As some of you know, a few weeks ago Jason asked me to take over management of the non-publishing aspects of The Gauntlet and I accepted. That includes: Gauntlet Hangouts, Community Management, Twitter, Slack, Blog, Forums, Podcasts, Gauntlet Con, etc. In many cases we have sharp people already in place handling those. I’ll be checking in with them to figure out the best way we can support their work. Primarily I’ll be handling publicity, decision-making, and prioritization. Our podcast creators retain control of their work; I’ll just be assisting where I can and handling posting.
Jason is moving over to the publishing side. That includes Codex, delivering the Codex KS, our upcoming Trophy KS, Hearts of Wulin, etc. Jason will be wrapping up many of his commitments there. He plans to transition others to take over several of those efforts. As the owner of record, Jason will be managing the financial side of The Gauntlet. We’ve talked about changing that, but any divestment will be a long term project. The Gauntlet is a business, an LLC incorporated in Texas.
This month Jason will be training me on the procedures and providing me institutional knowledge and access. We anticipate it will probably take most of August to get me fully oriented. I will be paid a salary for this work. I’ve already started handling some of parts of this.
What Comes Next?
Several months ago Kate oversaw gathering anonymous community feedback. My next step will be getting a group together to examine, assess, prioritize, and respond to that. Some of that team’s already in place. Within that feedback I’m going to focus on new approaches and changes we can do going forward. The Gauntlet has things we can do better. As I figure about what we’re doing I’m going to try to be more transparent—trying to give regular updates.
Job one for me is making sure our gaming space remains stable, accessible, inclusive, and safe. Play is at the heart of what we do here. Losing both G+ and Hangouts on Air has been a challenge. This month we’re working to get folks set up on new meeting platforms. We’ll be figuring out the technical hurdles there, even as we ramp up to Gauntlet Con in October.
After that I have projects and goals for the community. I have an agenda. Some of it’s fluid, but here’s what’s #1 when we move to new business. The Gauntlet has not always served women as well as it could. I want to do more there. I want to establish a private space for those who identify as women on The Gauntlet to discuss play, design, issues at the table, and whatever they want. This will be overseen by women and I hope in the long-run it will generate actionable feedback. But more importantly, I want to provide a safe space.
Some of you know me and have played with me. I’m a 50 year old white dude. I’m under no illusions about that. I aspire to be an SJW—but I’m a shield carrier. I want to use my energy, attention, and privilege to support marginalized gamers and creators. That’s been an important aspect of the Gauntlet’s mission and I want that to continue. At the same time, I admit selfishly that I want The Gauntlet to continue and thrive because I love running and playing games and this is the best space for that I’ve ever been in. Rich Rogers invited me in 2016 and then Jason supported me to do more. It changed my life. I love this community and I want to see it grow.
I’ll answer questions where I can. Feel free to email me at edige23 AT gmail.
Will the playtest packet be available here, or is it going out to a select group?