* (0:28) Recording at Julia’s.
* (1:36) Fear the Boot and Gamers Table Destiny 2 clan.
* (2:58) A fond farewell to Don Dehm of Pulp Gamer.
* (4:23) Wemic shoes, doo doo doo doo doo doo.
* (11:02) Dividing the hobby in an implausible way.
* (13:18) The value to the Game Master of players being in-character.
* (20:42) Letting a game descend into total silliness.
* (22:16) Flipping the narrative: The consistency players expect.
* (31:17) Remediating the situation in-character. Explaining the swimsuit episode.
* (34:02) Addressing things at the meta-game level.
* (38:48) Player awareness of what the Game Master is doing.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Julia
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* (0:33) A bottle of bourbon and a letter from the Hellhounds.
* (8:11) Brodeur wants to blossom, plus something about Jenna von Oÿ.
* (9:13) Discord and the things we won’t do for you. A big shout-out to David for joining the hobby. starting a group, and then starting his own podcast, Next Generation Game Masters.
* (14:30) Chad is Gandhi. Eric from Gamers Table is running a Twitch show, Luncheon Crawl, for his game prep.
* (20:53) Making it through an RPG session when you aren’t feeling it.
* (23:04) Just muscle (march) through. Gaming as an escape, burden, or obligation.
* (31:12) Setting the right expectations for yourself.
* (38:51) Communicating how you’re doing and what you need.
* (44:43) Testing the mood with some marketing tricks.
* (55:39) An exercise in adapting to a player’s mood.
Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:28) Reaching a milestone episode. A topic picked by our Patreon backers.
* (2:59) How the podcast started. Its first hosts and logo. The deep well of storytelling topics.
* (14:57) The show’s first major crisis. How the ebb and flow of our lives affects the quality of the show. A history of its hosting composition.
* (26:38) Show planning, social tone, and getting older. A changing industry.
* (36:30) Fear the Boot’s history of logos. The first boot, the color revision, the improved art, and the pinup girl.
* (40:22) An assortment of projects and technologies that came and went.
* (42:59) Actual plays.
* (45:32) The impact the audience has on us. Hanging onto stuff. John’s acceptance speech.
* (1:04:03) FTB FTW card game.
* (1:05:53) Thickening skin. The changing way we view other content creators.
* (1:22:38) The future of Skies of Glass and other side projects.
* (1:27:54) Things that have changed in 12.5 years.
* (1:33:20) Predictions for the future.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:29) A topic inspired by a game of Bang. What it will take to make Dan stab someone in the back in a board game. The distinction between factions and a traitor mechanic.
* (10:29) Hiding your intentions as a Game Master.
* (15:54) The Simpsons, Family Guy, mailing pancakes, Russian manti, grilled cheese, Raddish Kids, and Uncle Dan cookies.
* (20:27) Showing or hiding intention as a player. How hiding harmless things can add productive tension.
* (28:01) Keeping the entertainment of the group as your central focus. The potential value of meta-gaming.
* (40:15) Using Reductio ad Absurdum to determine whether a secret intention is a good idea or not.
* (50:34) Falling off one side or the other.
Hosts: Caleb, Chad, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:28) Fear the boot is now on iHeartRadio. You can get the regular show here and the actual play here.
* (3:02) A player’s response to an unintentional Game Master error. An example with a dragon.
* (10:50) Some quick advice to Game Masters: consider a ret-con and be prepared to own your mistake. Austin Powers speaking English English.
* (12:59) As a player, have sympathy for the GM.
* (18:04) What makes it right for the player. How the GM sets the tone.
* (32:25) De-escalation. Unpacking your reaction and metering your response.
* (41:30) Keeping the goal in mind: Restoring everyone’s enjoyment, not “winning” the situation.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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* (0:22) The trailer for Bumblebee.
* (4:09) The two extremes of product placement.
* (8:21) Resizing a robot. Or not.
* (12:07) The evolution of an idea when someone can tell you, “No.”
* (17:34) Nostalgia in the hands of the wrong person.
* (22:17) Nostalgia versus new creations.
* (26:07) The sliding window of looking back.
* (34:07) The Alexander Graham Bell commercial. Using superhero games to handle Saturday morning cartoons, as suggested by Saving the Game.
* (37:15) Back to the window.
* (46:16) Creating properties that get tied in, anyway. Hipsters are still all the same.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:28) Dan was a guest on Gaming with Gage. You can find the episode here.
* (1:22) Explaining game explainers. An example from a Dresden game.
* (10:24) Describing options and risks without dictating an action. Helping the player achieve what they want.
* (14:09) Teaching concepts. Don’t play the character for them or give instruction without explanation.
* (23:20) A courtroom metaphor.
* (32:12) Having a setting advocate. Giving character knowledge to the player.
* (36:26) Stating an objective instead of an action.
* (47:39) Playing a scrimmage to learn the game.
Hosts: Caleb, Chad, Dan, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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* (1:00) Playing robots in a game, focusing on RP, not the stats.
* (4:44) Who built you, why, and with what philosophical presuppositions?
* (9:05) Some thought exercises to unpack a robot’s mind. The Theory of Mind.
* (14:27) Separating emotion, physiology, and mind. Emergent properties.
* (20:44) Anthropopathism and assuming mind where it doesn’t exist.
* (22:55) The Turing Test and Chinese Room. Syntax versus semantics.
* (31:01) How the distinction plays out in an RPG.
* (44:06) Understanding the mind of the character you’re playing.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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* (0:23) Finding Caleb. Finding gaming.
* (17:18) The historical inevitability of RPGs.
* (22:15) The unusual mechanics of certain weapons. Khopesh.
* (32:12) Distinguishing armor.
* (36:12) Knowing the crunch. Counting references per action.
* (40:26) The brand new player.
Hosts: Caleb, Chad, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:28) Fear the Boot is everywhere! The actual play site, Discord, Facebook, our forums, Patreon, and a whole lot of podcast aggregators.
* (3:30) Handling player-characters that are being kept out of the action.
* (7:56) Let some time pass.
* (10:05) Play a different character.
* (18:32) Hand-wave whatever is benching the character.
* (23:04) The importance of player enjoyment over all else.
* (25:08) Compensate for the problem.
* (30:30) Have the game come to the player.
* (37:32) Be receptive to the Game Master’s help.
* (43:09) Picking a solution for our current game.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android |
