We’re thinking about starting up a Fear the Boot sponsored Blood Bowl league, complete with tournaments, prizes, etc. Just to be clear, I’m referring to the video game, not the tabletop game. If you’re interested in joining, please stop by this thread and let us know which platforms you own and/or would prefer!
* (0:31) Fear the Con 3 just got a trivia game show. Fear the Con 3 items are also now available for sale in our CafePress store.
* (2:17) Ira Glass on overcoming creative perfectionism.
* (5:06) Keeping dice in the roleplaying continuity.
* (9:21) Pat’s pickled pigs feet…?
* (10:44) Health advice disclaimer. You can find the organization Chris is certified with here.
* (15:26) Improving what you eat at the gaming table, with tangents on peer support, calorie counting, and making sustainable changes.
* (39:10) Picking the right exercises for you and integrating them into your life.
* (48:49) Chad’s pep talk and a story about Tex.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
When did murder become a mature action? In the course of conversation last week, I once again heard an argument that has never rung true to me. The argument is that mainstream comic book stories are too immature because their heroes don’t kill. This statement which ignores Punisher, Vigilante, and the entire Ultimate Universe (except Spiderman) is at its heart built on what I feel is an incorrect premise. That premise is that choosing not to kill is an immature decision
The most common supporting fact used in the argument that Superheroes should kill is that police and soldiers kill. I would like to point out that killing is a last resort for police, and they are trained to wound. Every shot fired has to be accounted for and paperwork has to be filed. In these cases the position comes with jurisdiction and accountability. Superheroes typically don’t have either of these. They appoint themselves and by killing would be saying that they know who should live or die. I do concede, though, that it does not make much sense for a government sanctioned team that is part of the military to not kill unless it is a PR decision.
Would anybody accuse a doctor of being immature? Doctors take an oath to do no harm, and this concept constantly comes up on TV shows. Every medical show on the air has dealt with doctors getting a questionable patient and having to make the hard decision of whether or not to save them. I have never heard anyone call these stories immature for exploring that concept. Is ER immature because its doctors don’t kill? If a firefighter were to save the life of a murderer would they then be called immature? I would argue that these two professions are more closely related to Superhero, because their primary function is to save lives. Still in both cases there is an authority and accountability that Superheroes lack.
While I feel that killing your enemies when you have the power to do otherwise is taking the easy way out, I do enjoy these darker stories as well. These stories explore concepts that would taint long standing characters. Superman for example should never kill, but Hyperion can give you those stories while Superman remains untouched. Killing, though, seems to be a throwaway action for these types of characters. The slippery slope of who and what have earned death is very rarely explored. Even rarer is dealing with the psychological turmoil that killing could cause a person.
I personally read just as many stories about heroes that kill as I do about those that don’t. There is a distinctly different feel between the two, but neither is inherently more mature than the other, and both types have their merits. Too often titles that call themselves mature focus less on the story and more on the nudity and foul language. They essentially become shock titles. Murder is never a requirement for a story to be mature, but it could be a strong component in exploring the psychology of a hero.
* (0:45) The man that really keeps Pat down.
* (1:35) Get your health questions to Chris for episode 180!
* (2:09) A big thanks to Totten for the pizza.
* (3:10) DriveThruRPG is running a charity through Doctors Without Borders for medical relief in Haiti. You can make the donation here and see what RPG products that donation will get you here.
* (6:59) D&D gets banned from prisons.
* (15:02) Fear the Boot fans in prison…?
* (17:17) You are wrong to enjoy certain things.
* (20:26) Overcoming perfectionism as a GM or player.
* (42:12) Fear the Con 3.
* (43:23) Why don’t players trust their GMs more?
Hosts: Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
DriveThruRPG is running a charity event for the gaming community that I wanted to mention. In return for a $20.00 donation to Doctors Without Borders’ relief effort in Haiti, you can snag just under $1,500.00 in RPG products. It’s a great cause, so if you’re interested in offering some support to people that really need it (and getting one heck of a pile of stuff in return), be sure to check out their website for more information. You can make the donation here and see what products are included in the deal here.
They’re only running this event through the end of the month, so if you’re interested, be sure to get out there soon!
* (0:35) Dan makes a confession.
* (4:07) Fear the Con 3!
* (4:43) Soliciting questions for the upcoming episode on gamer health.
* (7:05) How Chad keeps his incidental GM decisions straight without notes.
* (17:08) Preparing the right amount of notes.
* (18:12) Notes and improv for a game’s opening scene.
* (24:02) Using the conclusion of one session to help kick off the next one.
* (26:18) How notes (or improv) affect the GM’s game style.
* (28:38) Crossing styles.
* (31:52) Getting back to the structure of game notes.
* (35:51) Notes don’t need to be a script.
* (42:10) The notes you take during the game. You can create a free Wiki here.
* (48:52) The “what’s really going on” document.
* (50:55) An example from our current game.
* (54:45) Notes kept by the players.
* (57:59) Background notes on your own character.
* (1:00:03) Noticing your ruts.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:29) Pat gets a local port.
* (1:15) Dan’s rant on impassible terrain.
* (7:13) How Pat made Chad and Dan proud with his first MMO.
* (9:19) The GM and player toolbox.
* (11:29) The moment of zen.
* (15:56) Taking a week off.
* (17:47) Useful lists.
* (19:50) The double-edged sword of an internet-ready laptop.
* (22:06) The role of the toolbox in the game.
* (23:35) The players don’t know what you don’t know.
* (27:36) Taking on-going notes.
* (28:23) Preparation prior to the game.
* (30:25) Player character motivations, observations, and side projects.
* (31:47) Borrowing ideas from fiction and real life.
* (34:28) Internal roleplay and contingency plans.
* (38:13) Drawing from the larger community of roleplayers.
* (39:23) Putting yourself in the spotlight and carrying the right attitude.
* (41:22) The cheap and simple supplies.
* (44:05) Tracking the scene.
* (48:20) Tools for helping you get in character and stay in character.
* (53:36) Tracking initiative.
* (56:11) A cheat sheet of player character names.
* (57:13) Players taking notes.
* (1:01:17) Podcasts, blogs, and gaming magazines.
* (1:04:04) A rules cheat sheet.
* (1:07:41) Robertson Games’ dungeon room design contest.
* Dan’s surprise can be found here. And just in case they changed it, I archived a screenshot of it here. Journalist + Google image search = pure win.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:00) Dan’s favorite part of Fear the Con.
* (1:56) Why you don’t want to miss the Wing Night beforehand.
* (2:40) Some highlights for people that aren’t going to the con. If you want to help promote the con, you can find a Fear the Con 3 flyer here.
* (5:08) Sign-up and find information at http://www.fearthecon.com or http://www.conplanner.com.
* (8:05) Con Planner’s privacy policy.
* (9:15) We’re at a new hotel this year.
* (9:50) Ticketing details.
* (11:57) Fear the Fruit.
* (12:48) A call for Game Masters!
* (15:03) The roommate thread and carpooling thread.
* (16:01) Mikey Mason and the game lending library.
* (17:32) Our vendor will be back. You can post requests for him here. You can find Geeky Clean here.
* (19:05) A call to our fellow podcasters.
* (21:38) Come for the con, stay for the caves.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:29) Fear the Con 3 sign-up has begun!
* (1:44) Thanking our secret Santas. Legos, Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress, Master of the Game, and SPANC.
* (8:40) Swapping games to expose people to new material.
* (10:53) The original Fear the Boot logo.
* (11:36) Setting up this episode and the next one.
* (12:04) Leadership and structure in a roleplaying game party.
* (13:59) How leadership helps the Game Master.
* (14:59) Players that reject any form of authority.
* (19:30) Picking the right player to be in charge.
* (23:42) Keeping leadership from becoming a railroad.
* (27:32) Making an ever-present NPC leader work.
* (35:26) Dealing with the guy that will not tolerate any structure in the party.
* (38:41) When having a boss is too close to real life.
* (42:13) The role of a GM when players are doing sidebar RP.
* (44:34) The GM shouldn’t kill the moment.
* (47:17) How the GM can profit from what he overhears.
* (48:18) Dealing with bored players outside of the RP sidebar.
* (50:55) GMs not being overly helpful.
* (55:35) Intrusion by other player characters.
* (59:53) Player etiquette.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The discovery of time travel would likely have huge implications for the society that allowed it to become public. Naturally, if possible it would become quickly regulated and the actual science behind it kept secret to avoid abuse. Of course this could be fairly difficult to do if the breakthrough were done in a private lab and quickly published to the world. Scientists like to get credit for their work, and there are already quite a few published theories on possibly time travel methods. Timeline contamination could pose a risk to the present, so it would have to be guarded against in some way if the technology could not be kept secret.
With time travel all the greatest questions about history could be answered. Scientist could research and catalog extinct species of plants and animals. In our world paleontologists have done their best to determine what Dinosaurs looked like and how they behaved. These are still mostly theories though. In a world with time travel we would know exactly how dinosaurs looked and be able to study their behavioral patterns. Quite possibly the most important thing we would learn about Dinosaurs though is exactly how and why they died.
Any event in history that is disputed could be viewed, studied, and documented. Documentaries could contain actual video of the events they are describing instead of recreations, though the recreations may be more detailed and entertaining than the actual events. The great mysteries of the world like the original use of Stonehenge or the method used to build the pyramids would move from the category of mystery to a documented process. The exact location of Atlantis would be added to historical maps. Suddenly the skills needed to uncover history would drastically change and the need to keep the subjects from realizing that they are being studied would be far more important as they are now living breathing specimens.
Knowledge of most past events would not have a major impact on a society, but knowledge of certain key events could. Certain events that touch on subjects that we do not discuss here could be viewed and would have dramatic impact on society as details were clarified or collaborated. It is hard to believe that events of religious significance would not be some of the first to be witnessed.
There would be many temptations to use time travel in seemingly beneficial ways. Trips to the future could cure diseases or bring back medical technology to save lives. With the technology already available there would be no need for the research to actually develop it. Both this and the survivors would change the future that the technology had come from. If future technology were to be banned in an effort to avoid this, then patients with enough money would be tempted to travel to a time when they could receive better treatment. Petitions would likely be drawn up to restore extinct species or to perhaps intervene in tragedies throughout history to save lives. Every tragedy that happens would lead to an immediate call of fixing it just this once. Even the best intentions, though, can have unexpected consequences.
For these and tactical reasons, if government scientists were the ones to discover time travel it would likely be classified and kept secret. Only the highest ranking officials would be allowed to know that this technology was available. These politicians then would be subject to the same temptations of time travel that the general public would be if they only knew of its possibility. Political campaigns would be much easier if the person in power could see the events of the future and proactively deal with them. In times of war, leaders would be tempted to view the future battle and change plans based on effectiveness. In the case of a failed operation they would likely send back communications to themselves of its failure. While this has the potential of saving lives, it also becomes far more complicated if the other society also has access to time travel technology. The potential for a time war or an inevitable temporal cold war would grow with each society that discovers time travel. That possibility and the implications will be the topic of my next blog.
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