Grant and Peter sat down together—in the same room for the first time in the history of Saving the Game—and recorded a short bonus episode together at Fear the Con 8 in St. Louis, MO! We talked about a lot of people, including Mikey Mason and Rev. Derek W. White, but mostly we talked about what we did at the convention and how much fun we had there with the extended Booter family. Enjoy!

Reverend Jason D. Wood, a full-time pastor and gamer, joins Grant and Peter to help introduce roleplaying games to the curious! Jason writes for The Mad Adventurers Society as The Mad Cleric, giving out gaming advice and life advice for gamers in equal measure, and contributes to the Mad Adventurers' Potelbat and Potelbat Yalp podcasts. (He's most accessible on Twitter as @Wood_JasonD.)

Jason joins us for a very special episode: An introduction to roleplaying games for the curious and the uninitiated. As a sort of companion piece to our very first episode ("Are RPGs Evil?"), this episode is designed to be a resource for those who've never played before, and want to (or feel the need to) know more about them. We outline the general conceits of RPGs, explain system and setting, discuss why they're so much fun, and elaborate on some of the positive benefits of roleplaying games. (In particular, we spend some time talking about The Bodhana Group; new listeners should listen to Episode 25, "Therapeutic Roleplaying (with Jack Berkenstock Jr.)" for more on that. They're awesome.) Finally, we wrap up with some advice on getting started in roleplaying games, whether individually, as a family, or as a church activity.

Scripture: Proverbs 27:17, Mark 12:28-31, Luke 5:27-32, Romans 14:16

Grant and Peter are back, and talking about creatures great and small! Inspired by M. J. Young's 2004 Faith and Gaming article "Animals" (written for the Christian Gamers' Guild), Grant and Peter discuss the wide variety of animals seen in roleplaying games and the real world. Then, we talk about how to use them effectively in your story and setting, and some pitfalls to keep in mind when the focus shifts to pets and other creatures at the table. Plus, we're going to Fear the Con 8 and you should too!

Scripture: Job 12:7-10, Luke 12:6-7, Revelation 5:13

Derek Knutsen, co-host of THE ESTABLiSHED FACTS and the mind behind Palegain Press, joins us to talk about charitable activity happening at Fear the Con 8 and some tips on running convention games! Derek has run Fear the Charity events at Fear the Con for several years now, and this year he's also running Fear the Fruit. He's also running a canned food drive, an alternate reality game (ARG) for Fear the Charity donations, a charity dungeon crawl at Fear the Con, and more! In short, he's very busy helping everyone at Fear the Con give back to the broader community, and he's awesome. While we have him on, we also pick his brain for some advice on running good convention games—basic advice on handling people, play and preparation. Enjoy!

Scripture: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Malachi 3:10, Matthew 18:20

Well, it's official: We're going to Fear the Con 8, and Fear the Con 8 is officially happening, so meet us there! That news aside, though, we've got a full episode for you: Grant and Peter reviewing their "gaming curriculum". These are our suggestions for media of all sorts which you as a gamer should have for reference, read, play, or watch to be a better gamer (and especially a better gamemaster.) The full list of media (with links!) is below the fold for reference, so enjoy!

Scripture: Proverbs 18:15, 2 Timothy 3:16-17

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Grant and Peter are back to talk about making interesting conspiracies for your players to expose—or participate in! First, we plug the ongoing Fear the Con 8 Kickstarter—if you want to see us there, the con needs to hit its Kickstarter goal, so consider backing it if you haven't done so yet! Then we get down to business, talking about the elements of a good conspiracy as an entity in your game, and only briefly diverting to talk about conspiracy theories. Like these, which claim the moon isn't real.

Scripture: Psalm 41:5-9, Matthew 26:1-5

Katrina from The Gameable Disney Podcast joins Grant and Peter for an in-depth discussion of prophecy in our games! You can find Katrina and Kris on Tumblr, Twitter, and iTunes, and can email them too. So, after mentioning the new website and handing out a pair of important congratulations, we

Game designer, podcaster, and sometime pastor Josh T. Jordan joins Grant and Peter to talk about those less-than-epic games, and why they still matter! Josh is the main host of Tell Me Another and the creative force behind Ginger Goat Games. He brought us this topic, and it turns into a wide-ranging discussion about stories outside the traditional epic heroic journey, where personal concerns trump world-threatening story arcs. (We also mention Amagi Games' "The Soap Opera" one-page game tweak.)

Scripture: Genesis 25:29-34, Matthew 20:29-31, Luke 16:10-12

This episode, Grant and Peter talk about making real-world locations you're not familiar with into interesting, gameable locations! First, though, we have a lot of well-deserved plugs to get through. The Gameable Disney Podcast is absolutely amazing, and both of us recommend listening to its entire backlog of episodes. Christian Geek Central is awesome (and not only because Mikel did a fun interview with us.) And Grant in particular is a big fan of System Mastery, and he just sent them Deliria to review (warning: probably NSFW.) After all that, we get into the meat of the episode, and break down a bunch of useful resources to use when setting a game or scenario in a real-life location you don't know well.

Scripture: Genesis 13:14-17, Ephesians 2:19-21

Grant and Peter return to talk about laying the groundwork for character development before the game starts! We lead off with a reminder about Sojourn 2 (and the forthcoming Sojourn 3), and a request for listener input on topics and for reviews on iTunes. Then we get into the topic at hand: Setting yourself up for successful character growth ahead of time. We go over some methods, benefits and ideas; and we wrap up with a STG first—Peter and Grant attempting to put their own advice to good use on-air. Enjoy!

Scripture: Ezekiel 36:25-26 and Romans 12:2