Fear the Boot

* (0:29) Ghost of Tsushima, Red Dead Redemption 2, and archery in schools. * (8:51) Starting up new games as old ones end. Fear the Boot’s . * (14:34) . Preliminary questions and contagious enthusiasm. * (20:56) Wayne passes the GMing torch to Chad. * (28:12) Building a game around a set of parameters: a group of good guys with a lasting legacy. * (34:33) A game in three chapters, each w...

* (0:23) Brodeur’s . * (4:10) The  RPG. * (7:29) A descriptive and contextual character sheet. * (15:35) The game’s replayability. * (19:01) The art book. * (23:09)  on March 26th – 27th, 2022. * (25:07) Fear the Con on June 16th – 18th, 2022. The room block number is 2413940. You can place your room reservations , which should prepopulate the con dates. * (25:39) Foo...

* (0:35) Brodeur’s syphi-list. * (3:48) Continuing a game after mass-character-death by playing in the afterlife. * (16:43) What happens to the characters that didn’t die? * (20:15) When a player can’t attend their own afterlife. * (26:17) Alternate options for science fiction games. * (29:00) The price of coming back. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

* (0:36) Press or entertainment? . * (2:41) , , and . * (9:57) The consolidation of our hobby. * (16:30) Shareholder vs stakeholder economy. * (21:48) An important disclaimer. * (23:03) Some possible bad news for the current iteration of OGL products. * (27:48) The disparity between RPGs and everything else Hasbro does. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) The scheduling crush of Christmas, and some love for . * (7:06) The many stories you can get from a single game idea, as demonstrated by . * (11:14) The greater number of outcomes possible in story versus crunch. . * (12:54) How prompts give you the framework to interpret and develop ideas.  and the . * (18:26) Having the right tool for the right story, and h...

* (0:28) Brodeur starts off a game session with a cutscene, which becomes its own pun. * (5:02) Other media as a metaphor for how you structure your storytelling. * (6:50) Not withholding player agency for too long. * (13:26) Having to roleplay with yourself. * (16:11) Revealing information to the players. * (22:31) Read the table and manage the length of these scenes. Letting the players have an...

* (0:44) When only the shell of a character gets made, for lack of knowledge about the world. The episode where we previously discussed this . * (13:19) Using an opportunity in the present to expand the character’s past. The influence of other players in the process. * (17:01) The person with no past. Creating memories. * (26:07) Fixing on the fly instead of flushing. * (33:11) Players helpin...

* (0:33) Brodeur went to Gamehole Con, and Dan can’t take other people’s money. * (8:08) How age changes what you care about. * (10:02) The end-of-year blackhole that consumes our schedules (and, by extension, our games). * (11:23) Brodeur loses his motivation to GM. * (15:28) Player satisfaction does not necessarily equate to GM satisfaction. * (21:49) Fighting the burnout that strips away your e...

* (0:32) Fear the Con’s room block number is 2413940. You can place your room reservations , which should prepopulate the con dates. * (1:08) Brodeur’s second product pick from the con circuit: . * (6:13) The “World of Darkness” problem, when games sit too close to real-world ideas people hold near-and-dear. * (13:46) Why this occurs in some modern-day games but not others. * (30:36) Pre...

* (0:28) Dan is the new Brodeur. * (4:51) Fear the Con coming up June 16th – 18th, 2022. * (5:52) Brodeur hits a few conventions. We start by talking attendance numbers. * (15:33) The companies that were conspicuously absent, and those that filled the void. * (18:45) Was the change for the better? * (22:46) The problem of talking about problems. * (28:09) Companies may no longer feel they need con...

* (0:28) Fear the Con coming up June 16th – 18th, 2022. * (2:54) Making a plot that’s personal to the characters, without falling back to cheap shots. * (9:42) If you don’t want purely violent responses, don’t rely on purely violent hooks. * (15:43) An example about a Firbolg. Our two episodes on West Marches games can be found  and . * (23:52) Finding out you were the villain’s sto...

* (0:29) Introducing Vece. You can find the Skies of Glass playtest . * (1:35) Brodeur continues hurting himself. You can find . * (11:35) What got us thinking about playtesting a roleplaying game.  playtest survey. * (14:43) Why you may not know what you need to ask. * (18:35) Taking feedback seriously, while remembering no one’s opinion is “right”. * (25:58) Testing obscure f...

* (0:30) Let the bodies hit the floor! * (5:24) Defining the “action economy”. The video of three master fencers versus 50 random people . * (14:57) Consider not using a lone enemy. * (17:48) Using objectives instead of enemies. * (27:37) The erosion of the Game Master’s enjoyment. The idea of “action equity”. * (37:58) The value of a cooperative table, where the GM and players aren’t trying...

* (0:28) Dan’s situation with his Blades in the Dark character. * (2:21) The “play cycle” of an RPG. * (6:06) Designing a character that works in the play cycle, but not very well outside of it. * (24:54) Why not just play another character or revise the existing character traits? * (32:55) “That’s not what my character would do!” * (37:28) Adding onto what exists. * (48:27) An issue of sympathy....

* (0:33) Brodeur’s ongoing work to blind himself. * (2:40) Gaming when down a person. Putting some parameters on the discussion. * (7:53) Avoiding cliffhangers that hinge on a single character. * (11:58) Subtly reframing the scene to obscure the unknowns. * (16:31) Get a few what-if tips from the missing player to help you guide the scene. * (20:33) Being flexible, not just in executing the situat...

* (0:24) Maybe combat shouldn’t be played to the point of annihilation. Violence as part of the human experience. * (5:50) The social contract of a fight. Jason Brick’s  show. * (9:43) Playing the enemies sub-optimally, or managing combat according to your strengths as a GM. * (21:18) The “soft” rules that different RPGs offer for resolving combat. * (33:47) The freedom that comes from w...

* (0:29) Wayne gives a shoutout to Old Man Hussey. (Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a link to the AP he ran.) * (3:15) Brodeur gets us started on the joys of combat in roleplaying games. How initiative balances the spotlight. * (7:05) Why fight at all? * (11:31) Intermixing roleplaying and combat. * (16:09) Rolling back to spotlight management. * (23:10) Creating tension in combat throug...

* (0:52) A love that makes Brodeur and Wayne uncomfortable. * (4:37) Actor has a seat at Brodeur’s table but doesn’t seem to enjoy it. * (10:14) The importance of looking for context and motive to understand a behavior. * (18:50) Someone else’s struggles don’t invalidate your boundaries. * (26:33) Getting perspective, possibly with the help of a third party. . * (35:49) Sometimes something ha...

* (0:27) Where’s Brodeur? * (2:00) Fear the Con Online, June 25th – 27th. You can create and sign up for games . * (4:04) Having patience for people, whether in discomfort or just struggling with old habits dying hard. * (6:42) Neglected gaming spaces and snack stashes. * (13:01) Change up your gaming traditions. * (14:54) Have minimal expectations for your first gathering. * (19:20) People m...

* (0:28) And the cat came back…! * (1:13) Fear the Con Online, June 25th – 27th. You can create and sign up for games . * (4:00) As we get close to gaming face-to-face again, we look back at over a year of online gaming. * (5:43) It’s better than not gaming at all, and there’s no commute. * (8:38) The self-consciousness that comes from being on camera. * (16:19) No one has to host the game. *...

* (0:39) Silver milk. * (7:54) Spotlight vs. validation. * (12:40) Being a fan of the players. * (18:27) Evaluating whether the idea is genuinely bad, or you’re just being judgmental. * (23:39) Asking players why they think their ideas would work. * (27:25) Picking the hills that are worth dying on. * (36:36) Not punishing someone’s moment of bravery. * (41:39) Why is this on the Game Master? * (4...

* (0:40)  (or not) in a Mexican restaurant. * (21:16) Wayne’s weird skill of making eating interesting. * (23:45) A Dresden game gets a bit depressing, but not all entertainment needs the same tone to succeed. * (30:47) An engaging story, that’s true to your creative vision, is worth more than cheap thrills. * (35:09) Stories don’t have to have a single tone. * (41:12) Not wanting to be...

* (0:22) Hating on Zoom, and welcoming Tex and Old Man Hussey. * (1:48) Welcoming author and former Assistant BattleTech Line Developer , and other/new Tex from  (his recommended episodes  and the ). * (6:21) BattleTech in the 80s, including  it inspired. * (11:05) Virtual World and early VR gaming. * (21:45) If Virtual World drove the nature of Clan ‘Mechs,...

* (0:24) Blades in the Dark as a Charles Dickens’ book, rewritten by H.P. Lovecraft.  as a genre. Richard Trager from . * (8:06) Where Dan’s plans for his character diverge from what our game can reasonably handle. * (15:42) Balancing resources a player wants for their character. * (27:36) Not doing the work, but wanting the reward. * (38:38) The freedom that comes when trappings ma...

* (0:29) Sharing space with other GMs and three kids. * (7:40) XP and loot in a West Marches game. * (11:57) And a child shall lead them… * (19:22) Lifelines to sanity. Wayne’s . * (21:16) Player negotiation with the Game Master. Seven questions to help develop characters. * (29:17) When players want something without understanding its context in the world. * (32:37) An example from our ...