THEY WHO HOLD THE GAUNTLET
Sunday morning we wrapped up a full “promotion season” of World Wide Wrestling. Eight sessions of
crazy joy. The game works; it clicks, it hums. I had amazing fun managing the whole thing and WWW
blew the doors off. I’m a goofball who only paid attention to pro wrestling starting
the middle of last year. I’ve watched with an eye to running WWW, but remained
a complete newb.
But that didn’t hurt things. World Wide Wrestling lets you get into goofy stories mixed with
real human drama, set against super-fun sequences of improvised and
collaborative athletic description. Running a session's like pushing a cart over
the crest of a hill. You can only hang on as it picks up speed.
In this week’s episode of the Gauntlet Podcast I talk about World
Wide Wrestling and my experience running a rotating cast of characters. We
had interesting challenges come out of running for sixteen different players
over eight sessions. I had to bend some mechanics for relationships, heat, and
other sundries. Not by much and I learned lessons for the next time we play
this.
On a related note, Rich Rogers interviewed WWW designer Nathan Paoletta on the +1 Forward Podcast.
He talks about PbtA design and runs an amazing short WWW vignette for Rich. It’s
a demonstration of skillful GMing. I’ve seen some designers poorly showcase
their work in play. Nathan brings it to life and engages the mechanics. He shows off the fun in the game.
I got a ton of joy in building our promotion’s backstory in
the campaign. I had lots of ideas for Gauntlet League Wrestling and the mysterious
Caestus Group behind it all: conspiracy, backstabbing, over-ambitious artistic
pretensions. I had a great time working in references. Many NPW’s (non-player
wrestlers) came from other games. I made stupid allusions to other PbtA gamed.
CHECKING THE OVERNIGHTS
We recorded all eight episodes and I think they hold
together as a great story with amazing arcs. Several characters made major
transitions throughout play (The Dingo, Jeremy Bleakwood). Some could keep up
with the times (Harbinger, Cyborg Destroyer). We also had a weird superfan, the
Hooded Luchador, who created a series of reaction videos. They’re a little odd,
particularly the last entry. If anyone has information on HL’s current
whereabouts, please send those on.
Finally, some of you might be saying “I don’t give a shit
about wrestling, back to the elfgames.” I certainly said that before. I got
frustrated when comic book blogs I dug spun off to talk about Wrestlemania. But
if you’re a roleplayer and you like fun with a capital F, World Wide Wrestling delivers —regardless of your wrestling experience
or interest. Exhibit A is my wife Sherri. She rolled her eyes audibly when I
first told her about this wrestling rpg. Fine for some people, but not her bag.
But she’s a good sport and tried it out. In the end, she came to love her
character Sirius Bizness, a Jobber who evolved into an Athlete.
I love all the PCs who appeared on-screen throughout Gauntlet
League Wrestling:
The Analyst
Carnage
Cyborg Destroyer (ret.)
The Dingo
The Executioner
Fabuloso
Fyrefly
The Gauntlet
Harbinger
Jeffrey Bleakwood
The Padishah of Professional Wrestling
The Pebble
“Revolutionary” Randy Burns
Slapshot
Taz Skolnick
Terry Burns
Walker Beasley
Wolly Winka (Dec.)
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