Gauntlet

A popular strategy-based card game originating in Melior that's enjoyed even beyond the rifts.

The mechanics of this card game are still being refined, any feedback is greatly appreciated! :D
Click here to jump directly to an example playthrough.

Overview

Gauntlet is a two player strategy-based card game enjoyed by folks in every known realm thanks to its popularization among traders who took it overseas and through the rifts.
The game consists of 48 cards divided evenly between four personalities (suits). This deck is contained in a leather pouch along with a separate pouch of wooden tokens (or coins) and the two pouches are wrapped up neatly in the leather game mat known as the playingfield.
Gauntlet is enjoyed by folks as young as 10 or as old as time itself; many adults enjoy playing longer games with higher prize stakes, often using coins rather than wooden tokens as damage indicators that can be won... or lost.

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Activist

Barkeep

Butcher

Chaperone

Clothier

Farmer

Fighter

Privateer

Servant

Shieldbearer

Smuggler

Spy

Therapist

Vandal

Historical Origins

The game is believed to have originated from somewhere within the Melopian Commonwealth but nobody is sure exactly which country has the rightful claim to its conception.
Everyone proudly boasts that their homeland was the one who invented the game and each origin story is more bizarre than the next!

Now, I disagree. See, I reckon that gauntlet clearly comes from Garronay because it was used generations ago in a military training exercise for new recruits - and then when it became a card game the armies of The Jolundrian Empire went and spread it around everywhere they went.

— A Garronayan woman explaining her theory on the origins of the game.

Though nobody truly knows the country of origin for gauntlet, the story that is most well-known about the game says that it was inspired by a form of rural punishment used by folks who didn't have access to a courthouse or fair trial.
When small settlements were in disagreement due to conflicting evidence over a committed crime, they would pick notable members of the community (all from different professions and walks of life) to form two lines facing each other. The accused would stand before them and slowly walk through the middle (known as the gauntlet) and receive either a vote of support or a punishment of choice from each member of the community in the lineup.
If the accused was still standing at the end of the gauntlet, their punishment was deemed as complete. If they took no punishments at all then they were completely pardoned of the crime.
The card game evolved into having two teams (or communities) face off against each other, with folks in the lineup defending their own accused (now called a runner) and attacking the opposing team.

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Objective

Three gauntlet cards by TJ Trewin

Two players sit next to each other at the table and unroll the leather mat of the playing field in front of them. A deck of cards is shuffled and split equally between the two players, or each person can use their own separate stylized deck for aesthetics if they wish.
Unlike other strategy-based card games, players don't need to hold cards or keep secrets from their opponent - so it's tradition to sit next to each other so that you both get to run forwards through the gauntlet! For players who have limited arm mobility or for folks short on table space, it's perfectly fine to sit across the table from one another.
Each player will place four cards from the top of the deck into their lineup. These cards can attack, defend, evade, and heal (more on those later) and the cards are placed with their top edge (front) facing inward so that the cards are facing off against each other.
Next, each player places down one card from the top of the deck as their runner. Once this card moves into its ready position, it needs to run forward through the gauntlet (the area between the two lineups) and reach the end to be victorious.
A player has to start their turn with one movement (where they can move a card by one adjacent place), followed by one action (performed by the card). Cards in the lineup will try to aid their team's runner, and hinder the opponent's progress. Cards have hit points and when they're hit too many times they are knocked out and placed in the player's losses pile. Coins (or wooden tokens) are used as damage indicators, which can be added to the prizepool as the game progresses.

The player who gets three cards to successfully run the gauntlet wins the game!

A round of gauntlet can be made shorter by playing up to the first victory, or by playing a knock-out game - where the first to knock out three of the opponent's cards wins.

Issuing a Challenge

To challenge someone to a game of gauntlet, you point your bundled up game of gauntlet towards a person's chest and proclaim your challenge to them, by name, before firmly throwing the bundle (your game of gauntlet) down upon the table. This is the believed origin of the phrase "throw down the gauntlet" to mean "to issue a challenge".

Najé Lanta, I do challenge you to a game of gauntlet - first to three wins, loser does all of the cleaning this week!

— Boa Lanta, challenging her wife.

To accept the challenge, the opponent must declare that they accept - and pick up the game of gauntlet and begin to unravel it ready to play.
Important Etiquette:

• Challenges may be always be declined without any reason given and this decision should always be respected.
• Any challenge issued without a name or proper degree of respect is deeply frowned upon.
• Slapping an opponent across the face with a gauntlet playingfield is considered an offense.

Prizes

Before a game begins a prize may be agreed upon. Players should also decide if they want to play with wooden tokens as damage point indicators, or coins that can be won (...or lost).

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Playingfield

The leather playingfield has a main central area consisting of one lineup of four cards for each player. At the start of the lineup is a space for one runner, which needs to move into its ready position before being able to proceed.
Between these two lineups of cards facing each other is the gauntlet - this is the gap that a runner will need to travel through and survive to pass through the end of it.
Successful cards are placed in the player's victories to their side of the lineup, and cards that get knocked out go into the losses pile.

Click the image below to view full size or click here to view an interactive demo.

Gauntlet playingfield by TJ Trewin

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Cards

There are 48 cards in a deck that are evenly devided between four personalities (suits):
Supportive, Defensive, Evasive, and Aggressive.
Each card has an action and its type indicates the direction it can be used in.
These are: Direct, Lateral, and Ranged.

Gauntlet card anatomy by TJ Trewin

The artwork on each card depicts an important role in the community and is inclusive of the lowest income folks and the wealthiest professions, with no special differences between them. The professions vary from place to place and some themed decks even use beautifully illustrated animals instead!
On a standard deck design there are no numbers, letters, or words so that it's universally understandable regardless of literacy level or language spoken.
It has become a common trend for custom decks to have local heroes illustrated in the artwork, such as the example above depicting Orlon Gantiel, a renowned quarterstaff instructor from Anvil - collectors pay a lot of money for cards signed by the heroes themselves!

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Supportive

Supportive cards (red hearts) have 3 HP. For their action they can heal 1 damage from other cards, or have a chance to heal 2 damage from themselves. They are great for keeping the runner from being knocked out as it tries to run the gauntlet.

Servant by TJ Trewin

Therapist by TJ Trewin

Barkeep by TJ Trewin

Direct
Heal 1 damage from the card in front of you OR flip a coin to self heal 2 damage on success.

Servant

Alchemist

Mentor

Physician

Lateral
Heal 1 damage from BOTH cards either side of you OR flip a coin to self heal 2 damage on success.

Escort

Priest

Therapist

Entertainer

Ranged
Heal 1 damage from any card diagonally or in front of you OR flip a coin to self heal 2 damage on success.

Barkeep

Lifeguard

Chef

Artisan

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Defensive

Defensive cards (black shields) have 4 HP and use their action to block damage, or have a chance to deal 1 damage. They make strong contenders for running the gauntlet thanks to their resilience.

Farmer by TJ Trewin

Chaperone by TJ Trewin

Shieldbearer by TJ Trewin

Direct
Passive: Block all damage done to you from directly adjacent cards. Flip a coin to deal 1 damage to the card in front of you on success.

Farmer

Smith

Guard

Soldier

Lateral
Passive: Protect each card directly to the side of you from all damage. Flip a coin to deal 1 damage to a card to the side of you on success.

Lookout

Groundskeeper

Bodyguard

Chaperone

Ranged
Passive: Block all damage done to you by ranged actions. Flip a coin to deal 1 damage to any card diagonally or in front of you.

Laborer

Librarian

Lawyer

Shieldbearer

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Evasive

Evasive cards (black circles) have 2 HP and use their action to move cards around the playingfield, or have a chance to deal 1 damage. They are fantastic for strategic manipulation of cards.

Clothier by TJ Trewin

Smuggler by TJ Trewin

Spy by TJ Trewin

Direct
Passive: Dodge all damage done to you from directly adjacent cards. Flip a coin to deal 1 damage to the card in front of you on success.

Thief

Sailor

Privateer

Clothier

Lateral
Swap places with a directly adjacent card in your lineup OR flip a coin to deal 1 damage to a card to the side of you on success.

Outlaw

Scout

Smuggler

Diplomat

Ranged
Make any card diagonally or in front of you move by one space OR flip coin to deal 1 damage to any card diagonally or in front of you.

Beggar

Messenger

Merchant

Spy

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Aggressive

Aggressive cards (red diamonds) have 3 HP and use their action to deal 1 damage, or 2 damage on a successful coin flip. They are excellent for knocking out runners before they can finish the gauntlet.

Butcher by TJ Trewin

Activist by TJ Trewin

Vandal by TJ Trewin

Direct
Deal 1 damage to the card directly in front of you OR flip a coin to deal 2 damage to the card in front of you on success.

Brawler

Butcher

Baker

Fighter

Lateral
Deal 1 damage to a card either side of you OR flip a coin to deal 2 damage to BOTH cards either side of you on success.

Rebel

Activist

Scholar

Assassin

Ranged
Deal 1 damage to any card diagonally or in front of you OR flip a coin to deal 2 damage to any card diagonally or in front of you.

Vandal

Fisher

Hunter

Marksman

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Deck variants

The card personalities are not representative of their societal roles - many people collect and trade cards, as other decks might have (for example) a butcher who plays a supportive role or an aggressive therapist.
Some folks use decks that depict sports teams or their players, local heroes, political figures, or even the Ordained. Other popular designs include types of birds or different breeds of dogs.

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Additional Rules

This section is still a work in progress :)

• Each player may only have one runner at a time, regardless of if they are in the gauntlet or not.
• For each turn, the movement must be taken first, then action.
• In the event of a tie, the person with the greatest number of coins (or tokens) or the fewest losses wins.
• When a card is knocked out, the damage tokens that were on it are returned to player(s) who placed them.
• If card is knocked out from lineup, you have to wait your turn before moving the cards along as this counts as a movement.
• If there's more than one gap in the lineup, all of the cards shuffle along and remaining gaps are filled from the draw pile.
• At the end of the game, the victor keeps all healed damage tokens.
• You can heal an enemy card if you want to remove the coin/token from it.
• Ranged actions need a clear line of sight to their target.
• If there's a gap in the lineup it has to be filled first.
• You can choose to skip a movement and/or action.
• You keep the coins/tokens that your runner has when they complete the gauntlet.
• For movements and movement based actions, you can only swap cards that are next to each other.
• If a player runs out of coins to use as damage tokens, they should make use of the wooden counters instead.

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bonus content and secrets!

Modify a 52-card deck:

You can play gauntlet with your own standard 52-card deck using the following adjustments!
First, remove the 2s and any Jokers from the deck. Next, swap out the suits:

• Hearts become Supportive.
• Spades become Defensive.
• Clubs become Evasive.
• Diamonds become Aggressive.

You can determine a card's action type by its number:

• All of the multiples of 3 and Queens are Ranged. (3, 6, 9, Q)
• Remaining even numbers and Kings are Direct. (4, 8, 10, K)
• Remaining odd numbers and Jacks are Lateral. (A, 5, 7, J)

For optional titles, refer to the list of cards - the lowest value is the first on the list. (E.g. the 4 of Hearts is a Servant, and the King of Hearts is a Physician)

Gauntlet - Example Playthrough

Note: To view fullscreen, click here.