Inspired by conversations on The Gauntlet’s Patreon-only Slack domain (https://www.patreon.com/gauntlet/posts).

Inspired by conversations on The Gauntlet’s Patreon-only Slack domain (https://www.patreon.com/gauntlet/posts).

Inspired by conversations on The Gauntlet’s Patreon-only Slack domain (https://www.patreon.com/gauntlet/posts).

Originally shared by Robert Bohl

Online play and PbtA

What considerations do you suggest in adapting Powered by the Apocalypse games (especially those closer in ruleset to Apocalypse World) when you are going to play online?

I’m considering trying some online play for the Powered by the Apocalypse hack I’m writing (Demihumans, a game about non-human people as the human world moves inexorably on toward their extinction). I don’t have a lot of online play experience, but I think this is a valuable way to get playtests. It’s also a style of play that’s increasing in prevalence, and thus worth taking into consideration when designing.

(My personal issues with online play revolve mostly around how hard it is for me not to interrupt, and how a lot of my accommodations around that rely on more of a face-to-face dynamic.)

The Ravens Circle

The Ravens Circle

The Ravens Circle

Reign of Crows, an AGoT Fate hack is one of three Fate games I’m running for the Gauntlet Hangouts in August. It’s the most experimental. We played our second session Sunday, digging into scenes instead of world building (video link at post). I’m puzzling out the game’s rhythm amid the great play moments. We’ll discuss that at the start of next session, hunting ideas to tighten the play experience. At the post I have the second half of my materials: the stunts and specials for each of the six character archetypes.

A play report from the first session of OSR Tuesday: Maze of the Blue Medusa

A play report from the first session of OSR Tuesday: Maze of the Blue Medusa

A play report from the first session of OSR Tuesday: Maze of the Blue Medusa

Better late than never. Session 1 was August 1st (next session is tomorrow).

Joram the Cleric, played by Jesse Larimer

Bartow the Thief, played by Michael Mendoza

Arion the Conjuror, played by Richard Ruane

Three adventurers enter the painting on the night they stole it. They immediately encounter Ashen Chanterelle, who pleads with them to remove her chains. They do so, and the cleric offers he his cloak. She talks with the PCs while waiting for the cloud cover to break. The moment the moonlight strikes the panting she escapes through it, immediately covering it with the cloak to prevent the PCs from following her.

They soon find themselves in the presence of the Lady Crucem Capilli, the daughter of a dragon who claims to be on a mission to rescue an ancient daemon, petrified by the Medusa. The Lacy Capilli also enjoys art and treasure, and she offers to purchase anything the PCs can bring back to her. The PC decided to seek out treasure while they look for another way out of the Maze. Before they leave the Lady’s chambers, they spot three Chameleon Women who also spot them before fleeing into the Maze.

At first, the PCs decide to head in the opposite direction, away from the Chameleon Women. They open a door to a large spherical room with stairs in many directions at many angles. They quickly determine that gravity changes on the other side of the door, and entering would result in a potentially deadly fall across the room. They tie a rope to Bartow, who attempts to climb to the gravitationally correct side of the stairs. Despite his careful effort, he takes a nasty fall that nearly kills him. Bartow is retrieved by the rope tied to his waist and healed by Joram, but left with a disfigured face.

The party decides to change their plan and follow the Chameleon Women. They enter a round chamber with an unknown light source that slowly circles the room. As Bartows shadow moves moves under foot of Arion, it becomes a pit trap. Arion falls but is quickly pulled to safety suffering only minor injury. The party disperses to avoid falling in another shadow.

They exit one at a time into a large, dark room, full of black flowers and vines that grow cover over the passageway behind them. The vines wrap around crumbling stone statues and animate them. Three vine wrapped figures approach the party and seem to be attempting to reach under their clothing. The PCs attack and battle the statues until Arion casts a Sleep spell, putting them all down.

The next room, a smaller room with green vines that seem to be trying to kiss the PCs, has a woman’s face carved into the stone wall. A search yields 3 rubies and a poison arrow frog in a jar. As the party exits back into the black flower room, they encounter a lizard-man mummy named Salamandra Puntata. He is lost, and the PCs point him in the direction of Lady Crucem Capilli.

The party continues to explore the Maze and enter a vine-free room with a carved stone loveseat. Beyond that, they encounter a small pot-bellied pig, that immediately grows to be four-foot high. They later learn that this is an Id Pig and really wants to escape it room. It charges at them, they dodge it, and the Id Pig escapes into the maze.

Looking to follow the pig, they reenter the black vine room. Salamandra Puntata is gone and there is no sign of the Id Pig. They check a small garden-shed-like room, full of old gardening tools. Bartow takes a wooden bucket before leaving. They exit the black vine room again, this time walking past the room with the loveseat that leads to the room the pig was in.

Now the PCs are in a large room with a well manicured garden of lawns and flower beds. As the PCs look around they encounter a 15-foot long, pinkish-gray worm named Germander. Germander is very displeased that the Id Pig has been released. A battle ensues and Germander is slain.

The battle must have drawn some attention because the PC’s barely had time to look around, catch their breath before Pellory-Of-The-Walls, a hideous, mutated, plant-like woman emerged from the ceiling. The PCs decided to run back toward the black vine room as the session ended.

cc: Slade Stolar, Lowell Francis

#MotBM

Here is a link to Session 2 of Urban Shadows: The Violet Crown.

Here is a link to Session 2 of Urban Shadows: The Violet Crown.

Here is a link to Session 2 of Urban Shadows: The Violet Crown. In this one, we are introduced to a brand-new player character, the Fey drug dealer Frankie Jungman.

This was an extremely fun session, though content warnings for suicide and weird sex shit are probably in order.

Thanks to Phillip Wessels Jennifer Erixon steven watkins and Michael X. Heiligenstein for being awesome, GGG players!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBaC5S5yAIM&feature=youtu.be&a

A Throne of Games?

A Throne of Games?

A Throne of Games?

Sunday we had the first session of Reign of Crows. That’s a “Game of Thrones” style Fate mini-campaign. Everyone plays members of a single noble family. Together they face threats and shifts in power. We had Sherri Stewart, David LaFreniere, Patrick Knowles, and Horst Wurst do the world building. While we’ve only played the first session, I want to post some of the material. I plan on coming back to look at all of this once we’ve done all four.

The crew of savvy Shadows takes on the Iruvian Consulate, stealing a new consul’s property and then selling it back…

The crew of savvy Shadows takes on the Iruvian Consulate, stealing a new consul’s property and then selling it back…

The crew of savvy Shadows takes on the Iruvian Consulate, stealing a new consul’s property and then selling it back to him in a fraught, but violence-free meeting.

We have a classic anime 1-2 of the (crafty, dangerous) old man and (exceedingly dangerous) young girl squaring off against their enemies (if they were genre-savvy they would get on the train and never come back!)

A big thanks to the players in this Blades in the Dark campaign: Sam Richardson (Locust), Andrew Shields (Paving), Robert Ruthven (Shrike) & Pawel Solowczuk (Hammer).

The crew will return in November I hope, maybe with some new members…

Lord Caspian Gal, Keeper of the First Starlight, is throwing a masquerade ball, and you are invited!

Lord Caspian Gal, Keeper of the First Starlight, is throwing a masquerade ball, and you are invited!

Lord Caspian Gal, Keeper of the First Starlight, is throwing a masquerade ball, and you are invited!

This is the first session in our new DW adventure, The Merry Abattoir, part of We Hunt the Keepers! campaign. Like the adventures before it, Session 1 is a free standing one-shot. The actual Merry Abattoir story will be in Sessions 2-4.

This was a lot of fun! Our Dungeon World play has lately been fantastic. Thanks to the players: Chris Wiegand Gerrit Reininghaus Fraser Simons and Maria Rivera!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcJSoB80rd4

On Sunday we began our four-session run of Cthulhu Dark: The History of Mercy Falls.

On Sunday we began our four-session run of Cthulhu Dark: The History of Mercy Falls.

On Sunday we began our four-session run of Cthulhu Dark: The History of Mercy Falls. Mercy Falls is the setting we have been exploring via Monsterhearts this year on both Pocket-Sized Play and YouTube. This Cthulhu Dark run is four one-shot mysteries, each showing the town of Mercy Falls during different periods of American history.

For this first session, we see Mercy Falls in the 1830s, when it was a camp stopover along the Oregon Trail. Despite a couple of technical hiccups with the recording (they are fairly minor), we managed to tell a very creepy tale involving weird time dilations, an ancient race of bird people, and one very familiar, physically imposing cultist from the mainline Mercy Falls series.

Thanks to the excellent players in this session: David LaFreniere Lauren McManamon Philipp Neitzel and Oli Jeffery!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq4VXeCVTMQ