Bosses of Dungeons & Dragons club in £150k court fight sparked by alleged ‘dungeonmaster cuddle’
Bosses of a Dungeons & Dragons club catering to London’s “nerdy” gamers have been hit with a £150,000 court case following allegations one of them inappropriately embraced a female dungeon master during a session.
Located in a plush 20-room venue just off The Strand, Arcadia Games opened its doors in May after being founded by 36-year-old company boss Raonaid Adrianna Ryn with the help of her ex-husband Alexander Forsyth, 41, and his actress wife Madeleine Wilson, 35.
But the former fantasy companions have since fallen out after Ms Ryn claimed the former Mr Forsyth had received complaints from a pub worker and a female Dungeon Master for “inappropriate” behavior and unwanted “hugging”.
Mr Forsyth denies the allegations and claims the complaint was “fabricated” by Ms Ryn and her new partner Keiran Farr in an attempt to alienate him from the company through a “hostile takeover”.
He and his new wife say they were unfairly kicked out of the company and kicked out of Arcadia Games HQ by Ms Ryn and Mr Farr, despite investing more than £46,000 in opening the club and supplying £10,000 worth of their own furniture and equipment to fit it out.
After the police were called to a clash between two couples at Arcadia, the company that owns the fantasy gaming club, Arcadia Games Ltd, of which Ms Ryn is now the sole director, filed a £100,000 damages claim against Mr Forsyth and Ms Wilson, while they responded with a £56,000 counterclaim of their own.
Arcadia Games launched in January of this year and went public in May; It boasts “a full-time space for London’s tabletop gaming community” with regular events, a “tavern” serving cocktails, plus “geek co-working” during business hours for “tabletop RPG enthusiasts, role-playing artists, board game obsessives and creatives of all stripes”.
The club specializes in providing hosted games of Dungeons and Dragons, a tabletop role-playing game where each player creates their own character and goes on group adventures in a fantasy setting, with a Dungeon Master serving as the game’s referee and storyteller.
Created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, D&D has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity after taking a central role in the Netflix show Stranger Things, despite being over 50 years old.
Arcadia members can pay up to £300 a month for workspace and hosting unlimited games of D&D and other sessions by guest dungeon masters, some of which are hosted by Ms Ryn, a former publishing executive and children’s literature expert.
The company’s website states that the club was “created as a safe and inclusive haven for people of all genders, sexual orientations, races, religions, and neurotypes with the goal of building a meaningful and sustainable community. We believe everyone should work and play in an environment where they feel completely comfortable and completely welcome.”
To that end, the website notes that the club enforces a code of conduct that prohibits, among other things, “sexualizing or sexually objectifying another person without their consent” or “touching a person in an intimate or sexual manner without their consent.”
“You should not make other people spectators of explicit sexual activity, whether in-character or out-of-character, at the Arcadia Games venue. Everyone has different comfort levels, and we must respect each other’s boundaries,” she adds.
In documents filed at Central London District Court, the company’s lawyers allege two incidents occurred in May this year in which Mr Forsyth breached these rules.
“On May 14, Ms. Ryn received a message from a member of the Arcadia community making various allegations against Alexander Forsyth,” they say.
“The person claimed he made comments about their attire and careers in a way that made them uncomfortable, and followed this up with a message about his and Ms Wilson’s involvement in kink clubs.
“The affected party had just completed a trial shift at the bar and felt that this conversation was highly inappropriate given the power imbalance.
“On May 23, 2025, Ms. Ryn received another report of alleged misconduct by Alexander Forsyth.
“He allegedly burst into one of the private gaming rooms, sat on the arm of the gaming master’s chair, partially on her lap, and hugged her in front of the customer table.”
Lawyers for Mr Forsyth, the consultant in defense of the claim, and Ms Wilson, the 1.94m actress and stuntwoman, paint a different picture.
They claim the female DM’s hugging complaint was “fabricated by Mr. Farr and Ms. Ryn, who worked together to oust Alexander Forsyth from the company” for the purpose of a “hostile takeover.”
The bar staff incident was also denied; Mr Forsyth claimed Ms Ryn had previously told him the complaint “had no substance”.
Lawyers for Mr Forsyth and Ms Wilson say they were physically barred from entering the clubhouse after acrimonious negotiations over the allegations, and when they “wanted to return to their duties” they were “unlawfully prevented from doing so”.
The couple’s lawyers said that on May 28 Ms Ryn “made a fake 999 call reporting a risk of disturbance at the venue. When Ms Ryn and Keiran Farr arrived at the venue they became extremely hostile. Keiran Farr hired a locksmith who changed the locks.”
Ms Ryn said Mr Forsyth then removed himself from control of the business manager’s accounts and finances, causing the company to lose around £100,000, including around £32,000 from Mr Forsyth’s dismissal.
“Mr. Forsyth deliberately acted to sabotage Arcadia’s finances by allowing debts to accumulate and failing to pay them even though funds were available… Arcadia’s reputation and credit score were adversely affected by the defendants’ actions,” the company’s attorneys said.
Mr Forsyth and Ms Wilson say they own 46% of the shares in the company, have put up £46,000 in start-up capital and have “devoted significant labor and expertise to their business”.
They also say the furniture and equipment at the club, worth around £10,000, belonged to them and that Ms Ryn and Mr Farr “wrongfully took possession of it by changing the locks”.
Their lawyers say any money they received from the business “was an executive loan to secure a portion of that sum and maintain the company account.”
“Any losses to the business resulted from the unlawful actions of Ms. Ryn and Mr. Farr,” their lawyers said.
Ms Ryn’s position is that she owns and always has owned all the shares in the company.
The warring couples were due to face each other in court for the first time at a hearing in Mayors and City District Court earlier this month; Through the company, Ms. Ryn was attempting to force her ex-wife and her new wife to give up access and control of the company’s financial information and records.
But after a tense morning of courtroom negotiations, the two sides agreed on the issue and met over the next two months with the aim of resolving the remainder of the dispute through mediation.
If they fail to do so, they will face each other in court next year.
