The Gauntlet podcast is out!

The Gauntlet podcast is out!

The Gauntlet podcast is out! Episode 122, our last Games Round-up episode of the year (maybe ever?) with co-hosts Rach Shelkey, Lowell Francis, and me.

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/the-gauntlet-podcast/episode-122-the-hood-blades-in-the-dark-legacy-of-the-slayer

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/the-gauntlet-podcast/episode-122-the-hood-blades-in-the-dark-legacy-of-the-slayer

I’m excited to share the 11th episode of the 13 episode run of Don’t Rest Your Head (an RPG from Fred Hicks) with…

I’m excited to share the 11th episode of the 13 episode run of Don’t Rest Your Head (an RPG from Fred Hicks) with…

I’m excited to share the 11th episode of the 13 episode run of Don’t Rest Your Head (an RPG from Fred Hicks) with Alan Turner (as played by Paul Edson).

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/comic-strip-ap/dont-rest-your-head-11

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/comic-strip-ap/dont-rest-your-head-11

I was looking over some old YouTube videos and came across this show from 2014 called This Imaginary Life.

I was looking over some old YouTube videos and came across this show from 2014 called This Imaginary Life.

I was looking over some old YouTube videos and came across this show from 2014 called This Imaginary Life. It’s chock full of some really strong GM and gaming advice. There are some serious rockstars in these things (and me, since I gathered them together):

Lowell Francis

Stras Acimovic

Erik Frankhouse

Judd Karlman

Jason Corley

Stacy Dellorfano

John Stavropoulos

Arnold Cassell

Jenn Martin

Brendan Conway

The group tackles topics like:

– How to Build an RPG Group

– Handling Competitive Players

– Burnout and Long Campaigns

– Clearly Stating your Playstyle

– Breaking up with your Game Group

– Tools for Running RPGs

– Running without Prep

– Making One Shots Rock

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLccARXndpwfiynSCsVrTZRfp_wfdfI9O5

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLccARXndpwfiynSCsVrTZRfp_wfdfI9O5

I’m taking a look back over 2017 and my experiences playing and running games.

I’m taking a look back over 2017 and my experiences playing and running games.

I’m taking a look back over 2017 and my experiences playing and running games. I track all my games played on RPGGeek, so it was pretty easy to pull all my stats. I then broke it down a few different ways.

– As of November 15th, I’ve played in 202 RPG sessions, the vast majority of them over Hangouts, with face-to-face games happening with my family, at Origins, and GenCon.

– I’ve GMed 112 games, and played in 90 of them. I strive hard to play with different GMs, learn their styles, steal all their good bits for my own games as much as I can. My GM-to-play mix was surprising. I didn’t realize I was GMing only 55% of the time. Yay me!

– I played 38 games new to me, many were Kickstarters, but most of them were from Gauntlet City Limits games or the Carousel with Andrea G, Brice Coolen, and William Nabors. I did not count games that I played during recordings of +1 Forward for any of this, or my new games played would be a bit higher.

– I participated in the Ladder of Insanity again this year, and decided that it wasn’t insane enough so I challenged myself to only count PbtA games. I know, it’s “insane”! As a result of that, as well as my love of exploring PbtA games, I played in 138 sessions of PbtA games. Of those sessions, I was the MC for 85 of them. By the by, I will COMPLETE the Ladder of Insanity next Tuesday when Fraser Simons runs my 10 session of The Veil! I’m so excited! Once I complete it this year, I am retiring from that competition.

– I was able to play in a few games that I’d only ever GMed before this year – Legend of the Elements and Spirit of ’77. I’ve still only ever GMed Impulse Drive and 1%er. I’ve only ever played World Wide Wrestling and 7th Sea 2nd edition.

– I’ve had an average of 3-5 play-by-post games ongoing for the entire year, mixing the games and groups as games come to a conclusion and we start up new ones. It’s a wonderful experience and a vital part of my daily fun.

All in all, it was a wonderful year for gaming for me. I ran 2.1 games a week on average, and played in 1.7 games a week. That’s almost 4 games a week!

In 2018, I’m looking to cut down the quantity of games I’m playing and focus on the quality of them. I want to have some longer arcs and mini-campaigns, I want to develop one or two long-standing gaming groups and get back into that routine of social interaction with people as well as fellow players.

The latest +1 Forward is out!

The latest +1 Forward is out!

The latest +1 Forward is out! I wanted to share the brilliant panel on PbtA games from Gauntlet Con. The panel is moderated by David LaFreniere, with panelists:

Michael X. Heiligenstein

Lowell Francis

and +1 Forward’s own Rach Shelkey!

I loved this panel, learned a ton about different approaches to playing with this game system. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

Special thanks to Paul Edson for bringing this to your ears.

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/1-forward/gauntlet-con-2017-pbta-gming-panel

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/1-forward/gauntlet-con-2017-pbta-gming-panel

Hey Gauntleteers!

Hey Gauntleteers!

Hey Gauntleteers! Do you have any topics or questions about being a Player in PbtA you’re interested in hearing Rach Shelkey and I talk about +1 Forward? Let us know!

edited to clarify – We’re asking for questions about being a player and playing the game. Please angle towards that vs. MC-related questions. Thanks.

The latest +1 Forward is out!

The latest +1 Forward is out!

The latest +1 Forward is out!

This episode, Rach Shelkey leads the discussion on Proactive vs. Reactive MCing.

We look at the challenge of running a PbtA game, using several examples from ones we’ve played and enjoyed.

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/1-forward/proactive-vs-reactive-mcing

http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/1-forward/proactive-vs-reactive-mcing

GAUNTLET CON ANNOUNCEMENT:

GAUNTLET CON ANNOUNCEMENT:

GAUNTLET CON ANNOUNCEMENT:

(warning – long post)

Wow.

93 games in three days.

Over 280 hours of games played.

Some folks played 16 hours of games in a single day.

Scores of happy gamers buzzing about this hobby we love in a hopping Discord server.

Hours upon hours of amazing games on the Gauntlet YouTube channel for the world to see how amazing this hobby can be.

10 hours of panels.

Thank you to our wonderful GMs and guests.

Kudos to the exuberant, giving, and helpful players who joined us this weekend.

Most of all, thank you to the Help Desk. From Thursday afternoon on, you all were in the Discord providing great information, helpful ideas, and positive support to everyone who came with problems or questions. It didn’t start this weekend, though. The Help Desk spent the last month and a half getting ready for this con, meeting together, researching games and Discord and Google Hangouts, preparing documents and quick cheat sheets, reaching out to GMs during their scheduled shifts.

During the con, the Help Desk’s preparedness shone, and I was amazed. As a co-organizer, I kept nervously checking every Discord channel to see if there were any fires. And the Help Desk team was already on it. Every time. Pinning helpful information, sharing skills and techniques, covering each other, reaching out to worried GMs and lonely players, thinking up new and better ways to do this thing I’ve never seen done before this well.

Help Desk Staff:

Dylan Ross

Michael G. Barford

Patrick Knowles

Christo Meid

Paul Edson

Auzumel Srsly

Maria Rivera

Tyler Lominack

River Williamson

Tom McGrenery

Philipp Neitzel

Timothy Bennett

Yoshi Creelman

I love you, Help Desk. You all made my con.

Thanks to Jason Cordova for having the faith to ask me to organize this thing. The writing contest was a bang-on success leading up to the con. Dude, you ran a long-con during the con and were on, what, a third of the panels? Wow.

Huge thanks to Kate Bullock, who despite having Toronto Area Gamers, Fan Expo, and Breakout, agreed to co-organize this thing with me. Her wealth of experience, patience, support, and leadership is what made this thing actually fire. I’ve participated in a few online cons. Coming into this, I had ideas. Kate made them realities. And the prize support? The amazing guests? Wouldn’t have happened without Kate. Kate was the A+ superheroine of Gauntlet Con.

Okay, all the thanks are done, most folks have probably checked out of this post, but my fingers aren’t tired, so I’m going to say a little something.

Gauntlet Con was the most pure expression of the Gauntlet community. Exciting games, giving players who put their emotions on the line, hard-working GMs, a thoughtful community. This is what we do. This is who we are. Gauntlet Con 2017 is over, but Gauntlet City Limits is playing tomorrow. A Blades in the Dark miniseries kicks off Wednesday, as does a pair of Durance games. The Gauntlet Community continues playing. Con drop? No thanks, we don’t need it.

This is what we do. Gauntlet Con was a compressed version of what we’ve been doing for months and months. Of what we will continue to do. Because we fucking love this hobby, and we’re here to play games and be awesome together.

If you were thrilled by this con and haven’t been actively participating in the community, this is me, inviting you, to be a part of this tribe.

Gauntlet Con game of Monsterhearts 2 run by Avery Alder is live right now!

Gauntlet Con game of Monsterhearts 2 run by Avery Alder is live right now!

Gauntlet Con game of Monsterhearts 2 run by Avery Alder is live right now!

http://youtu.be/F6goNaY_e9M

http://youtu.be/F6goNaY_e9M