by Michael G. Barford, Keeper of the Eternal Chime This series of articles will serve as an introduction to the participants of the September 2018 round of Mandatory Fun Club. These Gauntleteers are preparing to start offering fresh events for Gauntlet Hangouts; be on the lookout for their games! Hello Agatha! Welcome to Mandatory Fun Club! My first question for you is: How did you hear about the Gauntlet community? Through the venerable Gauntlet podcast 😉 What kind of experience do you have facilitating TTRPGs? I've run 2 Powered by the Apocalypse games and facilitated a game of Microscope so far. What kind of experience do you have playing TTRPGs online? Tons! Been playing through them obsessively on the Gauntlet ever since I joined at the beginning of this year. What made you decide to jump in and start facilitating games for Gauntlet Hangouts? There are games I want to play, so I had to bring them to the table. Tell us about the game you're planning to facilitate for MFC! Why did you choose it? It's called Downfall, a GM-less game of world creation and destruction seen through the eyes of its 3 protagonists. I chose it because it's GM-less so there's less onus on me as the facilitator and because I wanted to play it. What other games would you be interested in facilitating for Gauntlet Hangouts in the future?
Masks, Bubblegumshoe Is there anything non-gaming-related that you'd like people to know about you? I'm a co-host of Asians Represent! A podcast celebrating Asian creators and looking at Asian themes in analogue games. Where can people go to hear more from you? My Twitter handle is @aznsrepresent
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by Michael G. Barford, Keeper of the Eternal Chime This series of articles will serve as an introduction to the participants of the September 2018 round of Mandatory Fun Club. These Gauntleteers are preparing to start offering fresh events for Gauntlet Hangouts; be on the lookout for their games! Hello Ryan! Welcome to Mandatory Fun Club! My first question for you is: How did you hear about the Gauntlet community? I first heard about the Gauntlet community by listening to Discern Realities. It was the summer of 2017, and, in a matter of days, I’d gone through the entire catalog. I was hooked! So, I started listening to +1 Forward, the Gauntlet Podcast, and Fear of a Black Dragon. After that, becoming a member on Patreon was a no-brainer. What kind of experience do you have facilitating TTRPGs? I don’t have much experience facilitating TTRPGs – which is one of the reasons that I jumped at Mandatory Fun Club! Back in the 90s, I ran some AD&D, Vampire: The Masquerade, and Shadowrun. Then, for a couple of decades, I didn’t run or play anything. Over the past few years, I’ve started back up again, usually running PbtA stuff (Dungeon World, Urban Shadows, Epyllion). What kind of experience do you have playing TTRPGs online? Like facilitating, I don't have much experience playing TTRPGs online. Aside from some play-by-post, all my experience comes from Gauntlet Hangouts. I’ve had some very generous facilitators (David Rothfeder, Mikael Tysvær, Richard Ruane, Maxime Lacoste, Christo Meid), as well as fellow players (too many to list – you know who you are), welcome me to the Gauntlet community. Not to mention Michael G. Barford, who has put together a motley crew for MFC. I’m indebted to you all! What made you decide to jump in and start facilitating games for Gauntlet Hangouts? I decided to start facilitating games for Gauntlet Hangouts for a couple of reasons. One, I don’t get many chances to do it, and, when I do, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but running games is fun! Two – this will sound cheesy, but I really do mean it – the Gauntlet community is awesome, and I want to do whatever I can to support it. Tell us about the game you're planning to facilitate for MFC! Why did you choose it? I’m embarrassed to write this, but I chose to facilitate Urban Shadows for MFC because I’m lazy. I was already preparing to run it for Magpie Games at Gen Con, and I figured I could run it again for MFC without too much effort. Did I mention I’m also running it for Gauntlet Con? Laziness aside, it’s an awesome game that takes me back to playing Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, and all that WoD goodness! What other games would you be interested in facilitating for Gauntlet Hangouts in the future? I’ve got a hard drive full of games that I’ve backed on Kickstarter, and I’d love to facilitate any one of them for Gauntlet Hangouts! I’m always down for running PbtA stuff. AND … I’ve got a kernel of an idea for a signature event (Philosophy Fridays) that I hope will germinate and grow and see the light of day in the not-too-distant future. Is there anything non-gaming-related that you'd like people to know about you?
Here are three non-gaming-related things about me. One (taking a page from Jim Crocker’s MFC Spotlight), I turned 39 years old last month, and this month marks 17 years as a vegetarian. Two, I live in Knoxville, TN, with my brilliant, beautiful, all-around-awesome wife, and our two dogs. Three, I get paid to teach philosophy using TTRPGs (okay, that one is gaming-related, but I’m proud of it, sorry!). Where can people go to hear more from you? If you want to hear more for me, I’ve got the usual social media presence: https://twitter.com/DR_W_UT https://www.facebook.com/ryan.windeknecht I’ve also got a crappy blog, which I haven’t updated in years. But, maybe if I talk about it, I’ll actually start updating it! https://ryan-windeknecht.squarespace.com/ by Michael G. Barford, Keeper of the Eternal Chime This series of articles will serve as an introduction to the participants of the September 2018 round of Mandatory Fun Club. These Gauntleteers are preparing to start offering fresh events for Gauntlet Hangouts; be on the lookout for their games! Hello David! Welcome to Mandatory Fun Club! My first question for you is: How did you hear about the Gauntlet community? Through another podcast. It's been so long that I can't remember which one now. What kind of experience do you have facilitating TTRPGs? I've facilitated many TTRPGs off and on for about three decades, most recently indie and story games primarily. What kind of experience do you have playing TTRPGs online? I've been playing TTRPGs online over seven years. Amber Diceless, Mouse Guard, Smallville, Monster of the Week and Urban Shadows (Gauntlet UK), Blades in the Dark, Legend of the Elements (Gauntlet Hangouts), and a number of other games, including several playtests. What made you decide to jump in and start facilitating games for Gauntlet Hangouts? I wanted to give back to the amazing community. Tell us about the game you're planning to facilitate for MFC! Why did you choose it? Armageddon Accelerated is a game about souls given a second chance at life by working as agents of HALO for The Powers That Be to prevent The End Times. Agents are souls bonded to angel mech vessels, who are assigned to investigate vice crimes, stop soul trafficking, battle demons, and save humanity from itself. The game is powered by Fate Accelerated. The adventure I'm running, Miami Viceroy, is inspired by Miami Vice and takes place in the mid-80s, in Miami, Florida. What other games would you be interested in facilitating for Gauntlet Hangouts in the future?
I'll be running this game again during Gauntlet Con, along with NightMirror (a kind of Penny Dreadful gothic horror RPG with tarot cards). In addition there are many games I would be interested in facilitating, including but not limited to: Amber Diceless, Firefly (based on the TV show, Cortex Plus Action), Blood & Violence (travel fantasy story game), Epyllion (baby dragons, PbtA), Dark Well (cosmythological thriller), War of Ashes: Fate of Agaptus (Fate Accelerated), Gone or Snapped (coping with loss, story game), Star Wars: Force & Destiny, Feudal Fairy World (fantasy sengoku or Camelot, PbtA), Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies (alt-fantasy, PDQ#), Vigilance (Robocop meets Late Bronze Age Mythology as Living Laws), Masks: A New Generation (young super heroes, PbtA), Dogs in the Vineyard, Space Station Omega (War & Peace in Space like B5, ST:DS9, BSG, or The Expanse, Cortex Prime). Is there anything non-gaming-related that you'd like people to know about you? I'm a designer, marketer, instructor, and small business and startup consultant. Also, co-founder of Corridor Games on Demand. Where can people go to hear more from you? https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DavidMiesslerKubanek by Michael G. Barford, Keeper of the Eternal Chime This series of articles will serve as an introduction to the participants of the September 2018 round of Mandatory Fun Club. These Gauntleteers are preparing to start offering fresh events for Gauntlet Hangouts; be on the lookout for their games! Hello Jim! Welcome to Mandatory Fun Club! My first question for you is: How did you hear about the Gauntlet community? I went looking for APs of the Star Trek Adventures RPG and found Lowell's run on The Gauntlet, which caused me to look at other stuff they were doing and here I am. What kind of experience do you have facilitating TTRPGs? I've been playing and running for 40ish years, 25 of them in game stores where I ran multiple games a week and introduced literally thousands of people to gaming between that and helping start Origins Games on Demand. What kind of experience do you have playing TTRPGs online? You're soaking in it! What made you decide to jump in and start facilitating games for Gauntlet Hangouts?
I love running games, and the Gauntlet has proven to be a Community that shares basically everything I value in gaming. It was the entirely logical next step for me here. Tell us about the game you're planning to facilitate for MFC! Why did you choose it? I got to play Velvet Glove with the designer [Sarah Richardson] in an early version and totally loved it. I have a scenario I tested at Camp Nerdly and it went really well. I also noticed there wasn't an online character sheet, so I made one to go with my game so that other folks might want to run it too! PBTA games are great first sessions because of the shared narrative creation, and I'm really comfortable with my ability to facilitate them, so it was an all-around great fit. What other games would you be interested in facilitating for Gauntlet Hangouts in the future? I'm part of the shared-author setting The Gaunt Marches, so I'll definitely be running plenty of Dungeon World (I've got my first game ready to go for Gauntlet Con, in fact!) Beyond that I'm hoping to run a few more 'tradindle' type games, maybe Gumsoe and Cortex, possibly Star Trek, in addition to PBTA stuff. There's not nearly enough superhero gaming on the Gauntlet, and I'm hoping to make an impact there in particular. Is there anything non-gaming-related that you'd like people to know about you? I'm turning 50 this October, which will mark 29 years as a vegetarian. It's both terrifying and exhilarating to be facing the back half of my life in a hobby opening itself fully to youth culture and new modes of thought about everything from gender to how we play. I love and fear it! Where can people go to hear more from you? I tweet at @jimlikesgames, and I sell indie/small press RPGs at dozens of conventions as Jim Likes Games, LLC, and I'm me, Jim Crocker (he/him) on The Gauntlet. Say hello! Our Slack Spotlight series features short interviews with active members of our Slack channel.
Will Patterson: Jennifer, how long have you been part of the Gauntlet, and what brought you in initially? Jennifer Erixon: Gosh, well, I played my first Gauntlet games at the end of December 2016. I played a halfling druid in a dungeon world game that was gmed by Daniel Lugo. It was great, and I got to reject my god for lying to me, which led to Daniel posting something really nice about me and making me feel all warm and cuddly. I don't know exactly how I got into the Gauntlet. I booted up my g+ account maybe two years ago, and started following random people who had made stuff. I lurked for a long while, mostly on the Dungeon World tavern. I was obsessed with DW. Some background: At the time I was living in an agricultural intentional community serving adults with developmental disabilities in eastern Pennsylvania. Sometime in december of 2014 I played warrior rogue mage (WRM) with a guy who was dating one of the dairy farmers, then the next Thanksgiving she ran a WRM game based on the Odyssey. I played Penelope, Odysseus's wife. I had a magic loom which I used to make magic rope to sort of swing the boat away from Charybdis. It was great. I had played some 4e way back in the day, but this reawakened my need for games, and I devoured the One Shot podcast. I lived without internet in my house at the time, so i would download podcasts in the mansion house and then listen to them in my spare time. I read so many rulebooks, spent what little money was in my stipend on pdfs, and eventually joined up with g+. After lurking in the tavern for a bit I learned of stonetop and got into a playtest group. I loved the concept. Ari Black was the gm, Christo Meid was the fox, I was the blessed, and we had a heavy. It was a lot of fun, and I realized how much I loved just being my character, being a character that cared about fictional things. Like, I felt that I truly was this daughter of Danu, and all the while, I was basically hiding in public places that had wifi in the village where I lived and worked. Working the dairy and milking the cows was a lonely profession, and having a social and creative outlet was so necessary to my survival. No one in the village could ever commit to any f2f games because we were all so tired or busy. Stonetop was the beginning. What’s funny is now I am in a playtest group run by Jeremy Strandberg, and playing alongside Christo again, with Jason Lutes and Michael Prescott rounding out the roster. It’s fucking great. So eventually that original Stonetop group began to fall apart, and Christo went to the Gauntlet, (which is probably how I heard of the Gauntlet), but I didn't really hit my stride in the community until the World of Dungeons (WoDu) series Songs of Bellet Osc and then Apocalypse World 2e both run by Jason Cordova. I learned a lot about my playstyle, and it was a crash course in good GMing from the master of all ceremonies, games, and dungeons. Is DW still your favorite game? No, not really. Around the time I got into the Gauntlet I was really getting heavy into some OSR goodness. There is lots of awesome stuff in the OSR community. I have been following Macchiato Monsters for a long time. I love the way it has evolved and I am really looking forward to the final game being released. Into the Odd is another favorite of mine, Maze Rats is lovely, and Ilike a lot of the content put out by Evelyn M and Trey Causey. I find that, ironically, some of the rules light OSR games have fewer mechanics and therefore more narrative freedom. I found that when I tried playing DW with some of my fellow village dwellers, they seemed so crippled by their character sheets. It was unintuitive to them, and unless you’re like me, you don't have the time to sit and read a whole bunch of rules. That's one reason WoDu has become my favorite game for genre stories. It’s easily hackable, being only a page in length. It’s a lot like WRM without all the fiddly bits, but informed by an Apocalypse World sensibility. I have made a retro sci-fi hack of WoDu, and am currently running a f2f game of an Into the Odd/Electric Bastionland hack of WoDu, which is working wonderfully. It’s sounds like you are all in on the hobby. What drew you in originally? Well, so I had always been a sort of fantasy and folklore nut. I remember once when I was in high school I found the 3.5 monster manual or whatever it was called back then, but it was full of numbers and not enough illustrations. I thought it was a folklore book about the history of different monsters, but it wasn't. At the time I was into folklore and mythology hardcore. I mean I still am, I still dream of owning a library just filled with folklore and being able to recite my favorite fairy tales by heart like a proper crone. Fantasy was sort of a big deal when I was younger. Harry Potter was my whole childhood. I saw the first movie for my 11th birthday. LOTR also came out that year and I got obsessed. The Eragon books also came out around that time, and I loved the His Dark Materials series and Abarat. I remember one time when I was maybe ten dragging my mom into a store with a wizard on it or some such but it was wiccan and that was boring. My family also went to ren fests all the time. Anyway, in high school I got into video games like no one's business. Final Fantasy and Elder Scrolls in particular, which are both basically DnD clones with graphix, and also Fable. That fantasy vein ran in my mind, but I had still not really heard of DnD. In college, that changed. I fell in with a group of arty nerdy folks and we did everything. We watched anime, we played video games, and some of us made an in character craigslist ad to play in DnD 4e. We played a few sessions of Keep on the Shadowfell. It was fun, and new and exciting, but man combat lasted forever. My favorite moment was when my halfling warlock, half mad from the star pact, entered a room full of skeletons, killed them all in one swift move, and came out with a witty comeback for the rest of the party. Then we did a few sessions of a film noir/pulp adventure in d20 modern, and a Zelda pbp, a 4e game that went terribly in Iowa City and pissed people off due to different expectations, but it sort of petered out for me. I was more interested in getting myself involved in the local poetry, art, and political scenes to get too involved with nerdiness outside of a few board games or card games. It wasn’t until 2014 that I hooked myself with that WRM game I talked about earlier. You’ve had a fairly broad background in the hobby, which brings me to one of my favorite questions. Imagine your perfect game night. What game are you playing, and are you the GM or a PC? Aw jeeze, how cruel of you! This question is completely unfair! I suppose I really have no idea, right? The game rules are not what is important to me. I think my perfect game night would be a night full of emotions. I want to feel sad, happy, scared, and excited. I want to laugh and cry. I want to feel something and tell a good story. I want to come away affected by the game I have played. Whether I am the GM or player, it doesn't matter. I have never had that experience as a GM yet, but I feel like it’s where I want to be, to be able to have that experience and facilitate that experience for my players. That is beautiful Jennifer. I we get a chance to play at the same table in the future. Thank you for sharing some time with us. Our Slack Spotlight series features short interviews with active members of our Slack channel.
Michael G. Barford: Hey Maria, thanks for taking the time to chat with me today. You've been with the Gauntlet for a while now; what drew you to it? Maria Rivera: That is a two-fold story. I was working on Heroes and Crystal Kingdoms, and I saw that one of the upcoming Codex entries was Crystal-themed. So I hit Jason [Cordova] up, and he was happy to include it in the zine. More importantly, however, Christo Meid, another member of the Gauntlet, was looking for players for Urban Shadows one night and I decided to play with that group. I was impressed by the solid play and was promptly drawn in. Can you tell me a little more about Heroes and Crystal Kingdoms? That is my hack of Slade Stolar's The Indie Hack for having a job system in the style of Final Fantasy and Bravely Default. I'm currently working on making a World of Dungeons version, which might be playtested at Gauntlet Con. What are your greatest sources of inspiration for your game design work? Wait, game design? I just want to play games, and when certain niches don't exist, one has to make them. I guess that's technically game design, ha ha. Ha ha, fair enough! You mentioned Final Fantasy and Bravely Default—in what ways do you think that tabletop RPGs can benefit from incorporating elements of video games into their systems? Oh, damn... It's all game design, isn't it? I think that with a light touch it works very well. Get inspiration from the video game, it's just another art form, right? The one thing I would caution against is trying to emulate the video game itself exactly. As far as I know, and don't quote me on this, because I'm no expert, a lot of RPG adaptations of video games fall into the trap of doing that, so the game ends up being near unplayable at a table. I would just treat video games as another source of inspiration, like books or movies. You're an avid participant in Gauntlet Hangouts, both running and playing. What was your introduction to the hobby? That was in middle school. I went to a toy library regularly, and they had RPGs. My first few games were Aquelarre, Vampire: the Masquerade, and a few homebrews... This was in Spain, mind you. I don't think introducing RPGs to tweens via Aquelarre and Vampire is as much of a thing in the United States, ha ha. Probably not, ha ha. What games are on your radar presently? Do you mean currently play or want to play? For the former, I generally enjoy PbtA games. For the latter, I want to play more OSR/DIY stuff like The Black Hack, Into the Odd, or Troika! It seems like a lot of the games you're interested in, from PbtA to OSR, embrace the spirit of DIY. From your experience with hacking games, what advice would you give to people who are thinking about "making a game their own?" Once you bring a game to the table, it is already your own. Sure, the rules are still the same as in the book, but the experience you and your fellow players bring is your own. As far as actually hacking a game goes, make the game you want to play. I'd like to end this interview with Stars and Wishes, if that's okay with you. What's a recent accomplishment that you're particularly proud of, and what's something you're hoping to achieve in the near future? I want to give myself a Star for being interviewed here, ha ha. My Wish is to bring that Gauntlet vibe to GenCon! Thanks again for sharing, Maria. See you around the Slack! Maria Rivera is a Latina Gauntleteer who has run different games like Godbound, Urban Shadows, and Battle Between the Worlds. She has written Heroes and Crystal Kingdoms and The Rubble of Chirhominar's Sanctum, the latter found in Codex - Storm. She is also a star nerd, to a degree. She is on Twitter @Thoobn, and you can also find her running for Magpie Games at GenCon 2018 and helping organize Gauntlet Con 2018. Our Slack Spotlight series features short interviews with active members of our Slack channel.
Will Patterson: Thanks for speaking with me Matt. I understand that you just joined the Gauntlet. What brought you in? Matt Hayles (@mathayles): I'd been enjoying actual plays from the Gauntlet community on YouTube and podcasts for a while. I'm a big fan of Pocket Sized play because it comes in short, digestible episodes that I can fit into my day (I'm a stay-at-home dad with two young kids). I'm always looking to play with diverse and inclusive tables, and I kept hearing from online friends about how good The Gauntlet's community was. When I decided to become a Patron, it seemed natural to come in at a level that let me join the Slack and games. Uh oh, you’ve hit a personal obsession of mine (gaming with kids). Are your kids old enough to enjoy tabletop games yet? Not even a little! My oldest is two and a half, and even though he's a very verbal kid he just can't pay attention to anything that isn't jumping on the couch for long. He's starting to experiment more with imagination play, which is really fun to see and I'm trying to encourage that and expose him to an inclusive group of stories, heroes and heroines. And my youngest is five months, so we've got a ways to go. I was excited to see that the Gauntlet Slack has a #kids_and_rpgs channel, because this hobby is definitely something I plan to introduce to them when they're ready. Fantastic! Future Gauntleteers in the making. Are there any trends in the hobby that you find particularly exciting? I think one of the best things in gaming right now is the focus on accessibility. First, I’m talking about games that are easy to pick up and play for beginners. Apocalypse World putting all the character moves right on the character sheet was a brilliant innovation! Or one-page games like John Harper’s Lasers & Feeling or all the games Grant Howitt’s been churning out like Honey Heist. Second I mean games where the content is accessible to people who aren’t interested in hack and slash sword and sorcery medieval euro-fantasy, which I’d consider over-represented in the hobby. If you look at what’s consumed in movies and television, there’s very little fantasy at all; other genres are just more interesting to most people. I’m especially in love with games that address marginalized communities, like Avery Alder’s games, which I adore. And lastly I mean the way games have been addressing disability, for example the recent batch of braille dice, and games that design for red-green colour blindness. I’m still learning more about disability myself, I’m not as knowledgeable as I’d like to be. What brought you to the hobby originally? Hah, so my parents signed me up for Dungeons & Dragons Camp over March Break when I was 9 or 10. I had never heard of D&D, didn’t own any dice or any books. But I was hooked so hard, and when I got home that evening I got a bunch of my friends together, pooled all our D6s from board games and grabbed LEGO’s for minis and tried to run a game from memory. They loved it too! To this day, I don’t think my parents really understand what roleplaying games are. That is amazing. Nearing the end here: You plan the perfect game night. What game? And are you playing or GMing? When I’m working, I’m a professional people organizer, and I tend to end up doing the same with my friends and my gaming. I’m constantly putting new groups together and pitching games, and I’m almost always the GM for my tables. So I think my perfect game night is one that somebody else organizes and decides what we’re playing, and runs it. I just want to play! Current favorite game? I’d really love to play more Nobilis, Jenna Moran’s setting and characters are just so amazing and I love the mystic fairy tale storytelling that emerges from the mechanics, punctuated with long arguments about what words mean. Most intriguing game you have yet to get to the table? I still haven’t played Blades in the Dark! Everyone’s talking about it, I’ve played friends’ hacks of it, but never the actual game. I’m hoping to fix that this summer once my gaming schedule frees up a little. Awesome. Thanks for humoring me, and I hope to see you in Doskvol! Our Slack Spotlight series features short interviews with active members of our Slack channel. Will Patterson: Ferrell, I understand you are OG Gauntlet. When did you first become involved? Ferrell Riley: Oh geez, like I wandered into a random Dungeon World game in 2013, back when Kerry was running Gauntlet, before Jason Cordova really took it over and shaped it into the glorious citizen-state it is now. Part of the time it was run out of a conference room that belonged to a company Kerry worked for, so he'd let us in the back basically and we'd be sitting there rolling dice surrounded by like 10 people. It was a bit of a mess, at times. About 2014 though Jason started hosting events at his place, which is where I got my taste of "World of Dungeons". And from that point onward we started doing a lot more story game style meetups, like Microscope, Technoir, Dream Askew…
It helped that Dan Lewis was on hand; he and Jason both really pushed for and brought these things to the table, and made sure that everyone knew how to get people on board. They also ensured that we had plenty of "social time" before the games where they'd both talk up what we were doing, and what was coming next. That really made sure to keep you on board with it all. So you have been here since the beginning. What has been your favorite part of the evolution to today’s Gauntlet? My personal favorite probably was seeing Codex take off. I love that we can fairly compensate artists, that we are generating and introducing new product to the market, and just in general making a more creative world. Now if you ask, I think the most impressive step was hosting GauntletCon. It feels like a trite answer, but going from a few people at tables to online, that felt pretty natural. Going to hosting an entire online event over a weekend? I have worked conventions, and even small single targeted cons require a massive volunteer and coordinator response. I loved GauntletCon. It was my first chance to game with the Gauntlet. Is there a particular moment from GauntletCon that stood out for you? It feels indulgent but I loved my character best in Dust, Fog, and Glowing Embers. He was someone who was just resigned to being in servitude forever to their patron, and no matter the job, he was gonna do it just to live another day. And that lead to a moment when the job required we “escort” a lady back to the surface, and it was obvious she did not want to go back to her adviser/stalker. So we had a scene where I’m standing over her battered form in the burning husk of her home, and I told her “there’s nothing left for you here. Come with us.” And yes, we did our job, but man, I felt like a terrible person, and it lead to an amazing betrayal of our employer at the end of the game. Love it! What brought you to the hobby originally, and what keeps your around? I don't think I ever have been outside the hobby. I grew up in a comic book store that my dad ran, and adopted both PCs and Video Games at an early age, so RPGs were always around me. My first game was the Zanzer Tem module that came with the 2nd Edition box set (I think) and I played D&D from basically 5th grade onward. As for what keeps me around? Community, and a desire to see what was left behind here at Gauntlet Prime to keep growing and going. There's a bit of pride being part of the seed of all this, ya know? Absolutely! Imagine your perfect game night. What game are you playing, and are you the GM or a PC? Hard question. I think perfect game night is still up in the air, and I'm doing Bluebeard's Bride or Lovecraftesque with Jason, Kate, and a former Gauntleteer named Jessica. Something dark and twisted that leaves us all gasping for breath once we're done. I'd be playing, not facilitating, because while I love dark deep emotions, all my games seem to end up going down the Camp/Gonzo route when I GM. It's not bad, and everyone loves when I do Dungeon Planet as a terrible 70's rip-off of Star Trek, but I crave tapping into the Feels Aquifer. I really wish though I could GM a game and just at the end, have everyone completely devastated from the emotional fallout. Also, there's pineapple pizza. Cause pineapple pizza rules. All the haters can deal. Pineapple pizza is mandatory at my events too. Thanks for your time Ferrell, and for holding things down in Houston! Our Slack Spotlight series features short interviews with active members of our Slack channel.
Will Patterson: Hi River, thank you for agreeing to speak with me. Let's jump right in. How long have you been a part of The Gauntlet? River Williamson: I've only been around since 2016, back when The Gauntlet online was still new. In that day I mistakenly thought it was all straight, white men. I found out pretty quickly that was not the case, even though they were the majority. What has been your favorite part of the evolution to today’s Gauntlet? Over the past two years, I've been very pleased with how many more queer people are part of The Gauntlet as players, GMs, and creators. I'm especially proud of how many of us, me included, got in touch with our queerness through The Gauntlet. Spending time with people who don't look, love, or live like you, but share an interest is instrumental in humanizing people we'd usually "other". It's not enough in itself, you have to be open minded and open eared helps. Beyond that, though, is the sort of games we play here. Monsterhearts, Pack of Strays, and other games which specifically address the PoV of non-mainstream people have a transformative effect on their players. Straight or queer. Out, questioning, or closeted. What brought you to the hobby originally? I first encountered formalized roleplay in middle school. My best friend and her younger brother played Advanced D&D. When I brought this up with my mom, she freaked and forbade my brother and I from playing. For context, her only exposure to D&D was the satanic panic of the 70s and 80s. She was also against my brother and me reading adventure fantasy (Conan, Lord of the Rings, etc.) because she feared that our delicate minds couldn't separate reality from fantasy. We rejected her concerns and played without her knowledge. My very first action with my very first character was to fail a check for traps roll and badly die from an axe trap to the chest. I was hooked. In fact, I met my first partner through “D&D.” My partner and I were using roleplaying to explore our gender and sexuality and so on. The games were changing us, but not in a way my mother could imagine. What current trends do you see in the industry that are particularly promising? I'm going to echo my favourite RPG writers here (most of whom are LGBTQ+ folx). I'm excited to see so many new games that focus like a laser on a specific feeling or atmosphere. These games are usually small and have play procedure baked right into the game. Two that I haven't played, but am very interested in, are Alex Roberts' “Star Crossed”, and Phil & Senda's game “Turning Point.” The key feature of this style of game is that players can keep both the story and the system in their heads simultaneously. You plan the perfect game night. What game? And are you playing or GMing? You know that game where you're heading into the climax of a short campaign? That's my perfect night, regardless of which side of the GM screen I'm on. Can’t argue with that. Thank you for your time River, and I look forward to the next time we get to share a table. |
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