* (0:24) Chad forgets how to podcast.
* (2:28) Chris meets a person and is impressed by the event.
* (8:38) Telling a story at varying levels of epic-ness. What it means for a story to be epic. The importance of the small stories, even when told in the context of larger events. Keeping the players connected to the characters and not just the plot arc. You can find the Dark Dungeons tract here. And, finally, the Crest Kids versus the Cavity Creeps.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat
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* (0:30) Fear the Con 6! Sign up for the games you want to run or play. Also, be sure to get your ticket ordered so we can give you a badge on Wing Night and skip the lines on Friday morning.
* (2:03) A discussion about why Tex and Dan used to hate Chris leads into some insight on the work Chris did for FASA and the rejection letter he got for a Shadowrun adventure about Mars. Yes, you read that right.
* (13:11) The distinction between writing a module and writing an adventure.
* (24:22) Player-characters getting taken into captivity. Giving it the right context. The opportunities it presents. The stories that occur while people are in captivity. Planning a plausible escape. Data rapping about his cat to Dr. Dre’s The Next Episode. Dan in the bad-GM corner so the group can do a double-blind plan.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne
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* (0:28) You can find Fear the Con 6 t-shirts and other items on our CafePress store.
* (0:57) Issues of responsibility. Within a roleplaying group, who buys the books? How do you fairly divide materials and labor? Whether hosting the event or running the game should count toward those social obligations.
* (36:48) Handling mass combat in a game while still making the players feel like their characters are an important part of it. Allowing them the most important tasks or a higher level of power. Giving military context or emotional value to the smaller objectives of war. Chad gave me two pictures from the D&D city battle we did.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, John, Wayne
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* (0:20) How Shadowrun 5th edition is adapting to the shifting relevance of cyberpunk’s central themes. The personal information site I mentioned is Radaris.
* (12:04) The matrix and its way of breaking up the party. The steps Catalyst is taking to make deckers a bigger part of the primary story instead of an isolated side game.
* (25:09) The organization of the team creating 5th edition.
* (27:06) The things coming up for Shadowrun, starting with an introductory box set.
* (29:17) A unified portal for Shadowrun, which you can find here. Also Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun Online.
* (39:39) Mark will be running a Shadowrun game at FRAG Con.
Hosts: Dan, John, Julia, Wayne
Guests: Mark Dynna
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* (0:40) A toast to Spc. David Tyler Proctor.
* (1:43) You can find information on Fear the Con 6′s official charities here.
* (4:18) Introducing our guest, Mark Dynna.
* (5:54) What Shadowrun’s PACs are and why we love them.
* (8:26) Shadowrun 5th edition as a case study on how large and mid-sized game companies develop their flagship products.
* (10:55) How Mark got started in game development.
* (169:44) The motivation behind a new edition.
* (28:32) How the artwork of a game can help reveal or misrepresent a game’s intentions. You can find the new cover here.
* (31:44) Planning the feel for 5th edition. Immediate and measurable consequence for choices made in character creation. Looking back to prior editions for inspiration.
Hosts: Dan, John, Julia, Wayne
Guests: Mark Dynna
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* (0:43) Dan was a guest host over at The Established Facts. You can find that episode here.
* (2:38) The Kickstarter for Hyperreality.
* (6:05) Dan versus Grey Goose. Dan wins.
* (9:38) Chris versus audio. Nobody wins.
* (11:51) Giving players really advanced notice of a game session.
* (15:27) Chris invites someone to a game in all the wrong ways.
* (24:40) The surprising number of non-nerds in IT.
* (27:35) Colossus: The Forbin Project, Deus Ex, and Watch Dogs.
* (35:26) A question about standing in line in a video game leads to a discussion of the positive and negative impacts of video game achievements.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, John, Julia
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As promised, here are some details on the charity running at Fear the Con 6. There will be an onsite raffle (more on that below), but I hope these are causes you’ll consider supporting even if you’re not able to attend the convention.
Retired Military Working Dog Assistance Organization
http://www.rmwdao.org/
Retired Military Working Dog Assistance Organization (RMWDAO) is a non-profit organization based out of Universal City, Texas. RMWDAO is dedicated to helping our Nations retired military working dogs live a better, more comfortable life after they have finished serving our country’s needs.
RMWDAO’s long term goal is to be able to provide much needed financial aid for transportation and medical bills that become costly after adopting a retired MWD. Most MWDs are retired for medical reasons such as PTSD and require many veterinary visits once they have completed their service in the military. The majority of MWDs retiring are between the ages of 10 and 12 years old and have various special needs. With today’s economic financial hardships, it becomes an expensive responsibility owning one of these heroes. To help facilitate more adoptions of retiring MWDs, RMWDAO is here to provide support for medical bills and transportation to their forever homes.
Operation Freedom Paws
http://operationfreedompaws.org/
Leveraging the therapeutic magic of the canine-human relationship, Operation Freedom Paws empowers veterans and others with disabilities to restore their own independence. Operation Freedom Paws trains veterans and others with disabilities to train their own service dogs. We leverage the ability of the canine-human relationship to help our clients regain their sense of purpose, worth and value to society and their community.
Founded in January 2010, Operation Freedom Paws is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that matches dogs with individuals who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and/or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) symptoms, or other physical, neurological, psychological or mobility needs.
We train the individual to train their own dog, and then certify them together as a service dog team in a 32-week program. Most of the dogs come from rescue shelters. This unique opportunity enables our clients to feel safe and secure, and to manage their day-to-day lives. The very special therapeutic canine-human relationship helps them get back out in their communities and begin to view their future with renewed hope.
At the convention, Derek will be running a raffle. Each ticket is $10, with all money going evenly to both charities. There are going to be two prizes for the raffle. Each prize contains all the following items, barring shipping issues:
Bag of Holding
3 Black Dry Erase Markers
Eraser
Glow in the Dark D20 set
Q WORKSHOP BATTLE DOG TAG WHITE DICE SET D6 X10
CHESSEX RECON SPECKLED SPECKLED 10 X D10 SET
Set of Fudge Dice
Shower Shock Caffinated Soap
GameMastery Basic Flip Mat
Nom Nom Nom Lunch Bag
Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game Book
2x Decks of Cards with the Fear the Charity Logo
Tree of Life wood box to store both decks of cards
A titanium spork
A box of Ninja Pencils
4 Staedtler Plastic Erasers
Space Pen
Leather Notebook holder with a notebook
Car Lighter powered Retro Smart Mug
20 Medium Generic Pawns
10 Large Generic Pawns
5 Huge Generic Pawns
(There are some additional prizes that might be added as well, but confirmation is pending.)
* (0:30) The Orson Welles recordings. You can find the original here and the surprisingly similar parody here.
* (1:29) Thoughts and prayers for Jake and his brother, Erick. You can send wishes to his forum account, Pinofski. (You’ll need to be logged in to our forums for that link to work.)
* (2:26) Registration for Fear the Con is still up and running. Also Iron Man 3 and the Sober Driver Brigade.
* (7:17) The two kinds of failure in a roleplaying game: mechanical failure and story failure.
* (10:01) Handling mechanical failure. Identifying whether the problem is a poor understanding of the game or just crappy luck.
* (14:30) The importance of perception. How buy-in can make failure in an RPG so much harder to accept than failure in books or movies. The degree of IC/OOC separation.
* (31:39) The role of the GM in mitigating feelings of defeat.
* (40:51) Games with an intentionally unhappy ending or multiple endings.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Johann, Pat
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* (0:28) I don’t even know how to describe this. Even Wayne was at a loss for words.
* (9:14) A shout-out to the guys who have put out a Matrix RPG.
* (10:40) Sign-up for our own convention, Fear the Con, is still running.
* (10:49) If you’re interested in a convention on the east coast, be sure to check out 1d4Con in Winchester, Virginia, Friday, April 26th to Sunday, April 28th.
* (11:51) And it goes back there again. The Ryan versus Chad sock puppet pony conversation can be found here.
* (13:19) If you’re interested in writing, stop by Fear the Boot’s own writers’ guild. Their next online meetup is on Saturday, March 16th. Check the forum area or send a PM to Sion for more information.
* (15:37) Why Dan can’t do his own game session reviews.
* (17:13) An object lesson on “forced success”, drawing from our most recent game.
* (21:16) Giving success to your characters as a way of keeping the game intact and the plot moving forward. Balancing the value of internal consistency versus player enjoyment.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, John, Wayne
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* (0:17) Dan doesn’t know his own show.
* (1:44) Introducing the one question personality tests.
* (4:32) People that don’t own TVs.
* (6:10) Red, green, or blue?
* (8:52) Protoss, Terran, or Zerg?
* (10:05) Dwarf, human, or elf?
* (12:15) Zombie apocalypse or alien invasion?
* (13:22) Summer or winter?
* (16:47) Fighter, wizard, cleric, or thief?
* (18:20) Fantasy, steampunk, or sci-fi? Our Monsters Are Different.
* (23:50) Star Trek or Star Wars?
* (28:53) Elvis or Beatles?
* (31:09) MMO or single player?
* (33:27) Zombie, vampire, or werewolf?
* (39:33) In video games, male or female characters?
* (43:53) Rich or famous?
* (46:44) PVP or PVE?
* (51:08) Basketball, baseball, or football?
* (55:54) Sleek or clunky robots?
Hosts: Dan, John, Julia, Wayne
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