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
  • Trophy Gold Incursion Contest

5/31/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - May 31, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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.

​TGI Thursday

Neo Shinobi Vendetta: Forged in the Dark (FitD) (Session 5 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, Owen Thompson, and Peter Mazzeo
As more things fall apart within the clan, the cell discovers they must return to the scene of their first op and crosses paths with the forces of a rival ninja family.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: The Suits (Session 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
Who are the Suits? Our heroes find the answer and the scope of the conspiracy threatens to swallow them whole. SULIT tries to fiddle with the system to save his friends, L0K1 works to escape from the clutches of Howl Division and Serenade confronts a demon from beyond.

Tales & Things (Things from the Flood) (Session 7)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Patrick Knowles, Rich Rogers, Sarah J., and Sherri
The campaign jumps forward four years to a Wayward devastated by the collapse of the Loop and a world edging towards darkness. And our teens face the return of an old foe.

Tales & Things (Things from the Flood) (Session 8)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Patrick Knowles, Sarah J., and Sherri
With Nicole missing, Darlene tries to get the group back together-- but old hurts and new problems threaten to tear them apart before they can really begin.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: AEON After-School (Session 3 of 3)
Alexi S. runs for Chris Newton, Jasmin Neitzel, Linda H. Codega, and Misha B
The at-risk supers in AEON's after-school program -- now dubbing their team "Batswarm" -- face the consequences of their actions in Undertaker's Row. Quicksilver falls deeper into her father's criminal enterprises. Brightling flees the divine suitors her grandmother found for her. Mr. Hearse makes a move against the team by kidnapping El Borron's parents. Moxy and Mephista meet with the demon law firm Ozroch, Ozroch, & Ozroch, and Moxy tries to trick the demon but ends up signing a contract with them. It all ends in a hell of a battle (literally) and a PC-to-PC marriage proposal!

Indie Schwarze Auge

[DEUTSCH] World of Aventurien: Schatten im Zwielicht (Session 13 von 13)
Gerrit Reininghaus leitet eine Session für Christopher G., Eike K., Sabine V., und Tina T.
Inferno - Morgon turned into a sun in the devastating events at Andalkan. We mourn for him but, as his will was, without (wet) tears. Rukus shot a dragon with a ballista to confront his nemesis but defied the final battle for the greater good and the life of his love, Boronhilf. Boronhilf stopped the Krakoniers' Priestess dreams with green, cold fire. While the never sleeping Lucaria black holed The Invincible Flesh Spider and then escaped, riding on the back of a sea snake, supposed to be her child. This was the final session of Schatten im Zwielicht. Thanks to the 13 players who joined us in this journey over 13 sessions in the last months.

Mecha Monthly

HILT // BLADE (Session 4 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alex, Diana Moon, and Rob Ruthven
After losing half their squad, the remaining Hilts of the Garden immediately chafe with their brash new partner only to be plunged into a fight with a void-faced Outsider tied to their collective history. Veranda is attacked by glimpses of her failure, Rain tries to control the essence of nothing and Carina takes a side.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Good Society: Sense, Sensibility, & Swordsmanship: Raillery, Reason, & a Rapier's Wit (Session 4 of 4)
Sabine V. runs for Agatha, Alun R., Leandro Pondoc, and Scot Ryder
The final and ultimate installment of Good Society: Sense, Sensibility & Swordsmanship ended quite prettily: Lady Justine went to America to be with her true love, Freddy; her mother, the vicious Lady Sibyl was found to be a conspirator and a murderess (the Big Bad revealed!); Hugh Botham was happily married to Lord Cedric; and Annabel Hargreaves was arrested, but ultimately got offered a job with the newly created Ministry of Justice. Lots of desires were fulfilled, albeit not in the sense they had originally been meant to be.

Mutants in the Night: Unity (Session 4 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Michael G. Barford, Tom F., and Walter German
We follow Grey, Thorn and Jack for the conclusion of this campaign. The Mutant Safe Zone of Unity Heights is under martial law, but that does little to quench the burning spirit of its inhabitants. With resources they been denied for almost a decade, they come together and establish between each others. Through cunning and cutthroat maneuvering, the turn the tables: at the end of this campaign there is a New Unity. It is time now for the rich and their lapdogs to hide behind walls in fear.

Cthulhu Dark Green: M-Cell Operations (Session 2 of 2)
Horst Wurst runs for Jasmin Neitzel, Kevin Lovecraft, and Puckett
Night Floors - The investigators are brought in to catalogue the articles of a missing painter. The bizarre tapestry of items in her apartment hints at something more than the everyday; for those few who can solve the mystery the rewards are reaped...elsewhere.

Mutants in the Night (Session 3 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Ludovico Alves, Pawel S., and William
Headed by an implacable newcomer, the Mutant Task Force sweeps through the Safe Zone to demonstrate its power. As the city seemingly girds itself for conflict, our gang is forced into a desperate gauntlet to help those that want out. Mist tries to curb the possibility of open warfare, Hypereel exposes the twisted ambitions of the new MTF leader and Thinner slips down a bloody path to protect his kind.

The Veil: Echoes (Session 3 of 3)
Darren Brockes runs for Alex, Fraser Simons, Leandro Pondoc, and Walter German
Hector and Joy arrive just in time to get Z and Rhye out of hot water. Joy disappears into the Veil. Rhye sells the memory of his grandmother. Z gives Joy a simple solution.

The Veil: Reflections (Session 2 of 2)
Darren Brockes runs for Agatha, Joshua Gilbreath, Matt Caulder, Puckett, and Ryan Perry
Kohi, V, and Aleph get to their collection job, leading them a strange, abandoned district. 2-Bit is probed and unmoved until they run into a friend. That friend, Kristoph, is caught up in something far more insidious than he could have ever realized.

Once Again, We Return (Monsterhearts): Wannabe, Adored (Session 3 of 3)
Barry runs for Alexi S., Chris Thompson, Peter Mazzeo, and Ryan M.
Tiamat and Fenris display their monstrous appetites as Fenris warms up for Ragnarok with Mercury while Tiamat calls forth the monstrousness of a fan. Through a great fall, then through Eos, Anansi discovers the end of all stories before Eos skips to the next chapter and we're all left wanting more. Cut the strings.

Achtung! Cthulhu Dark: The Angel of Krupna (Session 4 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Eduardo L., Sabine V., Walter German, and William
The series climaxes with the stealthy infiltration of the Castle Karlstein and a confrontation with the final, bestial, horror that cost one character his life (the self-sacrificing Brit), and another his sanity (the over-curious Czech professor with a new taste for human flesh...). Meanwhile our clever young Czech hero earned his spurs and, inevitably, the incredibly handsome American diplomat got away with most of the essential intelligence. Great to GM this series (my first 4 session series for the Gauntlet), and the hack is a lot more solid now than it was. Thanks, all.

Trophy: Shifting Sands
Jason Cordova runs for Tyler Lominack and Walter German
We are playing an incursion by Luiz Ferraz.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets: Beneath the Canals (Session 4 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Jason, Jesse A., Maria Rivera, and Stentor Danielson
While Asmus pursues a family vendetta and Sibel tries to find the key to her strange memories, the others seek out the alchemist Paprika in Pentola's undercity.

Night Witches: Engles Airdrome (Session 3 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Barry, Bethany H., Sara, and Sarah J.
The pilots of the 588th complete their training and drop bombs on actual Nazis.

Uncanny Echo (Session 4 of 10)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Pearl Zare, and Steven desJardins
Restless - The residents of the Silver Lake Assisted Living Facility uncover their connection to the Uncanny! A charming and heart-tugging adventure.

Infinite Galaxies: Empire of the Dying Sun (Session 5)
Rory runs for Ash, Michael Mendoza, and Simon Landreville
Our first season concludes with the PCs traveling to the home system of the Ancients and confronting them about the impending supernovas within the Empire.

Veil'd Fantasy (Session 5 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, John Campbell, Sherri, and Tyler Lominack
The group attempts to steal a relic lightning rod from the neck of a dragon and deliver it to their employer. This does not go according to plan. Repeatedly.

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 play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced. To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Hangouts games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments

5/30/2019

Age of Ravens: Wulin Miscellany

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
WHY WE ROLL WHAT WE ROLL
I had the opportunity to run my first Twitch stream last weekend. Gregory Wilson had me on his channel as part of a charity weekend fundraiser. More than anything I just wanted the chance to run Hearts of Wulin for my sister Cat Rambo, who taught me D&D. She lives in Seattle so we rarely get a chance to interact, let alone play together. It was a great session, and I respect Greg for being willing to bring a storygame into a channel that leans more trad.
 
Second hand I heard viewers had some confusion about the stat/rolling system—in particular why someone wouldn’t always choose to roll their best stat. It’s something I mentioned during character creation, but didn’t do a great job of reinforcing during play. This requires a little bit of a deep dive into HoW’s mechanics.
 
The stats in Hearts of Wulin come from the intersection of three of my favorite games: The Veil, Masks: A New Generation, and Fate Accelerated. Basically you have five elements as your stats. That’s not unusual—we’ve seen that in both Legend of the Five Rings and Weapons of the Gods. But in both those games, there’s a tight association between stats and particular actions. Masks showed me you could track harm functionally. Characters mark conditions which in turn give a penalty to particular moves. So Guilty gives a -2 to "Provoke Someone" and "Assess the Situation."
 
Fate Accelerated showed me that you didn’t have to link stats with specific actions. Other systems have done that, but FAE made that a cornerstone. The Veil presented a new way to look at actions making them about how your character feels when they act. It also gave the stats a limitation in that using a “state” repeatedly spikes it out. That affects your actions and limits your choices. Hearts of Wulin combines all three of these concepts.
 
When you go to roll a move, you choose which of your five elements applies. Each element has some loose themes associated—it weaves between feeling and substance. So while Water’s aspect of awareness might seem the go to for rolling "Study", it could also be Earth’s focus or Metal’s calculation. It depends on your character and where they are. And your character might not always have all your choices.
 
Two moves limit what you roll. You always roll with the element associated with your fighting style in a combat. But you can roll with anything but your style element when you face "Inner Conflict." More importantly, when the GM deals you harm through a move, you will “mark” an element. That means you can’t roll with it until you get that cleared. If you mark the element of your fighting style, you can’t fight. You have to choose another approach.
 
And here’s where all of that comes together. When you roll a miss, a 6 or less, the GM makes a move. Either as a soft move or part of a hard move, the GM inflicts harm by having you mark an element. But you always mark the element you rolled with. So if you go spamming your best element, eventually it will get marked. And as a GM, if I see you always using the same element, I’m going to enjoy making you mark it. I love push your luck mechanics and that’s what this offers. Choosing what to roll isn’t just about rolling high, you have to think more clearly about your situation and if something is worth the risk.

Picture
36 REASONS YOUR FOE IS A HIGHER SCALE
Scale is a key concept in Hearts of Wulin. If a foe is below your scale, you’ll win—unless you choose not to. If your foe is of equal scale, the question is up in the air. You could win, lose, or have to make a sacrifice for victory. But if you fight a foe of a superior scale—you lose. Better rolls let you narrate that loss, but you still lose. You have to figure out how to bring higher scale foes down to your level. Some legendary adversaries require you to go away and find a new technique. Others require changing the scene and setting.
  1. You’ve been poisoned
  2. Your weapon has been damaged or broken
  3. They’ve closed off your channels
  4. They perfected an Iron Body technique
  5. They’ve shifted their vital points
  6. The pair has trained together to coordinate their attacks
  7. Their unique weapon undercuts your style
  8. Sheer numbers
  9. They switch style in mid-fight
  10. How can you fight when you cannot see?
  11. Winning will hurt a loved one
  12. They’ve studied your style
  13. Their style was developed long ago to counter yours
  14. They hint at a secret about your past
  15. Their weapon changes form
  16. Their weapons interlock to create a wall of steel
  17. They’ve cultivated an immunity to the toxin filling the room
  18. Clever traps scattered around
  19. They’re a doppelganger
  20. They reveal themselves as a blood relation
  21. You’re exhausted from previous fights
  22. You’ve suffered a grievous wound
  23. Your supposed ally interferes
  24. You’re blinded by your rage
  25. Your master/elder/parent orders you to stand down
  26. You lost to this opponent before
  27. You trained together and could never best them
  28. You doubt your cause
  29. Your mentor doubts you
  30. They possess a legendary weapon
  31. They have a hidden weapon
  32. They have newly revealed allies
  33. Their style is corrupt but deadly
  34. They anticipate your every move
  35. Innocents in peril nearby
  36. “I am not left-handed.”

Picture
 FRAMING COMBAT (from the playtest packet)
Hearts of Wulin combats usually resolve with a single die roll. That means the GM needs to give Duels (and Dealing with Troops) space to breathe. Battles should feel important and say something about who the PCs are. Take time to resolve these moves. Set the stage and the battlefield. As a GM, once a PC is clearly going to a Duel move, describe the environment and when possible show the stakes (emotional or physical).

Duels spotlight characters. I try to have something ready for each PC present in those scenes: named combatants, masses of troops, or something at risk. Before we resolve any fighting moves, we check in and establish clearly what everyone’s doing. Then we work through what we’ve framed and resolve each move, saving any climactic duel for the last. That means we have two steps: declaration & narration for everyone followed by resolution & narration for everyone.

Note that you can have multiple foes available for the players, but don’t force matchups. Offer opportunities, but let the players decide what they want to do.

Another combat framing technique comes from the World Wide Wrestling RPG. In that game’s matches the opponents create a collaborative description of the fight’s back and forth until they reach a highlight moment. Then they roll to see what happens. You can model this by describing how NPC characters seize the initiative and start out overwhelming the PC. Describe how the NPCs injure the PCs, force them back, or reveal their secret tricks. Then ask the player how they turn the tables and seize the conflict’s momentum. Shift that into the player’s description of how their character fights and then roll the move to see what happens.

"Duel" acts as a mirror to "Internal Conflict." The latter only affects the emotions of a character, the former can change the external world. "Internal Conflict" shows the limits of the PCs. Our wuxia heroes can fly across the battlefield and possess unearthly skills, but they’re shackled to their feelings and desires. That makes it vital that any "Duel" move showcases PC control and competency. Give the players lots of room and time to describe how they do things in a duel and how awesome it looks.

Be sure to check out the Hearts of Wulin Kickstarter!

For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

5/24/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - May 24, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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.

TGI Thursday

Neo Shinobi Vendetta: Forged in the Dark (FitD) (Session 4 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, Owen Thompson, and Peter Mazzeo
After last operation raises the heat to untenable levels, the PCs have to deal with fallout hitting allies and family, and a new operation demonstrates that some lessons have not been learned.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: The Suits (Session 3)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Rob Ruthven, Sabine V., and Sawyer Rankin
Who are the Suits? It seems their influence runs far and wide as our heroes tangle with doubts and fears in a fierce battle against the Dreaming Heaven Choir. Melcor begins to navigate the difference between himself and Varga, L0K1 decides to fight for what he believes in and Serenade is confronted by a demon from their past.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: AEON After-School (Session 2 of 3)
Alexi S. runs for Chris Newton, Jasmin Neitzel, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Linda H. Codega
AEON's pilot after-school program for at-risk superpowered teens continues! Judith/Framework the Brain joins the fray, hoping to make up for her part in teammate El Borron's transformation. Together they face down a superpowered kid named Rubble Rouser and kind of knock down a building, which Cori then holds up -- earning several admirers. Meanwhile Mephista is pitched by a surely benevolent lawyer and sets her mentor against the police.

Indie Schwarze Auge

[DEUTSCH] World of Aventurien (Session 12)
Gerrit Reininghaus leitet eine Session für Christopher G. und Tina T.
Thalusa - Gerrit ran a German language session of World of Aventurien, a World of Dungeon hack for Germany's most popular RPG, The Dark Eye. Shattering a whole district of Thalusa and implanting deliciously necromantic dreams into minds, they steal two war ships to go to war with them.

Mecha Monthly

HILT // BLADE (Session 3 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Diana Moon, Rob Ruthven, and Tony H
A battle against a gravity-eating human-faced dragonfly Outsider surprisingly leads to team cohesion. Unfortunately, the fallout of the fight exposes harsh truths as to the nature of the Hilts' war. Rain is left fighting on his own, Carina reveals her true nature and Benjen...poor Benjen.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Mutants in the Night: Unity (Session 3 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Michael G. Barford, Tom F., and Walter German
Grey, Thorn and Jack return after dealing with the fallout of Cloak's empire. We learn more about the characters, their past, and the other OWL groups of Unity Heights. They use their new connections to perform the biggest job in the history of Mount Pleasant. (Apologies for the cut off from hangouts; it stopped broadcasting at some point.)

Mutants in the Night (Session 2 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Ludovico Alves, Pawel S., and William
The Mutant Safe Zone simmers uneasily due to the lack of fallout from our group's previous job. Instead, they turn to cleaning up the neighborhood, specifically an unruly gang of extortionists. Thinner proves willing to pay a bloody price for helping others, Mist is faced by insecurities and traitors and Hyperreal makes a stand against a former friend.

Good Society (Sense, Sensibility, & Swordsmanship): Raillery, Reason & a Rapier's Wit (Session 3 of 4)
Sabine V. runs for Alun R., Leandro Pondoc, and Scot Ryder
After deciding on a Big Bad and her Evil Plot, we commenced having inappropriate head massages, awkward visits to the Griffin house, and a drunken confession overheard by exactly the wrong person.

Achtung! Cthulhu Dark: The Angel of Krupna (Session 3 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Eduardo L., Paul Rivers, Sabine V., and Walter German
After a very tense few days in occupied Czechoslovakia, one of the characters risks breaking the curfew to steal a few moments of relief from the stress of war, only to leave a clue that, unknown to the others, may imperil the mission. Then, reunited with an American diplomat operating rather beyond the remit agreed with his superiors, our agents try to find the priest, Codename: ANGEL. They manage to at least delay the retribution they set in motion last time from falling on the innocent civilians of Karlstein before rescuing a Resistance cell and negotiating their support in return for a equipment drop: 'Broadsword, this is Danny Boy. Broadsword, this is Danny Boy; Over...' There follows a very unusual confessional, a briefing on the castle, and a case of would-be biters bitten while recovering the vital equipment...

Once Again, We Return (Monsterhearts): Wannabe, Adored (Session 2 of 3)
Barry runs for Alexi S., Chris Thompson, Peter Mazzeo, and Ryan M.
With Abraxas and Lucifer out of the picture, the incomplete pantheon (eleven by last count) has unprecedented levels of creative control before Fenris's manager gets his brand all over Eos and Tiamat's performances. Eos and Anansi come to terms with their new circumstances, while Fenris schemes on how she can avoid Ragnarok.

Uncanny Echo (Session 3 of 10)
Jim Likes Games runs for Eli S., Pearl Zare, Raji Purcell, and Stentor Danielson
Takers - When the Uncanny emerges into our world, it's the job of a team of Takers to remove any evidence of it.

Dream Askew: Let The Silence Sing (Session 2 of 3)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Bryan, Puckett, and Sawyer Rankin
A tense encounter with a freewheeling gang of Nihilists exposes cracks within the community. Sash desperately seeks to protect everyone, Balor looks to a future without them, Aadita tries to ensure the community's defences are up and Blooming's efforts to be of use begins to curdle.

Night Witches: Engels Airdrome (Session 2 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Barry, Bethany H., Jesse Larimer, Sara, and Sarah J.
The Natural Born Soviet Airwomen of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment manage to crash a plane on their very first daylight training mission.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets: Beneath the Canals (Session 3 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Jason, Jesse A., Maria Rivera, and Stentor Danielson
The Suzerain's agents give our adventurer’s a formal job, but they learn that the Suzerain is not the only one looking for secrets of old Pentola. Why does Sibel remember the locations of an old door that no one else knows is there?

That Hell-Bound Train: Playtest
Keith Stetson runs for Bethany H., Kyle H., and Ryan M.
Four misguided souls a-waiting on that hell-bound train to deliver to them what they desire.

Infinite Galaxies: Empire of the Dying Sun (Session 4 of 5)
Rory runs for Ash, Michael Mendoza, and Simon Landreville
Our heroes continue their exploration of the Vault of the Ancients.

Hit the Streets (Session 2 of 4)
Tyler Lominack runs for Gerwyn Walters, Jim Likes Games, and Pawel S.

Hit the Streets (Session 3 of 4)
Tyler Lominack runs for Gerwyn Walters, Jim Likes Games, Pawel S., and William

Veil'd Fantasy (Session 4 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, John Campbell, Michael G. Barford, Sherri, and Tyler Lominack
To execute their plan to pull a relic-laden harpoon from the neck of the cloud dragon, the group scales the outside wall of a perilous tower when suddenly the GM's power goes out.

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 play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced. To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Hangouts games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments

5/23/2019

Age of Ravens: Forging Shinobi

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
SHURIKEN IN THE DARK
This month has been about experimentation and trying out hacks. I’ve made minor mods to Things from the Flood, run The Veil as a fantasy game, and tried out Sherri Stewart’s reskin of my Neo Shinobi Vendetta setting. That’s an anime/ninja/mish-mash tech future game we’ve played previously with Fate and Action Cards. In it you’re part of a Shinobi Clan in a science-fantasy future megaplex. You discover that all the ninja clans, including your own, have been corrupted. You need to find out who did this and how to fix it while evading the attention of your peers. 

You can see an early-draft premise statement here. Forged in the Dark’s mission-based approach fits well. Sherri framed the playbooks as team roles and then allowed players to choose their Source (i.e. how their particular powers work). That choice affects their talents and traumas. We boiled the Crew mechanics down to one type, with more choices for customization. Finally we also added a new phase after Downtime—Home Life. In these scenes characters play out their day-to-day within the clan or for their cover identity.
​  

Picture
This is very much a 1.0 draft at this point. That's built on a Google sheet found in the Gauntlet Resources (still tracking down who made it). Sherri plans to tweak the talents—moving away from a simple reskin. We’ve enjoyed our sessions so far. You can watch session one & session two. Since the game is relatively low-prep, I poured my energy into alternate, long-term prep: creating random mission generators. I love building tables and these pay homage to two great products: Augmented Reality, the best cyberpunk supplement, and The Heist Deck, the best Blades in the Dark supplement. When we move forward with this hack I’ll probably flesh these items out but for right now they serve as useful inspiration.

Mission Types

1 Psy Ops: Neutralizers
1-1 Create Paranoia
1-2 Destroy Reputation
1-3 Gaslight
1-4 Ghost
1-5 Frame
1-6 Turn
2 Sabotage: Wreckers
2-1 Viral Payload
2-2 Key Infrastructure
2-3 Transport & Supply
2-4 Timed Demolition
2-5 Forced Shut Down
2-6 Massive Display/Site Destruction
3 Extraction : Hijackers
3-1 Key Individual
3-2 Unwilling Target
3-3 Group Extraction
3-4 Information Removal
3-5 Vital Object
3-6 Massive Device
4 Assassination: Quiets
4-1 Key Figure
4-2 Group of Targets
4-3 Non-Standard Target
4-4 Specific Method
4-5 Total Secrecy
4-6 Public Display
5 Espionage: Listeners
5-1 Observation/Assessment
5-2 Exchange/Drop/Retrieval
5-3 Bodyguard
5-4 Counter-Espionage
5-5 Pursuit/Transport
5-6 Negotiation
6 Cell's Preferred/Combination

36 Mission Twists

​11 Increased Numbers
12 Broken Coordination/Requires Coordination
13 Multiple Parties Involved
14 Absolute Secrecy
15 Fall Guy
16 Change of Objectives
21 Outdated Info
22 Ambush
23 Counter-Operations
24 Loyalty Test
25 Loved One Involvement
26 Cover for Another Operation
31 False Flag Operation
32 Target in Alternate State
33 Imposters
34 Furthers Alternate Agenda
35 Change of Route
36 Innocents Involved
41 Different Opposition
42 Countdown to Detonation
43 More Targets
44 On Site Broadcast
45 Clan Operatives Present
46 Quarantine/Contamination
51 Revolutionary Tinderbox
52 Hostages
53 Resources Removed/Destroyed
54 Amnesia
55 Incoming Storm/Natural Disaster
56 Power Drain
61 Highly Mobile Target
62 Blown Covers
63 Turncoat
64 On Site Gala
65 Raid by Authorities
66 Objective Failed, Now About Escape

Involved Parties

1 GOVERNMENT
1-1 The Mikado
1-2 The Shogunate
1-3 Daisho Governors
1-4 Judge Czars of the Doushin
1-5 Prefectural Wardens
1-6 General Nobility
2 ZAIBATSU
2-1 Arasaka (Weapons, Military, Security)
2-2 Oyamado (Food, Infrastructure)
2-3 Goda (Information, Financial)
2-4 Shiroma (Transport, Energy)
2-5 Jinrai (Entertainment, Communications)
2-6 Lesser Corporate Enclaves
3 SHINOBI
3-1 Yagyu: The First Phantoms (Memetic Overlay)
3-2 Igana: The Shadow Wolves (Chi Field)
3-3 Kogate: The Cortex Devils (Psychic)
3-4 Monomi: Shattering Silences (Cybernetics)
3-5 Zanagiri: Syndicate of Wasps (Genocolony)
3-6 Rogue Ninja
4 LOCAL: CRIMINAL
4-1 Red Yakuza: Daztavny Family
4-2 Blue Yakuza: Kazuma Family
4-3 White Yakuza: M’bendu Family
4-4 Smugglers
4-5 Anarchs
4-6 Lone Mastermind
5 LOCAL: OTHER
5-1 Council Authorities
5-2 Yazgangers
5-3 Wildlanders
5-4 Unionists
5-5 Ronin
5-6 Ordinary Citizens
6 FAITH & WEIRDNESS
6-1 Neo-Ikki Temples
6-2 Agents of the Kami
6-3 Techno-Communes
6-4 Yokai
6-5 Rogue Sources
6-6 Foreign Powers

36 Key Items

​11 The Eightfold Lens
12 Decommissioned Cyberbrain
13 Subsurface Transit Schematics
14 Maps of a Lost District of Shanshanyon
15 Synthetic Portal Sensor
16 Hopecutter, the Hellsworn Blade
21 Lost Funds from the Embezzlement of the Jade Mikado
22 The Codified Biwa
23 Lost Poems of Lady Minish
24 Signet Seal of the Atukari Clan
25 Child from the Shogun’s Household
26 DNA Sample a Rogue Genocolony
31 Hyper-dimensional Holo-Key
32 Tea Set of Mistress Tinwan
33 Adamantium Hunter Mask
34 The Orochi’s Eye, a Legendary Jewel
35 List of Undercover Shogunate Agents
36 The White Blade, Lost Ninjato of the Arasaka
41 Brass Gong of Mount Zahndao
42 Genetic Matrix for Lost Ecosystem
43 Control Module from a P79 Illusion Sphinx Mecha
44 Blueprints for the Shogunate Carrier Methuselah
45 List of Upcoming Jinrai Vid Shows and Salary Offers
46 Cargo Manifest for the Lost Vessel Thantano
51 Spatial Resuscitator
52 Cyberlimb from Igana Ancestor
53 Hacked Multipass
54 Stabilized Isoquantum Battery
55 Disguised High-Power Microexplosives
56 Ivory Hairbrush of the Shiroma Dynasty
61 Holo-Vid of Recent Corporate Retreat
62 Diary of Head of the Blue Yakuza Clan
63 Mistress to the Jonin of the Zanagiri Clan
64 Ident Kits for the Obsidian Inquisitor’s High Guard
65 Batch of Stolen Cybereyes
66 Power Schematics for the Oyamado High Arcology

36 Key Locations

​11 Museum
12 Corporate Auction Gala
13 Dense High Story Mall
14 Underground Karaoke Arena
15 Black Market Zaibatsu HQ
16 Seed-Hacker Greenhouse
21 Toxic Dumping Yard
22 Quarantined Neighborhood
23 Gravatic Super-Carrier Crash Site
24 Orbital Elevator
25 Ikko-Ikki Temple
26 Corner Shrine
31 Honored Dojo
32 Education Processing Center (Teen)
33 Workgog Overrun Neighborhood
34 Restricted Ancestral Park
35 Deviant Sports Center
36 Arcology Atrium
​41 Housing Mega-Blok
42 Glam District
43 Prefectural Records Office
44 Collapsed Parking Facility
45 Techno-Meditative Center
46 Secure Borderpost
51 Heavy Transport Hub
52 Floating Entertainment Barge
53 Blacklight Smuggling Den
54 Sleep Cycle Hive
55 Yakuza Arcade
56 Food Grade Material Processing Plant
61 Hydroponics Enclave
62 Nano-Theater Complex
63 Steam-Tunnel Bazaar
64 Noble Household
65 Pleasure District
66 Hospital

36 Obstacles

11 Cyber-Hounds
12 Drone Swarms
13 Psychic Echoes
14 Mono-Whip Monks
15 Genocolony Plants
16 Vapor Bees
21 Primal Regression Fields
22 Intrinsic Field Scanners
23 Hyper-Dimensional Passcoding
24 Quantum Memory Recording
25 Empath Orphans
26 Psychokinetic Yojimbo
31 Gravatic Oscillators
32 Micropressure Sensor Arrays
33 Tengu Mercenaries
34 Subdermal Armaments
35 Sensor Cloaks
36 Blood-Brethren Network
​41 DNA Sniffers
42 Body Doubles
43 Battlefield Veterans
44 Phase Blade Sword Saints
45 Morphic Layout
46 Sentient Art Installation Watchers
51 Phase Trap Art Prints
52 Highly Public Spaces/Open Office Design
53 Mental Parasites
54 Chronoclamps
55 Offensive Temperature Countermeasures
56 Mindraven Flock
61 Hunter-Killer Metapedes
62 Terminal Lockdown Protocols
63 Recursive Gateways
64 Clone Staff
65 Mesmer Broadcast Stations
66 Veiled AI Environment

36 Key Persons

​11 Driss Denmaryk, Brawny Gluttonous Scrapman
12 Wave Werewolf, Charming Amateur Club Owner
13 Citadel Twentieth, Limping Famous Parkour Master
14 Brobutl Rachna, Business-like Polite Hacker
15 Patterson Ray, Golden Coarse Robostall Keeper
16 Kanak Strasburg, Articulate Profane Shinobi Sensei
21 Bali Servant, Leering Harmonies Assessor
22 Obufusa Cursed, Lurching Covetous Yoganger
23 Mië Wing, Balding Moody Ikko-Ikki Priest
24 Noriyori Esther, Innocent Cultured Yak Boss
25 Discordant Jurian, Knowing Retiring Corp Headhunter
26 Tomo Worshipping, Crazed Thick-Skinned Smith
31 Grandjean Gothic, Dirty Brazen Cyber-samurai
32 Mind Zilá, Articulate Passionate Coffin Hotel Manager
33 Lachman Azure, Talented Calm Ronin
34 Bitterness Steiger, Business-like Urban Anthropologist
35 Richy Tobin, One-Eyed Pallid Terraformer
36 Hattori Orchid, Weird-Eyed Charmless Sniper
41 Sundering Hanusa, Well-Defined Covetous Duelist
42 Dalal Praising, Husky Charismatic Lawyer
43 Asia-Asia Shobha, Colorful Sarcastic Psychic
44 Plutus Crawft, Aggro'd Strong-Willed Undercover Op
45 Mikie Ninurta, Lurking Pedantic Yojimbo
46 Tsunami Dolinski, Creamy Black Ops Ripperdoc
51 Al-Tayyeb Gerwin, Hesitant Tight-Lipped Monk
52 Takayoshi Kelly, Elderly Sacrificing Bio-hacker
53 Copper Lila, Hairless Dangerous Doppelganger
54 Mockus Ketaki, Mussed Up Moody Celebrity
55 Alias Serge, Sallow Troublesome Salaryman
56 Kanetsugu Tora, Bland Domineering Noble
61 Bodhisattva Manju, Square-Jawed Suspicious AI Spec
62 Rufus Okita, Slender Amateur Repair Artist
63 Pallavi Serpent, Stiff-Backed Clever Driver
64 Dot Faulkner, Spindly #1 Huckster
65 Sinha Kuranosuke, Greasy Shallow Cybersurgeon
66 Tanya Matsuko, Brawny Promiscuous Transporter
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

5/17/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - May 17, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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

Rovers (Session 1 of 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Ainar Miyata-Sturm, Alejandro, and Blaise
Rich gives Catherine Ramen's Rovers a spin for Star Wars Saturdays. The crew of the Burnt Oasis take on a mission for the Rebel Alliance...run by a Sith scientist?!?

TGI Thursday

Neo Shinobi Vendetta: Forged in the Dark (Session 3 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, Owen Thompson, and Peter Mazzeo
The Cell works to lower their heat and promotes their cadre of psychic infiltrators. Then an emergency assignment forces them to race their cycles across the metroplex to intercept a mysterious convoy.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Tales & Things (Tales from the Loop) (Session 6)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Patrick Knowles, Sarah J., and Sherri
Mother, fathers, uncles, orphans, families, bittersweet trick or treating, empty parties, and finally Christmas comes and then...

Masks: The Suits (Session 2)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Rob Ruthven, Sabine V., and Sawyer Rankin
Who are the Suits? The question remains murky as our heroes grapple with personal issues and try to untangle who they want to be. SULIT tries to look after his teammate, Melcor/Varga experiences a co-worker's pain, L0K1 is told to be a kid for a moment and Serenade makes a new friend after losing control.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: AEON After-School (Session 1 of 3)
Alexi S. runs for Chris Newton, Linda H. Codega, Misha B, Pearl Zare, and Philipp Neitzel
AEON's pilot after-school program for at-risk superpowered teens gets off to a somewhat ominous start! This session is largely character creation, so meet Mephista the Faustian Protégé, Quicksilver the crime family heir Janus, Brightling the Incan goddess/princess Legacy, El Borron the blob-of-dark-matter-wearing-a-suit Transformed, and Moxy the poor-little-rich-kid Delinquent. Will they clean up Undertaker's Row and follow AEON's rules? Signs point to: Maybe.

Mecha Monthly

HILT // Blade (Session 2 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Darren Brockes, Diana Moon, Rob Ruthven, and Tony H
The back-to-back boxes of an official parade, a meeting with the Docent and a space attack from a terrifying Outsider has left the Garden's Hilt squad stressed and reeling. Mars questions the capabilities of his squad, Carina chafes within her prescribed role, Rain is challenged to prove his worth and Benjen reaches his limit.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Mutants in the Night: Unity (Session 2 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Kyle H., Michael G. Barford, Tom F., and Walter German
We return to our OWLs as they turn the tables on the drug dealer Cloak and bring down his nefarious empire. On the process they learn just how deeply tangled Cloak was with the community and open many wounds.

The Veil: Echoes (Session 2 of 4)
Darren Brockes runs for Alex, Fraser Simons, Leandro Pondoc, and Walter German
Z runs into Rhye at an old Memorius Archive, where Rhye has a strange encounter with his grandmother. Hector shows up just in time to save (yet again) Joy from the Iconoclasts — then, Joy takes Hector to her sanctuary, the last vestige of the church: a place called The Reliquary.

Cthulhu Dark Green: M-Cell Operations (Session 1 of 3)
Horst Wurst runs for Justin Ford, Kevin Lovecraft, Philipp Neitzel, and Puckett
Delta Green Agents are brought in to solve a series of grisly murders which have rocked the small, rich, seaside community of Glenridge. The killer is not human – but the perpetrator is.

Sense, Sensibility & Swordsmanship: Raillery, Reason & a Rapier's Wit (Session 2 of 4)
Sabine V. runs for Agatha, Alun R., Leandro Pondoc, and Scot Ryder
We bid a more or less fond farewell to Fredericka/The Ivory Stiletto - more fond by her long-lost mother, Mrs. Annabel Hargreaves, and her fiancé, Lady Justine, and maybe even Hugh Botham. Less so by the Justice Phantom, whose father she tried to murder to justice.

Dungeon World: Cold Ruins of Lastlife (Session 2 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Asher S., Brendan, Max M., and Peter
After killing a god, we return to meet a new undead and leave the swamps of the Mired Lands. We discover Castle Oblivion and the Kingdom of Stasis which languishes under the Old Queen. We delve info memories fake and real, discover the crystalline secrets of the Hol'Jethariae and why they opposed the Old Queen, as well as the Moment of the Doom, the infra-black column of blood red stone that stands as ground zero of the Fall.

Achtung! Cthulhu Dark: The Angel of Krupna (Session 2 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Paul Rivers, Sabine V., Walter German, and William
After a tense night at the safehouse, our nervous parachutists are contacted by their new Resistance contacts. On their way to the site of reported abductions, they find the SS already in possession of a convent/orphanage. The Czechs argue for intervention, but the British stay focused on the core mission...while the nuns pay the price. Only when he sees children being taken away in trucks is the senior British officer driven to act, and an impromptu road block leads to an intense firefight, dead Nazis, a burning truck, and rescued children. Knowing that it's only a matter of time before the garrison discovers the ambush they need to make contact with the local communist resistance quickly...

Scum and Villainy: Tales of the Rangers (Session 1)
Gerwyn Walters runs for Ainar Miyata-Sturm, Alejandro, Eli, and Walter German
Join the crew of the Cerebus as they start out on their bounty hunting career by hunting down a missing starmap datachip.

Hit the Streets (Session 1 of 4)
Tyler Lominack runs for Gerwyn Walters, Jim Crocker, and William
We build our neighborhood, introduce our heroes, and discover danger in the abandoned High School.

Dream Askew: Let The Silence Sing (Session 1 of 3)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Bryan, Puckett, and Sawyer Rankin
We build our enclave and sketch out the world around it, a hidden oasis out in the arid wastes, woven with strange symbols and epic parties. Blooming the Arrival finds it hard to fit in. Sash the Stitcher dishes out sage advice. Balor the Iris senses the psychic bleed around them. Aadita the Tiger finds a possible threat from within her gang.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets: Beneath the Canals (Session 2 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Jason, Maria Rivera, and Stentor Danielson
This week in Pentola, the Jabril, Sibel, and Salazar stay above the canals and cut a deal with a strange cult run by a mysterious spiritual teacher called "The Suzerain of Zehir."

InSpectres: Still in Hollywood (Session 2 of 3)
Gene A. runs for Kyle H., Peter Mazzeo, and Robbie Boerth
Dakota gets a promising offer. James gives a solid IT-style time estimate. A trip to Torrance. Outmaneuvering the InSpectres Beverly Hills office. A mummy behind a wall. The team showcases their Star Trek fighting styles. Seth solves one problem, but detects another.

HILT // BLADE: Season 2 (Session 3)
Darren Brockes runs for Bethany H., David L., Leandro Pondoc, and Rich Rogers

Monster of the Week: Every Day is Exactly the Same
Ryan M. runs for Alex, Robert, and Sarah J.
A Crooked, a Spooky, and a Searcher get stuck in Ohio, but at least they know they'll never be alone.

Veil'd Fantasy (Session 3 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, Michael G. Barford, Sherri, and Tyler Lominack
As they search for a dude who owes them money, the group rescues a crystal golem from tengu, walk into a trap in the city's white-washed sewers, and buy a wedding ring.

Infinite Galaxies: Empire of the Dying Sun (Session 3 of 5)
Rory runs for Alejandro, Ash, and Simon Landreville
Our heroes continue to explore the mysterious "Nirvana" system in hopes of finding answers to the impending supernovas in their home system.

Once Again, We Return (Monsterhearts 2) (Session 1 of 3)
Barry runs for Alexi S., Chris Thompson, Lauren, and Peter Mazzeo
Wannabe, Adored - (Fair warning, this contains a significant amount of session 0 content!) The pantheon's light is put under a bushel when they find themselves in the long shadow of Ragnarok.

Stonetop: A Darkening Sky (Sessions 1-3 of 5)
Jeremy Strandberg runs for Ben, Jason Cordova, Lu Quade, and Patrick

Dream Askew: From the Void, Season 2 (Session 4 of 5)
Bethany H. runs for Barry, Peter Mazzeo, Saribel P., and Sawyer Rankin
Ezra and Burton go to find fuel and end up murdering a cult leader. Rezzi wrestles with his emotions, and lack thereof. Lark finally breaks under the weight of the Maelstrom, and Robyn's attempt to help them backfires, pulling her into its grip too. Meanwhile, a mob of axe-wielding cultists are on their way.

Dream Askew: From the Void, Season 2 (Session 5 of 5)
Bethany H. runs for Barry, Peter Mazzeo, Saribel P., and Sawyer Rankin
Ezra has to rescue her kids from the gang leader she betrayed, and Rezzi and his gang are happy to back her up. Robyn is convinced of her vision of Lark as a goddess, but the real Lark needs a friend, not a follower. Burton tries to help the wife he abandoned, but too late to save her from the Void. Robyn opens her brain on purpose, Lark does what they can in an impossible role, Rezzi says the right thing, Burton stops running, and Ezra finds a safe place for her family. Content notice: torture, murder, assisted suicide. This episode not endorsed by Paula Deen. Please consume void coffee responsibly.

Other Games

Sorcerer: Demons are Social Media Junkies (Session 7 of 8)
Robbie Boerth runs for Alejandro, Jenny W., and Walter German
Dylan pays a visit to Chuck, seeking advice and help for his demon problem. Chuck, meanwhile, has problems of his own, as his brother Billy has gone missing and a mysterious figure named Blake Figueroa seems to be behind it. Shawn's demon goes hopping to a new host and leaves the former host a mere shell of his former self.

Sorcerer: Demons are Social Media Junkies (Session 8 of 8)
Robbie Boerth runs for Alejandro, Jenny W., and Walter German
Finale - Shawn, Dylan, and Chuck return to the Barfield mansion. Dylan receives a lucrative proposal and is unhinged when here now-violent demon appears. Chuck luckily is packing an M-16, and the demon is banished. Meanwhile, Shawn clings onto his humanity as he watches his demon performing a dehumanizing taint on an NPC sorcerer who has lost her soul.

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 play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced. To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Hangouts games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments

5/16/2019

Designing in Gauntlet Spaces: Hacking  City of Mist

0 Comments

Read Now
 
by Ludovico “Ludo” Martins Alves, Keeper of the Malign Mouth of Danjeel the Confessor. When not haunting the Gauntlet spaces, they can be found on Twitter @delethiel or bringing super-heroes back to antiquity at https://heroesoftherepublic.com/.

Disclaimer: I love
City of Mist. I have backed both Kickstarters and have two piles of stat and character cards. It is one of my favorite games to play face-to-face. But, from a hacking and online play perspective, I cannot make the game work for me.

Hello there. I am starting this series of articles as a look into how Gauntlet Spaces can be useful for design. I hope my experiences with public design, as well as the benefits of collaboration, feedback and playtesting are useful for those looking from outside the community.

Hacking is a well-tested design model.  I have been dabbling in it for twenty years with different degrees of success. One of the games which has presented some quite unique challenges to me has been City of Mist.

City of Mist is a game of superhero noir, of living incarnated myth in a city of intrigue, mystery and forgetfulness. It is also a beautiful chunky book that can be pretty hard to follow. I tried my hand at hacking City of Mist before; it did not go far.

Within Gauntlet design spaces,  Luiz Paulo Ferraz created an excellent, streamlined, World of Dungeons style take on City of Mist. It and the related conversation about what made City of Mist tick - and what did not work so well - offered a sharp blueprint.

After all, it is easier to kill someone else's darlings than your own.

I started working on my hack, an Antiquity version of City of Mist. A City, not of Mist, but of Myth, where legends walk in the open and struggle with themselves and for their community. I named it Fabulae Urbe.

I knew from the get-go that I wanted Fabulae Urbe to do:
  • Have a single resolution move.
  • Have player-facing scene creation.
  • Be centered around community-building and development.
  • Have constant conflict between the mortal being and the divine spark within.

Character Creation

One of the best features of City of Mist is the duality within every character. To preserve the conflict between their mortal and mythic nature, I introduced two natures: the Infernal (mortal, theluric, material); and the Celestial (platonic, abstract, supernal).  Each PC has four points called “Names”, which they must divide among Infernal/Celestial at a 2/2, 3/1 or 1/3 ratio. Names serve one extra function: each Name gives you two tags. So, a starting PC has 4 Names and 8 Tags. Tags are an important part of City of Mist. I wanted them to be a resource, stress/health track and a constant part of fictional positioning.

Some of the most attractive points of City of Mist are the Mysteries and Identities of each character. Player characters are supposed to clash against each other and trigger relevant narrative moves for each player--at least once per session. But that is rarely the case: what works great on paper is pretty difficult to setup. Personal mystery and conflict are pretty unusual and can go entire sessions without boiling up to the surface. Still, that idea was part of what I loved of City of Mist. I want to make it work.

Many games have promised similar experiences; some even deliver. One in particular, has been developed within Gauntlet spaces:  Lowell Francis’ and Agatha Cheng’s Hearts of Wulin.

The consistent, organic and dramatic conflicts created by Hearts of Wulin inspired me. Characters of  Fabulae Urbe should also have their own tangled web of conflicts and incompatible desires.

As such, each character has a couple of Imbroglios:
  • they pick one mystery they seek to answer related to their myth: their Triumph
  • they pick a core identity of themselves and their place in the world: their Momento Mori

And… that is a Fabulae Urbe PC.  Enough depth to get them into trouble and give them an inner and outer life. A fundamental level of complexity.

Resolution Mechanics

I had quite a lot of trouble deciding on a general resolution move. Many alternatives offered themselves, but which one would fit better?  I tried a World of Dungeons style move first, but could not make it work with Tags in an organic matter. I tried a Forged in the Dark style move, but it was so complex that it would be better to make the entire thing FitD from the start. I tried a very conservative PbtA move, closer to City of Mist’s own, but it was not as player facing as I expected the game to be. The answer came to me when reading old Codex zines.

What if I made the game’s core move a version of Jason Cordovosa`s Labyrinth Move?

This is how this version came to be:

Descend Into The Underworld

When you face the legends of the city, roll +Celestial or +Infernal. If tags help you, roll with advantage; if tags hinder you, roll with disadvantage. A single player rolls for the whole group; all relevant character and story tags apply.

On a hit (7+), gain hold 1.

On a critical (12+), gain hold 2.

On a miss (6-), mark a tag or remove yourself from the scene. Mark experience.

On a 7-9, ask a question and declare what you seek to achieve. The GM will answer you and tell how your course of actions drives you deeper into the Urbe’s intrigue.

On a 10+, you are fortunate in your investigation. You make significant progress on your goal or events in the Urbe play in an helpful way.

Hold from this move is cumulative and tracked for the entire party. You may spend hold to:


  • Spend 1 to 1 to mark any story or character tag.
  • Spend 1 to 1 to ask a question from the GM.
  • Spend 1 to start a scene involving a neutral party.
  • Spend 2 to start a scene involving an antagonist.
  • Spend 3 to start a scene involving a major power of the Urbe.

This move pulls a lot of weight. It allows one to ask questions, and remove obstacles and enemies--by marking their tags. It also lets the players move around town, using their hold to get access to all manner of characters and events. It may be overambitious, but on paper, it seems to capture the feel of recurring encounters and situations.

Narrative Moves

City of Mists has a lot of moves. The most important are the narrative moves, which offer a lot of value to games.

The Montage move is perfect to give players a breather or control the pacing of the game. You can give players a montage to let them commune with their myth, pay attention to their mortal life or a bump to their narrative control.

Montage (Downtime)

Whenever your character has some downtime, choose one:

Connect with your mortal life. Narrate what happens. Mark experience.

Commune with your divine legend. Narrate what happens. Mark experience.

Prepare for a confrontation. Narrate how you prepare. Recover a marked tag or get hold 3.


Flashback is one of my favorite moves of City of Mists. I love the ability to bring it back, but name it Darling Most Likely To Be Killed. Letting players flashback details into a scene by spending hold is nice, but it is the idea of having “nested” scenes as flashback that gets me excited. Yet, I can already see so many problems and reasons why players will not use/forget about it… But for now, it is still in the game.

Flashback

During a scene, spend 1 hold. Then, choose between:

Establish a true fact about the current scene.

Spend extra 1-3 hold and run a scene as a flashback as if you had spent it for Descend Into the Underworld.


Now, Make a Hard Choice. This is the one; this is the move that is supposed to make or break City of Mist. This is where the Triumph and Momento Mori have to play out a role. This move should be used as often as Descend Into The Underworld. My proposed move draws much from the original move design intentions, but little from its mechanics. Instead, I draw inspiration from both Blades in the Dark and Hearts of Wulin and mechanics that achieve similar goals. Thanks for Lowell Francis for teaching me how Hard Choices are created.

Make a Hard Choice

When you come face to face with your imbroglios, mark experience. Then roll your choice of +Celestial or +Infernal.

On a 10+, you manage to keep yourself together.

On a 7-9+, players will suggest a disquieting truth about your Triumph or Memento Mori. If you refuse, leave the scene. If you accept that truth, lower the stat used and increase the other. If that would lower it below one, you must mark two tags instead.

On a 6-, choose one:

Lose control of your character.

Lose something dear to you. Lose a tag.

It takes all you got. Mark all your tags.


I also have an end of session/advancement move, but what can I say? Currently it is very crude, direction-less and will change a lot.

Lessons Learned And The Future

Playtest, the game demands it. Only then can further changes be implemented.  Fortunately, this is something Gauntlet Spaces excel at. Expect further articles on the future of this game.

Fabulae Urbe: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MugReflBllJ-LJFj_2uv95bRhnasDW1M


Share

0 Comments

5/15/2019

Age of Ravens: Worlds of Adventure: Fate Guide (Pt. 2)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
BRAVURA NEW WORLDS
This is the second half of my look at Evil Hat's Fate RPG. See the first installment here. Even if Fate isn't your bag, I encourage you to check out this list filled with amazing campaign concepts. 

FATE WORLDS
Evil Hat has released four volumes of Fate Worlds. Each includes several adventures, campaign settings, and genre frameworks. The first two collections came from the original Kickstarter; the second two volumes from bundling later material. How are these useful? First, they offer easy variant Fate settings to try out the system. Second, the authors have developed exciting and original universes, worth playing in Fate or any other system. Third, they show how a GM can create new and varied campaigns. Each plays with Fate's system and you can pick up tricks from these slightly different approaches. Fourth, several model new mechanical elements. We see new subsystems for mutations, capers, superpowers, air combat, and a host of other concepts.

Picture
While all the entries are solid, each volume has some that hooked me. Volume One, Worlds on Fire, has White Picket Witches a CW-esque supernatural television drama. It hits the right beats and shows how to run a game of social conflict with strong inter-group tension. Fight Fire presents a game of firefighters. That sounded unappealing to me (or at least difficult to model). But this chapter gives a variety of mechanics and ideas on structuring these stories. Kriegzepplin Valkyrie presents a game of post-WW1 dramatic air-warfare. It has a great set of vehicle rules, as well as ideas on how to tune Stunts to a particular setting.

Volume Two, Worlds in Shadow, includes Crimeworld and you should buy this. Written by John Rogers, showrunner for Leverage, it offers advice for running capers, heists, and con games at the table. While it's tuned to Fate, the concepts could easily fit any rpg. If you're a GM who enjoys running these scenarios, pick this up. No Exit takes on psychological horror. Some (including myself) have suggested Fate is less useful for horror because of its focus on player-empowerment. This set up shows how aspects can be engines to explore and haunt the characters. Camelot Trigger has mecha rules; nuff said.

Volume Three, Worlds Take Flight, and Four, Worlds Rise Up, collect several settings. For the last several years Evil Hat has released dozens of World of Adventure supplements supported by Patreon. Each World offers a unique campaign sourcebook. They're put up on Drivethru as Pay-What-You-Want upon publication. The final product's tight and each one presents an easy, table-ready campaign. All are worth looking at for GMs interested in what they can do with Fate. The two collected volumes and a handful of others have a printed form. Otherwise these are electronic only. 

Worlds Take Flight includes Frontier Spirit, Sails Full of Stars, The Three Rocketeers, and Gods and Monsters. Worlds Rise Up includes Nest, Behind the Walls, Masters of Umdarr, and Psychedemia. 
​

Picture
WORLDS OF ADVENTURE
These use Fate Core, unless otherwise indicated.
The Aether Sea (FAE): Magical sailing ships in space. Riffs on games like Spelljammer, but keeps a classic fantasy feeling. Includes a sorcery system and rules for building and handling ships in play. Sample adventure.

The Agency: Tracy Barnett (Iron Edda Accelerated) delivers a weird and wild take on espionage. Dead secret agents have their skills and personalities downloaded into volunteers to carry out deadly missions. This is a dark comedy in the vein of Paranoia. The wildest rules conceit of the setting is that all the PCs share one civilian body. Material for handling transhumanist ideas, past life aspects, and building a villainous organization.

Almbrecht After Dark: Set in a steampunk fantasy city in the midst of a revolution. You play "Secret Keepers" who hold knowledge about events in Almbrecht. Ideas for creating a city in crisis, social class as a factor for interactions, creating a mystery landscape, and urban-appropriate roles with linked stunts. Includes a quick & dirty approach to magic. 

Andromeda: Big picture, epic space opera. The rag-tag remnants of humanity have fled to another galaxy only to come face to face with a host of alien empires. Has a long and interesting list of inspirational material. Uses the Deck of Fate to explore this massive scale setting. Neat mechanics approach worth checking out for GMs who want to radically hack Fate.

Arecibo: Winner of the 2018 IGDN Award for Best Setting. A less nostalgia-soaked variant on the "Kids on Bikes"genre. You play Puerto Rican children who have acquired strange, alien powers. They have to deal with an island in crisis and a gateway to an alien prison. Nice discussion of kid PC lives, rich but easy to get setting material, psychic powers, and weird worlds. 

Behind the Walls: One of the grittiest of these. You play survivors in a prison after a 1950s nuclear attack has cut off the outside world. It's an interesting combination of the Walking Dead's prison setting and aftermath media like Jeremiah. The world has not been destroyed, but it is crumbling. The game play's about exploring the claustrophobia of the environment and figuring out how to escape it. 

Blood on the Trail: Vampires in the Wild West. Rather than the broader supernatural of Deadlands or even Owl Hoot Trail, BotL has a dark frontier haunted by dangerous monsters. Good material on the history, a mapping mechanic, and rules for handling an ongoing journey (and avoiding dying of dysentery).
​

Picture
The Clockwinders: So full of wild and striking ideas, it's hard to distill. The world of Cadvini is made of wondrous, magical clockwork. It has kept out incursions, but over time also decayed and broken down. You play Clockwinders trying to repair the mechanisms and face down destructive forces. But fixing the world will change it and have repercussions. Uses skill modes ala Atomic Robo to make character creation more focused and conditions ala Dresden Files Accelerated. Rules for the use of the Deck of Fate (a default) and "adventure tracks,"to offer meaningful campaign milestones.

The Crisp Line: Subtitle, "DNA is not destiny."A game about transhumanism, body-modification, and gene-hacking. But as importantly a consideration of class and power. You play characters who have invested in transgenic enhancements with the hopes of changing something about your life. Stories deal with emotional, financial, and political fallout from that. Includes rules for mutations, genetic enhancement packages, and several useful random generators. Worth checking out to see how serious issues can be handled well in a tight format. 

Deep Dark Blue: A near-future game where resource depletion has sent explorers into the ocean in search of wealth and advancement. Characters serve on a single ship and there's some emphasis on building that as a shared location. Lots of stuff on underwater adventuring, including ship to ship combat.

Eagle Eyes (FAE): Cop noir in ancient Rome. A good use of this historical setting, but probably works best in conjunction with further period sources. The supplement includes mechanics for social class, conspiracies, and invocations to the gods. There's a good section on investigations and mysteries. 

Frontier Spirit: Delivers a planetary colony setting. It has some echoes of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and The 100. But the threat isn't really sci-fi, more supernatural in the form of spirits which threaten the settlers. The ritual and technology rules are especially interesting and adaptable.

Ghost Planets: The PCs are members of the Xenohistory Corps, tasked with investigating the ruins and artifacts of the many dead aliens civilizations discovered in space. The backstory hints at something like the Reapers from Mass Effect or the Mizari from Emprey. Has some new skills as well as a new take on research tied to character concept.
​

Picture
Gods and Monsters (FAE): A mythic world-shaping setting. You play gods in a shared pantheon working to change the world, and in turn being changed by those actions. Good ideas for broadly describing a setting. Areas have concept aspects and a stunt. Really interesting system for tracking a characters "intention," which changes their character over time. 

Good Neighbors: A strange modern game set in Still Hollow, a small town on the border of the real world and the fae realm. Each player has two characters, one from each world. You battle against "The Industry" a group dedicated to exploiting this decaying but potent town. Uses troupe play, with events in one world affecting developments in the other. A neat take on how to present a highly structured game with phases.

Grimoire: Set in a world where daemon summoning serves as the only form of magic. Takes a bit to actually tell you what you're doing in the game. You play a Warlock, seeking power, serving those with coin, and trying to avoid temptation. Mechanics cover summoning and bargaining with your daemons. 

House of Bards: A political game set in a fantasy city. House of Bards echoes House of Cards and A Game of Thrones. It has a stronger PvP elements than many other Fate settings. There's some interesting ideas on social mechanics, including notes on fleshing out Contacts as a skill (which can be used to attack in this setting). Worth picking up if you're doing any campaign with a strong social or negotiation focus.

Iron Street Combat: Combat tournaments and international intrigue ala Street Fighter, DOA, and Tekken. Fun setting aspects help set the flavor of the setting. Skills are professions (Police, Soldier, Spy) with new stunt associations. Has rules for fighting styles which include special moves. Uses conditions for damage rather than stress. Has deep and wonderful background that speaks to designer James Mendez Hodes' love of the genre. 

Knights of Invasion: Aliens attack a medieval society. A strongly directed World, Knights presents a mini-campaign in three acts. It has some new skills, rules for period-appropriate elements like siege weapons, and a fully-fleshed setting.

Loose Threads: Characters at the margins of fairy tale stories try to help those who might otherwise be destroyed by magics and fantasy. A high concept setting, it focuses on the idea of costs literally in the setting and in the Fate mechanics. New systems deepen that concept.
​

Picture
Masters of Umdaar (FAE): Science-fantasy with a post-apocalyptic tinge. Think Thundarr the Barbarian. Includes rules for random bioform generation, classes, random traits (powers, weapons, adaptations), and cliffhanger scenes, Includes a quick sample adventure as well as a large section of GM inspirations.

The Ministry: Men in Black meets X-Com in 1950's England. Draws on British sci-fi of that era (like Quartermass). There's a bit of Invasion of the Body Snatchers paranoia here with your characters facing enemies who can look like anyone. Has lots of setting detail and guidelines for tone. Mechanics for mass infections, mob conflicts, and mind-alerting effects called dissonance. Lengthy sample adventure with pregens included. 

Morts: After a zombie apocalypse, jobbers—called Morticians—get the unpleasant task of keeping things secure and dealing with internal incidents. Has a "worklife" comedy edge, but then veers into lots of material for magic and running supernatural creatures as PCs.

Nest: A setting which inspired my own Crowsmantle game. In this children who once rescued a magical kingdom have grown up and become mundane. They're now called back from our world to save the lands again, but they may not be up to the task. Solid, fun, and easily adaptable.

Nitrate City (FAE): A strange event brings the people and creatures of the movie world to life in 1948 Hollywood. Los Angeles becomes a cinematic city, filled with pulp tropes and noir atmosphere. Think Who Killed Roger Rabbit's Toontown, but with more realism and integration. The "Flicker" effect serves as a campaign element, to differentiate it from your usual pulp setting. Offers a novel take on Approaches.

On the Wall (FAE): Based on a graphic novel; a darker take on teen superheroes. The government marks those with powers and segregates them. Nicely sets up the supers-school concept which raises the stakes. Character creation involves joining a clique. Uses the powers mechanics from Fate Core with some tweaks. 

Prism: A game about a layered dream reality called the Lucid. The characters can interact through this world and still have their existing lives. The game includes factions struggling over the shape of the Lucid, which in turn affects the real world. Includes mechanics for dreaming, action within that space, and creating new realities in the Lucid. Provides a sample adventure. 


Picture
Psychedemia: A surprisingly deep look at psionic students trying to use their powers to negotiate peace. The characters live in a military-school setting, training to use their psychic abilities within a dreamscape. Rules for psychic aptitudes (ESP, Psychokinesis, and Telepathy) treat them as skills. Includes a default, well-defined campaign.

Red Planet: Soviet retrofuture space exploration by Jess Nevins, the master of Pulp History. Has some minor mechanical changes, but is primarily interested in laying out the campaign concept and setting. Readers' reaction may depend on how much they can handle a fantastical version of Stalinist and Soviet imagery (tbf the game explicitly addresses that). 

Romance in the Air: Romance and drama meet skyships and turn of the century events. I especially like the description of it as Last Exile meets Downton Abbey. Offering cool twists on skills as well as a vehicle system. Includes an extensive grand tour adventure/campaign.

Sails Full of Stars: Another sailing ships in space setting, but within an alt-1800's of colonial conflict and pirates. Has steampunk trappings. The game focuses on the naval campaign play of Privateers and Pirate Hunters, but set in space. Has mechanics for building Rheoships, crew actions, and ship to ship combat. Includes a sample adventure.

Save Game: A strikingly illustrated campaign where players take the roles of characters from forgotten video games. In a retro world of information they battle against an evil glitch. Includes cool mechanics modelling video game elements via skills and stunts. Adventure/campaign presented.

The Secrets of Cats: A world where empowered cats secretly use their talents to protect helpless humans. Includes a setting, magic system, and unique stunts. Comes with a sample adventure.

SLIP: A modern strange campaign. In this world beings from other realities have begun to bleed into our own. You play members of Vigilance, a group dedicated to fighting against this invasion. Many members possess psychic talents to aid in this fight. The game includes some interesting roles with benefits and costs. It also has a mechanic for running the invasion itself- "The Convergence”- as a character with its own rules.

So the Story Goes: Travelling storytellers after the fall of a Tyrant who killed off all the keepers of lore. You play a group moving from place to place, bringing the outside world with you. You battle prejudice and fear. (It's a little bit of an inversion of Dogs in the Vineyard). Provides a short skill list with several new and distinct social skills. Includes rules for verbal conflict and group performances. Sample scenario provided. 
​

Picture
Straw Boss: The PCs belong to a cult/organization which understands that beliefs shape reality. They travel a modern world looking for supernatural issues which threaten to tear or twist that reality. Character creation strongly reinforces the setting; players create a shared character representing their "group." Individual PCs have a character sheet which rotates between their scholar self and their familiar self. Also includes a corruption mechanic. Like the setting above, Straw Boss has echoes of DitV.

The Three Rocketeers: Dumas inspired space opera. Uses a skill-free approach to Fate Core. Nice stunt list for weapon styles. Includes rules for modelling conspiracies, sample analogues to characters from The Three Musketeers, and a sample adventure. 

Til Dawn (FAE): An exploration of romance, queerness, and performance in a transhumanist future. The setting focuses on social and musical combat, eliminating physical conflict as an option. Rules for multiple identities (called skins) which take consequences, relationships, and DJ battles. Includes a sample event set up for the musical competition tour.  

Under the Table: The tagline tells it really well: "Arthurian mythology meets Prohibition-era gangster fiction in this retelling of the Round Table set in a magic-infused alternate timeline during the days of Prohibition." Has a few new mechanical elements, but is mainly focused on presenting the setting and characters.

Uranium Chef (FAE): Tongue-in-cheek space comedy. It seems like this might be a slight concept, but the supplement's longer than most other WoA settings. Contains a sub-system for dealing with the eponymous culinary competitions. There's a reality show element which reminds me of World Wide Wrestling and InSpectres. Has mechanics for seasons, specialty episodes, and a full sample adventure.

The Way of Pukona (FAE): You play warrior-women defending your chieftain against threats supernatural or otherwise. Set within ancient Mapuche society, pre-Spanish invasion. A unique setting rarely explored in rpgs. Includes rules for community generation and new ideas for investing approaches with meaning. Includes sample adventure. Available in Spanish and English versions on DTRPG.

Weird World News: A world where Scooby-Do-like investigators became a cultural phenomenon and not all monsters turned out to be rubber masked. You play travelling teens working for a modern media entity searching these stories out. Uses only four skills, but they're more prescriptive than Approaches. Includes random episode generator, sample monsters & characters, as well as a short adventure. ​

Wolf's Head: Subtitle- "Outlaws and Rebellion in Feudal England."  Your characters are not Robin Hood, but people at the margins driven to rebellion. Brings modern sensibilities into a historical context in a cool way. Also establishes that the campaign’s finite: eventually the crown will crush the PCs. Adds mechanics for handling treasure, using local support, and a campaign threat clock. Also has light rules for magic. Strong setting building. Has an introductory and a final adventure. 

Fate System Guide for New Players (Part One)
​​For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

5/10/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - May 10, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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.

TGI Thursday

Neo Shinobi Vendetta: Forged in the Dark (Session 2 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Fraser Simons, Owen Thompson, and Peter Mazzeo
We add in the Cell (Crew) mechanics for this Forged in the Dark game, then explore the everyday lives of our ninja, before they decide to eliminate a Yakuza gang for hassling retirees.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Tales & Things (Tales from the Loop) (Session 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Darren Brockes, Rich Rogers, Sarah J., and Sherri
October arrives with questions of costumes and futures, but strange secrets pull our kids in many directions, making a series of mysterious thefts a welcome diversion.

Masks: The Suits (Session 1)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Rob Ruthven, Sabine V., and Sawyer Rankin
Who are the Suits? Our heroes may find that they're barely scratching the surface of this shadowy conspiracy. L0K1 receives a suspicious job offer, Serenade displays some unnerving skill in violence, SULIT seizes a chance to rise to the top and Varga shows everyone how exactly it is that she rocks.

Mecha Monthly

HILT // BLADE (Session 1 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Darren Brockes, Diana Moon, Rob Ruthven, and Tony H
In this first session, we meet our squad of Hilts, Palladium Station's first line of defense against the gravity-eating Outsiders. With a team comprised of the cocksure Mars, the haunted Rain, the laidback Benjen and the cryptic Carina, it's no wonder they start bickering and misunderstanding each other in record time.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Uncanny Echo: The Heist (Session 1 of 10)
Jim Crocker runs for Ben Swinden, Lucian Kahn, Pearl Zare, and Sarah J.
A hard-luck quartet of bank robbers get in over their heads when they go after a vault that contains something...uncanny! Content notice: gun violence, pescophilia.

Good Society: Raillery, Reason & a Rapier's Wit (Session 1 of 4)
Sabine V. runs for Agatha, Alun R., Leandro Pondoc, and Scot Ryder
Set up for a mesh of interconnected relationship between respectable Regency folks and their mysterious masked counterparts.

Mutants in the Night: Unity (Session 1 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Kyle H., Michael G. Barford, Tom F., and Walter German
Welcome to Mount Pleasant, Greenland and the Mutant Safe Zone of Unity Heights. It is 21st of February, and the police take the opportunity to raid the MSZ. Meet Flint, Grey, Thorn, and Jack as they protect their local clinic and get rid of a predator within their community.

The Veil: Echoes (Session 1 of 4)
Darren Brockes runs for Alex, Fraser Simons, Leandro Pondoc, and Walter German
Rhye finds a cryptic lead for the cost of a favor, Hector questions the fallibility of memory, Z is sent on an errand for their maker, and Joy asks an old coworker if it's all worth it.

Mutants in the Night (Session 1 of 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Pawel S., Sawyer Rankin, and William
Within Chicago, a mutant child needs rescuing from her family and our crew, consisting of Slaytista the Silence, Mist the Prestige and Thinner the Worldbreaker, answer her call, with potentially dire consequences for the Mutant Safe Zone.

Dungeon World: Cold Ruins of Lastlife (Session 1 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Asher S., Max M., and Peter
In which we meet our three undead knights, who were freed from stasis by the awakening birth of a new god. As they are entrusted with the possibility of rebirth and a novel world, they make decisions for the future of the whole of Lastlife.

Last Words: Playtest
Gerrit Reininghaus facilitates for Noella H and Tyler Lominack
Gerrit facilitated a playtest of his game Last Words, to be published in Codex Melancholy. Content notice: This game deals with the loss of a close relative and the recording starts in media res - so be warned about the content.

Lovecraftesque: Resonate
David Morrison runs for Kyle H. and Steven desJardins
Luis Alvarez, a veteran of a quasi-governmental mythos hunting organisation, returns to New York to embroil himself in the early disco scene of 1972. He is introduced to a new party drug hitting the dancefloors, but is soon drawn into a search for his missing friend.

Monster of the Week: Heartbreak Blues
Ryan M. runs for Jeremy Strandberg, Jim Crocker, and Sabine V.
A former skip tracer, a YouTube personality, and paranormal expert face a supernatural blues killer in the heart of Memphis.

Trophy: Mother
Leandro Pondoc runs for Diana Moon and Klint Finley
Deep within the quarry in the woods, you faintly can hear the plink of a thousand unceasing hammers. But such signs are of no impediment to the world-weary Eli and the haunted ex-cultist Mahera, looking for trophies for their own reasons. Much to their hubris.

Achtung! Cthulhu Dark: The Angel of Krupna (Session 1 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Eduardo L., Paul Rivers, Philipp Neitzel, and Walter German
Two British parachutists rendezvous with their Czech contact and the American diplomat she is 'showing around the countryside', before returning to a safe house in occupied Prague. From there they meet with a high-ranking member of the nascent Czech resistance before fleeing into the night when the Nazis raid a basement jazz club.

Urban Shadows: Dresden Files (Session 4 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., Blake Ryan, Kevin Lovecraft, and Vince
The characters overcome their divisions in order to retrieve the Cauldron and stop this mythic rewriting, but one among them carries betrayal in their pocket.

Scum and Villainy: Star Wars Day Extravaganza: Episode I (Session 1 of 3)
Gerwyn Walters runs for Ben, Lu Quade, Ozzy, and Walter German
CHILDREN OF THE REBELLION - The horror of the destruction of Alderaan by the first DEATHSTAR has sent shockwaves around the galaxy. Erstwhile supporters of THE EMPIRE have finally been exposed to the horrors it brings. -- For several months Duke Tannet, ruler of the planet Bethuun, has been in talks with the REBEL ALLIANCE to give their support but these talks have been placed in jeopardy by the kidnapping of Tannet's children. -- But hope still remains as the ALLIANCE dispatches a cell of agents to rescue the children and in doing so, bring Bethuun into the rebellion.

Scum and Villainy: Star Wars Day Extravaganza: Episode II (Session 2 of 3)
Gerwyn Walters runs for Aaron, Andrew Hauge, and Mike
GHOSTS OF MANDALORE - The Destruction of Echo base on the Ice world of HOTH has left the REBEL ALLIANCE fleeing the triumphant EMPIRE. While brave men and women flock to their banner, these heroic warriors can not fight without the weapons to do so. -- On the planet Bethuun, the alliance has discovered that the rich industrialist Kolan Nog has just won a contract from the empire to scrap a fleet of GAUNTLET STARFIGHTERS that have been surrendered by Governor Gar Saxon of Mandalore. -- Desperate for more weapons to aid their fight, the REBEL ALLIANCE dispatches a cell of rebels to find the location of the freighter which carries them.

Scum and Villainy: Star Wars Day Extravaganza: Episode III (Session 3 of 3)
Gerwyn Walters runs for Lonnie Spangler, Max M., Sabine V., and Walter German
STALKING THE SHADOW - Still pursued by the fleets of The EMPIRE after their defeat at HOTH, the REBEL FLEET has scattered to find solace in any port they may call friend. -- The Blockade runner Shadowdancer had set out for the planet of Bethuun after rescuing a ship carrying Alderaian refugees. There has been no sign of it since. -- Fearing for the brave soldiers and civilians aboard, rebel command has sent a ship to investigate it's last known position. But time is fading fast and with it, any hope to find and rescue those still aboard.

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets: Beneath the Canals (Session 1 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for Jason, Maria Rivera, and Stentor Danielson
We add a few hundred years to the collaborative, multi-author city of Pentola from the Beneath the Canals zine quest using Diogo Nogueira’s “Dark Streets & Darker Secrets.” Pursuing a rumor of a caved in wall and new tunnel in the undercity of Pentola, Salazar, Sibel, and Jabril find another party with a strange leader has gotten there ahead of them.

HILT // BLADE: Season 2 (Session 2 of 5)
Darren Brockes runs for Bethany H., David L., Leandro Pondoc, and Rich Rogers
As the new squad leader, Julia takes her squad to the arcade for some team bonding and then promptly ditches them. Kenshi and Julia talk about the past and future in the hallway while Toma and Shinjo talk about what’s best…for the squad, for Julia and for Shinjo himself. Then, a Traveler tall enough to block out the moon arrives.

Uncanny Echo: Suburbia (Session 2 of 10)
Jim Crocker runs for Arnie, Eli, Lucian Kahn, and Pearl Zare
Four suburbanites try to unravel the mystery of the Uncanny Echo of a bank heist in London last night. How does what happened connect to their seemingly-normal neighborhood?

Night Witches: Engles Airdrome (Session 1 of 3)
Jim Crocker runs for Bethany H., Jesse Larimer, Sara, and Sarah J.
We meet the Squadron for the first time, and learn about what connects them, who they have to contend with at their training base, and why that runway is so hard to land on.

InSpectres: Still in Hollywood (Session 1 of 3)
Gene A. runs for Kyle H., Lucian Kahn, Peter Mazzeo, and Robbie Boerth
The West Hollywood InSpectres office (not to be mistaken for InSpectres Beverly Hills) is open for business. An early call for a commercial shoot. The city of Torrance offers a contract. A haunting in a restaurant. A bug is found.

Infinite Galaxies: Empire of the Dying Sun (Session 2)
Rory runs for Alejandro, Ash, Michael Mendoza, and Simon Landreville
Our heroes have extracted Prof. Ameron and need to learn what he knows about the impending supernovas of nearby stars.

Veil'd Fantasy (Session 2 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, John Campbell, Sherri, and Tyler Lominack
As their various troubles loom, the PCs each begin to look for ways to survive and make a little coin, but when their Heretic leads them to a minor god hounding his steps, they encounter the foulest of schemes.

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 play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced. To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon. Everyone is welcome to sign up for Gauntlet Hangouts games, but Patreon supporters get extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events and pickup games are announced. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

Share

0 Comments

5/8/2019

Age of Ravens: Fate System Guide for New Players (Part One)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
FOLLOW YOUR DESTINY
I’m one of the Fate advocates among the Gauntlet. In fact, I’m the person who has run the most Fate for our Hangouts (but I’m also the person who has run the most Cypher, 2d20, Mutant System, 7th Sea, and Rolemaster). I dig much about Fate and it’s a core element for our long-running homebrew, Action Cards. As of this posting a major new Fate supplement is on Kickstarter: Fate of Cthulhu. So I’ve revised this list to help interested players figure out what’s available for the system and what they need to buy.
 
This is a revision of my earlier lists; I've marked new items with an '*'. For this first half, I’ve grouped the items, beginning with the core rulebooks. Other Evil Hat Fate products then follow: toolkits, setting supplements, and stand-alone games. The next post will briefly run through all the currently available Worlds of Adventure for Fate. Even if the system isn’t your bag, those offer more varied and exciting campaign ideas than almost any other system out there.
 
What Is Fate?
Fate is a universal rpg, like GURPS, Savage Worlds, or Cypher. It takes a more abstract approach than those games. Fate builds on the earlier Fudge System and has had several editions/evolutions. It uses a set of unique dice: six siders with 0, +, and – sides (2 each). Rolling a set of four yields a value from +4 to -4, with most results in the middle. A 2d6 variant is possible, subtracting one die from the other, but it offers more swingy results. Players generally roll dice for actions, add a value (skill or approach), and compare it to the opposition’s value. Fate gives players several ways to affect and modify dice results after rolling.

Picture
That’s the basic resolution mechanic, but what actually goes on in the game? Different players will have different takeaways about that. Here’s what’s interesting and important to me:
  • Fate builds on simple concepts to define characters: Skills, Aspects, Stunts, Stress, and Extras. These can be easily tweaked and changed. Each has a clear basic mechanic, making it easy for players and GMs to tweak.
  • The skill list can define the setting. The pool of skills for Fate can be tight: 18 for base Fate, 14 for Atomic Robo, and 6 for Fate Accelerated. Players usually add skill values to die rolls. These connect to the four actions: Overcome, Create an Advantage, Attack, and Defend. That mechanic makes it easy to figure out what a skill can do.
  • Aspects are awesome. These are descriptors for a person, place, or thing. They have a quick and easy mechanical effect in play. When you “invoke” an aspect you can gain a +2, reroll dice results, or create an effect. Things like aspects on a scene (Stacks of Crates, Darkened Corners) encourage players to interact with the environment. Trouble Aspects operate like disadvantages or flaws in other systems, but offer more player control and actual utility at the table. Other games use aspects as well, but I appreciate how tightly they’re baked into Fate’s structure.
  • Fate’s damage system makes for colorful results and hard choices. Damage is usually called stress, with two tracks: physical and mental. The abstract nature of Fate means many different kinds of conflict can happen using the same base procedures. When players take stress, they have to deal with it immediately through marking a box off their stress track and/or taking consequences. Consequences are essentially damage aspects which create problems as a fight drags on.
  • You can easily craft different character roles and powers. Stunts are something like feats, talents or advantages in other systems. Fate has a simple set of options for defining these, making it easy to create new ones. Extras represent more potent or unusual special abilities. Fate’s abstraction means that these can be easily built from other parts of the system. If players want an effect for their character there’s a way to define these via collections or combinations of stunts, skills, or aspects.
  • It doesn’t take me long to shift Fate to new campaigns. Like other Universal systems, you have to spend some time doing additional tooling to fit the game to the genre or setting you want to play. Fate makes that simple and builds player collaboration into campaign creation from the start. That makes it easy to use out of the box, with just a few choices needed about how to handle niche elements like Magic, Powers, Cybernetics, and so on.
  • Fate’s Bronze rule states that anything can be created and treated as a character: cities, plots, factions, obstacles, and so on. This means they can be defined with skills, aspects, stunts, and stress tracks. That’s a powerful tool for the GM in defining the world. It makes prep focused and simple, while allowing players to richly interact with these abstract ‘characters.’
Caveats
Fate operates differently from many other games. Those accustomed to lighter rules or more narrative games might be unsure about how ‘present’ the mechanics are. If you’re accustomed to games with more defined rules for cases and exceptions, Fate can be hard to grok. It took me some time to finally get how Aspects worked. The abstract mechanics can take getting used to. For example, some gamers are comfortable with superpowers handled purely as aspects, while others want a more rigid list of choices.

This potentially means GMs have to negotiate with players and tweak rules to get what they want. But that’s a fact of any universal system and Fate offers a host of tools and examples for that. Another stopper can be the Skill Pyramid which restricts skill number assignment. Players can get annoyed and lost with that. Fate also has a restrained system for character advancement. Some players prefer characters get something after every session (exp, development points); Fate characters don’t. Finally, some people hate Fate dice. I’ve had that reaction in my group.

Picture
FATE CORE SYSTEM
The base book for Fate Core. This contains all the rules needed to play. For simplicity’s sake I’m going to refer to this as the Core book for this entry. Note that there’s another complete, but highly simplified version of the Fate Core system available, Fate Accelerated (see below).

The Core book offers a universal version of the system, not tied to a setting or genre. Many examples use a generic fantasy backdrop, but you can easily see how to adapt that elsewhere. After basic concepts, the rules move to campaign creation- showing how players and the GM can collaboratively decide the genre, tone, and issues for a campaign. This leads into character creation chapter which the Core book emphasizes as its own play. Players generate aspects for characters using the “Phase Trio.” Each creates a story for their character and then passes it to the next player. They then add their role in that tale. This connects players at the start, shows who the characters are, and aids in developing aspects.
 
The rules then move into chapters covering elements of the characters: Aspects, Skills, and Stunts. It presents a streamlined set of 18 skills and three stunts associated with each. It presents clear mechanics for adding more. That connects to the next section, Actions and Outcomes, which covers resolution. Fate Core offers four kinds of actions. Overcome is the broadest. Players use this when trying to get past an obstacle: climbing a wall, investigating a crime scene, running a race. Opposition can be passive with a set difficultly or active with an opponent rolling. Players use Create an Advantage to add an aspect to someone or something: setting traps, creating a good mood, finding weak spots in a castle’s defenses, tripping an opponent. Finally Attack and Defend inflict or protect from harm in conflicts. Different skills have different access to these four actions. Levels of success affect results. Ties offer a small advantage, while beating a target by 3 or more means Success with Style which confers extra benefits.
 
These mechanics come into play in Contests, Challenges, and Conflicts. Conflicts add mechanics for Stress (damage) and Initiative. For conflicts with a spatial or relational set up, Fate uses abstract zones to define the battlefield. A neat element of Fate conflicts is Concessions. Badly hurt character can, before the dice are rolled, concede a conflict. They’re taken out, but have a say in what happens to them. They lose, but avoid truly terrible Fates.
 
The rest of the Core book presents advice on GMing Fate, character advancement, and Extras (with examples). The short version of all that is the Core book provides all the basics to play Fate Core. It presents the material well, with plenty of examples and sidebars. The page design makes getting through the book easy and the consistent art style sells the universal feel. I’d recommend this as the starting point for getting into Fate. It’s reasonably priced for a hardcover ($25, or less online) and available Pay What You Want as a pdf.

Picture
FATE ACCELERATED
A condensed version of the Fate Core rules. There's some debate about whether Fate Accelerated (FAE) should be considered its own system. While it maintains Fate Core’s basic concepts, it feels distinct to me. Some supplements specifically serve FAE.
 
Fate Accelerated aims to speed through character creation. Rather than Skills, characters have scores in six different ‘Approaches’: Careful, Clever, Flashy, Forceful, Quick, and Sneaky. When facing a challenge players can suggest what approach they're taking and how it works with the situation. Some approaches more obviously fit (Forceful perhaps for kicking a door in). But others can be applied by providing appropriate narration. Picking the highest score approach might seem logical, but the player and GM negotiate about what fits. Approaches by their nature may have additional effects. For example, a Careful approach might take longer, eating up valuable time. The rest of the system-Aspects, Stress, Action Types, Consequences-remains intact but stripped down. FAE presents stunts via two Mad-Lib formulas, defining a +2 bonus to a specific action or a cool thing they can do once per session.
 
FAE presents all of this in just 48 pages, including artwork, reference sheets, GM advice, and sample characters. That's kind of amazing. The simplicity stands out and it offers a great introduction for new gamers. The price point and size means that it could be used to test the waters of the Fate with a group. While it might be slim, FAE has proven robust. Players have hacked the mechanics for many different settings and games. Approaches, for example, can reflect the logic and dynamics of a setting, like classic D&D stats for a fantasy game. Fate Accelerated is a solid game and lends itself to on-the-fly adaptation. Most importantly there's a strong linkage between Fate Core and FAE. That means supplements and materials for one can easily be ported to the other.

Picture
TOOLKITS
A series of focused sourcebooks. Unfortunately Evil Hat recently cancelled all forthcoming titles in this series, leaving the most recent as pdf-only. Several interesting projects, like the Fate City Toolkit, vanished.

Fate System Toolkit
This supplement, released in parallel with the Fate Core rules offers tweaks, hacks, options, and examples for the system. Rather than feel like a collection of things left out, the Toolkit comes across as a kind of masterclass. We have a gaggle of smart veteran GMs gathering to throw around variants & changes and discuss the implications. The first several chapters look at the key character elements: Aspects, Skills, and Stunts. These present new ways to handle them and importantly discuss the impact of those changes on play. Other chapters cover campaign design, niche events like chases & social conflict, playing out combat, and beyond. A large section, 70+ pages, presents ideas for designing magic systems. That includes five distinct examples. The final chapter lays out options for many different sub-systems including Kung Fu, Cyberware, Gadgets, Monsters, Warfare, Duels, Vehicles, Supers, and Horror.
 
Nothing in the Toolkit is essential to playing Fate (Core or Accelerated). You don't get the sense that this material makes the base rules feel unfinished. However GMs looking at how to reshape Fate to fit their style, an existing property, or a particular genre will want to pick this up. It is a grab bag and not everything will be useful for every GM. But the general models will provide a great insight and inspiration.
 
Fate Adversary Toolkit*
Covering opposition in several forms, the book breaks into three sections. The first breaks enemies into types, offers options for handling obstacles, and suggests several “constraints” (like countdown clocks) for the table. The second section, only a few pages long, looks at handling zones. That’s often a facet we completely drop from our Fate play, so I’m glad to see ideas for streamlining it. Finally the bulk of the book covers typical foes from ten different genres. These include both full-written out enemies and discussion of more incidental elements like traps. This is the shortest of the toolkits at 112 pages and aimed at GMs. How much you like this will depend on how much you need sample foes ala a Monster Manual and which genres intersect with your campaigns.

Picture
Fate Horror Toolkit*
This supplement undercuts the myth that Fate’s character competency and player agency cannot support horror. The first three chapters offer an impressive number of tiny, modular systems to tweak your horror experience: dilemmas, trauma scars, aspects hanging over from deceased characters. There’s a lengthy chapter on creating monsters as PCs and adversaries, then discussion of general horror techniques, and some specific genre elements for Fate (like handling the scarcity of zombie survival horror). The last two chapters offer looks at specific genres, with one covering the “Kids on Bikes” stories becoming more popular. But the other covers feminine horror in particular. It’s great and worth picking up for this discussion of discomfort, gaslighting, and similar concepts. I’m also happy that a book like this ends with substantive discussion of safety tools. While it’s primarily a GM book, it also feels useful for Fate players who want to dig further into their horror PCs.

Fate Space Toolkit*
IMHO genre sourcebooks settle at one of two poles. On the one hand, overly mechanical, with lots of rules that eat up space. GURPS sourcebooks have great material, but they’re often buried under a crush of crunch. On the other, too vague. No real rules options, maybe some NPCs, and a generic discussion of the genre and its related sub-genres. Some of the M&M 2e & 3e books read that way to me. The Fate Space Toolkit finds that balance. And it isn’t just a collection of new feats and powers for PCs. Instead it walks through multiple facets of the genre, offers advice for building different campaigns, and provides just enough rules options to make everything feel substantial. It’s disappointing that this didn’t get a physical release, because it’s solid and amazing. It also shows what a Fate Fantasy or Espionage sourcebook could have looked like. Recommended both for fans of sci-fi games in general, and Fate-interested sci-fi gamers in particular.

Picture
OTHER EVIL HAT FATE SOURCEBOOKS
Kaiju Incorporated
A supplement based on the world of the Kaiju Incorporated card game. In it you play corporate drones doing rescue and clean up in the wake of giant monster attacks. Has a hit-or-miss comedic tone and art style. Usable with Fate Core and Fate Accelerated. It borrows some game tech from Atomic Robo (see below) for character creation. Actual event resolution uses an interesting event generator, which shifts the play to highly structured scenes and turns.
 
Shadow of the Century*
A Fate Core sourcebook set in the same world as Strange Tales of the Century and Young Centurions (see below). This however focuses on a dark 1980s where the forces of evil have triumphed. It echoes Iron Age comics, but keeps a strong pulp vibe. The opening gives enough detail to frame the situation and then moves to how you handle a pitch session for a SotC campaign. It presents sixteen roles, each with suggested skills and unique stunts. Mechanics include montage rules, handling gonzo, and a tweaked approach to advancement. The latter half of the book deals with the NPCs, events, and factions of the setting. It’s a 1980s game that isn’t just "Kids on Bikes," but rather embraces the wildness we’ve seen in 1970’s themed rpgs. Has some new mechanical ideas, but overall recommended for someone interested in this specific campaign setting.

Strange Tales of the Century
This is a sourcebook for the Spirit of the Century pulp setting. While SotC uses an earlier version of Fate, this sourcebook has Fate Core mechanics throughout, in particular archetypes and new stunts. Mostly the book offers a complete pulp history for the setting, using the lens of a fictional magazine publisher. Jess Nevins knows his sources and brings them to bear. Recommended for any GM planning on running a pulp game.

Picture
Tachyon Squadron*
A Fate Core campaign setting where the group plays as members of a space fighter group. Character creation’s slimmed down with a tighter skill list, specific aspect questions, and a light stunt list. The meat of the book lies in its detailed but still relatively light space engagement system. Rather than zones, combatants operate on a maneuver chart which gauges relative positioning. These conflicts have four phases: Detection, Maneuver, Action, and End of Round. They also have a unique set of action options. The rules also have some nice material on ship construction, downtime activities, and mission generation. Tachyon Squadron includes a fully developed setting with sample locations and NPCs. Recommended for those interested in Fate games with dogfighting and positional conflicts (like Crimson Skies).

Venture City
Presents a superhero setting of ambiguous morality. Includes a new and useful approach to superpowers. Originally released as a World of Adventure, Venture City Stories, Evil Hat expanded and re-released it as Venture City. You can see my review of the original here. That includes a link to an actual play video using the rules. The new edition adds many more sample characters, a stronger list of example powers & themes, and some mini-adventures. Venture City takes a minimal approach to power design. It offers a simple, customizable framework. That separates it from some of the other third-party Fate supers games which have been released (Daring Comics and Wearing the Cape). These take a more granular approach to the mechanics.

Picture
STAND ALONE FATE GAMES
Atomic Robo
A complete version of Fate Core covering the Atomic Robo comic universe. It's a large, solid book with incredible layout and illustrations. Most importantly it captures the feel of the original comics and the emphasis on "Action Science." That's a modern pulp with high pseudo-science weirdness. Atomic Robo takes a streamlined approach to mechanics, rearranging and paring the skill system. It emphasizes on-the-fly character creation in stunts, aspects, and skills. It also brings several new or tweaked mechanics to the game: brainstorming, factions, and organizations. Atomic Robo shows how Fate can simulate a particular genre. As well, it offers some of the best examples of play. Recommended if you're interested in the comic or the idea of modern pulp. You can see my review here. Has a single supplement, Majestic 12.
 
Do: Fate of The Flying Temple
A “Windpunk” adventure game in the vein of Avatar the Last Airbender and Korra. Originally created for another system, this version adapts the world to Fate Accelerated. Players take on the role of youths tasked with solving problems and bringing peace. The focus includes non-violent conflict resolution and creative thinking. Do is explicitly designed to be a family-friendly game. It’s a good example of how Fate can be modified to handle certain tones and limits.
 
Dresden Files Accelerated
An adaptation of the earlier Dresden File Roleplaying Game to FAE. I’ve run this and I’ve written up my thoughts here. DFAE offers many new and interesting mechanics: unique conditions to define player archetypes, mantles representing role powers, and simple ritual magics. It’s a solid game and really shows how the rules can be tweaked and expanded. Well worth picking up for fans of The Dresden Files and/or urban fantasy. Also a great model for how to model character archetypes with distinct and unique powers. Highly recommended for those interested in tweaking Fate. Though not directly related, The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game can be an invaluable tool for generating scenarios for DFAE. That includes a ton of “build a case” cards to play with.

Picture
Fate of Cthulhu*
Not actually released as of this writing. However Kickstarter backers received a nearly complete preview pdf. Fate of Cthulhu offers a new take on the post-Elder Gods victory we’ve seen in Yellow Dawn and Cthulhu Apocalypse. The opening describes the game as “More Aliens and Terminator, less Shadow over Innsmouth.” Your characters travel in time to try to halt the apocalypse you’re living in. The KS preview includes five timelines, with more to be added as stretch rewards. The game looks to new writers like LaValle, Johnson, and Khaw for inspiration and openly addresses Lovecraft’s racism. It’s refreshing to see.

Obviously the book contains a lot of material for handling the Mythos, but it has a lot of interesting Fate tech to adapt elsewhere. The take on dangerous magic and corruption for one. Mechanical systems for tracking timelines, events, and changes. A GMs toolbox for using the past and future together to complement one another. The game’s robust and makes me want to run it right away, despite my generally tepid feelings about Cthulhu stuff.
 
Uprising*
A criminally overlooked Fate release. It’s set in the Dystopian Universe which first appeared in The Resistance card game. That traitor-detecting social game did well and garnered several similar spin off games in the same world. Uprising takes place in Paris Nouveau, a cyberpunk future city. You play freedom fighters with the possibility of betrayal…on the part of PCs. It’s a well-described setting filled with ideas on government control and monitoring via technology.

Uprising uses what’s effectively playbooks ala PbtA. Each of the nine archetypes has a done-in-one character sheet new players can quickly fill in. These have unique conditions, aspects, and stunt picks. In an element echoing Blades in the Dark and Wrath of the Autarch, your cell has a flow chart of advances to develop over a campaign. The GM has parallel government advances—a device worth stealing for certain Blades-style campaigns. The rules include ideas for handling prep scenes quickly as well as a substantial mission generator. It also has secret cards which color a character’s agenda. This is a dynamite book with a compelling setting and excellent new Fate material. I’d recommend it alone for that, and anyone interested in cyberpunk should pick this up.
 
War of Ashes: Fate of Agaptus
“Roleplaying in a Grimsical World of Fantasy.” This adapts the War of Ashes miniatures game to Fate. This world consists of several cute & cuddly but highly violent races. WoE: FoA uses Fate Accelerated approaches with mechanics for playing out mini-compatible combats. About half the book’s devoted to the setting and background, half to character creation and mechanics. If you’re interested in seeing how you can bridge the gap between Fate’s openness and more traditional elements like minis, check this one out.
 
Young Centurions
This adapts the Spirit of the Century setting (mentioned above) with a couple of major changes. You play young, emergent heroes in a pulp-era setting. Mechanically it uses Fate Accelerated, which massively streamlines the rules. As well, like Do: Fate of the Flying Temple, Young Centurions aims to be an all-ages product. Young heroes battle against sinister forces. The world’s four-color, embodying the brightest aspects of pulp literature and cinema.

NEXT POST: We run through all the presently available Worlds of Adventure. 
For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Share

0 Comments

5/7/2019

Publishing and The Gauntlet

0 Comments

Read Now
 
by Jason Cordova

I spend a lot of my time thinking about the future of The Gauntlet. 

As a leader of this organization, if I’m not always looking around the corner for what’s next, for what ways this organization can innovate, then I’m not doing my job. 

We’re getting ready to turn around one of those corners. In one week, we launch the Kickstarter campaign for our very first standalone game, Hearts of Wulin. I’m going to use this space to talk a little bit about The Gauntlet as publisher. I’m going to talk about why The Gauntlet is getting into publishing in the first place, what we hope to accomplish in the publishing space, and how Hearts of Wulin fits into that vision. 

UPDATE: Hearts of Wulin is now on Kickstarter! You can find the campaign by clicking here. 

Why publishing? 

I have a close friend who is writing a major, standalone game for a big TTRPG publisher. I asked if they would share details of their compensation with me so I could get a better sense of what the market was like. What they told me was, frankly, disturbing—so disturbing, in fact, I decided right then and there I would try to create something better.

My friend explained that, in exchange for writing the text of a full game for this major publisher, they were being paid 3 cents USD per word. Folks, that is breathtakingly low (at the time, our zine, Codex, which has a budget that isn’t even a scintilla of this publisher’s budget, was paying 5 cents per word). And that 3 cents per word does not account for any playtesting and revisions my friend is responsible for, which they have to do for free. To make matters worse (and, to be clear, I’m not sure if this applies to my friend’s deal) many publishers don’t pay for the entirety of the words their freelancers write, only what they decide to actually publish. 

I remember asking my friend: “Why are you doing this? You know this is predatory.” Their answer: they wanted to work with the publisher in question. It was worth it for my friend to take this shitty deal because they wanted the prestige and professional development that came with working with this big publisher. And there is definitely a part of me that gets that: my friend is involved with the TTRPG industry in a myriad of capacities besides publishing, and I could see how something like this would help them in other parts of their career. I know there are people who work for Codex at a rate lower than what they normally charge, and they do so for similar reasons: because there are rewards for doing so outside of the purely financial. 

But I still think there is a better way. In fact, this conversation with my friend solidified in my mind that The Gauntlet needed to get into publishing so we could develop a better model. 

Exploring a better model

Codex’s 5 cents per word (soon to be 6 cents per word) isn’t amazing. We know that. But it’s what we can afford, and furthermore, the Codex publishing model is structured to be extremely friendly to authors. For starters, Codex pieces are shorter than what you might find in a bigger TTRPG book; these are projects the authors don’t have to spend huge amounts of time on. Second, the author 100% owns their text. They can turn right around after we publish their work in Codex and publish the text on their own Patreon or itch.io account or whatever. Finally, if playtesting or revisions need to happen before publishing, we will take care of that (although many authors choose to do their own playtesting). That last point should be especially salient considering the author still owns the text and can continue to benefit from our playtesting and revision. 

I bring all this up to say: we have taken into consideration basic fairness in the publishing process when it comes to Codex. 

But Codex is a periodical, and one that does not have to get X sales per month or hit Y dollars on Kickstarter in order to be viable. Basically, we can afford to take a lot of risks with it. 

A traditional, standalone game is a more complicated proposition. When devising a publishing model for a standalone game that is both fair to the author and respectful of their time—but also makes it worthwhile for the publisher to do—you have to be much more careful. 

After a great deal of thought, and conversations with some of our mentors in the industry, we have settled on a 50/50 profit split. The Gauntlet, as publisher of the standalone game, will pay authors a royalty equal to half the profits earned on the project. That includes profits from crowdfunding, physical book sales, PDF sales, and any licensing agreements we enter into. We will even pay an advance on those royalties, dependent on crowdfunding performance and other factors. 

We think our publishing model is a generous one, and, to be honest, it may not even work. But we’re going to try. If we can pull it off, we will have created a system by which authors get paid real money for their work and The Gauntlet community has a source of income that exists outside the vicissitudes of Patreon. And that last part is really important: in order to continue being viable into the future, The Gauntlet must find new ways of raising money. We simply can’t do everything we want or are expected to do on 4K a month, and there are a lot of signs Patreon may not even be a going concern in a few years. Remember when I said I'm always thinking about the future of The Gauntlet? This is one of the things that weighs heavily on my mind. 

Hearts of Wulin

​So, how does Hearts of Wulin fit into this? Well, to be blunt, it’s our test project. Hearts of Wulin is going to prove whether or not our model works.

Now, before I go any further, I want to note that discussing Hearts of Wulin as a game is beyond the scope of this blog post. If you want to know more about it, check out our Kickstarter preview page right here.

What I'm interested in doing here is discussing the specifics of our arrangement with the authors of the game, Agatha Cheng and Lowell Francis, so you can see how our model will work. 

In exchange for delivering a draft of the game text by XXX date, Agatha and Lowell are entitled to royalties equal to 50% of the game’s profits (split evenly between them). They will receive an advance on those royalties equal to 10% of the crowdfunding so long as the project hits $40,000 during the crowdfunding campaign. They will be expected to a do a reasonable amount of promotion, such as appearing on podcasts and similar, but the only hard requirement is to deliver their draft by our agreed-upon date. 

The Gauntlet gets a grant of rights that makes it the exclusive publisher of Hearts of Wulin. We also have the right to publish supplements and add-ons for the game, and to enter into licensing agreements. If Lowell and Agatha are ever unhappy with our marketing of the game, they can terminate the contract so long as we have been given a chance to address their concerns. 

There are, obviously, many more details, but the above represents our basic agreement. 

A note about self-publishing

Why would an author want to enter into an agreement with a publisher at all, especially given that self-publishing is easier than ever? That’s a great question, and, in fact, we strongly recommend it. For many people, self-publishing is a completely viable, financially rewarding path to take. Our model was not developed to suggest otherwise. 

But I do think there are a lot of advantages to working with a publisher. I can only speak for The Gauntlet, but here is what we bring to the table for our 50% cut: we handle editing, layout, artwork, and the logistics of printing and shipping; we offer a platform for promotion; we offer a platform for playtesting; we set up and manage the crowdfunding; we offer project management; and, importantly, we take most of the risk. The author is likely going to write the text no matter what, but we’re the ones putting extra resources on the line to get the project going. 

Also: many game designers simply may not want to do all the things needed to self-publish. A great many self-published game designers only have time for working on their game, and get separated from the pleasures of the TTRPG hobby. Our model creates space for designers to write their game and exercise their creativity, but otherwise continue enjoying TTRPGs as they wish. 

Closing thoughts

As mentioned above, this may not work! At all. It is as equally likely to be a total misfire as it is to be a reasonable success. Is Hearts of Wulin going to get published? Yes. Will we meet our obligations to our crowdfunding backers? Yes, absolutely. Will the project be so successful that The Gauntlet can push forward with this publishing model? Unknown. If the crowdfunding fails, then no—that future as a publisher of standalone games is foreclosed to us. That could be the case even if the crowdfunding is a moderate success. If crowdfunding is a great success, then yeah, we think our model will work. 

We shall see!  

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

    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
  • Trophy Gold Incursion Contest