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4/29/2022

Gauntlet Video Roundup - April 29, 2022

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[Gauntlet Calendar: Online Tabletop RPG Play]

Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Calendar video roundup! Enjoy these recordings of online games organized through Gauntlet Calendar and the Gauntlet RPG Community. These recorded sessions represent only a portion of the selection of games available every week, and anyone is welcome to join the fun! If you'd like to play or watch more games like these, check out the links and information at the bottom of the post.

Gauntlet Calendar

Eotenweard: Cweningas (Session 1 of 2)
Alun R. runs for Blake Ryan, Darin Rebertus, Joe F, and Paul Rivers
We meet Ethwin 'Two Trees', the Sword of God, who discovers that a skinchanger can regenerate, so just has to be stabbed more often; Garwyn the Fae Changeling with the seeming of a common hunter who is mistaken for a treacherous intruder and then thrown across a Lady's hall; Wystan the Commoner who sends his voice into the mind of a monster only to find it just attracted its attention; and Geldhere, the Pagan Mystic, who summoned the power of the Old Gods...and then felt he deserved a rest...with the Lady of Cweningas, no less.

AKA: Inside Man (Session 2 of 2)
Donogh runs for Chris R., David Miessler-Kubanek, and Mark
Kobayashi, the Boss' old protégé has turned up in Milan and the Agent races to intercept, to turn him against The Agency. But things careen off course, and explosive revelations change things forever!

Wanderhome: Bright Young Things (Session 1)
David Morrison facilitates for Donogh, José Feito, and Nathan Harrison
We introduce the game, and meet our starting cast of characters. Barnaby the Caretaker, a young otter with a collection of small gods. Gus the Peddler, a donkey merchant traveling the land with his pack beetle Atlas. And Tal the Veteran, a laconic wolf carrying a blade they have sworn not to draw. The trio arrive at the town of Floatsham - a bustling port town watched over by a haunted lighthouse...

Wanderhome: Bright Young Things (Session 2)
David Morrison facilitates for Donogh and José Feito
Barnaby and Tal investigate the haunted lighthouse, and meet the spectral salamander responsible for keeping the ghostly light burning. At breakfast, they meet Quoth the Poet, a scatterbrained rook. They charter Captain Bertha to take them on the next leg of their journey away from Floatsham, but not before going for a swim in the lagoon...

Wanderhome: Bright Young Things (Session 3)
David Morrison facilitates for Donogh, José Feito, and Nathan Harrison
Barnaby, Gus, Tal, and Quoth come to the end of their voyage in a vast mangrove swamp. At nearby Castle Flickerstone, the Sun Parade is about to begin, heralding the arrival of the season of Bright. Barnaby befriends a young raccoon and together they help decorate the castle. Gus helps an alligator girl called Sally find her heart's desire. Tal meets an antiquarian, and assists Gus' wheeling and dealing. And Quoth discovers secrets both ancient and personal in the castle undercroft.

Vow of the Knight-Aspirants: To Seek the Tower Perilous (Session 3 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Chris Newton, Danielle B., and David Miessler-Kubanek
The questing squires bargain for a diadem of great power in the midst of a bandit camp. Gilly proves her prophetic insight to the Bandit King. Caedun makes big promises and grapples with his family's legacy of heresy. And Kae attempts to befriend everyone, witches and bandits alike. All this, and a truly special cow—along with a glimpse of the Tower Perilous itself!

Eotenweard: Cweningas (Session 2 of 2)
Alun R. runs for Blake Ryan, Darin Rebertus, Joe F, and Paul Rivers
As Ethwin the Sword of God investigates the mysterious roman ruin, Garwyn the Changeling and Wystan the Commoner are ambushed by the skinchanger. Meanwhile, Geldhere the Pagan Mystic touches a raw nerve in a meeting with the Lady of Cweningas. There's a blood soaked mosaic, an escort of ghostly roman legionaries, and a dangerous cavern...then bloody confrontation, a dark ritual, and a family decimated...

Voidheart Symphony: Forgotten Concerto (Session 3)
Lowell Francis runs for David S., Mendel Schmiedekamp, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
Our heroes continue their work in the city and struggle to figure out how to deal with the Vassal even as his sinister influence begins to hurt more people.

Masks: Born to Run '22 (Session 2 of 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Anders, Chris R., and Mairi
Our heroes decide to break into an AEGIS facility to rescue their fellow teen heroes, leading to revelation about what the agency's true purpose is and a shocking connection to the members of our team.

Old School Essentials: Against the Slavers (Session 11)
Mike Ferdinando runs for Anya Reyes, Ben, and Vince
Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, part 3! Our heroes Caldas, Bah-Rûn, Woodchuck, Jeronimus, and Zalalaz delve farther into the bizarre underground complex full of tricks, traps, and monsters!

Gauntlet Quarterly

Hearts of Wulin: Odyssey of Jade and Stars (Session 3 of 12)
David S. runs for Greg Fulford, José Feito, Max Airborne, and Steven S.
The wulin go their separate ways following the end of the Ghost Festival, each pursuing their heart's own interests. Dongshan grapples with inner conflict between duty to family and sect as he attempts to discover the antidote to Violet Widow's dark poisons, while Zhou Jiang plots a dangerous move against the Heaven and Earth Temple. Cloud Crow sets out to duel Jiang's lover, but finds themself in a forbidden rendezvous with Nameless Blade, who herself has discovered dark secrets relating to Jiang's curse.

Gauntlet Reading Club

The Veil/Veil'd Fantasy: A Master of Djinn (Discussion)
Steven S.
Spoilers in the first section!!! If you instead want to skip to the part where we talk about adapting it as a game, click here.

The Veil/Veil'd Fantasy: A Master of Djinn (Character Creation)
Steven S. runs for Ben Bond, Donogh, José Feito, and Lyra
The Gauntlet Reading Club puts together characters for our run of The Veil inspired by P. Djèlí Clark's A Master of Djinn. We are introduced to orphaned golem Sadir, angel-trained assassin Aasim, the magical body-modder Rafiq, and Kamal the hunted last member of an ancient mystical order.

Where to Find More

You can see all these videos (plus all the ones that have come before) on The Gauntlet YouTube channel playlists, and be sure to subscribe to catch all our great podcasts!

If you'd like to catch these sessions in an audio-only podcast, check out the community-run Hangouts Podcast at http://gauntlet.hellomouth.net/.

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced, or catch one of our Gauntlet Community Open Gaming online mini-conventions.

To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Calendar games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Calendar games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend

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4/22/2022

Gauntlet Video Roundup - April 22, 2022

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Gauntlet Calendar

Vow of the Knight-Aspirants: To Seek the Tower Perilous (Session 1 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Chris Newton, Danielle B., and Joe F
Three squires go questing into a dark fairy tale wood to prove themselves. In short order, they become aware of a living statue, a lost cow, and a stolen diadem. Caedun (The Serpent & Clarion) leads an ambush and gets stabbed for his trouble, Gaston (The Boar & Chalice) offers hearty encouragement to a new friend, and Gilly (The Colt & Hourglass) takes a flying leap into a battle with bandits.

Vow of the Knight-Aspirants: To Seek the Tower Perilous (Session 2 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Chris Newton, Danielle B., David Miessler-Kubanek, and Joe F
A new squire joins the quest! Kae (The Owl & Bridge) befriends a wolf and tries to befriend some outlaws as he meets up with his companions. Caedun plots a path to a hedge witch's hut, Gilly ignores her prophetic insight and falls into a pit trap, and Gaston challenges the Bandit King to a wrestling match.

Brinkwood: The Gilded Countess (Session 3 of 9)
Jesse A. runs for Ben Bond, Jason Zanes, Jex Thomas, and Steven S.
In which our brigands make their first major Foray, wreaking havoc on Fort Glimmerspire and freeing the potential victims of the Countess' hunt.

AKA: Inside Man (Session 1 of 2)
Donogh runs for Chris R., David Miessler-Kubanek, and Mark
Cliff Diggs, the CIA's inside man in The Agency is in Mexico City to retrieve a dossier that would reveal the source of a leak inside the organisation. One that his half-sister Monica is eager to bury and that his father, their Boss, needs to clean shop. Her CIA handler Danny Lewis sees this as a perfect opportunity to turn another asset inside the Agency - willing or unwilling...

Voidheart Symphony: Forgotten Concerto (Session 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Mendel Schmiedekamp, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
Our heroes return to the real world and begin to face the challenges of their daily lives even as they begin to track down the next Vassal causing misery in the city.

Masks: Born to Run '22 (Session 1 of 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Anders, Chris R., Jeremy Abernathy, and Mairi
We meet our team of young heroes, surviving in a world where 90% of adult supers have vanished and where authorities have begun to crack down on vigilantes--especially teen vigilantes.

Old School Essentials: Against the Slavers (Session 10)
Mike Ferdinando runs for Anya Reyes, Ben, Tim Leitner, and Vince
Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, part 2! Pushing farther into the secret entrance to the City of the Slave Lords, our heroes Caldas, Bah-Rûn, Jeronimus, Woodchuck, and Zalalaz encounter more strange and deadly things!

Gauntlet Quarterly

Hearts of Wulin: Odyssey of Jade and Stars (Session 2 of 12)
David S. runs for Greg Fulford, José Feito, Max Airborne, and Steven S.
Jiang curries favor with Mo Feng after delivering a demonic payload. Nameless Blade prepares to ambush the mysterious Violet Widow, but discovers that she is more than she appears. Meanwhile, Dongshan is tasked with breaking the bonds between Nameless Blade and Cloud Crow. Will Cloud Crow be able to foil Mo Feng's plot at the last minute? And what exactly lies within Mo Feng's demonic vessel?

Star Wars Saturday

The Sprawl (Session 3)
Rich Rogers runs for Alun R., Brandon Brylawski, Sherri, and Will H
The Team have quite a bit of trouble delivering the target to her concert, then they take on a new mission.

Gauntlet League Wrestling

World Wide Wrestling (Session 2)
Tyler Lominack runs for Brandon Brylawski, Chris Newton, David L., Lowell Francis, Sawyer Rankin, and Shane
Tag-team mayhem in Texas. Swerves, stiff moves, and backstage drama abound!

World Wide Wrestling (Session 3)
Tyler Lominack runs for Brandon Brylawski, Chris Newton, Lowell Francis, Sawyer Rankin, and Shane
Plenty of backstage drama and a new Champion is crowned...despite management's intentions.

Where to Find More

You can see all these videos (plus all the ones that have come before) on The Gauntlet YouTube channel playlists, and be sure to subscribe to catch all our great podcasts!

If you'd like to catch these sessions in an audio-only podcast, check out the community-run Hangouts Podcast at http://gauntlet.hellomouth.net/.

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced, or catch one of our Gauntlet Community Open Gaming online mini-conventions.

To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Calendar games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Calendar games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend

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4/15/2022

Gauntlet Video Roundup - April 15, 2022

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Gauntlet Calendar

Red Carnations on a Black Grave
Donogh facilitates for David Morrison, Sebastian Deterding, and Thomas Manuel
The Paris Commune begins with a concert, celebrating the new life that everyone can expect to life in the city, but slowly the concerns of public morality and secret miseries begin to dominate. Gustave Courbet clashes with Louise Michel over their approaches to Versailles. Amanda Mercier attempts to steer her daughter Camille through life, her view of the Commune worlds away from that of Felix Vincent (her father). Meanwhile Anna Jaclard hides her husband's dark secret...

Brinkwood: The Gilded Countess (Session 1 of 9)
Jesse A. runs for Ben Bond, Jason Zanes, Jex Thomas, and Steven S.
In which a rebellion is formed, and oaths are sworn.

Brinkwood: The Gilded Countess (Session 2 of 9)
Jesse A. runs for Ben Bond, Jason Zanes, Jex Thomas, and Steven S.
In which taxes are recovered, plots are discovered and a plan is made.

Eotenweard: Hrothford (Session 2 of 2)
Alun R. runs for Rod Santos, Sam Zimmerman, and Will H
Continuing to explore the haunted moorland Walden the Hunter distracts a skinchanger and gives a victim the chance to escape; Beornoth the Hammer of the Gods sees that victim betrayed and killed; while Thrydwulf the Storyteller attracts the skinchanger's attention and wishes he hadn't. There's a windswept tor that stinks of a curse, the ghostly figure of a dead son, and a dramatic return to Hrothford...then a hunter accused and a shocking discovery in her hut...

Dungeons & Dragons: Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Shadows (Session 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Matthew Arcilla, Nicholas Timperio, and Vince
Our students' studies lead into a post-testing celebration which quickly gets out of hand--resulting in time in the detention bog and a new danger.

Masks: Born to Run (Session 2 of 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Adam Oh, José Feito, Mark, and Paul D.
The team's attempt to regroup is interrupted by a raid, leading to them splitting up to discover who framed them and why. This path will lead them to a noted hero's base and a trio of foes with different agendas.

Old School Essentials: Against the Slavers (Session 9)
Mike Ferdinando runs for Anya Reyes, Ben, Tim Leitner, and Vince
Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords! After rescuing the prisoners from the slavers' stockade, the Dwarven galdiator Bah-Run, the barbarian Caldas, and the wizard Zalalaz join up with the cleric Jeronimus and the thief Woodchuck to press the attack before the Slave Lords can react! Sneaking through a hidden passage into the enemy citadel, they find that this back-door is far from unguarded...

Gauntlet Quarterly

Hearts of Wulin: Odyssey of Jade and Stars (Session 1 of 12)
David S. runs for Greg Fulford, José Feito, Max Airborne, and Steven S.
Ill omens and foul plots come to the surface as four wandering warriors, each locked in conflict between duty and heart, investigate the Hungry Ghost Festival at the riverside fishing village of Ardent Maple. Romance, dark magic, and a teahouse brawl kick off the first session of this quarterly run.

Star Wars Saturday

SwoDu (Session 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Anders, Greg G., Jo Lene, and Steven Watkins
Trapped in a Star Destroyer under heavy attack, the team has to get out by any means necessary!

The Sprawl (Session 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Brandon Brylawski, Sherri, and Will H
The team finds their quarry and infiltrates the estate, but things go wrong before they get her out!

Where to Find More

You can see all these videos (plus all the ones that have come before) on The Gauntlet YouTube channel playlists, and be sure to subscribe to catch all our great podcasts!

If you'd like to catch these sessions in an audio-only podcast, check out the community-run Hangouts Podcast at http://gauntlet.hellomouth.net/.

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced, or catch one of our Gauntlet Community Open Gaming online mini-conventions.

To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Calendar games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Calendar games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend

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4/11/2022

Fate of the Faerie Queen

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By Shane @shane_marble
Fate of the Faerie Queen was a light reskin of Fate of Cthulhu that I ran from January to March this year. I really liked the game’s central idea—time travellers have to stop four key ‘events’ that feed into a looming apocalypse—but I’m not really familiar with or excited about Lovecraftian cosmic horror. When I thought about what could replace it, I remembered Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers comics (now sadly out of print), where a futuristic fey army cyclically attacks the world and destroys human civilisations. That was a concept I could work with.

What follows is effectively a Timeline for Fate of Cthulhu, replacing the mythos with fairy-tale horrors and the terrible Queen of the Fey. The only mechanical change to the core game is that Corruption was renamed as Enchantment, but otherwise everything works the same. Below is the timeline I handed to players at the start of the game, showing them what they already knew about the future. If you’re thinking of playing in a Fate of the Faerie Queen game you should stop reading there. After that in the ‘GM Only’ section I talk about what’s really going on and what sort of trouble the characters are getting themselves into, exactly.

I should acknowledge that two of the events (The Gingerbread Church and The Wild Hunt) were inspired by old Delta Green scenarios, although nothing in them could count as a spoiler. My other main sources of inspiration were classic fairy tales and contemporary takes on them, especially Angela Carter, Naomi Novik and Laird Barron, and the artist Maya Pen, whose weird, creepy costumes inspired some of the game’s monstrosities and menaces. You can check out her work at https://www.instagram.com/mayapen/.

Thanks to Lowell, Kyle, José and Matt for making this such a fun game!

For everyone:
The arrival of the Faerie Queen
In a year and a day she arrives, manifesting in all her glory at what was once a rundown New York hotel. The building grows impossibly, swallowing surrounding city blocks. Across America and the world, cursed victims of the ‘dancing plague’ leave bloody footprints as they wind their way to sacrifice themselves in her worship. Those who had bargained with the fey—for power, love, fortune, whatever—shrink in dread as they realise the terrible prices they must now pay.

With few exceptions, all who see her fall in love, and surrender to their own bloody destruction. Soon she keeps popes and presidents alike as pets. Her impossibly powerful enforcers crush every sign of resistance. Even the merest faeries of her court establish their own local circles, ruthlessly subjugating towns, cities, continents. Cruelty and caprice are the only law. The very concept of freedom fades from human consciousness.

Within ten years, her domination is complete and final. Unless…

What Brought This Upon Us
Future historians have identified the following events as pivotal moments in the timeline linked to the Queen’s rise. If you can interrupt or prevent these events, perhaps you can prevent her rise or weaken her reign.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Timeline aspect: What fools these mortals be
Person: ??
Place: The Met Gala
Thing: Unpublished Grimm Brothers manuscript
Foe: ??

The Met Gala is usually the most glamorous event in the celebrity calendar, but in 2022, something was wrong. The glamour had become somehow twisted and uncanny.
The Gala’s theme was ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, in connection with an exhibition of fairy-themed art and artifacts from antiquity to the present day; a tempting target for the fey, or a product of their inscrutable schemes?
Many of the celebrities in attendance emerged changed, somehow, their work becoming uncharacteristically despairing and melancholy over the months that followed; the ‘summer of lost hope’ that presaged the Queen’s rise. Can you intervene to save human optimism?
A priceless Grimm Brothers manuscript—said to contain oddly prophetic annotations the Brothers never published—was stolen from the exhibition during the gala. Was it always you that stole the manuscript, or will you be interrupting someone else’s heist?

The Wild Hunt
Timeline aspect: The Queen’s servants are ruthless and powerful
Person: ??
Place: Owlshead Mountain, West Virginia
Thing: The Owlshead Devil
Foe: The Queen’s Huntsman

Mill Creek is a small town at the foot of Owlshead Mountain in West Virginia.
In 2022, locals reported strange lights in the sky, grave robberies, and a hulking figure clad in antique armour and wielding an enormous broadsword who claimed to be ‘Her Majesty’s Huntsman’. Elsewhere, the Queen’s servants took care to avoid being seen before her rise; what made Mill Creek different?
The region has a long history of disappearances, disasters, unexplained phenomena and even sightings of a cryptid called the Owlshead Devil; are these somehow connected to the fairies’ plans?
What power lies untapped on Owlshead Mountain, and what monstrosities protect it?

The Red Shoes
Timeline aspect: Resist anything, except temptation
Person: DJ Bug
Place: Die Rote Schuhen
Thing: ??
Foe: ??

Who killed DJ Bug? DNA and other evidence confirmed the decapitated body found in a Berlin squat was Bug, but the body was that of a 50 year old, while Bug was in their early 20s.
Bug’s last known location was the notoriously exclusive techno club, Die Rote Schuhen, on a night that would become infamous after dozens of attendees died and many others were institutionalised. Were these really drug casualties as the authorities claimed?
The dancing plague that originated in Berlin would soon spread around the world, killing and institutionalising countless victims and reducing the survivors to helpless servants of the Queen. How is the plague linked to Bug’s death?

The Gingerbread Church
Timeline aspect: The enemy of my enemy is my… friend?
Person: Sofia Oniani
Place: Lake Chimagua in the Catskills
Thing: The Gingerbread Church
Foe: Alexander Koschei, Russian mob boss

Maxim Solonik promised to testify against the Koschei crime family in exchange for immunity and protection, but his evidence was garbled and nonsensical, including claims the family ‘consorted with witches and fairies’ in a ‘gingerbread church’. Was New York’s Russian mafia truly in league with the fey?
Were fairies involved in the strange, unexplained deaths of Koschei rivals Marat ‘The Butcher’ Kolonov and Sofia ‘Baba Yaga’ Oniani?
Alleged mob boss Alexander Koschei claimed to be an unfairly persecuted real estate developer, and hoped that the clinic for the terminally ill he would soon open in the Catskills will help improve his reputation. Did the clinic hide a sinister secret?
Can these names be mere coincidence, or is Sofia Oniani the Baba Yaga of legend? Is Koschei in fact Koschei the Deathless, the Queen’s most powerful and terrifying servant?

GMs Only Beyond This Point
I’m gonna run down these events in the order my group decided to play them, and starting with some general background info.

Beyond the specific events, the big secret revealed through this game was that the Faerie Queen had conquered Earth before, ruling for centuries until a group of four brave heroes struck a blow against her so powerful she was banished from our world for a thousand years. A vast conspiracy (mortal? fey? who knows) erased all records of her existence and concealed this secret fey history. Now her millenia of exile was ending and she was gearing up for a vengeful return.

This was inspired by reading about The Tartarian Empire, a conspiracy theory that holds that all the really nice old architecture on earth is left over from a futuristic empire that once spanned the globe but has now been hidden because… I don’t think they’re real clear on why, actually. This seemed like a cool idea so I stole it. The players put it together largely during The Red Shoes and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but basically I just wanted this to come out about halfway through the campaign and would have gotten there whichever order they tackled the events in.

The Gingerbread Church
Timeline aspect: The enemy of my enemy is my… friend?
Prevent the fey-aligned mob boss from completing the Gingerbread Church where he will sacrifice hundreds of victims to the Queen.

Person: Sofia ‘Baba Yaga’ Oniani
Place: Lake Chimagua in the Catskills
Thing: The Gingerbread Church
Foe: Alexander Koschei, Russian mob boss

What the players don’t know:
Of course, Koschei is Koschei the Deathless and Baba Yaga is that Baba Yaga, both figures from Russian folklore. Koschei is in love with the Queen and was one of her most loyal servants during her previous reign on Earth. When she was vanquished, he fell into a deep depression and lay down at the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years, only recently dragging himself out to try to prepare for her return. He’s a powerful mob boss and sorcerer with the traditional Koschei gimmick that he can’t truly be killed unless you destroy his soul, which is hidden inside a needle that’s inside an egg that’s inside a duck that’s inside a dog that’s inside a chest that’s hidden on an island. In my game he also had multiple bodies, and a stunt that let him start a scene with two free invokes on his Always Has A Plan aspect.

Koschei had traded the secret of hiding one’s soul in a needle with Baba Yaga, and in return she had taught him the magic of gingerbread architecture. He was therefore building a gingerbread church in an old, rundown holiday resort on the Catskills, with a frozen lake full of angry selkies nearby where he dumped the bodies of his enemies. He planned to use the church to sacrifice hundreds of victims to the glory of the Queen on the day of her Rise. After dark, dozens of shadowy witches appeared to bake and build it. What the powers of the gingerbread magic were, exactly, was never made clear; presumably something pretty terrible.

As much as she wanted to hide her soul in a needle, Baba Yaga was no real friend to the Queen—she’d also lived through the previous reign, had a lousy time, and was preparing to flee this plane of existence before the next round. She turned up in Washington Square Park with a small cohort of chicken-legged huts and loudly refused to help the Queen’s enemies while casually letting the characters know what was going on and conspicuously turning her back so they could steal some of her magic stuff. In the fiction, she hoped they’d defeat the Queen, but couldn’t risk saying so or openly supporting them. Out of the fiction, I hoped they’d use the magic she gave them to rack up some Enchantment and bend the timeline toward human destruction.

The Red Shoes
Timeline aspect: Resist anything, except temptation
Figure out how the murder of a DJ in Germany is tied to the faeries’ plans, and prevent or mitigate the spread of the dancing plague.

Person: DJ Bug
Place: Die Rote Schuhen
Thing: ?? [The Red Shoes]
Foe: ?? [Rumpelstiltskin and her red caps]

What the players don’t know:
When I started thinking about this game, my first idea was that it would be cool to have an event take place in the Berghain, the infamously exclusive Berlin techno club (back in the news as I write this after hilariously and correctly refusing entry to Elon Musk). Sadly when we played out this event the characters never actually set foot in the club, but maybe yours will?

What’s actually happening in this event is that Rumpelstiltskin is hanging out in Berlin, tormenting the descendants of one of the heroes who vanquished the Queen during her previous reign. Specifically, this is DJ Bug (she has promised to make him famous in return for his youth, but the fame she plans to deliver is his shocking, headline-producing murder) and his mother (author of a popular series of young adult novels based on family legends about an ancestor who defeated a fairy queen, but unwittingly bargained the life of her firstborn for this success).

Rumpelstiltskin has a gang of redcaps doing her bidding (yes, Rumpelstiltskin was a woman in my game, and no, I can’t quite remember why I decided that). They are headquartered in Spreepark, an abandoned communist-era theme park in East Berlin, full of rusting and decaying rollercoasters and other rides. This is a real place, and very creepy; you should google image search it if you haven’t seen it or been there.

My intended climax for this event was a showdown with the fey forces in the club, which I pictured having a kind of backroom sex-maze that would open onto Faerie. As it turned out, the climax instead involved the characters rescuing two of Rumpelstiltskin’s prisoners from her Spreepark base: one, the fey lover of one of the PCs, and the other, the older, lost, time-travelling self of another PC, who had pricked his finger on a spindle and fallen into a magical slumber. You probably won’t have these specific figures if you run the game yourself, but it did make for an exciting ending, so maybe think about what equivalents you have to work with.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Timeline aspect: What fools these mortals be
Steal a priceless Grimm Brothers manuscript from the most exclusive party on Earth.

Person: ?? [Whatever celebrity or celebrity stand-in you think would be fun]
Place: The Met Gala
Thing: Unpublished Grimm Brothers manuscript
Foe: ?? [Delta Green]

What the players don’t know:
My basic idea here was that Delta Green, the secret government conspiracy that fights the occult in the game of the same name, knew there was something weird and magical about the manuscript on display at the Met Gala, and planned to steal it. The players would need to steal it first, or from them. Meanwhile, goblin waiters were feeding the celebrities (and one undercover PC) glamoured fey food that was being produced by a massive, invisible, monstrous tree.

To run the heist scenes, I used the scene aspect, I Knew This Would Happen, which characters could invoke to have prepared for an otherwise unexpected eventuality. This worked pretty well, although we ended up running the whole heist in one session, which was a faster pace than I’d intended. Oh well. The players all said they wanted a session with a more relaxed pace at this point, so after the successful heist I let them have a more laid back, roleplay-heavy session where the only problems where being hunted by the FBI and Delta Green, the PC who’d eaten the fey food beginning to turn into a donkey, and the Faerie Queen herself unexpectedly manifesting in Central Park.

The value of the manuscript turned out to be that the Brothers Grimm had incorporated some illuminated pages transcribed by a monk centuries earlier. These recorded the reflections of one of the heroes who had defeated the Queen, and spent the rest of his life researching ways she could be truly and permanently beaten if she returned. I asked the players what they’d prefer: for me to tell them how the text said she could be defeated, or to let them tell me how it said she could be defeated. They asked for a mix of both, so we left it open for them to come up with other ideas, but I told them two that it mentioned: either finding the Fisher King and the Holy Grail to use against her, or that the Queen would become powerless if someone she had wronged truly forgave her. The immediate glowering and shaking heads of the players at this possibility was extremely satisfying.

The Wild Hunt
Timeline aspect: The Queen’s servants are ruthless and powerful
Find out what the Huntsman was doing in a small West Virginia town in the 2020s.

Person: ?? [Evelyn, the Queen’s illegitimate daughter]
Place: Owlshead Mountain, West Virginia
Thing: The Owlshead Devil
Foe: The Queen’s Huntsman

What the players don’t know:
This was really the event where the players took things in the most radically different direction than I had planned. My idea: the Queen had an illegitimate daughter at some point. Because she didn’t want a child emerging as a rival for the throne, she had her most loyal servant, the Huntsman, take the child away to kill her. But the Huntsman couldn’t bring himself to kill an innocent child, so he hid her in a small town on earth where he figured the Queen would never notice. Now, he’d realised the Queen was about to come back and conquer earth, so he came back to find the kid (now 18) and protect her, somehow. The Wild Hunt would follow, to punish the traitor and kill the child.

My set up was that it would seem like the Huntsman was their enemy, and they may or may not work out he was a potential ally before the real villains arrived. As it turned out, they didn’t, and they killed the Huntsman just in time for the Wild Hunt to arrive. Then they blew up the truck stop to cover their escape, and met the Owlshead Devil—actually, the father of this royal child, hiding out in exile and pretending to be a weird cryptid. (In my original plans for this section, I’d intended the Owlshead Devil to be purely a local rumour based on weird fey happenings, and that there’d be no individual Devil. But during the earlier events, the characters latched onto this figure and kept telling enemies they were working for the Owlshead Devil, so it became clear that someone of that name had to turn up for them to deal with.)

I had intended all this to help set up a possible ending where, in the final Rise of the Queen event, they would use this child’s potential claim to the throne to overthrow the Queen. My players weren’t gonna wait that long, and as soon as they realised she could be an heir, they found a portal to Faerie and started whipping up a rebellion. This was such a great idea that I had to let it play out, and with the help of some Challenges that took in vast swathes of their politicking and an insurrectionary faerie war, they succeeded. This meant the final event of the campaign switched from The Rise of the Faerie Queen to the Revenge of the Faerie Queen, as the fallen monarch targeted the PCs’ families and loves ones. But that’s another story!

The Rise of the Faerie Queen
Timeline aspect: No more happily ever after
The Queen resumes her throne in the building that was her palace during her previous earthly reign.

Like I said, I didn’t really get to play this one out. Our climactic sessions involved the Queen’s plans for revenge: targeting the PCs’ loved ones, trying to bargain with cosmically powerful allies like Nyarlathotep and Satan for enough power to conquer the world despite being deposed, and then baiting the Earth with strange eldritch worms so an impossibly vast cosmic leviathan would come and swallow the planet. (Luckily, one of the PCs was able to make a heroic last stand and sacrifice herself to close the portal just in time.)

The Queen’s Agenda
Ambition
To restore her reign over the Earth: The Queen ruled Earth once and wants to again—not only because she sees our world as hers by right, but because the boundless human suffering she will impose is amusing to her and her court.

Goals
Abolish human freedom: The only appropriate responses to the Queen’s majesty are surrender, submission and love. She will ensure these are also the only possible responses, grinding the concepts of sovereignty and self-determination out of human souls.

Make her enemies suffer: If anyone defies the Queen’s will, her vengeance will be brutal beyond measure. A thousand years ago a handful of humans hurt her, and she’s still tormenting their descendants over it. But defying the Queen’s will could mean almost anything: actually defeating her, sure, but also, like, if her mirror told her someone was more beautiful? You know someone’s suffering for that.

Goals? Ha!: Above all, the Queen is capricious, and she is driven far more by whim than by ‘goals’ in any sense humans could understand.

Tactics
Bargain: Faeries love to bargain: to offer something in exchange that is freely accepted, but portends impossible suffering and doom. Fey bargains are often remarkably generous in what they offer, but what they take in exchange is invariably greater and worse.

GMs can use this tactic to:

Tempt a PC.
Reveal an NPC as an ally of the Queen or the victim of a bargain they failed to fully understand.
Make someone complicit in their own suffering or downfall.

Stories: The Queen and her court draw much of their power from stories and folk tales. They love to be spoken of, and to wind together truth and fiction to their own benefit. They talk about themselves endlessly and treat their stories like powerful gifts they offer their mortal pawns. But they are also bound by these stories, and can rarely escape them.

GMs can use this tactic to:

Reveal lore.
Treat fairy tales as facts about the world.
Blur the line between fiction and reality.

Brutality: The Queen is not just about the intangible cruelties of contract and chronicle; she loves violence and bloodshed and all the fascinating ways you can hurt and mutilate a human body. She’s not afraid to inflict violence herself, but generally prefers to leave it to her servants, mortal and otherwise.

GMs can use this tactic to:

Attack with force.
Threaten the PCs, their loved ones, or their communities.
Introduce mortal and fey dangers.

Servants
The Queen’s servants include whatever your favourite flavours of threatening fey or related horrors are: pixies, impossibly beautiful elven courtiers, goblins, redcaps, big bad wolves, evil witches, etc, etc. If you have a favourite fairy tale villain, they should definitely turn up as a servant at some point. Flipping through any edition of collected Brothers Grimm stories is a great source of inspiration for both enemies and just the general uncanny weirdness you want in a game like this.

Her mortal pawns certainly include violent criminal gangs (like Koschei’s), but as part of her preparation for her Rise she has bargained with humans. Really, anyone might be a servant of the Queen. All kinds of politicians, entrepreneurs, artists and influencers are effectively in her thrall and might use their power on her behalf. But it also amuses the fey to bargain with the powerless, and any angsty teen or service workers might suddenly reveal the sorcerous power the fey have gifted them.

If anyone does end up running this game, I’d love to hear about it. You can find me on the Gauntlet Forums or @shane_marble on Twitter.

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4/8/2022

Gauntlet Video Roundup - April 8, 2022

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Gauntlet Calendar

Delta Green: Divergence (Session 12 of 12)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., Horst Wurst, Paul Rivers, and Will H
In our final session, the team raids the Nevada compound, but the situation quickly becomes claustrophobic and deadly. Can the now-split group survive and complete their objectives? Not all will return alive—who will die?

Dungeons & Dragons: Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Shadows (Session 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Francisco Olivera, Nicholas Timperio, and Vince
A frog is resurrected, but brings back dark messages from the other side. Final rites are given for a mini-drider priest. The disguise attempt fails badly leading to questions of good parenting. But most importantly the first exams of the year showcase each student's approach to academics and in the end point to a previously unnoticed anomaly at Strixhaven.

Nexus Modern Sorcery (Session 4)
Blake Ryan runs for Austin C., Bethany H., and Joe A.
Lycanthropes, Portals, 5G Mobile Towers.

Masks: A New Generation: Born to Run (Session 1 of 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Adam Oh, José Feito, Mark, and Paul D.
Our group of young heroes- a Bull, Nova, Outsider & Scion-- find themselves on the run after a disastrous battle with a supervillain, but even being hunted can't stop them from trying to rescue civilians from a fire, leading to them walking into a trap.

Eotenweard: Hrothford (Session 1 of 2)
Alun R. runs for David Morrison, Rod Santos, Sam Zimmerman, and Will H
We meet Beornoth, the loner (and lonely?) Hammer of the Gods whose Sight has shown him the tracks of 'something' leading to the Saxon settlement of Hrothford; Walden the Arrow, a mercenary Hunter who believes that Woden wouldn't let him come here if he wasn't needed; Thrydwulf the handsome Storyteller who wants to find the meaning of a tale told of Hrothford; and Hywel, the Fae Changeling wrapped in the seeming of a young Lord, who senses a disturbance among the spirits of air and water. We also meet some of the inhabitants of Hrothford and witness an argument in Lord Ailnoth's Hall. History is revealed, family tensions observed, and potential enmities established. Then, a water spirit driven off, a surprising witch, and a haunted moorland...before the screaming begins...

Fall of Magic
Mike Ferdinando facilitates for Anya Reyes and Tim Leitner
"Magic is dying, and the Magus is dying with it. We travel together to the realm of Umbra where magic was born." Vago, Golem of Ravenhall; Caspian, Fugitive of Stormguard; and Fawn, Fox of Mistwood accompany the Magus on a journey across a magical land on a journey of discovery and loss.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Voidheart Symphony: Forgotten Concerto (Session 1)
Lowell Francis runs for David S., Mendel Schmiedekamp, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
In this start of a new quarterly, we meet our group of rebels as they plunge into am otherworldly Castle and face down their first Vassal, a sadistic building manager who revels in inflicting misery.

Star Wars Saturday

The Sprawl (Session 1)
Rich Rogers runs for Alun R., Brandon Brylawski, Sherri, and Will H
In the sprawl of Carannia City, a team of runners take a job to handle the Sindar Extraction.

Stars in the Dark (Session 23)
Anders runs for Marc Majcher, Mark (they/them), Rich Rogers, and Steven Watkins
Season 3 Begins!The crew has escaped the stormtroopers of the Garrison and the implacable Black Sun assassin Kernoc...for now. In this session a new crew is formed and new relationships forged. A great place to jump on if you don't want to start at the beginning!

Gauntlet League Wrestling

World Wide Wrestling: GLW Developmental Tour (Session 1)
Tyler Lominack runs for Chris Newton, David L., Lowell Francis, Sawyer Rankin, and Shane

Gauntlet Reading Club

Monsterhearts: Every Heart a Doorway (Session 4)
Steven S. runs for David Morrison, Kae, Marleigh, and Sabine V.
The Gauntlet Reading Club continue our run of Avery Alder's Monsterhearts inspired by Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway. So someone's been murdered! We're all pretty certain that Grace did it, but should Bailey and Jason really be barhopping at a time like this? And who's the cat with big smile and equally big claws making a late night visit in the dorms?

Where to Find More

You can see all these videos (plus all the ones that have come before) on The Gauntlet YouTube channel playlists, and be sure to subscribe to catch all our great podcasts!

If you'd like to catch these sessions in an audio-only podcast, check out the community-run Hangouts Podcast at http://gauntlet.hellomouth.net/.

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced, or catch one of our Gauntlet Community Open Gaming online mini-conventions.

To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Calendar games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Calendar games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

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4/1/2022

Gauntlet Video Roundup - April 1, 2022

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Gauntlet Community Open Gaming

Spirit of '77: Bermuda Love Triangle
Mike Ferdinando runs for Isaac, Mona, and Rod Santos
It's 1977, and the Sea Queen Cruise Lines has scored a lucrative deal with the government of Egypt to host the first ever floating exhibition of the world tour of "The Secrets of King Tut's Tomb" which is now on display on the Mediterranean Deck of the luxury liner "Caribbean Queen". But passengers Jacqueline Wu, Victoria Jennings-Wright, and Larry McCurdy aren't just there for fun in the sun...they plan to pull off a heist! But nobody could have guessed what might happen when cursed artifacts from Ancient Egypt enter the Bermuda Triangle!

Hearts of Wulin: Tournament of Blood
Lowell Francis runs for Chris R., Christopher G., SalamanderJames, and Steph
Linked by secret pasts and old betrayals, our heroes travel to the Peacock Blade tournament to face revelations, reversals, and bloody vengeance.

The Great Soul Train Robbery
Donogh runs for Chet, Conan, and Grey
Through the burnt-over lands of sulphur and bone the Hellbound train rattles. Stowed away aboard are the desperadoes: Mollie Byers, fierce homesteader widow driven by love and revenge, Amon Carpenter, bookish snake-handler spurred on by redemption and pride, and Joaquín Mendive, tragic fiddler halfway between temperance and pride. They have their eyes on some contraband angel wings, but what else awaits them on those Damned carriages is far more important!

Trophy Gold: The Bruja, the Beast, and the Barrow
Mike Ferdinando runs for Chet, Jeremy Abernathy, Sean, and Steph
After having been afflicted with Tomb Crystal Poison, Baso, Mahera, Gavin, and Teodan travel to Pickbone Barrow in the Crystal Frontier to meet with the sorcerer Marble-Eye, who is rumored to be able to lift curses. Before he does so, he demands a service: Bring back the head of the beast that dwells in the barrow below!

Monster of the Week: Fisher in the Dark
Tyler Lominack runs for David Montgomery, Kae, and usnavi

Swoop Gangs
Rich Rogers runs for Adam, Keith Stetson, Mark (they/them), Sean, and Tyler Lominack

Hearts of Wulin: Tournament of Sorrow
Lowell Francis runs for Brandon Brylawski, Marcus Flores, Michael D., and Rod Santos
Paths of vengeance converge at a tournament. Will this poison in their hearts destroy our heroes or will they emerge victorious?

Punk's Been Dead Since '79
Mike Ferdinando runs for Conan, Donogh, and Tori S
October 1998. After having been kicked out of the band P.U.K.E. 419 by her bandmates, punk bassist Valeria, joins her friends Mark and JC on a road trip to the town of Van Wert to attend the biggest local punk show of the year: the Northwest Ohio Battle of the Bands ("NO BOB") '98! And of course her former band will be there too! What shenanigans will this teenage trio find for themselves? And will they dare to take the stage themselves?

Critique-Feedback Town Hall
Clint Smith hosts for Bethany H., Chris Sellers, and Kass Helfant
The Critique-Feedback Town Hall. Thanks to those who came out and joined in on the conversation. I'd love to do something like this again. with links to some of the material discussed.

Corvid Court
Donogh runs for Amanda/iamatrex, Tori S, and Will H
The Court is in trouble as their pet in City Hall, the Magistrate Crane is thinking for themselves and no longer answering the Court's call. But the high flyers think this is the perfect opportunity for fledglings to take some initiative and prove their worth to the Court. Enter Ezekiel the Crow, Bromia the Jay, and Margaret the Magpie; they have a scheme hatching!

Hearts of Wulin: Tournament of Vengeance
Lowell Francis runs for Appetit de Fou, Max Airborne, Mindy, and usnavi
Four heroes find their paths intertwine more tightly than they knew when a tournament and wedding shows how fragile hearts are and how quickly love can turn to betrayal.

Back Again from the Broken Land: A Humble Fellowship's Homecoming
Alexi S. runs for Marc Majcher, Marleigh, Sabine V., and Shane
The Doomslord has fallen, and now a fellowship of small adventurers make their way home, inspiring the reformation of the Brighthelm Legion and saving the Treetop Inn from disaster along the way. Lobelius the Bodyguard makes a meal to prove his trustworthiness, Largo the Burglar is tempted to steal murder swamp vapors, Gilly the Wayfinder recruits several birds for help, and Dittany the Turncoat grapples with his connection to the Doomslord.

CBR+PNK: Kamigawa Reckoning
Alexi S. runs for Alun R., Jeremy Abernathy, Lowell Francis, and Mairi
Welcome to the rainslick, neon-lit, kami-haunted streets of Kamigawa. A quartet of runners embark on their last job for Satoru Umezawa and the Hyozan Reckoners. Will they be able to steal Umezawa's jitte from the Imperials, and, if they do, will they be willing to hand the ancient weapon over to their crimelord boss? A street samurai, a rat biker, an insect ninja, and a master hacker will make fateful choices on this night of reckoning.

Gauntlet Calendar

Delta Green: Divergence (Session 11)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., Horst Wurst, Paul Rivers, and Will H
The team prepares for the Nevada raid to finish off the foes they've been pursuing, but when they're pulled off the mission they begin to see the crack and corruption within Delta Green itself. Now they must decide whether obey or press on alone and cut themselves off from the organization.

Uncharted Worlds: The Cluster (Session 7 of 7)
Alun R. runs for Grey, Joe F, and Pawel S.
The crew explore the enormous city ship that also seems to have been trapped in the space they believe lies within the planet Zandora. It's clear that the city ship has many organic, rather than technological components and is incredibly rich in Slip Particles. There's a paradigm shift in human understanding of Slip Space, an encounter with the janitorial staff that forces the crew into scaling the outside of one of the ship's structures, and a 'close encounter of the third kind' is avoided. Then desperate time critical calculations on slip thresholds, an unexpected arrival and missiles in flight...a great finale that saw some arcs completed and new arcs hinted at...

Dungeons & Dragons: Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Shadows (Session 3)
Lowell Francis runs for Francisco Olivera, Matthew Arcilla, Nicholas Timperio, and Vince
The students join and explore their extracurricular clubs from theater to LARP, journalism to philosophical weight-lifting. But then as the relax at the Firejolt cafe, a strange magical effect lets loose demon-frogs on the patrons, forcing them to act...with dire consequences for Fen's new friend...

Godbound: Shattered Temples (Session 22)
Lowell Francis runs for Dan Brown, Patrick Knowles, Sherri, and Tyler Lominack
The final session of this second arc sees the pantheon facing down the scions of a renegade demon goddess—leading to a battle and a decision which will change their paths forever.

Gauntlet Reading Club

Monsterhearts: Every Heart a Doorway (Session 3)
Steven S. runs for David Morrison, Kae, Marleigh, and Sabine V.
We continue our run of Avery Alder's Monsterhearts inspired by Seanan McGuire's Every Heart a Doorway. It's the morning after and the kids at the Open Door Academy deal with the hangover. Something has started to hunt them and folks are going missing. If people aren't careful, someone could end up dead...

Urban Shadows: The Chosen and the Beautiful (Session 5)
Steven S. runs for David Morrison, Kae, and Maria M.
We conclude our run of Magpie Games' Urban Shadows inspired by Nghi Vo's The Chosen and the Beautiful. Things reach a climax for our ragtag crew as the Wentworths' feud enters its final act, the magical power of New York in the balance. There's one more deal to be made and who knows if anyone's willing to make it.

Star Wars Saturday

Road Trip (Session 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Peter, Sabine V., and Steven Watkins
The crew of the Double Payback travel along the Corellian Trade Spire, carry some interesting cargo, and deke some pirates until they reach their final destination.

Weird West

Dream Aflame (Session 2 of 2)
Donogh runs for Jim C., Sabine V., and SalamanderJames
The travelers cross paths with the Caravan, where the Graveyard, Bronze Wagon and Tents of the Serpentine Priests rumble on. Bones the Sentenced finds the teeth of They-Who-Grin. Shepherd the Faithful seeks wisdom with Three Lovers, Libertine and Lethal. While Professor the Seeker cooks up a powerful potion with Tombstone. All is thrown into disarray as Crozier arrives, with a new (or old) faith, and plans to bring it to the world. And then Jorrith the Marked finally confronts him...

Where to Find More

You can see all these videos (plus all the ones that have come before) on The Gauntlet YouTube channel playlists, and be sure to subscribe to catch all our great podcasts!

If you'd like to catch these sessions in an audio-only podcast, check out the community-run Hangouts Podcast at http://gauntlet.hellomouth.net/.

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced, or catch one of our Gauntlet Community Open Gaming online mini-conventions.

To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Calendar games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Calendar games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend

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