THE GAUNTLET

The Gauntlet Blog

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
    • The Gauntlet Podcast
    • Discern Realities
    • +1 Forward >
      • Belonging Outside Belonging Series
    • Fear of a Black Dragon
    • The Farrier's Bellows
    • Trophy Podcast
    • Pocket-Sized Play
    • We Hunt the Keepers!
    • Comic Strip AP
    • Podcast Indexes >
      • Gauntlet Podcast Index
      • Fear of a Black Dragon Index
      • +1 Forward Index
      • Discern Realities Index
      • Trophy Podcast Index
      • The Farrier's Bellows Index
      • Pocket-Sized Play Index
      • Comic Strip AP Index
      • We Hunt the Keepers! Index
  • Publications
    • Codex Magazine
    • Hearts of Wulin
    • Trophy RPG
    • Codex Volume 1 Book
  • Online Gaming
    • Playing Online with The Gauntlet
    • Gauntlet Calendar
    • Gauntlet Community Open Gaming
    • Online Gaming Resources
  • Community Resources
    • Community Code of Conduct
    • Gauntlet Gameway
    • Play Issues and Contact
  • Trophy Gold Incursion Contest

12/27/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - December 27, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[Gauntlet Hangouts logo]
Greetings, and welcome to the final Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup of 2019! 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

Hutt Cartel (Session 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Anders, Keith Stetson, Leandro Pondoc, and Tyler Lominack
Skreet Mountbank acts to squash his enemies, the Pyke Syndicate, and discover a mole. Kras, the assassin, takes them down, right in front of the poor Cook, Jawa Chik Uisoc. All while Crooked ISB Agent Mira Sunfell nearly loses her new partner. All in a night's work in Sector 1313.

Ghost Orbit: Pound of Flesh (Session 2)
Rich Rogers runs for Erez, Marco, and Will H
A virus spreads, a threat grows, the crew volunteer to negotiate some kind of truce? They are wholly unqualified for this kind of work, and there's no scrip pat for it. What are they doooooing?!?!?

Gauntlet Facilitator Camp

Root
Robert Angus runs for Charles Cordingley, Lowell Francis, and Puckett
Our group of wily vagabonds go on a rescue mission/prison break and stoke the flames of rebellion along the way!

Gauntlet Hangouts

Liminal: Gloucester
Blake Ryan runs for Robbie Boerth and Stephen

Thirsty Sword Lesbians: Queen of Thieves (Session 2 of 3)
Bethany H. runs for Chris Newton, Eli S., and Kristen D.
Asheara sees portents and prophesies, Jenna talks to ghosts, and Mia talks to someone she shouldn't. The new sheriff wants revenge and maybe to take over their village, but who has time to worry about that, when there's infinite social awkwardness to navigate, a witch's garden to be attacked by, and love potions to make?

Band of Blades: The Legion at the Western Front (Session 2)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Chris Newton, Dan Pucul, David Morrison, and Matt Phillips
Ensconced at the broken, haunted Western Front, the Legion takes stock before sending a crack squad on a rescue mission: save an Alchemist with important intel on the undead.

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 10)
Lowell Francis runs for Patrick Knowles, Rich Rogers, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
In the penultimate session, our crew investigates and then prepares to face Pegah Kardan and her plots for the final disk, but an assault by a Laskarid attack ship forces them to seek repairs and regroup.

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, have a great weekend, and have a happy new year!

Share

0 Comments

12/20/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - December 20, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[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

Ghost Orbit: Pound of Flesh (Session 1)
Rich Rogers runs for Erez, Marco, and Will H
Three ex-Imperials try to eke out their existence on the Propsero's Dream space station as unionized engineers. Woefully ill-equipped and pushed to make terrible decisions, all in a day's work for Scrip.

Hutt Cartel (Session 1)
Rich Rogers runs for Anders, Devin Preston, Keith Stetson, and Tyler Lominack
A bunch of wild Jawas get in trouble in Sector 1313 with a cantona of Waste-It and a droid, while in a show cantina a Trandoshan beats down a Wookiee, and a Druglord delivers a terrifying threat.

Gauntlet Comics

Masks: Allied Angels Dawn of '43 (Session 3 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Leah Libresco Sargeant, Sawyer Rankin, and Steven desJardins
The Angels track down Dr. Anatos and tackle the threat of Project Omega!

Indie Schwarze Auge

[DEUTSCH] World of Aventurien: Liska (Session 8)
Gerrit Reininghaus leitet eine Session für Sabine V. und SalamanderJames
The adventurers find a treasure they long lasted for - only to be forced by a three headed dragon to dig it up for her from the ground of a lake. With the help of their own skills of getting along with literally everybody, a sacrifice to the Wolves of Heaven and a dragon child accepting her destiny, they make it to sail away with half of the treasure - leaving the other half purposefully to the dragon.

Game Facilitator Camp

Pipedream
Charles Cordingley runs for Lowell Francis, Puckett, and Robert Angus
(Warning: Poor Audio) As part of the GM Facilitators Camp (Shambling Mound) for new GMs, we played Pipedream: a #SWORDDREAM roleplaying game (adapted from ​Cthulhu Dark) of detectives, problem-solving, and rural mysteries in a fantastic world; or a farcical drug comedy. We played as a farcical drug comedy.

Gauntlet Hangouts

Masks: The Streets of Prospect City (Session 2 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Anthony, David Morrison, Sawyer Rankin, and Stephen
Being a super hero is never straightforward, especially in Shoreline, where relationships are blurred and our heroes find the work harder than expected. Spectre takes a huge bump against his mother's goons, Wrath exercises his will along with his trusty sword, Sia finds their violent hero persona skirting close to her other life and, when facing an old flame, Iktomi demonstrates his commitment to leaving the villain life behind.

Night Witches: November 2019 Zambrow (Session 2 of 2)
Jim Likes Games runs for Bethany H., Mike Ferdinando, Puckett, and Sarah J.
Sometimes too much abundance leads to very real problems.

Night Witches: December 2019 Zambrow (Session 1 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Eli S., Leandro Pondoc, Maria M., and Puckett
Dasha finds herself in charge as a new pilot arrives at the Airbase. Mina returns from her propaganda tour.

Night Witches: December 2019 Zambrow (Session 2 of 3)
Jim Likes Games runs for Alexi S., Bethany H., Leandro Pondoc, Puckett, and Sarah J.
A medal ceremony paradoxically ruins everyone's day, and an ominous portent at the edge of the woods. Luckily for everyone but her, Galya is back in charge.

Pasión de las Pasiones
Jamila R. Nedjadi runs for David Morrison, Gerwyn Walters, Lowell Francis, and Sabine V.
Things get hot, steamy, intense, and dangerous!

Demigods: Mayhem on the Moors (Session 3 of 3)
Alun R. runs for Ludovico Alves, Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
Valentin the Arcane is called away by the 'secret society' to which he belongs but the rest of the Weave discover the morally ambiguous reason they have been drawn to Kingsmead-on-the-Moor. After Sophie, the Celestial daughter of Loki impresses Gator the Goblin King, a deal is struck to protect the village. Livia Aurea, the Warrior daughter of Palaestra, employs her gifts to draw both the Jaeger Werewolf Hunt and their intended tourist prey away from Kingsmead, but it sends them all to the Land of Frost. There, she holds off Frost Giants while Dave Ngozi Deth the Reaper son of Hel cowes the Hunt so that Gator can lead his goblin horde against them. All the time the mortals applaud what appears to them to be the greatest wrestling show they've ever seen...before they are swept away to serve Gator in Faery! Unfortunately, the mortal that the Weave were actually summoned to help WANTED to accept the kiss of the werewolf but is thwarted and we end with her, and our Demigods, trapped in the realm of the Frost Giants...the nemesis that the Fates have decreed for them...

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 9)
Lowell Francis runs for Patrick Knowles, Rich Rogers, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
A sudden attack on their Nomad Federation hosts force the crew to split up in a desperate attempt to defuse bombs and stop boarders from seizing the Khyber Swarm's seer and the strange golden disc she bears.

Checkpoint Midnight: Magic Missile Gap (Session 3 of 3)
Alexi S. runs for Jamila R. Nedjadi, Jim Likes Games, and Joe Zantek
Everything comes to a head as Marguerite flees an explosive trap, Inna provokes a fight in the cafe that's supposed to be neutral grounds, and Maria taps into a very disturbing source of power. In what shape will our protagonists leave the city of Vienna? And what unexpected changes will it work on them?

Outscored - the Golden Cobra award winning LAOG
Gerrit Reininghaus facilitates for Donogh, Pearl Zare, Sabine V., and Wanja
Bathed in colors representing our current social status we struggled with our perspectives of leaving this shitty place for a university course on how to change society through literature. And ended up brainwashed in a correction center.

Primetime Adventures: Resistance (Session 5 of 5)
Donogh runs for David Morrison, Pawel S., and Pearl Zare
Planning for the Allied invasion reaches fever pitch, but exposing deep-seated insecurities about their mission and survivability.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians: Queen of Thieves (Session 1 of 3)
Bethany H. runs for Chris Newton, Eli S., and Kristen D.
We create our outlaw camp turned legitimate-ish village, meet the characters (two witches and a Chosen One with a mysterious destiny and no magical skills), and watch them solve mundane problems in the most extra ways possible.

Veil Fantasy (Session 6)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., David Morrison, Fraser Simons, and Leandro Pondoc
In this finale, our group of companions choose to face the threat looming at the heart of the city, facing the High Navigator who might have been turned into a vampire as a result of an earlier mistake.

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!

Share

0 Comments

12/18/2019

AoR: History of Universal RPGs (Part One: 1978-1993)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
These history of Universal RPGs lists remain the toughest to write. Stripped of setting, looking at these games requires focusing on mechanics, presentation, and tone. And I used to be a mechanics gamer-- Rolemaster, GURPS, Champions. But I dig that much less than I used to. Yet I still managed to make the first installment of these lists absurdly huge when I posted it back in 2016, clocking in at 4500 words. For this revisit, I've cut the list in half, with the second part coming next week.  
 
LUDUM UNIVERSALIS
You’d think I’d learn by now. Each time I start one of these histories, I say “How many of these games can there be?” (Spoiler: a metric ton). Every time I thought I had it all set, I found something new. Despite that I tried to keep things tight, but it got away from me. For this list I focused on games calling themselves Universal. They explicitly support play across styles & tropes. That means I left out games that cover many genres but have a specific background, setting, or theme like TORG, Fiasco, or All Flesh Must Be Eaten. I also avoided games for a particular genre that had genre-adapting supplements (Warriors & Warlocks for example). Finally, there had to be a core book for the system. So Fate works, but Powered by the Apocalypse and Unisystem don’t, despite their adaptability.

Picture
THE ALL-IN-ONE ROLEPLAYING LIST
I only include core books here. I’m also only listing books with a physical edition. I might include an electronic release if they’re notable and of significant size. At the end you’ll see some miscellaneous entries, covering borderline or similar cases. Some selections came down to a judgement call, like Crunchy Frog’s maybe mythical parody universal rpg, Zen. That game’s completely blank with only one rule on the last page: “Play.” I’m sure I missed some releases. If you spot something Universal which came out from 1978 to 1993, leave a note in the comments.
 
1. The Infinity System (1978)
I open with a two small press games I never, ever heard of. I've had to piece together these first entries from scattered sources. Ultimately one has pride of place as the first universal rpg, but I'll let them duke it out. The Infinity System seems to have had a limited print run. We know some games only got regional distribution in this period period and Infinity may be one of those. It combines random attribute generation with point-purchased skills. We'll see point-buy as a key element for Universal systems on this list and beyond. The mechanics feels convoluted, but the general ideas is to allow play from Stone-Age to Far Future. It includes some minor material on magic, but promises more genre details in future, never-published sourcebooks. It's a small, photocopied booklet and an errata page all tucked into a zip-lock bag.

Picture
2. Legacy (1978)
Like, Infinity, Legacy is another self-published universal game but much more ambitious. RetroRoleplaying describes the actual product as, "...a collection of loose leaf pages, looks like it was typeset with a high quality typewriter and is full of half-tone-like illos (including one of the designer on vacation). The writing style is pretentious, perhaps the most pretentious style I've ever seen in an RPG." You really have to check out the blog post on it. Legacy clocks in a 160 pages and looks like a brain-burning slog. It has some novel concepts, like civilization statistics, but ultimately it feels like a product of its time.
 
To illustrate this, I offer a quote from the rules, drawn from the '07 RPGNet thread examining Legacy (all sic):
3.41 INTENTIONALITY
One of the most innovative and least understandable aspects of the LEGACY game system is INTENTIONALITY. Roughly defined INTENTIONALITY is a motivational force which tends to influence the likelyhood of things happening. When associated with an individual INTENTIONALITY signifies that the likelyhood of that individual initiating an action or activity is increased, and that the likelyhood of that action or activity having a certain outcome is also increased. When associated with an object or artifact INTENTIONALITY signifies the importance of that object as a nexus or focal point of some impending action or activity. Essentially it indicated the wampeter without giving away the identity of the karass.
Many of the implications of INTENTIONALITY are not discussed or included in these rules, but sufficient information is present to simulate the motivational behavior of large groups of non-player characters and explain the large number of self initiated actions associated with player characters. These rules should be considered optional, and though I feel that they add significantly to the interest and value of a role assumption game other game operators may not agree with me. 
3.41.1 THE INTENTIONALITY VALUEINTENTIONALITY is measured and discussed in discrete factors which indicate a degree or amount of INTENTIONALITY present in an object or individual. The table below indicates the relative significance of varying levels of INTENTIONALITY 
INTENTIONALITY DESCRIPTION DIE ROLL EFFECTS
0 An individual that possess a basic 1 in 1000 chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is not a nexus at all. None 
1 An individual that possess a basic 1 in 100 chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is a potential nexus. +2
2 An individual that possess a basic 1 in 90 chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is becoming a nexus. +5
3 An individual that possess a basic 1 in 75 chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is a secondary nexus. +10
4 An individual that possess a basic 1 in 50 chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is a +1 secondary nexus. +20
5 An individual that possess a basic 1 in 10 chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is a +2 secondary nexus. Player character. +30
6-9 An individual with a constant chance of initiating an action significant to the course of play. An object which is a +3, +4, +5, or +6 nexus. +50
10+ An individual or an object which is a primary nexus +100 
The chance of initiating a significant action can be determined by the role of percentile dice, or it may be reflected in a direct and and automatic assumption of action initiation as in the case of 1000 sentients with an INTENTIONALITY of 0. During each unit of time one of the 1000 sentients would initiate an action significant to the course of play. Of course significant to the course of play only means noticeable within the game. The exact action of the individual must be determined by the game operator.
A secondary or primary nexus indicates an object or individual which may add to a specific type of die roll or to die rolls which tend to increase the likelyhood of a specific event occurring.
The other die roll effects not related to a nexus are overall die roll modifiers and effect every die roll which that character must make for the duration of the effects of the INTENTIONALITY.
So there's that.

Picture
3. Basic Role-Playing (1980)
BRP was the first universal/generic rpg I encountered. I’m still not sure which box set it fell out of. My sister followed Chaosium avidly and I read her stuff or bought the few rpgs she hadn't. It's easy to forget how many games they released in those early days (Runequest, Stormbringer, Call of Cthulhu, Elfquest, Ringworld) plus supplements, board games, and Different Worlds magazine. Basic Role Playing first appeared as a 16-page booklet in those boxed sets. It presented the backbone of the BRP system: attributes, percentage-based skills, hit points, combat, and a couple of other details. The booklet used a generic medieval example, but implied the concepts could be used in many ways. It didn't replace the rules presented in the core books, but rather drew out and clarified them.
 
In doing so, it fulfilled a promise TSR had ignored. I still recall the strangeness of reading Gamma World, Boot Hill, and Top Secret and realizing they weren't out-of-the-box compatible with D&D or each other. Top Secret especially offered divergent mechanics. Conversion rules popped up in magazines (and the DMG), but otherwise it fell to house-rules and hacks.
 
Basic Role-Playing suggested there could be a portable set of mechanics, elaborated on in many different games. It still wasn't universal- just a skeleton. Worlds of Wonder (1982) attempted to provide a richer implementation. It contained the BRP booklet plus three distinct versions: Future World, Magic World, and Super World. Despite its ambition WoW never really took hold. Super World would be yanked out and expanded to stand on its own the following year. Magic World's concepts would be reused and diluted across other games. BRP’s approach stood on the cusp of offering a truly universal role-playing game. Instead offered a foundational system with several genre implementations. We wouldn't see a fully-fleshed BRP book until 2004.
 
4. To Challenge Tomorrow (1983)
This is another one that flew under the radar for me. The original '83 edition looks like '70s sci-fi, but the cover claims the game presents "Role Playing Past, Present, and Future, Science-Fiction and Historical Rules." All that’s done in 32 pages. To Challenge Tomorrow follows the BRP model of eliminating classes in favor of skill-based definitions. It also apparently builds on the earlier Ysgarth Fantasy rpg from the same publishers. To Challenge Tomorrow received a several setting sourcebooks including Dark Continents, EsperAgents, By the Gods, Triad, and Worlds of Adventure. The weird thing is that the 1st edition appeared in '83 and a revised 4th edition in '92. They have the same length. But I couldn't find any mentions of the 2nd or 3rd editions of TCT. I'm wondering if those were more new printings rather than new editions.

Picture
5. World Action and Adventure (1985)
This rpg may be borderline, but there's a clear intent to offer a "universal" system. But that universality means the real world in World Action & Adventure. "Experience real excitement, fun and daring as you live any kind of character from ancient to modern times." It reminds me of Yaquinto's Man, Myth & Magic from 1982. You could argue it also should appear as a marginal case. Like MM&M, World Action and Adventure prides itself on realism and "factual data." It includes an insane number of reference tables and charts, so you know it's from the 1980's. WA&A came in a single volume hardcover, and had two supplements released the same year: WAA: Book of Animals & Geography & WAA: Actor's Book of Characters.
 
How does it play? "…a game leader (Action Guide)…thinks of an adventurous situation, mission, or dream. Then, the Action Guide and actors work out the solution, goal, or attainment creating dialogue and action that makes the game enjoyable. The excitement starts when the numbers on the dice are matched to the tables to determine the outcome of the actors' actions, encounters, descriptions, etc. In fact, there are over 500 tables, lists and charts to enjoy as you advance." Of course, it uses all the polyhedrals. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is the author’s picture on the back cover. It looks like a prep school snapshot complete with tie and matching pocket-kerchief. Alternately, the Animals & Geography book has a sultry pic of the designer in an Indiana Jones-esque outfit with popped collar. The blurb on the core book cover completes the awesome, "For the accomplishment of writing the World Action and Adventure series, five departments at San Diego State University awarded Gregory L. Kinney fifteen units of credit in five departments: English, Sociology, Zoology, Psychology, and Multi-cultural Education." Way to work the system!
 
6. GURPS (1986)
I played a lot of Melee and Wizard in grade school, buying most of the solo modules. But these games, perhaps more than any others, taught me just how bad I was at strategic play. Despite crushing losses I came away with an appreciation for point-buy fantasy systems. I even tried to grok the complexities of Advanced Melee & Wizard, as well as In The Labyrinth. I failed. Several years later, Steve Jackson hinted at a forthcoming generic system. They released Man to Man as a teaser for it. We picked it up and started playing immediately, creating a short arena-fighting/wilderness survival campaign set in Harn.
 
When the first GURPS box set came out, we jumped on. It spawned many campaigns, beginning with a pseudo-Amber cross-dimensional mess that illustrated the limits of this approach. Despite that GURPS became our go-to system for the next 18 years. Champions still handled supers and if you wanted gonzo fantasy, you went with Rolemaster. Otherwise most of our pick-up games used GURPS. We stuck with it through multiple campaigns and many iterations. We bought sourcebooks and then rebought their revised versions. We used and discarded crunchy gun combat, we tried complex build mechanics (like supers and vehicles) before dropping them, and we wrestled with the limitations of the magic system. In 2004 we wrapped up a multi-year steampunk fantasy GURPS campaign just as SJG announced a 4th edition. No one from our group besides me bothered to pick it up. Everyone else skipped it and put GURPS away. I did too after looking through.
 
Clearly GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) set the standard for Universal games. It had ambition and a determination to remain grounded in reality. GURPS abstracted that reality, but tried to remain consistent and balanced, even for the craziest of material. At base it had a 3d6 simple system you could run on the fly without the book, provided you dispensed with about 90% of the rules. I loved that, creating characters without the book was a challenge. I dug the system, but I loved the GURPS sourcebooks even more. I was addicted, buying books for genres I had no interest in and no plans on playing. I loved it when we saw cross-over volumes like GURPS Mage the Ascension, though the complexity and point inflation turned me off.
 
GURPS was also the first time I heard push-back against universal systems. They said it did nothing well, just everything OK. I never felt that way when I played, though some genres we wouldn't even attempt with it (Cyberpunk, Supers). My dropping GURPS wasn't about it not evoking some genres, it was about the rules density I wanted from my games and my greater desire for abstraction.

Picture
7. TWERPS (1987)
After GURPS gained traction, Jeff and Amanda Dee responded with their own take on generic gaming. TWERPS "The World's Easiest Role Playing System" used one stat and a profession to define characters. The zip-lock rules bag came with the tiniest d6 d10 I’d seen. TWERPS seemed like a joke, but actually sold well around here. Some bought it as a novelty and others as a way around the rules intensity of that era’s games. TWERPS wasn't a flash in the pan. The company followed it up with multiple small setting products: Kung Fu Dragons!, Space Cadets, Super Dudes, and more. A revised edition arrived in '95, done by different authors and more joke-sy while trying to offer richer genre resources.

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

Share

0 Comments

12/13/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - December 13, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
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 Hangouts

Masks: The Streets of Prospect City (Session 1 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Anthony, David Morrison, Sawyer Rankin, and Stephen
After a tumultuous year, one involving alien invasions, robot warfare, intergalactic conquerors and the fall of A.E.G.I.S, we return to Shoreline where the Spider retains their grip on Prospect City's underworld. Amidst a housing crisis, a militarized constabulary and unrest over teenage vigilantism, we meet our heroes, ranging from a weathered Beacon, a still-poisonous Reformed, a wrathful Protege and a violent Janus.

Archangel Dating Simulator
Jamila R. Nedjadi runs for David Jay and Michael G. Barford
The tarot is used to create a deep romance between an incarnated Archangel Raphael (now serving at a Butler Cafe that specializes in tea!) and Ezra, a celebrity whose star has fallen. Will the two manage to heal and find love? We also set up our next story featuring Archangel Michael!

Demigods: Mayhem on the Moors (Session 2 of 3)
Alun R. runs for Ludovico Alves, Pearl Zare, Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
In this session the Weave encounters an unlikely traffic hold-up, a forest deep in deceptions and villagers who prefer to be left alone. We meet librarian Astid Gefn's twin brother, the haughty Arcane Valentin, while Dave Deth, our Reaper, unleashes a whirlwind of power. Livia "the Golden Lily" Aurea, our Warrior demonstrates how unstoppable she is before taking a tumble, while Celestial Sophie's policing instincts find a solution to an unsolved missing person case.

Checkpoint Midnight: Magic Missile Gap (Session 2 of 3)
Alexi S. runs for Jamila R. Nedjadi, Jim Likes Games, and Leandro Pondoc
After their heist of a magic bullet, the operatives regroup at the Cafe Maria Theresa, neutral ground for supernatural beings in Vienna. Deirdre Piper, a haunted young woman, hears ghostly screams from the bullet hidden on Inna's person. Maria gets an offer to get involved in revolutionary robot politics. And Inna battles werewolf ruffians (including Nazi werewolf ruffians) in the alleys of Vienna.

Impulse Drive: Coriolis (Session 8)
Lowell Francis runs for Patrick Knowles, Rich Rogers, Sherri, and Steven desJardins
One crewmate leaves and an old friend rejoins before the ship departs for Awadhi and the legendary Sun Fan, where a Nomad Federation swarm prepare for an annual rite of passage.

Primetime Adventures: Resistance (Session 4 of 5)
Donogh runs for David Morrison, Pawel S., and Pearl Zare
A new replacement for Herr Wagner, Major Becker will take command of the anti-Resistance effort; and Etienne plans to take him out as he arrives in Calais by train. All as the Nazis plan reprisals for the attack on the hospital.

Veil Fantasy (Session 5)
Lowell Francis runs for David Morrison, Fraser Simons, and Leandro Pondoc
Obligations, moral dilemmas, betrayals, old friends, the slowly ticking clock of the city's faction struggles begin to weigh on our party, as Arklow fools a god of death, Opal prepares for the assassins, and Dantalion deepens the question of what they will be when all of this is over...

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!

Share

0 Comments

12/11/2019

AoR: History of Wild West RPGs (Part One: 1975-2001)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
I originally wrote this list back in early 2016. The Wild West rpg remains an oddity-- trying to figure out a balance between "realism" and pop media depictions. It's also potentially a deeply flawed genre with most games ignoring issues of genocide, representation, and colonialism. That's why it's refreshing that we've started to see some newer approaches. For example the recent Zorro RPG Kickstarter brought in a diverse team for stretch goals. More ambitiously, Haunted West has aimed to amplify lost roles and contributions, within the context of a weird and supernatural Old West. That's hugely exciting. 
 
SHADOW OF THE COWBOY
Why are there no good Western games? I’d seen that question posed on RPGGeek & Reddit, even "Ken & Robin Talk About Stuff" covered it. Eventually that had me hunting down Wild West rpgs to check the truth. I uncovered almost five dozen core systems, not counting revisions and new editions. Proof that the Western’s a vibrant genre? But a closer look contradicted that. The list contained many, many single-edition, flash-in-the-pan games. In the same period other genres had more releases by leaps and bounds. Just up to 2000 we see about 14 Western RPGs, but Post-Apocalyptic had about 100, Supers 60, and Horror 45. It even falls behind Steampunk, a late-comer genre, with two dozen games or genre books in that time.

Picture
But the Wild West remains a touchstone the industry returns to time and again. It has roots in miniatures and wargaming just as deeply as D&D. That echoes through many designs. Even later games often offer deeply tactical play to simulate gunfights. I remember it as a go-to genre for introductory mini games at local cons in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. The Western calls companies out, but only a few exceptional ones remains standing even a few years after they step into the street.
 
I come to this list not as a huge fan of Westerns. That always surprises me. I grew up watching older, Wild West TV shows: Have Gun Will Travel, Maverick, The Rifleman, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, and best of all Wild Wild West. But I didn’t really care for Western films, except for maybe later Eastwood movies like Pale Rider and Unforgiven. I hadn’t actually seen The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly all the way through until last week when I caught a special theatrical showing. But I bought each edition of Boot Hill, I ran Owl Hoot Trail, and I keep trying to figure out how I’d get Deadlands to the table. So maybe it's more appealing to me than I think?

HIGH NOON-ISH
I focus on printed products in the list, skipping pdf-only releases. I consider it a Wild West game if it calls itself that or walks like a duck. I focus on core books & systems (which is why something like the awesome Six Guns & Sorcery doesn’t appear). Besides LeGrog, Wikipedia, and RPGGeek, Eric Hotz’s Whitewash City helped in tracking things down. Additional Note: Some of these games have real problems with representation, especially of Native Americans. I'm leaving those issues aside for the most part. It's worth considering elsewhere.
​

Picture
1. Boot Hill (1975)
The original edition of Boot Hill offered man-to-man gunfights with miniatures. It came in a smallish booklet, the same size as early D&D products. TSR re-released relatively unchanged it in 1977. Finally in 1979 it popped up on RPG gamers’ radar. D&D had done well and TSR recognized it could create similar games for other genres. So Boot Hill became a more conventional RPG with a box set release. The new edition offered a super-thin set of rules (only 36 pages), a campaign map for Wild West hex-crawls, a city map on the reverse side, dice, and counters. But TSR opted to avoid a standardized system for their early games. D&D, Boot Hill, Gamma World, and Top Secret didn't work together, though conversions were published, including notes in the DMG.
 
Boot Hill managed to hold on for a few years. I remember picking it up and trying to play. Grade school me laughed at the town named Buffalo Chips Junction. But we ultimately discarded Boot Hill in favor of more exciting fare. TSR supported the line with a GM screen and five modules over the next few years. After being buried for a time, the company dug it up in 1990, releasing Boot Hill 3rd edition. This quadrupled the size of the rules, released as a single soft-cover. It massively retooled the system and added much more on the role-playing side, including rules for Stature as fame. TSR made a valiant attempt to bring Boot Hill up to then-current rpg standards. Ultimately this crashed and burned, with no other supplements released for the edition.
 
2. Wild West (1981)
Fantasy Games Unlimited never met a genre they didn't like. Wild West offered their box-set take on the Western, with a rulebook, map, and reference cards. It focuses on skills, a common FGU games trait. The blurb mentions players can choose from "Gambler, Lawman, Cow Hand, Outlaw, or Snake Oil Salesman." I'm not sure if those are just examples, or if the game has something like classes. Wild West claims in-depth research and accurate detail (done in only 40 pages). FGU supported the game with a single module, Trouble on Widow's Peak.

Picture
3. Desperados (1988)
Note the gap in publication years. Did I see Desperados on the shelf on my local game store? I don't remember. Companies large and small pumped out many of these small, single volume rpgs. They sat on the shelf until someone took pity or they landed in the bargain bin. I remember visiting pop-up game stores which had clearly bought a "starter store" package from the distributor. Invariably it included a handful of these ultimately forgotten rpgs. Desperados seems Skycastle Games only product product. It followed a standard approach with attributes, percentile-based skills, and hit locations. It has largely vanished down the memory hole.
 
4. Western (1989)
A Swedish game with at least two editions and several modules. Publisher Lancelot shuttered a couple of years after this release. It’s hard to find solid Info on the game, save for this: Western was complex. By that I mean deep and complicated with second-by-second resolution. As will be used several times, it employed a plastic overlay to determine hit location. The cover bears a striking resemblance to the poster for a film called Kid Vengeance. In a G+ post Olav Nygård explains, "Western is probably most famous for being really simulationist while at the same time using a crosshair that makes you more likely to hit if you aim away from your opponent. "The Swedish Roleplaying Games history site reveals that Lancelot also licensed Western to a Spanish publisher. A third edition came out in 1998, with some support. And even a fourth.
 
5. Time Drifters (1990)
An early oddball time travelling game. I'm sure most chrono games have a Wild West component or module. It's easy and evocative. (See the Jonah Hex episode of Legends of Tomorrow or Dr. Who’s “A Town Called Mercy”). But Time Drifters puts it on the front page and offers it as the only period or setting in the book. I include it here in the spirit of completeness and since many of these items are more “genre sourcebook” than full stand-alone games.

Picture
6. Outlaw (1991)
I've played a lot of Rolemaster. Westerns aren't what I think of when I reflect on that system. On the other hand there's an appeal to the lunacy of RM critical hit charts. They could easily represent the random nastiness of six-shooter wounds. But I have a hard time imagining actually playing this. Iron Crown released several products bring Rolemaster/Spacemaster to other genres. Mind you, there was no "universal" version or the system or even base, separate engine. So if you wanted to play Outlaw, you’d potentially have a ton of flipping back and forth.
 
Surprisingly the mechanics only take up the first 50+ pages of the book. We get Brave. Cowboy, Gunsligner, Private Eye, and Solder as professions, each with different skill costs. There's a stripped down list of those...followed by a page of 52 “secondary skills.” Outlaw has some interesting ideas for RM old hands, like handling explosives and gun malfunctions. However, the majority of the volume (120+ pages) presents a generic Western Sourcebook. That covers tropes, campaigns, money, a timeline, sample characters, and more. It's a decent resource and feels they wrote that and then hitched up Rolemaster to it.
 
7. Western Hero (1991)
Then we come to the Hero System version of the Wild West. You might recognize it as it's the campaign, sourcebook, and setting materials from Outlaw married to a new system. I'm unsure which game version came first. Perhaps they released simultaneously. Both mention of the back cover that you shouldn't buy this if you own the other I'm glad to see the disclaimer. Even after looking through both, I can't decide which of the two would fit the Western best. On the one hand, Hero has tactical maps and second-by-second play. It could make for a solid shoot-out board game (like Gunslinger). On the other hand, RM has colorful damage and combat, a far cry from Hero's clinical approach.
 
8. GURPS Old West (1991)
Was there something in the zeitgeist that made the Western a go-to genre in 1991? We saw a new edition of Boot Hill the previous year, and then three sourcebooks for generic systems. Old West follows the pattern of the early GURPS genre sourcebooks: material for character creation, new skills, ideas for handling special circumstances, background material, NPCs, and alternate takes on the genre. It's a decent resource for Westerns, though it offers more mechanics and stats than general material. In our area several gamers used it to run "shoot out" miniature games. The simulationist approach made that easy and objective. Almost a decade later, Steve Jackson Games revised several of their keystone genre books, including this Old West. That brought it more in line with a new approach to character templates and deepened the historical material. It also made it more useful for the GURPS Deadlands material.

Picture
9. Far West (1993)
The Spanish rpg Far West doesn't have the Spaghetti Western look I'd expect. Instead the cover has a more classic Hollywood look with "Redskins" and steely-eyed frontiersmen. It uses a stripped down version of Chaosium's Basic Role Play (BRP) with some tweaks. Far West has an interesting mechanic where you can choose to act faster (like when drawing a gun) but that speed reduces your chance of success. Though I'm unsure of how well they're treated, it apparently had a significant section on "Amerindian" cultures and options for shamanic magic. Far West went through two printings with different covers, and received several supplements: two modules (Union Gold and Spanish Ballad) and two sourcebooks (Hogan's Last Stop and Apache). Surprisingly, a new edition seems to be in the works Far West La Leyenda. Or it may already be out, the website's immune to Google Translate. That version has a new logo eerily reminiscent of Deadlands. Still the website has nice art  with a striking look.
 
10. Burros & Bandidos (1995)
I love discovering these games I’d never heard of, let alone seen. Burros & Bandidos focuses on the Mexican border during several historical periods, including the early 20th Century. That’s awesome; most Wild West games aim at the heyday of gunfighters and railroads. But the Cowboy’s wane offers different but equally interesting elements. Consider how both Once Upon a Time in the West and The Wild Bunch present that decline. The latter especially embraces a fatalism, with an ending that feels like Wild West cyberpunk session gone wrong. Burros & Bandidos had two printings- one bagged and the other in folio. Both contained several booklets, plus charts, counters, maps and more. Sierra Madre Games simultaneously released a single supplement, Frontier. It’s unclear, but B&B may have been intended to work with the company’s boardgame, Lords of the Sierra Madre. Incidentally, finding info this was complicated by the existence of a popular restaurant named “Burros and Burritos.”

Picture
11. Deadlands (1996)
Deadlands saved the Wild West. It almost came out of nowhere. Almost, as Joe Landsdale’s clearly it’s spiritual godfather with his Jonah Hex mini-series "Two Gun Mojo" & "Riders of the Worm" as well as his Razored Saddles collection. But it smartly took a decay genre and made it exciting and fun for the table- blending the Western, Steampunk, and Horror.
 
Deadlands is among the first really successful genre mash ups. Deadlands wears its gaming DNA on its sleeve. It is unabashedly a Western and a Horror game. It engages and entangles those elements at every conceivable opportunity. The genre conventions lend themselves to small groups of adventurers at the margins of society fighting back on their own terms against convention and evil.
 
Deadlands is among the best and most successful examples of "cartoony horror." It keeps the crazy, 'laughing as they bury you' energy up. GMs (or Marshals* as they're called here) can run the game tongue-in-cheek or more seriously. Read closely and you'll see Deadlands manages some truly awful horror, and over the course of the line they roped in many awesome writers. They crafted some bits worthy of Lovecraft and Le Fanu. But most groups I knew ran campaigns on the other end of the spectrum- puttin' bullets in the brainpans of zombies.
 
Yet it doesn’t ignore the Western. It takes all of those tropes and plays with them: early industrial developments, the gambler as mage, sinister Pinkertons, Native American mythology, and people driven crazy by the frontier. It’s a post-modern Western, but not in the vein of Unforgiven. Everything’s reconfigured, but the message isn’t about personal failures and moral codes, but humanity’s foolishness and the legacy of colonialism as Elder Gods. The Western tropes aren’t critiqued so much as they’re flung against the wall to see what sticks.
 
As importantly, Deadlands grabbed the reins of gaming and took off in another direction. It moved away from the twilight years of D&D and the dark and sometimes self-important atmosphere of White Wolf. Few other games brought so many cool gonzo ideas to the table and presented them in a super-accessible way. It was hugely popular among YA players looking for a way to break into rpgs. Deadlands showcases itself as dumb fun. But underneath it has some super-sharp ideas about system and setting from some of the best designers of the time.
 
12. Basic West (1997)
In the late 1990's Italian publisher Stratelibri published a series of Basic Roleplay supplements. These filled the gap as Chaosium slowed down releases of non-CoC items like Elric! supplements. The line included a new BRP core book, a Jurassic Park pastiche setting, Pharaoh's Egypt, and a licensed adaptation of the Alien universe (!). The imaginatively named West offered a slim (48 page) set of Western rules. It aims for a conventional approach with three scenarios and no rules for Native Americans. There's setting material, special rules, and additional skills for the BRP system. And of course as is appropriate in these games, detailed new rules for guns and gunfighting.

Picture
13. Werewolf: The Wild West (1997)
Oddball coincidence or enemy planning? This came out the year after Deadlands. I have to wonder what the lead time was? Did WW see the success of DL and make this the next "historical" game they put forward. Or was WtWW already in development and playtesting, making the company sigh that they hadn't beaten Pinnacle to the punch. This game garnered a couple of supplements, but eventually died out. They did produce a number of cross-over adventures for the two games. I wonder if that was the first instance of that?
 
14. The Devil's Addition (1998)
A "Choose Your Own Adventure" in the vein of Steve Jackson's Warlock of Firetop Mountain or the TSR Magic-vision modules. This is a solid book, 135 pages standard size. According to the publisher, the game contains "…four-hundred episodes, forty endings, and at least eighteen ways to bite the dust!" “Knucklerduster Interactive Adventures” uses stat+skill for resolution with d6's. The Devil's Addition takes place in Abilene with you on the trail of a dangerous outlaw. A second book, Raining Hammers: The Ballad of Johnny MacDonald dropped the following year. That has you clearing your name by bringing the real killers to justice. It’s set in the mining camps of New Mexico in 1883. Knuckleduster games shifted away from these solo rpgs to more generic Western materials a few years later. Knuckleduster Firearms Shop is a generic period weapons book, with an additional essay on the psychology of gunfighting. That's probably useful if you're into gun-love supplements. On the other hand, Knuckleduster Cowtown Creator feels like a stronger book. It’s a universal sourcebook for building Western towns and communities, clocking in at almost 300 pages. It sounds like an awesome GM resource. Cowtown Creator’s still available from the company, now called Knuckleduster Miniatures. They're clearly shifted over to the wargaming side. As we've seen before, there's a good deal of overlap between Western rpgs and miniature gaming.

Picture
15. The Legacy of Zorro (2001)
A small, 32-page complete rpg from Gold Rush Games. This landed during the company's efforts to release many different games using the Fuzion system. Interestingly GRG also had the generic Action! System going at the same time. The Legacy of Zorro came out a few years after The Mask of Zorro movie and around the time the syndicated show Queen of Swords arrived. The latter riffed on the themes, but with a female Zorro. It's neat to see some less traditional stories explored in Wild West rpgs. Zorro's still a Western, but embraces a costumed crime-fighter aesthetic. I remember watching Disney's version with Guy Williams, the dad from Lost in Space (a distinctly non-Hispanic actor). In any case, The Legacy of Zorro clearly aimed to be an introduction to role-playing, with perhaps other purposes. The back cover blurb mentions that it "Promotes story-telling & cooperation!," "Can be used to teach history!," and "Includes color cut-out figures!"

History of Wild West RPGs (Part Two: 2001-2006)
History of Horror RPGs

History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Universal RPGs

Share

0 Comments

12/6/2019

Gauntlet Video Roundup - December 6, 2019

0 Comments

Read Now
 
[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 Droids
Rich Rogers runs for Cody Eastlick, Greg G., and Joshua Gilbreath
Four droids try to protect Jabba's Palace while struggling to recover what memories they can to find their true purpose.

Gauntlet Hangouts

The Alien Dark: LV-426
Alun R. runs for Erez, Puckett, Sawyer Rankin, and Will H
A group of colonists on Archeron (LV-426) are away from the colony when a crisis takes hold and return to find... [Content warning: body horror]. The session is set in the interval between the colony going dark and the arrival of the USS Sulaco at the start of the Aliens movie and uses my hack of Cthulhu Dark (by Graham Walmsley). It is scaffolded by the new Alien Cinematic RPG from Free League Publishing. A former Colonial Marine) forced from the Corp re-discovers her mojo; a scarred former Medic is determined to put her past behind her but must, instead, confront it; a Scientist determined that Humanity should make the Frontier bloom discovers life is not so simple (and much more horrific) than he had believed; and a Weyland-Yutani Corporate on the slide sees an opportunity to resurrect his career...wait for the epilogues...

Primetime Adventures: Resistance (Session 3 of 5)
Donogh runs for David Morrison, Pawel S., and Pearl Zare
The noose tightens on the cell but they plan to cut off the head of the snake by assassinating chief officer of the Gestapo, Herr Wagner. This operation will test the mettle and loyalty of Pierre. Content warning: mass shooting (even if it's Nazis).

Demigods: Mayhem on the Moors (Session 1 of 3)
Alun R. runs for Eli S., Ludovico Alves, Rob Ruthven, and Sabine V.
In the first of 3 sessions of Demigods (from Jason Mills and currently in V2 Quickstart after a successful kickstarter campaign) we meet librarian Astid Gefn, the Arcane daughter of Freya; London cabbie Dave Deth, the Reaper son of Hel; wrestler Livia "the Golden Lily" Aurea, the Warrior daughter of Palaestra (though Hermes seems to be more interested in her); and former Police detective Sophie Fox, the Trickster daughter of Loki. We discover how they were drawn together by Fate to save local wrestling/concert (and poetry slam) venue, 'Valhalla on Earth' and how Fate has bound them into a Weave. Then, a series of unusual events convinces them that the Weave is needed on Dartmoor...

Monster of the Week: Pequosette in Winter (Session 4 of 4)
Jesse A. runs for Darold Ross, Hannah, Jex Thomas, and Sherri
In the "midseason finale" of our MotW run, we see fissues form in the breakfast club. The Samuel Church house reveals a secret, and new players emerge.

Checkpoint Midnight: Magic Missile Gap (Session 1 of 3)
Alexi S. runs for Jamila R. Nedjadi, Jim Likes Games, and Joe Zantek
We meet our cast of supernatural operatives in Cold War Vienna as they attempt a daring heist at the Belvedere. Inna Morozovya, the Rusalka on the CIA's leash, floods a bathroom and spies on a shady Russian holding a magic bullet. Maria, the naïve Automaton, has a heart-to-heart with a henchman to find his hidden depths. And Marguerite Tone, the slinky Matagot, trades catty barbs with a rival and crawls through a ventilation shaft to steal the prize.

Veil Fantasy (Session 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alun R., David Morrison, Fraser Simons, and Leandro Pondoc
Dantalion sees horrors, Arklow crafts a tautological sword, Damsa reads a diary, and everything goes wrong when Opal confronts her ex-lover, revealing many hidden truths.

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!

Share

0 Comments

12/5/2019

From The Darkness

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
By Blake Ryan

In the popular game Minecraft, areas of darkness (at night and underground) spawn monsters. The idea of a simple environmental condition creating creatures or even problems got me thinking…

You can use some change in the environment to create an ongoing problem, either small or large in scope, and a temporary period of time or from that moment on. These can be used for any game with supernatural elements, but I shall give examples for Monsterhearts, Urban Shadows and Monster of the Week.

As you will see this is an escalation to the ‘normal situation’, but does not have to dominate the entire game play. However, this can be used as the starting incident for what made the characters unusual in the first place-what made them different from regular folks. Thus it may serve as the start of a campaign rather than an escalation for season 2. It should prove to be a more hazardous journey for PC’s and provide additional options for MC’s.

Suggested Inciting Incidents 
  • Halley’s Comet – March 1986.
  • Huge solar flare – August 1998.
  • Mayan Calendar change of epoch – 21st December 2012.
  • Super Blood Wolf Moon – 21st January 2019.
The inciting incident may be all over the news, completely ignored by most, or heralded by the Aware, the Witch and the Spooky.

Suggested Changes to the situation
  • Any – One NPC contact per Character either inverts their goals or loses virtues/positive personality traits. 
  • Monsterhearts – When you gain a String, an NPC has a vision and learns one of your secrets. MC chooses the NPC, PC chooses the secret. 
  • Monsterhearts – When you go Darkest self, you create a monster in some way. A poltergeist, a familiar or even a clone (who is not yours to control).
  • Urban Shadows – One faction starts a Join or else! recruiting drive.
  • Urban Shadows – If you Let it out, a rival faction starts looking for someone who owes you a debt, and you dream of it/read it in a fortune cookie.
  • Monster of the Week – Monsters literally spawn in the lightless areas. They don’t have to be huge or powerful, but it will build up quickly.
  • Monster of the Week – Monsters of the same type start developing hive mind. First feelings and visual impressions, then two way speech over long distances.​

Picture
Suggested Duration for the Dark Times
  • Until the end of the season (3 month period).
  • Monsterhearts - Until all of the PCs have gone Darkest Self.
  • Urban Shadows - Until every PC has a Corruption move, or until one of them comes back as a threat.
  • Until each of the Characters have overcome a personal challenge keyed to their fears or goals.
  • Monster of the Week - Until the next Solar Eclipse (3rd October 1986, 16th February 1999, 10th May 2013, 26th December 2019 respectively)
  • From now on, this is the new dark era.

Possible Side Effects
  • Any – Lycanthropes or Fae change scent, all animals will find you new or alarming.
  • Monsterhearts – When you Gaze into the Abyss, hundreds of insects and arachnids gather around you.
  • Urban Shadows – Your shadow now shows your true nature, either under certain conditions or constantly.
  • Monster of the Week – When you Use Magic/Big Magic, your skin is magnetized. 
  • Any – A new Storm/Threat cult of the darkness comes to the area. They feast on fear, removing it from the victims, causing them to be increasingly reckless.

These options can be used to meddle with expectations for experienced players, or to give a through line for regular campaigns. 

Share

0 Comments

12/4/2019

AoR: Superhero RPGs (Part One: 1978-1982)

0 Comments

Read Now
 
Picture
Superhero games have always been near and dear to my heart. When I started this series, I thought I had a decent handle on the games out there, but every installment surprised me with something new. The Gauntlet Hangouts initiative, Gauntlet Comics, has embraced many different superhero rpgs as well as non-supes adapted for a superhuman universe. 

SECRET ORIGINS
Over the decades I’ve run serious and extended campaigns in a half-dozen superhero systems. This weekend I pulled together all of the core books I had for different superhero games. I ended up with twenty-eight: from Aberrant to Wild Talents. And that’s just hard copies - I have many more in electronic format. And that’s just core books not the secondary material: citybooks, villain books, modules, alternate settings, WW2 books, power guides, and so on. Honestly if you told me I couldn’t run Fantasy games anymore, I’d turn to superheroes. I’ve done some of my favorite work in that genre - exploring themes and ideas more concretely than in many other games.
 
Yet superhero games still feel like more work to me. I’m a fairly improvisational GM, sketching perhaps a few pages of notes for a session and spinning off previous work for many sessions. When I run a supers game, on the other hand, I dig in. I feel obligated to generate the news, to come up with colorful secondary characters ahead of time, and to develop fully-fleshed mysteries. I don’t want a supers game to be just about the fights - I want something more. But I want spectacle. At heart I’m still a kid getting up early Saturday morning to watch the Superfriends despite having seen the episode many times.

Picture
YEAR ONE
Today kicks off another History of RPG’s series. In the past I’ve covered Samurai RPGs, Horror RPGs, and Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs. I’ll be aiming for a weekly release, but we’ll see how that goes. Each list will cover a small slice of time, beginning at the dawn of supers gaming. In past lists, I’ve focused solely on core books and covered each game with a single edition. This time for most of the game lines I’m mentioning each of the major revisions and editions. Hopefully I’ll provide some sense of what shifted between them. I’ve also decided to cover some distinct supplements - third party material and campaign books which offer a striking set of new options or ideas. Generally I’m only including published material - print or otherwise. I’ve left off freebie or self-published games unless I think they’re really important.
 
I’ll  try to provide some context for the superhero material happening in popular culture at the same time. For this first list I had a hard time finding official stats for which comics had dominance. It does include Byrne and Clarmont’s run on X-Men and Miller on Daredevil. This period does include the release of Superman I &II, Swamp Thing, and Condorman. On TV we had Spiderman and His Amazing Friends, the Dr. Strange movie, and The Incredible Hulk.
 
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 1978-1982). I've arranged these by year and then alphabetically within that year.

Picture
1. Superhero 2044 (1978)
If you have a chance you should take a look at this game. I know I "played" it, but looking back I'm not sure I can actually see what the system is. Not that I can't figure it out, but I don't think there's actually a game system here. For one thing, though you make up and play superheroes you have no rules for superpowers. You define an archetype and assign points to stats, but that's about it. It has some charts and odd resolution mechanics (like a Stamina Modifiers table).
 
But at the time it generated a world of ideas for me. I don't think at the time I got the actual setting of the game - a future sci-world with supers (hence the title year). Probably the coolest thing in the game was a whole set of rules for playing a solo game. It included a time planning worksheet, rules for patrolling, random crimes table, and details for dealing with litigation. More than anything though, it showed that you could do supers in an rpg and pushed forward other games. Point-Based (sort of). No super powers system. Various dice.
 
2.  Villains & Vigilantes (1st Edition) (1979)
Sitting in the back room of the first incarnation of the Griffon Bookstore my friend and I "played" S2044. At the same time I could hear my sister's group playing a new game - one with an actual resolution system, defined powers, and the real feel of comic books. I remember having my first pangs of edition wars, wanting the game I played to be better, to win. But soon enough I begged my parents for a copy of V&V and rolled up my first character. Five powers: Heightened Constitution, Claws, Darkness Control, Regeneration, and Revivification. The bringing people back from the dead seemed like a loser power to 10 year-old me, but that's what I rolled.
 
As opposed to S2044, V&V went generic, with almost no discussion of a specific world or setting. It assumed you knew what a comic book game would look like. The visuals from Jeff Dee and Pete Matthews echoes the look of hotter properties of the time: Grell's Legion of Superheroes, Cockrum's X-Men, and even Simonson's Manhunter. V&V 1e echoed conventional games - with stats and levels complimented by random power tables. The combat system relied on a full-page matrix table, comparing attack power to defense power. Beyond that I can't remember how the system worked. V&V 2e completely blotted out my memory of this version since it cleaned things up so well.  Random Powers. Level-Based. Various Dice.

Picture
3.  Supergame (1980)
A game I never heard of until I began this research. It seems to have been an adaptation/rip-off of Superhero 2044 with more details and numbers. RPG Talk has an interesting overview on it. More fascinating is the comment from a playtester on RPG Net. He talks about the couple who wrote the game and the investment they had in their 'rules vision'. They apparently put out a couple of supplements for the game as well. Different Worlds #23 has an article from the designers. As a sidebar, Christian Lindke has a great article looking at DW #23. That issue has a strong focus on superhero games of the time, including a survey of the genre at that moment in 1982. You should check out his write-up here. Point-based. Various dice.
 
4. Champions (First Edition) (1981)
Villains & Vigilantes dominated superhero roleplaying in our neck of the woods. Then came Champions. It quickly spread among the gaming groups, even those who hadn't been playing superhero games. A new generation of players latched on to it. In my post on Champions in general, I mention the split it created: between those who wanted a looser, more story-driven game and those who wanted detailed four-color combat. But more than that Champions empowered players in a way few other games had.
 
Champions changed roleplaying games. Yes, Melee and Wizard had offered point-build characters first, but Champions completely reworked that approach. You could build anything you wanted, because it worked at an atomic level. In theory, anything could be modeled within the system, not just characters. It set off long sessions of players talking and trying to figure out how you could construct X, Y, or Z character. It gave GMs a concrete benchmark for the opposition, for better or worse. The system worked really well right out of the gate - I think we forget how solid and complete this complex game was right away in the first edition. It also gave us the first Villains book, with Enemies and started to build its own distinct supers universe. Champions II & Champions III: Another Super Supplement expanded the skill rules, increased the number of powers, and added base-building. Point-based. d6-based

Picture
5. Crimefighters (1981)
It can be argued that superheroes came out of a tradition of pulp heroes. Many of these existed as gentlemen adventurers, with roots in Victorian literature. Eventually masked or costumed heroes would emerge, with the Shadow as the best known. This complete game came in an early issue of the Dragon. I remember reading it one summer, along with a stack of Doc Savage novels I'd taken with me on vacation at my grandparents in Kansas. I loved the concept of the game and made up many characters, but never actually played it.
 
Crimefighters is impressive for an add-in to a magazine. At 22 pages it has all the rules necessary for a masked crimefighter game, including an adventure and a page of notes on the genre. Excellent art by Dee and Willingham make it a complete package. The game system itself is fairly basic. Players roll percentiles for their six stats (seven actually since Accuracy's measure for left and right hands). Then they can spend points based on those stats for Mental and Agility skills. These skills are a mix of traditional skills and special abilities - like climbing, aerial flips, and archaeological. Players have a 5% chance to have a mysterious power as well, of which there are ten. The whole thing feels very old school. It does have a few interesting bits - with certain character types gaining more of less experience based on their actions (Pragmatist, Defender, Avenger). Players also roll for contacts who can offer special kinds of info during a case. Random powers. Level-based. Various dice.
 
6. Daredevils (1982)
Growing up I developed a wariness about some FGU games. I'd been told they had complicated mechanics, dense rules, and detailed bits. I lumped together Space Opera, Aftermath!, Skull & Crossbones, and Chivalry & Sorcery in that category. But I loved reading Doc Savage novels and so when I had some extra bucks I picked up Daredevils and tried to read it. Much as I would later do with Bushido, I tried to grok this system but never really got it. It had some seriously crunchy bits, but more the order of presentation and layout worked against the game.
 
Is it a superhero game? Yes, in the broader definition of that I mentioned above. Like many pulp genre rpgs it goes all over the map - from Raiders to Marlowe to Movie Reel Horror to The Shadow. To that end it offers five pages of optional rules to cover mysterious masked heroes with unusual powers. Daredevils has players roll to see how many points they get to spend on powers. Each power has a distinct cost, but the GM may also allow players to acquire them randomly later in play. The game only provides a dozen powers, plus different forms of enhancement to each of the seven "talent" areas. Random and point-based. d6, d10, d20 dice.

Picture
7. Supervillains (1982)
 A game I remember seeing on the game store shelf, but never picked up. It straddled the line between board game and rpg so I wasn't sure what it actually was. That's a little strange given that I loved TFG Games like Intruder and Spellbinder. It offers rules for making characters, but primarily exists as a game for running fights between superbeings from preset scenarios using counters and a map. Beyond that, I'm unsure how this game operated.
 
8.  Superworld (1982)
I remember the big push by Chaosium in the early 1980s, getting a number of different games out on the market, all built on the Basic Roleplaying engine. I loved Stormbringer and some of the other systems, but I skipped on Worlds of Wonder when it hit shelves in 1982. That contained Future World, Magic World, and Superworld. I'm not sure what made me take a pass on it - perhaps thinking that Champions already offered the best game. I was already a stupid game snob by that point. At least in part I was suspicious of a superhero game being dropped in on top of another game engine.
 
Strangely later that same year Chaosium released an expanded and independent version of Superworld (but not the others). This boxed set includes a 32-page character creation book, 40-page powers book, and 40-page GM book. It uses the BRP system with powers added on. Players roll their seven characteristics individually; they then can spend that total on powers. Superworld pays homage to Champions in several places here. Effects define powers (Snare, Supermove), limitations and advantages modify costs, and powers require energy to use. There's some interesting material here - particularly in the campaign section. The game got an expansion with the Superworld Companion in 1984. It also appears in some of the multi-system modules of the era: Bad Medicine for Dr. Drugs and Trouble For HAVOC.

Picture
9. Villains & Vigilantes (2nd Edition) (1982)
I have a copy of this in my hands now, a rare treat, but when the second edition (called "Revised") came out I scoffed. V&V was dead, man - Champions had put it in its grave. Why bring back a dead game - where you rolled your powers? It felt like a cheap money grab. I put off buying the boxed set but eventually I came into a copy that sat on my shelf. Until I met Gene Ha - who loved V&V 2e dearly. For several classes in high school we sat at the back with Gene running a V&V campaign on the fly - one with weird extra-dimensional corporations and highly detailed graphics. I ended up lifting many of his concepts for later campaigns. But more importantly I came to appreciate V&V.
 
The revised edition cleaned up many problems and its actually a model of economy system-wise. FGU would put out many modules over the following years, but they never released a "companion" or "expansion." This game stood well enough on its own. It also showcases some of Jeff Dee's best work - stuff which sticks with me. Its only 48 pages long and very old school. Roll stats, roll powers, figure hit points and like details. Combat still uses an attack vs. defense matrix, but much reduced. Players roll a d20 under a modified target # to hit. The actual mechanics only take up about 2/3rds of the book. it does use one of my least favorite mechanics: players can have different #s of actions without any kind of balancing mechanic. Still it remains a solid example of old-school gaming. It ended up vying for dominance in our groups for years. If you didn't want the math of Champions and hoped for a pick-up game, you went with V&V. Random powers. Level-based. Various dice.
 
History of Superhero RPGs (Part One: 1978-1982)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Two: 1983-1985)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Three: 1986-1992)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Four: 1993-1996)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Five: 1997-1998)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Six: 1999-2001)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Seven: 2002-2003)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Eight: 2004-2005)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Nine: 2006-2007)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Ten: 2008)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Eleven: 2009)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Twelve: 2010)
History of Superhero RPGs (Part Thirteen 2011-2012)
​The Year in Superhero RPGs 2013: Part One: Action Galaxy to Man-Made Mythology
The Year in Superhero RPGs 2013: Part Two The Mighty Six to Triumphant!
​
The Year in Superhero RPGs 2014
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Universal RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs

Share

0 Comments
Details

    Categories

    All
    Actual Play
    Adventure Starters
    Age Of Ravens
    Community Hacks
    Design Diaries
    Dungeon World
    Events
    FitD
    G+ Archives
    GMing Advice
    Monsterhearts
    PbtA
    Photo Galleries
    Podcast Transcripts
    Session Report
    Signal Boost
    Slack Chats
    Slack Spotlights
    Urban Shadows
    Video Roundup
    WoDu

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
    • The Gauntlet Podcast
    • Discern Realities
    • +1 Forward >
      • Belonging Outside Belonging Series
    • Fear of a Black Dragon
    • The Farrier's Bellows
    • Trophy Podcast
    • Pocket-Sized Play
    • We Hunt the Keepers!
    • Comic Strip AP
    • Podcast Indexes >
      • Gauntlet Podcast Index
      • Fear of a Black Dragon Index
      • +1 Forward Index
      • Discern Realities Index
      • Trophy Podcast Index
      • The Farrier's Bellows Index
      • Pocket-Sized Play Index
      • Comic Strip AP Index
      • We Hunt the Keepers! Index
  • Publications
    • Codex Magazine
    • Hearts of Wulin
    • Trophy RPG
    • Codex Volume 1 Book
  • Online Gaming
    • Playing Online with The Gauntlet
    • Gauntlet Calendar
    • Gauntlet Community Open Gaming
    • Online Gaming Resources
  • Community Resources
    • Community Code of Conduct
    • Gauntlet Gameway
    • Play Issues and Contact
  • Trophy Gold Incursion Contest