Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast

* (0:29) What is your goal for the first session of a game?

* (2:10) Who are these characters really?

* (6:08) When the person you wanted to be isn’t who you became.

* (11:34) A buffet of NPCs.

* (16:14) Keeping the first session low pressure and shorter length.

* (20:33) The social leader of the group.

* (25:30) The flexibility in session one. Using the first game as a test of session zero.

* (33:43) Testing the waters as the Game Master.

* (37:09) Using rules and rolls a bit more than you otherwise would.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (0:23) Prompts and prepositions. The clockwork circus is coming to town!

* (1:40) Wayne’s circus in space.

* (4:13) Mary’s circus on the frontier.

* (7:53) Doug’s carnival of nightmares.

* (8:41) Dan’s carnival of hope.

* (13:10) Celestial crystals that grant power.

* (14:05) Mary’s crystal preppers.

* (16:08) Dan’s crystal entanglement.

* (19:45) Wayne’s crystal invasion.

* (24:57) Doug’s crystal gift.

* (27:05) A whole lot of tests, quandaries, and Faustian deals.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) Fear the Con has funded and the sign-up site is live! We hope to see you Thursday, June 20th to Saturday, June 22nd.

* (1:58) Getting back to what you love, inspired by Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing.

* (5:16) The tyranny of compromise.

* (9:54) Wanting the GM to build the world instead of “yes-and” player input.

* (15:43) Why Wayne discarded some ideas he was excited about.

* (19:06) The passion for sharing stories.

* (22:06) Watching players engage with obstacles and NPCs.

* (26:06) Hopeful or despondent?

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 maybe your allies lack what you need.

* (14:42) What if the characters are the backup? Or maybe they’re starting to get a reputation.

* (17:41) Not letting it become a chip on the GM’s shoulder. Players that hamstring themselves.

* (23:45) The assistance not being what the players expected.

* (27:54) Falling back to the mature answer.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 both have and express personal growth.

* (18:57) Taking a hobby, off-topic skill, or development path. Keeping your character in continuity.

* (23:11) Practicing a character.

* (29:43) Developing your idea in other creative media, but consider leaving a gap before the game begins.

* (35:35) The last few days of the Fear the Con 2024 Kickstarter!

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

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

* (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 in-person game.

* (14:04) Working distance and distraction into the game.

* (17:54) Digital storage and organization. The wonder of CTRL-F.

* (25:21) Minimalization of the gaming experience.

* (30:01) Dodging some issues by allowing only one person to have technology. The visual obstruction created by laptops and such.

* (41:01) Getting digital audio to work for you.

* (45:00) Balancing it all out. Advantages, disadvantages, familiarity, and the passage of time.

Hosts: Caleb, Dan, Mary, Wayne

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: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 storytelling.

* (13:36) The prep time technology adds, and the stability it takes away.

* (15:59) The time spent digging up the right asset on-the-spot.

* (20:52) The physical space taken up by technology. Playing “follow the leader” at a subconscious level.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 setting.

* (14:24) Use minimal starting information to give you room to work.

* (18:12) How to run a school (everyone go play Persona 5).

* (24:48) Create a wide variety of NPCs and give them their own lives.

* (30:38) Keeping the party together, even if it doesn’t quite make sense.

* (31:57) PC-specific NPCs, so you know the players are bought it.

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne