Slack Dreams

by Jason Cordova

The Gauntlet Slack group is on my mind a lot lately. It began as a way for those of us on the “work” side of the Gauntlet to organize things for Hangouts and podcasts, but it has become something quite different and interesting over the last year or so. It’s more than just a discussion space (though it is also that), it’s a space where a lot of creative collaboration and personal support is happening, and I really love it.

I think I’ll just take it by channel…

announcements is where we announce things related to the Gauntlet and welcome new Slack members.

art club is where the artistically talented among us share and get feedback on the things they’re working on.

convention talk is for talking about meatspace conventions.

community discussion is for Gauntlet-specific discussion.

design feedback is one of the most active and interesting channels. People who are working on game texts post their drafts for feedback, and there is just a lot of discussion about game design. Importantly, it’s feedback and discussion informed by our community values, which means it is helpful, friendly, and does not devolve into a shit show, unlike most public forums. They also organize a regular Office Hours Discord audio chat in this channel.

feel club is another very active channel, and one of the most distinctly “Gauntlet.” Basically, folks just talk about whatever is weighing heavily on their hearts. Everyone on that channel is super-supportive. I’m not personally very active in that channel, but I watch it, and I’m always impressed by the basic goodness and supportiveness of our community.

gauntlet daddy is where we write dumb sex jokes for Codex’s Gauntlet Daddy feature.

gauntlet videos is a working public channel where Rob and YG collect Gauntlet Hangouts videos.

giving me life is another busy channel. It’s kind of the opposite of feel club in that it is all about expressing joy and thankfulness for the good things going on in your life. It is a Slack version of that segment of The Gauntlet Podcast.

gm support group is one of the newer channels, but I’m really loving what I see so far. We take GMing really seriously in the Gauntlet, and this is a space for folks to get support and feedback for the games they are running.

keeper names is where all those cool Keepers of the Gauntlet titles are generated.

kickstarters is for discussing and promoting KS projects.

need players is a terrific channel. If you have space open up in a Gauntlet Hangouts game, or if you want to organize an ad hoc game, this is the place you go. It’s almost like a tiny Games on Demand, and a terrific benefit of being on our Slack.

nintendo switch is where the Switch-hitters among us talk about Nintendo shit.

other pods is where we discuss other podcasts.

politics is a VERY active channel. Probably not too difficult to figure out why.

queer space is for queer Gauntleteers to hang out and chat.

random is another active channel. If what you want to discuss doesn’t fit anywhere else, drop it here.

rpg chat is the most active channel by far. This is where we discuss roleplaying games. Here are some discussions from just the last few days: the fanboy/bro culture surrounding Burning Wheel and Blades in the Dark; comparing Cypher, Cortex+ and other “tradindal” systems; the future way RPG texts will be presented, such as incorporating Youtube; how Dogs in the Vineyard would be better with In a Wicked Age’s die mechanic; What is “PbtA?”; and much, much more. Most importantly: because we’re the Gauntlet, we are able to have these conversations in a respectful, productive manner.

And the above are just the most active/popular channels. There are actually many more where smaller, more specific conversations take place, in addition to numerous private channels where we work on podcasts, Codex, Gauntlet Con, etc.

At this point, the Slack channel basically is the Gauntlet. I love G+ and I dabble on Twitter, but the Slack is where the tremendous creative energy of our community resides. It has become a very elemental part of my day; it’s where I collaborate on RPG stuff, it’s where I vent, it’s where I get the positive energy I need to do awesome things in this hobby. And I really can’t emphasize the following enough: it is just so friendly. The Gauntlet already has a reputation in the hobby as being exceedingly kind and friendly, and the Slack is a perfect expression of that. It’s good people who love games coming together to celebrate the hobby and each other.

Anyway, the Slack is on my mind. Dreams for everyone who participates there: your positivity, supportiveness, and energy are giving me life every single day.

This originally appeared as a Google+ post on January 16, 2018. You can find out Google+ Community here.