Episode 26 of The Gauntlet Podcast is out today!

Episode 26 of The Gauntlet Podcast is out today!

Episode 26 of The Gauntlet Podcast is out today! In this one, Scott joins us to talk about the trials of being a new GM. We also discuss some GM’ing tips and best practices.

Other things on the menu:

Avery Mcdaldno’s Monsterhearts

Jason Morningstar’s Night Witches

Andrew Medeiros’s Urban Shadows

Zombie Cinema

Vincent Baker’s In a Wicked Age

Dungeon World

#Threeforged (with apologies to Paul Czege, as I was still a little salty about my Stage 1 game on the day of recording).

http://gauntletpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-26-life-as-a-new-gm/size/2

62 thoughts on “Episode 26 of The Gauntlet Podcast is out today!”

  1. I totally feel you on running online games. Starting my own Roll20 game has tripled my respect for the groups you see on Twitch and YouTube. They make the rhythm of it all seem effortless.

    It’s kind of exciting, though! After about a decade of GMing, running online feels like a New Game+. You get to take your existing skills and experience into new and uncanny challenges.

  2. I totally feel you on running online games. Starting my own Roll20 game has tripled my respect for the groups you see on Twitch and YouTube. They make the rhythm of it all seem effortless.

    It’s kind of exciting, though! After about a decade of GMing, running online feels like a New Game+. You get to take your existing skills and experience into new and uncanny challenges.

  9. When did “salty” start meaning “pissed off”? I’ve heard that probably fifteen times in the last two or three months (until now, I think, all on reddit), and precisely zero times before that.

  10. When did “salty” start meaning “pissed off”? I’ve heard that probably fifteen times in the last two or three months (until now, I think, all on reddit), and precisely zero times before that.

  15. I’m listening now.

    Jason, I anticipated a lot of your disappointment about the contest for myself and just mentally prepared myself for the worst. I’ve been heartbroken by design contests before.

    I’m currently struggling with managing my disappointment that my game(s) is (are) getting few reviews, and I’m pumping them out. My plan is to focus on the fact that I find giving critiques fun, and that in hopefully building good will with the designer(s).

  16. I’m listening now.

    Jason, I anticipated a lot of your disappointment about the contest for myself and just mentally prepared myself for the worst. I’ve been heartbroken by design contests before.

    I’m currently struggling with managing my disappointment that my game(s) is (are) getting few reviews, and I’m pumping them out. My plan is to focus on the fact that I find giving critiques fun, and that in hopefully building good will with the designer(s).

  19. Robert Bohl I’m actually really enjoying the online play. I’m just trying to get better at it. I have this hang-up about execution and delivery in all things, and I tend to be really hard on myself when things don’t go the way I think they should.

  20. Robert Bohl I’m actually really enjoying the online play. I’m just trying to get better at it. I have this hang-up about execution and delivery in all things, and I tend to be really hard on myself when things don’t go the way I think they should.

  21. Robert Bohl I’m feeling better about Threeforged since we recorded. I mean, clearly, the contest has a lot of value, and I’m excited for the people whose games are getting a lot of attention. But, speaking for myself, I have never designed a game (save Chuck Eat Cheese, which was a hack of another game) and I have certainly never participated in a public contest like this before. I felt letdown because my Stage 1 game, which I was really proud of, isn’t going to get seen in the same way as the games that made it through. And I think that’s also why I’m taking the pithy, negative critiques people are giving some of these games kind of personally, because I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to have their work treated that way, and particularly people who may be entirely new to game design. This Threeforged experience may dictate whether newcomers keep trying their hand at it, and I wish people who are doing these game overviews would keep that in mind.

  22. Robert Bohl I’m feeling better about Threeforged since we recorded. I mean, clearly, the contest has a lot of value, and I’m excited for the people whose games are getting a lot of attention. But, speaking for myself, I have never designed a game (save Chuck Eat Cheese, which was a hack of another game) and I have certainly never participated in a public contest like this before. I felt letdown because my Stage 1 game, which I was really proud of, isn’t going to get seen in the same way as the games that made it through. And I think that’s also why I’m taking the pithy, negative critiques people are giving some of these games kind of personally, because I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to have their work treated that way, and particularly people who may be entirely new to game design. This Threeforged experience may dictate whether newcomers keep trying their hand at it, and I wish people who are doing these game overviews would keep that in mind.

  23. I totally agree. I have sympathy for reviewers as well, especially people who are doing so many of them, but there’s a balance. I like Jason Morningstar’s rule for the Community, “Don’t be ugly.”

  24. I totally agree. I have sympathy for reviewers as well, especially people who are doing so many of them, but there’s a balance. I like Jason Morningstar’s rule for the Community, “Don’t be ugly.”

  25. Jørund Kambestad Lie New Game+ is a great way of looking at it!

    You know, I’m really enjoying that Hangouts is allowing me to play games with people I might not otherwise get to play with. For SMC, for example, it has been a real pleasure getting to know you, Richard Rogers, Yoshi Creelman and steven watkins, and I hope we get to keep gaming together for the foreseeable future. I’m also excited it has allowed me to get back in touch with David LaFreniere and (soon) Doyle Tavener. 

    But, yeah, it’s an adjustment. I’m digging the challenge, though.

  26. Jørund Kambestad Lie New Game+ is a great way of looking at it!

    You know, I’m really enjoying that Hangouts is allowing me to play games with people I might not otherwise get to play with. For SMC, for example, it has been a real pleasure getting to know you, Richard Rogers, Yoshi Creelman and steven watkins, and I hope we get to keep gaming together for the foreseeable future. I’m also excited it has allowed me to get back in touch with David LaFreniere and (soon) Doyle Tavener. 

    But, yeah, it’s an adjustment. I’m digging the challenge, though.

  29. So, really interesting thing about marking factions in Urban Shadows, based on what I’ve played: it’s actually a really powerful tool to tie together loose ends. I think when you see someone calling for a weird faction, that’s a prime opportunity to ask yourself “okay, how is this faction tied into the mix?”, because every faction has somebody who’s entangled with any given business. Which I think is pretty cool. It winds up reinforcing the idea that even though everyone has their own gigs, everybody is simultaneously stepping on one another’s toes.

  30. So, really interesting thing about marking factions in Urban Shadows, based on what I’ve played: it’s actually a really powerful tool to tie together loose ends. I think when you see someone calling for a weird faction, that’s a prime opportunity to ask yourself “okay, how is this faction tied into the mix?”, because every faction has somebody who’s entangled with any given business. Which I think is pretty cool. It winds up reinforcing the idea that even though everyone has their own gigs, everybody is simultaneously stepping on one another’s toes.

  31. I played a one-shot of Urban Shadows just over a month ago, and I left with the feeling that the faction interaction (via XP) caused a lot of PvP at the table.  I talked to other players that said that our game was different than the others they had played.

    When you discuss US as a topic, could you touch on the competitive aspects between the factions and how much PvP that leads to at the table?

  32. I played a one-shot of Urban Shadows just over a month ago, and I left with the feeling that the faction interaction (via XP) caused a lot of PvP at the table.  I talked to other players that said that our game was different than the others they had played.

    When you discuss US as a topic, could you touch on the competitive aspects between the factions and how much PvP that leads to at the table?

  39. We shall see Mark Siwel . We shall see. I am going to take the missus to the dollar cinema to get some kind of lung pathogen, and see Antman in the near future. It will either be an okay movie or so bad it is humorous. Have you seen Fantastic Four? Rotten Tomatoes averaged it out to 9% critic approval and 20% audience. I just want the opinion of some one who has actually seen it.

  40. We shall see Mark Siwel . We shall see. I am going to take the missus to the dollar cinema to get some kind of lung pathogen, and see Antman in the near future. It will either be an okay movie or so bad it is humorous. Have you seen Fantastic Four? Rotten Tomatoes averaged it out to 9% critic approval and 20% audience. I just want the opinion of some one who has actually seen it.

  41. I loved Antman. I thought FF was ok, not terrible. It probably helps that I’m not a purist when it comes to adaptations. If they made Reed a serial killer I wouldn’t care as long as it was a good movie.

  42. I loved Antman. I thought FF was ok, not terrible. It probably helps that I’m not a purist when it comes to adaptations. If they made Reed a serial killer I wouldn’t care as long as it was a good movie.

  53. I stand by my community feedback as being the best advice I have for a friend who had never tried GMing before. I agree its not the best advice to a GM trying to hone their craft, but that wasn’t the question. ;)

  54. I stand by my community feedback as being the best advice I have for a friend who had never tried GMing before. I agree its not the best advice to a GM trying to hone their craft, but that wasn’t the question. ;)

  57. Surprised you felt that Urban Shadows felt like WoD. So much of WoD is inner species political in fighting. US is much more Supernatural meets Buffy.

    True Blood is probably the best comparison actually.

  58. Surprised you felt that Urban Shadows felt like WoD. So much of WoD is inner species political in fighting. US is much more Supernatural meets Buffy.

    True Blood is probably the best comparison actually.

  59. Tommy Rayburn I don’t watch Supernatural or Buffy, nor am I familiar with Dresden Files (which I’m told is the closest analogue). At the time we recorded this, WoD was probably the closest thing I could think of. But, I would say that factional in-fighting is definitely something that happens in Urban Shadows, even if it’s not particularly codified in the rule set. Our games always have groups of warring vampires, ghostly mercenaries, and things like that.

  60. Tommy Rayburn I don’t watch Supernatural or Buffy, nor am I familiar with Dresden Files (which I’m told is the closest analogue). At the time we recorded this, WoD was probably the closest thing I could think of. But, I would say that factional in-fighting is definitely something that happens in Urban Shadows, even if it’s not particularly codified in the rule set. Our games always have groups of warring vampires, ghostly mercenaries, and things like that.

  61. No True Blood? That seems very hairless teenage werewolves.

    I was very aware of the WoD comparison’s as I was one of the initial play testers for US in which Andrew kept refusing to bend towards the WoD game style. Being that I grew up a Vampire player, I had an affinity to make US a Vampire game as it felt a great base experience.

    I ended up making a few hundred page WoD addon (that still needs to be finished.) I ran my group through hundreds of playtest and felt as I desired that inner faction play. Problem is, so much of the mechanics are based around multi-faction play, I had to alter the xp system, which I replicated the original Dark Ages various move Xp system. It does add a bit of “what move did i use,” but it worked.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Hhx1yXlz-OeVU3cGhFeWJGOFE/view?usp=sharing

  62. No True Blood? That seems very hairless teenage werewolves.

    I was very aware of the WoD comparison’s as I was one of the initial play testers for US in which Andrew kept refusing to bend towards the WoD game style. Being that I grew up a Vampire player, I had an affinity to make US a Vampire game as it felt a great base experience.

    I ended up making a few hundred page WoD addon (that still needs to be finished.) I ran my group through hundreds of playtest and felt as I desired that inner faction play. Problem is, so much of the mechanics are based around multi-faction play, I had to alter the xp system, which I replicated the original Dark Ages various move Xp system. It does add a bit of “what move did i use,” but it worked.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Hhx1yXlz-OeVU3cGhFeWJGOFE/view?usp=sharing

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