Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast

By FearTheBoot.com

Society & Culture Hobbies

What's Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast about?

An irreverent look at tabletop roleplaying games and a little bit more.

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284284 ratings

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Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast episodes:

05.13.2024
Episode 623 – too big to fail
* (0:29) Wayne has a problem: the Wardens from Dresden Files. Coming up with too many excuses for why powerful organizations don’t care about the characters’ problems. * (7:14) Session Zero can help…or maybe not. * (10:29) There’s always someone bigger, and...
04.17.2024
Episode 622 – bringing your PC to life
* (0:30) What steps do we take to bring a character to life? * (1:49) Ask what’s important. * (6:53) Seeing the good and bad in a single trait. * (8:06) Doug’s personality triangle model. * (10:54) Demonstrating character quirks. * (16:34) Making characters that...
04.09.2024
Bonus Episode 102 – WGM 2: dead consuming the living
Today’s ingredient: The dead are consuming the living. Why and how? Let’s find out! Fear the Con 2024’s Kickstarter can be found here. Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne
03.31.2024
Episode 621 – juice is worth the squeeze
* (0:29) In defense of technology at the gaming table. Caleb’s setup with Owlbear Rodeo. * (5:13) Dan’s Lion King sing-a-long and Wayne’s Ghostbusters game. * (6:27) The deeper pool of online players, including AIs. Remoting in a missing player for an...
03.25.2024
Bonus Episode 101 – WGM 1: dead air
I decided to skip over the Iron GM and go for a Tungsten GM. The ingredient? All broadcasts cease because something won’t let them get through. What’s the game plot? Also, the Fear the Con 2024 Kickstarter is now live here! Hosts:...
02.15.2024
Episode 620 – juice ain’t worth the squeeze
* (0:30) Dan runs a game a bit too literally. * (4:12) The intersection of technology and roleplaying in a way that isn’t required by the game. * (7:32) Why multimedia doesn’t pay-off the way it does in other forms of...
01.11.2024
Episode 619 – a closed setting
* (0:29) Why talk about intelligence? The Why Files episode about Cicada 3301. * (9:24) A game takes an unhelpfully long break, only to be replaced by another RPG. * (12:44) The lack of a bottomless “buffet of ideas” in a closed...
11.07.2023
Bonus Episode 100 – becoming the curmudgeon
* (0:22) Picking out the point we became curmudgeons and what exactly that means. * (4:48) Being too set in our ways. * (11:19) The self-destruction that comes with stagnation. * (21:32) Wii have a solution. * (24:32) Ducking new games while at a...
10.20.2023
Episode 618 – no, low, and mo’ expectations
* (0:29) Reintroducing Julia’s husband, Mike. * (2:24) Lowered expectations, inspired by a post-pandemic world. * (7:25) Being a bit more experimental. * (13:18) Playing online instead of returning to the table. * (19:18) Returning to the table instead of playing online. * (23:58) The...
09.06.2023
Episode 617 – the value of questionable
* (0:29) Thanks to Eric Van Note for Swole Mole! * (3:15) The value of terrible GMing. * (8:42) Everyone is their own most inept critic. Sojourn Volume 2. * (15:28) The worst possible outcome: something being forgettable. * (22:20) Asking Doug to...
08.10.2023
Episode 616 – affiliated or not
* (0:29) Dan prefers affiliated groups, Wayne does not. * (2:15) Cohesion, identity, and help. * (9:35) Affiliations you start with as opposed to those you pick up along the way. * (11:56) The party’s direction and motivation. Affiliating with an ideal. * (20:23)...
07.19.2023
Episode 615 – inspecting InSpectres
* (0:28) An update on the Actual Play. * (4:48) The InSpectres RPG (at least temporarily back in print!) and our AP interlude using its rules. * (8:09) Why play InSpectres as an interlude to the main campaign? Apparently only Dan has...
06.07.2023
Episode 614 – session X.5
* (0:28) Things are getting set for Fear the Con! An intro to RPGs game is available for newcomers. * (2:03) A shared Minecraft server. You can find more information on Discord. * (5:52) Realigning your game with a mid-campaign session zero. Special thanks to...
05.30.2023
Episode 613 – the eleventh dollar
* (0:29) Julia ruins everything. * (1:35) Things are getting set for Fear the Con! An intro to RPGs game is available for newcomers. You can also announce your games on Discord. * (9:03) Coming out of a period of deep fatigue....
05.09.2023
Episode 612 – running the unknown
* (0:28) Running a game when someone else knows the setting a whole lot better than you do. * (2:07) The lack of pronunciation guides in most games. * (3:16) Narrowing down the task by asking what’s important about the setting to...
04.17.2023
Episode 611 – paid GMing
Show links… * StartPlaying Games * Bite Size Tales * Gaming with Gage Hosts: Chris, DJ, Josh, Wayne
03.29.2023
Episode 610 – the value of chaos
* (0:29) The Kickstarter for Fear the Con 2023 is live for one more week! * (1:56) The wonderful confusion new players and GMs bring to a roleplaying game. * (16:59) An imagined internal-consistency is sometimes more fun than an intended one. * (22:17) The...
03.22.2023
Episode 609 – the best mechanics
* (0:31) The Kickstarter for Fear the Con 2023 is live! * (1:04) The new fiction podcast, Bite Size Tales. * (3:09) Game mechanics we’re particularly fond of. * (4:54) Rerolls and other roll-modifying mechanics. * (10:13) A close relationship between skills and attributes. * (15:46) Life paths...
03.07.2023
Episode 608 – bringing a world to life
* (0:28) The Kickstarter for Fear the Con 2023 is live! * (1:12) Things a Game Master has done to make a world seem a little more alive (with credit to JoshB for the topic). * (5:46) Plot hooks, substories, and unanswered...
02.21.2023
Episode 607 – maybe a misunderstanding
* (0:28) The new fiction podcast, Bite Size Tales. * (1:43) Dan re-reads the D&D; 2nd Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide. Wayne watches Secrets of Blackmoor. The inspiration D&D;’s creators drew from Strategos. * (6:38) The rather disjointed rules of early RPGs. * (8:23)...
01.27.2023
Bonus Episode 99 – AI creativity
* (0:36) An odd tangent on names. * (3:39) A conversation about AI art. Some parameters we’re putting on this episode. AI art wins a fine arts competition. * (8:08) An admittedly non-technical overview of how AI generally creates its work. Syntax...
01.18.2023
Episode 606 – contexting the OGL
* (0:30) Giving a remote episode a try. We have a fix for Dan’s audio that should improve the quality on our next remote show. * (1:42) Catching up with Brodeur and DJ, who was on episode 466 to talk about...
01.05.2023
Episode 605 – dosing out setting
* (0:44) Friday night chit-chat on Discord each week, starting at 8pm Central. * (2:18) Fear the Con 2023 dates have been reserved with the hotel for June 16th and 17th of 2023, with the Wing Night on June 15th. * (3:37)...
12.15.2022
Bonus Episode 98 – tired tropes
* (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...
11.14.2022
Bonus Episode 97 – manis, pedis, and fandoms
* (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. *...
11.07.2022
Episode 604 – crapping on an ending
* (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...
10.29.2022
Episode 603 – ending without a boss fight
* (0:33) Wayne gives a shoutout to Gaming with Gage + Friends (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...
09.13.2022
Episode 602 – personalizing a module
* (0:29) Brodeur’s post-Gen-Con review. (I know, we’re right on top of the latest news.) A shoutout to Imagining Games, Acheron Books, and RogueOperative. * (8:02) Customizing modules for your players and characters. * (11:48) Modules as a framework, not a full...
08.17.2022
Episode 601 – leveraging PC backgrounds
* (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. *...
07.29.2022
Episode 600 – passivity and dysfunction
* (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...
07.05.2022
Bonus Episode 96 – Fear the Con 2022 report
* (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...
06.14.2022
Episode 599 – splitting the difference
* (0:29) Interrogating Mary on her gaming history. * (1:33) The last few days before Fear the Con! * (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...
06.03.2022
Episode 598 – the Uno metaphor
* (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...
05.18.2022
Episode 597 – the game you aren’t running
* (0:29) Fear the Con appears to have catering, but we could still use more GMs! * (5:21) Laundering identities. * (7:03) Game Masters getting fixated on things that aren’t important to the game they’re running. * (12:00) A lack of flexibility. The...
05.07.2022
Episode 596 – an invited intruder
* (0:29) A new show type on the horizon: phone the Boot, or something similarly clever. * (2:04) Kids’ games at Fear the Con. Our episode on gaming with children can be found here. * (4:15) Brodeur goes on Safest Family on...
04.26.2022
Episode 595 – death and consequences
* (0:29) A shoutout and thanks to WashingCon! * (1:09) Fear the Con is coming up in mid-June. * (2:25) Wayne annihilates his player-characters in a Legion of Liberty game, and they love it. Our episode on action economy. * (10:22) The perspective...
04.05.2022
Episode 594 – horizontal creativity
* (0:29) June 16th, 17th, and 18th for Fear the Con! You can see Mikey Mason’s material on BandCamp. * (2:40) Reviewing the idea of horizontal and vertical creativity. * (4:56) Horizontal creativity doesn’t mean the player has to get lazy. In...
03.24.2022
Episode 593 – vertical creativity
* (0:29) – Bordeur, Dan, and Julia will be at Washingcon this weekend: March 26th and 27th, 2022. * (2:23) – Defining how we’ll be using “vertical” and “horizontal” creativity over the next two shows. * (5:45) – The laziness that often...
03.11.2022
Episode 592 – de-escalation
* (0:44) Get signed up for Fear the Con! * (1:02) Brodeur is now on TikTok for some reason. Here’s the link. Do what you will. * (5:45) Welcoming Jason back to the show. * (6:31) There I Was…When Nothing Happened. The Kickstarter can...
03.06.2022
Episode 591 – weathering weather
* (0:28) The teeth on the dog go click, click, click. * (1:30) Brodeur discovers New Game+ mode in video games. * (10:23) Weather and environmental effects in an RPG. * (13:09) Weather as a reflection of some other truth in the setting. *...
03.02.2022
Bonus Episode 95 – Bedtime Stories 8
* (0:18) Time to set the mood for bedtime. * (5:06) Wayne, Boxman, and the latex room. * (14:32) Watching sports for all the wrong reasons. Brodeur joins TikTok. God forgive us all. * (16:57) Wayne pulls a plane, and Brodeur brings the...
02.08.2022
Episode 590 – game recordings
* (0:28) The site for Fear the Con is now live! * (2:07) Monday Morning Quarterbacking your own games (the definition for anyone that doesn’t know that phrase). * (3:36) Getting past being your own worst critic. * (8:17) Speech disfluency and filler...
02.05.2022
Episode 589 – just inexperienced
* (0:29) A fond farewell to Chad. * (4:50) Keeping the perspective that we all started somewhere. * (7:34) The amount of good advice every human being ignores; sometimes experience is the only effective teacher. * (12:49) The less you’re willing to step...
01.21.2022
Episode 588 – new beginnings
* (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 Patreon. * (14:34) East Texas University. Preliminary questions and contagious enthusiasm. * (20:56) Wayne passes the GMing...
01.09.2022
Bonus Episode 94 – Fairview
* (0:23) Brodeur’s interview of Jim Pinto. * (4:10) The Fairview RPG. * (7:29) A descriptive and contextual character sheet. * (15:35) The game’s replayability. * (19:01) The art book. * (23:09) WashingCon on March 26th – 27th, 2022. * (25:07) Fear the Con on...
01.01.2022
Episode 587 – rocking the afterlife
* (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...
12.30.2021
Bonus Episode 93 – hot gossip
* (0:36) Press or entertainment? The Influence Foundation. * (2:41) Asmodee, Embracer Group, and Miniature Market. * (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...
12.19.2021
Episode 586 – questions and prompts
* (0:28) The scheduling crush of Christmas, and some love for Pete Petrusha. * (7:06) The many stories you can get from a single game idea, as demonstrated by For the Queen. * (11:14) The greater number of outcomes possible in story...
12.10.2021
Episode 585 – cutscenes
* (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...
12.07.2021
Episode 584 – developing past in the present
* (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 can be found here. * (13:19) Using an opportunity in the present to expand the character’s...

What's Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast episodes:

Episode 623 – too big to fail

Episode 622 – bringing your PC to life

Bonus Episode 102 – WGM 2: dead consuming the living

Episode 621 – juice is worth the squeeze

Bonus Episode 101 – WGM 1: dead air

Episode 620 – juice ain’t worth the squeeze

Episode 619 – a closed setting

Bonus Episode 100 – becoming the curmudgeon

Episode 618 – no, low, and mo’ expectations

Episode 617 – the value of questionable

Episode 616 – affiliated or not

Episode 615 – inspecting InSpectres

Episode 614 – session X.5

Episode 613 – the eleventh dollar

Episode 612 – running the unknown

Episode 611 – paid GMing

Episode 610 – the value of chaos

Episode 609 – the best mechanics

Episode 608 – bringing a world to life

Episode 607 – maybe a misunderstanding

Bonus Episode 99 – AI creativity

Episode 606 – contexting the OGL

Episode 605 – dosing out setting

Bonus Episode 98 – tired tropes

Bonus Episode 97 – manis, pedis, and fandoms

Episode 604 – crapping on an ending

Episode 603 – ending without a boss fight

Episode 602 – personalizing a module

Episode 601 – leveraging PC backgrounds

Episode 600 – passivity and dysfunction

Bonus Episode 96 – Fear the Con 2022 report

Episode 599 – splitting the difference

Episode 598 – the Uno metaphor

Episode 597 – the game you aren’t running

Episode 596 – an invited intruder

Episode 595 – death and consequences

Episode 594 – horizontal creativity

Episode 593 – vertical creativity

Episode 592 – de-escalation

Episode 591 – weathering weather

Bonus Episode 95 – Bedtime Stories 8

Episode 590 – game recordings

Episode 589 – just inexperienced

Episode 588 – new beginnings

Bonus Episode 94 – Fairview

Episode 587 – rocking the afterlife

Bonus Episode 93 – hot gossip

Episode 586 – questions and prompts

Episode 585 – cutscenes

Episode 584 – developing past in the present

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