The Gauntlet: How to Suck Less – Page 21

This certainly is not the worst thing in the universe but I’m board and want to rant…

This certainly is not the worst thing in the universe but I’m board and want to rant…

I have been listening to some people talk about their RPG party and I noticed a big difference between how they played and what I remember happening in the Houston group. Say they found an encounter like a shrine where they could pray to a deity, each and every player would take a turn trying their luck at the alter. When someone tried some sort of test like lifting something heavy, the entire party tried to pitch in and help to reduce the load.

While this sounds very nice and friendly it seemed to me that it diminished the appeal of each event. I think it is much more interesting when one (or maybe two) character owns the scene. They succeed or fail and we move on. It may be a facet of +Jason Cordova’s GGG player that you “Give” the scene to the most appropriate or invested character. My guy is not that interested but this shrine is to your god isn’t it? This guy killed your family, maybe you should be the one to take him down? If you couldn’t lift that gate then no one could. On the other hand this can be part of good GMing in that you specifically give the scene to the most appropriate character. If another player wants to but in you can ask them why, how, wouldn’t you rather…

What do you think? Am I wrong or right? Is this only an issue with a big party? Have yall ever encountered this? How do you deal with it?

Hey Gauntleteers – Gauntlet UK are looking at ways to expand their player base and hopefully the number of games we…

Hey Gauntleteers – Gauntlet UK are looking at ways to expand their player base and hopefully the number of games we run and play too.

The current members think the UK element of our event name may put off potential players because they think it’s an exclusive group for UK only players.

We are currently toying with Gauntlet Europa but again don’t want to exclude anyone outside of that either. Some of us also feel it’s important to clearly explain that we are running games in a different timezone too.

Is it more important to be just be another gauntlet event, i.e. Saturday morning cartoons in order to encourage more players globally or is the geographical location relevant for understanding the time events are likely to run at?

Basically Name suggestions please!

Plus: Any tips for expanding the player base gratefully received!

Greetings Gauntleteers!

Most of the time I can’t wrap up a ‘so called’ one shot in a single session But Games taylored for one shots could help ^^;

Which games do you know with that purpose.

I can think of : The quiet Year, Vast & Starlit, Swords without masters, Lasers & Feelings, Hollowpoint, Psi*Run, Fiasco, Ghost/Echo, Ghostlines, Dead…

Howdy fine people

I’ll run my first Psi*Run in several hours and I’ve got a question for you.

What if a Runner chose ‘Delay the Chasers’ or ‘Remember something’ as his goal?

What if the goal die infringes upon the chase or reveal dices?

Should I simply remove goal as a risk before the roll?

I’ve been playing around with, and developing a magical item that popped up in one of my games with my stepson.

I’ve been playing around with, and developing a magical item that popped up in one of my games with my stepson. It’s a staff that can summon rain and I want to introduce emotional complications as a potential side effect or feature since it kind of fits the theme of rain. I might share the whole thing later, but I thought I’d see what you think about this part of the idea. It might create a few “I don’t know what came over me” moments. (The emotional complications in Headspace by Mark Richardson inspired me.)

—

When you follow the ritual you get the desired effect, but people around will also become more aware and willing to open up about their negative emotions like grief, jealousy, anger or fear.

If you rush or skip the ritual, the desired effects come quicker, but the negative emotions of people around are exaggerated and bubble up to the surface. Pick one:

» NPCs overreact or act out their negative emotions to your disadvantage.

» Give yourself or another player -1 ongoing until they overreact or act out their emotions to the detriment of themself or an ally, or they get time to rest and process their emotions. You can’t give this to a player a second time before they have removed the -1 ongoing.

I’ve got a looming problem I’m struggling with and thought I’d cast the question out here:

Our gaming group is going to return to a long-running campaign which has been in hiatus while we play a load of shorter campaigns and one-shots. In the meantime a new player has joined the group and I’m wondering how best to get him up to speed with the game.

Things I’m not worried about are:

1. player’s integration with the group

2. his character being on a par with the other PCs

More concerned at the right balance to strike between info-dumping and rendering everything that has gone before irrelevant.

I have a thought that working with the player to give his character something big to add to the game world would be good, but really unsure how to treat this

Grateful for any hard-won wisdom I can borrow!

Religion Terrifying and Beautiful

5 things you can do to make religion more interesting in your fantasy role playing game

I believe that religion in fantasy role playing games falls far short of its potential. Consider how many times you’ve seen a player roll up a cleric that is devoted to a war god. Other than declaring battles “in the name of their deity” and occasionally suggesting that another party member ought to try worshipping (WAR-shipping?) the same deity, that’s the end of it. What about that evil cult? Are they really just going to be another bunch of mooks for a boss demon? How often do we ever learn anything about them and the reasons behind their allegiances? On the flip side, history is full of saints and martyrs. Humans have done some beautiful, romantic things for the love of their deities. Why does religion get reduced to something flat and simplistic in our games? Given a few tweaks, religion can bring more wonder, strangeness and terror into your games. Try one of these techniques and see if you agree:

1. Commitments: Give your clerics and paladins commitments beyond the usual (braining their deity’s enemies and healing friends). Is there a festival or ceremony they need to attend? Do they need to prostrate themselves at the gates of each new town before entering? Do they need to try to bury any humanoid they kill? Do they have a pilgrimage they must fulfill within their lifetime? Maybe they are required to give away their murder spoils to the needy?

2. Origins: The religions in your game had to come from somewhere right? Are they legitimate or the result of some major misunderstanding? Did they undergo some kind of change? You don’t have to write up an entire history. Just try to fill in some of the backstory as you go. What if the evil cult in your game started out as followers of a saintly leader who was then murdered? What if a member of the party was present for the birth of one of the major religions and knows the stories are false?

3. More sophisticated metaphors: Try thinking through all the possible meanings a deity might represent. I was listening to an actual play podcast where a cleric was devoted to a god of blood. As usual, killing monsters and healing friends was the only way the deity manifested in that game. Is there anything else a god of blood could suggest? What if representatives of that faith were expected to deliver babies and placentas were considered sacred to them (maybe even mechanically valuable)? What if only women could be followers because only females bleed without being cut? What if the follower were expected to soak a special cloth in the blood of their enemies and then bring the cloth to their temple once a year in order to seek renewal? Deities often have slightly contradictory domains. Play with the metaphors as much as you can.

4. Temples: Temples should never be common. Unless you are making a point about how the deities expect their worshippers to be simple, a temple (or church, hallowed ground etc.…) should be an elaborate and ceremonial place. This is a perfect way to bring wonder and fantasy into your character’s lives. If it suits your world, use magic. Is the temple to the flame goddess literally filled with fire that never burns her followers but incinerates non-believers? How would you feel if you entered a church and found an enormous severed head floating in the air above the pews, shouting edicts and blessings? What about rituals? Maybe no human is allowed to see the god of beauty and anyone visiting his temple must walk backward. What if speaking to your twin goddesses required you to bathe in spicy wine that burned your skin and then in a frozen spring?

5. Heroic worshipers/Insane fanatics: Sometimes the most impressive thing about a deity is just how far their followers will go to demonstrate their devotion or affection. Don’t forget to illustrate how incredibly motivated these people are. Remember that old temple they knocked over years ago? It turns out that goddess had one last follower and he’s vowed to kill every last living soul as revenge for forgetting her. Did you know that half the people in this slave camp sold themselves into slavery as penitence for their sins? Maybe the cleric in your party was once a duchess but was so moved by holy text that she gave away all her worldly belongings and took an oath of poverty.

Hey Gauntleteers!

You’ve become my primary Dungeon World source, so here’s a DW question I’ve been pondering…

How do you decide what Death takes from players at the Black Gate on a 7-9? I’ve heard plenty of Rangers pet stories, but I’m trying to piece together how much is just MC discretion vs taking away a specific advance.

Do you have any descriptive words or terms for the concept of taking narrative control or establishing truths?

Do you have any descriptive words or terms for the concept of taking narrative control or establishing truths? I want to teach my stepson about how different games give participants different levels of control and how there can be rules, mechanics or social contracts restricting or encouraging it.

“Invent”, “take narrative control”, just “take control”, “establish truths”, just “establish”? Is “take narrative control” the most used term?

Here is a quick way to get the table on the same page before a gaming session, which is essential for story games!

Here is a quick way to get the table on the same page before a gaming session, which is essential for story games! http://proleary.com/2016/04/25/the-cats-method-a-story-telling-game-opening-ritual/

http://proleary.com/2016/04/25/the-cats-method-a-story-telling-game-opening-ritual