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11/29/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - November 29, 2019

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[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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.

Star Wars Saturday

The Veil (Session 4 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Sabine V., and Walter German
Three hackers in the subterranean levels of Coruscant fight The Silence to defend the last trees of Adasonia while the Empire tries to retain power after Emperor Palpatine's death.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 12)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
The final confrontation with Golden Development has come. For the Serenade of Thorns, honed weapon turned caring friend, Princess Holly Hock, cheery fae friend turned otherworldly creature, Kasey 'Regicide' Dredd, scion of a monstrous queen turned delinquent champion of the underclass, and Mary 'Image' Landry, time travel castaway turned bullish hero, things will never be the same.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: Allied Angels Dawn of '43 (Session 2 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Leah Libresco Sargeant, Sawyer Rankin, and Steven desJardins
The Angels try to clear their name and face off against the War Weaver!

Sunset Kills: Break the Darkness (Session 2 of 2)
Alexi S. runs for Darold Ross, Eli S., Robert Angus, and Sawyer Rankin
The band of messy monster-hunters in Chantsville discuss whether to JUST SAY NO to demon drugs, battle hellhounds at a gala, and confront the menace of a diabolical cello at a performance of the Twilight Symphony.

Indie Schwarze Auge

[DEUTSCH] World of Aventurien: In Liskas Fängen (Session 7)
Gerrit Reininghaus leitet eine Session für Eike K., Rye, Sabine V., und SalamanderJames
Austreibungen - back to Aventuria to free some of our heroes from being possessed by a demon. The cleaning ritual contained howling together live on camera (for real, yes), creating poems together (for real, yes) and getting naked into a sauna (ok, just in-character).

Gauntlet Hangouts

Masks: Freaky Friday (Session 2 of 2)
Leah Libresco Sargeant runs for Alexi S., Robert Angus, and Saribel P.
The heroes began the episode bodyswapped and facing down family therapy. They'll have to face themselves before they can save the city from a villain on the verge of getting the keys to the city. Also, an economic crisis for the Outsider's planet.

Scum and Villainy: Radical Dreamers (Session 3 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
Amidst Shimaya's rainbow desert, the crew of the Firedrake infiltrate a dig site wherein the Hegemon's mother seems to have found something quite important. Naturally, the crew mucks it up. Kie flatters and begs and preens their way through danger, Shiv reveals more of their ruthless side, Finn pilots and careens circles around the enemy and Lei is forced to confront power beyond their reckoning.

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 7)
Lowell Francis runs for Leandro Pondoc, Patrick Knowles, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
After some chaos on Coriolis, the crew heads to scorching Lubau in search of the third disc, but they discover more than they could have imagined at the Mahanji Oasis.

ALIEN: Hope's Last Day (Session 2 of 2)
Jason Zanes runs for David Jay, Jamila R. Nedjadi, Lowell Francis, and Robert Angus
Our group of working class colonists brave the Xenomorph infested halls of Hadley's Hope. Union rep MacWhirr takes revenge on Weyland-Yutani. Synthetic person Holroyd keeps everyone safe and tells bad jokes. Lab tech Sigg does a whoopsie and lets loose a monster, and tractor driver Singleton carries a dark secret.

Night Witches: Rudnya 1943 (Session 4 of 4)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Eli S., Maria M., and Puckett
The Natural Born Soviet Airwomen of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment emerge bloody but unbowed as they complete their duties at Rudnya. Next stop: Zambrow!

Night Witches: Zambrow (Session 1 of 2)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Leandro Pondoc, Mike Ferdinando, and Puckett
The Natural Born Soviet Airwomen of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment move on to the frigid Polish winter of Zambrow, where they get to know the duty station and fly their first mission out of the converted wheat field airbase.

Eotenweard: The Synhammm Bride (Session 3 of 3)
Alun R. runs for Alexi S., Blake Ryan, Paul Rivers, and Sabine V.
We skip forward to the group reaching the lands of Aethelbert of Mercia, the Princess' betrothed, where she takes control of her life and flees North to find any survivors of her father's dynasty. The characters pursue...as does Aethelbert...who turns out to be a much different foe than anticipated. Our Commoner displays a talent for matchmaking; our Monster Hunter agonised over what he might offer a Princess; a Priest from her past offered succour and then summoned the flames of St Michael; while our Outlaw defended the innocent...and there's the hint of a happy ending...

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

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

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

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!

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11/27/2019

AoR: History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part 1.5 1983-1996)

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This offers the second half of my original look at Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs. Here you see some of the genre trapping used in new and novel ways, rather than falling back to the old tropes. They're still there and dominant, but some new paths have been opened. See the first half here.

11. Private Eye
(1993, Victoriana) A German-language game where players take on the roles of detectives in the Victorian era, ala Sherlock Holmes. The name's a little odd to me as I usually associate the phrase "private eye" with Noir. I've listed this as 1993, but this is actually the publication date of the 3rd edition. I've had a hard time tracking down other information on the game. A Google-translated document I found suggests the earlier editions were amateur-press or fan produced. A larger, hardcover fourth edition appeared in 2008.
 
12. Tradition Book: Sons of Ether
(1993, Steampunk-esque) Mage the Ascension presents a war over shared reality, fought between mages who want to move the world towards their view of reality. The bad guys have a monolithic view of that reality, while the "good guys" of the Traditions have a freer and more fragmented approach. The Sons of Ether are one of these traditions, with a love of mad science and an aesthetic borrowed from Steampunk. The background for the Sons of Ether sourcebook cites the usual suspects - Babbage and Lovelace - and the author has clearly read The Difference Engine. I'd say this is the first time we see a distinctly "steampunk style" faction in an rpg. The art has all the classic motifs: goggles, gears, Victorian dress, and so on. MtA itself isn't steampunk, but it smartly borrows from a rising trend. White Wolf's always been good at incorporating those ideas and laying the groundwork for future use. As the Mage line evolved, you would see more and more of these aesthetics appear in the game and art.

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13. Wooden Suits & Iron Men
(1993, Steampunk/Victoriana) We had a local game store which, in the early days, almost always bought at least one copy of new and oddball rpg products. That resulted in a kind of orphan section of the shelves where these games went to sit for years: Nightlife, Whispering Vault, Dracula, Adventures in High Fantasy, and many others. Eventually they'd gather enough dust or show the thumb-marks of a thousand rejecting perusers at which point they'd drop back to the used section. Wooden Suits & Iron Men was one of those games I remember sitting, unloved, for years.
 
The supplement itself is a world-book for Nightshift Games' short-lived DUEL System. It has a Babbage and verne-inspired future, populated with massive gadgets and, I believe, the first Steam-Mecha I saw in a game. The title's a nod to the Avalon Hill classic Wooden Ships & Iron Men. The focus for the supplement is on the gadget and machine creation system, for building great steam monstrosities. That's a particular theme we'd see much more of in later games. The product itself is fairly light, coming in at only 24 pages.
 
14. Castle Falkenstein
(1994, Steampunk/Victoriana) Castle Falkenstein raised the bar for Steampunk in RPGs. It takes the classic Vernian tropes and expands them. Steam machines, gadgets, and technology become central to the setting. But those devices aren't presented as an unquestionable good- there's consideration of the dark side of industrialization. The Steam Lords of the setting, primarily from England, face off against a heroic element which combines technology, magic, and diplomacy as a force for good. Cooperation, liberalism, and democracy counterbalance groups focusing exclusively on a single source of power (technology or magic). The setting smartly brings magic into the mix, making it more accessible for conventional fantasy gamers.
 
That's necessary because the game itself makes a number of radical leaps in system and presentation. Cards are used in place of dice, there's an emphasis on narrative, character skills are abstracted, and players have to keep journals for their story. The mechanics submit to the genre conventions in a new way. In fact the system supports the ethos of the setting. The first-person narrative of the rule book explains those design decisions in a way few other games had. The core book manages to balance narrative with presentation of the background. It offers a lovely package- one of the nicest looking games of the period. I've heard criticisms that the alternate history presented is a little weak - but once you bring in sorcery, the Unseelie, and arcane engines, I think pretty much anything goes.
 
There's a certain irony that Castle Falkenstein comes from the company which brought the grit of Cyberpunk to gaming. But they share a similar focus on appearance and aesthetics as a crucial game element. For better or worse, style and feeling define these games. CF also produced a number of amazing supplements well worth hunting down for anyone interested in Steampunk gaming. I reviewed the core book earlier By Sword, Steam and Magic. I've also done reviews for most of the supplements to the line.

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15. Ecryme
(1994, Steampunk) A French RPG I've had a hard time finding much about. One online commenter said, "Ecryme was an ugly game that was somewhat foolishly written in the style of a series of first-person narratives by characters attending a scientific congress. As a result the game was unreadable, even to me." The game's striking in that it appears to be one of the first Western steampunk RPGs to explicitly divorce the genre from a historical or alternate historical setting. Instead while it bears cultural similarties, it is a fantasy world made up of cities connected by bridges. Between them lies "ecryme" a liquid which eats through anything save metal and stone. The world has steampunk technology, some strange magical powers, and industrial overlords. The designer apparently wrote two novels based on his setting.
 
16. Masque of the Red Death
(1994, Victoriana) Alongside Forgotten Realms, TSR's Ravenloft consistently sold strongly month after month in our local store. Ravenloft itself owes more than a little to Victorian literature, Dracula and Frankenstein, by way of their horror movie treatments. On the other hand, Masque of the Red Death fully embraces the Gothic literature and imagery popular in the Victorian era. This "add-on" to Ravenloft presents Gothic earth, using the D&D rules to offer a game more akin to CoC. Literary characters and historical figures both get character write-ups.
 
The boxed set itself is pretty massive, with a main 128 book describing the setting and background. That's accompanied by three separate 32-page adventures, a DM's screen, poster, and a map. The main booklet's a useful resource for anyone running Victorian Horror in the late 19th century. It is a striking and interesting product. It does beg the question how well D&D can emulate horror or a non-fantasy setting. White Wolf's Sword & Sorcery line pushed a version of this for d20, but I'm unsure how much changed between the editions.
 
17. Midgard Abenteuer 1880
(1994, Victoriana) In some ways this feels like a version of Masque of the Red Death for the German fantasy system Midgard. It focuses on Germany of the period. The line did well enough to spawn about a half-dozen supplements. The game's historical fantasy, with the players fighting classic monsters of the period so far as I can tell. The blurb from the current German publisher Effing Flying Green Pig Press makes the pitch (via Google Translate), "(MA 1880) takes you to the 19th Century and brings the era of the Great Adventure back to life: Learn strolling mummies, bloodthirsty werewolves, vampires and seductive art know people running amok. Fight ingenious master criminals, anarchists, and death-defying power-hungry secret societies in the tradition of Sherlock Holmes or Indiana Jones. Experience with Emin Pasha, Queen Victoria, Charles "Chinese" Gordon, Henry Stanley and other personalities story that is fancier than any fantasy. Or take part in the discovery of King Solomon's treasure chamber. Or invent a time machine and travel to the Morlocks."

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18. Planescape Campaign Setting
(1994, Victoriana) A purely subjective choice on my part, but I think a case can be made for Planescape borrowing heavily from Victorian culture and tropes. First, consider the Gothic fantasy-industrial design of the city. We have soot, smoke, and workhouses. The place feels Dickensian. The neighborhoods, the rot, the mazes - all common to fantasy settings, but given a weird mixed technology chic. Second, the cant and speak which emulates and directly borrows from British Street talk, so that everyone sounds like Artful Dodger. Third, the figure of the Great and Majestic Queen overseeing her Empire in the form of The Lady of Pain. Fourth, the bringing in of the Modrons which add a certain metal and gear look to everything. Fifth, the Factions as classic Victorian secret societies. As with those, they're driven less by practical purposes than by weird ideologies and new philosophies. I'm sure other parallels could be made - certainly Tony DiTerlizzi's art and design contribute to the impression. He notes borrowing from Yoshitaka Amano's style, which includes the often steampunk-y FF work. I'm not saying all of Planescape reflects this, but certainly the key city of Sigil feels this way.
 
Planescape remains my favorite of the classic TSR settings. I hope they release all of this material as pdf, but I also hope they eventually present a reprint or print-on-demand option for it.
 
19. Age of Empire
(1995, Victoriana) A rules-lite rpg set in a fantastic version of the Victorian Empire, complete with magic and monsters. Written by Gareth-Michael Skarka, I've had trouble tracking down concrete information on the game, save that it went off the market after Microsoft objected to the name. I don't know if that's true or an urban myth.

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20. Deadlands
(1996, Steampunk) With Deadlands, steampunk as an element explodes. CF and others had begun to use some elements, but they never had the reach that Deadlands did. It made it fun, awesome, crazy, and lunatic - splitting it away from the Victorian and Vernian cultural influences. Instead we have gears, robots, gadgets, and mad science by way of Ghostbusters; Wild, Wild, West; and Saturday morning cartoons. All kinds of manic steam science stood alongside the undead, Cthulhoid spawn, and gambler mages. PCs could play a Mad Scientist right out of the gate. They had their own sourcebook with Smith & Robards. Several supplements focused on the "New Science" as well - The Collegium and City o' Gloom. Steampunk science, like everything else in the setting, is a double-edged sword. Useful but destructive - it is the fever dream of industrialization.
 
21. The Golden Dawn
(1996, Victoriana) This is honestly one of the strangest sourcebooks I've ever read. At the time Pagan Publishing was putting out some of the most amazing and interesting Call of Cthulhu material. They still do today - but at a much reduced pace. So, as with many people, I went into this expecting an amazing and Lovecraftian spin on a group I'd seen discussed in every single rpg touching on the modern occult. What I got instead was a potent, sober, exacting, and meticulous presentation of The Golden Dawn as it appeared in the real world, with suggestions on how to integrate that into a campaign. Even the adventures step away from classic cosmic horror to have the players dealing with the return of a King Arthur.
 
This offers the best sourcebook on Victorian Occult and Mysticism. It isn't a conventional CoC book. Instead its one of the best researched and presented historical sourcebooks I've ever seen. Unfortunately it still isn't available as a pdf and original copies go for high dollar on ebay and Amazon.

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22. GURPS Goblins
(1996, Victoriana-esque) I only discovered recently that this setting came from an rpg published in New Zealand in the 1980s. I haven't been able to locate specifics on that, so I'm listing it here under the later edition. The game has the players becoming goblins in an awful, awful Victorian-esque setting. You embrace the rudeness, filth, and suffering of that period. Malcolm Dale and Klaude Thomas published designer notes (found here). The game draws heavily on Mayhew's London's Underworld. It combines that with a fantasy setting to create a unique and unpleasant setting - with PCs suffering various forms of mistreatments like "Fed to Pigs" or Pawned to Surgeons." A useful resource for those running Steampunk Fantasy who want a distinct and septic non-human underclass.
​

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part One 1983-1996)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Two 1997-2003)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Three 2004-2006)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Four 2007-2008)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Five 2009)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Six 2010)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Seven 2011)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Eight 2012)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part One: Äther, Dampf und Stahlgiganten to Owl Hoot Trail)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part Two: Pure Steam to World of Steamfortress Victory)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2014
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Universal RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
History of Licensed RPGs

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11/22/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - November 22, 2019

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[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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.

Star Wars Saturday

The Veil (Session 2 of 3)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Keith Stetson, Leandro Pondoc, Sabine V., and Walter German
In a session cut short by real-life events, pieces move into place.

The Veil (Session 3 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Leandro Pondoc, Sabine V., and Walter German
Nina makes her droid happy; Iskri, Mateo, and Zlaas deal with Jawas and trees underground in Coruscant while the surface erupts in chaos.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 11)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
The reach of Golden Development is revealed to our heroes but they may be too busy falling apart to adequately deal with it. Serenade uncovers old threats, meets with old foes and gets a shock from a familiar knife, Mary gets a better picture of how Silhouette came to be, Holly tries to exercise their idea of what a hero should be and Kasey tries to bring the team forward to her plan on how to deal with Golden Development. Well, tries to.

Monsterhearts 2: Once Again We Return: Musical Madness (Session 7)
Sawyer Rankin runs for Ludovico Alves, Puckett, and Saribel P.
The latest installment of a Gauntlet Quarterly campaign of Once Again We Return.

Gauntlet Comics

Sunset Kills: Break the Darkness (Session 1 of 2)
Alexi S. runs for Darold Ross, Eli S., Robert Angus, and Sawyer Rankin
Even in a city of heroes, it takes a special sort of individual to fight back the things that go bump in the night. Meet Damario the brooding Chosen, Zoe the foolhardy Snoop, Milo the comics aficionado Occultist, and Heathcliff the Monstrous cat shapeshifter-—can this ragtag team defend Chantsville from demons, strange nocturnal park rituals, and-—something called the Twilight Orchestra?

Indie Schwarze Auge

[DEUTSCH] World of Aventurien: In Liskas Fängen (Session 6)
Gerrit Reininghaus leitet eine Session für Andrea J., Johannes S., Rye, und SalamanderJames
The adventurers journey to the Nivesian people of the tribe of Lieska Li, only to meet the Wolf Goddess Lieska herself sending them on a mission to bring peace between the Lieska Li and the wolves of the forest. But the presence of the god is bringing everybody to their edge.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Masks: Freaky Friday (Session 1 of 2)
Leah Libresco Sargeant runs for Alexi S., Robert Angus, and Saribel P.
A libertarian Delinquent, a plant-based Transformed, and a Truman Show Outsider all walk into City Hall, blow it up, and wind up body-swapped. Now they have to play it cool while they rescue the city's preeminent Exemplar!

Blades in the Dark: The Wind Gets Warm (Session 1)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Charles Simon, Kyle H., and Patsy
Doskvol on fire! A witch burning has precipitated violence in the streets, leading to the worst riots in Doskvol's history. While the streets burn, a chaotic crew of shadows move to take advantage, attacking a rival's ship, hoping to claw their way into a better future. Selkalla skulks and shoots her way through the Fog Hound, Tobias gets into a scuffle with a vicious rival and Mara throws fire oil like there's no tomorrow.

Primetime Adventures: Resistance (Session 2 of 5)
Donogh runs for David Morrison, Pawel S., and Pearl Zare
A night bombing raid by the RAF complicates matters for the cell; they must steal a stockpile of medicine before the Gestapo's net tightens. The danger of their situation opens some rifts but heals others...

Oh, Dang! Bigfoot Stole My Car With My Friend's Birthday Present Inside!
Kyle H. runs for Steven and Will
Can the group recover their car and birthday presents before Bigfoot smokes the weed they were going to give to their friend Moonbeam?

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 6)
Lowell Francis runs for Leandro Pondoc, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
The crew gains a favor from the Chelebs-Menau family, gaining the second disc and information on the mysterious expedition, but the involvement of the Laskarid family threatens their progress, despite laying low on a circus ship.

ALIEN: Hope's Last Day (Session 1 of 2)
Jason Zanes runs for David Jay, Jamila R. Nedjadi, Lowell Francis, and Robert Angus
Our group of working class colonists return to Hadley's Hope only to find that something bad has happened, really bad. Even with his milky blood leaking out, the android Holroyd is unfazed. The tractor driver Singleton and the rest of the humans cope with building dread. The scientist Sigg examines a facehugger and the union rep MacWhirr is disturbed by the word Ovipositor.

Monster of the Week: Pequosette in Winter (Sessions 2-3)
Jesse A. runs for Darold Ross, Hannah, Jex Thomas, and Sherri
In which the Breakfast Club pursue a Kindergnaw, Laney attempts to make contact for her sect, Manhattan talks somebody into doing the right thing, Harmonia just wants to help, and Fern just wants to hug it all out.

The Bat Hack: Mrs October (Session 5)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Catherine Ramen, Jesse A., and Rich Rogers
The Gauntlet City Gals head to Detroit for the final game of the Championship Series! Starting lineup: Julie 'Dutchy' Gatz behind the plate, Sandra Davidson at First, Wendy 'Biscuits' McDowell on Second, and Colleen Billings in the Hot Box at Third. This one is for all the marbles, folks!

Veil Fantasy (Session 3)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., David Morrison, and Leandro Pondoc
Opal begins to earn the displeasure of her Guild Master, Damsa gets caught up a feud, and the Demon finally gets a name.

Last Fleet: Playtest (Session 1 of 3)
David Morrison runs for Diana Moon, Donogh, Leandro Pondoc, and Zach
In this session, we build the fleet itself - the last remnants of the navy and civilian ships from the capital planet of Helm and its colonies. Following the near annihilation of the human race by the Mneumotics, an inscrutable civilisation of insectile machines, the fleet has no alternative but to flee to the stars. We meet two of the officers aboard the Fleet's flagship, the Horizon Black. Commander Alisa Cascade, the acting CO of the Horizon Black following the assassination of the previous CO, wants the best for her crew but there are doubts if she is suited for a wartime command. Lieutenant Yunuen Soto is the Horizon Black's hard-edged helmswoman, willing to do whatever is necessary to triumph against the "Roaches". Also aboard the Horizon Black is the cocky Lt. Castor "Talos" Parata, a hotshot pilot with little regard for the chain of command. Finally, Porter Malik captains the pleasure yacht Don Juan, an incongruous oasis of luxury and excess in the fleet.

Last Fleet: Playtest (Session 2 of 3)
David Morrison runs for Diana Moon, Donogh, Leandro Pondoc, and Zach
Whether by human error or technological treachery, the Fleet is lured into a Mneumotic ambush. Talos takes the fight to the Roaches, buying time for the Fleet to escape but risking his own life in the process. Commander Cascade and Lieutenant Soto expertly command the Fleet to minimise casualties, but their conflicting approaches bring them into conflict. And Porter Malik keeps the home fires burning, ready to receive the crew of the Horizon for some much needed R&R.

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!

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11/20/2019

AoR: History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part One 1983-1996)

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I continue revisiting my history of RPG Genre lists this week. Steampunk & Victoriana was my second series and I hadn't figured out a final approach: how much to say, how many to include on each list. As a result, this one ended up way too large. So I've split it into two parts, with the second half next week. Warning: LOTS of problematic stuff here. 

LIGHTING THE BOILER 
This list begins to trace the history and development of Victoriana and Steampunk RPGs. I did this earlier with Horror RPGs. I focus on tabletop games, though many video games could easily fall into this category (the classics Thief: The Dark Project, Arcanum and Final Fantasy VI). Because these two concepts have been tied closely, I opted to link them for this list. I could have presented them individually, but the lists would overlap heavily. Victoriana’s reasonably easy to spot, but Steampunk offers more of a challenge.
 
There’s a good deal of debate about what constitutes Steampunk - resulting in many argument panels at various conventions. I think of it generally as a set of design and aesthetic elements - generally recognizable symbols. If it had a political or social content at the start, that’s been streamlined away in favor of “the look.” Like other subjective genre elements it has a continuum, with some books, movies, games and TV shows embracing it fully and others just throwing in some knobs and goggles.

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I decided to consider things in three categories:
  • Victoriana: Material set in the Victorian period and in England or greater Europe. Alternately referencing the British Colonial Experience. Also where a game explicitly embraces the culture despite not being of the period or place (i.e. Unhallowed Metropolis’ Neo-Victorian setting). This includes games which focus on the imagery and society, but perhaps without the technology.
  • Steampunk: Games which call themselves steampunk and reference the ideas and aesthetics of it.
  • Steampunk-esque: The most subjective of the definitions. Games which borrow or rework the images and concepts of Steampunk. Reasonable persons may disagree about this categorization. Something like Children of the Sun’s Dieselpunk or Eberron’s background material owe a debt to the style.
I’ve focused on core game lines or supplements offering a significant shift or change to the setting. So if one module offers some steampunk bits, I’ve left it off the list. For example both Fringeworthy and GURPS Alternate Earths present secondary materials for Steampunk or Victorian settings, but they’re a fragment. After much consideration I left off Orrorsh, part of the TORG line because the brief Victorian Empire mention feels like window dressing. I’ve also tried to stick with publications from companies as opposed to homebrews or free PDFs. In some cases I make an exception where the product’s gained attention or generated a line. I've also skipped boardgame/rpg hybrids like Steve Jackson's Undead.

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In some cases the uses of steampunk are novel, but incidental to the whole of the product. For example, Justice, Inc and other Pulp RPGs offer what could be read as steampunk inventions or adversaries. In general, I think those fit more closely with the Pulp and Heroic Fantasy genre. That’s a judgment call on my part. I’ve left out a few other things that didn’t quite fit for me. For example, Warhammer Fantasy doesn’t appear here despite the heavy Steampunk elements worked into several of the races in the original miniatures source material (Dwarves, Orcs, Skaven). I also left off Mutant Chronicles despite it looking more than a little Steampunk.
 
I welcome discussions and suggestions as I work through these lists. I've arranged the items chronologically and then alphabetically within the year of publication. I hope to put out a new list bi-weekly. I’ll break the time periods down arbitrarily, trying to keep 20 items or less per list (editor's note: still too many). For references I’ll point to Ann & Jeff Vandermeer’s Steampunk which has some short but decent essays on the topic at the back. Jess Nevins’ Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana is also worth reading (as well as his annotations of the LXG books). I was aided in my research by several different websites, notably the Victorian Adventure Enthusiast. I've seen several different blogs and posts trying to compile a complete list of the genre, I hope this supplements and expands those.

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1. Victorian Adventure
(1983, Victoriana) The first Victorian RPG, but one which never reached a wide-audience. While this lacks a full entry in the RPG Geek database, it offers some information, "A British RPG set in 19th century England at the height of the Empire. The first edition rules (1983) were fairly simple but included a large amount of background information on the setting and times. The second edition (1985) expanded the rules considerably." The notes I've seen on this suggest it was a purely historical game, something of an oddity in the early days of the hobby.
 
2. London by Night
(1984, Victoriana): From RPGNet, "A backgroudn (sic) setting for To Challenge Tomorrow, depicting Victorian London with an occult tinge. Contains a 20-page scenario book, a 12-page guidebook, and four 8-1/2x11" maps." Seems to have had a revised edition in 1991.

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3. Cthulhu by Gaslight
(1986, Victoriana) Just as Call of Cthulhu kicked off Horror games, CoC led in bringing Victoriana to the mainstream tabletop. It certainly makes sense given the late Victorian-era horror influences on Lovecraft: Stoker, Poe, Machen and Blackwood. Beyond that there's the general tone of the Gothic which had great success and impact during the period. It offers the terrible figure of Jack the Ripper and the prototypical detective of Sherlock Holmes. Cthulhu by Gaslight's the first real "reskinning" of Call of Cthulhu. It came out the same year as Dreamlands, which could argued to be an expansion rather than a new frame.
 
Cthulhu by Gaslight has had three editions, the most recent in 2012. The original volume focuses exclusively on 1890's England, including a pull out map of London of the period. More than anything it offers a solid and distinct sourcebook for the era- somewhat useful for other rpgs as well (if you're interested in London). Eric Dodd has an excellent and throughout review of the first edition set, British Empire Cthulhu - Holmes v. the Mythos, which suggests gamers should hunt down the most recent edition if they want a wide-ranging and more complete product.
 
4. Holmes & Company
(1986, Victoriana): From the RPG Encyclopedia "An Italian-language investigation RPG, in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. The original game was focused on pure investigation. The second edition added rules for action investigations including firearms, car and foot chases, and more. The second edition also shortened the title to "Holmes & Co."

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5. Space: 1889
(1988, Victoriana) The British Empire extends its colonial reach to Mars. Well, actually all of the colonial powers do - creating a space race combined with the deadliness of the Great Game in Afghanistan. Space 1889 could be read a little as steampunk - there's the strange alternate science of luminiferous aether and the proclivity for flying ships. But those feel more like set up and background elements. The game focuses on a celebration of a certain idea of high romance and the Imperial Age. There's little in the way of soot and grime in this presentation. There's some late 20th century questioning about the politics of colonialization, the concept of the "noble savage," and so on. But GMs can decide how much of that they want to play up. In my mind I always associated this with enthusiasts of The Sword and the Flame especially after GDW published miniatures rules for the setting.
 
For an oddball game from a defunct company, Space: 1889 has had an impressive lifespan. GDW published 20+ products for the line. In 2000 Heliograph picked up and began to reprint everything. Then in February of 2013 Chronicle City announced that they would be doing an all-new English language version of the game. I'm curious what that will look like. Given the development and expansion of steampunk as a genre, will they incorporate more elements of that (art and otherwise) into the new product? Or will they maintain the feeling of scientific romance and nostalgia for empire?
 
6. Dark Continents: Adventures in a Colonial World
(1989, Victoriana) Another setting supplement for To Challenge Tomorrow. This has the players exploring ancient and hidden lands. It draws on Haggard and Burroughs for inspiration. It appears to be something like a Colonial Hexcrawl, with players unsure about what's over the next ridge. Just as classic D&D drew on the boardgame Outdoor Survival, this one seems to draw on The Source of the Nile. A revised edition appeared in 1991, and a heavily revamped one in 2000.

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7. Aventures Extraordinaires & Machinations Infernales
(1990, Steampunk) A setting sourcebook for the French generic RPG SimulacreS. It presents a distinctly Verne-ian backdrop set in the late 19th Century. I love seeing these non-English language games. Arguably this would be the first stand-alone steampunk rpg sourcebook. 1990's an important year for Steampunk. While there had been some important precursors (Moorcock, Blaylock, Jeter, Roberts), that year saw the publication of The Difference Engine. Gibson and Sterling's novel is arguably the first explicitly steampunk novel to reach a mass audience.
 
8. Gear Antique
(1991, Steampunk) from Wikipedia, "is one of the earliest steampunk role-playing games, created by Kenji Fushimi and originally published by Tsukuda Hobby in 1991 in Japan…The game is set in the world of Machiloney that is similar to Europe in the 19th century. There are not only steam-driven machines but also magic, monsters, the evil empire named Valmon and a mysterious ancient civilization. It's setting resembles Castle Falkenstein to some degree, but Gear Antique was published 3 years earlier…The game has the special feature in its life-path charts. In the Renaissance Edition, player characters decide their entire life from the cradle to the grave during character creation by using life-path charts. For example, history of schooling, the person who to marry, number of their children and cause of death are all already decided before starting the game."

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9. For Faerie, Queen, & Country
(1993, Victoriana) A setting sourcebook for TSR's ill-fated Amazing Engine rpg line. It offers an alternate history with magic and the fae as a vital and prominent force. It has a distinct magic system and extensive notes on the faerie of the period. There's a focus on the players solving problems and fighting crime, ala Holmes. Players can play non-humans as well as humans. It has a very cool and garish map of England. I lost my copy in the fire, but I recall this as a brief and interesting sourcebook. it had many cool ideas, but desperately needed to be expanded and developed. The core concept could easily be reworked into any number of more modern Victoriana games. Perhaps we'll eventually see a pdf reprint of it. (Note: we did. This can be found on DTRPG)
 
10. Forgotten Futures
(1993, Victoriana/Steampunk) A shareware rpg which has been evolving since 1993. The brainchild of Marcus Rowland, author of Diana: Warrior Princess, Forgotten Futures and its various supplements can be found online. It focuses on the late Victorian period and scientific romances ala Verne and his emulators. FF offers a core game engine for many different worlds. Most of these have been drawn specifically from authors of the period - Doyle's Challenger series, George Griffiths' Honeymoon in Space, E. Nesbit's fantastical settings, and several others. FF has the feel of a well-loved and well-tended house game system. The available material's hugely useful as a background resource or to mine for ideas. Worth checking out if you're interested in the period.
(Continued Next Week)

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11/15/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - November 15, 2019

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​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 Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 9)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
The Silver Masquerade draws to a close. In the face of terrible futures, awkward truths and open vulnerabilities, each hero is given a chance to step up and find out their truest selves. Serenade rankles until given a target to punch, Princess Hollyhock figures out when she can and can't help, Kasey tries to connect with a distraught foe, Zero-G steps up to save the day and Mary faces her future in the most stark way possible.

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 10)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
The Silver Masquerade is over but its aftermath lingers on, even as our heroes party forward to something just a bit better. Though even during a party, some folks just needs to get a bit of superheroing done. Princess Hollyhock pushes for a fight against a tentacle-wielding mobster, Regicide offers a friendly hand to a former foe, Image finds the origin of her bad future within someone dear to her and Serenade re-enters familiar territory as a new foe tries to undo past successes.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: Allied Angels Dawn of '43 (Session 1 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Leah Libresco Sargeant, Sawyer Rankin, and Steven desJardins
The Allied Angels are back in action, protecting the home front of New Gauntlet City in the spring of 1943.

Vigilante Hack (Session 1 of 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Sawyer Rankin and Will B
Anesthesia and The Bride have a run-in with some corrupt cops in Dreamsend. Things escalate quickly.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Scum and Villainy: Radical Dreamers (Session 2 of 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Gerwyn Walters, Ludovico Alves, Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
After a high-octane prison breakout, the crew of the Firedrake settle into the planet of Nightfall and try to figure out where to go next. Lei uncovers the workings behind their so-called death, Kie tries his hand at haggling and landscape painting, Finn laughs in the face of the Hegemony's brutes and Shiv eases a family's life, if momentarily. Then it's off to the desert for a confrontation with the Hegemon's mother...

Teens with Attitude! (Session 1)
David Walker runs for Erez, Jammi, Marco, and Pearl Zare
Four teens in the city of Midvale discover something odd in their town and take on radical identities to fight the machinations of Loki! Radical adventures await our new team of elemental morphers in the superheroes 90s kids show-themed game by David Brunnell-Brutman

Root: Spies and Saboteurs (Session 2 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Richard C., Rob Ruthven, and Toby
Our Vagabonds find out the base of the operations of the bandits organizing a con rebellion. While they find out the identity of the Red Robin and their lieutenants, they find out there is more to this story than they first knew: an army veteran of the Marquisade has organized previous marks into a militia and is chasing them Red Robin into Eyrie territory...and right next to an ancient barrow mound and a bear's den.

Afterlife: Wandering Souls (Session 2 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for David Walker, Leandro Pondoc, Pearl Zare, and Sabine V.
A dinner turns awkward when the host is revealed to be a bunch of caste imperialists and colonizers. The Tenebris reveals itself a cold and scorching place interrupted only by guzzling gasoline and drumming dragon riders. Finally, the Caverns of Salt and the Limbo within...but memories offer no solace. A recollection of destruction, a grand kelp forest, the funeral of a patriarch and a strange monolith at sea.

Hot Librarians
Kyle H. runs for Anthony, Libby Horacek, and Pearl Zare
Hot Librarians must deal with their evil exes who are trying to steal a magic journal.

Eotenweard: The Synhamm Bride (Session 1 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Alexis Graf, Blake Ryan, Cody Eastlick, and Sabine V.
We return to Synhamm to find Iamon, called 'Giant Killer', chafing under the weight of his growing reputation. Meanwhile, Aedwen, Outlaw and lost daughter of a character from another series is just trying to get by; Ragnus, the Hammer of the Gods, seeks those who took his loved ones; and Casudius, a Monstrous Revenant, cursed to walk the earth for offending the Roman gods at a wedding, just wants to put true love on the right path...and then there are outlaws...

Eotenweard: The Synhamm Bride (Session 2 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Blake Ryan, Paul Rivers, Pawel S., and Sabine V.
After last session's confrontation with the Fenland Outlaws, a more pressing challenge threatens Synhamm. Princess Manugia of Elmet must either be handed over to Synhamm's nemesis, King Beda, or spirited away to her betrothed in Mercia, and safety, after her father's Kingdom is absorbed by the most powerful Saxon King, Edwin of Northumbria. Iamon 'Giant Killer' confronts the Eorl's son over who should lead the Princess' escape, while Aedwen the Outlaw and and Bull the Commoner (with his mule 'Donkey') will accompany them. Goderic, the Saxon Mystic, is on a mission from Woden to ensure that 'the love that threatens Synhamm must be properly directed...'; and after summoning spirits sees the attraction between Manugia and Iamon...he will go, too...and then there are outlaws...

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 5)
Lowell Francis runs for Leandro Pondoc, Patrick Knowles, and Sherri
The group find out more about the mysterious Tailor and cross paths with the Order of the Pariah before their journey takes them to a kilometer long pilgrimage train trundling across the jungles of Mira.

Veil Fantasy (Session 2)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., David Morrison, Fraser Simons, and Leandro Pondoc
The pieces begin to fall into place as the group discovers the struggles among the Sixty-Six Licensed Sorceries and how that affects them: from haircatching to finger collecting to soul buying. It's complicated. And that's before the angels arrive.

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!

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11/11/2019

Trophy: Dark, Gold, and Loom

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by Jesse Ross and Jason Cordova

We have just concluded the Trophy incursion-writing contest. Congratulations to the winner, Linda Codega (Southern Holler), and the three fabulous runners-up: Gabriel Robinson (Gift of the Sea), Natalie Ash (The Huntsman’s Feast), and Michael Van Vleet (A Warm and Pleasant Hum). You can read these and all the other entries on The Gauntlet Forums. 

We recorded a special podcast episode to announce and discuss the winner and runners-up, which you can listen to right here. We also announced that we will be Kickstarting THREE Trophy books early next year, and those three books are the focus of this blog post. 

Trophy Dark, Trophy Gold, Trophy Loom

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​Here they are! These are mock-ups, and the images aren’t quite finalized, but you still get a good sense of what the books will look like. Each book will be 7”x10” hardcover, approximately 120 full-color pages, with a partial cloth binding, foil stamp, and ribbon bookmark.

More about Trophy Dark

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What we were previously calling “original” or “core” Trophy is now called Trophy Dark. Trophy Dark is a game of dark fantasy and psychological horror, about doomed treasure-hunters exploring an environment that doesn’t want them there. It’s designed to be played as a one-shot, perfect for convention play or as a tragic side story in your regular, long-term game. 

Here’s what the Trophy Dark book will include:
  • A new ruleset, expanded and clarified from what was originally published in Codex - Dark 2. 
  • Tips for running a great game of Trophy Dark.
  • A handy, step-by-step sequence of events for running Trophy Dark (similar to the one found in Girl Underground).
  • Guidelines for creating your own incursions. 
  • Over a dozen incursions, from Codex and elsewhere, written by a diverse group of creators. 
  • Ideas for using Trophy Dark as part of another game (such as a funnel for Trophy Gold, or flashbacks and side stories for other fantasy games). 

More about Trophy Gold

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Trophy Gold is a game of desperate treasure-hunters exploring the lost and forgotten places of the world. It takes the core rules of Trophy Dark and expands them for use in a more traditional, long-term fantasy campaign. The game mashes together story game and OSR principles to create a gameplay experience that is fast, flexible, and deep. 

Here’s what the Trophy Gold book will include:
  • A new ruleset, expanded and clarified from what was originally published in Codex - Gold.
  • New rules for journeys between incursions, and expanded “back at home” rules. 
  • Tips for running a great game of Trophy Gold.
  • An example-of-play transcript. 
  • Guidelines for creating your own incursions plus guidelines for converting existing modules to Trophy Gold. 
  • New backgrounds, occupations, and equipment. 
  • Over a hundred different ritual and saints, based on the classic B/X D&D magic-user and cleric spells. 
  • Brand new incursions, unique to Trophy Gold. 

More about Trophy Loom

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Trophy Loom is a setting book for the world of Trophy. It will outline all the major places, people, and strange creatures of the shared world of Trophy Dark and Trophy Gold. There are a few key details you need to know about this book:
  • It will be completely system agnostic, so you can use it with Trophy Dark, Trophy Gold, or any fantasy game system you prefer. 
  • It will be comprised largely of tables. Each location will have some general information common to any game set in the world of Trophy, but will otherwise be comprised of tables that include rumors, historical details, and myths about that location, so you can “weave” your own version of the Trophy world. 
  • The Trophy Loom tables will be written in a highly-innovative way: some will be crowdsourced by the folks who make up the awesome, vibrant Trophy RPG community, and others will be written by specific creators from the OSR and indie communities. If you’d like to participate in the crowdsourcing, you can do so right here.

We’re very excited about Trophy Dark, Trophy Gold, and Trophy Loom. We have been working on this project for a long time, and we have been so humbled by all the folks taking this journey with us. These books are going to be very, very special, and we can’t wait to share them with you! 

Get updates on everything we’re doing with Trophy by following us on Twitter @trophyrpg and signing up for the mailing list.
Trophy Dark and Trophy Loom cover art by Jesse Ross. Trophy Gold cover art by Jesse Ross and Anton Cheykin.​

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11/11/2019

AoR: History of Horror RPGs (Part One: 1981-1990)

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As I mentioned last post, for the next several weeks I’m revisiting the first installments of each of my Histories of RPG Genres. Horror was the first one I did, spurred by an offhand comment by Robin Laws on a podcast. Looking back in comparison to my later genre histories, I’m shocked at how long it took for horror to become a thing. It isn’t until the early 1990’s that we get regular releases of horror rpgs. I wonder if that represents interest or more that Call of Cthulhu had such market power.

IT RISES REVISED
When I first wrote this list, Call of Cthulhu 7th was on the horizon- a game and system which has had many editions, but remains roughly the same game. At the time I wasn’t sure if CoC could remain interesting in a time with many competing horror rpgs, including brethren Lovecraftian rpgs like Trail of Cthulhu, Lovecraftesque, and Cthulhu Dark.
 
Call of Cthulhu kicked off horror gaming as a standalone genre. You could point to Tegel Manor as the first real haunted house product, but it doesn't put the horror elements at the center and still focuses on the dungeon crawl. For this list I'm looked at products lines offering a full horror rpg or major twist to an existing game. I lump some interesting sub-products under their main entry (if they're produced by the same company). Some things, like S.H.A.D.O.W. over Scotland, offer a horror diversion for the main system, but don't rise to the level of sourcebook or core rules.
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1. Call of Cthulhu (1981)
The big daddy of horror gaming. I remember when my sister first brought home the boxed set with the big blue book. I flipped through it, not really getting what the game was about. I'd only known Cthulhu and Lovecraft from the paperbacks with the terrifying covers on the shelves at the stores. Later, I'd eventually read August Derelth's The Trail of Cthulhu, in some ways the most grade-school of Mythos fiction. It scared me, but led me to read the real works, which really scared me. I was lucky that I had a patient sister who let me play in her CoC campaign even though I was a terrible player and a little kid who didn't get it.
 
Robin Laws' suggests that CoC's notable for also being the first rpg to really emulate a literary genre. Sure we'd had fantasy games, but those wore the genre trappings rather than trying to act out a specific story form. History as setting, always vulnerable PCs, dangerous magic= CoC brought all of this to the table. It introduced Sanity as a mechanism, offering an abstract system representing non-physical damage- inflicting consequences and disadvantages. Many modern mechanics owe a debt to that.
 
It is worth noting that Chaosium introduced two "sub-lines" for Call of Cthulhu in this period. The first was Cthulhu by Gaslight in 1986, one of the earliest Victorian games. The second was Cthulhu Now in 1987 which tried to bring a modern spin on the ideas.
 
2. Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic (1983)
Tri-Tac produces some of my favorite rpgs that gamers have never heard of (this, Fringeworthy, FTL: 2448). Again I first saw this game through my sister's purchase - she'd picked up a copy a con. I loved reading through it because it took the horror with a strong dose of humor. It remained a game about monsters, the occult, and the supernatural but it also added some sly in-jokes. The Evil Dead might be a good reference point.
 
It was also very old-school with rolled characteristics and highly detailed combat mechanics. Tri-Tac systems have always had some eccentricities. These include firearm rules with bullet types, damage versus different armors, and hydrostatic shock, among other factors. The hit location system broke the body essentially down into one inch sections. Each had a damage line representing muscle, bones, blood vessels. You could track fractures, bleeding, bruises...
 
Stalking the Night Fantastic would eventually shift to be called Bureau 13, go through several editions and add even more humor (complete with a Foglio cover). It was the first horror game to suggest a federal agency clearinghouse for dealing with the supernatural and strange (anticipating The X-Files...).

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3. Chill: Adventures Into The Unknown (1984)
I'll honestly say that two things kept me away from Chill when it came out: the goofiness of other Pacesetter publications and the Holloway cover. I knew it was a horror game, but from the outside, it looked to be just hanging on Call of Cthulhu's coattails. It took a broader approach to horror - covering all of the classics. Many reviews suggested the original rules focused more on fighting monsters than offering horror or frights. For a nuanced perspective on this, see James Maliszewski's retrospective here. I like the idea that Chill serves as a middle ground between D&D and CoC. I offers the concept of a patron organization, S.A.V.E, independent of conventional authority. Chill would see a rebirth with Mayfair's new edition in 1990. It was rumored that another version would be coming out a few years ago from OtherWorld Creations, but I'm not sure of the status of that. (Note: since the original writing, a new edition has landed). 
 
4. Ghostbusters (1986)
I loved the Ghostbusters movie. Within a week of seeing it I tried to cobble together a GB game. I ripped apart the closest thing I knew, Stalking the Night Fantastic. That resulted in a crunchy, dense system which, shockingly, didn't work. I couldn't figure out the problem, why I couldn't get the feel I wanted?
 
Then the Ghostbusters rpg came out and I went "d'uh." This was the first rules-light game which worked for me. I'd seen others, but they felt thin. This game actually emulated the feel of the movie. It changed the way I thought about games. Ghostbusters was fun and clever, with the horror taking a back-seat as it needed to. It remains among the best "funny" games out there, striking the right balance between goofiness and playability. On the other hand, it had the effect of associating short rules with a light tone and subject matter. Simple games worked for comedy, but not for "serious" gaming. The Ghostbusters system went on to power WEG's Star Wars RPG and many, many others. Interestingly, Chaosium actually designed that mechanic for GB before they handed the game off to WEG.
 
Ghostbusters took an interesting tact for the time, replacing movie stills with cartoony art. That likely made approvals easier. It had the side benefit of leaving room for the players. It offered a new world of Ghostbusting, rather than sticking to the film and those characters. It also had one of the first custom dice seen in an rpg, a d6 with the iconic GB symbol. The boxed set included lots of secondary materials: forms, equipment cards, IDs. WEG released three modules for GB. In 1989, with the release of the second Ghostbusters movie they rebooted and expanded the game as Ghostbusters International. This time they released a module covering the film. Again WEG only slightly supported the line, offering three modules and two sourcebooks. By 1990 the game line had wrapped. 

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5. GURPS Horror (1987)
This book shifted how our group saw GURPS. We'd used it mostly for some fantasy games up until that point. Once we read this and got the idea of the fright check, we ran a lot more horror: pulp, modern, Lovecraftian, etc. We liked the relatively normal level of the characters combined with the ability to build the character you wanted. Our group liked that control. The combat system also lent itself to the danger and speed of horror games, as opposed to other generics like Hero System. GURPS Horror also codified horror as a "genre" - a form of role-playing and a kind of game which could be examined and explained. Like many GURPS books it has gone through many editions and variations. For a really good look at the first edition check out Eric Aldrich's review.
 
6. Beyond the Supernatural (1988)
I've never been a Palladium guy, although I've seen it enthusiastically supported by many in our area. In some ways it was a logical extension of the brand - a reskinning of the basic system with modern horror trappings. I've heard it brought many innovations to the Palladium system, but I'm not sure how much it pushed horror gaming in general forward. It is worth noting how much the Megaverse incorporates classic horror elements: zombies, nightmarish creatures, territories of darkness. The adventure sourcebook for BtS, Boxed Nightmares, had a great cover which made me pick that up for use in other games.

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7. Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness (1988)
While it only marginally belongs on this list, it is worth looking at how Realm of Chaos (and its later partner Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned) brought horror to the tabletop. RoS has some WHFRP materials in it, but more important is the tone it brings. Chaos in the WH is awful - Lovecraftian scope meets Heavy Metal sensibilities. It is over the top, corrupting, pus-filled, and mutated. It is not subtle - which makes it perhaps the perfect form of horror to smash up against classic fantasy gaming. Here the approaches of traditional dungeon explorers and adventurers leading to death by drowning in offal and effluvium. It is Barker and Splatterpunk vs. Lovecraft and Literary Nihilism. The connection can be seen in GW's The Enemy Within campaign which, at least at the start, feels like a Call of Cthulhu game. These books seem like a reaction to that - a need to dial things up to 11.
 
8. It Came from the Late, Late, Late Show (1989)
A game which aims to emulate horror movies...mostly bad horror movies. Slasher films, 50's B Movies, Teen Monsters, and so on. It is a relatively light and goofy game, but one which has seen several editions since it first came out from Stellar Games. There's a fame mechanic which allows for meta-concepts like more famous characters (actors) having access to better props. Like Ghostbusters it aims to emulate a narrow form of horror.
 
9. Blood! The Roleplaying Game of Modern Horror (1990)
I've had a hard time tracking down specifics on the earliest editions of this game. It came out in 1990, but I had no memory of it at all. The reviews and discussions suggest that it was a more brutal and visceral horror game, drawing from Clive Barker, Hammer films, and The Evil Dead. Players take the role of ordinary people thrust into terrible and deadly situations. In some ways Blood! anticipates the shift to more brutal horror games from White Wolf and Black Dog. We'd see more and more of those games in the 1990's, focusing on visual gore over psychological and existential terror.

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10. Nightlife (1990)
The first rpg to focus on players taking on the roles of monsters in a modern world. It anticipates Vampire: The Masquerade, but despite having several editions and supplements, it paled in comparison to that slightly later game. The PCs take the roles of different monsters, broken into kin types, living beneath NY. They hunt and are hunted by other nightmares, but their lives focus on style, fashion, and music. It is weird to see how close the concerns of this game parallel VtM. I think it show the rise of a certain kind of youth and goth culture and the mixing of geek genres going on at the time.
 
11. Dark Space (1990)
I was surprised to see how early this product came out. I'd pictured it arriving several years later after we'd started to see other genre mash-ups like Dark Conspiracy and GURPS Cthulhupunk. Dark Space is a campaign sourcebook for Space Master, the sci-fi version of Rolemaster. It has living ships, biotech, corrupting psychic powers, and monstrous society of Elder Gods and overlords. It feels like someone ran a really dark campaign of Spelljammer (released in 1989) and decided to write it up. It mashes together those ideas with Lovecratian themes. It is also written by Monte Cook and is one of his earliest published credits.

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12. Ravenloft: Realm of Terror (1990)
This supplement, drawing loosely from the earlier Ravenloft modules, attempts to bring horror to the AD&D system. Smartly it focuses on kinds of horror which will work in that context - "gothic" horror in the most classic sense. This boxed set began a line of material and several different iterations, including a "Gothic Earth" which would apply the AD&D systems to an alternate Victorian-era Earth. This supplement remains more conventionally fantastic, with a demiplane of horror which the PCs can wander into. The later Ravenloft Campaign Setting would expand this further to make the Ravenloft setting a solid and serious place to run a fantasy campaign. Ravenloft's interesting because it was well-done, influential, and showed a willingness on the part of TSR to expand their core franchise into genres others had shown were viable.

History of Horror RPGs (Part Two: 1991-1995)
History of Horror RPGs (Part Three: 1996-2000)
History of Horror RPGs (Part Four: 2001-2003)
History of Horror RPGs (Part Five: 2004-2005)
History of Horror RPGs (Part Six: 2006-2007)
History of Horror RPGs (Part Seven: 2008-2009)
History of Horror RPGs (Part Eight: 2010-2011)

The Year in Horror RPGs 2012: Part One 43AD to ImagiNation
The Year in Horror RPGs 2012: Part Two Kuro to Zed Zero
The Year in Horror RPGs 2013: Part One Abandoned to Infinite Shadows
The Year in Horror RPGs 2013: Part Two: ICFTS to World War Cthulhu
The Year in Horror RPGs 2014
The Year in Cthulhu RPGs 2014

The Year in Horror RPGs 2015 (Part One: インセイン to Outbreak: Undead)
The Year in Horror RPGs 2015 (Part Two: Il Paese dei Balocchi to Witch: Fated Souls)
List of the Missing: Bits Left off My History of Horror RPGs
The Best in Horror RPGs: Unfair Verdicts
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Universal RPGs
Samurai RPGs

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11/8/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - November 8, 2019

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[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
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.

Special Events

Gauntlet TTRPG Chat
Lowell Francis facilitates for Dan, David Jay, Puckett, Robert Angus, and Steven Watkins
A meetup to discuss TTRPGs: advice, best practices, play, games you dig, scenario ideas, hacks, gaming online, running/playing mysteries, etc. Test balloon for an ongoing thing.

Star Wars Saturday

The Veil (Session 1 of 3)
Rich Rogers runs for Bethany H., Leandro Pondoc, Sabine V., and Walter German
At the end of the Empire, four Cyberpunks on Coruscant try to find safety and profit amid the chaos.

Gauntlet Comics

Monsterhearts 2: Super Juvie (Session 4 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Joe Zantek, Leandro Pondoc, and Misha B
The juvies escape New Guard Academy with a cult, and then things get weird?

Gauntlet Hangouts

Scum and Villainy: Radical Dreamers (Session 1 of 5)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Ludovico Alves, Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
Within the Isotropa Max Secure, premiere prison of the Galactic Hegemony, sits the crew of the Firedrake, a daring vessel committed to spreading the cause of a revolutionary dream within the Procyon Sector. But they're not sitting in prison for much longer. Kie walks like nothing can see him, Finn mixes music with explosions and Lei convinces their crewmates to basically be their best selves.

Root: Spies and Saboteurs (Session 1 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for Libby Horacek, Richard C., Rob Ruthven, and Toby
We meet our Vagabonds as they take a job to investigate an alleged revolutionary leader that is conning the denizens for their money...on behalf of a tax collector?!?

Afterlife: Wandering Souls (Session 1 of 4)
Ludovico Alves runs for David Walker, Leandro Pondoc, Pearl Zare, and Sabine V.
You are dead. But rejoice, for you have been found! Care not for what you left on the longship with the Boatman, your Pilgrimage through the Tenebris starts today! Through the grace of the six queens of the great nagiin civilization, you have been blessed, humans! Today starts a journey of an afterlifetime for a heretical loner, a hedonist gregarious "witch," an alluring and mysterious noble, and a beat cop too smart for his own good.

Primetime Adventures: Resistance (Session 1 of 5)
Donogh runs for David Morrison, Pawel S., and Pearl Zare
A short pilot to introduce our series after setup. Calais, May 1944. A large cell comprising Gaullists and Communists prepares the ground for the imminent Allied invasion of France. They must get a new contact into the city (Codename: Camargue), avoid the attention of Gestapo officer Wagner, while suspicions emerge about the commitment of one of their own...

Henshin!: Monster Hunter Science Force! GO!
David Walker runs for Kieron, Sabine V., and Will H
This is an actual play of Henshin! the Sentai RPG - Three new heroes arise to fight the Queen of Atlantis and her evil forces! Gifted strange mystical science powers by Professor T-Rex and Doctor Mollusc they ready themselves for the fight of their life - all while making sure they get to class on time!

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Leandro Pondoc, Patrick Knowles, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
The group arrives on Mira and tries to get close to the Chelebs-Menau family by taking on a job for them hunting a mysterious animaturg called The Tailor, but one member of the crew decides to take the opportunity to break into the local HQ of The Order of the Pariah. Hijinks ensue.

Veil Fantasy (Session 1 of 6)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., David Morrison, Fraser Simons, and Leandro Pondoc
In this first session, we build our chaotic waterborne city, create characters, and delve into a sea of troubles in this fantasy hack of The Veil.

Monster of the Week: Pequosette in Winter (Session 1 of 4)
Jesse A. runs for Darold Ross, Hannah, and Jex Thomas
The characters do battle with a giant Landshark, while beginning to see what hides behind the curtain in the small New England town of Pequosette.

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!

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11/6/2019

AoR: History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part One: 1976-1984)

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With this being NaNoWriMo and the holidays coming up, I've decided to present a greatest "Age of Ravens" hits for the next several weeks. To that end, I'm presenting the first installment of each of my History of RPG Genre posts, along with links to the reset of the series. I may take the opportunity to correct typos and fix omissions. 

MY KIND OF APOCALYPSE
The Apocalypse vexes me. More than other genres I’ve tackled, Post-Apocalypse games seem obvious, but when I look closely I cut and add items madly. I suspect my picks this time will be more contested. And I haven't even made up my mind about Judge Dredd...

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If a game self-defines as post-apocalyptic, I'll include it. After that I have some ground rules. First and most obviously there needs to be an apocalypse. This can be a war, conquest, nuclear exchange, reality warp, invasion, cataclysm, meteor strike, plague, infestation, or any other major event which devastates the existing order. That event may be in the far or recent past. Second, that event should shape the game in the present. So, for example, Mystara has the Blackmoor engine explosion which reshaped the world and changed everything. But that’s an incident in the distant past long forgotten and removed from the present world. Third, there’s a focus on survival in the setting. It might be personal survival, it might be the survival of a community, it might be survival of an identity. This can come in many shapes and forms.
 
Those three really define it for me. Several other elements commonly appear in these games, but don’t define it. Exploration, for example, is key to many. That may be physical exploration of lost or strange locations. But it can also include rediscovery of lost knowledge or reforging contacts shattered by the events. Some settings include changes or mutations brought on by the event, but that isn’t a defining feature. Relics of the past, while common, don’t define a post-apocalyptic game either.
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​THE DIVIDE
Many games exist in the margins of the definitions- and I’ll be wrestling with those across these lists. My definitions cut out a number that- looked at from another standpoint- could have gone on. For example, I’m leaving off most cyberpunk games. Both Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun have cataclysms in the backdrop. For the former general societal collapse and for the latter the eruption of the Sixth World. They both have some wastelands, but those are just places to pass through. Otherwise the focus on the game isn’t the traditional play of post-apocalypse games- survival and exploration.
 
I’ve also left off games where the focus is on fighting back against the apocalypse. In a sense the full effects of the cataclysm haven’t really happened. So I leave off 50 Fathoms, The Mechanoid Invasion, Necessary Evil and their alien invasions. On the other hand, I think Fantasy Flight’s Midnight qualifies as post-apocalyptic. Defeating the evil crisis remains an open question and the world’s been completely reshaped by Izrador’s conquest. Then again Base Raiders offers an interesting world crisis, but the scope is limited. The result is less a question of survival and more of exploitation so I won't include it. I also leave off “disaster” books which simply detail a collapse or crisis event, unless they include significant material covering campaigns run in the aftermath.
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​THE ZED QUESTION
As we saw with the Horror lists, there’s an explosion of Zombie games in recent years. Some of these offer either a general discussion of zombies or a sourcebook for using them in different settings. Others present a distinct zombie outbreak and build a world around that. Generally if I have two or more Zombie games on the same list, I’ll group them together into a Miscellaneous: Zombie entry. I might break that rule if I spot something truly striking or worth calling out.
 
To keep this list easy to read I’m tightening the years covered. As we get closer to the present the lists expand and contract weirdly. I include mostly core books, but also significant setting or sourcebooks. I’m consolidating “spin-off” supplements into a single entry. For example you'll see at the end of this list isolated modules for a line using post-apocalyptic elements. Given the number of great things published I haven't included everything I want. I try to only list revised editions which significantly change a line or present a milestone. Generally I only include published material- print or electronic. I skip freebie or self-published games. I'm sure I've left something off without adequate reason; feel free to add a comment about a line I missed (if published from 1976 to 1984). I've arranged these by year and then alphabetically within that year.
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​1. Metamorphosis Alpha (1976)
I'd only just gotten the hang of cutting open giant rats to search for treasure when my sister tried out Metamorphosis Alpha on me. She didn't give me much information on this new game. I rolled up a weird character, wandered into a domed garden, and was promptly eaten. I only played Metamorphosis Alpha once, but I remember sneaking into her room and flipping through the book. I didn't get the game, except for the sense of desperate survival in a harsh environment. This wasn't about diving into a dungeon for loot. This was about being stuck in a horrible place trying to survive. I'd remember that later when the first horror rpgs arrived.
 
Metamorphosis Alpha is the first post-apocalyptic game, but strikingly doesn't use the post-nuke setting which would become a default in next several years. Instead characters were passengers of a giant seed-ship where things went terribly wrong. I made the connection years later when I watched Dr. Who's The Ark in Space and finally read Heinlein's Orphans of the Sky. The game itself is a wonderful and brilliant mish-mash. Readers have to disentangle the system from the setting. Every page is filled with wild ideas, but it will take a GM effort to bring everything together. While it eventually became eclipsed by Gamma World, MA set the stage for a new approach to gaming- one of the earliest sci-fi games as well as the first post-apocalypse rpg. While early D&D borrowed a little from Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival, this put that challenge in a new context. Gamers can still buy the original pdf and this year Goodman Games successfully launched a Kickstarter for a reprint which includes a mass of additional material.
 
2. Simian Conquest (1978)
I started gaming in the early, early days. I have strong memories of obscure games that sat on the shelf of the FLGS for years, but I don't remember this one. I could do a list of "non-licensed licensed-setting" games- including many where the company ended up slapped with a lawsuit. Simian Conquest's clearly the Planet of the Apes rpg (movie, not book). Some blurbs describe it as humorous, but that's not clear. You can play as an ape or as an astronaut. So it is kind of Post-Apocalyptic depending on your character, I suppose...and how much you stick to the plot of the movies. ("You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!")
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​3. Gamma World (1978)
And here comes the boom. We played Gamma World in the early days. It overshadowed Top Secret and Boot Hill as our non-D&D game of choice for years. And how can you not be drawn to this game? Look at that cover...what's going on there? And it actually conceals the sheer craziness inside. Gamma World takes some of the ideas of Metamorphosis Alpha- mutations, sci-fi, and survival and makes something new out of them. It cites several sources, including Ralph Bakshi's Wizards. That and the newly arrived Heavy Metal magazine drive the game. The interior illustrations go all over the place. But the game itself feels much more playable than Metamorphosis Alpha. Players can move through the book more clearly, character creation's up front, and the lessons learned from D&D's presentation shape the layout.
 
The crazy mess of the setting's possible because the apocalypse takes place in the 25th Century. In the far future a nuclear war breaks out resulting in a world of talking rabbits with bandoliers, stop-sign wielding madmen, and high-tech artifacts. Here's the thing- I never quite got that the "event" took place in the distant future. So more often than not I mixed bits and pieces of present tech into the setting (Walkmen tape players, Apple Macintosh). Gamma World existed in a weirdly flexible state (which actually makes the most recent "reality warp" edition make a little more sense).
 
From Gamma World I learned a classic trope of post-apocalypse games. Young tribal members have to go out into the wilderness to find something to save the village or carry out a rite of ascension. We'd end up doing that dozens of time. Gamma World presented a world of anachronisms, showing that any tale or trope could be rebuilt with a science-fantasy frame. It offered a more robust system of random mutation tables. Players could choose their type, but beyond that had to settle with their results- good and bad. It made rolling up characters a desperate and fun gamble. One awesome element, little used in modern games, was the random artifact interaction table. Players rolled on the flowchart to see if they could figure out how to use a device, break it, or set it off in their hands. It was a great system and one worth lifting for other games.
 
Gamma World got modest support from TSR, with only two modules GW1: Legion of Gold and GW2: Famine in Far-Go released for it. They also put out a GM screen. It went through several printings, with IIRC different colors on the booklet cover. According to wikipedia, TSR planned to do Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega which would have adapted the earlier game to the new rules. But the publication of a second edition of GW in '83 (see later on the list) put the kibosh on that.
 
4. The Morrow Project (1980)
The Morrow Project always seemed like a reaction to the gonzo weird of Gamma World. Everything about it seemed serious and adult. I avoided it because it looked like a 'mature' game...plus the stark presentation did nothing to grab my tween imagination. In Morrow Project, the PCs play frozen sleeper survivalists awoken in a post-nuclear war future. It aims to be more realistic but still adds pseudo-scientific elements like flora and fauna mutated by the radiation. It focuses squarely on survival and exploration, with perhaps even a hint of being a building game as you try to find other survivor caches. Morrow has a definite military vibe to it, with our "out of time" characters organized as teams. In that regards its a precursor to other gun-love and military games. Artist Richard Tucholka would go on to design the crazy and elaborate firearm systems of various Tri-Tac games (see some below). Supplements included Personal and Vehicular Loads and Vehicular Blueprints: Volume I, but they also released several modules. I'm not sure about the full edition history, but the most distinct revision seems to be 2013's The Morrow Project 4th Edition.
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​5. Aftermath! (1981)
Fantasy Games Unlimited scared me off for many years. My sister ran me thorough character creation for Chivalry & Sorcery once, I flipped through Space Opera a single time, and one of the smartest people I knew, Gene Ha, spoke lovingly of the complexity of Aftermath!. It sounded too heavy. Eventually I broke down and started picking up FGU games, but I always steered clear of what I assumed was the dense detail of this game. Looking at it now...I think I was a little right. Even knowing the weird math and design choices in games like Bushido and Daredevils, Aftermath's still a big shower of crazy detail and odd game focus. So many figured stats and totals, a two-page combat flow chart, strange look-ups, location-based hits and armor class, labeled hex grid examples for everything. It feels very wargamery- like a reaction from grognard gamers bothered by the loosey-goosey nature of other games. However Aftermath! had a solid following, supported with several supplements.
 
The oddest thing for me is something the game actually hides in its box set presentation. The cover blurb describes this as "A Role Playing Game set in a Post Holocaust world." The back cover expands that a little but doesn't offer much detail. That obscures one of the most interesting things about Aftermath!, that it actually offers a generic game system combined with a toolkit for running post-apocalyptic games. The first book of the core three included doesn't even mention the setting. Instead it is a 60 page set of general rpg rules- not unlike the booklets included in early Runequest and other Chaosium games covering Basic Role-Playing. But this is significantly more detailed. It might have been one of the earliest generic rpg products if it had been published separately. Book two covers character creation, but still avoids concrete setting. Book three finally addresses that and talks about options for the kinds of "Ruin" that could come to the world- nuclear, biological, social- and the implications of the passage of time. Its almost too much- where a few detailed and concrete examples of different settings might have made it more useful. Aftermath is interesting and a fascinating artifact of the time. But post-apocalyptic GMs might find the tools and ideas on offer in the campaign book worth looking at.
 
6. Car Wars (1981)
While Car Wars began as a board game, it evolved into a pseudo rpg. The basic game offered a simple post-collapse backdrop with warriors competing in arena contests with weaponized vehicles. It drew from Death Race, Mad Max, and Damnation Alley. But as the game expanded, the designers fleshed out that setting, resulting in the creation of Autoduel America. Gazetteers and a GURPS supplement would solidify that as a complete world playable as a board game, miniatures simulation, or rpg. The game itself evolved to incorporate more rgp elements. Each supplement- Sunday Drivers, Truck Stop, Dueltrack- added on to that. Eventually we got adventures like Convoy, Mean Streets, and Ultraforce which pretty much confirmed the game's status as an rpg.
 
Side Note: Car Wars is interesting in creating a distinct sense of place. Some of that came from the need to construct a game-able setting. While it's a post-collapse setting, there's still a strong sense of civilization. It isn't The Road Warrior. Survival's a question- less so exploration. Games Workshop went a slightly different route with Dark Future, buying more into a full apocalypse. Car Wars also blurs the line between board game and rpg. It combines elements of both, but leans towards the former. Other rpg board games like Mordheim: City of the Damned, Necromunda and Confrontation: Dogs of War can be easily distinguished in having players control and manage multiple characters. But what about Inquisitor or MechWarrior? Wreck Age? 
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​7. Gamma World 2nd Edition (1983)
I'm hesitant to mark out Gamma World 2e as a distinct item and edition, but there's a key change here. It isn't in rules themselves. GS 2e tightens the system, expands important material (like mutations and monsters), and adds a wealth of material for the GM. But what really clinches it for me is the presentation. If the original Gamma World's a product of the 1970's- basic layout, weird ordering, gonzo art, and hodge-podge feel; then Gamma World 2e is the 1980's. Here outsider ideas and images have been carefully repackaged and re-presented. No longer does it feel like an underground comic, instead it looks and feels like a Saturday morning cartoon version of heavy metal. The elephant in the room here is 1980's Thundarr the Barbarian. Every gamer I know who saw it said the same thing: Gamma World the Cartoon. And we loved it for that. Of course Lords of Light, the short documentary on the creation of Thundarr makes no mention of that, citing other sources. But we know better. This edition of Gamma World wants to be popular and tries too hard.
 
I didn't pick up Gamma World 2e at the time. The look didn't appeal to me and I'd begun to gravitate to superhero and spy games. Once again TSR supported it modestly, with only two modules, a GM screen, and a character sheet pack. Within two years they would be back at the well. The next edition would make a more radical shift and be much less backwards compatible.
 
8. Mutant (1984)
Sweden has a long and interesting history of rpgs. On G+, Olav Nygård, has been posting about their history with the tag #swedishrpgs. He says,
"In #swedishrpgs , the post-apocalyptic slot is occupied by Mutant. Originally borrowing its rules from Drakar och Demoner and everything else from Gamma World, it has since evolved in multiple directions...Featuring a dude in a Luke Skywalker-esque pajamas and a rainbow, the cover of Mutant 1ed signaled that the apocalyptic future might not be such a bad place after all."
Mutant has a specific setting, with devolved technology and deadly radiation zones. Like Gamma World players can be mutated humans or animals. It was supported by a number of supplements and went on to spawn several editions. Since I first posted this, Modiphus has released an English translation of the most recent version, Mutant Year Zero.
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9. Paranoia (1984)
Paranoia offers a different post-apocalypse world. The apocalypse has changed things and you have to fight to survive but your challenges aren't the wilderness and monsters, but bureaucracy and your fellow clones. Paranoia draws from another strain of sci- fi. Instead of Moorcockian weirdness, Paul O. Williams' fallen America, or Ellisonian rad survival, it draws more on Stanislaw Lem, Aldous Huxley, and A Canticle for Liebowitz. It offers a black dystopian comedy- and a product completely unlike any other rpg of the day. We'd had attempts at injecting humor and rpg parody articles, but nothing sustained itself and carried through like Paranoia.
 
And that may be why I had a hard time thinking of this as a post-apocalyptic game. As I mentioned in the intro, I left out some games where there's been a collapse, but that collapse serves more as backdrop rather than framing the game. You could argue that's the case with Paranoia. On the other hand I'd believe the Big Whoops and what it spawned colors everything about the game: the Cold War paranoia rewritten, pop culture mistranslated, a collapse which scrambles sense into nonsense. Add to that the day to day tension of existence and I think you have a remarkably PA game, though jammed into an enclosed space. Ironically once later Paranoia editions got outside and presented details of the collapse and the world, it destroyed much of the setting's tension.
 
Paranoia's a great game. Its the only game I've ever won a tournament of. And one I won't run. Every single time I ran it, I ended up with angry players and in-fighting regardless of how I framed things. I loved reading the books and rules. The early editions are smart, funny, and completely unlike anything else going on at the time. I'd say Paranoia's essential reading for anyone considering a post-apocalypse game. It might not have exactly the tone you're seeking, but consider how these elements could be dialed in your desired direction- or how a few moments of levity might make what comes later even more horrible.
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10. Rhand: Morningstar Missions (1984)
This is an odd one. In Rhand a space colony is overrun by an alien invasion force known as the Spectrals. Now five hundred years have passed since that invasion. What results is a devolved world of mixed technology and barbarian sensibility. Think the Horseclans novels with alien invaders. The result is a mish-mash which could be seen as post-apocalyptic or as straight sci-fi. More interesting is that Leading Edge Games went back and reworked this concept into a much more conventional setting with Living Steel. That game's still crazy and over the top, but it embraces high-tech, superweapons, and sci-fi over the fallen sword & science setting of the original.
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11. Twilight: 2000 (1984)
Twilight 2000 was the new hotness around our area for a long time. We had a strong wargame and miniatures community. T2000 ended up drawing from that pool as well as rpgers. It smartly hooked into mid-1980's Tom Clancy, Red Dawn, Reagan-era sensibilities. I picked up the core set, but only a played a couple of sessions with it. I knew several micro-armor players who loved it- as well as my friend Gene. He's always been attracted to details and he had an infectious enthusiasm about the T2000 concept.
 
Twilight 2000 stakes out a territory for itself as an authentic and realistic rpg experience. I'm not saying it is, but that's certainly how they positioned the game. And while there had been other military rpgs before this (Merc, Recon, Commando), this game lifted that genre out of niche status. Its also the first post-apocalyptic rpg to put the players straight into the still-smoldering ruins. Scattered characters from across the armed forces have to figure out how to survive and get home in the wake of civilization's collapse. Or they have to figure out how to construct some kind of order- military or social- in a world gone mad. No mutants, no talking animals- just tanks, guns, and societal collapse.
 
There's a phrase my wife uses, "Machine Love," to describe games filled with the minutiae of gun lists, equipment guides, and vehicle annexes. To her they represent a weird, collector-like fascination with stuff over people and characters. They're often wargamery or power fantasy games. I don't think they're a bad thing: that's an experience some people appreciate from games. I grew up fascinated by Palladium's weapons books, the Q Manual, and Guns, Guns, Guns. It's that lizard part of my brain that still has a fondness for Twilight 2000. Think about this- we're nearly as far on the other side of their predicted apocalypse as they were when they pinned it to the future.
Twilight 2000 at RPGNow
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12. Miscellaneous: Post-Apocalypse Supplements
Several supplements for other games take advantage of a post-apocalyptic setting. The earliest of these is Security Station (1980). I could never get enough gaming in when I was young, so I'd pick up Tunnels & Trolls solo adventures and Metagaming Microquests for Melee & Wizard. I can say with some certainty that I never legitimately finished one. I'd get killed off quickly every single time. I ended up using them like CYOAs and simply reading through. Of those Fantasy Trip adventures, Security Station remains one of the strangest. Your fantasy characters have to go through a gate into an atomic wasteland to raid a hi-tech bunker on this ruined Earth. Effectively it was Expedition to the Barrier Peaks mixed with nuclear war. I remember the dungeon being dangerous and arbitrary. I wish someone would reprint these adventures- perhaps even make them available as a playable online resource.
 
A few years later saw OMEGAKRON (1984) arrive. Developed for the bizarre Lords of Creation rpg, this one had the party trapped in a future post-nuke Akron, OH. This weird module can still be picked up for cheap. Also in the early 1980s Richard Tucholka developed a host of rpgs. Notable among them is Fringeworthy, a cross-dimensional travel rpg (which the later Stargate looks suspiciously like...). Rogue 417 (1984) is a sourcebook for Fringeworthy which presents a world where a bioweapon spread across the world, unleashing zombie-like creatures. That may make it the first zombie rpg. This material can be used as a world to be explored or else as the starting point for a campaign. Likewise Invasion U.S.! served dual purposes as well. It could be used as a new location or as the basis for a Red Dawn-style game. That's a little outside my definitions, but I thought it worth mentioning.
​

History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Two: 1985-1987)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Three: 1988-1990)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Four: 1991-1993)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Five: 1994-1996)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Six: 1997-1999)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Seven: 2002-2002)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Eight: 2003)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Nine: 2004-2005)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Ten: 2006)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Eleven: 2007)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part Twelve: 2008)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part 13: 2009)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part 14: 2010)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part 15: 2011)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part 16: 2012)
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs (Part 17: 2013)
The Year in Post-Apocalyptic RPGs 2014
The Year in Post Apocalyptic RPGs 2015: Part One 
The Year in Post Apocalyptic RPGs 2015: Part Two
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Universal RPGs
Samurai RPGs

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11/2/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - November 2, 2019

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Greetings, and welcome to a special Gauntlet Con edition of the Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup! There were definitely still regular Gauntlet Hangouts games this week, but the majority of this week's roundup will be sessions recorded at Gauntlet Con 2019! Thank you to everyone who attended the convention and made it so great, welcome to all our new friends this year, and if you didn't make it, we hope to see you there next year! You can see the entire Gauntlet Con collection of games (listed below) at this playlist. In addition, you can check out recorded videos of panels, workshops, and live podcast recordings (not listed below!) at this playlist. Enjoy!

Games like those at Gauntlet Con and the Gauntlet Hangouts sessions below are 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

World Wide Wrestling: Gauntlet League Wrestling: Road Show Ann Arbor
Lowell Francis runs for Alexi S., David Morrison, Sean, and Zach

Night's Black Operators: Operation Keilberg
Alun R. runs for Aljoscha, Ian, and Philip Rogers
An approach from a former contact and friend brings the team to Stasbourg where an ambush fails to stop them recovering a fascinating letter. It leads them to southern Saxony only to have a confrontation on the autobahn with an 18-wheeler and a couple of genre required black SUVs. A moment of respite over a home cooked meal puts a team member's mother at risk before they track the monster back to its lair. There follows hacking, acrobatics, fights and a confrontation...

Dungeon World: Rogues of Ravnica
Alexi S. runs for Blake Ryan, Joshua Gilbreath, Ozric, and Tyler Lominack
A motley crew of marginal Guild members—an Orzhov Vampire Paladin, a Dimir Vampire Thief, a Rakdos Human Wizard, and a Golgari Human Cleric—search for the secrets of the Deep Library below the streets of Ravnica, and steal a secret or two from each other along the way. Plus: Ogres, Gorgons, and Angels, oh my!

Interstitial: Our Hears Intertwined
Leandro Pondoc runs for Barry, Diana Moon, Hayley, and Puckett

Monsterhearts: Emerald City Drama Club
David Morrison runs for Leandro Pondoc, Marco, Maria M., and Will
It's time for the annual Emerald City High School production of the Wizard of Oz. Esme Gulch has been passed over for her dream role as Dorothy yet again, but she may still have the opportunity to take on the part. Andie Johnson is playing the part of the Scarecrow, but this doesn't stop them from finding other parts to incorporate in their act. Micah Baumhauer is looking to find his heart again, after suffering a tragic loss. And Dorothy Summers has breezed into town to take the starring role, and skip down the yellow brick road to Oz.

Hearts of Wulin: Autumn Willow (Session 1 of 2)
Ludovico Alves runs for Greg G., Joey R., Pat P., and Richard C.
The heroes of the land gather at the Silver Lake, as the Whispering Crane and Thunderous Ox face each other for the last time. Love shifts even the tides of war, and lays a foundation for the future of the land.

Hearts of Wulin: Autumn Willow (Session 2 of 2)
Ludovico Alves runs for Greg G., Joey R., Pat P., and Richard C.
A new day, a bold plan; a single dynasty rises or a future devoid of hegemons and warlords? A catfish shakes the ground as mud moves to drown it under the watchful gaze of a murmuring crane.

The Great Soul Train Robbery: A Song So Pure
Leah Libresco Sargeant runs for Alexi S. and Lucy
A pair of Desperados attempt to rob the train to Hell. Reuben "Smiley" Flowers is a fast-talking fiddler motivated by prophecy and greed. Ebeneza Scrain is a tough old homesteader widow motivated by love—and also by greed. Can they claim their prize of a song so pure the Devil couldn't let humanity hear it? Will they be overcome, damned, or broken along the way?

Monsterhearts: Once Again, We Return: Beat Drop Remix
Maria Rivera runs for Blaine, Olivia, River Williamson, and Will

Dream Apart
Tyler Lominack runs for Hayley, Walter German, and Will

Gauntlet League Wrestling: Road Show Jacksonville
Lowell Francis runs for Charles, Chris Newton, Greg G., and Tyler Lominack

Trophy: Forest of Blades
Ludovico Alves runs for Andrea, Blake Ryan, and Marco
A grand battle was fought ages ago, where now the Forest of Blades lies. There are blood-soaked treasures and forgotten magics everywhere--if one knows where to look for them. Follow a ranger with a secret, a social-climbing noble scion and an ambitious mage as they venture into the Forest of Blades.

World of Dungeons: Sky Masters of the Purple Planet
Michael G. Barford runs for Greg G., Jim Likes Games, and Kevin Lovecraft

The Sprawl: chrome_rot.exe
Leandro Pondoc runs for Darren Brockes, Horst Wurst, Rob Ruthven, and Steven Watkins

Trophy: The Flocculent Cathedral
Jim Likes Games runs for Gabriel Robinson, Paul, and Puckett

Midnight at the Oasis
River Williamson runs for Catherine Ramen, Jasmin Neitzel, Peter Mazzeo, Stentor Danielson, and Walter German

Unincorporated
Bethany H. facilitates for Eli S., Jim Likes Games, Rich Rogers, and Steven
Fabien tries to keep anything from derailing his wedding to Keisha, but fate (in the form of nosy neighbor Grace, inept park assistant Yolanda, petty thief Kyle, and lovestruck best man Zeke) is against him. Plus the bride has a tranquilizer gun, the bartender has serious anger-management issues, and then there's this bear.

The Quiet Year
Rye runs for Blaine, Kali W., and Mendel Schmeidekamp

Bite Marks: The Village Green Preservation Society
David Morrison runs for Alun R., Bethany H., Blake Ryan, and Sarah J.
It is 1968 in the market town of Hades on the Yorkshire Moor. A group of teens and young adults are part of a werewolf pack, sworn to defending their town against the encroaching darkness. Referred to in jest as the Village Green Preservation Society, they will do what they must to keep the town safe. Mal the Alpha must face the dark side of his own wolf, and the consequences of his decisions as Alpha. Pete the Fixer struggles to maintain his own identity - and his feelings - in a town that seems increasingly unwelcoming. Jim the Prodigal has returned from London with more than just a secret, and must make a decision on where his heart truly lies. And Josie the Cub exults in the freedom that her new condition and the pack grant her, while also learning the dangers that their kind face.

Get Ready 2 Rock
Stentor Danielson runs for Alexis Graf, Cass K., and Kirk Rahusen
The Snotz were big in the punk scene in the 70s, but can they make a comeback on their reunion tour, especially when sharing top billing with their rivals, Greasestain?

Autumn Triduum: Daughters of St. Michael
Alexi S. runs for Alexis Graf, Mary, Stentor Danielson, and Tyler Lominack
Something sinister is threatening the convent of the Precious Blood this hallowmass season. Contraband cigarettes, a missing kid with strange abilities, and a smell of burning... How will the mystic Sr. Ellen, the scholar Sr. Benedicta, the elder Sr. Margret, and the penitent Sr. Augustine rally to renounce Satan and all his works? How will their faith be tested from All Hallows' Eve to All Saints' Day to All Souls' Day?

Trophy: To Make My Bread
Ludovico Alves runs for Frank, Joe, and Will B
The mill turns. Gold blows. The geese honk. The forest calls.

Beam Saber: Mechanized Cavalry
Leandro Pondoc runs for Jammi, Jennifer, and Puckett

Mayor Cat
Stentor Danielson runs for Kirk Rahusen, Ludovico Alves, and Will
Incumbent Mayor Davenport put a dog in charge of the police, rooted for the wrong university at homecoming, and inherited the money embezzled by former Mayor Fluffykins. But will that be enough to put Alderman Whiskers across the finish line in the election?

Godbound: Hot Springs Island
Maria Rivera runs for Cody Eastlick, Matt, and Sel

The Quiet Year
Rye runs for Jack, Matt, and Zack

Dusk City Outlaws: The Silver Job
Mikel Matthews runs for Lloyd, Pawel S., and Philip Rogers

Pasión de las Pasiones: La Rosa Querida: Flames of Sorrow
Lowell Francis runs for Kali W., Kyle H., Puckett, and Tyler Lominack

Monster of the Week
Tyler Lominack runs for David, Ryan M., and Sarah J.

Fire Ships at Midnight
Tyler Lominack runs for Catherine Ramen, Greg G., and Philip Rogers

Masks: Halcyon Hijinks
Alexi S. runs for Adam, David Jay, Kirk Rahusen, and Steven
Meet the Arson Kids of Halcyon City. If this is the future of superheroing, then we're all doomed, but it'll be a fun ride! Zelda Wu aka Glamis Eventide became the Bull by falling into fairy tale world and fighting her way out, evil-smiting sword in hand. Vulcan was a hot-headed Nova who mostly apologized for setting everything on fire. Kid Xeno was an Outsider with a pet octopus-spaceship who is maybe about to start an interstellar war. And Jason Liu aka Ours was a former-cat-burglar Beacon who became a superhero in order to fight cops!

Hearts of Wulin: Gust of Flaming Leaves
David Morrison runs for Alexi S., Alexis Graf, Greg G., and Zack
Standing Pine, master of the Heavenly Bough School, has summoned his students - current and former - back to the school. Summer Rain is one of Standing Pine's most loyal students, though even she struggles to live up to her sister's precedent. The noble officer Unbending Steel struggles to reconcile the oaths he has sworn with his feelings for Rising Phoenix. The warrior-poet Jade Eagle is also preoccupied with thoughts of his sister Rising Phoenix - having learnt a dark secret about her. And finally Rising Phoenix returns to the school uninvited, her true motives uncertain to all...

DIE RPG: Bleed-Out (3 sessions)
Patrick Knowles runs for Bethany H., Jim Likes Games, Robert Angus, and Sam Z.
A group of con gamers make a gamer group of ex-cons.

Monsterhearts 2: Ballhir: Icebreaker
Donogh runs for Adrian, Patrick, and Sarah J.

Good Society: Strange Sail (Session 1 of 2)
Gene A. facilitates for Catherine Ramen, Gilbert, and Maria M.
With the Peace of Amiens all but gone, Lieutenants Morgan, Paige, and Kinkade attend the court-martial of their former commanding officer, Captain Willoughby of the HMS Dashing. During a recess, young Captain Frasier has an icy encounter with Morgan. Whist is played. An invitation to a ball is parlayed. Reputations and intentions are called into question.

Good Society: Strange Sail (Session 2 of 2)
Gene A. facilitates for Catherine Ramen, Gilbert, and Maria M.
An officer's ball full of intrigue and reacquaintances and a botched seduction on the eve of war. The young officers are posted to the HMS Kestrel. A mysterious passenger boards while at sea. A huge French frigate is sighted as a squall threatens. The officers try to make peace amongst themselves, with mixed results. Battle is joined as the storm breaks.

Zombie World: The Hospital
Rich Rogers runs for Alun R., Hayley, and Steven Watkins
A raid on an outdoor mall has... mixed results.

Hearts of Wulin: A Heart is a Diamond (Session 1 of 2)
Gene A. runs for Brian, Jennifer G., Peter Mazzeo, and Philip Rogers
An unlikely quartet meets on a train in the New Mexico Territory on the way to the funeral of an old acquaintance. Doc Jansen and Terence Hill win an uncut diamond in a card game. Aimee finds that someone has searched her baggage. An icy ride into town, an icy reception in town. The sudden appearance of the sheriff.

Hearts of Wulin: A Heart is a Diamond (Session 2 of 2)
Gene A. runs for Brian, Jennifer G., and Philip Rogers
Doc and Terence vie for Lily's attentions. The will is read and a diamond mine is gained. Doc breaks into the sheriff's office at nightfall and discovers Jasper's gun and some deeds in Lily's name. He and Lily have a moment. Terence falls into a mining shaft; Aimee has to decide where she stands with her husband's killer. Terence tries to level with Doc, who throws it back in his face. The remaining heroes face Jasper's killer on Boot Hill.

Achtung! Cthulhu Dark: The Castle
Alun R. runs for Bruce Rusk, Cody Eastlick, Kevin Lovecraft, and Tyler Lominack
It's the high Summer of 1939 and despite the Spring invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France have not declared war on the Third Reich. However, in an effort to build momentum towards the US joining the inevitable war to come, British Intelligence shares information on abductions taking place west of Prague, near Castle Karlstein. A joint British-American undercover mission is launched...

Eotenweard: The Witch
Alun R. runs for Kenrik, Pawel S., and Will H
The characters are commissioned by the King of the Christian Celtic kingdom of Elmet to seek out a notorious witch, rumoured to be unkillable; and put a final end to her...

DIE RPG: Basic Experts (3 sessions in 5 parts)
Barry runs for David Morrison, Leandro Pondoc, Peter Mazzeo, and Sabine V.
A group of summer camp kids who got quarantined to a cabin due to chickenpox come back together after 20 years when the camp announces it will permanently close after this season. Content warning: mention and player discussion of a possible character suicide in Ep.3 pt.2, at approx 1hr28m.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: Prospect Academy (Session 8)
Leandro Pondoc runs for David Morrison, Ludovico Alves, Ryan M., and Sabine V.
The Silver Masquerade is here. Amidst the roman candles, interdimensionally-enlarged gym and glitchhop Beethoven, a sinister plan begins to unfold itself around our heroes. Zero-G makes an awkward confession, Serenade tries to make an awkward connection, Kasey finds herself in an awkward situation and Mary decides to hold on to anger for a while. As Silhouette draws ever nearer...

Gauntlet Hangouts

Silent Titans (Session 3 of 4)
Jesse A. runs for Jason, Jason Zanes, Josh H, and Sherri

Silent Titans (Session 4 of 4)
Jesse A. runs for Christopher Walborn, Jason, and Jason Zanes

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 3)
Lowell Francis runs for Patrick Knowles, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
The crew arrive on Coriolis and begin to look into the names from the recovered data pad, but threats and old foes dog their steps and making taking on "cargo" a challenge.

Night's Black Operators: The Lisky Bratva (Session 4 of 4)
Alun R. runs for Pawel S., Puckett, and Sabine V.
The team travels to Debreken in Hungary where they discover a key informant is being stalked by Josef Lisky's Bratva through the city Zoo. Saving her from a tiger involves sacrificing a vampire to it...never a bad move, but then they must convince the Serbian Mafia that Lisky and his organisation are not to be trusted. There follows deception, infiltration and assassination. The epilogues see Karl making an important decision for his family; Mia brooding over her previously undisclosed desire to own a hotel; and Dylan delivering an important package to Josef Lisky...BOOM! Meanwhile, a NATO task force demolishes Dragovir Monastery only to damage some ancient sigils that have kept an ancient evil confined for centuries... Watch this space in the Spring...perhaps...

Root (Session 2 of 2)
Rob Ruthven runs for Ary Ramsey, Jeremiah Pena, Leandro Pondoc, and Philip Rogers
After wrapping things up in Milltown, the vagabonds are hired to investigate strange goings-on in a mine. What secrets will they uncover?

Hack the Planet: A Sky Reflected in Terror (Session 4 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Alun R., Josh H, and Rob Ruthven
As the Comets work to make amends for their latest job, they find themselves having to confront past tragedies, strange experiments in virtual reality and a frozen Act of God. Shadow ruthlessly cuts through the opposition, Nova collects info amidst luxurious dining and Mellow returns to a home ruined and twisted.

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 (plus Gauntlet patrons get free admittance to Gauntlet Con!). Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

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