Fear the Boot

* (0:28) Right place, wrong room. * (1:23) Playing the hatred between two player-characters. * (6:18) You aren't a victim of your character. * (10:04) Enemy Mine and Hell in the Pacific. * (14:34) Programming a path to peace. * (20:01) Giving the conflict boundaries without erasing its relevance. * (31:36) Not all wounds have to be healed. Metering conflict in the meta-game. * (39:57) Someone can't cook. * (46:22) Accepting defeat to keep the conflict from derailing the game. * (48:04) Having a final fallback for when it all goes wrong. * (56:00) Fear the Boot and Gamers Table Destiny 2 clan. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) Recording at Julia's. * (1:36) Fear the Boot and Gamers Table Destiny 2 clan. * (2:58) A fond farewell to Don Dehm of Pulp Gamer. * (4:23) Wemic shoes, doo doo doo doo doo doo. * (11:02) Dividing the hobby in an implausible way. * (13:18) The value to the Game Master of players being in-character. * (20:42) Letting a game descend into total silliness. * (22:16) Flipping the narrative: The consistency players expect. * (31:17) Remediating the situation in-character. Explaining the swimsuit episode. * (34:02) Addressing things at the meta-game level. * (38:48) Player awareness of what the Game Master is doing. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Julia

* (0:33) A bottle of bourbon and a letter from the Hellhounds. * (8:11) Brodeur wants to blossom, plus something about Jenna von Oÿ. * (9:13) Discord and the things we won't do for you. A big shout-out to David for joining the hobby. starting a group, and then starting his own podcast, Next Generation Game Masters. * (14:30) Chad is Gandhi. Eric from Gamers Table is running a Twitch show, Luncheon Crawl, for his game prep. * (20:53) Making it through an RPG session when you aren't feeling it. * (23:04) Just muscle (march) through. Gaming as an escape, burden, or obligation. * (31:12) Setting the right expectations for yourself. * (38:51) Communicating how you're doing and what you need. * (44:43) Testing the mood with some marketing tricks. * (55:39) An exercise in adapting to a player's mood. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) Reaching a milestone episode. A topic picked by our Patreon backers. * (2:59) How the podcast started. Its first hosts and logo. The deep well of storytelling topics. * (14:57) The show's first major crisis. How the ebb and flow of our lives affects the quality of the show. A history of its hosting composition. * (26:38) Show planning, social tone, and getting older. A changing industry. * (36:30) Fear the Boot's history of logos.  The first boot, the color revision, the improved art, and the pinup girl. * (40:22) An assortment of projects and technologies that came and went. * (42:59) Actual plays. * (45:32) The impact the audience has on us. Hanging onto stuff. John's acceptance speech. * (1:04:03) FTB FTW card game. * (1:05:53) Thickening skin. The changing way we view other content creators. * (1:22:38) The future of Skies of Glass and other side projects. * (1:27:54) Things that have changed in 12.5 years. * (1:33:20) Predictions for the future. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) A topic inspired by a game of Bang. What it will take to make Dan stab someone in the back in a board game. The distinction between factions and a traitor mechanic. * (10:29) Hiding your intentions as a Game Master. * (15:54) The Simpsons, Family Guy, mailing pancakes, Russian manti, grilled cheese, Raddish Kids, and Uncle Dan cookies. * (20:27) Showing or hiding intention as a player. How hiding harmless things can add productive tension. * (28:01) Keeping the entertainment of the group as your central focus. The potential value of meta-gaming. * (40:15) Using Reductio ad Absurdum to determine whether a secret intention is a good idea or not. * (50:34) Falling off one side or the other. Hosts: Caleb, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) Fear the boot is now on iHeartRadio. You can get the regular show here and the actual play here. * (3:02) A player's response to an unintentional Game Master error. An example with a dragon. * (10:50) Some quick advice to Game Masters: consider a ret-con and be prepared to own your mistake.  Austin Powers speaking English English. * (12:59) As a player, have sympathy for the GM. * (18:04) What makes it right for the player. How the GM sets the tone. * (32:25) De-escalation. Unpacking your reaction and metering your response. * (41:30) Keeping the goal in mind: Restoring everyone's enjoyment, not "winning" the situation. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:22) The trailer for Bumblebee. * (4:09) The two extremes of product placement. * (8:21) Resizing a robot. Or not. * (12:07) The evolution of an idea when someone can tell you, "No." * (17:34) Nostalgia in the hands of the wrong person. * (22:17) Nostalgia versus new creations. * (26:07) The sliding window of looking back. * (34:07) The Alexander Graham Bell commercial. Using superhero games to handle Saturday morning cartoons, as suggested by Saving the Game. * (37:15) Back to the window. * (46:16) Creating properties that get tied in, anyway. Hipsters are still all the same. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) Dan was a guest on Gaming with Gage. You can find the episode here. * (1:22) Explaining game explainers. An example from a Dresden game. * (10:24) Describing options and risks without dictating an action. Helping the player achieve what they want. * (14:09) Teaching concepts. Don't play the character for them or give instruction without explanation. * (23:20) A courtroom metaphor. * (32:12) Having a setting advocate. Giving character knowledge to the player. * (36:26) Stating an objective instead of an action. * (47:39) Playing a scrimmage to learn the game. Hosts: Caleb, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (1:00) Playing robots in a game, focusing on RP, not the stats. * (4:44) Who built you, why, and with what philosophical presuppositions? * (9:05) Some thought exercises to unpack a robot's mind. The Theory of Mind. * (14:27) Separating emotion, physiology, and mind. Emergent properties. * (20:44) Anthropopathism and assuming mind where it doesn't exist. * (22:55) The Turing Test and Chinese Room. Syntax versus semantics. * (31:01) How the distinction plays out in an RPG. * (44:06) Understanding the mind of the character you're playing. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:23) Finding Caleb. Finding gaming. * (17:18) The historical inevitability of RPGs. * (22:15) The unusual mechanics of certain weapons. Khopesh. * (32:12) Distinguishing armor. * (36:12) Knowing the crunch. Counting references per action. * (40:26) The brand new player. Hosts: Caleb, Chad, Dan, Wayne