Fear the Boot

At the start of this episode, we mention a WoW guild Fear the Boot listeners and hosts have started.  If you’re interested in joining, you can find details at: http://www.feartheboot.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=18 After that, we give our follow-up on Gencon, some response to the discussions our “freak show” commentary in episode 13 started, and offer advice for dealing with absentee players in your...

Our Gencon experience was short and fruitless.  We start off the episode by explaining what happened and then offer some advice on allowing players to run multiple characters during the same game. This episode was recorded in an unusual way, so the bells and whistles of our main episodes aren’t there.  In fact, it seems closer to a bonus episode. Hosts: Adam, Chad, Dan

This episode was supposed to be our farewell to John, who’s leaving for Rome soon.  However, it quickly degrades into tangents about travel, foreign beer, and international family. WARNING!  WARNING!  WARNING!  This show is far edgier than anything we have ever done before.  We poke fun at some very serious issues, but please keep in mind we’re just joking.  If you’re easily offended, this is prob...

Episode 13 indeed! We found ourselves down a host and had several other problems getting this show ready.  But we made it through nonetheless. In this episode, we talk about how our roleplaying games have changed as we got older, RPG novels, and the art and science of playing non-humanoids. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Dawn UPDATE: True to form, unlucky episode 13 got uploaded wrong.  If you picked up this e...

This episode is all about the roleplaying environment, both inside and outside of the game. We talk about the best sort of room to game in, eating while gaming, using mood music, and we offer advice to Game Masters on creating a good setting. It’s also worth mentioning that within the first minute or two, Chad derailed this show with the most memorable tangent I’m guessing we’ll ever have. Hosts:...

This is quite possibly the most pointless and meandering show we have ever recorded.  So why are we releasing it?  Because these bonus episodes never come with a quality guarantee!  This show is primarily our follow-up to the ladies podcast (episode 10), but we also talk about our ideas for future “special” episodes.

In this bonus episode, we talk about how and why we love Battletech.  As always, this bonus show is unscripted and unedited.

Since several people have asked about the cons we’ll be attending, we start episode 11 with our convention schedule. We then pause to talk about our first two episodes which seem to have offended a few first-time listeners. While we won’t take them down, we do suggest you start listening at later episodes instead. Chris sent us an email about judging morality by periods in history, which we discus...

The third bonus episode — and the final one on this topic, at least for now — is a discussion of the internet-related tasks that go into making a podcast.  We talk about posting the show online, getting listed in podcast directories, and so on.  This episode was recorded several weeks ago, but I was a bit slow getting it posted, so expect some “dated” comments. After listening to all three bonus e...

Episode 10 is an anomaly for our show. For this one episode, we turn over the mics to our wives. They give us a woman’s perspective on gaming and what it’s like to be a non-gamer married to a gaming dork. If this is your first time with Fear the Boot, please be aware that this is not the normal format for our show. If you’re looking to see what this show is typically like, we recommend you go back...

We were down a host for this episode, and a bit more serious than normal, but we still covered a lot of good information. The episode starts with a discussion of the overuse of setting in some campaigns, followed by our musings about D&D alignment, character behavior, and real-life violence around the gaming table. We struggle with the age-old question of “tail or wings” and then finally (having p...

We start this show by discussing various character- and player-related problems that can occur during a roleplaying game.  Topics include Adam’s difficulty naming his characters, deciding between 1st and 3rd person RP, ridiculous inventories, and dealing with “setting lawyers”.  The last half of the show is spent discussing the design and exceution of combat encounters, as well as handling the pos...

Episode 7 begins with us trying to figure out how to pronounce Aram’s name. He regales us with his single, tragic experience with D&D, the details of which get us thinking about how roleplayers tend to insert RPG elements into other areas of their lives. We take some time to thank the other podcasts that have been uniquely supportive of Fear the Boot. This includes HarpingMick of HarpingMonkey.com...

Our second bonus episode covers the hardware (mics, mixer, etc) we use to make the podcast.  I want to remind everyone the bonus episodes — unlike our regular shows — are completely unedited.  There’s no intro music and our mistakes are all left in.

Episode 6 begins with a discussion on using the Monstrous Manual as a campaign setting and plotline!  Please don’t ever do that.  We then pause to remind everyone about the ways you can get in touch with us, such as Odeo, email, and our new forums. Since several people have been asking where the name “Fear the Boot” came from, we decided to turn it into a contest.  All you have to do is come up wi...

This is the first in a series of bonus episodes we want to release.  These shows are 10 – 20 minutes long and cover topics that don’t fit in the scope of our normal podcasts.  They’re completely unedited, so there’s no intro music and our flubs have been left in.  We won’t have a bonus show every week, but when we do, we’ll be releasing them on Wednesday night. The first three bonus episodes talk...

Before I get into the content of episode 5, I want to draw your attention to something.  At the time we recorded this episode, we had not yet gotten in touch with the folks at GOBLIN.  That has changed since the podcast was recorded, so we no longer need any help with that. With that out of the way, let’s get down to business. We start the episode off with some updates on the networks we’ve been g...

Why exactly do we play roleplaying games?  Episode 4 starts with that question getting kicked around.  As we try to answer it, we also think back to a GURPs “trip to the lake” game we saw being played at a gaming con. Tim brings in some material on the new realm, Ptolus, which we review.  Then we offer GMs some advice on designing the campaign that will tie your individual game sittings together....

We kick this show off with an explanation of how making a podcast is like running a roleplaying game.  The hosts are introduced, and then John and Chad tell us their tongue-in-cheek (?) vision of a roleplaying game with just one character stat. The product we review this show is very close to home: our own podcast.  We go over the critiques our listeners have sent us and talk about the changes we’...

For the next several episodes, we’ll be using a mock Shadowrun game to walk you through the do’s and don’ts of roleplaying games.  In this podcast, we talk about the first step a group should take when starting a game: creating a group template.  We explain what group templates are, why to build one, and how to make them effective. Before digging into that, we take a look back at our first gaming...

After a conversation about why roleplaying game stories are so terrible to listen to, we move on to the types of gaming groups and a debate about resolving situations where players have a social wit their characters lack (and vice versa). Hosts: Chad, Dan, Kevin

This podcast is an introduction to our show, explaining what we’ll talk about: tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs), product reviews, industry news, and related topics. Hosts: Dan