Episode 49 of The Gauntlet Podcast is about ritual.

Episode 49 of The Gauntlet Podcast is about ritual.

Episode 49 of The Gauntlet Podcast is about ritual. We discuss a few games that use it in a powerful way, and some ideas for incorporating ritual into games that don’t already have it. Enjoy!

Opening Segment

Dungeon World and The Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions (00:16)

The glass cube (03:41)

Steve expresses his desire to play Dungeon World (06:04)

The importance of getting feedback from your group (06:45)

Getting a game back on track after it jumps the shark (08:06)

Monsterhearts is awesome (10:39)

Fiasco: Unaussprechlichen Klutzen (12:07)

Giving Me Life

GM Self-Improvement (15:00)

Thinking critically about your setting (16:15)

Baseball, I think? (17:43)

The Carcosa playlist (20:10)

Loving the Wednesday crew (22:26)

Main Segment

Ritual in Games (23:04)

Polaris’s use of ritual to enforce tone (24:00)

Society of Dreamers (26:17)

Helping dice in Burning Wheel (29:55)

Hand-shaking rituals in Beast Hunters (32:09)

Referring to players by their character’s name (34:49)

Archipelago III (38:23)

Start-of-game rituals and end-of-game rituals (41:23)

Meta/Out-of-character rituals (42:48)

Post-game rituals (46:46)

http://gauntletpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-49-ritual-in-games

18 thoughts on “Episode 49 of The Gauntlet Podcast is about ritual.”

  1. Two rituals that came to mind:

    1) The jeepform The Upgrade, where you move as a group from one space to another to represent going to the island, and marking when you must start staying in character no matter what.

    2) Misspent Youth (my game) has a ritual phrase: “Who’s gonna stand up?” which signals that the dash for the dice is on.

  2. Two rituals that came to mind:

    1) The jeepform The Upgrade, where you move as a group from one space to another to represent going to the island, and marking when you must start staying in character no matter what.

    2) Misspent Youth (my game) has a ritual phrase: “Who’s gonna stand up?” which signals that the dash for the dice is on.

  7. I have to disagree with the whole “this rule can be hacked into any game” sentiment expressed a few times. Not all techniques are the best fit for every game. I prefer a game that integrates into its rules the best solutions for that game. Not to say hacking in the occasional system is wrong, it’s just a) not my preference and b) if you do it too much, the game could get clunky or the procedures you’re using may not meld with that game well.

  8. I have to disagree with the whole “this rule can be hacked into any game” sentiment expressed a few times. Not all techniques are the best fit for every game. I prefer a game that integrates into its rules the best solutions for that game. Not to say hacking in the occasional system is wrong, it’s just a) not my preference and b) if you do it too much, the game could get clunky or the procedures you’re using may not meld with that game well.

  9. Robert Bohl It didn’t make it in the final cut of the episode, but I made a distinction between rules and ritual. As a general matter, I’m a pretty strict ‘rules-as-written’ gamer (Dungeon World is my exception, which I house-rule a fair amount). In the way we were discussing it here, ritual is more like a table behavior that is treated with a certain degree of solemnity and respect, in order to get a certain outcome in tone or social dynamics. It’s like the ‘X-card.’ Very few games have that as part of their rule set, but almost everyone I know uses some version of it when they play games. I think that’s what we were striving for here: incorporating ritual in a way that enhances the experience at the table, without fundamentally altering the game. 

  10. Robert Bohl It didn’t make it in the final cut of the episode, but I made a distinction between rules and ritual. As a general matter, I’m a pretty strict ‘rules-as-written’ gamer (Dungeon World is my exception, which I house-rule a fair amount). In the way we were discussing it here, ritual is more like a table behavior that is treated with a certain degree of solemnity and respect, in order to get a certain outcome in tone or social dynamics. It’s like the ‘X-card.’ Very few games have that as part of their rule set, but almost everyone I know uses some version of it when they play games. I think that’s what we were striving for here: incorporating ritual in a way that enhances the experience at the table, without fundamentally altering the game. 

  11. I agree that if you’re going to introduce those things you need to make them work well. 

    Also, as a designer / publisher, I think it’s on designers to think about the kinds of things these patches address and bake them into your game in ways that are ideal for that game. To not force players to weld stuff on.

    That said, not every process, safety mechanic, or even rule is going to work for everyone, so people should feel free to hack. I just think it’s on designers to consider these things so that their game at least addresses the concerns in a way that satisfies that designer for that game.

  12. I agree that if you’re going to introduce those things you need to make them work well. 

    Also, as a designer / publisher, I think it’s on designers to think about the kinds of things these patches address and bake them into your game in ways that are ideal for that game. To not force players to weld stuff on.

    That said, not every process, safety mechanic, or even rule is going to work for everyone, so people should feel free to hack. I just think it’s on designers to consider these things so that their game at least addresses the concerns in a way that satisfies that designer for that game.

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