Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse is on Kickstarter! Lowell Francis recently interviewed the author of the game, Derek A. Kamal, on The Gauntlet Podcast. It was a really great conversation about HMTM, game design, the intersection of faith & gaming, and more! You can check it out right here:
This is a Misspent Youth world written by none other than Robert Bohl himself! In this case, your Youthful Offenders are a group of ersatz Batman villains taking on the Night’s Avenger. From Robert: “I had the idea years ago while rewatching Batman: The Animated Series with my son. It occurred to me that in the opening, Batman, a billionaire, is beating the living fuck out of jewel thieves (property criminals). So here’s this unimaginably wealthy guy who’s brutalizing people so that the utterly useless trinkets of the rich are preserved.” This feature contains two fantastic pieces of art by Evan Rowland (one of which is featured below).
Disputationem Maleficarum
This is a Fiasco playset written by Codex’s own Oli Jeffery. In this one, you play attendees of ConClusions, an annual necromancer convention. It was inspired by films such as What We Do in the Shadows, and contains plenty of black humor and social commentary. It features a whimsical/creepy illustration by Evlyn M.
The Big H
This is an original story game by Joshua Fox It’s about a superhero, the Big H, who pursues high ideals, but eventually falls from grace and uses their power to impose their will on the world. The players portray lesser heroes who used to look up to the Big H, but who now have to fight back against the Big H’s corrupt rule. It’s a fantastic little game, and I’m delighted it is making its debut in Codex. It features two pieces of striking art by Jesse Ross, one of which can be seen below.
Gauntlet Daddies #002
This month we get to meet the sexy necromancer, Boner! Boner was illustrated by the wonderful Fabrissou
Three dozen abandoned locations
A collection of derelict buildings, abandoned ships, and lost histories; a miscellany forgotten by the world.
Codex – Decay features cover art by Claudia Cangini (which can be seen below). Editing is done by myself and David LaFreniere. Layout is by Oli Jeffery.
I know everyone is excited about Gauntlet Con (you should be!) but don’t forget about Gauntlet Hangouts.
I know everyone is excited about Gauntlet Con (you should be!) but don’t forget about Gauntlet Hangouts. Gauntlet Hangouts is the absolute best place to play indie RPGs online. We have 82 events presently scheduled through December, with another 20-30 to be scheduled in the coming days.
And the list of games is amazing. Check it out:
Monsterhearts: Appleton, WI
Gauntlet League Wrestling: Season Two (World Wide Wrestling)
Dogs in the Vineyard
Pack of Strays (Playtest)
Lacuna Part 1
Durance
Blades in the Dark
Legacy: Life Among the Ruins
Clown Helsing
Love in the Time of Khvareneh
Monster of the Week
Lovecratesque: Pizza Time!
The ‘Hood
Dia De Los Muertos (The Final Girl)
Dia De Los Muertos 2: Revenge of Porkface (The Final Girl)
Dia De Los Muertos: Direct to Video (Cheat Your Own Adventure)
Dia De Los Muertos 9: Alien v. Porkface (The Final Girl)
World of Dungeons: Into the Fire
Kuro
7th Sea: Khitai
44: A Game of Automatic Fear
Monsterhearts: Mercy Falls, WA
Chaos Monks: Mountains of the Moon
The Watch
Familiars
Spirit of ’77
My Life With Master
Masks: Return to Atom City
Truth or Daring
Dungeon World: Ten Hidden Keys
Rifts: Dog Boys of Lone Star
Rolemaster: Slumbering Ursine Dunes
Fiasco: The Beast of Sucker Creek
Public Access (Playtest)
For more details on each event, check out the RSVP site:
Tagging designers of some of the above games (in case they like to keep tabs on where their stuff is being played): Avery Alder Nathan Paoletta Vincent Baker Phillip Wessels Jason Morningstar John Harper James Iles Matthijs Holter Michael Sands Becky Annison Joshua Fox James Mullen Anna Kreider David K. Paul Czege Brendan Conway
Just a reminder to check out the Keepers of the Gauntlet writing contest!
Just a reminder to check out the Keepers of the Gauntlet writing contest! The contest team will be reviewing entries as they come in, so get yours in early!
The prizes on this one are pretty great: the winning scenario will get a $100 cash prize, publication in Codex (with commissioned art and layout), and will be featured on either Discern Realities or Fear of a Black Dragon. Up to two runners-up will each get a $50 cash prize.
We expect to get around 30-40 contest entries, so your chances of being a finalist are actually really good. So give it a shot! And if you have any questions, just let me know.
There is a lot of drama going on right now in certain gaming circles on G+.
There is a lot of drama going on right now in certain gaming circles on G+. I myself don’t get involved, but I watch it. This drama involves many of the usual suspects, and it’s forcing people to feel like they have to leave social media or abandon the hobby altogether. I’d say it makes me sad, but it actually doesn’t (the hobby doesn’t have that kind of emotional power over me; the day it starts to, I will also abandon it). But I do think it’s disappointing. When I look at our Gauntlet spaces (meaning G+, Slack and Gauntlet Hangouts), I see a community of people who are exceedingly kind to one another. Our culture is one of respect, mutual admiration, and genuine affection. We’re serious about our games, but we’re also serious about making sure everyone is being friendly and giving. And we have maintained that for a long time. Occasionally, someone who fundamentally doesn’t understand the Gauntlet tries to inject themselves into things and cause trouble, but that’s pretty rare.
Are we perfect? Fuck no. One of the things I wish we were better at was finding those people who feel pushed out of the hobby and letting them know we are a haven from that bullshit. We also have no discernible structure, which is probably confusing, at best, and suspicious, at worst.
But what we’re doing is working. If I knew how to export it to other hobby spaces, I would.
Episode 51 of Discern Realities is here! In this one, we reflect on the relationship between a couple of David’s characters, signal boost the DW Newsletter by Colin Kierans and Tomer Gurantz’s First Session Cheat Sheets, discuss ways of giving the Heirloom move some punch at your table, and continue the story of St. Evelyn the White.
Also: we let the lube cube out of its dark hole so it can slide right into your heart!
In Episode 116 of The Gauntlet Podcast, Kate Bullock and I are talking with Maury Brown of Learn Larp (New World…
In Episode 116 of The Gauntlet Podcast, Kate Bullock and I are talking with Maury Brown of Learn Larp (New World Magischola) about inclusivity in gaming. It’s a really interesting conversation, filled with tons of great advice about an important subject I think many people are intimidated by (but shouldn’t be–it’s easy!).
And then stick around for Codex – Decay to meet the next character in the Gauntlet Daddies series, the sexy necromancer Boner!
The Gauntlet Daddies are the work of the very talented Fabrissou. Be sure to check out his Patreon, where he draws all sorts of beautiful, half-naked men.