The Gauntlet: Our Community – Page 39 – The Gauntlet G+ Archives

Did i miss Codex 15?

Did i miss Codex 15? I usually go on every 2 or 3 months and grab a bunch to read at once and noticed the numbering went from 14 to 16. It also could be me on my phone not seeing everything….

It seems like a really good day for Dreams, so let’s do some of those.

It seems like a really good day for Dreams, so let’s do some of those.

Dreams to Richard Rogers and Rach Shelkey for the awesome work they are doing on +1 Forward. They took a show that already had a winning formula and pivoted to make it even more fresh and winning. Not an easy thing to do.

Dreams to my partners on Fear of a Black Dragon, Tom McGrenery and Paul Edson. I think this show is really, really special. People are going to be discovering it years from now, and that’s something to be proud of.

Dreams to Lowell Francis for helping to make Gauntlet Hangouts an amazing place to game. I couldn’t ask for a better partner as we get ready to kick ass in 2018.

Dreams to the Codex folks, including Oli Jeffery and Claudia Cangini, but also many more. I’m still amazed at what we have been able to do these last 16 months.

Dreams to Kate Bullock, David LaFreniere and Fraser Simons, who just get it. I know that’s vague, but they know what I mean, and they know how important it is to me.

Dreams to some folks who care about the Gauntlet in a really deep and profound way, and whose work and enthusiasm are hugely beneficial to the community (and who constantly give me life, even if they don’t know it): Christo Meid Dylan Ross Shane Liebling Lauren McManamon Rob Abrazado and Gerrit Reininghaus.

Dreams to some of the Gauntlet’s rockstar GMs and the rockstar GMs-to-come: Michael X. Heiligenstein Tyler Lominack Michael G. Barford Donogh McCarthy Maria Rivera, David Rothfeder Jeremy Scott Kyle Thompson Lu Quade Pat Perkins Robert Ruthven Yoshi Creelman Josh Gary Tomer Gurantz

Dreams to some of the regular players at my table, whose creativity and passion inspire me every week: Jennifer Erixon Matthew Doughty Phillip Wessels

If you have Dreams, post them in the comments!

Christmas Eve Eve

Originally shared by Michael G. Barford

Christmas Eve Eve

Let’s play some games on Saturday December 23rd! I’ll be running two games of Dungeon World using HiCV, first at 10:00 CST, then at 15:00 CST! We’ll use Google Events to organize things and Google Hangouts to play. Never played a game online before? All you need is a pair of headphones and a microphone (those earbuds with the in-line mic will work just fine), and a webcam is a welcome addition. We will also be using safety tools like the X-Card in our games. I can help you get set up if you have additional questions.

HiCV is all about lifting up queer gamers during the winter holiday season. Therefore, queer gamers get first priority when signing up for these slots. I have room for four players for each game, but one of those slots is reserved for an LGBTQ+ player. If you identify as LGBTQ+, and are comfortable with sharing that with me, you can notify me privately through G+ to secure your reservation.

Comment below if you would like to join one (or both!) of these games! If the slots fill up, I will be keeping a waitlist.

I created this two moves a while back, what do you think gautleteers?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5drmnw5czarjdkd/DW-hack-Ravenloft.pdf?dl=0

Hey everyone, quick question.

Hey everyone, quick question. I am thinking of running a campaign in the Stargate world. What game system would you recommend?

Something that really bugs me about the hobby is that the more popular you become and the more money you make, the…

Something that really bugs me about the hobby is that the more popular you become and the more money you make, the less people hold you to account for issues related to diversity. The Gauntlet is a frequent target for accusations of not being diverse, and this always bugs me because 1) if you do your research, you’ll learn that’s a wildly inaccurate charge and 2) we are not exactly rolling in it over here. Although we enjoy a moderately successful Patreon, it’s still barely enough to pay the bills (and we still manage to put more money in the pockets of queer and women creators every single month than outfits vastly larger than us). I’m not saying there aren’t things I want to improve about the Gauntlet vis-a-vis diversity, but people who make these charges aren’t usually seeing the full sweep of what we do.

On the other hand, I can rattle off twenty successful, mid-sized indie publishers whose work I otherwise greatly admire, but who have likely never hired a POC. How many games about women have been published in which not a single woman was consulted during their development? How many of the most popular Twitch personalities stream games every day that are entirely white dudes? These are folks who are simply not held to any kind of standard when it comes to diversity because they are popular. And you see this in the culture writ large: popular white guy never has to do shit with his money or time in order to improve things, but less popular, less wealthy queer/woman/POC is expected to change the entire fucking world.

Umm, also: If you’re a successful publisher, being on a panel is not enough. Posting supportive words on social media is not enough. Get out your spreadsheet and see how much money you put in the pockets of diverse creators. If the number is little to none, you’re part of the problem.

I’m not sure where this is going, except to say before you step to me regarding diversity, do your research. Also: look at your own circles and the people you elevate. There is a strong chance you’re being very hypocritical.

I want to relate a brief story about a racially problematic thing that happened during a game in which I played via…

I want to relate a brief story about a racially problematic thing that happened during a game in which I played via Gauntlet Hangouts and then share my reflections on that event and its wider implications. Before proceeding, I should mention that I am a white man.

Here’s what happened: We were playing a game set in a modern urban fantasy setting. The GM (a white man) created a minor NPC — on the fly, I believe — and described her as a “sassy black woman.” I was stunned in the moment and said nothing, even though I felt this was an offensive racial stereotype. I was not able to address the issue until a roses & thorns debrief at the end of the session. We had a short but fruitful conversation in which one other player also contributed. Fortunately the GM took my point in a relatively non-defensive manner. We eventually came to a consensus that his characterization of the NPC was indeed an offensive stereotype and that reliance on such stereotypes is a lazy way of fleshing out NPCs.

Here are my reflections on what happened:

The X-card isn’t always enough to address problematic content. In my example, the X-card was available, but I choked in the moment. This was a failure on my part, and I am working on getting better at responding to problematic behavior as it occurs. However I don’t think this problem is unique to me. Also a player from a marginalized group may hesitate during game play for legitimate reasons (e.g., fear of being dismissed) and miss the window of opportunity to invoke the X-card. For this reason, I think it would be a good idea to encourage GMs to conduct roses and thorns debriefs at the end of sessions and explicitly encourage players to reflect any content that they feel was problematic in regards to race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability.

Also, I was fortunate in having a GM who did not respond defensively to my feedback. From my past experience calling out white people about racially problematic behavior, I know this is not always the case. As such, I think it would be good to have some basic written advice on how to raise and respond to such issues — for example, the distinction between intent and effect: just because I expressed my discomfort with the GM’s characterization of that NPC doesn’t mean I’m accusing him of being a bad person or having bad motives. Hopefully, this advice will help guide conversations in a productive direction so that the person receiving the feedback will actually understand the problem and can avoid similar problematic content in the future.

Finally, I think what happened in my example is relatively common — that is, it is probably easy for a GM to fall back on stereotypes when they are creating NPCs on the fly. I think it would be useful to compile a list of such pitfalls and ways to avoid them. In the example at hand, just being aware of this tendency and consciously checking yourself: Am I inadvertently reproducing a stereotype? If yes, then switch it up: Instead of another nerdy Asian character, make them debonair and suave!

I’d be very interested in hearing what people think about my reflections on this example. What do you think about these proposals: 1. encouraging debriefs to address problematic racial & other content, 2. creating written advice on how to give and receive such feedback, and 3. compiling a list of common pitfalls & ways to avoid them?

In case it’s not clear, I really loving gaming at Gauntlet and want to see it become even more awesome. I know that Jason and Kate are working hard at increasing diversity. I’d like to see the wider Gauntlet community pool ideas and energy to support this effort so that our community is as safe as possible for old & new members from marginalized communities. Thanks for reading!

PSA:

Are you a fan of Jason Morningstar’s WWII PbtA masterpiece Night Witches?

Do you have Amazon Prime?

Then you might be interested in the new historical novel Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K Runyan which is currently free for Prime subscribes on Amazon First Reads.

Haven’t started it yet, but the reviews are solid.

Codex – Hell is now available!

Codex – Hell is now available!

Codex – Hell is now available in our $4+ Patreon feed! Here is a peek at what you’ll find inside…

All Are Punished

This is a deluxe Monster of the Week mystery written by Oli Jeffery, inspired by the Hellraiser films. I say “deluxe” because it’s quite rich in its details, and you could easily run 2-3 sessions from it. It’s also significantly more dark and terrifying than typical MotW mysteries; if you want to push your MotW game away from action-adventure and into harder, grittier territory, this is a great place to start. It features two exquisite illustrations by Vandel J. Arden, such as the Ultor Sacerdotes seen below.

Hell is (An Office Full of) Other People

This is a slight re-working of Jason Lutes’s excellent Funnel World. It includes alternate steps for creating a group of modern-day office workers whose company has been taken over by the Devil, and a starter adventure called “Extremely Hostile Takeover.” It was written by Matt Stuart, and features an illustration by Evlyn M, which can be seen below.

Ash and Bone

This Dungeon World starter was the runner-up in our recent Gauntlet Con writing contest. It is utterly wicked and intense, and would make a terrific foundation for an ongoing campaign. Also: the elements are written in a way that would make it very easy to run it in an OSR-style game (I could, for example, see it being easily adapted to Lamentations of the Flame Princess). It was written by Horst Wurst and features a cool, woodcut print-style illustration by Jesse Ross.

Gauntlet Daddy #004

Devilingus! Never trust a big butt and a smile! Illustrated by Fabrissou.

Three dozen demons (and how to bind them to your service)

As always, there are some wildly imaginative elements here, tons of inspiration for both modern and fantasy games. A miscellany straight from the bowels of Hell!

Layout was done by Oli Jeffery. Editing was by myself and David LaFreniere. Cover illustration is by Claudia Cangini.

To get Codex – Hell, make a $4+ pledge to our Patreon by December 31st!

patreon.com/gauntlet

Simplified Website

Simplified Website

Something I have never been happy with is that it is very difficult to explain to people what, exactly, the Gauntlet even is. We don’t fit into any of the existing boxes when it comes to roleplaying games. I guess the most accurate thing to say is we are a community, but that word, while accurate, doesn’t even begin to fully capture everything the Gauntlet is.

Since we depend so heavily on word-of-mouth, I have simplified the website so when you need to explain to your friends what the Gauntlet is, all you have to do is direct them to gauntlet-rpg.com and the answer is perfectly clear. The re-designed home page is extremely simple: a logo, a short description, and some buttons. You are able to get an immediate sense of what the Gauntlet is, and are invited to explore each component part in more detail.

I have been fiddling with other apects of the site, too. Certain parts, like the Community Resources page, are still under construction, but take a look and I think you’ll find this is a much more friendly and usable site.

http://gauntlet-rpg.com