The IGDN is getting ready to do our Metatopia Scholarship, so we’re starting the fundraising now. The goal is to get a diverse set of game designers a trip and access to Metatopia where they can get access to a focused playtest space, as well as having a current IGDN member with them to help them through what can be at times an intimidating process.
If we hit our 2000 goal we’ll be able to get 4 people to the convention. If we hit 4000 we’re going to send 8. Any help you can provide is appreciated, even if it isn’t financial sharing this to people who can afford to support is greatly appreciated!
Well, my group has started a new campaign and I’m looking forward to seeing where this going.
Well, my group has started a new campaign and I’m looking forward to seeing where this going. We’re starting as rank mortals in a Chronicles of Darkness campaign and are building up to one of the splats. Which one should be relatively easy to figure out for anybody that knows the CoD lore.
So far we’ve had a Session 0 and roleplayed a single scene with some unfortunate rolls, but it feels like it’s going to be nice creepy fun.
We just finished our Monsterhearts 2 series using Lauren McManamon’s Ballhir small town from Codex: Cold.
We just finished our Monsterhearts 2 series using Lauren McManamon’s Ballhir small town from Codex: Cold.
First off, big ups to a tremendous group of players: Asher Silberman Jesse Ross , Lauren McManamon , Mark Causey & Vincent Eaton all made life very easy for me as MC. I think it’s fair to say everyone brought their A-game.
Some highlights for me:
Vincent’s turn as Robbie the Fae – renouncing his summons home to Tír na nÓg, despite his fecklessness at home
Mark as Malachi the Serpentine – his fraught relationship with his mother, culminating in the grisly funeral rite over his dead sister
Lauren as Eoghan the Queen – the pressure, fear and grief from his execution of Saoirse spilling over into sex with Regan, who manipulated him into murdering her
Jesse as Regan the Infernal – coldly hypnotizing Roisín into the lake, and then we see her swallow water in the vain struggle with ever-increasing guilt and isolation
Asher as Aisling the Glamour – deftly making this side character their own and adding depth to the relationship with Malachi I couldn’t hope to match as well as hinting to Robbie’s Fae world as her own origin as a living spell!
As MC I was pretty happy with this outing, especially with managing spotlight and cuts. Also I purposefully left the fate of the town to the players’ reads of important side characters in the end.
I’m in awe of MCs who integrate new players well into an established group in a short-run campaign – this is the challenge of the Gauntlet’s open table play culture and I’m sure I can work on this skill.
We had a fun thing in last night’s f2f Blades in the Dark session.
We had a fun thing in last night’s f2f Blades in the Dark session. It’s set in Duskvol and we’ve had at least a couple dozen sessions, probably more at this point. They’re Hawkers, a group of circus performers gathering stray members into this new crew.
Anyway, I also ran a dozen sessions of Blades set in Iruvia for the Gauntlet. From time to time I’d drop details from one over to the other. The Iruvia game ended with a major, major change in the world. Essentially one of the four Demon Pillars of U’dusasha shattered and, more importantly, a beam of light appeared from the sky. It has remained and slowly grown larger.
That’s important because in Blades in the Dark, there is no sun. It got broken. That whole thing caused chaos and we ended the Iruvia game with most of the PCs hijacking a flying vessel and fleeing to the north, in particular Duskvol.
Anyway last night we took up with the F2f game and I introduced hints of the changes—and the first suggestion of the strange light across the lands to the far south. I had lots of portents, including suggestions that the Leviathans are being drawn there. The group dug down and spent resources on investigation and on finding places for refugees, especially those from Iruvia (since three f2f PCs come from there).
Anyway, I connected the two with the Iruvian crew arriving and one of the f2f PCs spending effort to create an asset and set them up as a temporary cohort for the crew. They plan on working to make them permanent members—they like the Vizier, Mirage, Raksasha, and others (especially the friendly ghoul-loving dog, Lucky). Anyway it was a nice bit and a fun coda to the Iruvian game. Unfortunately Fraser Simons PC trauma’d out in the last session and Darren Brockes character stayed on in U’duasha to unionize the demons.
I have more impressions about Blades and Iruvia and Johnstone Metzger’s excellent playbooks that I’ll write up in a post soon.
Well I finally just bit the bullet and decided to publish something.
Well I finally just bit the bullet and decided to publish something. I am excited to announce that my Compendium Compilation is available on Drivethru RPG! Some of you may remember the Monster Hunter compendium class that was mentioned in Discern Realities. Well it is in there, plus 12 other compendium classes of my own design! Since this is my first, feedback is greatly appreciated as it will help me develop better projects in the future. Thanks in advance to any who decide to pick it up!
Just a little flavor to add to an item that generally does not get a lot of focus. We all know what lock picks look like and how they work. Mostly they are a single line in the inventory of one character and only mentioned when lost. These are some stranger variants that might be especially interesting to parties without a thief. Maybe a cool gift to searching characters when you had nothing specific planed. Feel free to post your own lock picks or other generally uninteresting bits of gear.
Elf-pick (DoF uses)
Apply this bulb to any wooden door and it will quickly take root and flower. The wood of the door shrinks rapidly as it feeds the new plant. Locks and hinges fall away and the door drops out of its frame. Roll a die, on a one the plant dies before producing another bulb.
Dwarf-pick (slow, reload)
When jammed into the stone frame of a locked doorway this device will begin to drill. It crumbling stone around the door until it falls free and the passage is opened. Rewinding the Dwarf-pick requires several hours of strenuous effort.
Orc-pick (loud, 1 use, dangerous)
In its inert state the orc-pick appears to be a pourase brick of clay. When moistened (traditionally with blood or spit) it can be molded into a sticky mass that becomes highly volatile. Carefully applied to a lock or thrown against a barricade it will explode on impact with a low thump. The sound is bound to draw attention unless covered by noise of combat or celebration.
Monster-pick (dof uses, dangerous)
A seemingly delicate feather-like appendage kept in a wooden box when not in use. Any metal lock, hinge, or door brushed by this device will quickly rust away. Extreme care must be taken to avoid unintentional contact and the effects eventually weaken.
After delays, false starts, and convention-borne illnesses, here is the final part of my Universal RPG history series. This one swings wildly between greatness and pain, innovation and rebuilt wheels. Make of that what you will.
I hope you’ve dug this series. After this I’ll be putting the Patreon on hold. I plan to move to a new venue in the near future and continue with these there. When I have the full details, I will post them. Please reshare and comment on the list– especially if you have impressions of any of these recent games.
The newest episode of our ENnie-nominated podcast, Fear of a Black Dragon, is here!
The newest episode of our ENnie-nominated podcast, Fear of a Black Dragon, is here! In this one, Tom McGrenery and I are thirsty to hunt down Acererak, the biggest trap queen of them all, deep in the heart of the Tomb of Horrors!
If you love this show, please consider voting for it at this link (ranking us #1 would be very nice indeed):
Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup!
Greetings, and welcome to the weekly Gauntlet Hangouts video roundup! Don’t miss any of the great sessions in the updated playlists and video links below.
Also don’t miss this week the launch of Gaunt Marches, the new ongoing, multi-group, multi-GM Dungeon World campaign!
Star Wars Saturday
– Hutt Cartel (Session 3 of 3)
Oraasha Ne the Druglord and her Spouse Zoshta host a dunner party with the Pyke Syndicate while Rosmer Solari the Crooked ISB Agent tries to rob the lab and Vaynar the Assassin tries to catch him.
After a botched encounter w/ a popular hero, personal issues haunt the team– alienation, betrayal, expectations, not trending– but they regroup to hunt rogue Murder-Bots (and an Adore-a-bot).
It’s a new season for the promotion as Gauntlet League Wrestling returns to the Gauntlet City Arena (following court-ordered safety renovations), but the money’s running out and there’s chaos in creative direction as old hands rumble with new talent.
– Dungeon World: Gaunt Marches – The Land of 1,000 Sloughs (Session 2 of 5)
Friends and enemies follow the band on their course to the town of Alameen. What will they learn about the mysterious vanishing of a bandit in that town. Is it connected to the rumors of an ancient Prince’s curse?
– Dungeon World: Gaunt Marches – From Desire to Despond (Session 1 of 4)
A child goes missing, a friend vanishes, a warrior commits to her quest, a treasure hunter pursues a missing army, and a witch unravels threads of the truth.
Riding a trolley through the woods, a boy stares into the gates of hell, a despicable display of greed, a glass butler serves a shoe, a treasured memory is altered, a beast man’s goathead explodes: The end.
In episode 3, the group figured out what makes the premise of the game to fall apart: if family members give up too much of themselves to prevent strife in the family. Honestly this is an incredibly common thing to happen in families.
In episode 4, the group pushed big on the final crisis and the hard choices for the family. Also it’s revealed that it probably was Ryan Reynolds killing the undead as more of the cast of Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place start getting involved. (Claire really wants to test the theory that David Ogden Stiers is still around and eating flesh.)
– Beyond the Castle Wall: Keep on the Barrowlands (Session 1 of 4)
The players create the Drestfall family, Dukes of the Northern Reaches, and their ancestral home, Crow’s Watch Castle. Richard runs a wonderfully queer character-creation session of Beyond the Castle Wall, a dark fantasy playbook hack of Beyond the Wall.
– Dungeon World: Beneath Cartannah (Session 1 of 4)
The party save their dwarven guide from being kidnapped by a strange cult. We then flashback to discover the troubles of the Lassyheir family and the reason why our group is exploring the sewers.
Maxime Lacoste runs for Jan Petrykowski, Robbie Boerth, Ryan Windeknecht, and Spencer Paskett: https://youtu.be/JHDCdGuCBqI
– Spire: Blood and Dust (Session 2 of 4)
One sentence: Nuka does a deep dive in the Vermissian, and finds the rotten center of the corruption, while Tibalt and Margit follow a gun worshipping priest to the ideological extreme – and Tibalt gets recruited.
Cici Warwick the old money hedonist trying to restore her and her families rep. Silas Warwick dependent clergyman trying to prevent his aunt (Cici) from marrying so he can remain the heir apparent. Robert Willoughby disgraced barrister trying to repair things with former friend Cici. Lady Frances Barrington in love with Robert, which anyone can see is not a respectable match, but will the families money troubles shift the perspective of what is respectable? Good Society character creation. A dance to regain rep is also an opportunity to throw your drunken self at your love. It is just the beginning.
The St. Louis Plan – As the crew traverses the Mississippi they encounter the River Raiders, who offer them mission and a deal for free, safe passage the rest of the way on the Varina.
Check out all the great videos on The Gauntlet’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9QoUve1LQHu_feDx0snd4w and be sure check out the playlists to catch up on all your favorite Gauntlet Hangouts games. If you’d like to play in games like these, check out the Gauntlet Hangouts Google+ Community at https://plus.google.com/communities/116329047011220562548 where game signups are announced! To support The Gauntlet and Gauntlet Hangouts, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon at https://patreon.com/gauntlet where $7 and up patrons get priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games. Enjoy, and everyone have a great weekend!
if any of you are in the Phoenix, AZ area, the 3rd year of the event I put together kicks off tomorrow.
if any of you are in the Phoenix, AZ area, the 3rd year of the event I put together kicks off tomorrow. For being an almost exclusive RPG event of mostly non D&D/Pathfinder/Star Wars games, in a highly competitive gaming convention market (we have 6 game conventions, 1 video game/tabletop/everything con, and at least a half dozen other pop culture cons where gaming is a thing) our attendance at just over 330 unique badges tells me that people are getting into indie games. Most of my inspiration comes from this group. i mainly lurk, but I wanted to give a shout out to all of you for helping inspire me to make a thing that people seem to like.
If you’re in town, stop by and say hi, mention you’re part of the Gauntlet and I’ll hook up a big discount on a badge.
