My first Gaunlet hangout game is coming up very soon. I have run a handful of online games over roll20 and Skype but they didn’t all go smoothly.
Are there any suggestions from the community to helping this game go well?
Suggestions for my 1st Gauntlet hangout
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Are you playing or running? I assume the former?
Playing - sci-fi horror - mechanics light
I’ve been with the Gauntlet a little over a year and in that time have played in an absurd number of events and facilitated a much more modest number, but I’m gonna throw out some things that I’ve found have worked well for me in as a player and as a facilitator.
As a player, it was really important for me to learn quickly that no matter how excited I was to get the ideas rolling in email, every game and player group is gonna have its own energy for that. It’s been really useful and important to me to try to just grab at ideas to bring to the table for our setup and not have the game play out in my head as backstory before it even happens.
It’s also really important to get used to riding your mute button! The Gauntlet GMs I’ve had the pleasure of playing with do an incredible job of spotlight management, so you can rest easy knowing that you will have, so, so many times to shine.
As a GM, leaving this spot TBD! I play a lot more than I GM (and it probably shows? shrug) and I hold to the belief that any game where people show up and are invested in the game and want to help take care for each other is gonna be good, no matter how well I improvise plot or dialogue, characterize my NPCs, master a system, or any of the other things that GMs are “supposed” to be good at.
I’ve also written up an overview of how I run a session in here, absent any kind of GMing advice. There are lots and lots of great runners here who do things differently from me but I figured it couldn’t hurt to give you an expectation of what kind of things happen in-session.
unsolicited facilitation advice in here :D
As a facilitator, I’ve found it incredibly useful to have an outline of what all I want cover from the time we convene to the time we’re done. Here’s an overview of what my sessions look like:
- Introductions - greetings, names, and pronouns for everyone, especially as people trickle in.
- CATS - Concept, Aim, Tone, Subject Matter. This lets me make sure everyone understands what kind of game they’re getting into, and what kind of subject matter I expect to be part of the game. I announce that we’re using safety tools but first, a check-in: Is everyone still interested in this game?
- Safety Discussion - check with people’s familiarity with the tools I’m using and introduce if necessary. (Typically, X-Card, Lines and Veils, Script Change, Open Door)
- Leaving time for folks to put stuff in Lines and Veils in my character keeper
- Care discussion - let people know about how long I expect to go between breaks, and to let people know they can call for them too
- Check to make sure if everyone’s cool with recording, noting that I’ll only share if everyone gives consent after.
- Start recording.
- Do a Gauntlety-kind of quick intro shouting out the website and stuff going on with it
- Introduce myself w/name and pronouns, go around the table for introductions
- super-quick CATS of the game we’re playing for the eventual audience
- note that we’re using safety tools without mention of content
Then it’s just back and forth between Play and Break, then at the end:
- Any last words before we end the recording / on-broadcast debrief if people want
- THANK YOU to all the people
- End recording
- Off-broadcast debrief
I often put my outline into a page in my character keeper, and a good keeper is such a great tool in the box. Check Michael G. Barford’s series on the blog for an introduction, the basics, advanced techniques, and adding polish. Check the Play Aids folder for your game! Someone’s probably done great work with it.
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You are there to have fun - be clear its your first online game - people will make room for you and support you.
Take a look at play aids, playbooks etc… beforehand. It’ll help you get up to speed.
Really don’t feel embarrassed asking for clarifications etc…
Come with an idea but form your character with the people in your group - lean into offered links and jump into opportunities.
Have fun! Everyone will be awesome and kind and support you.
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Make sure you do a quick test of your microphone/camera setup with whatever platform the GM is using before the game if you can.
You didn’t say exactly how it “didn’t go at all smoothly.” Were there tech issues? Were the other players just jerks? Was the GM a jerk (possibly also?) or just not doing a great job? If you can pinpoint the problem(s) with those other games, we might be able to offer a few targeted best practice and/or specific reassurances.
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As a player … Relax and enjoy it … nothing else is required. Don’t feel the need to learn the rules just tell the GM if you are unfamiliar with the rules and ask them for clarification when you need it.
I think it’s nice to demonstrate your attention with scenes your character isn’t in by offering visual appreciation: silent applause, exaggerated facial expressions … anything to let the other players and GM know you’re enjoying it.
I’m sure it will go well. Come back and tells us.
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I agree with Alun, don’t worry about it.
The GM (I hope) won’t expect you to be au fait with all the details either of the game or of the online technicalities. If you’re a supportive and engaged player, as you would be in a face-to-face game, you’re 90% of the way there.
The remaining 10% is little online-only niceties like:
- muting yourself when you’re not in a scene
- remembering you’re muted next time you try to talk – forgetting this is always good for some comedy relief at a tense moment in the story
- giving a bit more facial feedback to other players than you would around a table (because body language is hard to read)
- getting the hang of the slightly less intuitive turn-taking that online conversations require, again from the lack of body language and other non-verbal cues.
But there’s nothing there that should break a sweat. Just enjoy and have fun.
(Disclaimer: I have done online play obviously, but not yet managed to get into a game on the Gauntlet, so I can’t help on anything Gauntlet-specific.)
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Something I want to echo:
- Exaggerated reactions: especially when you aren’t in a scene if you really love what is happening in the scene shake your fists in the air, clap, visually gasp with your hands at your face, etc. All of this gives important instant visual feedback from you (when you’re muted).
Some additions:
- Make use of chat: show your love for a scene by saying so in chat; it’s also a fine place for non-scene table chatter (online games, esp Gauntlet ones, are very focused on getting in as much gaming as possible in the time slot so there’s not a ton of chitchat); if you have scene suggestions put them there;
- Assume there will be some sort of chat at the end about the session.
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For real, the chat is something I wish I could make exist in my face-to-face games as a non-intrusive cheering section / live commentary / catalog of puns and side jokes. It lets me be the absolute doofus that I am while being only 15-30% as distracting as if I were saying things out loud.
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My past issues with online play:
Google hangouts dropping sessions and then some players staying on the old session and others moving to the new session
No audio from one player
From the point of running the game specifically, I made the mistake of focusing too much on combat in the AW game ran.
Added:
I have had trouble at times with very heavy narrative / character focused / light mechanics games because many players I game with are fairly uncomfortable with improv without the usual prompts and D&D like mechanics to support them.
I am hoping (and expecting) that this is better in Gauntlet games. I just wanted to put it out there that I do not have tons of experience with very unstructured games to solicit advice on this point as well.
Technical issues do crop up and are always frustrating, but (IMHO) they are a small price to pay for the convenience, and meatspace gaming has its own similar sets of issues when you have multiple humans in a small space.
And sure, certain kinds of playstyles lend themselves better to online play, but even that has wide variance. If you’re doing combat stuff, I think a VTT helps even if you’re not using a map or gridded system. You can maybe show abstract positioning, keep a view of what enemies are still in the fight, maybe some sort of visual representation of environmental hazard (e.g. icons). Playing to the strengths of the medium will always help.
But for the OP: relax, enjoy, remember that everyone’s on the same “side” of wanting to have fun, and be willing to go with the flow.
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Think of where your character is starting and how they might grow/change over the course of the story to become something completely different. Character growth is the bedrock of most good stories, so if you’re playing a story-based game you should plan with it in mind.
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