* (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) Delusions of Reference (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 Ben Rome, and other/new Tex from Tex Talks BattleTech (his recommended episodes for BattleTech veterans and the one for non-players).

* (6:21) BattleTech in the 80s, including the greatest piece of art 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. Fallen London as a genre. Richard Trager from Outlast.

* (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 blog and fiction fragments.

* (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 Blades in the Dark actual play.

* (36:25) A big thanks to the people giving us feedback on the Skies of Glass rules alpha!

* (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 on Brodeur’s podcast.

* (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 Masks and Powered by the Apocalypse.

* (7:32) Transitioning the same characters from Masks to Necessary Evil.

* (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) Why We Game 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, Worth 1,000 Words, is still available for purchase.

* (7:43) Laura is starting a game for minority and marginalized people. You can contact her to learn more on her TikTok account, email ([email protected]), or by PMing her on our forums.

* (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 over on Brodeur’s podcast.

* (18:48) Following up on episode 547 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