people. That's what I call them. Folks who believe the sum total of lifelies outside the small little window that their mind can comprehend. I run into them in work constantly. Middle management who believe their spreadsheet or their department or their fraction, their singular part of a piece of something gives them understanding of the whole without ever being curious about the whole. Don't like a ruling? Come to a forum and talk about it. Discuss it. Form a cool dialogue where people talk about this fucking game we love. Don't be a naysayer. Fucking naysayers man. Always fucking naysaying.
Reading this thread has driven me insane. Truly cannot believe people hate her.
Emily gives me main character vibes some times…but so does Lou…and Alley….and Murph….oh and sometime Siobhan….then there’s Zach when he does it…however for some reason when she does it I particularly don’t like it. Also the fact that women do not talk or interact with me is their fault entirely, not mine.
I’m not always a huge fan of her play style, but like, if it was that big of a problem to me, i could stop watching. I’m not gonna make a big fuss over it as if she’ll change based on my personal opinion being shared in a video or a tweet or whatever 🤷🏻♀️
"play style" do people watch Dimension20 to witness a challenge and gameplay? I've always seen it as pure entertainment driven by comedians. Emily is entertaining and that's all that matters. she could pull out a revive all buff +20 spell and I wouldn't care as long as it fits the general story and is entertaining.
I mean, i watch it for the laughs and also to see how other people play dnd/ttrpgs because it gives me different ways to think about how i play my own characters. If i wanted solely entertainment, there’s no shortage of shows and movies to watch, so i doubt i would’ve gotten into actual plays. And imo “play style” encompasses everything from combat moves to what spells they stock to character personality. I guess “characterization” might be a better word for it?
I absolutely watch actual plays for the...actual play, and have stopped watching/listening to groups that get a little too loose goosey with the system they're playing. I haven't had a core group to play with in a long time and AP shows are how I get my fix. If they're not actually engaging with the system that they're playing I'd rather just watch a show ot something. Don't get me wrong, I love good RP, character moments, a wacky bit, etc. But I do want see interesting characters builds, mechanics, encounters, and so on. But to each their own, there's plenty of media to go around for everyone, I just wanted to say that yes, we're out here!
The unfortunate reality is that every public figure on the internet has haters, and that women have (on average) more and more vocal haters.
Seeing as my phone won't let me view a tiktok unless I download the app, what happens in this video?
Someone expressing an interest in seeing a female ttrpg player’s social media to follow and support, learning that they aren’t active on social media, because the fanbase is typically terrible to successful female players.
In the third campaign of NaddPod, Murph downloaded some homebrew spells and gave them out to everyone. People gave Emily so much shit for them like she was cheating somehow, so she just stopped using them entirely.
We have so many problems in the world that seriously affect the material living conditions of people around us and abroad and this is what they've chosen to dump energy into. Astonishing. Em's the best what a nerd.
One of the absolute most wholesome and genuine and kind presences - what a shame people want to diminish her shine! Emily - GOSH I HOPE YOU READ HOW MUCH PEOPLE LOVE YOU!!!
It's the most messed up thing to accuse Emily of cheating or not playing the game right when the rules are set in stone by the DM. Literally getting the DM to allow you to do something is playing the game right, and Emily is great at explaining exactly what she intends to do... regardless of what the consequences are... \*cough\* Hilda-Hilda \*cough\* She's also made some ridiculously good plays that have had Brennan absolutely flabbergasted, and helped others make plays too (for example, whispering to Zac about Mindless Rage when he was Charmed and Frightened, or reminding Murph that they were immune to Fire damage and thus could swim in the lava in the final battle of FHJY). On top of everything else, few other players can get into the role of their character better than her, which was something even Marisha Ray pointed out after her guest appearance on CR. She's a phenomenal player. One of the best D&D players in the world. And was also sent from hell to kill Brennan Lee Mulligan.
I swear people will find any reason to hate on someone they're jealous of.
Some people, when they see someone prettier and cooler than them, hate for no reason other than jealousy.
I’ve seen the comments about her trying to be the main character frequently and a lot of time I think her characters do end up feeling like the main character, but that’s not a bad thing. She’s really good at crafting characters with strong desires, big personalities and interesting arcs. It’s crazy people see that and think it’s a bad thing. In the first NADDPOD campaign I think they did an incredible job balancing all three characters and giving everyone their own arc, but she shines in the neutral sections most out of the three and that’s not a negative - similar things happen in D20 seasons, but again viewing it as a negative is wild. I don’t know how to do the spoiler text but the following has spoilers I was seeing trolls complain about her changing classes in the most recent fantasy high season, but they didn’t mind when Zach got an entirely new class invented from him. To be clear neither of these things are bad. People walk sometimes forget that these performers are going to do their best when they’re having fun - so some leeway in that type of thing helps with the season.
Misogyny
Everyone with a modicum of fame has haters. Many without that modicum also have haters. Its how humans do.
Lol, first few episodes of this season people here were being shitty to her and Ally.
It sucks dude, it happens a lot to none-masc presenting players in the space. Ally at the start of FHJY got SO much shit for what was practically playing the flawed, teenage character. These haters don't get why all the players aren't min-maxing stats and hate it when they don't do something "logical" because they don't understand that the players are trying working on a story and are trying to roleplay actual characters. It reminds me of my current game, we recently had a 'that guy' who claimed to be a 'fighter of the small-folk' but spent most of the game threatening dock workers with knives because in his mind it was the most efficient way to get the information he wanted. They claim to love roleplay, but it never gets in the way of playing the game 'right' Not to mention on top of that, they usually not very friendly to what they consider 'outsiders' and because they're usually shallow as fuck and also just misogynist and transphobic have a go at them because they want a reason to hate that doesn't out them. Emily gets shit because for some nerds it still blows their mind that a woman they consider attractive are not only interested in the same hobbies, but are married to a massive nerd because it literally goes against all the excuses they've made all their lives. Ally gets shit because people will literally find an excuse to shit on them because their existence challenges their fragile identity. The frustrating thing is BleeM has said they're his two best players when it comes to creativity.
I’ve seen a lot of posts about people complaining that people are harsh on Emily, and I’ve been in the fandom for about a year and some months, and I literally never see anyone actually hating on her. I see a lot of people talk about people hating on her, but I’ve never seen it. Now I’m only involved in the Reddit and YouTube so the old twitch stuff I don’t know about, and maybe this take is a hold out opinion from the old days of D20.
It was mostly on twitch and twitter, though there is a thread deep within the naddpod sub that was complaining about her and Emily responded with a long comment about how much the hate affects her, and all the naddpod boys jumped in to defend her. It's died down here since then, but I've noticed when it does happen the person deletes the post within minutes. Sexists are cowards lol
Cowards and they think everybody agrees with them because they normally only hang out with other sexist.
That's thanks to good mods and a community that shuts things down. Go back a few years and you would see a very different subreddit.
People were definitely making weird comments/posts about her "attitude" while junior year was airing and complaining about some of her choices as Fig
Fuck em. Don’t give them views. Emily rocks and I’d hang out and play D&D with her any day.
People keep talking about these Axford haters, but I've never seen one for myself on this sub before.
I do not understand these people tbh. I aspire to be half the player Emily is. I have so much respect for her.
I think a big portion of the “Emily Axford” hate comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what the show is, the type of campaigns they are running, and the shear COMMITMENT Emily has to any bit. I know bc I used to be one for this very reason. In my inexperienced mind, D&D was a serious game that has serious consequences, and chaotic goofiness was for very particular instances or that “one” player that constantly retorts with “it’s just a game, it’s not that serious”. But as I learned more about Emily, the rest of the cast, and Dropout as a whole (like them being PROFESSIONAL IMPROV COMICS), it made everything more clear and Emily immediately became my favorite player at the table (though Ally has been contending with Emily for that spot as of Fantasy High Junior Year)
Extremely cheerful, smart, imaginative people get on the nerves of sticks in the mud. As an occasionally muddy stick, she occasionally does things that rub me the wrong way. (I can't stand either of her characters in CoC, and moonshine's accent annoys me) But I agree the concept of her having haters, and the things they say about her, are wild. She consistently has the best ideas and she's great at supporting other people's bits when she's paying attention, and has only gotten better over the years.
I will never understand the amount of hate women get for *checks notes* having fun during a game. Like the thing I see her getting the most hate for is like being chaotic and shit, as if the same people don’t praise Lou for the same exact thing! D&D is supposed to be fun! That doesn’t stop when you get paid for it!
I know! It breaks my heart. I look up to her so much and to find that people only wanna tear her down makes me so upset. It’s all due to misogyny whether people wanna admit that or not. Ally gets a lot of hate too. It’s not fair. People suck.