The Set-up
Every month I post 3 - 4
sessions on the Gauntlet calendar. From month to month new players can sign up.
In theory everybody can sign up for games with the Gauntlet although patreons
get a head start of one week which makes it difficult for non-members to get into games. Players are encourage to commit to all games of
one season but they can also decide to sign up for single sessions.
Open Table
A potential downside of open
table play is the possible lack of coherence if the composition of the caravan changes completely from season to season. It turned out to be a mitigating
factor that I reserved one spot for the same player, Puckett, who only missed
one session. Fortunately I also had at least one other player who remained in
the party from one season to the next. Even players who knew that they
wouldn’t return made long term decisions like researching the market, buying
goods and picking routes as if their characters remained in the party.
To support coherence I
set up this blog and a dedicated channel on the Gauntlet Slack where I post the
session reports, actual play videos and where the players can chat about the
game. Furthermore the online character sheet not only keeps track of the
caravan, it also functions as a game artifact that new players can peruse.
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| NPCs and Places of the UVG |
The Cogflower Caravan
The first group decided
on the type of caravan based on the background of one of the characters, Nat
Mordecai, who is a Cogflower Necromancer Lawyer. The caravan is sponsored by
the church to make as much money as possible by trading on the way to the Black
City, where the money is supposed to be offered at the altar of a probably
sinister entity. Nat and all the other characters who had been part of the caravan
at some point can rejoin in later sessions and are treated as if they had never
left. They are still considered part of the caravan for all intent and purposes
although they won't act and don't count against mouths to feed. Equally, new
characters are regarded as having been part of the caravan all along if they
want to.
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| A small segment of the growing map |
The Sandbox
In most sandbox settings players are free to pick whatever
destination they want to travel to and pursue whatever goals they might have. In UVG however
the general direction is given: Westwards and onwards to the Black City.
With a permanent group it wouldn’t be a problem to have
free movement in all directions, with characters travelling back and forth
between destinations - for example in order to exploit milk runs, establishing a
base for operations etc. But with an open table I think it is more sensible to stick
to the basic premise of a caravan travelling to the Black City.
Another difference to a more classic sandbox is the degree
of narrative control players have. Because information about the game world is not
extensively detailed in the book the GM can either spend considerable time prepping a
session or prompt the players to add elements to the description. The latter
seems to be the way the author intended the game to be run: https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2020/no-masters-only-dungeons/
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| The demise of Don Strakha, leader of the Redlander Bandits |
Stories
My hope was that stories would emerge from the interaction
between player decisions and results on random tables. As a GM my role is to be
a neutral referee who just adjudicates the rules and tries to represent an
objective world: It’s up to the players to make the best out of a given
situation. Encounters, discoveries and even misfortunes can provide
opportunities for the players to create their story of the UVG. From that
perspective “story” is what players remember their characters doing in the
fiction.
I only deviated from the ideal of a neutral arbiter on a
few occasions:
- When Naida contacted her organization (a group of vigilantes who patrol the UVG) about potential targets I wanted the information to be useful so I pointed her towards the psychic war at the Mountain City.
- Inspired by Into the Odd I created a rival caravan of Redlander Bandits that the PCs encountered at the Low Road and the High for the first time.
- When Hamish, a Redlander Folk Hero, arrived at the Porcelain Citadel it seemed appropriate that Syruss Sensible and the Revolutionaries would see in him a tool to use against the princes, so I provided the heist as a possible adventure seed.
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| A Porcelain Walker was added to the caravan after the heist |
Emergent Story and storytelling
Of course players from the Gauntlet bring their story
telling sensibilities and talents to the table. Dan, playing Satrap 88, decided
to bring their story to a conclusion after the first season by elaborating on
the theme of Satraps having no soul, Chris, playing the machine human Saffron,
looked for a way to conclude the story of the artificial intelligence Johnny -7
in a satisfying way. From my perspective these storytelling approaches to the
sandbox might be unusual but well within the range of stories one could tell with the UVG.
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| Satrap 88 re-uploaded in the Violet City |
Statistics
12 weeks of in-game time from Redmonth to Yellowmonth.
12 weeks of real world time from March 14 to May 23
9 characters, 8 players
30+ hours of actual play:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5BBgImD4UPRGy4yIEaL0HwYohPc-X8af
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