THE GAUNTLET

The Gauntlet Blog

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
    • The Gauntlet Podcast
    • Discern Realities
    • +1 Forward >
      • Belonging Outside Belonging Series
    • Fear of a Black Dragon
    • The Farrier's Bellows
    • Trophy Podcast
    • Pocket-Sized Play
    • We Hunt the Keepers!
    • Comic Strip AP
    • Podcast Indexes >
      • Gauntlet Podcast Index
      • Fear of a Black Dragon Index
      • +1 Forward Index
      • Discern Realities Index
      • Trophy Podcast Index
      • The Farrier's Bellows Index
      • Pocket-Sized Play Index
      • Comic Strip AP Index
      • We Hunt the Keepers! Index
  • Publications
    • Codex Magazine
    • Hearts of Wulin
    • Trophy RPG
    • Codex Volume 1 Book
  • Online Gaming
    • Playing Online with The Gauntlet
    • Gauntlet Calendar
    • Gauntlet Community Open Gaming
    • Online Gaming Resources
  • Community Resources
    • Community Code of Conduct
    • Gauntlet Gameway
    • Play Issues and Contact
    • Sign Up Best Practices
  • Trophy Gold Incursion Contest

2/28/2019

Signal Boost: Roleplaying Games in the Classroom Trenches, Part One

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Many Gauntleteers maintain personal blogs with amazing, creative, cutting-edge content. This post is the first in our new Signal Boost series, highlighting community content that we love.
​
By Robbie Boerth, Keeper of the Feast of Fallen Stones

Originally Posted to Robbie's Ludoverse Blog. on December 27, 2018.

Periodically, I run across blog posts and articles waxing poetic about the educational value of RPGs and about how they should be used in the classroom. While I’m sympathetic to such articles, they’ve typically suffered from being thick on the idealism side of the scale and thin on the practical, “rubber-hits-the-road” side. Gamers can point out a LARP school in Denmark, and we can learn from those experiences, but a 90-student boarding efterskole is a far cry from your bustling high school in the United States.

What follows here is a work-in-progress report from the front lines of teaching in America. Rather than extolling the potential of RPGs in the classroom, I want to zoom in on some actual experiences, take stock of what I’ve learned, and point the way to future prospects. For ease of reading, I’m breaking the report into three separate posts:
  • Part 1 The challenge
  • Part 2: The experiment
  • Part 3: The club
From my vantage point, the classroom provides a vast, unexplored territory for RPGs, which makes it both exciting and daunting from a game design standpoint. It is so very easy to talk about the educational merit of RPGs: They can provide an immersive experience in a way that reading a book or listening to a lecture cannot; they can involve creative problem-solving on a sophisticated level; they can help to develop the players’ powers of imagination; and the list goes on. If we can figure out how to design RPGs that are accessible to teachers and that enrich the classroom experience, we would uncover a new path to reach and educate students; further, these games in turn would encounter a largely untapped audience of young minds eager for enriching experiences which few other art forms can rival.

Lest we get carried away, it might be best to begin with our feet grounded in reality first. Let me play the devil’s advocate and give you just five reasons why your typical roleplaying game is NOT a good fit for the classroom.
  • Most roleplaying games are designed for small, intimate groups typically ranging from three to six players. The high school classroom is usually much larger. In my school (a private prep school), I’m working with around eighteen students on average, and in some high schools the number can easily be thirty to thirty-five students.
  • In the classroom, students are not volunteering to play the game. I teach English, which is a required core subject. My students have not chosen to be in my course; they are in there first and foremost because it is a graduation requirement.
  • Roleplaying games involve intrinsic motivation, and the goal of play is typically created by the gamemaster and the players. By contrast, because of the setup of the educational systems, students are motivated above all by grades and assessments.
  • The vast majority of students are new to roleplaying games, so the entire experience is one that requires careful guidance, regulation, and advice.
  • The typical class lasts somewhere from forty-five minutes (on a regular schedule) to ninety minutes (on a “block” schedule). The actual time for play is actually going to be less once you take into account attendance, announcements, and other matters of the daily routine. By contrast, a typical roleplaying game session lasts from three to four hours.

To state the obvious: Most roleplaying games are explicitly NOT created for the classroom environment. In fact, there is much about the usual design of these games that makes them foreign—even antithetical— to that kind of context. Imagine forcing a group of twenty-five self-conscious adolescents to play Dungeons and Dragons with minimal instruction during a forty-five minute session in a class where they are getting a grade. I would need a 10th level barbarian just to maintain order!

So how does one confront this challenge?

During the final stretch of the fall semester, I ran an original roleplaying game based on the Anglo-Saxon world of Beowulf in my ninth grade English classes (three-sections worth).

I decided quite early that I had to rely upon my own inventiveness and forge my own path. There are some games like Diplomacy and Microscope which can be effectively modified for the classroom, but those games are few and far between. Moreover, I, as a teacher in a core subject, have specific content and curriculum requirements that I must meet, and my classroom activities need to work in conjunction with my educational objectives. I knew that I would be teaching the Old English epic Beowulf sometime in the middle of the year, and I felt that text would offer some rich material for a roleplaying and problem-solving game for my students. Yes, games inspired by Beowulf do exist, but none of those are appropriate for classroom use. So I devoted part of my summer to designing an original game—one that could address the special demands of the classroom and breathe some new life into the Old English epic.

I’m happy to share the full rules of my work-in-progress, titled Becoming Beowulf, to interested parties (just ask!), but, to keep things short, here is the basic outline of the game:
  • Students are divided into Anglo-Saxon tribes, each of which is ruled by a king.
  • The tribes have traits (Treasure, Resources, Mead-Hall, Loyalty, Strength, Will) which they can draw upon to deal with various crises. The values of these traits fluctuate during the game.
  • The gamemaster (called Wyrd in the game) reads a card detailing a problem which each tribe must deal with. The groups then retreat to their mead-halls to discuss how they will face the situation. This involves allocating trait points to the task and framing up a scene where they will roleplay some aspect of the tribe’s response.
  • Based upon their response, their point allocation, and their roleplaying, each tribe builds a dice pool. A dice roll then figures prominently into the outcome of the crisis. Tribes accumulate points of Doom and Fame as a result of these resolutions. In addition, they can lose or gain points to their traits.
  • Occasionally, tribe members are eliminated due to battle, hardship, or other nasty events. Those students become members of the monstrous Grendelkin tribe. This tribe can then use the other tribes’ Doom points against them to spoil their efforts to deal with the crises they face.

The game design aims at creating a rhythm: Students spend some intense minutes in their smaller tribes discussing and planning their response to a crisis, and then the entire class comes together to watch the framed scenes and to determine the outcome. It also works to keep students active: No one is ever eliminated from the game, and the small size of the tribes means that everyone can play a vital role.

I initially thought I would use this game alongside our reading of Beowulf or as a fun post-reading activity. The more I thought about the game, however, the more I feared that students would be swayed by the epic and simply replay the responses and events of that narrative. I didn’t want the game to turn into a shallow practice in imitation.

So I zagged: My students played Becoming Beowulf as a preparation to reading the text itself (which will occur in a couple weeks at the start of the second semester). Now, when students encounter the epic, they will read about situations which they previously faced as players in the game. Often, they are going to discover that the characters and tribes in the epic took very different approaches than the solutions tried out in Becoming Beowulf. That should open up some rich discussions about the strategic, cultural, and dramatic situations that factored into those differences.

In a traditional book, the path of the narrative is set by the author and the reader has no choice but to follow along. But the open-ended nature of the roleplaying game means that the players can explore alternative pathways, and these can give them some valuable alternative perspectives when analyzing narratives. I will be heavily exploiting this resource in the coming weeks. When, for example, we read about Hrothgar offering asylum Beowulf’s outcast father, my students will not see this act of charity as given or inevitable, for they will have already explored different ways in which a tribe might deal with a foreign fugitive seeking help. That, at least, is the idea.

How did Becoming Beowulf fare on the actual field of battle? For that assessment, please visit Robbie's blog for Part 2: The Experiment and much more insightful content.


Share

0 Comments

2/27/2019

Age of Ravens: City of Gauntlets

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
CITY OF SPLENDORS
This weekend we did a session of Microscope aimed at crafting a fantasy city. I've used that game several times to create campaign frames and settings. (And I've even talked about it on this blog before). This time we focused on creating a high fantasy urban landscape, with an eye to returning to it later to develop further. Recent classic fantasy city products inspired me: Almbrecht After Dark, Spire, The Streets of Avalon, and Umberwell. Our session used the "Territory Not Time” Variant from Microscope Explorer. We had five players, including myself and it took about 2 1/2 hours. 

BASIC PREMISES
We started with a few guidelines I'd put together: 
  • The setting is high fantasy, meaning a relatively high level of magic, gods, monsters, etc. Think Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Anglekite, etc.
  • It has multiple fantasy peoples, including the classics (Elves, Dwarves, etc), but exactly what they’re like is open.
  • In the future we may return to the city to do a “low-magic” version. By that I mean an earlier or later period in time when magic and the supernatural are fairly rare or constrained. Think Blades in the Dark, Lamentations, The Witcher, etc. So the setting itself should allow for that kind of change.
With that in mind, we talked about the kinds of Themes and Concepts we want to see at the table. These could be big things we wanted for the city (like it’s flying or it’s in the heart of a volcano or the kinds of stories we wanted to explore):
  • Density
  • What it takes to do magic
  • Old built on the bones of different civilizations-- old and new adjacent
  • Diversity-- structural reasons-- feature
  • Class struggle
  • Fringe science and magic
  • Intelligent creatures-- non-humanoid peoples
For the next collaborative part, we built a palette. Tomer Gurantz has a great post about the general utility of this concept. This part helped us focus our ideas as a group.

Picture
THINGS TO ADD:
  • Multiple Realities
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Magical Infrastructure
  • Build Tall
  • Lots of Dragons
  • World is old
THINGS TO BAN:
  • Essentialist view of races 
  • One Evil Threat 
  • Slavery
  • Hereditary King
  • City itself as colonialist force
With those shared segments done, we moved into the individual turns and rounds. For each round, the lead player, called The Lens, chose a theme. Things added in the round were loosely related to this theme. Then the Lens added one or two elements to the city. Then in turn order each player added something else. When play returned to the Lens, they had the chance to add one more element. Lastly, the player who went just before the Lens came up with an important Faction, Faith, or Group for the city. 

The City play has three levels, nested like this:
  • Neighborhood (a section of the city, like the thieves’ quarter or the market)
  • Location/Feature (a tavern, fountain, underground ruins)
  • Rumor/Person (stories which may or may not be true, important NPCs)
We did five structured rounds with these themes:
ROUND ONE:  Cohesion
ROUND TWO: Magical and Fringe Science
ROUND THREE: High Society
ROUND FOUR: Artificial Intelligence
ROUND FIVE: The Gods
Then we did three free play rounds where everyone added one more detail. 

Picture
THE CITY ITSELF
The Third Bazaar
A sprawling open- and closed-air market. It has been burnt down and rebuilt three times.
Tungsten’s Anvil: Renowned metalsmithy
  • Tungbern & Morsten: Dorf Tungbern, a dwarf, and Sprakle Morsten, a gnome, formed a partnership to smith the finest, most intricate silverware.
The Fire House: A tower of food stalls within the bazaar. Full of many cultures' fare. Has openings at upper levels for fly-thru service.
  • Quirm, God of Indulgence: This god wandered the mortal plane for eons searching for earthly delights before finding satisfaction within the Fire House. He has now taken up residence there. He has shining golden skin, a round belly, and a cheerful disposition.
The King’s Watch: Self-proclaimed oldest tavern in the city, made up to look like older building styles. More artifice than reality.
The Gilded Basin: Auction house that specializes in selling old artifacts, both period pieces from the city’s history or magical artifacts that still contain a bit of their power. It's frequented by rich collectors and the poor who want to turn their lives around.
  • The Auctioneer, Abel-1: An artificial being with Brass coverings, wooden and floral components, and some moss in there. Unknown how they came to sentience. Speaks calmly but can also speak unintelligibly quickly.

Finders Quarter
In a city this dense, you need people who locate people and things. Specialized tracking and scrying services can be found here. 
Lunarium: A stable portal to the moon, used for trade and immigration.
  • Moon is dying and no one knows what’s wrong with it. (Rumor)
  • There’s a secret group in the city who want to build their own moon. (Rumor)
  • The Interstellar: A singular being who watches over and maintains the moon portal. No one is sure how old they are or where they came from, but they have advice and opinions aplenty!
Gaunt Trackers: Since the magical gravity of the city keeps spirits from leaving, souls have to be manually transported outside. This agency specializes in finding lost souls and ghosts.
  • They aren’t actually moving souls/ghosts out of the city, but reanimating them to complete the Underdark. (Rumor)
Crystal Hounds: Spell trackers who can tell you if you have been “magicked”
The Mirror Board: A magical "job" board which moves around. Those looking to hire someone for a suspect job can anonymously post a task. Adventurers and mercenaries who go there will be shown jobs which fit with their talents.

Underdark
A new sewer system being built out underneath the city. Underground but also with excavations reaching up into the streets above. 
The Empty Space: A void room wherein one can perform whatever magic they want and have it be undetectable. Moves around a lot, heavily contested, and newly visible thanks to the new sewer system being built.
  • The Void Hag: She brokers with visitors who stumble upon the Empty Space so that they may use its powers. Beware a deal made with the Void Hag!
The Spare Space: A refuge for broken, rejected, or lost AIs who otherwise don’t feel they have a place in the city. Most do not know of this place, though the space has agents seeking out AI above ground to help them out. Could be a conflict if the sewer excavation moves through here.
The Sleeping Space: Some gods who fall to earth tire of their existence. They come here, to a mausoleum of tombs filled with sleeping gods.

The Aerie
A roost for any and all creatures who want a place to live in the sky. It absorbs lightning through rods to hold itself aloft.
High Garden: A large impractical space set aside for hedges, flowers, and fountains. Technically a public area, but aggressively policed by elitist rangers and arcane rules.
  • Lemma the Cirrocumulus: A massive cloud dragon curled around the Aerie and resting in High Garden. Likes being struck by lightning. Very aloof and prefers the quiet respect of the gardens. 
Storm Riderz: The academy for the city's police force. Members must be able to fly and thus most come from noble or rich families, or they're creatures who can naturally fly.
  • Kell & Crimson: Unique amongst the snooty Storm Riderz are the folk heroes Kel the halfling and Crimson the ruby wyvern. They fight crime!

Picture
Angel’s Row
The oldest district in the city, with buildings that date to the city’s earliest conception. Only the rich and powerful live here. It has a museum-like feel due to all the preservation happening.
Seknova's Statue: The wealthy can pay to incarnate neighborhood spirits to watch over and protect their neighborhoods. Seknova's the oldest of these and well on the way to senility. Locals have begun building a new statue to replace and usurp the aged spirit.
  • The Architect: a god who pushed their consciousness into a crystal and then “reawoke” as a crystal intelligence. It is building a statue to replace Seknova in order to create a cult to themselves and reclaim their place in the current pantheon.
Court of Unfaith: Old institution which trains the Faithless Paladins, a group which patrols and limits the powers and activities of fallen gods outside of Godspyre. They patrol and bind dieties who overstep their authority. 
  • Servitor Undallon: A senior Paladin who wields the spirits of gods as weapons, though she cloaks it as "magic". People have often reported seeing her in multiple places at once.
The Upright Sorcerers’ Office: Have you seen all of those posters around town decrying various forms of magic? This is where they come from. Don’t worry, the contact information is listed on every piece of propaganda.

Wizardport
For some a destination, for many a place to call home, Wizardport sits on a well-trafficked ley-line and caters to the magical beings of the city.
The Crystal Cavern: Some magicians uncovered the secret to unlocking crystalline intelligence. By organizing and refracting the structure within a crystal, a magician can unleash the sentience within. With the aid of technological devices a crystal can communicate and move about of its own free will.
  • Never: The first crystalline intelligence awoken. It serves as a repository of ancient memories and pet/mascot to the Crystal Cavern. Has a hard time sorting through their ancient memories and the ones they’ve made since. Very sad.
The Memorious College: Part philosopher’s club, part practical school looking into memories. They extract thoughts and recollections from brains donated to them and try to divine how they’re made.
  • There’s a new drug going around that is made from extracted memories. (Rumor)
The Rambler: An AI magic/techno public transport that ferries people about the city. It can be very unpredictable and often takes passengers to crazy places.
The Drowned Palace: A massive pool connected to an underwater manor. That in turn leads to a tunnel out into the ocean. It offers an access point for undersea people and creatures. Crafted by Chamjask, a lost god of the undertow.

Redtooth Town
A neighborhood which has accumulated large numbers of non-humanoid peoples. There they can associate with their fellows and local businesses are tailored to their needs. The population includes familiars, machines, uplifted monsters, etc.
The Tower To Heaven: Massive, impossible tree that grows in the middle of a square. It is impossible in the sense that from it blooms a bevy of flowers and fruits that normally wouldn’t bloom from the same place.
The Elf’s Ear: An explorer and naturalists’ club where you can find hastily drawn maps, rumors of distant geographic features, and the hot gossip on this summer’s best hiking trails.

Godspyre
When pantheons get thrown down, the gods can either fade away or plummet to the world. In the city, this is where those fallen gods gather-- a divine slum.
The Invisible Temple: A scam college run by fallen gods. They claim to teach forbidden secrets. Most people know it's bad news, but newcomers often get conned. 
  • Trevin: An AI who does a "Tour of the Gods," but is actually gathering intel for The Relinquished.
The Brass Theatre: Artist space for folks seeking the favor of fallen gods that don’t want to debase themselves running scams on people. Combination temple and performance center.
  • Jax Thirdeye: An orcish artist whose method involves entering a drug-fueled fugue state and painting graven images of formless gods.
The Black Gate: A underground nexus in Godspyre where faded gods of the underworld gather to watch over their respective realms. It’s an antechamber from which lead of tunnels/gateways into different realms of the dead.

Picture
FACTIONS/GROUPS
The Outland Taverns: Inns near the city's various gates. They offer a stopping point for newcomers from different regions. Previous emigres help those from their homelands.
Ozone: Cult that worships an aspect of lightning; obsessed with the Aerie’s lightning rod array. They're called “Whips” derisively because they float around the Aerie on stormy days hoping to be struck by lightning (which makes a whip cracking sound, etc.)
The Menders: A group of elemental spirits and creatures that go about the city repairing old structures and adding flora to the city. If you have enough money you may be able to convince them to beautify your area of town.
The Relinquished: Thieves guild made exclusively of artificial intelligences of all species. They act as consulting criminals to other groups but secretly want to prove their existence by building their own god.
The Union of Specific Deities: An organization of deities with very narrow and specific domains that, individually, have few practitioners but when gathered together form a powerful faction within the city.
Haunters of the Final Hour: Group which believes that the city's time has come and now it needs to collapse and be reborn again. They work to disrupt order and create chaos. Their agents wear alabaster animal masks marked with spirals. 

THROUGH THE GATES
We had one of the best sessions of Microscope I've ever played. I've done it before online with success, but this felt stronger. The players listened to one another and built on ideas. Surprisingly, online participation brings something f2f doesn't. Microscope doesn't have many rules, but a crucial one is no kibitzing on another player's turn. You can ask for clarifications after they've added elements, but the game gives each player space during their turn, without outside judgement or influence.

That rule works IMHO. At the table it adds weight to everyone's work and declaration. It keeps one player from driving things and gives equal spotlight to shy players. But it also makes for long, awkward silences. When we play f2f I keep lots of snacks on the table. We redirect our desire to jump in over to eating. In our online session, however, the players used the chat in Hangouts to discuss ideas while a player worked. It offered a lively space and kept the group's energy and excitement up. The active player could easily work without that distracting. You can see our video of the session here, though it doesn't include the chat...​​

WHAT'S NEXT?
The players noted at the session's end that we didn't come up with a name for The City. I'll probably crowdsource that on The Gauntlet. As I mentioned at the top, I'd like to do a future Microscope session covering the history of the city or the world. It'd also be fun to have a session adding on to this after having some time to reflect. Finally, I'll probably run something set in this city. I'd like to explore its streets further and I'm considering systems. I want something that handles high fantasy, but has room for social interaction and issues. My current thinking is to reskin The Veil. We'll see.

My Other Microscope Constructed Campaigns
  • Shadow of the Titan 
  • The Last Fleet
  • The Hunts Begin
  • Guards of Abashan
  • Invasions: Earth!
  • The Road to Doubtfall
  • Grey Reign
  • Spirals, Songs, and Summons  
  • City Building for VirtuaCon 2015
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

2/22/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - February 22, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup! Listed below are links to recorded sessions of online games played under the Gauntlet Hangouts banner and other games organized through the Gauntlet online RPG community. These recorded sessions represent only a small part of the giant selection of games available every week, and anyone can join in the fun! Details on how to become a part of the community are listed at the end of the post.

Star Wars Saturday

Hutt Cartel (Session 1 of 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Alun R., Sabine V., Steven Watkins, and Walter German
Lilhali, the blood-drenched Druglord of Coruscant Sector 1313, tries to thwart the ISB raid on her Jawa minions. Her assassin brother is sent to do the dirty deed of murdering a rat, while the Cook races to help his clan and the Crooked ISB Agent looks for advantages and angles.

Gauntlet Sunday

Cryptomancer (Session 3 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Bryan, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
The team begin their work, pulling two criminal organizations apart at the seams via deception, information leaks, and glitter bombs.

TGI Thursday

Forbidden Lands (Session 3 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alejandro, Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, and Steven Watkins
After prowling around town, the group heads to explore out a nearby tower. On arrival, an irate ent tells them of a "bad tree" and the group fights their way through sonorous invisible beasts.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: A New Generation (Session 8)
Lowell Francis runs for Kurt Potts, Simon Landreville, Steven desJardins, and Tyler Lominack
Consequences arrive at the team's doorstep, as Sara faces her vigilante father and Odd Ball evades being sent back in time, after a battle gone wrong the group looks for a victory only to walk into a trap set by the Yokai's master.

Gauntlet Comics

Urban Shadows: Coven Prime (Session 3 of 4)
Jim Crocker runs for Alexi S., Misha B, Peter Mazzeo, and Sarah J.
Our love letter to the Vertigo Heroes of the 90s continues!

1%er Supers (Session 2 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Chris Newton, Luiz Ferraz, Sherri, and Tim Osburn
The Scovile Scourge deal with problems at their jobs as well as a werewolf. You know, like you do.

1%er Supers (Session 3 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Chris Newton, Luiz Ferraz, Sherri, and Tim Osburn

The Gaunt Marches

Freebooters on the Frontier: In Search of Adventure (Session 3 of 3)
Horst Wurst runs for Asbjørn Flø, Chris Challice, Christo Meid, and Paul Spraget
The wizard's cabin - floating past the Crabmen - a letter to Alamakaz - a vision of caves and towers - the salted corpse.

Game Facilitator Camp

Monster of the Week: Protect & Survive: Casefile Ripon
Alun R. runs for Michael Mendoza and Tyler Lominack
Alun's inaugural Gauntlet Hangout as part of "Game Facilitator Camp Blinkdog." One of Her Majesty's Pursuivants, along with a flaky "irregular," investigate a pattern of unusual events in a Yorkshire market town...

Gauntlet Hangouts

Monsterhearts 2: St Osana's School for Boys (Session 3 of 4)
David Morrison runs for Alex, Leandro Pondoc, Mike, and Sawyer Rankin
While Callum recovers from his injuries, we meet Lysander's friend Shawn the Infernal. Shawn introduces Lysander to the object of his obsession, seemingly oblivious to Lysander's own. Emmett digs deep into the dark heart of the school. And Adrian's portrayal of Juliet ends in tragedy.

Best Friends
Donogh runs for Diana Moon, Philipp Neitzel, Rich Rogers, and Steven desJardins
Dragging Kendra away from the books for her birthday in the hot new Club Nine with her (mostly) Best Friends.

Monsterhearts 2: Absolutely (Session 4 of 4)
Donogh runs for Alun R., Eike K., and Walter German
The tension between Marie-Antoinette and Louis breaks into a public argument, but Father Jean intervenes to curry favour with the Queen and gain intelligence on the Cardinals intentions towards Spain. Jean-Baptiste swoops in to save the King from a fainting spell, while Lorenzo spies a connection between Baron de Montfort and the Doctor. But events are taking on a life of their own and all are punished.

Good Society: Belligerence & Benevolence (Session 2 of 4)
Catherine Ramen runs for Darold Ross, Leandro Pondoc, Richard Ruane, and Seraphina Malizia
In the second part of our Tolstoyan Good Society game, Nikolai is called back to the colors; Andrei and Boris join the army; Sveta and Vasya grow closer; winter falls on a sorrowful St. Petersburg; and Napoleon wins the Battle of Austerlitz.

Spire: The Kings of Silver (Session 7 of 12)
Darren Brockes runs for Brett WH, Fraser Simons, Leandro Pondoc, and Rich Rogers
Has the Spire ever seen such a glamorous party? The suspended aquarium, the animated origami, the It Girl herself...all of the Silver Quarter held their breath, just waiting to see what she would do! Content warning: The last hour has a scene where an NPC is forced to drink magical alcohol.

The Woodlands: Pokémon Rescue Team (Session 2 of 4)
Luiz Ferraz runs for Asher S., Jen, and Noella H
Little Tooth, the female Nidoran, investigates the mysterious explosion at the teamer party with an old friend and their protege. A major conspiracy starts to surface as the townsfolk start growing unruly.

Dialect: Forbidden Children
Leandro Pondoc runs for Bryan, Pat P., and Stentor Danielson
In the dumping ground known as The Yard, children thrive. Though they may have lost their parents, they yearn to make their mark by using The Yard to create art that expresses who they are. But no Isolation lasts for too long as those in the Greyout seek to impose themselves on these forbidden children.

The White Hack: Longwinter (Session 3 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Bethany H., Darold Ross, Jesse A., and Sam Z.
A Vulpine Cadet, a series of fraught interrogations, domestic breaking and entering, and the discovery of the Wolffolk’s plot to survive Whitewinter’s wrath.

Gothic Society: A Study in Onyx (Session 3 of 4)
Gene A. runs for Agatha, Peter Mazzeo, Ryan M., and Sarah J.
A confrontation in the sanitarium. Opium. A brutal knifing. The Countess seeks to summon her dead husband from the grave. Mr. Blakely breaks with his father over the Viscount. The long-dead Crowmore is seen. BFFLs clash.

The Warren: Bunnies Down Under (Session 1 of 3)
Stentor Danielson runs for David L., James L., Josh, Robbie Boerth, and Sarah J.

The Warren: Bunnies Down Under (Session 2 of 3)
Stentor Danielson runs for David L., Josh, Noella H, Robbie Boerth, and Sarah J.

The Warren: Bunnies Down Under (Session 3 of 3)
Stentor Danielson runs for David L., James L., Josh, Robbie Boerth, and Sarah J.

Spire: A Disease of Language (Session 2 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Diana Moon, and Jim Crocker
As Phyrrus departs to pursue his own inquiries, our crew begin to earnestly track down the dream of Revolution, finding that it has ensnared in its grip the decayed aelfir district that is Ivory Row. Elifet puts his athletics to the test, Jezz'zara winkles her way through the aelfir nobility and Ixel acquires some Bliss.

Spire: A Disease of Language (Session 3 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Diana Moon, Jim Crocker, and Stephen
The crew has been invited to the court of Lady Theryn Thorns-On-Silk only to find a veritable hive of dysfunction as Revolution continues to snake through Ivory Row's crumbling halls. Elifet acts cool in ridiculous circumstances, Jez'zara manages to lift up an oppressed one, Ixel parties and performs like no one else can and Phyrrus begins his descent towards demonology.

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 3 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Ludovico Alves, Moisés, and Rob Ruthven
Amidst half of the Newspaper/Detention Club going AWOL, along with having to deal with the scientist teacher/killbot AI from the future run amok, a returning old friend and a fellow classmate trying to keep his cool force Michael and Kasey to confront their own fractured selves. L0K1 basks in his newfound celebrity, Eclipse gets a taste of what it's like to be a hero, Kseniya tries to split the difference between Kasey and Regicide and Freak beckons.

Monster of the Week: I've Got You Under My Skin
Tyler Lominack runs for Alex, Patrick Knowles, Ryan M., and Sarah J.
On Feb 23rd, 1988, as the cast of "Born to Dance" for the Cincinnati Music Hall prepared for opening night, a snowstorm left them stranded in the theater. Over the next 2 days they encountered horror beyond human scope. Bloody murder ensues!!

Other Games

Weighting Rooms
Robbie Boerth facilitates for Jim Crocker, Ryan M., and Sarah J.
Playtest of Weighting Rooms, a meditative story game about recovering memories, forging relationships, building a world, and weighing souls.

Dead Friend: Friendship Bracelet
Barry facilitates for Ben Swinden
Nathanael discovers a kind of magic when his friend Hannah joins him on his family's Christmas vacation. Hannah's family moves away and she rediscovers some of that magic after moving back home as an adult.

Our Mundane Supernatural Life
Barry facilitates for Peter Mazzeo
Sal the retired hearth elemental and his roommate Dr. Collins the history professor celebrate the good doctor getting tenure while their apartment building has renovation work done.

Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 7)
Pat P. runs for Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, Kurai, Lu Quade, and Roxanne
Kiamat and Maggot arrive to search the ruins. Skive is star struck. Magic amazes Jonah.

Check out all the great videos on The Gauntlet YouTube channel and be sure check out the playlists to catch up on all your favorite games. If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Hangouts Google+ Community where new games are announced! To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon at https://patreon.com/gauntlet. All are welcome to play Gauntlet Hangouts games, and Patreon supporters have extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events are announced like Gauntlet Games Now. Enjoy, and everyone have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments

2/21/2019

Age of Ravens: History of Licensed RPGs (Part IV 1990-92)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
GAMING THE SYSTEM
On my previous list I examined board games' untapped potential as rpg properties. Today I consider a media which has been tapped, with mixed success, Video Games. We've seen a D&D Diablo Sourcebook, an Everquest rpg, Dragon Age, and the recent Witcher game. Fallout, as you may know, started as a GURPS adaptation before the companies parted ways. Most TTRPG adaptations of video games have been fan hacks (like the Mass Effect game that briefly had an ENnie nomination). Plenty of rpgs which echo games without naming them (MajiMonsters, Fight! The Fighting Game RPG).

Picture
So what video game properties could do with an official RPG adaptation? 
  • Overwatch: I don't know much about this game beyond what I've picked up from webcomics. But I like the character designs and it's clear there's an interesting story behind it. Years ago Rob Donohue asked Origins attendees what kind of game would emulate Overwatch and I still don't know the answer. 
  • Monster Hunter: I know we've seen a couple of mega-monster slaying rpgs Kickstart recently, but I'd love an official adaptation which pulls in the years of lore from this game. I fear it would have to be a crunchy resource management game. Maybe they could adapt Torchbearer?
  • The Atelier Series: Magical girl alchemy labs. I've worked on a couple of hacks of this concept without great success. Like MH above there's good deal of resource management necessary to capture the feel of the game. I've been thinking it could work as a one-on-one rpg. 
  • Horizon Zero Dawn: One of a large category of "I can't play it but I love the world" games. It looks so cool. Imagine an official Apocalypse World hack for this. Well, maybe not that but you know what I mean. 
  • Valkyrie Profile: A game in which you harvest the souls of your NPCs, train them up, and then send them on to Valhalla, all while exploring the trauma, sorrows, and tragedies of their past lives. It could be fantasy Monsterhearts with a rotating cast.
  • Thief: The Dark Project: Just get it over with and give John Harper the license to adapt Blades in the Dark to this.
  • Mario Golf: Don't @ me. If Rich Rogers can have his dream baseball rpg (The Bat Hack), I want one that simulates my favorite sport. Alternately I would accept a Mario Kart rpg which simulates the stress and strain of the Sunshine Cup Circuit.

Picture
REREBOOTING
This list focuses on products which adapt novels, movies, video games, or comic books. I’ll generally restrict myself to official licenses. My comments offer a mix of context, commentary, description, and review. If you see something I’ve missed from 1990 to 1992, please tell me in the comments.
​

PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
​History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part III 1986-1989)
History of Universal RPGs

History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Cyberpunk RPGs

History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
Samurai RPGs

Picture
Buck Rogers XXVc  (1990)
I grew up with Buck Rogers as a major, terrible influence. Even as a kid I knew it wasn't good TV, but I still watched the Space Nosferatu episode. The show combined cheap FX and inconsistent world building. The movie is slightly better, with a particularly harrowing scene of Rogers going into the wasteland ruins of Old Chicago. But the post-apocalyptic plot vanished quickly. I'd written off that sequence as a weird choice, but those elements frame the original stories. But you wouldn't know that from the Buck Rogers XXVc rpg which emphasizes space battles, high tech equipment, and a clean design that only slightly harkens back to the original. It mentions a devastated and recovering earth, but that's second fiddle to SPACE!

When this version of Buck R flopped, TSR went back to the well with High Adventure Cliffhangers: The Buck Rogers Adventure Game (1993). That leaned into the original's pulpy look and feel. Where the first rpg borrowed from AD&D, the second took a lighter approach. It returned to the original Buck Rogers premise. Instead of an interplanetary Martian enemy, we have the Han Empire. America has been destroyed and various gangs battle over it. The Han have emerged from Asia to seize control-- full-on Yellow Peril. Again the line flopped; TSR only published the core set and a single supplement. War Against the Han. I like the idea of a pulp post-apocalypse game- with unrealistic depictions of radiation and a dieselpunk aesthetic. That might be worth exploring if you flipped the colonial and racist elements. 

The elephant in the room when talking about Buck Rogers is Lorraine Williams. Williams took over TSR in 1986. You can see discussion of that in "The Ambush at Sheridan Springs" and Designers & Dragons' overview of the company. The important thing to recognize is that Williams personally held the rights to Buck Rogers. That explains the hype for the setting across TSR in the early 1990's, including both board and role-playing games. She pushed the company to publish these products and TSR in turn paid her family royalties.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (1990)
A game ahead of its time...not necessarily in mechanics (it had GDW's trademark crunch), but for its whimsy and subject matter. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs licensed the comic Xenozoic Tales which ran across several publishers from '87 to '96. C&D saw a heavy push across multiple media including trading cards, video games, and a cartoon show. In the future, humanity escapes a ravaged Earth by building underground. After six centuries they return to the surface to find it overrun with once-extinct life forms. Now they must survive in this fallen world with only limited and rudimentary technology. It’s post-apocalypse mixed with pulp and dinosaurs. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs remains one of the brighter and more upbeat apocalypse games published. Survival's still an issue, but there's an equally potent sense of fun. 

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs did badly for several reasons. First, the license built on a thin comic book basis with only a dozen or so issues. Second, GDW never seriously supported the line. Third, while the setting might be light and pulpy, the system isn't. Instead it builds on the tactical mechanics of Twilight 2000-- not the best fit. It's a single 144 page book, but it packs a ton in including a host of rules for multiple combat problems and situations. While the T2K system doesn't kill it, it doesn't help. I suspect even a fast and furious system (like say Savage Worlds) would have had an equally uphill battle grabbing market share with this concept.

Picture
GURPS (1990-1992)
I sometimes give SJG guff for odd licenses choices. That continues here.
 

GURPS Uplift (1990): David Brin's sci-fi universe had only three books to it when this released, with one of them tangentially related. The concept of "uplift" refers to a species raising up other species to full sentience and advanced technology (Dolphins are key cast members in Startide Rising). It's fairly hard sci-fi, something GURPS loves. The book leans more to mechanics than setting. A chunk of this material would be reused in later GURPS Space supplements. 

GURPS Bunnies & Burrows (1992): IMHO well in the running for the worst cover art of a GURPS supplement. SJG licensed GURPS versions of a handful of other rpgs, but G:B&B was first. While it's good to see a classic that inspired many early rpg gamers return, it's not clear a pseudo-Watership Down rpg needs the simulationist sensibilities of GURPS. 

GURPS Callahan's (1992): An old school sci-fi trope had characters in bars ruminating on problems and solving them. You can find these stories in Asimov, Clarke, and Niven. Callahan's based on several short story collections by Spider Robinson about the eponymous establishment. Your enjoyment depends on how much you dig whimsy and how much you want to inflict that on players. 

Stormbringer (1990)
The fourth edition of this game based on Michael Moorcock's albino anti-hero. This version makes a few changes, notably retooling the demon summoning and creation rules (one of the cooler aspects of the original game). Otherwise this edition is more about reorganization and incorporation. The previous edition had added elements from the Stormbringer Companion and this one remixes that. Just three years later, Chaosium tried again with this license, this time renaming the game Elric! to signify major changes to the system. Elric! still used Basic Roleplaying, but they retooled elements of magic, skills, combat, and character generation. It received the most sustained support of any edition of the game. Confusingly, Chaosium reprinted and expanded these rules in 2001, but changed the name back to Stormbringer.  

Picture
Aliens Adventure Game (1991)
Based on the second movie in the franchise from 1986, this rpg focused on tactical combat. That's not surprising as it came from the publisher of Phoenix Command and offered a slightly simplified version of that complex beast. It's difficult to describe Phoenix Command without it seeming like a parody today-- stark layout, masses of charts, lots of pictures of guns. It started as a bolt-on small arms combat system from gun-loving gamers. In the 1980s and '90s the rpg hobby had several weapon fetish and military games, many offering add-ons for existing rpgs (The Armory, Palladium's weapon supplements, Guns Guns Guns, etc.). The evolving Phoenix Command system also powered the company's sci-fi insurrection game, Living Steel. 

Aliens focuses on the simulationist combat play supporting the company's other major endeavor. Leading Edge had an extensive line of miniatures for the game, including a power loader, drop ship, facehuggers, and alien queen. The miniatures got significantly more attention than the rpgs, which only had a set of core rules released. Reviews describe it as a complicated hash, but mention its usefulness as a sourcebook for the setting. 

Amber Diceless Role-Playing (1991)
I run alot of games on The Gauntlet. I'm usually not afraid to post a game and then learn the rules in the week before the first session. I jumped in head first with Orun, Legacy, Forbidden Lands, City of Mist. But I own several games I won't do that with. I've skimmed them, but their weirdness or density makes me unsure I could run them cold. Before I could even run them, I'd need to play them with another GM: Nobilis, Ryutaama, Phoenix Dawn, L5R 5e, Chuubo, and Amber. And I say this as someone who has run multiple LARP-esque Throne Wars using Amber. Those scenarios are easy- a contained, chaotic mess. But to actually run an Amber campaign...I don't know if I could. 

But Amber's an amazing game. It's one of the earliest diceless rpgs, has unique auction mechanics, and has one of the best marriages of mechanics and theme. Designer Erick Wujcik started with Palladium, creating the striking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rpg. As detailed in Designers & Dragons, Wujcik freelanced for West End Games where he discovered they held the license but only wanted to make board games. In the late 1980s, he started work on the game-- eliminating dice when he realized he wasn't actually rolling them when he ran. As a side note-- during this period my friends and I drove up to Detroit and Windsor for gaming cons. Wujcik ran early versions of Amber there, and several of my friends played it, but I never did. While I played in other games with Wujcik, to this day I regret not getting into his Amber sessions. 

Gamers in my area loved Roger Zelazny's Amber series in the '80s and '90s. Its mix of modern, sci-fi, and fantasy drew people in. For wish-fulfillment it also features larger than life super-powered magical folks involved in political chicanery. Amber has some of Tolkien's monarchical bent, but questions it in places. The second Amber series, released during the later half of the 1980's never quite lived up to the promise of the first and left more questions than answers. Wujcik worked hard to parse that material for his Shadow Knight supplement. 
​
Amber Diceless remains an important and influential game-- opening up new territory in systems, writing, and presentation. In 2013, Rite Publishing reworked the core system as Lords of Gossamer & Shadow, stripping out the license. It's decent. It cleans up the mechanics and draws on the experience of vibrant Amber community. However it doesn't have quite the spark of the original game. You can hear a GM Jam episode we did for Play on Target here.  

Picture
Dragon Half RPG (1991)
A Japanese rpg based on a comedy-fantasy manga and anime. It's gratuitously sexy with the main character being the daughter of a dragon and a lecherous knight. The game builds on Sword World, a popular Japanese D&D clone. Though based on a not particularly lengthy series, the rules clock in at more than 500 pages (pocket sized). It seems as crunchy as you'd expect for an early Japanese ttrpg (i.e. very). An interesting touch is that all player characters are "half," born to a human parent and something else. You can read a little more in depth about it at Tomb of Tedankhamen. There's also a translated read-through at RPGnet. 

Il Gioco di Ruolo di Dylan Dog (1991)
I don't know much about this Italian rpg or its comic basis. That long running series started in 1986. According to Wikipedia, "The Italian comics character Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi in 1986, is graphically inspired by (Rupert Everett). Everett, in turn, appeared in an adaptation based on Sclavi's novel, Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man)." That movie borrows themes from the comics, but isn't a straight adaptation. Dylan Dog has an action oriented bent, though apparently with some borrowing from traditional horror. Considering that Italy gave us Dario Argento, I imagine this game and comic isn't exactly what it appears. While Dylan Dog sold hugely in Italy, an American film adaptation with Brandon Routh, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2011), flopped.   

Lord of the Rings Adventure Game (1991)
In the early 1990s Iron Crown hadn't started remixing Middle Earth; that would come with the CCG boom years. But with the LotR Adventure Game they attempted to draw in new gamers to their products. Rather than the percentiles and charts of Middle Earth Roleplaying, this game uses only 2d6, has no levels, and takes its cues from Middle Earth Quest CYOA books. ICE had done well with that series in mass market distribution. LotRAG's a great idea and a strong potential draw for that audience. But I can't even imagine a player moving from this game's elemental simplicity to the number-rich, highly detailed world of MERP. 

Picture
Time Lord (1991)
Like LotRAG above, Time Lord attempted to draw new gamers with a super-simple system completely divorced from previous Dr. Who games. This paperback rpg released by Virgin Publishing echoed the look and size of contemporary Dr. Who novels. Time Lord lacks any character creation method, and Wikipedia describes it as "having different and simpler mechanics that often seemed arbitrary. For example, the companion Polly is a secretary yet according to her statistics, she can hardly read or write."  RPGNet has a lengthy and adoring review which includes a link to the online text of the game, released by the author in 1996. You can tell it's an old site because it has a loud and obnoxious Flash animation. 

The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (1992)
This game's based on a British comic series created by Brian Talbot. That bounced around before being published in nine issues from Valkyrie Press. Talbot returned to the concept again in 1999 with a series focused on the title character's daughter. Drawing inspiration from Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius series, Arkwright's the story of a hero who can move between parallel universes. He battles against agents in these worlds trying to disrupt the multiverse. The first arc takes place in a world with the unfinished English Civil War drawn out by these malign forces. 

The game itself is a product of the time with cut & paste art from the comics and basic DTP design. The RPGNet review
compares it to LATEX, which if you know what that is I am truly sorry. The mechanics echo Basic Roleplaying's percentiles approach. Publisher 23rd Parallel Games released no follow up material, save for an official adventure in a rpg magazine. At one time Hogshead Publishing announced a d20 take on the license, called Zero Zero, but that never surfaced. In 2015 Design Mechanism released a Runequest/Mythras setting sourcebook (Luther Arkwright: Roleplaying Across the Parallels) and a campaign (Parallel Lines). 

Picture
Dream Park (1992)
Dream Park sat on the shelves of our store for a long time. I don't recall selling a copy until it went into the discount section. I hadn't even realized R Talsorian substantially supported the line; we never ordered anything else. Mixed expectations worked against Dream Park. Lacking other indicators, the store owner shelved it with Cyberpunk 2020 material. Perhaps if it had been better placed, it might have drawn an audience. 

Dream Park's another Larry Niven license, the first being Chaosium's Ringworld. At the time of publishing, the series had three books. Dream Park's setting features a high-tech amusement park with LARP elements. Holograms, VR, carefully crafted sets, and augmented reality systems support Westworld-like play. The first Dream Park book inspired a number of Live Action Roleplaying groups. One company attempted to create and finance a working version of the concept. That went bankrupt within a few years without much to show for itself.

The Dream Park core book has lots of interesting in world material- narratives about tech, procedures discussions, and fun maps & diagrams. We get the "staff" of the park presented as GMs, Writers, and Designers. While MMOs and shared universes have advanced significantly, its striking to see how well R Talsorian's take on the material holds up. 

The rules themselves, while lighter than other R Talsorian products, still have significant crunch including a grid/ruler approach to combat tracking and a results matrix. Still the designers worked hard to make these mechanics accessible by opening the rules with a "Quik Start" version. It's actually one of the first complete Quick Start products I remember. Deeper in the core book those basics give way to advanced systems, mechanical details for different genres, and cool settings. The game includes a "Beat Chart" for generating narrative beats in a story. You use these to generate a Hook, Development, Cliffhangers, Climax, and Resolution. 

There's much, much more here than I expected. I'm disappointed I didn't take a look at this game when it first came out. It's an amazing product for its time. Many of the ideas our group would develop for this kind of game I could have found here. Like Amber Diceless, Dream Park feels ahead of its time. 

When Gravity Fails (1992)
A Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook based on George Alec Effinger's series of novels. It’s a world where “...Casablanca collides with Blade Runner…” The Marid Audran books take place in a New Orleans analogue and have a strongly Middle Eastern flavor. They were Effinger’s only real foray into cyberpunk. Health problems restricted his output. When Gravity Fails is a little over 100 pages. It has a timeline up through 2199, a useful presentation of the world & campaign city, several additional character roles, new tech and equipment, and a sample adventure. Some of the tech has interesting social implications.

For example ‘Daddies’ are socketed chipsets which store memories, training, and sensations. These give users artificial abilities. In the WGF setting, these became ubiquitous, changing labor and expertise. The development of ‘Moddies’ built on that. These allow users to rewire a subject’s brain, an invention originally designed for neurological therapy. Eventually these evolved into artificial personality overlays. You can chip one in and become someone else. Or you can have that done to you. The fallout from this—- abuses, addiction, identity theft— forms the backdrop for the novels. It’s a concept worth exploring.

When Gravity Fails also brings to the table a treatment of Arab culture and Islam in the future. This is OK. I’m glad that we have this material. Religion and its associated culture rarely get coverage in cyberpunk of this era. I can only think of the cartoonish Cyberpapacy from TORG. When Gravity Fails isn’t anywhere near as garish. It does suffer from exotification and stereotyping (“ugh, proverbs as the culture touchstone again”). It also assumes a regressive version of Islam, with repressive treatment of women.

Finally, the art leans hard in two directions: super-sexy and weirdly stereotypical Arabian. Sometimes both. For the latter there’s some attempt at fusion of fashions, but characters more often look like they came out of Al Qadim. It’s a mixed bag, but overall I think the striking ideas outweigh the bad. YMMV. If nothing else, it’s a great example of cyberpunk world-building based on a central theme.

Picture
Wizards (1992)
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards remains an important film for those raised in the 1970's. It contains a mad, psychedelic, and weird mix of fantasy with post-apocalyptic elements no one else has captured. It is part comedy, part sexy-times fairies, part legendary quest, part undead armored Nazis from the future. I dug the movie but I never did more than flip this rpg. Online commenters regard it as a decent, if workmanlike adaptation of the material. Digital Orc has an overview on his blog. 

Whit supported this line with several publications within a year or so. Players got the obligatory character sheets and GM screen supplements, but also Montagar and Scortch. Both are detailed 80-page regional sourcebooks. I'm surprised to see Whit published that much for the line. Like other lost games, I recall the core book sitting on the shelf for years before vanishing, never to be restocked. I heard and saw almost nothing about it in the years which followed. I'd assumed it was a flash in the pan like so many others. 

Wizards the film influenced a lot of early role-playing. You can see elements in early Gamma World. While the movie came out in '77, it had a cult following through VHS tapes and cable presentation. The designers clearly felt that was enough to sustain an rpg fifteen years later. I have a theory- and I may be wrong. Wizards' craziness inspired people. In the early 1980's I saw at least three homebrew campaigns lifting elements from Wizards, Heavy Metal, and other sources (in one case Gor, ugh). By the early 1990s, gamers had already begun to create multi-genre, weird apocalypse games with these elements and ideas. It isn't a reach from there to Rifts or Synnibarr. However by 1992 games had already assimilated these concepts, rendering this less interesting.

PREVIOUS LISTS
History of Licensed RPGs (Part I 1977-1983)
​History of Licensed RPGs (Part II 1984-1985)
History of Licensed RPGs (Part III 1986-1989)
History of Universal RPGs

History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Cyberpunk RPGs

History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
Samurai RPGs
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

2/19/2019

Dark Dreams of Degoya County

0 Comments

Read Now
 
by Jason Cordova

We haven’t announced our next Patreon goal yet for The Gauntlet, but I wanted to go over it a bit here and get some feedback from folks. It’s called Degoya County and it’s comprised of several components: 1) A horror actual play podcast with a focus on high production values; 2) discussion and debrief episodes in the same podcast feed; and 3) a quarterly zine featuring original fiction set in the same world, as well as supplementary material for the games played on the podcast. I want to briefly describe those three components of the project, as well as say a few things about how and why we are doing this. 

A high quality horror actual play podcast

The centerpiece of the Degoya County project will be an actual play podcast that will feature musical cues, sound effects, and high-quality cast audio. The podcast will be an anthology-style horror joint that will take place in a small, fictional county in New Mexico. Over the course of the series, we’ll use different games to explore major events in the county’s history, anchored by a present-day storyline told with Monsterhearts 2. Some themes I hope to explore with it include Native and colonial history; modern-day Mexican-American culture and urban legends; Satanic cult shit going down in the desert; and looming, throbbing Lovecraftian horror in the background. Each episode will be introduced by Big Man, my well-loved character from Mercy Falls, in a short Log Lady/Cryptkeeper-style vignette. 

Game discussion and series debrief

There will be support episodes of the podcast for each new game series we play: a discussion episode where we talk about the system to be played, and a debrief episode after the game is finished. People love our Mercy Falls series on Pocket-Sized Play, but a regular critique is that there isn’t any surrounding discussion about the AP, either substantive discussion of game mechanics or feedback/debrief sessions from the participants. The reason for that is because Mercy Falls was not originally recorded with the intention of being shared in a podcast format. But with Degoya County, we want to do something different. Some of our strengths in The Gauntlet include deep analysis of game mechanics and a strong, supportive play culture. These auxiliary episodes of Degoya County will give us the space to incorporate those strengths. 

The quarterly zine

The quarterly zine will launch a few months after the podcast and will contain original horror fiction set in Degoya County.  The idea here is to explore and expand upon characters and ideas from the podcast. We will also publish supplementary material for the games featured on the show. At The Gauntlet, we like to feature the work of new and marginalized creators, and the quarterly zine will allow us to do that, while further developing the rural, folk-horror universe of Degoya County. 

Why this project? And why now?

Degoya County represents something of a culmination of everything we’re good at in The Gauntlet. If you look around the community, you can see hints of its various components: we run horror anthology game series like my Mercy Falls and Cat Ramen’s Kingsport; we are very good at putting out high quality discussion podcasts; we have experience publishing stellar zine content with Codex; and we play A LOT of games, meaning we know how to use them to create strong, compelling stories. In some ways, everything I, personally, have been doing in The Gauntlet has been leading to Degoya County. It’s an idea that has been simmering in my head for years, and we’re getting close to being able to realize it. 

Degoya County will be a pretty expensive project if we’re going to do this the right way, and, as such, will be set for a fairly high Patreon goal (probably $5k, but I’m still looking at the numbers). We’ll also have to clear a few things from our plate to make room for it. But if we can do it, it will be something very, very special in ttrpgs—and something only The Gauntlet could pull off. My dream is that Degoya County can be the sort of thing that penetrates into the mainstream. That’s a real moonshot kind of thing, but if we can manage it, it will be great for The Gauntlet, but also great for indie ttrpgs. 

Anyway, this is the early idea. There are still a lot of logistical decisions to make as we approach a possible production schedule, but I’m curious to hear what people think. 

Share

0 Comments

2/18/2019

Session Report: Masks: A New Generation - Gauntlet Quarterly S5

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Session Title
Masks: A New Generation: Gauntlet Quarterly S5

Date
1/30/2019

System
Masks: A New Generation

GM
Lowell Francis

Players
Steven desJardins, Jesse Larimer, Chris Newton, Steven Watkins

Session Recap
The team has a moment to take stock of their situation. At a cost they had defeated their classmates Bolt and Grey and those classmates’ villainous adult selves (Overrun and Nightfall). Sarah Sparks let loose her social media bomb on Bolt, destroying his rep and keeping him on the run. At the school itself, where the fight took place, the student body is torn: some applaud taking Bolt down while others feel nervous around kid heroes willing to turn over their peers to the authorities.

When footage of the battle leaks out, speculation runs rampant through the classrooms as to the heroes’ identities. Gabriel, the only member of the team with no secrets, takes the brunt of this. They’re alternately admired and feared. Sarah tells the team to stay out of costume until things cool down. Overclock skips school and hides out from his parents. Alone he tries to come to terms with the danger he’s created—much of what has happened seems to swirl around his time powers.

Mimic throws herself into her work. She pulls together the extra money she’s made over the last several weeks and tracks down her friend Jeanne. Jeanne is shaken by the superheroics at the school and Ally (Mimic’s civilian identity)’s rejection of her friendship. Mimic offers the money to Jeanne who rejects the charity. In the heat of the moment, Ally reveals herself as Mimic, the super who destroyed Ally’s house and put her family in their financial predicament. Her friend screams in her face and runs away. As Mimic salvages the cash from the snow on the ground, she receives a call from Molly, Sara Sparks' civilian identity.

The two meet at a local coffee shop and Molly finally reveals her secret identity to Ally. Sparks had long ago figured out who Mimic was but hadn’t said anything. The two talk about their troubles and the challenges they face. Sara reveals her worry about Bolt—that he hated her enough to come back from the future to fight her.

At the same time Gabriel goes to Overclock’s house to find him. Overclock is quick enough to keep Gabriel from revealing that he’s been skipping school. In Overclock’s room, Gabriel asks him to use his time powers to sever the connection between Gabriel and his trans-temporal Caretaker, David. He fears that David could take control; while Gabriel disobeyed orders to destroy Overclock, that could change. The two pass through a teleportal into the Overclock’s Time Observation Post, a base and source of powers. Using the devices there, he manages to temporarily cut Gabriel’s connection. However, using the base’s power gives off a signal, revealing its location to others.

As they’re working on this, Sara Sparks arrives at Overclock’s house. She goes up to his room only to be greeted by a construct the time hero left in his place. When Gabriel and Overclock return there’s a brief moment of confusion, until Sara Sparks reveals her identity as Molly. Overclock is embarrassed that Sparks figured out his secret ID but he hadn’t even guessed hers.

Back at home, Mimic’s mom reveals she is flying out to Oklahoma City for a job interview. Mimic panics and gets into a shouting match with her mother, smashing a prized lamp. When Mimic storms out her mother attempts to physically stop her. Mimic briefly loses control, turning to the same brass as the doorknob. She screams at her mother and the sonic force of it destroys their living room, the same way Mimic destroyed her friend Jeanne’s house months before. Mimic hurriedly apologizes to her stunned mom as her brother returns home. He also sees her in hero form as she runs away.

With nowhere else to go, Mimic arrives at Overclock’s house. More identities are revealed and the group tries to wrestle with some of their personal demons. However, that’s interrupted when Overlock hears someone speaking with his parents downstairs. When he enhances his hearing he realizes that it’s Dr. Alset and two companions. Alset, a scientist at AEON, has been in the shadows throughout the series. Suddenly there’s shouts and screams; Overclock smashes his way downstairs as he shifts into hero ID.

There he confronts Alset and his two associates. One looks like Gabriel, but with a purple crystalline form. The other has Overclock’s parents pinned with a metal table. This one looks like an adult version of Mimic, mask and all. Adult Mimic has greater control of her powers—shifting shape and changing substance freely. Upstairs, Gabriel grabs Overclock’s sister Morgan and rushes her to safety.

Mimic comes downstairs to face her adult doppelganger. She pulls Overclock’s parents free from the villain’s clutches and interposes herself. Adult Mimic grabs young Mimic and begins crushing her to death. As she does this she reveals herself. She is not the adult version of Mimic, but the adult version of Jeanne, contaminated by Mimic’s powers. She blames Mimic for her state and says that killing her will keep her transformation from occurring. Mimic makes a desperate gambit and pulls out her phone, dialing the younger Jeanne which makes adult Jeanne recoil.

Meanwhile Overclock and Sara engage with Alset and “Raphael,” another artificial being sent down the time stream to deal with Gabriel. Alset reveals his own temporal powers and reduces the impact of the heroes’ assault. Sara is flung out of the house and she smashes into a car across the street. Undaunted, she picks herself up and charges back in. Gabriel, entering into the fray, realizes that Alset uses chronal powers as a defense. To overcome this, Gabriel shifts and connects himself to the forces of the time-stream. It works, but at a cost. The combination of Overclock, Alset, Gabriel, and Raphael’s energies sets off a time quake, destroying Overclock’s house.

Desperate to contain the situation Overclock calls on his powers to shift the fight to his sanctuary, the temporal observation post. The fight continues, and while the real world is in less danger, the sanctuary begins to suffer. Gabriel strikes at his opposite number, shattering them with a potent attack. As Sara and Overlock hold their own, Mimic confronts the older version of her friend. In the midst of the fight, adult Jeanne-Mimic pushes herself, absorbing and transforming into the time force itself. The change rips her from the time stream and sends her tumbling into the void. Mimic desperately reaches to save her friend but the force pulls her in as well.

Mimic and adult Jeanne are gone.

Staggered by what has happened, the others strike at Alset. Sara still tries to pull her blows but Gabriel calls her out on it. Alset strikes with dark visions of the future. Then he manages to tag Sara Sparks—and somewhere across the city Sara’s uncle collapses. Alset begins laughing—he hadn’t expected his time attacks could have such an effect. Overlock pushes himself and drains Alset’s time energy, desyncing him from the timeline and making him wink out in a paradox.

But all is not settled, Overclock can tell that the temporal observation post has become dangerously unstable. The system advises him that the only way to save Mimic is to collapse the waveform and annihilate the post. But that will destroy the source of Overclock’s powers as well. Despite that he orders Sara and Gabriel to flee the base. They believe he will follow.

He does not.

Sara, Gabriel, and Mimic find themselves in Overclock’s bedroom. The house has been restored and his parents have no memory of the battle. However Will, Overclock’s civilian identity, is nowhere to be found. Over the next few weeks, the remaining team pulls their lives together. We see Mimic speaking to her mom. We see Gabriel, now perhaps “grown up,” briefly mourn his artificial construct foster father, another victim of the temporal battle. We see Sara trying, and failing, to explain to Will’s parents what happened to him. Then we see Sara sitting at her Uncle Ted’s bedside. He’s in a deep coma, leaving Sarah the only active member of her legacy.

Then we see the far-future—a place of terror and despair ruled over by the Empyreonix. Finally it has the Time Observation Post it tried to wrest from Overclock. But the facility has been badly damaged. We see the figure of the Empyreonix working on those repairs. In the background there’s a capsule and within we see another version of Overclock, marked with the sign of the Empyreonix infection.

Highlight
Several hard moves in the fight landed well, but I'm especially pleased with the revelation of Future Mimic as Jeanne.

Moment of Insight
This is the session where we finally got the characters to reveal their secret identities to one another. That's a key element for the Janus, but we had other PCs hiding that (and their background) from one another. That created some asymmetries and confusion in play. I think I'd watch more carefully for that-- especially since it is the Janus playbook's key feature.

Actual Play

Share

0 Comments

2/15/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - February 15, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup! Listed below are links to recorded sessions of online games played under the Gauntlet Hangouts banner and other games organized through the Gauntlet online RPG community. These recorded sessions represent only a small part of the giant selection of games available every week, and anyone can join in the fun! Details on how to become a part of the community are listed at the end of the post.

Special Events

Hearts of Wulin: Podcaster Edition (Session 1 of 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Agatha, Eli Kurtz, Eric M. Farmer, and Sherri
We play Hearts of Wulin with Agatha Cheng from Asians Represent!, Eric Farmer & Eli Kurtz from Jianghu Hustle, and Sherri Stewart from The Gauntlet Podcast-- disguises! misunderstandings! betrothals!

Star Wars Saturday

Void Vultures (Session 2 of 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Alejandro, Alun R., Jeremy Mahr, and Sabine V.
The Lost Expedition scavenging job comes to a bombastic conclusion! Clone Troopers, a sentient plant monster, an old Republic ship's dark secrets, Weequay mercs, and a Night Witch clash with the Empire breathing down everyone's neck.

Gauntlet Sunday

Cryptomancer (Session 2 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alejandro, Bryan, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
When their patron sets them the task of driving two sinister crime families to war, the team circles their targets finding weaknesses and pulling on threads.

TGI Thursday

Forbidden Lands (Session 2 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alejandro, Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, and Steven Watkins
The party arrives at The Hallows, a goblin-majority village, and restocks. Desperate for cash, they take on a simple bandit hunt, but discover their targets are corrupted halflings.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: A New Generation (Session 7)
Lowell Francis runs for Kurt Potts, Simon Landreville, Steven desJardins, and Tyler Lominack
Fallout continues as Councilperson Briggs puts forward a "Superhero Curfew" proposal. In the midst of team name deliberations the group faces down super-thugs and unwittingly plays into a fiendish plan.

Gauntlet Comics

Urban Shadows: COVEN PRIME (Session 2 of 4)
Jim Crocker runs for Alexi S., Misha B, Peter Mazzeo, and Sarah J.
An epic crossover with characters from Inspecter Spectre, TOOTH/CLAW, The Devil's Due, and Always a Witch.

Monster of the Week: Precinct 13 (1978) (Session 2 of 4)
Jim Crocker runs for Bethany H., Rich Rogers, and Tom F.
The cops of New Gauntlet City's 'freak beat' work to uncover an alien plot!

The Gaunt Marches

Freebooters on the Frontier: In Search of Adventure (Session 2 of 3)
Horst Wurst runs for Aljoscha, Asbjørn Flø, Chris Challice, and Mikael Tysvær
The rune covered face - ambushed by lizardfolk - fire on the island of mold - a cruel sacrifice - the last tadpole - the drowned wizard

Gauntlet Duets

Neighborly
Sarah J. facilitates for Jim Crocker
A lovely free-form social game about living next to each other in suburbia.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Monsterhearts 2: St Osana's School for Boys (Session 2 of 4)
David Morrison runs for Alex, Leandro Pondoc, Sawyer Rankin, and Sławomir Wójcik
Passions run high as Fisher House finds their Romeo & Juliet. Callum works his magic on the prefect Burnley, and begins investigating the mysteries of the school. Lysander makes friends in high places, and demonstrates his new-found power. Adrian makes a grim discovery, while reassuring some of his fellow pupils that it's what's inside that counts. And finally while Emmett tries to find a role for himself he is finally pushed beyond his limits.

Monsterhearts 2: Dead of Summer (Session 2 of 4)
Sawyer Rankin runs for Darold Ross, Peter Mazzeo, and Sławomir Wójcik
The emotions run high and dark as people realize that there is a darker secret in Brookstone Grove. There is also no brook in camp, the drama! We are introduced to Mr. Nurse and Todd! Todd brings it hard and heavy with a bit of trauma! Luke is the poor eye of the storm and is beginning to reach out into his own winds! And Siobhan? Your guess is as good as mine but man is she entertaining!

Trophy: Writer's Retreat
Sabine V. runs for Eduardo L., Gene A., and Michael G. Barford

Monsterhearts 2: Kingsport 1886 (Session 5 of 5)
Catherine Ramen runs for Darold Ross, David Morrison, Leandro Pondoc, and Seraphina Malizia
In the finale, tensions mount as the Faery Queen seizes Watkins House; Jonathon has a reckoning; Finch seeks a bloody consummation; Alice finds her name; and Emily walks in her garden.

Good Society: Belligerence & Benevolence (Session 1 of 4)
Catherine Ramen runs for Darold Ross, Leandro Pondoc, Richard Ruane, and Seraphina Malizia
Episode 1 of our attempt to do "War and Peace" using Good Society. Andrei's plans are changed by his uncle Nikolai; Vasilisa encourages suitors; Svetlana schemes revenge; Boris thinks about following Andrei; plus a duel and the approaching conflict with Napoleon. Needless to say, a new titles sequence, and for the first time in one of my productions, subtitles!

Urban Shadows: Kingsport's Boston (Session 5 of 5)
Jesse A. runs for Darold Ross, Leandro Pondoc, Owen Thompson, and Sawyer Rankin

The Woodlands: Pokémon Rescue Team (Session 1 of 4)
Luiz Ferraz runs for Noella H, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
After a confusing run-in with some mean Pokémon, Team Pyrite find out all of the other rescue teams were attacked, and are currently trapped in a deep sleep. What is going on here, and can these rookies fix things before someone gets really hurt?

Spire: The Kings of Silver (Session 6 of 12)
Darren Brockes runs for Fraser Simons, Leandro Pondoc, and Rich Rogers
Altrium uses old connections to con her way out of trouble. Ashe asks an old friend for an illegal favor. And Yvette does a keg stand and becomes a Knight. All of this just to throw an "Under the Sea" themed party for her, the It Girl of Spire.

Gothic Society: A Study in Onyx (Session 2 of 4)
Gene A. runs for Peter Mazzeo, Ryan M., and Sarah J.
Viscount Remington's cavorting is called out by his mother, the Countess Crowmore. Damien visits his sister Rowena in the sanitarium. Brigadier Adley brings in a controversial treatment to succor the Gurgling Sickness victims. Captain Garrett calls on the Brigadier about Colonel Allen. Orville Blakely makes his demands on his son Damien known. A fox hunt is held, leading to a confrontation between Damien and Brigadier Adley. The Brigadier is shot by a mysterious sniper. Rowena reveals her true love. Oh, and letters. Lots of letters. Note: This session is in two parts due to technical issues. Both parts are in the linked playlist.

Kingdom: The Void
Andrew Hauge runs for Jim Crocker, Patrick, and Zak Soeria-Atmadja
We see what happens when humanity finds a wormhole to another solar system, and the local inhabitants want to establish a colony on Venus. Will humanity hang together or be swept away by the tides of change? Who will dictate the course of history?

The White Hack: Longwinter (Session 2 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Bethany H., Darold Ross, Jesse A., and Sam Z.
In the snow-covered spa town of Vreley, our investigators prepare to look for the missing Viktor, but first, dinner.

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 2 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Agatha, Alun R., Ludovico Alves, and Sabine V.
The Newspaper/Detention Club comes together to protect their own and then immediately fractures because lol teenagers. Michael finds out that superheroics are much simpler than teenage drama, Kasey tries to further run away from her destiny, Rafael gets caught up in some mixed messages and Enid wonders how her future is so messed up.

Other Games

(Fictive Fun) Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 6)
Pat P. runs for Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, Kurai, Lu Quade, and Roxanne
Blix leaves the party once again. Jonah and Skive run into some interesting characters. Verge and Sprout fight to the end.

Check out all the great videos on The Gauntlet YouTube channel and be sure check out the playlists to catch up on all your favorite games. If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Hangouts Google+ Community where new games are announced! To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon at https://patreon.com/gauntlet. All are welcome to play Gauntlet Hangouts games, and Patreon supporters have extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events are announced like Gauntlet Games Now. Enjoy, and everyone have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments

2/13/2019

Age of Ravens: Conspiracy Sandbox

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
SANDY CONSPIRATORS
Last Sunday I ran my second session of Cryptomancer for February. In session one they picked characters and I’d thrown them into a Chad Walker’s challenge dungeon from Code & Dagger 2. Both Code & Dagger supplements come free with the purchase of Cryptomancer and have a ton of interesting new material. The dungeon scenario introduces the setting’s hacking and infosec concepts in an easy to grok way. 

For this week, I went to one of my favorite play structures—what I’m calling a Conspiracy Sandbox. It’s a kind of session I adore running. I walked away from the game jazzed and excited. The players seemed to dig it—doing legwork, building a picture of their target, and starting to think of approaches. I have a video of the session which you can see here. 

In a Conspiracy Sandbox the characters work in the shadows against multiple factions to achieve an objective. They have the tools, resources, and powers to carry that out. The question is how to apply these resources to achieve their goals without blowing things up. The GM sets a goal, presents the actors, and then lets the players get to it. You may have already run or played in this kind of game before. If not, let me encourage you to give it a try.  ​​

Picture
WELCOME TO SCIENCE CITY
As an example, in my Pulp supers game Thirty Days to Save Science City, a preeminent hero reaches out to the PC team of second-tier supers. An absolutist super-villain has threatened to destroy Science City unless someone cleans up the mob operations, mad scientists, and general villainy there. The A-List heroes can’t do it without being seen to give in to terror demands, but know the threat isn’t a bluff. So they supply the PC team with resources, a base, and a breakdown of the dangerous groups in the city. From there, it’s completely up to the PCs as to what they do. 

Play consists of legwork & investigation, planning, doing set up jobs, then carrying out a bigger operation. Then the cycle starts again as they move on to another target. If you follow the link to my blog post on it, you can see that I over-prepped 30 Days. I didn’t need nearly the amount of detail I created for the different groups. Sketchy notes and an outline would have worked just as well. I used Fate Aspects to define groups & people; I could have easily stuck with that. 

SUCCESSION OF ROOKS
I took a slightly lighter approach with another Fate game using this template, Reign of Crows. I wanted to create a loose, open-ended take on A Game of Thrones-style play. In Reign of Crows the PCs are different senior members of a noble house. The Queen’s death has left a power vacuum. The game started with faction building—defining aspects and powers for the different groups. Then I rolled random seasonal events as background and set the group loose on the problem. 

In play we would do a series of “once-arounds.” Players took actions to set things up or uncover information. After everyone’s individual actions and scenes, we’d check to see if we needed a group scene to decide on their next course. In Reign of Crows and my other Conspiracy Sandboxes, I approach information gathering with a combination of Fate, PbtA, and Gumshoe tools. 

When someone investigates something, they define their approach: hitting the streets, using a network, research, divination. That determines what they roll with. As with Gumshoe, any investigation generates basic information. Any test the PC makes determines costs (resources, time, etc) and additional questions. Depending on success, players get a number of PbtA style additional questions. I leave these open-ended, but if the query feels broad I ask how they get those answers. To use this for Fate, imagine the Create Advantage action, but instead of invokes you get questions. 

We also assume that information obtained in an earlier scene is available to players in following scenes. Sometimes we have an in-fiction explanation for this (magical communication, cell phones, etc), but it isn’t necessary. This approach smooths things; later acting players can reshape their actions based on new information. Players still have the option to withhold information—but they have to make that explicit. That helps define a character’s intentions to the table. 

Reign of Crows ended up an amazing story of manipulation, double-crossing, salvation, and corruption. If you’re interested in this style of game you can check out the videos here. I probably still over-prepped, but I hoped to create a template for future games. What then does a minimal prep Conspiracy Sandbox look like?

Picture
ASSASSINS OF THE GOLDEN AGE
I’ve run my face-to-face campaign-- Ocean City Interface-- for five years now. It’s a “multidimensional” game, with the characters sliding into a repeating set of different worlds and identities, called Portals. Our Assassins of the Golden Age portal lets me borrow elements from 7th Sea, Assassin's Creed, and Mage: Sorcerers’ Crusade. The PCs are effectively magi ala Mage: The Ascension. In this world, the battle between Reason and Magic has reached a stalemate after a war that created paradox and rewrote history. The characters serve The Invisible City and work to keep either side from unleashing destruction again. In the two most recent arcs they hunted down the bearers of Koschei the Deathless’ souls in a mystic Moscow and gained a Dutch Pirate Hunter an audience with the English Queen. 

But in the first arc, I created a Conspiracy Sandbox and let them go to town. They arrived in Genoa with a simple task, elect a man named Boccanegra to the position of Doge. I gave them only a few other details and requirements. I laid out how the voting occurred and how certain guilds and the Church had a strong say. They learned that two of the five candidates had backing from factions of the Order of Reason: Templars and Consigners, but not who. Their patron reinforced the importance of the PCs not causing chaos; the election had to still go through. If you’ve read the novella, you’ll see I lifted my set up and plot from Claire North’s The Serpent. 

My prep simply consisted of a list of NPCs and a few details for each. They’re arranged in power from greatest to least:

Gregorio Spinola 
Assets & Influence: Strong Church ties. Bishop is distant relation. Gifts to there. Undercut by own impiousness. Money and friends among the Priests. 
Background: Hates Boccanegro. Old and super fit; swims. Believes Boccanegro involved with his son’s death in Naples. Actually done by his brother Urbanio. Son was courting Urbanio’s mistress. Set up story about assassins.
In: Brother Egisto, lecherous confessor

Cosimo Grimaldi
Assets & Influence: Strong ties to the crafters: wool merchants, carders, etc. As well has agents coming from Byzantium with a piece of the True Cross.
Background: Daughter, Adria Grimaldi. Metal half-teetch. Tacitly allied with Doria Backed by the Templars. 
In: Lodovica Schivone, assessor and overlooked clerk. 

Rodrigo Fieschi
Assets and Influence: Has the support of Florence and potent financial resources. Consigner backed.
Background: His wife and family kept away. His wife’s affair. Loves her still. Vulnerable warehouses. Coldly Neutral. Somber dress. Wears a hidden hair shirt—rash my reveal. 
In: Basillia, maidservant, seneschal, and go-between. 

Antonio Boccanegro
Assets and Influence: Contacts with Morocco. Strong exchange of goods and ideas—keeps this under the radar. 
Background: Pox-marked. Hates Spinola. Smuggles expelled Jews. Has only modest financial resources. Kabalist saved his life. Son Decio; daughter Rainelda. Vulnerable through half-Jewish wife, Juliana, who also possesses some magical talent. She’s a strong figure and smart. 
In: Everado, Antonio’s son with heavy gambling debts. 

Zoguna Doria
Assets and Influence: Old and strong reputation. Grandfather was Andrea Doria. Has contacts with Spain and some exclusive contracts to trade there. 
Background: One-eye, with the area around it heavily ravaged. Heavily in debt and strongly influenced by the Genoese underworld. Tacitly allied with Grimaldi. Older children: Quieta, daughter, and Patrizio, son. 
In: His own desperation to restore his family’s grand reputation. 

I also made a small list of other NPCs—with a name, brief identity, and detail (Madeline Stroo, Dutch Underground Wizard, older and highly attractive, shaggy hound familiar). I detailed the Templar and Consigner agents a little more fully:

Tamara Kotarska, Templar Operative

Preying mantis familiar. Angular features. Lean & hungry look. Pious practicality. 
Moves: 1. Dispose of Spinola and Boccanegro. 2. Maintain alliance. 3. Utilize Body Magics as needed. 4. Come to accommodation with Fieschi. 

​Atanasio Campobosso, Consigner Operative

Steel raven familiar. Stout. Waddles to belie his nature. 
Moves: 1. Use Spinola to break Boccanegro. 2. Burn Grimaldi resources. 3. Bring Doria to heel. 4. Spend freely. 

It took them three sessions to get Boccanegro elected. They shattered a vessel with paradox, hobbled agents of the Templars, pulled Doria out of debt, and made a dangerous trip to the backstreets of Byzantium. 

Picture
BACK TO THE CRYPTO
Sunday’s Cryptomancer game took an even lighter approach. Their patron asked the PCs to intervene in the city of Crucible’s underworld. She’d received reliable information that the Risk Eaters (the big bad of the setting) worked to draw out the conflict between the two largest criminal gangs in the city, The Coppermen and The Silverhands. Both had absorbed most of the smaller criminal guilds and groups in the city, leaving them the last two standing. The Risk Eaters wanted a long, protracted multi-year conflict which would drain resources and slowly destabilize Crucible. 

So the PCs have a clear goal: spark an open war between these two nasty groups. The Patron gave them the names of the two leaders, the three most important lieutenants for each, and a sketchy sense of their activities. Then I let them loose. For the once-arounds, I took a lighter approach than usual. Players could ask and obtain significant general information without a roll. I assumed they had the skills and connections necessary. However, once they dug down and focused on specific characters and operations, I had them roll to determine their level of success. As I mentioned above, I had a dynamite time and I’m excited to see how they pull on the threads.

BLADES/NOT BLADES
My Cryptomancer prep took less than an hour, which included finding NPC pictures. In my notes I briefly described the two groups, wrote down the NPC names, and then created twisty details for each. I had some hooks prepped, but even more emerged from play. When players rolled critical successes, I made the revelations more dangerous for their targets. I also took a page from Blades in the Dark and created Heat clocks for The Coppermen, Silverhands, and Risk Eaters. Failures and mixed successes added to that. Filling those clocks would alert their targets. In retrospect I should have also tied this to Cryptomancer’s Risk mechanic. 

There’s a lot of Blades in the Dark in a Conspiracy Sandbox. Both have groups carrying out shadowy missions. But Blades’ engagement roll reduces or eliminates planning. BitD has a legwork phase, but that’s minimized. This sandbox leans into the planning, something Cryptomancer’s unusual setting mechanics needs. This kind of game thrives on players who love mysteries. A mystery is just a problem to be solved and there’s a real pleasure to be given the problem solving resources and let loose to tear into a challenge.

Related Posts:
  • ​​Age of Ravens: Factions in Action
  • Age of Ravens: Multigenre Campaigning
  • Age of Ravens: Mysterious Planning
​
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

2/11/2019

The Gauntlet's Statement on Zak S

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Mandy Morbid recently posted about her experiences, and the experiences of others, with Zak S. What she said is profoundly disturbing and entirely unacceptable. We encourage you to read Mandy’s post, which can be found here. (Content Warning for various types of abuse).

Before continuing this statement, we want to make it very clear that we believe Mandy, we believe Jennifer, and we believe Hannah.

The Gauntlet’s official position on Zak S going forward

The Gauntlet will no longer provide coverage to Zak S or his publications. Due to the fact he has a history of harassing Jason and other members of The Gauntlet, we have had a longstanding ban on having him on our podcasts, and he has never been welcome in our community spaces. We will be extending that ban to any kind of coverage of, or participation in, his ttrpg work. Here are the specifics of what that means:

  • We will not review his work on our podcasts.
  • We will not permit his games to be played on the official Gauntlet Hangouts calendar.
  • We will not permit his games to be played during Gauntlet Con or any special events by  the Gauntlet community.
  • We will actively discourage discussion of his work in our private spaces, such as The Gauntlet Slack, and ban it entirely in our public spaces.  
  • We will not work with people who work with him. For example, Codex will not publish an artist or author who is actively working with him. Folks who have worked with him in the past must promise to not work with him again in order to have a professional relationship with The Gauntlet. 
  • Members of The Gauntlet organizational team will no longer attend conventions in our capacity as representatives of The Gauntlet so long as Zak S is welcome to attend those conventions. We will also strongly discourage our membership from attending such conventions.

The Gauntlet’s past coverage of Zak S

The Gauntlet has been around for awhile and has put out a lot of content. We are going through our archives and making decisions about how much of our previous Zak-related coverage we want to still be available to the public. There are a few podcast episodes where his work is prominently featured. We will be deleting those episodes or cutting out the Zak-related content. We will make a judgment call in each case about what we will delete or cut. It will take us a couple weeks to untangle everything (our back catalog is deep) but know it is happening. If you want to help us and point out very old podcasts or APs that prominently feature Zak’s work, we would appreciate it. Please post a link in the comments.

A message to our friends in the ttrpg industry

If you have supported or defended Zak S in the past, you need to step up. The Ken Hites and White Wolfs and LotFPs of the world need to take this opportunity to disavow Zak S.

DriveThruRPG? They need to de-list his products from their site.

We intend to use some of the goodwill and influence we have amassed in this industry over the years to encourage our friends to de-platform Zak. The Gauntlet is not a supporter of ostracism or blacklisting, largely because it usually disproportionately falls on creators of color, but does believe Zak qualifies for such treatment because of repeated demonstrations of abuse.

A message to ttrpg fans

We understand that many people, some of our organizers and members alike, feel that Zak has created some compelling game content. Unfortunately, he’s a toxic, abusive person and we should not be giving him aid and comfort with our dollars. There are plenty of OSR publishers out there who are making amazing content that is equal to or surpasses Zak’s work, and who are not abusers. We have listed a few below and you can find even more in our Fear of a Black Dragon podcast feed.

The Melsonian Arts Council 
The Hydra Cooperative
Tuesday Knight Games 

A few things to close with

We approve all comments on our blog posts. Negative and unhelpful comments will not be approved. If you post negative or unhelpful comments in any of our public spaces or social media threads, you will be banned or blocked immediately, no questions asked.

If you are a victim and you need a safe community or space, or need support and you feel the Gauntlet could help, reach out to us. We will help you find resources, offer any support we can, and provide a safe space to vent or decompress.

We have compiled a set of resources related to trauma, abuse, online harassment, and related matters, including supporting those who have been victims. You can find those resources here.


Folks: this needs to be the end of the line for Zak S in the ttrpg industry. We cannot tolerate him in our spaces any longer. We call upon our fellow publishers, community organizers, media producers, and convention hosts to cut ties with him immediately.

​

Share

0 Comments

2/8/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - February 8, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup! Listed below are links to recorded sessions of online games played under the Gauntlet Hangouts banner and other games organized through the Gauntlet online RPG community. These recorded sessions represent only a small part of the giant selection of games available every week, and anyone can join in the fun! Details on how to become a part of the community are listed at the end of the post.

Star Wars Saturday

Void Vultures (Session 1 of 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Alejandro, Alun R., Jeremy Mahr, and Sabine V.
We meet the Void Vultures serving "retired" Republic officer Gran, and they head off on a mission for the rebellion to recover a Lost Expedition.

Gauntlet Sunday

Cryptomancer (Session 1 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alejandro, Bryan, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
Captured in their fight against the Risk Eaters, our revolutionary cell of heroes must hack their way off of a prison island with a combination of magic, subterfuge, and stabbing.

TGI Thursday

Forbidden Lands (Session 1 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alejandro, Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, and Steven Watkins
Escaping from a their Saurian captors, our heroes discover exactly why the lands are forbidden when a wild boar impales Hild the Goblin to a tree.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: A New Generation (Session 6)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, Kurt Potts, Steven desJardins, and Tyler Lominack
In the wake of tragedy, Sara Sparks assembles a new team. After battling a towering inferno, a new foe stokes the flames of outrage against them...but new teammate Odd-Ball has a strange connection to this politician.

Gauntlet Comics

Urban Shadows: COVEN PRIME (Session 1 of 4)
Jim Crocker runs for Alexi S., Misha B, Peter Mazzeo, and Sarah J.
The stars of the fan-favorite 90s horror comics American Haunt, Tooth/Claw, The Devil's Due, and Always a Witch combine forces in an epic limited series with the fate of Coven Prime in the balance! Meet the cast, learn about their neighborhoods, and hear which Tarot card their character is on in the Official Narcrosis Tarot Deck!

1%er Supers (Session 1 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Chris Newton, Luiz Ferraz, Sherri, and Tim Osburn
The Scoville Scourge interfere with the "good super citizens" of the Future Legion as they stop a thief! Who will stop the menace of the Scoville Scourge?!?!

Monster of the Week: Precinct 13 (Session 1 of 4)
Jim Crocker runs for Bethany H., Rich Rogers, Tara, and Tom F.
Session Zero prep as we travel back to 1978 to walk the Freak Beat with two detectives, an embedded AEON agent, and a Vampire-hunting PI. Meet the crew and learn how their tangled histories interweave!

The Gaunt Marches

Freebooters on the Frontier: In Search of Adventure (Session 1 of 3)
Horst Wurst runs for Aljoscha, Asbjørn Flø, Chris Challice, and Mikael Tysvær
Hunting in the Knee-High Sea the adventurers loot a mysterious nest, are attacked by a Swamp Shambler, bury a friend, escape from the jaws of death and ponder whether to eat the Frogmen's eggs or raise an amphibian army.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Monsterhearts 2: St Osana's School for Boys (Session 1 of 4)
David Morrison runs for Alex, Leandro Pondoc, Sawyer Rankin, and Sławomir
It's 1966, and at St. Osana's School for Boys - a boys boarding school in Yorkshire - we follow the exploits of four boys from Fisher Upper Fifth as school begins for a new term. Distracted by thoughts of Juliet, Emmet the Hollow commits accidental trespass; Adrian the Vampire is invited to a tryst with Burnley Minimus; and Callum the Witch goads Lysander the Ghoul into a violent confrontation.

Monsterhearts 2: Dead of Summer (Session 1 of 4)
Sawyer Rankin runs for Peter Mazzeo, Stephen, and Sławomir
The first session we blaze through world building and get to the heart of camping. We welcome the most adorable conspiracy theorist Bedlam, the most rational and haughty hottie Fae, and the poor Neighbor who's already in over his head. We have discovered something intriguing and there is already a mystery in camp!

Monsterhearts 2: Absolutely (Session 3 of 4)
Donogh runs for Alun R., David Morrison, and Jim Crocker
After the tragic* death of the King’s mistress, the Queen goes to the Paris opera to escape the palace. Leading lady Celine aims to impress despite a very nervous company. Father Jean manoeuvres against his cardinal while the Countess Aurelie sinks her claws into the Queen even deeper. (*Not tragic!)

Dark Designs in Verdigris: The Stygian Library
Richard Ruane runs for Asher S., Chiv, Leandro Pondoc, Peter Mazzeo, and VC
The crew arrives at Huber’s Museum of Books, flirts with the Sawyer the Bear, evades the agents of General Jinjur, and gets rough with a murderous automaton before finding out the door they wanted to open was under their feet the whole time. Then the door opens.

Spire: The Kings of Spire (Session 5 of 12)
Darren Brockes runs for Brett WH, Fraser Simons, Leandro Pondoc, and Rich Rogers
Serro, Ashe, Altrium, and Yvette plan a little get-together for only the most popular aelfir in all of Spire. No big deal, not even when Serro gets shot trying to steal a crate of gilded oysters and Altrium gets blamed for it.

Gothic Society: A Study in Onyx (Session 1 of 4)
Gene A. runs for Agatha, Peter Mazzeo, Ryan M., and Sarah J.
The Gurgling Sickness seizes London as a complicated web of relationships play out at a masquerade ball.

The White Hack:Longwinter (Session 1 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Bethany H., Darold Ross, Jesse A., Jesse Larimer, and Sam Z.
Autumn's End - Just as Longwinter begins, Kazimir and his associates converge on the spa town of Vreley to find his lost friend Viktor.

Dungeon World: Fantasy Heartbreakers
Robbie Boerth runs for Alejandro, David L., and Rachelle Dube
A Dungeon World adventure with a Valentine's theme. Three intrepid fantasy heartbreakers attend a gala only to find that the bride-to-be is a Lich in mourning over her departed soul mate and looking for a new partner.

Spire: A Disease of Language (Session 1 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Diana Moon, Jim Crocker, and Stephen
The Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress has sent a cell into Red Row to find the source of the dream they call Revolution that is said to be spreading like a plague. Elifet surveys the scene, Phyrrus becomes an accessory to some flirting, Ixel charms the pants off a guard, and Jez'zara learns of the song that will sing Spire into waking.

Worlds in Peril: X-Men '83 (Session 1 of 2)
Kyle runs for Fraser Simons, John Campbell, and Peter Mazzeo
Our teenage heroes get an unexpected visitor that changes everything amidst the New York blizzards in February, 1983.

Worlds in Peril: X-Men '83 (Session 2 of 2)
Kyle runs for Fraser Simons and Peter Mazzeo
The Soviets get with the Shi'ar and the techno-organic virus threatens Midtown High!

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 1 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Agatha, Alun R., Ludovico Alves, and Sabine V.
We meet our protagonists, the so-called Newspaper/Detention Club of Prospect Academy, Earth's 11th best superhero school. They comprise of a rescued boy of nanites dealing with his anger, a clone of a supervillain turned hero, a mouthy graffiti activist and a spunky traveller from the past confronting her dark future.

Trophy: The Flocculent Cathedral
Jim Crocker runs for James L., Michael G. Barford, Owen Thompson, and Tom F.
The Flocculent Cathedral opens its mossy doors to (not so, it turns out) doomed Treasure Hunters.

Other Games

Dead Friend: Button Eye
Barry facilitates for Lauren
Dorian weighs the privileges provided to him by the wealth of his Victorian family against endless summers of adventure in Wonderland with his imaginary friend Lancelot Littlebury.

Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 5, Part 1)
Pat P. runs for Darren Brockes, Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, and Lu Quade
After a night reflecting on their past, they get a wake up call from some beastmen. Blix runs off and wanders. Jonah & Skive meet a treasure hunter.

Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 5, Part 2)
Pat P. runs for Darren Brockes, Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, and Lu Quade
Jonah and Skive help a farmer with a problem. A pig kiss. Blix follows through on a contract.

Check out all the great videos on The Gauntlet YouTube channel and be sure check out the playlists to catch up on all your favorite games. If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Hangouts Google+ Community where new games are announced! To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon at https://patreon.com/gauntlet. All are welcome to play Gauntlet Hangouts games, and Patreon supporters have extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events are announced like Gauntlet Games Now. Enjoy, and everyone have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments
<<Previous
Details

    Categories

    All
    Actual Play
    Adventure Starters
    Age Of Ravens
    Community Hacks
    Design Diaries
    Dungeon World
    Events
    FitD
    G+ Archives
    GMing Advice
    Monsterhearts
    PbtA
    Photo Galleries
    Podcast Transcripts
    Session Report
    Signal Boost
    Slack Chats
    Slack Spotlights
    Urban Shadows
    Video Roundup
    WoDu

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
    • The Gauntlet Podcast
    • Discern Realities
    • +1 Forward >
      • Belonging Outside Belonging Series
    • Fear of a Black Dragon
    • The Farrier's Bellows
    • Trophy Podcast
    • Pocket-Sized Play
    • We Hunt the Keepers!
    • Comic Strip AP
    • Podcast Indexes >
      • Gauntlet Podcast Index
      • Fear of a Black Dragon Index
      • +1 Forward Index
      • Discern Realities Index
      • Trophy Podcast Index
      • The Farrier's Bellows Index
      • Pocket-Sized Play Index
      • Comic Strip AP Index
      • We Hunt the Keepers! Index
  • Publications
    • Codex Magazine
    • Hearts of Wulin
    • Trophy RPG
    • Codex Volume 1 Book
  • Online Gaming
    • Playing Online with The Gauntlet
    • Gauntlet Calendar
    • Gauntlet Community Open Gaming
    • Online Gaming Resources
  • Community Resources
    • Community Code of Conduct
    • Gauntlet Gameway
    • Play Issues and Contact
    • Sign Up Best Practices
  • Trophy Gold Incursion Contest