#also even though it was not an amicable kick w the person in question

[venusmage]

I'm sorry about your D&D game. Can I ask what made your players and yourself decide to restart the campaign?

(Continued from another message: "I meant in terms of just stopping the game versus continuing without the kicked player versus restarting. It's not a judgement thing I'm curious on your thought process. I think a lot of groups have gone through this.")

Oh, absolutely groups go through this all the time! Two of my players are also DMs that have had games fall through or stop due to people leaving or getting kicked. It's always a huge bummer for everyone involved. Our game's been running since mid 2021 - so that's a lot of (almost) weekly sessions. We were on session 67 I believe. I've got 900 hours logged into roll20 and a good 750+ of them are just the one game I've been running. As a DM it hurts because you put sooo much time and effort into setting it all up; having it just suddenly end totally sucks. It sucks for the other players, too, who just wanted to get together and play.

It's not the first time for us - two players at the very start of the campaign didn't vibe with the table and ended up leaving, which is totally fine! It's the first game I've ever grabbed people together to run for, so it wasn't an already established group that all had experience together yet, if that makes sense. Once they left we kept playing for nearly two more years until just recently.

When it happened I basically asked my players what THEY wanted to do. The PC of the kicked player was integral to the plot of the campaign, so do we find some way to write them out? Do I turn them into an NPC? Or did we want to restart the whole game, giving myself and the players an opportunity to try some new things? I'm not as inexperienced of a DM as I was in 2021 and felt like I could make a more cohesive game for my table. The players were excited at the idea of taking their PCs in slightly new directions to make it fresh, especially since we've been playing together consistently for a while now and the awkwardness that comes from roleplaying with new folks is gone. They've been having a blast changing builds, designs, and backstories around and we're all super stoked for Waterdeep 2.0!

[chippyskylark]

get to know: chippington ‘chip’ skylark the third. 

chip skylark finds himself the third of his name. his grandmother lifts the small child into her arms, cooing that she loves her little chippy to the moon and back. she’s the first in the family to call him chip, and the name sticks better than junior or chippington does. he knows his grandfather and father wish he’d just ride out chippington like they did, but honestly it gets too confusing and chip has always felt way more like him. only his grandma and mom can call him chippy though, and he blushes every time. 

he comes from a line of musically inclined men. his grandfather, the first chippington skylark, found himself the frontman of a joropo band back in his home of venezuela. chippington skylark and the noah’s arkestra found themselves playing any bar or party that would allow them, and soon they rose to popularity in caracas, and even went on to play shows in the second home of joropa (colombia) and other countries and cities in the region. chippington the second would expand on his father’s budding fame, finding himself popular on the latin charts for adopting the sounds of salsa as that became popular. chip falls in love with the music of his grandfather, finds comfort in the strum of the guitar and the folk tales he weaves with his lyrics. chip is even more amazed by his father, the master performer. he’s inspired by the way a band of horns and percussion can fill the room with such lively music, as his father sings songs of love and lust all while looking charming as ever in the process. it’s decided before chip can even properly learn how to form his own sentences that he would be a man of the music as well. 

chip doesn’t mind that his life was laid out for him already, not really. he loves music, finds himself beating the timbale and shaking a pandeiro anytime he accompanies his dad to work. chip’s only real concern is what path would he follow? his grandfather and father had already accomplished so much, who could he possibly be if not stuck in their shadow? in his younger years, he had no real answer for this question. just knows that he loves the stage. 

chip primarily stayed with his mother in new jersey. she thought it best to keep him from the hectic lifestyle his father lead, urging that he should be allowed a normal life and childhood. chip, however, had other plans. he was only eight years old when he first hit the stage. it was a local talent show and he’d begged and pleaded with his mother to let him sing; she finally gave in and he performed ahora te puedes marchar. along with singing the upbeat luis miguel song, chip had also done his best to choreograph a little dance to go along with his performance. the audience loved him, eating up his floppy hair and bright smile almost as much as they were awed by his talent. 

chip’s life became nonstop performing since that moment. entering any talent showcase he could find, hoping to continue to impress crowds and make everyone dance and fall in love with him and the music he sang. his father couldn’t be more pleased with how well every audience received his son’s gifts. if you dig on the internet enough you can find a few videos of a little chip joining his father onstage to sing and dance his father’s famed music with him. don’t play it in front of him though, he’ll look away and blush the second you start going ‘awwwww’. 

chip begins to incorporate more american pop songs in his showcase entries. it makes sense, it’s the music everyone around him listens to and as much as audiences love watching him dance bachata and salsa they seem to connect with his performances better when it’s in a language they can understand. he has no negative feelings about it, even to this day. he has no negative feelings about most things, his words and thoughts drowning in positivity and optimism because he prefers to look at the brighter side of all things. 

he’s thirteen when he gets discovered by a label executive. the initial meeting for the board of executives of his future label was the most nerve wracking experience of chip’s life at that point. chip knows he can wow an audience, it’s the one thing he knows for sure he’s good at. but something about this initial meeting deciding his fate makes his stomach turn. he’s sure he’s going to be sick before it, afraid that he’s going to puke the entire time he rides up to the top floor in the elevator. chip gets through it though, showing off every skill in his arsenal: he’s singing, he’s dancing, he’s playing guitar, he’s interacting with faces in the room, he’s switching between languages easily, and he’s working that smile. 

it goes without saying that the label is impressed and chip gets signed almost immediately. everything else from then on moves pretty quickly for him. he focuses almost all his energy on recording an album as quickly as he can. songs are presented to him daily, and he’s given a team focused with constructing an image for him. he never strays from what’s put before him, even if he’d want to sing a different song than the one he learned the day before, or if he’s not sure he wants to do this particular piece of choreography. chip is honestly just so happy for the opportunity he hardly bats an eye. 

his rise to fame is just as fast and hard to wrap his head around. he would never call himself an overnight sensation, too many years of long hard work went into it, but that’s what the news anchors call him. his first single debuts on the bubbling under of the hot 100, but after significant radio push and some televised appearances it skyrockets to the top ten of the billboard charts. seemingly out of nowhere he’s music’s newest obsession and he couldn’t be more excited. he goes from singing at neighbor’s birthday parties to mall tours and sold out venues. his parents pull him out of school and set him up with a tutor, and well, the rest of his childhood dies right along with that decision. 

he’s a pop phenomenon and he, at first, couldn’t be happier. his first album goes multi platinum and he performs at almost every award show you could think of. hell, there’s even people walking around wearing the same stupid red hat and hoodie combo his team made his signature look. but the being followed by paparazzi and chased by fans starts to become a little too much to handle a little too soon. he won’t complain though, he’s doing what he loves. 

chip still loves performing and singing, but his label has complete control of every aspect of his image and sound. and while that was cool when he was a teen, he’s desperate for some more control and creative (and financial) freedom. 

he’s not mad at the teeny bopper image he’s cultivated. where most people would try to distance themselves from the type of music he made early in his career he never openly rips on it, even in his adulthood. while it’s not the music he’d want to make now, he knows that music is important to his fans. just because something isn’t his favorite doesn’t mean he’s going to ruin it for someone else, he’d never disappoint someone like that. 

chronic people pleaser!!!! he literally can not function or cope with the knowledge that something he did could be upsetting someone else. even if the task you give him comes at great personal sacrifice to him, he’ll do it with a smile. He just wants everyone to be happy, even if right now, he’s not the happiest. 

Now that he’s a grown man he’s struggling with what’s his next move musically. He’s already done something no one else with the skylark name has been able to do: break american radio, and his grandfather and father couldn’t be more proud of his success. but he finds himself yearning for the freedom and maturity their music possesses. he’s certain he still wants to make pop music at this point, he’s just struggling with how to make it more adult and what new things he can experiment with. 

Re-released his first and second album with some of the more popular songs stripped down and sung in spanish. it’s his labels idea of compromising on the fact that he wanted to make music that represented all parts of who he is as a person. also has like one or two latin pop songs that crushed the charts worldwide, the success of those songs made his label discuss the validity of him doing a full latin album like he’d been requesting for years. that album never came. 

practically scandal-less. He’s dated his fair share of pop stars and models, but those break ups always end amicably and none of his former partners have ever had anything negative to say about him. the media wanted so badly to run a “bad boy” thing with him but they just can’t, he’s such a good boy. 

when he was fourteen he did a campaign for those stupid singing tooth brushes. my shiny teeth and me follows him everywhere now, and you know what, he’s not even mad about it, he sometimes jokes that song is more popular than a lot of his actual serious music.  go king! teach the youth proper dental hygiene!

his concerts are always so much fun. Again, so inspired by his dad as a performer so he always goes all out. He gives 110% every time no matter what. Is he tired? Of course. Does he need a nap? Definitely. Has he gone on stage ten minutes after puking his guts out because of a flu? Yeah….it was still a good show though, you couldn’t even really tell he was sick! 

struggling HARD with anxiety. large crowds of people around him start to freak him out, and even though most would think he should be used to it, he’s been mobbed by too many groups of fans to ever be used to it. he’s no stranger to hiding out in the back of an empty store for a second to get away. he’s always embarrassed when his management has to kick everyone else out the store and lock the doors for his sake, but if it helps...it helps. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS. 

help him w his anxiety? so mayhaps a friend, a confidante? also an actual therapist yep. 

chip’s big struggle is how to move forward without disappointing his fans so maybe a fan that he becomes friendly with that can yanno remind him that most of them will love him no matter what. or at least serve as a reminder of why he does this. 

if y’all got characters that wanna roast the shiny teeth guy i won’t be opposed. he’s also so nice he probably wouldn’t be too bothered so that’s frustrating and fun 

fellow musicians always

friends who either have no clue who he is or don’t care would be real nice

anything at all. also always down for angst as always. 

[roundthatcorner]

Do you think John making Double Fantasy about him and Yoko, was a final act of love for her? In terms of their marriage. Sort of like the closeness before the end, like a husband buying his wife jewels before telling her it's over? (Probably a crappy example but I digress)

Okay, caveat that basically EVERYTHING about John’s last five years is shrouded in deliberate obfuscation by the entire John INDUSTRY, so it’s hard to say wtf was going on, since so many people (chief among them Yoko, obviously) have a vested interest in presenting John a certain way. 

My point is that I can’t know for sure about any of this, though I will say that I...resent any superficial ‘lalala, John was a happy househusband’ painting of it, because it implies that John was psychologically ABSURD in a way that does not stand up in the slightest. I mean, are we supposed to believe that John was unique among humans in being wonderfully happy NOT working, NOT having friends, not leaving the house, not creating anything, not controlling his own life, not having a genuine relationship with his wife, not having a healthy relationship with food or drugs, not really talking to people who weren’t working for him, etc etc, when we know that those are psychological needs for humans generally? If we disregard as basically nonsensical John and Yoko’s (and Elliot Mintz’s) public claims, that they made while they were hustling to sell an album, we end up with a pretty bleak picture of John’s last five years.  

The rumors regarding the state of their relationship are generally along the lines that SHE was going to be the one telling him it was over -- every suggestion I’ve heard regarding their marital dis-accord is that she was the one on the verge of filing for divorce, because she was sick of John and she was deeply involved with Sam Havadtoy already. Her plans to file for divorce were put on hold by her desire to fill up half of what he thought was to be his comeback album with her own music (in Jack Douglas’ telling, she decided that and wanted to keep it from John). So I don’t think it was necessarily a ‘final act’ on his part, so much as possibly him ceding to her wishes in hopes that she would 1) not divorce him (because I think he really did still love/NEED her, he was just incredibly frustrated that johnandyoko had turned into johnsittingathome and yokoeverywherebuthome) AND 2) let him work with ‘the boys’. Whether he actually thought that duality could be sustained...is questionable, though, right? Because Yoko and Paul cannot really coexist in his life, and John wasn’t blind to that fact. 

So...maybe John and Yoko were essentially working towards an ‘amicable’ separation, where John has worked his tail off to launch Yoko into the 80s music scene, and he can move on without guilt or feeling like he destroyed her career (lol), and nobody loses face (!!) and they can pretend to the press that their living totally apart is very feminist and all that. Guilt seems to have played a strong role in their relationship (ie, don’t try to work on your relationship with Cynthia at Janov’s behest or I’ll kill myself), so I could see her guilting him into setting her up to thrive after the separation even if essentially she is the one driving the separation. 

I think this may explain the contradiction between:

 1) John talking SO MUCH shit in the press in 1980...bc he is trying to sell an album! And every album of his own that he tries to sell has to be accompanied by denigrating the Beatles/Paul, because EVERY ALBUM he could possibly make would be BETTER (he knows it, we know it, everyone knows it!) if Paul, George and Ringo were on it. We can’t forget that John hasn’t had a hit in a long time, and Paul had a massive hit just that summer (directed at John, with love (’a love to last forever’), but still grating to John’s ego). John needs a HIT to get up to parity with Paul -- so he can get back with Paul. It’s the same thing as in ‘74, where he got some hits and he starts angling to work with Paul again. Also, it seems like nobody who spoke personally to John in 1980ish says anything but that John was speaking VERY warmly about P/G/R -- ie, he was talking shit to the press in order to sell Double Fantasy, at least while Yoko is sitting next to him (and he gets carried away by the sound of his own voice, ugh/lol)

2) Paul making comments in ‘79 about ‘when Sean goes to kindergarten and John can make music again :) :) ’ or w/e; John giving depositions (~three weeks before his death)about imminent plans to record/perform with the Beatles; NYC officials being asked about permits for a reunion concert; John saving a song like ‘Nobody Told Me’ for Ringo (uh, they wouldn’t have given a song that good to Ringo during the Beatles, lol! but if Paul is going to be at Ringo’s sessions, too, that’s a very good reason to save it for then), etc; I think possibly they were quite a bit closer to a reunion than any of them admitted (then or subsequently), that it was put on hold for John’s album, and that John’s statements to the press came as a nasty shock to Paul, who had thought they were ‘nearly there!’

John is in a very precarious position in 1980, really -- he’s in a marriage that is disintegrating, and any attempt to save the marriage necessitates that he crap all over his fallback position (Paul). What public narrative can they apply to the end of their marriage? How can John cope with it? I mean, if possibly John didn’t really mean to break up the Beatles (which I think is very likely, actually -- Paul just took him too seriously, not that he wasn’t within his rights), then from 1972-3 or whenever the anger starts fading he has to live with the fact that he destroyed the BEST thing that ever happened to him basically on a heroin-crazed whim, and if he breaks up with Yoko, he has to admit that he was WRONG about her -- and that he broke up the best thing for...nothing. They ‘solved’ this for the Lost Weekend by claiming that she kicked him out, that he was miserable without her, etc (none of which holds up, really); maybe their way of ‘solving’ this for a second, lasting split is like I said above: he has a hit with Double Fantasy (no matter what he needs to say to get there), she gets some hits to establish her separate from him (which is what she has always wanted), they tell everyone about their new feminist living arrangement for the 80s, and he gets to be a Beatle again.

I’d suggest listening to the Something About the Beatles podcast on Yoko (and John and their relationship)...I think that episode is called ‘Oh, Yoko!’. I don’t believe or agree with everything they say (about any topic, not just this one), but their opinions (and the opinions of the guys who do Fabcast - listen to the 1980 episodes) come from a lot of knowledge. 

(Sorry this is quite disjointed, carpal tunnel is telling me to stop right now! Hope it makes sense!)

[districofcolumbiaprelawland-blog]

Can Figure Skater Mariah Bell Sue For Defamation? A Deeper Look Into Defamation

By Daria Howard, American University Class of 2019

April 14, 2019

On March 20th 2019, during the International Skating Union World Figure Skating Championship in Saitama, Japan, American figure skater Mariah Bell supposedly injured her fellow competitor, Korean figure skater, Lim Eun-Soo[i]. Lim was scheduled to warm up in the time slot before Bell, so as Lim was concluding her warm up, Bell entered onto the ice[ii]. The footage shot during the warms up shows Bell coming up from behind Lim “performing a pirouette, before gilding past her rival with her leg extended out behind her, suddenly, Lim’s expression became pained and she crumpled over”[iii]. When news got out of the incident, many people immediately assumed the action was deliberate and done out of jealousy and anger. People on social media immediately attacked Bell saying things like “Imagine being a 22 year old grown woman and bully a 16 year old kid who came to train from another country, Mariah Bell can relate”[iv]. Several news outlets immediately expressed similar feelings with headlines such as “S. Korean figure skater injured in intentional hit by U.S. athlete: agency”[v].

Shortly after the incident occurred the International Skating Union conducted an investigation and found that “Based on the evidence at hand at this point in time, which includes a video, there is no evidence that Ms. Bell intended any harm to Ms. Lim.” And that “The ISU met with delegates from both USA and Korea and urged both parties to find an amicable solution. The ISU maintains that this remains the appropriate approach.”[vi]. After the end of the World Championship, Bell released her own statement on her Instagram account, which she has since made private, and said that she meant absolutely no harm and that it was an unfortunate incident[vii]. She also mentioned “The comments that my friends, family and I received on social media were hateful and disturbing and hopefully this situation raises awareness and causes people to think twice before hitting ‘tweet’ or ‘post.”[viii].

  Bell’s situation is not the first case of a high-profile person being target of aggressive and false comments. Following the incident, some people questioned: Can Bell sue for defamation? To find the answer to this question, it is first necessary to look at the components of defamation. Defamation is generally defined as a statement that hurts someone’s reputation[ix]. Written defamation is called “libel”, while spoken defamation is called “slander”[x]. What is important to remember in defamation law is that it tries to balance 2 competing interests, that a person’s life should not be ruined by another persons words but at the same time each person should be able to speak freely without being worried about being sued over every insult, disagreement, or mistake[xi]. In order to prove defamation, Bell or someone in her situation would have to prove that the defamatory statement was published, false, injurious, and unprivileged[xii]. All four of this criterion seems to apply to Bell’s case. The defamatory statements were published and shared through multiple sources, they were false, they were unprivileged, meaning the publishers of the false statements did not have the right to make such statements, but whether they were injurious to her reputation is more questionable since they incident just occurred.

  The one element that may create difficulty for Bell though is that she is a public figure. Public figures additionally have to prove actual malice, meaning “the person who made the statement knew it wasn't true, or didn't care whether it was true or not and was reckless with the truth”[xiii]. One of the most important Supreme Court cases that addressed this issue was New York Times v. Sullivan (1964). The case involved a newspaper article that published unfavorable comments toward a politician, L.B. Sullivan, which he believed was a negative reflection of him. The U.S. Supreme Court found that the First Amendment protected certain defamatory statements, if they were mistakenly made, which happens often in the public sphere[xiv]. This is why public figures have to prove an extra element that ordinary people do not, ordinary people have more protection because statements about ordinary people do not involve public issues. Thus for Bell to successfully argue defamation, she would have to prove that the news outlets that published the false statements about her, knew they were false or did not care that they were false, which may be difficult.

  Even if Bell could sue for defamation, would it be worth it? The short answer is probably not because it is very hard for celebrities win libel cases. The long answer is, most likely not. The incident that occurred between Bell and Lim happened very quickly and word about it got out very quickly before it was properly investigated. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that when news sources accused Bell of intentionally hurting Lim, they most likely did not have malicious intent; they simply made a hasty assumption but someone could argue that it was an act of negligence. Second of all, a lot of times high profile people do not want to bring even more attention to the lie. Third, lawsuits are expensive; they cost a lot of time and money. Lastly, it is too soon to tell how damaging the defamation was to Bell’s reputation, but considering that she had to make her Instagram profile private from all of the aggressive comments she was receiving, one could assume that this incident will not be forgotten for sometime.

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Daria Howard is a senior at American University, studying International Service with a focus on Peace, Global Security, and Conflict Resolution and minoring in Law & Society. Other than writing for Prelaw Land, her interests include, international relations, art, traveling, history, and cooking.

________________________________________________________________

[i]Chantalle Edmunds. (March 22nd 2019). Dramatic Moment US Figure Skater, Mariah Bell, 22, Slashes Korean Rival Lim Eun-Soon, 16, With Her Skater During Warm Up Is Revealed In Brand New Footage As The Pair Appear Frosty As They Return To The Ice Today. Daily Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6839413/US-figure-skater-accused-kicking-Korean-rival-avoid-looking-one-ice.html

[ii] Ibid

[iii] Ibid

[iv]User - Landfillmp3. (March 20th 2019). Twitter. Retrieved from:https://twitter.com/landfillmp3?lang=en

[v] S. Korean figure skater injured in intentional hit by U.S. athlete: agency. Yonhap News Agency (March 21st 2019). Retrieved from: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20190321000800315

[vi]ISU Statement – Mariah Bell (USA) and Eun Soo Lim (KOR).(March 21st 2019). ISU News. Retrieved from: https://www.isu.org/isu-news/news/145-news/12562-isu-statement-mariah-bell-usa-and-eun-soo-lim-kor?templateParam=15

[vii] Joelle Goldstein. (March 29th 2019). Figure Skater Mariah Bell Breaks Her Silence About Slashing Incident ‘I Meant Absolutely No Harm’. People. Retrieved from: https://people.com/sports/mariah-bell-breaks-silence-slashing-incident/

[viii] Ibid

[ix] Emily Doskow. Defamation Law Made Simple. NOLO. Retrieved from: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-law-made-simple-29718.html

[x] Ibid

[xi] Ibid.

[xii] Ibid

[xiii] Ibid

[xiv] Ibid

Photo Credit: David W. Carmichael