Blog Archives

10/25/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 25, 2019

Read Now

Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup! Enjoy these new recordings of online games organized through Gauntlet Hangouts and the Gauntlet RPG community. These recorded sessions represent only a portion of the wide selection of games available every week, and anyone is welcome to join in the fun! If you'd like to play in new games (or catch up on the back catalog of recordings), check the links at the end of the post.

Gauntlet Con

At the time of this post, it's day 2 of Gauntlet Con! All weekend long we'll be growing the collection of recorded game session videos—plus recorded streams of panels and workshops—in the Gauntlet Con 2019 YouTube playlist! If you didn't get a chance to attend this year, start looking forward to next year, and remember that supporters of the Gauntlet Patreon get into Gauntlet Con for free!

Star Wars Saturday

Witch Squadron (Session 3 of 3)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Gerrit Reininghaus, Keith Stetson, and Sabine V.
The 588th Regiment board the Quisling to draw off Imperial forces in the Battle for Sullust. In the quiet moments of the battle, two pilots make an unexpected connection.

TGI Thursday

Mutants in the Night: Gauntlet TGIT (Session 3 of 3)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, Christopher Walborn, Jason Zanes, and Leandro Pondoc
After a near-tragic encounter with the police, the crew try to uncover the reasons behind an ongoing crackdown in the Mutant Secure Zone.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 7)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
A field trip to gain some heroing experience turns awry as a hole in time and space rips open and our heroes are forced to confront their deepest wounds. Zero-G is bent towards the will of an amorphous villain, Errant is nearly drowned by the legacy of Tsvetnovadred, Serenade is confronted by a ghost of their past deeds and Image learns that she can have more impact on the world through the application of force. Apologies to Wisconsin.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: The Best Worst Things About Fall (Session 3 of 3)
Chris Newton runs for Alex, Leandro Pondoc, Sarah J., and Sawyer Rankin
While confronting a mysterious power that seems to be allowing masks to possess their wearers (including an adult superhero or two), our teenage supers encounter a more insidious nemesis: our rollforyour.party page!

Gauntlet Hangouts

The Veil Fantasy: Kriusthos (Session 4 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for David Walker, Marcolo, Maria M., Pearl Zare, and Toby
An alien intelligence invades the life of these five, forcing them to into a mystery full of difficult choices. The Tome is opened and a name is revealed - The Curator. Our apparatus has to save the life of the architect from copycats and find which is their relationship to the Curator and the society of contracts. As we drive to the conclusion to the confrontation of ideas, the true horror is revealed: the healthcare system.

Spectaculars: The Virtuosos (Session 6)
Mikel Matthews runs for Kyle H. and Steven desJardins
Interrupting a podcast, Spywn and Thunderstruck go to talk down the 9ers in Royale Hill because an escape pod landed from an alien ship that was under fire last session.

Free From The Yoke: Land of the Dragonslayers (Session 4 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Greg G., Mikael Tysvær, and Sawyer Rankin
Autumn starts with an ominous court, as it becomes clear that there can be no peace. Promises are made, and the bounty of the earth coalesces into relics of power. Teachers and Horselords fight the first true war since the independence and tragedy struck. Winter arrives, and a rite like the sort that has not been seen in generations is attempted...

Urban Shadows: Vienna, 1950 (Session 4 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Eli S., Leandro Pondoc, Pearl Zare, Richard Moser, and Sarah J.
A grand finale with a full cast brings our time in Vienna to an explosive close. Otto the Veteran steals a painting and finds himself on the receiving end of weaponized Cubism. Sophie/Johannes the Fae sings a bear to death, a café to life, and a fae birthday party into a riot of debauchery and violence. Cosima the Vamp faces her potential execution at the hands of Salomé the Tainted with a speech for the ages—Salomé is less sanguine about the result of her hunt. Emilie the Aware talks her way out of American military custody—and into the climactic shootout over art and magic at the Plaza of the Blind Shepherd.

Night Witches: Rudnya 1943 (Session 3 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for Eli S., Leandro Pondoc, Maria M., and Puckett
The Natural-Born Soviet Airwomen of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment conduct a harassment mission to keep the Nazis awake, under the command of a new Section Leader as they await news of the fate of their lost comrades.

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Leandro Pondoc, Patrick Knowles, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
The crew follows up on the missing archaeologists and finds an object which should not be. Which they immediately mess with.

Apocalypse World (Session 3 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for John Campbell, Peter Mazzeo, and Steven desJardins
Recovering from their battle/rescue mission, the PCs regroup and consider what they've learned about who is behind the attacks, but when they confront an agent, they discover something more dangerous than they expected.

The Bat Hack: Ms October Game (Session 4 of 5)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Catherine Ramen, Hayley, Jesse A., and Rich Rogers
The Gauntlet City Gals keep their Championship hopes alive in dramatic fashion, setting up Game 5 back in Detroit. Stunning defensive play from an outfielder returning from the DL provides the highlight reel.

Root: the RPG (Session 1 of 2)
Rob Ruthven runs for Ary Ramsey, Jeremiah Pena, Leandro Pondoc, and Philip
Meet our vagabonds - Brin, Jeem, Morning Song, and Oxley - as they help the denizens of Milltown deal with a group of mercenaries suspected of tampering with the town's crops, and maybe get a little extra coin in the process.

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

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

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced.

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!

0 Comments

10/18/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 18, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now

Star Wars Saturday

Witch Squadron (Session 2 of 3)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Keith Stetson, and Sabine V.
The pilots of the 588th Regiment finish their training at Rimcee Station. Those who survived, that is.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 6)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, and Sabine V.
Doubts fill the halls of Prospect Academy as the Silver Masquerade looms and its students ponder on what exactly makes a hero. Zero-G gets an unwelcome reunion from his worse days with an old friend, Princess Hollyhock tries to figure out how to reach an old friend, Kasey gets a much-needed boost from an old friend and Serenade is sick and tired of all this nonsense.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: The Best Worst Things About Fall (Session 2 of 3)
Chris Newton runs for Alex, Leandro Pondoc, Rich Rogers, and Sawyer Rankin

Monsterhearts 2: Super Juvie (Session 3 of 5)
Rich Rogers runs for Leandro Pondoc, Misha B, and Peter Mazzeo
Three students of super juvie wake up in a shared dream, meet The Gauntleteer, and one of them throws an elbow at Flatline. That one? He's in deep trouble.

Gauntlet Hangouts

The Veil Fantasy: Kriusthos (Session 3 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Marcolo, Maria M., and Toby
A dead friend haunts the Honorbound. Promises have been made, silver has been given to the needy. As one finds out that contracts, society and true knowledge cannot coexist, the group find out the answer to the question "what shadows inhabit the minds of the long-dead"?

L5R - Topaz Championship (Session 2 of 3)
Ludovico Alves runs for Josh H, Pawel S., and Stephen
The second day of the contest continues, after a late arrival and a suspicious sake house brawl.

Free From The Yoke: Land of the Dragonslayers (Session 3 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Greg G., Mikael Tysvær, and Sawyer Rankin
There was the promise of a peaceful Summer. That was a lie. The grand Summer Festival of the Jeweled city is interrupted by a grand ritual and a tri-party duel. Stewards of ancient rites start a war and despoil a sacred site with a treasure. The stonecutters and smiths grow in influence as the season sets.

Sunset Kills: Monsters Will Never Hurt You
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., David Morrison, Libby Horacek, and Will H
In the town of Sunset Falls, darkness hides monsters with real teeth. As the night brings in an out-of-town exorcist and demons from beyond the skin of reality, the fate of the town falls upon a motley band of defenders. Dante the Chosen shows off some sick flips and daggers, Stone the Monstrous tries to take on all the demons, Gideon the Occultist peers through time and space and Angie the Snoop risks life for a friend.

Rapscallion: The Leviathan Queen (Session 2 of 2)
Alun R. runs for Alexi S., Julie Rogers, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Robert Angus
Captain Nightshade encounters an old flame so there has to be a sea battle; he wins, but then the loyal members of his crew must play 'Jonah' and are carried to the sunken Leviathan temple. There, Raku the Golem must convince the ancient sigils that have held the temple in the depths of a better life on the surface before helping the Captain hold off the tortured souls that guard the Temple. Meanwhile competing claims to the sacred Golden Pearl must be resolved in a three-way tussle between Jamie the Chronicler, Clance the Mountebank, and Clance's Demon, Abaddon. The Captain is just able to keep his pledge to the Leviathans before Jamie grabs the Pearl and a new Leviathan Queen is hatched... All in a day's swashbuckling for this exceptional crew... PS: there is also a real-life pirate hat and coat in this session... You have been warned!

Night's Black Operators: The Lisky Bratva (Session 2 of 5)
Alun R. runs for Pawel S., Puckett, Sabine V., and Stephen
After last time when they were out-classed by a creature they didn't understand on Josef Lisky's turf, the team's cover and contact are (literally) blown, leaving them little option but to flee Odessa in search of at least temporary respite. Transnistrian fixer, Mr Happy, provides that in return for a favour: a new signing for the local football team must not make a successful debut... Karl the Wet-worker pretends to be a famous fitness coach (knighted for services to British sport) to get access to the young prodigy so that Dylan can play 'homme-fatale' and ensnare the naive youngster in a night of passion and fitness training that leaves him exhausted in all kinds of ways. Meanwhile, Mia & Moshe unpick the leads Mr Happy reveals as part of his generous 'thank you'. The Vampyramid is becoming clearer...

Once Again We Return: Musical Madness Q1 (Session 1 of 4)
Sawyer Rankin runs for Ludovico Alves, Patrick Knowles, Puckett, and Sabine V.
We start the Recurrence with character creation and setting up the best, sweetest, nicest Pantheon that ever will Pantheon. We go through four performances in small time skips with our starting growth. Come see a barely remembered rave, a band show of combined musical styles, a thrash metal ACAB show, and a drugged out haunting hallucination.

Once Again We Return: Musical Madness Q1 (Session 2 of 4)
Sawyer Rankin runs for Ludovico Alves, Patrick Knowles, Puckett, Sabine V., and Saribel P.
The Recurrence gets underway with a surprise show in No Where, Nevada where the newest member of the Pantheon is incarnated before a group of yuppies. Our angry El Tunchi creates the Garden of Even and blesses it with Pasithea. Egeria and Echo have a moment that might be a meetcute? If they hadn't had already met. Then our newest deity Shango gets (easily) talked into rebelling in a grand music video experience in Brazil with El Tunchi while Pasithea goes sightseeing. Echo and Egeria find a rare fan of Echo and it seems the ancient one has enemies(?)

Urban Shadows: Vienna, 1950 (Session 3 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Eli S., Leandro Pondoc, Pearl Zare, and Richard Moser
A busy day of deals, threats, and bad decisions made at the Café Marcus Aurelius, hotspot of supernatural intrigue in Cold War Vienna. Otto the Veteran tries to shake the cold from his limbs by striking a bargain with a fae princess of winter. Emilie the Aware leaves the café at gunpoint, confidant she can manipulate the wolf at her heel. Salomé the Tainted accepts two new hit jobs, one for duty and one for love. And Sophie/Johannes the Fae proffers help to everyone, reveals their feelings for Salomé, and briefly turns into monstrous tangle of tentacle-like vines.

Night Witches October 2019: Rudnya 1943 (Session 2 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Eli S., Maria M., and Puckett
Politics is a stuka and the Byelorussian forest claims another of the people's aircraft, if not necessarily its pilots.

Hack the Planet: A Sky Reflected In Terror (Session 3 of 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Josh H, and Parham Doustdar
Facing problems such as collapsing walls, reticaltrant extractees, and mysterious cybernetic attackers, the Comets meet each obstacle with gusto. Shadow learns the perils of wall-running after an explosion, Nova attempts to meet problems with explosives and Lincoln manages to cultivate trust with a reluctant researcher.

Night's Black Operators: The Lisky Bratva (Session 3 of 5)
Alun R. runs for Leandro Pondoc, Pawel S., Puckett, and Sabine V.
Heading into the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains the team have to pick up a 'minder' sent by their sponsor to get 'eyes on' - a charming Asset Handler with the immediate charm of a rottweiler. Confronted by the Lisky Bratva's people-trafficking Mia disables their truck and engineers a collision with its black escort SUV. Dylan offers to help the Bratva truck-driver (with a silenced automatic pistol) while Karl uses a rifle-grenade to flip the second black SUV in appropriate action hero style. Unable to ignore what may be going on at Dragovir Monastery, an investigation turns into a raid as they find solid evidence of a predatory supernatural power behind Josef Lisky...

Masks: Back to Basics (Session 1 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for David Morrison, David Walker, Donogh, and Pearl Zare
Welcome to Halcyon City! It's just survived being at the epicenter of the Apocalypse Sonata, and everyone is really hoping things will get back to normal. Unfortunately, our protagonists are superheroes here. This issue: SPARTA LLC bites off more than they can chew, and relationships get tested.

Masks: Back to Basics (Session 2 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for David Morrison, David Walker, and Donogh
School days and work days for our heroes, but both are interrupted by new problems.

Monsterhearts 2: St. Osana's School for Boys (Session 1 of 3)
David Morrison runs for Pearl Zare, Puckett, Sawyer Rankin, and Steven
This game is set in St. Osana's School for Boys, a boarding school in North Yorkshire in 1968 and is a loose sequel to my previous game in the same setting. We follow the exploits of four boys from Postgate Upper Fifth as Autumn fog creeps over the Yorkshire Moors. A lethargic air hangs heavy in the boys' prep room, as Burnley the Ghoul has a brief, intense daydream of his untimely demise. CF the Hollow has a far more enticing dream, lured out on the wiley, windy moors by the enigmatic Isaac Crowther. CF's dream, however, is soon interrupted by the Headmaster's son, Lovelace the Infernal. Lovelace's aloof disdain quickly melts to reveal the hot-blooded passion beneath, and the two share a moment of intimacy in the closet - though perhaps slightly less private than either of them realise. His Highness Karuna Singh the Mortal plans to sneak out of school for an clandestine rendezvous with Burnley, though his plans are delayed when he steps in to act the hero in his lover's place.

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

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

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced.

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!

0 Comments

10/17/2019

Gauntlet Comics 101

0 Comments

Read Now

By Alexi Sargeant
What It Is…
Gauntlet Comics is a shared, comic book-style universe for Gauntlet Community games. As we play more series within the Gauntlet Comics label, a more and more sprawling comics continuity emerges—centered on the bustling metropolis of New Gauntlet City.

Like the DC universe or the Marvel universe, Gauntlet Comics contains multitudes. New Gauntlet City is home to an abundance of superheroes and supervillains, as you would expect from a city that anchors a comic book line. But it also has room in its dark corners and forgotten chapters of history for monster-hunting cops, harried medical professionals, hidden wizarding schools, demigods slumming it on earth, and so much more.

This means that, in addition to many superhero games like Masks: A New Generation or Hit the Streets: Defend the Block, we can play any game that could conceivably fit into a city with superheroes. Some games focus on the more down-to-earth trials and tribulations of people who see superheroes as colorful interlopers, such as the stressed out surgeons of the E.X.T.R.A. Care Ward (run in The Ward). Other games reveal the lives of super-villains or their distrusted offspring, like the inmates—er, students—at the New Guard Academy juvenile detention center (run in Monsterhearts 2).

A few things hold true among all Gauntlet Comics games. New Gauntlet City is not a stand-in for New York City (unlike a couple other comic book cities we could name) but is rather located somewhere in the Midwest. It has played host to superheroes for three going on four generations. The Golden Age was a time of patriotic crimefighters like the Allied Angels, young women fighting saboteurs on the WWII homefront. The Silver Age saw powerful superteams form alongside government agencies dedicated to observing and containing anything superpowered, alien, or magical (AEON, the Agency for Extranormal Operations Nationwide, occupies a similar niche in Gauntlet Comics continuity to SHIELD in Marvel Comics). The Bronze Age was a time of darker and grittier characters shying away from idealism. Some of that ethos definitely informs the “gothpunk” supernatural heroes affiliated with the magical gathering point Coven Prime. The Modern Age of superheroes is still wide open, and many teams of teen heroes are jockeying to define it.

Though it can be fun to play around with continuity and callbacks in Gauntlet Comics games, you also don’t need to read up on anything in order to play. Like any comics line with multiple creators, Gauntlet Comics accommodates a wide range of approaches and tones, with room to reinterpret or retcon prior events as needed. There is a wiki collecting the characters, places, and events generated in Gauntlet Comics games. You can browse it for fun, and add to it if it strikes your fancy. But no pre-reading is required for Gauntlet Comics games, which like all Gauntlet games are fun, friendly, and Open Table. As Lowell Francis said of other shared continuity Open Table games, “References across games act as Easter Eggs rather than required information. But there’s an organic, emergent history there.”

A fun, but not obligatory, bonus to framing this all as a comic book line is the opportunity describe in-game moments using comic book imagery: cover gimmicks, splash pages, Kirby dots, etc. But if you don’t have that comic book vocabulary, again, no worries! We’ve all always got slightly different pictures of the game fiction we’re generating in our heads. The conversation around the gaming table helps bring our mental images close enough together to tell a good story and have fun while we do so.

...And How It Came To Be
Rich Rogers recounts the origins of Gauntlet Comics thus:
Gauntlet Comics was an idea I pitched to Lowell Francis and Jim Crocker, a shared-world setting that we could all play in. In the Gauntlet, we often run games for three or four sessions and have to say goodbye to those characters and stories, so we cooked up a world we could all play in, and we set up a wiki for pooling all this canon.

Once we were all on board, we invited Brendan Conway, creator of Masks: A New Generation, and played a long session of a Microscope hack called Spotlight (the same one used to set up the world for the Protean City Comics AP podcast). We used Spotlight to lay down the generational heroes and villains and some of the major events of the timeline.

And since I know an amazing artist named Alex Prinz, I hired him to create our Gauntlet Comics logo!

Collector’s Editions!
There are plenty of great Gauntlet Comics series Actual Plays collected on our YouTube playlist for you to enjoy! I’ll plug a favorite one or two here, and a few other Gauntlet Comics regulars will share their favorites in the days to come.

I’ve played in lots of great Gauntlet Comics games, so it’s hard to pick just one. Jim Crocker’s Coven Prime series of Urban Shadows has been a huge highlight, though. It’s a series set in 1999–2000 New Gauntlet City, conceived of as a crossover title for a number of occult superheroes like those published by DC Comics’ Vertigo lines (home of Sandman, Hellblazer, and Swamp Thing). In the first Coven Prime series, I played a noirish private eye ghost named Inspector Spectre. In the later two Coven Prime series, I’ve played a monster-hunter that I built in tribute to another Gauntlet Comics character: I imagined what the tarnished modern heir to the monster-hunting legacy of Maddie Midnight from the Golden Age Allied Angels series would be like. It’s been great, gothic, grime-stained fun!

A favorite Gauntlet Comics series I ran was Hedgewick Academy. We took the Hogwarts RPG and transplanted it into New Gauntlet City, exploring a magical boarding school in the city that prepared young wizards and witches for the trials of Coven Prime. It was fascinating running a Harry Potter-esque game in a setting of our own, where we could decide on some different facts about the wizard school houses (here called Lionheart, Raptorquill, Burrowdown, and Serpentine) and have established magical characters from Gauntlet Comics turn up as teachers at Hedgewick Academy. We packed a lot of magical mystery hijinks into just two sessions, including sinister reappearances by artifacts and antagonists who’d previously been spotted in sessions of Masks and Urban Shadows.

New #1 Issue: Perfect Jumping-On Point!
If you want to play games in the Gauntlet Comics continuity, you’re in luck: GMs are frequently adding them to the Gauntlet calendar, and every session is a jumping-on point! If you want, you can watch older videos and read the wiki—or you can simply join the fun and put your own spin on whatever corner of New Gauntlet City is being explored in that series.

If you want to run games in the Gauntlet Comics continuity, you’re also in luck: the list of folks who’ve run Gauntlet Comics games has slowly expanded, just like the ranks of writers and artists in a comic imprint. You might do what I did and reach out to Rich Rogers about running a Gauntlet Comics game. If you’re someone who’s played a couple of these games, he’s almost certain to give you his blessing. You might even get to name a new part of New Gauntlet City, as I got to name Undertaker’s Row in my Masks series. There’s still plenty of blank spaces on that map to fill with excitement, intrigue, and comic book adventures!

0 Comments

10/11/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 11, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now

Star Wars Saturday

Witch Squadron (Session 1 of 3)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Gerrit Reininghaus, Keith Stetson, and Sabine V.
The new recruits to the Witch Squadron make their first flights on rickety Clone Wars-era Y-Wings. Things break, a pilot washes out. Things don't go smooth.

TGI Thursday

Mutants in the Night (Session 2 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, Christopher Walborn, Jason Zanes, and Leandro Pondoc
Their shark-toothed fixer offers the crew several jobs and they opt to aid The Clinic again by retrieving stolen medicine from a wasp-filled gang bunker.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
As Prospect Academy rolls into October, the uhh prospect of a school dance, the Silver Masquerade, looms in the horizon as its pupils deal with schoolwork, time travel, a hostile school president and lurking, unseen anxieties. Kasey deals with the fallout of her mother's capriciousness, Mary grapples with the complicated nature of time travel, Serenade faces off against the new president and Zero-G battles Charles Dickens for a decent grade.

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 1)
Lowell Francis runs for Patrick Knowles, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
We do character creation and then set our new crew of artifact seekers off into the dark where they find a extraction stymied by a mysterious planetside conflict.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: The Best Worst Things About Fall (Session 1 of 3)
Chris Newton runs for Alex, Rich Rogers, Sarah J., and Sawyer Rankin
Worst crew encountering people dressed even more ridiculously than a golden age superhero: commedia dell'arte stock characters!

Monsterhearts 2: Super Juvie (Session 2 of 5)
Rich Rogers runs for Joe Zantek, Leandro Pondoc, Misha B, and Peter Mazzeo
The students of New Guard Academy participate in a basketball game, plot and flirt, then wake up...on a beach?

Gauntlet Hangouts

Trophy Gold: Tomb of the Serpent Kings (Sessions 1-2 of 2)
Jason Cordova runs for Fraser Simons and Tyler Lominack

Ross Rifles
Stentor Danielson runs for Jeremiah Pena, Kristina, Maria M., and Steven desJardins
In which our scrappy band of Canadian soldiers check out the local ecology of no man's land and take a German prisoner, much to the consternation of Lieutenant McConnell.

The Veil Fantasy: Kriusthos (Session 2 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for David Walker, Marcolo, Maria M., and Pearl Zare
The group is asked to act as deal-brokers of a contract. They slowly pierce out that there is more to it than it initially seem and try to stop the same deal they are facilitating.

Apocalypse World: Rusted Trust (Session 1)
Sawyer Rankin runs for Christopher Walborn, Robbie Boerth, Robert Angus, and Steven
The group gathers together and we start piecing together a world of reclaimed nature, terraforming gone wrong, and animals which have mutated and gone Jurassic Park on us. Our world is a view of Bioshock on land, bridged together by a Battlebabe, a Brainer, a Hocus, and a Show. We start off with a religious picnic which goes wrong, find a hippie commune from the 70s era scare days, and end on what seems to be gunning for a Cult vs Cult battle.

Legend of the Five Rings: Topaz Championship (Session 1 of 3)
Ludovico Alves runs for Josh H and Pawel S.
Let's learn L5R 5th edition! Let's see what a Dragon and a Scorpion get up to in the village of Tsuma!

Free From The Yolk: Land of the Dragonslayers (Session 2 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Greg G., Mikael Tysvær, and Sawyer Rankin
The First Queen leads the efforts against the rebellion, as the Teachers seek to profit from the instability. We unearth an ancient curse created by the forging of a crown and the breaking of a promise, as well as renew the vows between the Horselords and the Land. All while truces are settled and the First Queen Reborn is only increasing in power.

Lighthearted: The Tea (Session 1)
Kurt Potts runs for Barry, Lauren, Pearl Zare, and Puckett
In this session, we create characters and do an intro scene. Four college students at the El Camino Community College of Magic and Technology. Are drawn together by a professor. Next week we'll see what happens when your mentor spills everyone's baggage all over the table of a tea shop.

Spire: Ironshrike (Session 3 of 3)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gabriel Robinson and Pawel S.
Somewhere within the tangled web of factions and desperation that comprise the market of Ironshrike, somewhere is the right combination of allies and enemies that could spark change into this corner of Spire. Varda is reminded of her duties as midwife to the drow and Nirvic prepares a con for the ages.

Rapscallion: A Night at the Opera (Session 1 of 2)
Alun R. runs for Alexi S., Julie Rogers, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Robert Angus
Captain Nightshade's intention to steal two mystically engraved organ pipes from St Sucre's Grand Opera House is complicated first by a fire, and then by the rest of his crew. Clay Golem Raku is always eager to get things right and follows instructions (very) literally before losing its cool and swatting away a platoon of Marines. Clance, the only crew member possessed by a Demon (as far as we know), can't resist "all the shiny things" and finds himself between a fire and an angry crowd. St. Sucre's great and good, before cutting the rope securing a candelabra and shooting to the roof. Jamie, the ship's Chronicler, prefers a quiet read and keeps her angry djinn in its bad-tempered place, but seeing everyone's aura is a strain that she can't contain when confronted by a previous employer. Through it all Captain Nightshade keeps his cool (and his organ pipes) so they can help him chart a route through the Deathwaters next time in...Rapscallions.

Urban Shadows: Vienna, 1950 (Session 2 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Eli S., Leandro Pondoc, Pearl Zare, and Sarah J.
Salomé, the Tainted outrider of the Wild Hunt, has arrived, so the party can get started! Tonight, Vienna will be rocked by poisonings, out-of-body experiences, and more-or-less inept attempts at seduction and assassination. Cosima acquires a very haunted cabinet. Emilie snoops her way into so much trouble that only letting out her inhuman side can save her. And Sophie/Johannes commits herself to aiding Salomé's hit job on an American colonel, whether she wants it or not.

The Bat Hack: All-American Girls: Mrs October (Session 1 of 5)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Catherine Ramen, and Rich Rogers
We re-learn the ropes with a short roster as the Gauntlet City Gals head back to Detroit to face the Debs in Game 1 of the Championship Series!

Hack the Planet: A Sky Reflected in Terror (Session 2 of 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Josh H, Parham Doustdar, and Rob Ruthven
A simple job: infiltrate a derelict lab, extract a brilliant gene-hacker and escape before Acts of God or well-armed scavengers get in their way. Terribly straightforward, yes? Lincoln evades the spotlights in the sky, Nova dives deep into the lab's security workings, Shadow dives through the sky with ease and Mellow confronts a strange, cybernetic attacker.

Lighthearted: The Tea Gets Dark (Session 3 of 3)
Kurt Potts runs for Barry, Lauren, Pearl Zare, and Puckett
In this session, we find out what Kyle's been up to and why Baylee got so upset with Dr. P in the previous session.

Night Witches: September 2019: Pashkovskaya/Rudnya (Session 4 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Maria M., Mike Ferdinando, and Puckett
The Natural Born Soviet Airwomen of the 588th settle in to their new Duty Station with an unusual mission.

Night Witches: October 2019: Rudnya (Session 1 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Eli S., Maria M., and Sarah J.
It was a Dark and Stormy Night for the 588th. Transfers to cover losses mean the return of former comrades.

Apocalypse World (Session 2 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for John Campbell, Peter Mazzeo, Scot Ryder, and Steven desJardins
After the attack on The Mud Pit, the group looks into who is pushing the war brewing behind the scenes of the settlement.

The Bat Hack: Mrs October (Session 3 of 5)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Catherine Ramen, Jesse A., and Rich Rogers
The Gauntlet City Gals face the Detroit Debs in Game 2 of the 5-game All American Girls Professional Baseball League Championship.

Trophy Gold: Tomb of the Serpent Kings (Session 3)
Jason Cordova runs for Fraser Simons and Tyler Lominack
Our treasure hunters meet their end as they push their luck against a basilisk.

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

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

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced.

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!

0 Comments

10/8/2019

Trophy: A Community-Driven Project

0 Comments

Read Now

by Jason Cordova

We recently finished taking submissions for the Trophy incursion-writing contest. We recieved and incredible 50 entries! You can read and discuss them on The Gauntlet Forums.

What I want to talk about here are all the ways Trophy is a community-driven project.

Trophy is Jesse Ross’s game, no doubt, but it was developed with The Gauntlet’s publishing philosophy in mind, which is that no single person is an island of creativity. The Gauntlet’s design culture has always been to be very community-oriented. I’m sure there are lots of reasons for that, not least of which being The Gauntlet is a community that has play and, therefore, collaboration deep in its DNA. It's also because The Gauntlet is owned by a queer person of color. I think people who have experienced marginalization sort of naturally gravitate toward community-based outcomes. I know this is the case for me: in professional settings, for example, my value has only ever been acknowledged in my capacity to lift other people up, to be a “team player.” In my experience, only white men are typically allowed individual, personal glory. And you can see that in the indie game space, too—we valorize a small number of white men as creative geniuses, while most everyone else has some sort of qualifier tacked onto their success, or they are lifted up for reasons other than the brilliance of their game design.

Anyway, that's getting a bit off track—my point is that Trophy came up in an environment that de-emphasizes the auteur and embraces community. It was nurtured in Codex, which has always focused on new authors and embraced crowdsourcing as a creative virtue.

(And, to be quite frank, there are never any guarantees of financial success with TTRPGs, and so you have to be ready to find fulfillment in different ways. For Jesse and I, part of that fulfillment comes from creating something with lots of other people, something the community can be proud of.)

Here are some thoughts on Trophy as a community-driven project.

Expansion material focuses on contributions from new authors
Jesse’s name is on the core rules of Trophy and he wrote the first 3 expansions. However, the next 11 expansions (both published and planned) are by new (or relatively new) TTRPG writers. This was something we decided on really early, that Trophy would be a platform to publish new voices. Through Codex and Trophy, we are not only able to publish new folks, but we can do so in a way that really honors their work, with slick graphics and layout, dev editing, and line editing. And, even better, our platform is big enough to get people to play their stuff. And when the Trophy standalone Kickstarter happens, we’re going to go one step further and make a second payment to those authors, in addition to getting their work in print.

We think this approach is not only good for Trophy, but also great for the participating writers. There are lots of ways to break into the world of TTRPG publishing, and we think this is a pretty good one. We hope to see some of these folks move on with confidence to bigger and better things.

Click here to see the full list of official Trophy expansion material.

Crowdsourcing the world of Trophy
The forthcoming Trophy standalone book will have a major setting component that only exists in wisps within the currently-published material. Our hope is to present a good portion of this setting material in tables, and we’re generating elements for those tables via crowdsourcing on The Gauntlet Forums.

I love crowdsourcing because it represents another way in which the community can get invested in a project. This has always been the case with Codex, and we hope it will be similar with Trophy. Maybe you don’t have the time or confidence to write a whole incursion, but you might be able to come up with a few evocative details for the world tables. Regardless, in the end, you’ve put your stamp on Trophy, and we all get a world that is altogether more rich and intriguing than anything a single person could have written by themself.

To check out the ongoing crowdsourcing threads, check out the master list posted on The Gauntlet Forums.

Contests
We’ve only just received the 50 incursions for the first Trophy writing contest, but a quick skim of the entries tells the tale: Trophy just got A LOT bigger. There are so many new ways to enjoy the game, so many new dark journeys to take. A floodgate of creativity was opened up, and those waters are going to flow throughout the community, encouraging others to take a crack at writing their own stuff, further cementing Trophy as a game by all of us. With any luck, it will turn out like Dungeon World, which became so much more that what was contained between its covers because of the huge, active community of creators invested in it.

And we’re not finished with contests! I’m going to go ahead and announce here an incursion-writing contest for Trophy Gold, the Trophy spin-off game for OSR-style adventures. The contest will be held in December and January (ending early February), and we’re SO excited to see what folks come up with. Start thinking of your themes now!

The Trophy SRD
Finally, Jesse has just released the Trophy System Reference Document, the newest way for the community to embrace this awesome little game. The Trophy SRD will allow folks to create their own games that are “Rooted in Trophy” (with thanks to Sabine V for that moniker). It’s the next logical step for Trophy, a new way for the community to make this game their own.

Click here to find the Trophy SRD.

0 Comments

10/4/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 4, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now

Star Wars Saturday

Bounty of the Week (Session 4 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Blaise, John Campbell, Rob Ruthven, and Will H
The team adds a Trainee, and they head to Naboo for a meetup with an old queen?

Gauntlet Sunday

Legacy Fantasy (Session 5 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Ary Ramsey, Patrick Knowles, Robert Angus, and Sherri
Lo the end comes and we witness the final days of this world as the truth of the divine terraforming finally comes to light and various families move to escape this doomed realm.

TGI Thursday

Mutants in the Night (Session 1 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, Christopher Walborn, Jason Zanes, and Julie Rogers
In the future, 20% of the world has been mutated and declared non-human. Confined to Mutant Safe Zones they have to find a way to survive...but some have an edge and have banded together...

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
Diamond Dust vs. Mary Landry! A student debate for the ages, all for the prize of becoming student council president for the 11th worst superhero school in the world! Princess Hollyhock makes up for her chaos with glitter and magic, Serenade flushes out the weirdos throwing knives at them, Kasey helps out a friendless goth as she settles into her new persona and Mary gives it her best shot.

Gauntlet Comics

Monsterhearts 2: Super Juvie (Session 1 of 5)
Rich Rogers runs for Joe Zantek, Leandro Pondoc, Misha B, and Peter Mazzeo
We gather our juvenile delinquents and explore the New Guard Academy for some time. Oh, and someone spit in Mel's food.

Urban Shadows: Coven Prime Ongoing (Session 8)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Chris Newton, Leah Libresco Sargeant, and Sarah J.
In the final issue of our second story arc, the occult heroes of Coven Prime try to recover and reconcile, but trouble somehow keeps landing at their door.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Band of Blades: Road to Skydagger Keep (Session 3)
Mikael Tysvær runs for Ludovico Alves, Parham Doustdar, and Will H
The legion get issued a mission to cleanse a temple of The Twin Gods of Aldermark and retrieve a relic of The Hunter God Gerholtz. But first they have to get rid of one of blighters infamous The Doctor who has taken the temple as a workshop to bolster the ranks of the undead army.

Trophy: The Spiral
Leandro Pondoc runs for Ary Ramsey, Pearl Zare, and Robert Angus
Fort Duhrin is in lockdown. A strange spiral symbol has begun to spread and, as a result, the Governor has ordered a reward for those who can solve the mystery. For Hence the thug/artist, Somewhat the symbolist sorceror and Vero the poet set against a debaucherous painter, it seems like easy detail. Not knowing that a serpent has room enough to swallow them all whole. NOTE: At 1:40:00, a player's camera turns sideways for the rest of the game.

The Veil Fantasy: Kriusthos (Session 1 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Marcolo, Maria M., Pearl Zare, and Toby
We are back to the City, as we visit the Tribulations of its inhabitants. In a world of pacts, of veils and of shadows, the last member of an ancient order of lorekeepers tries to remain hidden from shadowy beings. In a place where Obligation and Vows were everything, a white-clad enforcer is confronted with a face of the past, by terrible memories that they had expunged. In a city where everything is for selling and privacy is premium, an architect of dreams and illusions yields the power of prized real-state to uncover secrets--and the most terrifying of them all may just have walked past his door. In a place where emotions coalesce into realms of wonder and turmoil, a barkeeper knows and senses more than it seems, and has just found a walking, wandering void courting fear and destruction.

Lighthearted: Quesadilla!!!
Kurt Potts runs for Blake Ryan, Sarah J., and Tomer Gurantz
3 college students navigate a rager in their run-down apartment building while dark mages conspire to acquire an unwitting keytar player. Quesadilla!!!

Night's Black Agents: Solo Ops (Session 1)
Lowell Francis runs for Sherri
Agent Layla Khan awakens in a Hungarian hospital with little memory of the recent past, save that she must move quickly to escape the thrall of her vampiric former master.

Monsterhearts 2: Ballhir: On Thin Ice (Session 3 of 3)
Donogh runs for Dan Pucul, Sarah J., and Steven
An awkward trio in the back garden as Eoin and Donovan wrestle with Phelim's attention. Muirín realises the truth of Malachi's true nature, and wants to retrieve her pelt to return home to the freedom of the ocean with him. That simple walk to Eoin's home unravels as Donovan sees how Muir Iasc has occupied Malachi's body and a fight breaks out!

Free From the Yoke: Land of the Dragonslayers (Session 1 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Alun R., Greg G., and Mikael Tysvær
The Empire took you from lands, exploited your people and had you fight its wars and built its cities. You earned your freedom, only to return to a Land that resents and rejects you. We learn of the ages of tribulations endured by the Church of Our Lady of the Golden Pastures and the way their faith adapted to the local rites, the struggle and achievements of the Union of Stone and how they have build a new society, and the ancient unbroken legacy of the Unbridled Grey and how they seem to be on its way to become a power capable of rivaling even the Empire. Springs dawns on the First Age, as the Voice of the Land organizes a purge of the enemies of the land and rebels rise against the Houses. The Land itself asks the Union of Stone to manipulate the inner workings of the Church, as the Unbridled Grey faces a threat as the Voice claims to be their first Queen--returned by the Land to guide them to the future.

Achtung! Cthulhu Dark: The Depth of the Horror (Session 4 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Gerrit Reininghaus, Paul Rivers, Pearl Zare, and Will H
Picking up where the last session ended, with Arthur Blake, Sgt. Strauss, and Egglantine Chatfield in occupied Nieuport, watching action hero Reggie Wooster blow up a half-track and an ancient statue dredged from the bottom of the North Sea...they experience strange effects as the statue's latent power super-charges the Nazi Dream Gate in the next room. Reggie disappears in search of a safe rendezvous, while Adriana Carnap, the other member of the team, is briefed by Dr Turning at Bletchley Park: he has calibrated his computer, Colossus, to guide her astral projection to the very DreamLands into which the explosion has dropped the rest of the team. There follow opportunities for suspicion, confusion, hypnotic dream-shaping, a view of how a temple to the Nazi Occult might shaped by those that dream of such a thing, SS troopers with a strange look in their eye, and a confrontation with the Nazi Fish Witch, before friends have to make hard decisons, Gates are conjured, the horror of war threatens to swallow ... everyone, and a U-Boat crew is left with few options... This was A1 RPG from a great group of players it was a joy to watch work.

Spectaculars: The Virtuosos (Session 4)
Mikel Matthews runs for Alexi S., John Campbell, and Steven desJardins
Meltdown - They track down Alicia Bennet, who's trying to turn the nuclear power plant into a gate that will warp in something from beyond this dimension. They discover that there might be some other danger approaching that The Agency isn't being up front about and refuse to allow the Agency the captured mercs. At the end, something they've never seen before breaks atmosphere...

Downfall: Cat Edition
Stentor Danielson facilitates for Justin Ford, Kristina, and Steven desJardins
Another round of Downfall, this time with cats!

Urban Shadows: Vienna, 1950 (Session 1 of 4)
Alexi S. runs for Leandro Pondoc, Pearl Zare, Richard Moser, and Sarah J.
We meet our protagonists, four people navigating the shadowy, supernatural world of Cold War Vienna. Johannes/Sophie, the protean Fae entertainer; Otto Moser, the Veteran government functionary balancing Debts to all sides; Cosima Sörgel, the flesh-eating Vamp art connoisseur; and Emilie Landau, a young woman newly Aware of the supernatural thanks to her "creature of the night" girlfriend who first brought her to Vienna then up and vanished. Then we throw them all into a slightly suspicious gala.

Night's Black Operators: The Lisky Bratva (Session 1 of 5)
Alun R. runs for Pawel S., Puckett, Sabine V., and Stephen
The theft of a laptop from a NATO Conference in Sarajevo leads the team to a rural cemetery, where their pay-off goes wrong and turns into a job offer. Cut to Odessa from where the brutal and uncompromising Josef Lisky runs a criminal empire across eastern Europe, and where Donald Carrol briefs them on their operation: to follow a shipment of tagged military hardware from Odessa Sea Port to its destination. There follows some breaking an entering, some imaginative use of balloons and drones, and a confrontation with a creature with very strange properties...

Visigoth vs Mall Goths: Goat to Hell
Jim Likes Games runs for Joseph, Josh H, Kirk Rahusen, Larry S., Libby Horacek, and Pearl Zare
The Visigoths and Mall Goths search the mall for a missing goat statue and get embroiled in a high-stake skee-ball tournament. Just in time for Lucian Kahn's Kickstarter, running RIGHT NOW!

Heart: Playtest (Session 2 of 2)
David Morrison runs for Donogh, Jim Likes Games, and Leandro Pondoc
Morrow unearths a valuable secret that could lead to the Night's Cathedral deeper within the Heart, as the haven of Nightmarket begins to fall to Ishkran's machinations. Leaving Nightmarket before its collapse, they are joined by Scuttlebutt the Hound, a watchman fleeing from his past. They must face the clutching darkness, scuttling denizens of the Heart, and their own past before reaching their final destination. And when they arrive, something is waiting for them...

Hack the Planet: A Sky Reflected In Terror (Session 1 of 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Josh H, Parham Doustdar, and Rob Ruthven
Character and crew creation in the rain-swept Shelter 1, last bastion in a world wracked by disastrous weather events known as Acts of God. Behind such sturdy walls, inequality reigns as megacorporations control life in the city. Within such strictures, our band of Glitches hope to thrive and improve the lot of others.

Kingdom: Dwarf Mountain (Session 4 of 4)
Michael Mendoza facilitates for Robbie Boerth and Steven
The fiery ghost of a dwarf king reclaims his throne and unleashes catastrophic forces for a noble exile and a kobold captain to survive.

Apocalypse World (Session 1 of 5)
Lowell Francis runs for John Campbell, Peter Mazzeo, Scot Ryder, and Steven desJardins
In our first session, we set the shit up and then throw the PCs into it, resulting in gunfire, flames, and running out of gas.

Apocalypse World: Loudness Wars (Session 4 of 4)
Sawyer Rankin runs for David Morrison, Puckett, Rich Rogers, and Saribel P.
We end the Loudness Wars with a bang. And the story of a bang gone wrong from Hella, whose new shit-kicker wagon is home and weapon in one. Dolly unleashes prime time violence and readies her family for war. What happens when Jackal leads its third slave revolt? Will Lace finally become an Idol? The conclusion to Gnashville plays out with shocking results!

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

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

If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Forums where games are announced.

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!

0 Comments

The Gauntlet Blog

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 25, 2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 18, 2019

Gauntlet Comics 101

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 11, 2019

Trophy: A Community-Driven Project

Gauntlet Video Roundup - October 4, 2019

Categories

Archives