Fear the Boot

* (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? * (46:08) The inherent risk of shooting someone down. Separating success from validation. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (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 pigeon-holed as someone that has no range. * (47:28) The value of narrow questions and immediate feedback. * (53:46) Your story doesn’t have to be what you expected. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (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, then what real-world events drove BattleTech’s story’s other inflection points? * (29:45) Maintaining consistency and continuity in such a detailed setting. * (34:53) Is there a freedom of story-writing that accompanies a fundamental shift in the physical products? * (39:41) Attack of the tripods. * (43:16) Handling inconsistencies in the previously-written canon. * (48:45) Popularity and product runs. * (53:09) The bashfulness of new Tex. * (56:06) Real-world romances inspiring fictional ones. Hosts: Ben, Chris, Dan, Tex (new), Tex (old)

* (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 matter more than rules. * (40:15) Being fixated on a particular way of accomplishing a goal. * (46:13) Brodeur gives a shoutout to Joshua A. and…uh…something else. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (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 . * (36:25) A big thanks to the people giving us feedback on the ! * (37:27) Back to the Blades in the Dark character example. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) Brodeur’s slamdemic, language choices, and current game. * (6:13) The beginning of Brodeur’s problems with Actor. * (13:18) Cue Ball returns with some insight. * (17:20) Why this might have been the wrong solution for Brodeur and/or a misunderstanding of Actor. * (23:42) Understanding where Actor is coming from. Why was Brodeur the only one addressing this? The much-referenced interview with Chad . * (27:26) The balance of power around the table. * (36:48) How would Actor respond to this in one of his games? * (44:54) The unacceptable solution: talking to Actor like an adult. Why Actor is better than Law School. * (54:21) A very mature solution to the problem, and how Brodeur ruined a 13-year-old’s life. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:23) Who is Amy? * (1:07) Why do we tolerate so much bad behavior at our gaming tables? Separating this topic from what one might encounter during public games (e.g. conventions, organized play). * (8:41) Friendships aren’t transitive. Also, perhaps we put up with the bad because it’s less than the good the same person brings. * (10:37) Opinions are identity. * (11:37) Hating confrontation while thriving on the drama. * (18:36) People are a bank. * (24:41) Social vampires that draw something they need from healthy groups. * (27:49) Issues of socialization. The cycle of abuse, and the dispensability (or indispensability) that comes from the number of friends you have. * (35:26) Being around too many people that are a lot like you. * (43:58) People are attracted to hobbies because they “fit” them, and ours is a hobby of ideas. * (50:18) “That’s the Game Master’s problem!” * (52:33) The mistake of not handling the issue. Hosts: Amy, Brodeur, Chad, Dan

An update on how COVID is impacting Fear the Con 2021.

* (0:28) In a world where… * (1:29) Laura is Lura, and now Dawn is Don? * (3:50) Explaining  and Powered by the Apocalypse. * (7:32) Transitioning the same characters from Masks to . * (12:44) The implicit model of every RPG system. * (17:17) Rebuilding the character instead of trying to directly translate it. * (21:40) Transliteration versus paraphrasing. * (31:06) Or just make a new character! * (39:02) The possible fragmentation of Pathfinder. * (45:04)  podcast. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan

* (0:29) Lura struggles with her own name, but we’re there to help! * (3:39) The flash fiction anthology, , is still available for purchase. * (7:43) Laura is starting a game for minority and marginalized people. You can contact her to learn more , email ([email protected]), or by PMing her . * (11:40) Wayne is also starting up a game, unrelated to Laura’s. You can contact him via email ([email protected]) for more information. * (13:27) Please be respectful. * (15:33) Chad gets interviewed . * (18:48) Following up on  to hear how Wayne’s resurrection of a game panned out. * (22:27) What Wayne did to preserve the game during the gap. * (32:40) Whether the game was started right where it left off or somewhere in the future. * (43:26) The value of equally interesting and banal game recoveries. * (50:30) Writing only what’s necessary to get things moving again. * (52:51) Getting Gnarl into The Sims. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Laura, Wayne