ONE YEAR LATER
I’m back these lists again, and not a moment too soon. We’ve had a variety of high profile license announcements lately: Rivers of London, Dragon Prince, Hellboy, Legends of Grayskull, Dune, Stargate, Altered Carbon, etc. So here’s a quick list of licensed rpgs actually released 2019-2020.

1. ALIEN
2. Champions Now
3. Dishonored
4. The Expanse RPG
5. Fallout Wasteland Warfare
6. Jim Henson’s Labrynith
7. Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD
8. Lyonesse: Fantasy Roleplaying Based on the Novels by Jack Vance
9. The Princess Bride
10. Robotech: The Macross Saga Roleplaying Game
11. Sea of Thieves
12. The Tingleverse: The Official Chuck Tingle Role-Playing Game
13. Uprising (Dystopian Universe)
14. Usagi Yojimbo Role-Playing Game
15. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soulbound
16. Zorro

And we’re not even done with the year.

LICENSING OFFICE
This list focuses on products which adapt novels, movies, video games, or comic books. I’ll generally restrict myself to official licenses. My comments offer a mix of context, commentary, description, and review. If you see something I’ve missed from 1999 to 2000, please tell me in the comments.

3. Dragon Ball Z (1999)
In the late 1990s, R Talsorian leaned heavily into their Fuzion system, a hybrid which drew from their Interlock mechanics and HERO System. As I mentioned in my History of Universal RPGs list, Fuzion had an active web presence and discussion group. Most games didn’t have anything beyond the most rudimentary message board and webshop. Fuzion created a strong negative reaction in our area, mostly from older (dare I say grognards) like me. Looking back I’m surprised at how negatively I reacted to the possibility of change.

By the time of this release, R Tal had laid down and refined the basics of licensed Fuzion with Bubblegum Crisis and Armored Trooper Votoms. DBZ offered a modular but crunchy system with the ability to play out complex fights with detail and balance. The core book contained lots of background material and resources. My fav pull quote from the back cover is “Compatible with any scale of Dragon Ball Z Action Figures!”

R Tal would release two supplements for DBZ: The Frieza Saga in 2001 and The Garlic Jr.-Trunks-Android Sagas in 2002. Both were pretty hefty coming in at around 100 pages each. And that’s more material than you might imagine, given the density of layout in those days.

There’s an argument to be made that DBZ represented a real generational split in gaming. The CCG boom had become less explosive, we didn’t have d20 to kick around yet. DBZ appealed to a younger range of gamer who had grown up with significant volumes of anime on TV and available on video. Robotech was old to them. They had new games to think about and D&D wasn’t really that interesting.

While there may have been a Japanese rpg adaptation of the license I haven’t tracked that down yet. Despite its popularity, Dragonball wouldn’t see another licensed version until 2016. Several fan-made versions popped up in the interim some with several supplements.

4. Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game: Diablo II Edition 
In 1999 TSR released this boxed set intended to be a stand-alone D&D product to simulate the Diablo II setting. Diablo was huge, one of the most popular PC games of the time. The intent was to grab that player base and let them play out those adventures at the table. Could it be satisfying to players who wanted that click-n-kill experience? Could it provide the kind of rich, out of the dungeon stories other players might want? How about no.

Weirdly they then released a product to let existing AD&D players bring Diablo stuff into their game with Diablo II: The Awakening (1999). And then there’s Diablo II: Diablerie (2000) which does the same thing, but with the D&D 3.0 system. But then there’s also Diablo II: To Hell and Back (2001) which also seems to be adapting 3.0 to this…like I can’t even follow what’s happening here and my biggest go to, Designers & Dragons, doesn’t have anything on this.

5. Feng Shui (1999)
Feng Shui’s based on Shadowfist, one of the few CCGs to survive the original boom. It folded at one point, only to be resurrected by Z-Man Games (before the broke big with boardgames). Shadowfist had color and a wild setting. It never hit the heights of Magic or even Jyhad, but it remained a solid niche product for years.

So the RPG adaptation of this setting, Feng Shui, probably belongs on my 1996 installment, the 1999 edition is where Feng Shui finally found a foothold. Last Unicorn Games’ in 1996 edition was a massive, glossy, over-produced full color book. It was gorgeous to look at and read, but less useful at the table.

But Atlas’ 1999 hardcover with b&w interiors actually caught on. Whether that was a result of a change in distribution, cost, or support isn’t clear. There’s an argument to be made that by 1999, rpgs had shifted to be better prepared for story-gamey, dramatic combat. Atlas would release several support books for the line before letting it kind of sit.

The 2014 Feng Shui 2 Kickstarter however, pushed it back into the limelight. It was one of the early big rpg success stories, with lots of stretch goal goodies. The game built on the existing Feng Shui setting, rather than bringing in developments in the card games meta-story. It also eliminated some key setting features, like the near future genemod villains, which bug some people. (Maybe not that many, but it bugged me).

6. Guardians of Order
GOO released three new licensed anime games during this period, along with the 2nd edition of their flagship Big Eyes, Small Mouth RPG. That system formed the basis of their generic Tri-Stat System. You can see more on that from my Universal RPGs list. It’s worth noting the owner/publisher Mark MacKinnon’s not a good dude, with shady business practices, so maybe think about that before you buy the latest BESM edition. For more on that see this the Designers & Dragons FB post on the issue.

• Demon City Shinjuku (1999) Originally a novel adapted into a OAV movie (and then a live action one. It’s a gothic, near future action story. The rpg builds on the DCS setting to offer a toolbox for building your own dark horror anime game. At the same time it gives a decent sourcebook for fans of the anime.
• Dominion Tank Police (1999) Based on the manga/anime from Masamune Shirow (Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell). It’s a whiplash mix of dark themes and weird high-comic material. It’s weird and was one of the earliest anime you could easily get on VHS, creating a strong American fandom. It’s a show about cops and that hasn’t aged well—especially given their attitude and methods.
• Tenchi Muyo: We’d seen the Japanese licensed of this in ’96 with Tenchi Miyo in Love using the MAGIUS base system. This one also uses Tri-Stat. They’d follow it up with Tenchi Universe in 2001, Tenchi in Tokyo (2002) and a GM screen.

GOO also followed up to their Sailor Moon RPG with two “character diaries” (for Sailor Scouts and Knights). That used to be a thing. As well as The Complete Book of Yoma Volume 1. There would be no volume two and this would be the end of the Sailor Moon games from GOO. Instead they moved on to richer pastures elsewhere.

7. GURPS
Steve Jackson provided yet another wild set of choices for licenses in these two years. First GURPS New Sun adapted Gene Wolfe’s stylish and weird fantasy novels. They’re strong examples of the “Forgotten Earth” genre, alongside Moorcock’s Dancers at the End of Time. Wolfe writes striking prose and there’s world building. Shadow of the Torturer and its succeeding book have an allegorical feel set in a strangely discordant world. At times it reads like Candide, at others like a grimdark version of Vance’s Dying Earth. What’s strange is that I’ve always seen these as a niche fantasy series. They’re critically respected and admired, but don’t number among the popular big quadra-tetraologies. So producing a GURPS version feels like a vanity project.
 
GURPS New Sun aims primarily to be a sourcebook- and offers a complete history of the original series as well as the Urth of the New Sun. That means it’s spoiler heavy. The few reviews I’ve found are mixed, with even the most positive praising more the general info than the style, presentation, or playability. New Sun jams a ton of material into a single 128-page book. That’s always the challenge with GURPS supplements. They know they likely aren’t going to get another bite at the apple, so they have to distill everything they can.
 
The other four GURPS licenses all draw from games instead of books or movies. GURPS Myth (1999) seems the oddest choice in many ways. Myth was a fantasy rts from a pre-Halo Bungie in 1997. It got favorable buzz but never grabbed attention like Starcraft or Age of Empires. A sequel came out at the end of 1998. By the time this supplement came out, Bungie had already shuttered development on the series to focus on Halo. They would shut down the official game servers at the start of 2002. The GURPS adaptation tries to present Bungie’s deep lore for the game, but ends up being dry and not that compelling.

GURPS Castle Falkenstein (2000) is an interesting beast. It released the same time SJG made a big genre push, releasing GURPS Steampunk in 2000 and Steamtech in 2001. There’s something-- I don’t want to say perverse-- but at least weird to see one of the most experimental and cutting edge die-free proto-storygames converted over to one of the crunchiest system foundations available. SJG would support this with a new supplement, Ottomon Empire, covering an area not dealt with in the original. It’s…something.

For the last two adaptations, SJG poached from their own backlog. GURPS In Nomine (2000) adapted a French rpg from 1990 which had been translated into English in 1997. It’s a battle between angels and demons rpg, with lots of crunchy bits. Your reaction to this will depend on how much you dig high powered GURPS games. The other pick, GURPS Ogre, adapts one of the earliest Metagaming/SJG wargames into a role-playing setting. Given that Ogre’s about tanks, guns, and vehicles, you can imagine how this plays into GURPS core strength: the ability to write up long and detailed sheets for every piece of equipment. There’s a certain kind of tech and detail fetishism that I never got, even in my most trad years.
 
8. Twilight Imperium: The Role-Playing Game (1999)
In ’99 Fantasy Flight hadn’t yet become the powerhouse it would. On the rpg front, they’d only released a few Call of Cthulhu modules. They hadn’t yet published the massive boardgames which would put them on the map. Instead they were known for two products: the long running Diskwars series and the colossal Twilight Imperium boardgame, which had four expansions by this point.

This stand-alone rpg used all of that TI lore to create a fairly flat game which didn’t appeal to role players or board gamers. The few reviews online are pretty savage citing stereotypical presentation, lack of interesting choices, and little support for the GM. While it had a relatively simple rules system, overall it brought little to the table. FFG released one modest supplement, Mecatol Rex: The Star in the Crown, but ultimately dropped the line.

9. Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium (2000)
What happened? That’s the big question. I remember being at Gen Con the year Last Unicorn Games had this on sale. I still kick myself for not picking up a copy, because they never reprinted past that initial runs. Shanon Appelcline has the full story of LUG in Designers & Dragons ’90-’99. I’ll give an abbreviated version.

Last Unicorn originally had the Dune license for a CCG. Even that wasn’t complete as they only had it for material inspired by the David Lynch movie. That would eventually change when Brian Herbert saw the chance for some money. (Ever wonder why there are only Dune prequels? Apparently Frank Herbert stipulated there could be no sequels…). As the CCG market waned, LUG secured the Star Trek license (see the previous list) which did really well for them.

So riding on that and having the Dune license they produced the RPG. But at that time, Last Unicorn wasn’t doing so well financially. In stepped Wizards of the Coast in 2000 to buy them, releasing two final games before the completed merger, including the Dune RPG. But the arrival of WotC on the scene made the Herbert estate demand significantly more money for the license, resulting in WotC/LUG losing it completely. A d20 adaptation ready to go, for example, had to be cancelled.

The book itself was a striking, full-color work. It adapts the ICON system they used for their Star Trek game to this. It’s what you’d expect: dense, amazing art, and lots of cool setting material. It’s uncertain how this would have done in the marketplace, but it had potential. It was announced earlier this year that Modiphius had acquired the license and will be releasing a 2d20 version. Their press release focused on the diverse team they’re bringing to the project.
 
10. Star Wars Roleplaying Game (2000)
Wizards of the Coast changed the rpg scene with the release of D&D 3.0. It’s such a major tipping point—the rebirth and expansion of a major IP, unification of system mechanics, and the first open game license. It would create a boom which would last until WotC popped it with the release of D&D 3.5.

The Star Wars RPG used a d20 system and built on the then-existing goodwill for the new SW trilogy. It received a lot of support from the company with a living campaign, tons of pdf mini-adventures, and some rich sourcebooks. It did well, even in the shadow of the new D&D 3.0 behemoth.

It also managed to overcome some of the WEG Star Wars nostalgia through that support and appealing to a mass of gamers who’d never even heard of the d6 system. Star Wars also had a “3.5” edition, here called revised. That didn’t have the knock-on effect on other publishers which D&D had but did shake the faith of Star Wars players who expected more expansions and not a reboot. They would take the hit again just a couple years later when WotC revised the rules to the Saga Edition, a proto form of D&D 4e.

This month coincides with two Twitter initiatives: #MoveMonth and #RPGaDay2020. Both have interesting sets of prompts and I've been posting those daily on the Gauntlet Twitter feed...because I can. Yes, its a naked abuse of my power. On the other hand: Content!

With August halfway done, I thought I'd share what I've come up with so far (since it will be easier than one massive truckload post at the end. #MoveMonth (from @stophackandroll) gives a word or phrase and asks you to write a PbtA-style move for it. #RPGaDay2020 (from Autocratik) OOH invites small meditations on roleplaying. Here's days 1-16.

1 Passion of Heartbreak
When you duel with your love, roll. On a 10+ something intervenes: a friend, other enemies, realization. On a 7-9, one of you is wounded (choose) but each gains an insight about the other. On a miss, you cradle them in your arms as they die, so much left unsaid.

2 A Poll of Players
When you agree to put on the play, poll the players on what they wish to perform (comedy, tragedy, farce, etc). Randomly assign roles (director, lead, effects, costume) as adults never listen. In order players pick: title, hurdle, advantage, and why the play's cursed.

3 A Thousands and One
When the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, roll. On a 10+, a slight disorder of the stomach caused you to imagine the Martian explosions. On a 7-9, it is a hoax causing panic and fear. On a miss…But still they come. (apologies to Jeff Wayne)

4 Shift Narrative Control
When you enter the big chase set-piece, the GM describes the camera POV for the 1st sequence up to the huge obstacle, then passes narrative control to player 1. They describe how that's overcome, then up to the next obstacle. Continue until the GM resolves a finale move.

5 Go Fast
When you kick in the boost in a desperate play to make it over the finish line, roll. On a 10+ you sail through to victory. On a 7-9 one of your rivals grabs the drift and steals first place from you. On a miss, the Blue Shell catches you.

6 Backroom Deal
When you flashback to a deal made w/ the villain's lieutenant roll. On a 10+ they point a gun at their boss, giving you an edge. On a 7-9, the mastermind cackles as the incinerator doors open under their former assistant's feet. On a miss, It's a double-double cross!

7 Under the Hood for Fellowship 2e
by @Sam Z (he/him)
What is thy bidding, my master?

When you take this move, immediately narrate a scene where you reveal a greater threat than the current overlord.
Create a new level 1 Overlord with 5 stats. The current Overlord is demoted to General.

8 Clocks on Clocks
When it's the final countdown, roll. On a 10+ you unburden yourself and speak what you always kept secret. On a 7-9, you both speak, interrupting each other but that moment's almost enough. On a 6- you've waited too long & left so much unsaid. Perhaps in the next life.

9 Temporary Permission
When you add that podcast feed everyone's talking about, roll. On a hit, you download it easily. On a 10+ it’s well organized and tagged letting you find what you want. On a 6- there are too many episode and you run thru your data plan. On any result, leave a review.

10 Out Maneuver
When you try to exit after they start telling you about their character, roll. On a 10+ you extricate yourself. On a 7-9, you escape but must throw someone else under the bus. On a miss, you're penned in and forced to nod along. Mark exhaustion.

11 Out of this World
(for MotW) by
@Max Kämmerer (he/him, they/them)
When you first encounter something so strange, terrifying, or otherworldly that you can hardly comprehend it, each player rolls + Cool. This move is meant for ancient or even alien creatures. A regular old vampire won’t get you this riled up, but an ancient Old One or extraterrestrial being might… the Keeper decides when this move is triggered, but players may suggest that their character should have to roll it if their character is particularly vulnerable to this kind of creature.

On a 10+ you keep your cool and take 2 Hold.
On a 7-9 you barely catch yourself and take 1 Hold but -1 Forward to your next aggressive action. On a 6- you are terrified, stunned, the GM may make a move as hard as they want. Take -1 Ongoing when acting aggressively against it until you Roll a 10+ doing so or you had a moment to gather yourself.

When spending hold describe how that looks in the fiction.

Spend Hold 1-for-1 to:

• Get in a cheap shot. Take +1 Forward to your next aggressive move.
• Take Cover. Take +1 Forward to your next defensive move.
• Distract it. Give someone else +1 Forward to their next move.

Spend Hold 1-for-2 to: Help someone catch themselves. Change another Hunter’s Roll from a 6- to a 7. Comprehend the incomprehensible. Tell the group something about this creature giving them +1 Forward when first acting on the information. (Once per Group per Encounter)

12 Qualifying Statement
When you finally gather yourself together and confess your love, roll. On a 10+, you don't manage to confess, but through a misunderstanding they invite you along with them to some non-romantic event, reinforcing their cluelessness. On a 7-9, your confession's interrupted by something (a duel challenge, fire drill, charging bull, etc). On a 6- choose: they reject you, they don't remember you, they interrupt to ask advice on confessing to someone else.

13 Learn from Each Other
(for Hearts of Wulin) When you start a dual training montage both participants roll 2d6, pick one die, and then reveal their choice. On a 10+ you both work in harmony—picking up on each other’s strengths & weaknesses in a fantastic ballet. Both of you take +1 Forward to Duel or New Technique & gain a bond w/ the other. On a 7-9, the practice fighting turns more intense. The PC who put forward the low die marks an element. The PC with the high die may mark XP or create a bond. On a tie, both characters do both.

On a miss, the training reveals the tension between the two and the fighting becomes real. The PC who put forward the high die marks an element and reveals a secret to the other. On a tie, both characters do this.

14 A Radical Crawl
When you bow down before your overlord in hopes of changing their viewpoint or behavior, roll. On a 10+ their laughter at your idealism is sincere, but their promises are not. However they spare you punishment. On a 7-9 your temerity irritates them and they inflict mild but ongoing punishment at random. On a miss choose one: you “disappear,” they inflict harsh penalties on you and your loved ones, you’re completely co-opted by their system.

15 Reverse XP
When you roll with your lowest stat and score a hit, mark XP.
 
16 Action Reaction
When you try to rewind time, roll. On a hit you make your move again. On a 7-9 the move has an additional complication: suffer harm, break something valuable, hurt a loved one. On a miss, fate recoils. The original result happens w/ a bonus GM hard move. 

Day 1 Beginning
While the Gauntlet began in Houston, the first time many heard of it was through our dual podcasts: The Gauntlet Podcast, looking at indie games played, and Discern Realities, dedicated to Dungeon World. Online gaming, organized via Meetups+ complemented that.

Day 2 Change
The big change for The Gauntlet came when we started our Patreon to support the podcasts. Jason wanted folks to get their money's worth and so started Codex Magazine, which would grow into an amazing thing supporting rpg writers and artists.

Day 3 Thread
The thread running through The Gauntlet's history has been a focus on playing-- actually getting games to the table. We started with a couple of meeting apps-- and got kicked from one because we got too big. That led us to create our own dedicated calendar app.

Day 4 Vision
This year the Gauntlet Community's leaned into our vision as an online gaming club working to support, teach, and introduce folks to online gaming. We've done 2 free open gaming weekends so far & we're working on another round of GM workshop/camps open to everyone.

Day 5 Tribute
Last year we lost Paul Edson, a friend of community. He'd been editor for Fear of a Black Dragon, sharing an ENnie for it. His death hit everyone. He's still missed. Rich Rogers' ENnie-winning Hit the Streets might not exist w/o him. Same for Gauntlet Comics Universe.

Day 6 Forest
Anyone run a game and describe something as a forest and then go, "wait, are these actually woods? Is there a difference? is it a stand of trees? is there another word I ought to be using?"

Because home stay has increased that like 300% for me with lots of words.

Day 7 Couple
Has your relationship to dice changed? Handfuls and dice varieties used to be the standard, but we've swung back to single die-type pools and two dice resolutions.

Not as satisfying to shake in a Crown Royal bag.

Plus now nearly all rolls are virtual... 

8 Shade
Dear Past Self: You know what would be cool? Writing down the names of NPCs you create off the cuff, maybe with a little statement about who they freaking are. Would that be too hard?
–Sincerely Self About to Run the Next Session.

9 Light
Which weighs more, a ton of D&D or a ton of PbtA?

10 Want
We have a free program Gauntlet Gameway giving early rsvps to our online calendar to gamers from marginalized communities (BIPOC, LGTBQ, genderfluid, women, etc) and/or under financial hardship. We want that accessible to more people.

11 Stack
Yes, the second edition of Nobilis is gorgeous, wondrous, and a singular work of art. But it just doesn't fit on a shelf with the other books...

12 Message
If there's a message we want folks to take away from The Gauntlet online session it's a) that online play can be dynamic & fun and b) playing with safety tools enhances and focuses the play. We want to model that with every session we post, record, and talk about.

13 Rest
Take a breather. Pre-Covid I'd run 5 sessions a week, 3 on the Gauntlet. I love, love running, but realized I was burning out. I cut a game, now doing just 2 per for us. I had weird guilt. You want to be the good GM, but you need to take care of you.

14 Banner
(as in Bruce) The biggest tension in gaming is between the superhero rpg which has deep stories & character play and that which has involved power & combat mechanics. How do we get the feels of Masks and the conflict complexity of Mutants & Masterminds?

15 Frame
Running online isn’t like running f2f. There’s a set of techniques and frameworks to make it click. But those shouldn’t be a barrier. We have a collection to help here: 
https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/blog/online-gaming-resources-a-collection

If you need help or have questions, message us. 

16 Dramatic
Yes, it’s harder to read cues and reactions when you play online. But that just means you have to be bigger, flashier, more expressive. Make faces, lean into the camera, gasp at events. React big and bold when cool things happen in other folks’ scenes. 

Last year I posted on fast hacks and the hacks I’d been working on or thinking about. I encouraged everyone to just make hacks and try them out. These don’t have to be perfect: you can iterate on them, move them away from their original source or discarding that foundation altogether. With Hearts of Wulin in the hands of the editor, I can start thinking about what comes next: what games have I left on the back burner that I really want to get to.
 
REVISE RUN REPEAT
I have a few games I've talked about before which have gotten trial runs. 

Changeling the Lost PbtA
It remains a glorious mess, despite lots of cutting. We’ve eliminated moves and tightened base mechanics each time we’ve run it. But the playbooks remain delightfully over-stuffed. I’ve run several multi-session games of it. Tyler, Jamila, and Chris Newton have all run it as well. 

It’s worked best when it leans into and concentrates on the kinds of emotional stories I want to play. There’s a lot of the original CtL stuff which dropped away: full mechanical treatments for the Hedge, mantles for the Courts, clarity, complex contracts, etc, catches. I think the next iteration will take another run at the basic moves and then go through the playbook moves to find where we’re referring to things we really haven’t done anything with.

It’s moved far enough away from the original source, I’m thinking about how to shape it into its own thing. The Seasonal Courts, for example, don’t feel as universal as they ought to. I want a better want to model and interact with those. Other elements, like goblins and masks have become more my vision of how things should be than sticking to the original. You can see the material here. 

Veil’d Fantasy
Here’s another mess that I really love. I love The Veil and the kinds of stories it invites. I like the on-the-ground feel of the game. Bringing that over to fantasy has been a pleasure. I’m running another four sessions of it this month. In a previous iteration I added more material about what each playbook defines about the world. I want to push that further and make that less sloppy.

The playbooks are definitely the next big step for revising. Originally I just reskinned them for a fantasy setting (so the Executive became the Guild Agent for example). That’s worked but I want to tune them to the kind of play we’re actually getting at the table. I’ve got enough playbooks I can afford to cut a few and maybe broaden the concepts of others. I've left out some fantasy-specific archetypes need to create playbooks for, maybe from the scattered pieces of the cut one.

I made a couple of major changes in the most recent version. I dumped the concept of Values from The Veil (with influence from Burning Wheel) because they never pushed play. I also did away with a Gold cost for advancement. That was intended to create a pressure, but just felt like a disincentive to progress. So I tightened starting money and added a Lifestyle/Gigging mechanic ala Apocalypse World. Recent play has shown me I need to consolidate the basic moves as well. Some feel right for cyberpunk, but don’t necessarily need a stand-alone move for fantasy. You can see the material here. 

Neo Shinobi Vendetta
This is an anime cyberninja game I’ve run in both Action Cards and Fate. As I mentioned last year, Sherri thought that Forged in the Dark would be a good fit for it and wrote up a hack. I’ve run it twice—with some significant tweaks in between. It’s good and I would run it again. Sherri's talked about doing more and making further changes to FitD to focus in on the character play. You can see the material here. 

We’ve found, adapted, and developed a ton of useful tools for online play at The Gauntlet. To make things easier to find, we pulled a bunch of that material together here. We'll also be adding this as an page to the website.
 
BUILDING KEEPERS
Most games on the Gauntlet use Google Sheets to create online character keepers. It lets everyone see each others’ characters. It can also be used to organize reference material and NPCs. We have a four-part series on creating those keepers

• Introduction
• Basics 
• Advanced Techniques 
• Polishing Keepers 

 
KEEPERS AND PLAY AIDS
We have a large collection of pre-made keepers for a ton of games. If you use a Keeper from our folders, be sure to make a copy of it. Then you can edit that copy. You’ll find the full folder here.  That contains:

• Sample Aids Broken into three folders: A-E, F-0, and P-Z
• General Templates
• A collection of Tools & References
• Español and Deutsch materials
• Documentation for all our play aides.

OTHER RESOURCES

• TTRPG Safety Toolkit Your play safety best resource is the ENnie-winning TTRPG Safety Toolkit by Kienna Sunrise and Lauren Bryant-Monk 
• Overview of Video Options This looks at some of the available meeting software platforms. Much has changed since originally written. It needs updating but still has useful options. 
• Helping your D&D Group Try a Monsterhearts One-Shot A blog post by Rich Rogers (+1 Forward, Hit the Streets) with advice about transitioning groups into new games and online play. 
• Open Table: What the What? A look at the Gauntlet’s Open Table approach to online games.
• Sharing the Cognitive Load Includes a discussion of CATS, which is the Gauntlet go-to for presenting games
• Our Overview of Tools of the Table

 
ONLINE COMMUNITY

• Community Code of Conduct Our CoC is based on the existing XOXO Community CoC, modified for an online gaming community. It is licensed CC 4.0, so feel free to borrow or adapt
• GCOG material We’ve begin doing free quarterly online gaming events as a way of introducing new folks to online gaming and indie games. Here’s an overview of that program. You can find our event handbook here. If you’re planning an online event, feel free to borrow from and adapt that.
• Community & Community Leadership A really good post by Pam Punzalan on Medium talking about the challenges of leading an gaming community

 
ABOUT THE GAUNTLET

• We have a strong network of podcasts, including our flagship, The Gauntlet Podcast; +1 Forward, our podcast powered by the apocalypse; Fear of a Black Dragon, our OSR program; The Sixth Ring, looking at the Trophy RPG, and more. 
• You can find out more about The Gauntlet at our website: gauntlet-rpg.com
• We have a Patreon which supports our podcasts, gaming community, forums, publishing, and more. That’s one way to get early access to our gaming calendar and our magazine, Codex. Consider supporting us.
• For gamers from marginalized communities or those suffering financial hardship, we have a program to give you early access to our gaming calendar: Gauntlet Gameway. 
• The Gauntlet Forums is a place where we post calendar games, make public announcements, and talk about gaming in general. 
• If you play a session with us, you can ask to join our Gauntlet Slack. It focuses on the games we’re playing on the calendar. We talk about plans for upcoming games, talk shop about sessions, and request/look for feedback on future sessions. Contact us at gauntletcommunity@gmail.com.
• We have a Gauntlet YouTube Channel which we update each week with tons of actual play sessions. 
• You can also listen to those sessions with our Gauntlet Hangouts podcast channel which converts the videos to a podcast format. 

SYSTEM GUIDES FOR NEW PLAYERS

• Legacy: Life Among the Ruins
• Fate
• Fate Worlds of Adventure
• GUMSHOE
• 13th Age
• Changeling the Lost 1e
• Mutants & Masterminds 3e

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, you can contact us at gauntletcommunity@gmail.com.