* (0:28) How Chris perceives time.
* (3:42) Chris resurrects a dead campaign. How meta-game techniques can give players a sense of freedom about how well (or poorly) they remember the game. Helping everyone recall concepts and get back into the flow after being gone for so long.
* (24:35) Re-purposing old campaign ideas. The portability of ideas between genre, system, and setting.
Hosts: Chris, Dan, Johann, Wayne
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* (1:19) St. Louis food trucks. The real name of Panera Bread. An upcoming food truck rally at Laumeier Sculpture Park.
* (8:11) Chad’s coyote character radically alters the course of a game. The courtesy of handling such shifts in light of plans made by the Game Master or other players.
* (21:34) Rolling with such sudden changes when you’re running the game.
* (35:53) The relationship between story arcs and character spotlight.
* (43:28) Game Master trust.
* (48:13) Romance, flirting, and Beth as a yenta.
Hosts: Chad, Pat, Wayne
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* (0:40) The Nazi Occult by Ken Hite.
* (3:13) Fear the Minicon: East. It will be hosted in Raleigh, NC on August 10th at Game Theory. You can find the details and get signed up here.
* (4:20) Fear the Con 7 will most likely be June 12th – 14th of 2014.
* (8:17) Our biggest faults as Game Masters and how we overcame (or are working to overcome) them.
* (22:00) The nature of crunch within a roleplaying game. How rules, setting, and even language can create additional processes you might need to understand to play a game. The relationship between crunch and the length of a campaign.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Sgt. Dan, Julia, Wayne
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* (0:50) A big thanks to Nick for the bonus episode intro music!
* (1:15) If you can’t get Happy Jacks, you probably need to update your feed. You can find more info here.
* (1:55) A big congrats to Jake and Erick!
* (2:50) Postcard winners, you have not been forgotten.
* (4:46) Wayne and his soap babies at Fear the Con 6.
* (6:63) Pat and the nuclear football.
* (19:45) Chris’ poor choice of t-shirt.
* (27:41) Wayne as a Lamaze coach.
* (28:57) Julia and the lesbian surprise.
* (34:19) The reason Dan has never been told, “No.”
* (39:27) The lesbian, the witch, and the Wayne…drobe. OK, that doesn’t really work.
* (41:16) The price of nice and the power of a last name.
* (44:20) Chris and the fire tower.
* (1:00:43) Lifeguard Mandy.
* (1:09:36) The reason Dan has never been told, “No.” Part 2.
* (1:14:23) Chris and the finger.
* (1:18:59) Julia gets creeped out.
* (1:21:17) Wayne gets creepier.
Hosts: Chris, Dan, Julia, Pat, Wayne
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* (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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