Fear the Boot

* (0:32) Running a game in a very short time slot. A possible Skies of Glass show series and Wayne's lunch game. * (2:33) Keeping this a fully-developed game instead of using a specialized system or one-off approach. * (3:20) Limiting the time spent on social interactions. * (4:05) The value of proactivity. Moving some discussions offline to keep the game going. True Dungeon and Escape STL. *...

* (0:30) Pat's messed up sound levels and a really strange rant remind Dan that you can now get Fear the Boot on Google Play. * (4:35) Running smaller, lower-prep games—that are related to your main campaign—to save the game from dying during downtime. * (15:21) Some ground rules for making games like this work. * (27:42) Keeping the side game from eclipsing the main game. * (37:37) Keeping t...

* (0:29) Welcoming back James from The One Shot Podcast. Our prior interview with them can be found here. * (4:08) The Kickstarter for Noisy Person Cards. * (8:35) The value of using alternate voices in a roleplaying game. * (13:09) Adding emotion to the voice. * (16:29) The intensity of an emotion. Drawing on life experiences to make the emotion more real. * (25:12) The cadence of a voice. B...

* (0:32) Fear the Boot's Warframe clan, Fear the Ninja, is active again. You can download the game here and find details on the clan here. * (4:21) Get your votes in for what game you'd like to hear us play with the folks from One Shot Podcast. * (6:50) A big thanks to the people recommending our show on Reddit! * (7:38) Brodeur gets touched. You can donate to Wayne's Make-A-Wish fundrai...

DISCLAIMER: While profanities were censored from this episode, the subject matter is more crass than what Fear the Boot normally covers.  Personal discretion is advised. * (0:40) Welcoming Stu and Stork from Happy Jack's podcast. You can find the latest episode Dan and Wayne guest hosted here. * (0:57) Rosebud. * (5:52) The origin of "Happy Jack" and the narrative curve of his career. * (11:4...

* (0:29) Dan can't operate a mixer. * (2:21) 1d4Con in Martisburg, WV from April 15th - 17th. * (4:07) Upcoming crossovers with Happy Jacks. * (4:29) Noah the Destroyer. * (11:00) A Twitter poll we ran about whether it's best for game designers (or GMs running a game) to err on the side of too many or too few rules. * (14:21) The value of crunch in settling disputes, enshrining character...

* (0:41) Chris' short film, It Figures. * (6:30) Wayne takes a turn at moderating the show. * (7:18) Leaving a gaming group. Wayne sets some ground rules for the discussion. * (14:26) The parallels between breaking up with a gaming group and breaking up with a significant other. Getting out of a game by ghosting. * (17:19) When the problem really is on you, but the rest of the people involved may...

* (0:26) Introducing Bob and offering a fair warning. * (2:24) Eva Amurri, the nanny incident, and Dan's cynicism. * (5:21) Bob sets the record straight on the drywall incident. * (8:35) Green bean casserole. * (16:51) Bob saves Brodeur from drowning. * (20:00) How Bob got into gaming. * (29:33) How Bob got Brodeur into gaming. * (33:36) The value of gaming as a mental health aid. *...

* (0:36) The new XCOM Saga has started. You can watch it on Twitch here or keep up with the RP and after-action reports here. The next stream will be on Wednesday, February 10th, at 7:00pm Central time. * (3:20) Some more information on DruCon. You can find out more on the Facebook group and sign up for events on Con Planner. * (6:21) The Battletech dice contest is indeed over, but you can still s...

* (1:09) Pat and the nuclear football can be found in Bedtime Stories 5. * (1:34) Giving life to a location. Making it feel like more than just a stopping-off point in the plot. Our episodes on dungeon building (part 1 and part 2). * (7:07) Reasons to avoid getting too caught up in the minutiae of the setting. Cityographer by Inkwell Ideas. * (18:05) The six questions to flesh out a loca...

* (0:35) Preparing a fallback game for one that has yet to die. * (4:36) Brodeur is asked to pass his game notes off to another GM who wants to continue his campaign. * (10:42) The positive reasons to share your game notes. Dan's sample game notes (explained in episode 209) can be found here, here, here, and here. * (12:20) The practical problems with sharing your game notes. * (28:26) Making...

* (0:29) The Battletech contest is complete! You can find the list of winning game ideas here. I'll be emailing the winners within the next week to get their mailing addresses. * (1:51) Blades in the Dark, digital edition early access with upgrade support through the finished product. You can grab your copy here. * (3:05) Wayne was trying to figure out what he wants to run at DruCon and decid...

* (0:28) A pregnant pause. Dan hates Skype. Dan hates Norton even more. * (1:11) Voting for the science fiction plot hooks is ending on Sunday, January 10th, at 11:59:59pm Central Time. You can get your votes in here. * (2:07) Brodeur the Elder wants to hear about ABBA. That hate for disco. N-Trace's hip hop remix of Stayin' Alive. The mashups of Max Tannone. * (8:46) Fear the Boot's spoiler...

* (0:28) The amount of bleeping in the prior episode. * (2:13) Voting for the science fiction plot hooks is still going on. You can get your votes in here. * (3:32) The flooding in Missouri. * (8:08) Natural disasters in roleplaying games. The eruption of Krakatoa. The radioactive fire at the West Lake Landfill. * (12:13) The mundane aspects of life that get represented in a charact...

* (0:23) Voting for the science fiction plot hooks has begun. You can get your votes in here. * (1:38) Wayne has creative block while trying to make a character for an online game of Wield. * (5:55) Generic-Man to the rescue! Pat is always rich. * (14:55) Welcome to Fanfiction.net! (and Wattpad). * (16:26) Being too distracted by life to contribute to a game. * (17:31) Not knowing enough about the...

* (0:30) Why it's not "still" Chris or Brodeur. * (3:12) Chad's audio, visual, and computer setup for running Blades in the Dark. Google Drive and Myth Weavers. * (5:01) How Blades in the Dark handles conflict. Devil's lettuce. The Doomsday Clock. Building tension. * (13:33) Details on Chad's setup and how he uses it to improve the game and add immersion. Microsoft Onenote. Chad's collec...

* (0:29) This is the last week to enter for the metal Battletech dice. You can enter by leaving your plot idea for Battletech (or generic science fiction) on this website. * (1:55) Chad's Blades in the Dark game. You can BitD's Google group here. The video game, Dishonored. * (9:24) Playbooks. * (12:46) Uptime, downtime, and ongoing projects. * (17:21) The "project clock". Stress, vice,...

* (0:44) Down a few for Thanksgiving. * (1:14) Hamlet's Hit Points by Robin Laws. Tracking the story beats of an RPG. * (3:37) How much game advice can actually be internalized and used. * (8:58) An analogy from art theory about how the human mind compresses information into a usable form. * (13:08) What Brodeur is internalizing for his current 5th edition game. Hosts: Brodeur,...

* (1:54) John observes an uptick of socially competitive games at Gen Con. Are You a Werewolf. Junta. Coup. * (7:15) Undertale and how it changed John's mind on merciless gaming. * (10:05) Why Dan can't betray people, even when it's the intended mechanic of a game. * (17:27) What Undertale did for John's empathy that no previous game had. Never Have I Ever. * (20:06) Being the betrayer when y...

* (0:27) When Fear the Boot turns into AM radio. * (2:42) Giving away some metal Battletech dice. You can enter by leaving your plot idea for Battletech (or generic science fiction) on this website. * (3:32) The Library Land Podcast. * (4:44) The value in offering players finite options. Infocom games. Hosts: Dan

* (0:42) The value of simplicity, flat math, and limited modifiers. * (5:10) The intentional lack of specificity in the 5th edition rules. The history of Anti-Magic Shell. * (11:22) Are there any plans for setting material and the like? * (17:22) Beast form and martial arts attacks. Sage Advice on Twitter. * (19:34) Was the d20 mechanic a central part of design? An obstacle? An accepted legac...

* (0:35) Introducing Vince of Venture Land Games and The Narrative Game System. * (4:44) Questions we collected from social media. In case you don't have the links you can find us at: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and our forums. * (5:06) Vince's favorite 'Mech and his take on the Clans. The Black Knight. Fortunetelling by favorite 'Mech. * (11:16) Giving away some metal Battlete...

* (1:31) DruCon: the fan convention on June 3rd and 4th of 2016. You can find the Facebook group here and back the funding campaign here. * (2:28) Using a well-established NPC in your game. * (6:30) Why is the character there at all? * (7:44) Know the character as a whole person. * (8:49) Throw canon out the window. * (10:35) Don't act like a fan of the character. * (11:22)&nbs...

* (0:39) Welcoming Dr. Bob Arens to the show. * (0:58) DruCon: the fan convention on June 3rd and 4th of 2016. You can find the Facebook group here and back the funding campaign here. * (3:20) The episode we did with Bob about artificial intelligence in game. The Time Cube website (FAIR WARNING: very strong language). * (7:45) John is wrong about John on Reddit. * (10:10) Introducing FIW...

* (0:29) We don't win 'em all. * (1:07) Character pictures and why Wayne hates them. People that benefit from a visual element in the game. The concept art for the Star League throne. The legend of the collapsible cup. * (12:16) The over-sexualization of female imagery. * (17:08) The supposed link between gaming and anti-social behavior. The distinction between murder and killing, as illustrated b...