Fear the Boot

* (0:22) The villain as the dark inverse of the hero. * (9:20) A big CGI fight at the end that seems visually out of continuity. * (16:06) Zombies and Lovecraft. * (20:37) The freedom to like or dislike, and how little that says about you as a person. * (23:33) Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, and Disney. * (26:59) Let’s not be too reductive. * (34:26) Maybe we’ve just been around too long and seen too many stories. * (37:15) Elves with short hair. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

* (0:24) Brodeur recommends a manicure and pedicure to Dan. * (5:58) Dan, Wayne, and their muscle tension. * (11:24) A straight-razor shave and the thrill of death. * (15:56) Fandoms that (at least temporarily) put people off from the product they love. * (28:08) On anime. * (31:37) The need to be inviting within gaming, since it’s a social hobby. * (37:56) Gratuitous violence and opinion as identity. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne

* (0:28) Brodeur flees to Oregon. * (4:08) Failure comes to East Texas University. * (7:26) Dividing the blame between the players and Game Master. * (11:40) Player silence and passivity. * (17:30) Things lost for lack of time. * (19:34) Substance use, depression, and the option of just narrating the ending. * (26:32) Was there a post-mortem with the players? Not judging a whole campaign by its ending. * (30:09) If the players don’t know how to answer, ask a more specific question. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

* (0:33) Wayne gives a shoutout to  (but not Brodeur). * (1:53) Wayne ends a D&D campaign without a boss fight. * (3:11) The mutual theft of ideas between video games and tabletop roleplaying games. * (8:00) Considering all the ways a story can end. * (13:18) Another example from a D&D game. * (21:06) Post-campaign, no-boss epilogues. Player freedom in shaping the ending. * (28:02) Redefining the game in a character-centric way. * (32:33) Allowing other solutions to small problems and other endings to the game. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne

* (0:29) Brodeur’s post-Gen-Con review. (I know, we’re right on top of the latest news.) A shoutout to , , and RogueOperative. * (8:02) Customizing modules for your players and characters. * (11:48) Modules as a framework, not a full script. * (18:26) Know the module well enough that you can deconstruct it into its components. * (24:37) An imaginary scenario using a well-known story as a module, adjusted to an obviously unique character. * (36:44) How the whole context of a pre-written scenario can be changed by just swapping proper nouns. * (42:32) Separating story-writing from story-telling. * (43:31) Some great example modules include Chris Hussey’s  for Savage Worlds and  Red Star Rising campaign for D&D 5th edition. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) A listener, James, gets us talking about integrating player-character backstories into your game. It starts with the players giving you something to work with. * (3:01) Sitting for too long on too much information, or mining the backstory abusively. * (7:43) Finding the possible connections between backstories. * (11:08) Let’s do it live! Dan sets up a D&D game with Wayne as his player. Building story by eliminating coincidences and undefined areas. * (19:22) Wayne sets up a Skies of Glass game with Brodeur as his player. Remembering that NPCs have their own lives that still go on, even when the PC isn’t around. * (30:02) What’s the “therefore” there for? Continuing thoughts that seemed otherwise complete. * (31:42) Integrating character backgrounds into a story that’s already written. Even the most fleshed-out plot still has gaps that can be filled with player-made content. * (37:59) Too little, too much, or no background at all. * (42:35) Punting Mary’s insight, because it deserves its own episode. * (44:32) Paying attention to backgrounds for what should be important in your game, because it’s important to that player. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) How awful can a few years be? (Spoilers: Multiple things got worse since this recording!) * (3:49) An experiment in unequal levels of preparation and participation. * (8:34) Not all players will bring the same level of contribution, nor do all games encourage it. * (14:32) Pattern versus incidence. * (18:52) Reasons to not just sit it out. * (20:43) Why using past experiences of what was to infer what ought to be may not be the best approach. * (25:11) Setting expectations for the division of labor. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne

* (0:24) Releasing episodes out of order. * (1:24) The little convention that could, despite how hard life tried to stop it. * (6:59) All of the hurdles that weren’t COVID. * (14:00) The obstacles that came up during the convention. * (24:24) In spite of everything arrayed against it, the con went really well. * (31:42) Thanking Eric Van Note for the picture of Gnarl, which . You can contact him for your own commission at: [email protected] * (33:50) Wishing we’d had more time to talk to people and paced ourselves better. * (39:11) A request, an idea, and a placeholder. June 15th, 16th, and 17th are the tentative dates for Fear the Con 2023. * (43:46) A big “thank you” to our community! Hosts: Brodeur, Caleb, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) Interrogating Mary on her gaming history. * (1:33) The last few days before ! * (4:54) The distinct moral perspective of a child. * (7:39) Leif responds to our show on vertical creativity. * (13:58) A thought exercise on who should win the 51/49 preference: players or GMs. * (15:41) Wayne and Dan’s answers. * (18:09) Mary’s answer. * (21:12) Brodeur’s answer. * (26:15) Dan’s retort about the assumed-risk of the Game Master. * (30:51) The courtesy inherent in having a group with multiple GMs. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) A difficult GM learns a lesson from an Uno game. * (4:10) Navigating the internal conflict between “roleplaying” and “game”. * (11:20) The need for control that ultimately comes from fear. * (16:45) Giving the players their wins. * (23:34) The ugly math about how many people aren’t that good at a given task. * (29:32) The importance of having rapport before doing this. * (32:29) Saying, “yes,” while camouflaging the railroad. Hosts: Brodeur, Caleb, Dan, Julia