D&D Celebrity Satine Phoenix & Husband Jamison Stone Accused Of Abuse Towards Freelancers

D&D influencer Satine Phoenix, and her husband Jamison Stone, who run tabletop gaming company Apotheosis Studios, have been accused of abusive behavior towards freelancers and contracted workers. Satine Phoenix is a well-known D&D personality and creator, and was the D&D Community Manager for about a year back in 2018. Both she and Stone have appeared in many events and streaming shows, and...

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D&D influencer Satine Phoenix, and her husband Jamison Stone, who run tabletop gaming company Apotheosis Studios, have been accused of abusive behavior towards freelancers and contracted workers.

Satine Phoenix is a well-known D&D personality and creator, and was the D&D Community Manager for about a year back in 2018. Both she and Stone have appeared in many events and streaming shows, and have worked with WotC, Geek & Sundry, and other companies. Recently their Kickstarter campaign Sirens: Battle of the Bards raised over $300,000. At GaryCon, a US gaming convention, the couple held a public wedding.

sirens.jpg

Accusations were initially leveled last week against Stone by tattooist Chad Rowe, who tweeted about the abusive way in which Stone, as his client at the time, treated him. The artist was "insulted, berated, and talked down to as if I was a lesser person". Other reports started to roll in as people shared similar experiences, with people revealing how they had been bullied by them, and how the pair frequently portrayed themselves as 'better' than those they worked with. At the time of writing there have been many such reports including one from voice actress and designer Liisa Lee who was subjected to underhanded business practices by Phoenix and her then partner Ruty Rutenberg. Others indicated difficulties in getting paid for work done for Stone and Phoenix or their company.

Lysa Penrose reported on problematic interactions while Phoenix worked at WotC, who was the primary point of contact regarding a report of abuse. Penrose reports that Phoenix failed to pass on the reports of abuse, and continued to publicly associate with the abuser.

Jamison Stone has since resigned as CEO of Apotheosis Studios (though the pair do own the company) and issued a long apology which has been widely criticized. Phoenix released a statement about a week later. Screenshots leaked from a private channel indicate that they have adopted a strategy of shifting the blame onto Stone, so that Phoenix's public image remain intact, with Stone writing “I also am ensuring behind the scenes ... we shield Satine as much as physically possible from damage.”

D&D In A Castle, which is an event which hosts D&D games run by professional DMs in a weekend break in a castle, has dropped the pair from its lineup, as has Jasper's Game Day, an organization which works to prevent suicides. Origins Game Fair, at which the couple are celebrity guests, removed Stone from its guest list, but not Phoenix, stating that "staff assessed that there was no immediate risk of physical harm".

According to ComicBook.com. former collaborator of Phoenix, Ruty Rutenberg, is suing Phoenix, alleging misappropriation of $40,000 of stream network Maze Arcana's money.
 

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Mort

Legend
Supporter
The lawsuits got settled?
Not that I'm aware. In was referring to the Kickstarter project. There was a post by Stone stating (with some detail) that everyone who worked on it got payed got payed (though even there, he got pretty weasely with some if the language). Just saying, hope that is true and ACTION rather than words does mean something
 

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It does not matter if there is due process. “Jack Sparrow” had a jury trial (with a judge) in the USA and someone in this thread is dismissing it as him appealing to the court of public opinion.

I have read some various reactions to Satine’s live stream from the people that had made complaints and they were not impressed and brought up pretty good points in response to what she said.

I am pretty sure that there were some overly delicate people in the freelancers that were used. And that they were stepped on much harder than needed.

Mod Edit: let’s not use inflammatory terms when talking about people, please.
 
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doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Due process in the sense that I am using it is not about a court of law. It is about applying principles such as a presumption of innocence and a desire to hear all sides of a case before drawing any conclusions. Let's not pretend that social media is interested in these principles. I read the tweets in question and I don't see enough evidence to warrant the destruction of these peoples' lives or livelihoods.
The pushed people out of the industry, verbally and emotionally abused people, threatened people's livelihoods, and Stones literally propositioned somene for sex after leading them into a wilderness he knew but they didn't, after establishing a business relationship with him as patron and trying to establish himself as her mentor.

If none of that is enough for you to think it's justified to, and lets be real clear about what is actually happening here rather than this hyperbolic nonsense about destroying lives, call them out in public and demand apology and reparations, and warn others of how they deal with people with less power than them in professional enviroments....well, i don't know that you're going to have much common ground with many others in this thread. I'll leave it at that.
 

Mort

Legend
Supporter
While I respect your opinions, you and I are not drawing the same conclusions from the body of evidence presented. Any public figure whose livelihood is being threatened on social media is generally counseled to issue a public apology in order to limit the damage. I don't give much weight to that at all. It's just part of the PR playbook.


I put ZERO weight on the public apology, it is, as you say, PR standard.

But hopefully, revealing these actions gets REAL results for the people harmed - that would be a good take away.

I find it highly unlikely that these accusations are somehow inflated or fabricated, there is just too much shown and too many compelling accounts (with clear evidence).

As has been stated, the public shaming is regrettable and unnecessary. But the public forum revealing these acts is a net positive and without it, abusive behavior goes unpunished and, worse, continues.
 
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vostygg

Explorer
The mindset described herein enables abusers.
Whether you know it or not, our entire legal system is founded on the principle that "it is better that ten guilty people go free than that one innocent suffer."

Alright. I think I'm done here! I'll let everyone get back to the business of trashing Satine and Jamison without the odious burden of dissenting viewpoints.

Cheers!
 
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Mort

Legend
Supporter
Whether you know it or not, our entire legal system is founded on the principle that "it is better that ten guilty people go free than that one innocent suffer."

That refers to criminal penalty, particularly incarceration and loss of otherwise inherent rights.

None of that is remotely at stake for these two, at least not from the public outcry and disgust.

Loss of face is NOT loss of rights and privileges.
 

theCourier

Adventurer
Whether you know it or not, our entire legal system is founded on the principle that "it is better that ten guilty people go free than that one innocent suffer."

Alright. I think I'm done here! I'll let everyone get back to the business of trashing Satine and Jamison without the odious burden of dissenting viewpoints.

Cheers!
Anything to give the benefit of doubt to people who are potentially abusers, while giving absolutely none and making it nigh impossible for those making accusations to actually be believed, right?
 

Umbran

Mod Squad
Staff member
Supporter
Again, i think the point is that people feel like they've lost some due process because social media has changed things. You can now experience fallout on social media that is comparable to losing a court case because it has permanent and wide impact (again people losing the ability to work, things like that).

Abuse victims have been suffering permanent impacts for time immemorial. Our legal/court systems are ineffective at curbing such abuse. What you see on social media is the predictable and understandable result of allowing the injustice to persist.

In waggling your finger at social media, you miss the root cause of the issue - the abuse. Address that, and the social media issue will be resolved. Meanwhile, telling victims and their friends and allies to shut up and sit down, without doing something material to protect them, is not a good look.
 

doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Whether you know it or not, our entire legal system is founded on the principle that "it is better that ten guilty people go free than that one innocent suffer."

Alright. I think I'm done here! I'll let everyone get back to the business of trashing Satine and Jamison without the odious burden of dissenting viewpoints.

Cheers!
Oof. neighbor, you feel free to point out who is suggesting that Satine Pheonix or Jamison Stone should suffer legal action in the criminal justice system.

Right. No one has.
 

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