Fear the Boot

* (0:28) Dan and Julia’s Halloween costumes.   Cobra Crimson Guard . * (4:40) The Star Wars expanded universe.  Yes, there really was a Star Wars movie with Wilford Brimley . * (9:57) The 1812 Overture, Lichtenstein , and other stuff on music. * (14:09) Deadzones in RPGs created by a lack of RP.  Why it happens and can be so easy to “fix” in all the wrong ways. * (23:46) Some approaches for addres...

* (0:39) The buffalo sentence . * (2:00) Chad and Dan are really, really famous.  Or at least random people seem to think so. * (7:15) A forbidden episode has been released on the forums.  You can find it here . * (9:34) People that look only to their character sheets for answers to everything in a game. * (12:25) The finite nature of most games when compared to the near-infinite options of a role...

* (0:30) Granite and truth (though Dan got the phrase slightly wrong). * (2:28) Handling characters of faith that don’t follow any particular god or goddess.  The role of game balance.  Why such characters have been fairly rare in our experience. * (20:57) What goes into making a deep, plausible, and religious character? Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat

* (0:22) Introducing Derek from the THE ESTABLiSHED FACTS . * (2:20) Derek’s charity for Fear the Con 7. * (9:36) Derek’s overnight dungeon marathon . * (12:01) Pat’s Cinco de Mayo leads into a conversation about demystifying alcohol to children. * (16:54) How the heck did we get on this topic? * (21:35) Demystifying roleplaying both outside of and inside of the hobby. * (25:16) Sacrificing goats...

* (0:43) Solo plots in the context of a group-centered roleplaying game. * (6:51) Handling the plots without boring the rest of the group. * (13:11) What characters can reap from these events. * (15:29) What characters shouldn’t reap from these events. * (27:45) Pat and a hockey stick. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (1:09) The Sojourn series now has its own website . * (2:07) Fear the Con on June 12th – 14th. * (4:47) One of our Twitch games is now on a schedule.  You can join us from 7:00pm – 11:00pm Central time on Thursdays.  The Twitch channel is here , and you can find our local time here . * (7:39) Stealing from yourself as a Game Master.  Bringing back your own ideas for plots, characters, and settin...

* (0:28) Welcoming back Stu from Happy Jacks .  His involvement with the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Irwindale, CA . * (2:16) Working through the second half of  the responses to a GM survey  posted by yourfriendlane on Reddit.  This time we talk about what GMs enjoy least about their role. * (3:06) Player behavior. * (7:10) Finding inspiration. * (12:30) General prep and over-planning. * (16:37...

* (0:28) Welcoming Stu and Kimi from Happy Jacks .  You can find the episode Wayne and Dan just did on their show right here . * (2:00) Cape Rust wrote a very kind review of Sojourn which you can find on Pop Cults . * (3:13) We hope you’ll consider supporting Jason Brick’s fundraiser for  HERO Housing. * (4:31) Looking over the responses to a GM survey posted by yourfriendlane on Reddit. * (6:12)...

* (0:27) Johann isn’t dead. * (0:57) Chad’s chosen way of collecting signatures on his copy of Sojourn . * (2:33) The launch of Fear the Boot’s Twitch TV channel .  We’ll post the game schedule after Dan comes back from vacation. * (10:23) Pacing at the very beginning of a campaign.  The two extreme solutions: starting  in media res or starting in a lull between events. * (14:54) The good and bad...

* (0:29) Grab a copy of Fear the Boot’s anthology, Sojourn ! * (1:25) A patent troll takes on the sum of podcasting .  You can make a donation to the legal defense fund here . * (4:23) Player secrets.  As we’re introducing the topic, Wayne throws out the idea of different angles — regarding the same secret — being divided among the players. * (7:19) John’s Wasabi Theory of player secrets.  The pro...

* (0:29) Announcing Sojourn , an anthology of fiction by Fear the Boot hosts, community members, and industry professionals.  You can find all of the places it’s available right here . * (3:22) Differentiating the two types of GMPCs. * (8:59) The problems that can accompany playing the second kind of GMPC: a character that’s balanced but a permanent fixture of the party, much like a regular PC. *...

* (0:18) Foreman selection. * (1:27) Jury deliberations. * (14:59) Reading of the verdict. * (17:34) Post-trial commentary. * (20:49) A big thanks to Trampas for being such a good sport.  You can find his awesome Dragonlance resources on their legacy website , their new website , and their podcast . Hosts: Chris, Dan, John, Julia, Pat, Trampas, Wayne

* (0:55) Introducing the trial. * (2:35) Presentation of the case. * (4:54) Plaintiff opening argument. * (6:32) Defense opening argument. * (7:43) Plaintiff case in proper and defense cross-examination.  (In case you’re curious, Brandenberg v. Ohio was a real case.) * (21:33) Defense case in proper and plaintiff cross-examination. * (35:55) Closing arguments. * (42:00) Jury instructions. Hosts: C...

* (0:29) Welcoming back Trampas from the Dragonlance Canticle and Dragonlance Nexus.  The Nexus website is undergoing redevelopment, so you can find its current website here and the new one here . * (2:28) Explaining the gist of the group template and how it’s meant to be used. * (8:51) Creating an example group using the group template. Hosts: Dan, Julia, Pat, Trampas, Wayne

* (0:29) Welcoming Stu and CADave from Happy Jacks RPG Podcast .  The show Julia and Dan recorded for their feed can be found here . * (1:36)  Fear the Con 7 . The online convention, Jacker Con 2014 (forum discussion  here , Google group here ). * (8:16) Switching your character in the middle of a game. * (9:23) Reasons people switch characters.  Why ditched characters often make great villains. *...

* (0:32) If you have any dealer requests for Fear the Con 7 , you can post them here . * (1:14) You can find the details on Fear the Fruit here . * (1:48) Chad is running a knowledge-sharing and AMA area on the Fear the Boot forums. * (9:54) A ring of wishes gets us thinking about the baggage players and Game Masters bring to the table. * (14:02) Examples of how gaming baggage can be positive inst...

* (0:30) Fear the Con 7 sign-up is in full swing! * (3:22) John explains “datedar”. * (17:17) Knowing when it’s time to kill a game.  The story of the dwarf game that never was. * (28:33) Killing games too quickly.  Keeping them from dying at all. * (34:43) GM burnout. * (37:53) Wanting to be the GM but not wanting to run the game. * (40:42) Why Beth is nervous about GMing and how her players can...

* (0:51) Chris’ showing of The Gamers: Hands of Fate on January 23rd.   Click here for more information. * (1:47) Setting up the scenario: an actual play podcast we’re working on with Master Geek Theater. * (2:52) How to handle a character — both from the perspective of a GM and a fellow player — that socially dominates the other characters. Hosts: Chad, Dan, John

* (0:51) Explaining what “local” means in the suburban sprawl of the  St. Louis metro area , which has roughly 1/4th the population of the Los Angeles metro area , but covers almost twice as much land. * (1:20) The Fear the Boot Blood Bowl leagues are forming!  You can find all of the information you need on both the beginner and advanced leagues on the forums. * (3:34) The video game, Smite , get...

* (0:23) Never do True Dungeon with a PUG. * (2:22) John needs helping making and playing an effective rogue in Pathfinder. * (11:29) A groundbreaking and productive topic: What is the most powerful class at first level? * (15:15) The thread to help John min-max a Pathfinder rogue can be found here . * (17:07) Why John hates Julia’s brother. * (19:57) John gets told. * (22:18) Bloodmoon Goblins be...

* (1:05) If you have any extra money this Christmas, please consider a contribution to Operation Underground Railroad , which is working to free children from sex trafficking.  (I realize O.U.R. has gotten verbal and financial support from Glenn Beck, but to the best of my understanding, this is not his charity.  It operates under the broader charity, Child Rescue Association of North America — wh...

* (0:59) What players owe their Game Master. * (21:10) What players owe their fellow players. Hosts: Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (0:29) Fear the Con 7 ! * (2:38) You can drop us a vote for the Stitcher Awards . * (3:00) The explicit and implicit social contracts that exist within a gaming group. * (4:04) What a Game Master owes his or her players. * (27:40) What a Game Master does not owe his or her players. Hosts: Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:16) Why Pat won’t GM.  The difficulty of GM self-evaluation. * (3:54) The factors that motivate someone to GM. * (11:52) Helping Pat get a start on his setting and campaign. * (14:38) The comfort of crunch. * (20:40) Puzzles, immersion, and managing people that play on their phones. Hosts: Beth, Chad, John, Pat

* (0:29) Welcoming guest hosts Brodeur from The Fantasy Shop and Mike from Action Nerds: GO! podcast .  This degrades into a raucous tangent on George R.R. Martin. * (3:29) The article by Jason Brick posted on American Express OPEN Forum  can be found here . * (4:00) Be sure to get out and back the podcaster charity drive by clicking right here ! * (6:26) The idea of Game Mastering for money.  The...