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Episode 617 – the value of questionable
by Dan Repperger

* (0:29) Thanks to Eric Van Note for Swole Mole!

* (3:15) The value of terrible GMing.

* (8:42) Everyone is their own most inept critic. Sojourn Volume 2.

* (15:28) The worst possible outcome: something being forgettable.

* (22:20) Asking Doug to grade his own game.

* (25:35) The value of creating art, simply for the act of creation.

* (37:04) A few too many contacts in someone’s eyes.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

Episode 616 – affiliated or not
by Dan Repperger

* (0:29) Dan prefers affiliated groups, Wayne does not.

* (2:15) Cohesion, identity, and help.

* (9:35) Affiliations you start with as opposed to those you pick up along the way.

* (11:56) The party’s direction and motivation. Affiliating with an ideal.

* (20:23) Affiliations create an obvious pool of NPC relationships.

* (25:40) External versus internal affiliations, and how they’re not mutually exclusive.

* (32:06) Taking extreme positions just to highlight the topic.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Julia, Wayne

Episode 615 – inspecting InSpectres
by Dan Repperger

* (0:28) An update on the Actual Play.

* (4:48) The InSpectres RPG (at least temporarily back in print!) and our AP interlude using its rules.

* (8:09) Why play InSpectres as an interlude to the main campaign? Apparently only Dan has heard of Michelle Jenneke.

* (12:58) Plus an extra player.

* (16:10) The, “yes and,” style of gaming.

* (21:31) Assisting new players when they’re stuck.

* (26:24) Seeing roleplaying games as a starting point, not a finished product.

* (33:43) It’s not just a game; it’s on the mics.

* (39:19) No takebacks!

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

Episode 614 – session X.5
by Dan Repperger

* (0:28) Things are getting set for Fear the Con! An intro to RPGs game is available for newcomers.

* (2:03) A shared Minecraft server. You can find more information on Discord.

* (5:52) Realigning your game with a mid-campaign session zero. Special thanks to Gaming with Gage.

* (8:46) Making the case to have one.

* (12:59) Remembering the times we did this during the Skies of Glass campaign.

* (16:38) Reusing or reviewing the exact same work you did in session zero.

* (23:15) Being too specific or too general.

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

Episode 613 – the eleventh dollar
by Dan Repperger

* (0:29) Julia ruins everything.

* (1:35) Things are getting set for Fear the Con! An intro to RPGs game is available for newcomers. You can also announce your games on Discord.

* (9:03) Coming out of a period of deep fatigue. How one game still never missed a week.

* (16:18) Spoons and other finite resources.

* (20:06) Why it might be best to bite off a bit less. You may not be gaming as much as you think, anyway.

* (26:41) Does gaming with strangers help the problem?

* (31:37) Kids, you’re already in the real world.

* (34:32) Strange schedules and cascading cancellations.

* (37:42) Gambling with the eleventh dollar.

Hosts: Dan, Julia, Mary, Wayne

Episode 612 – running the unknown
by Dan Repperger

* (0:28) Running a game when someone else knows the setting a whole lot better than you do.

* (2:07) The lack of pronunciation guides in most games.

* (3:16) Narrowing down the task by asking what’s important about the setting to the players.

* (7:59) Getting the essence or feel of the setting right. We need a Thug Notes recap of BattleTech lore.

* (12:53) Start small and work outward, learning just what you need for each step along the way.

* (21:15) Tell your players you only know some canon and therefore will only use some canon.

* (24:01) Setting an ending to the canon so you can tell your own story. Breaking continuity early to get it over with.

* (28:35) Keeping a chunk of authentic setting. Otherwise, why run it at all?

* (33:56) Asking your setting experts to give you limited homework.

* (35:09) We look forward to seeing you at Fear the Con!

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

Episode 611 – paid GMing
by Dan Repperger

Show links…

* StartPlaying Games

* Bite Size Tales

* Gaming with Gage

Hosts: Chris, DJ, Josh, Wayne

Episode 610 – the value of chaos
by Dan Repperger

* (0:29) The Kickstarter for Fear the Con 2023 is live for one more week!

* (1:56) The wonderful confusion new players and GMs bring to a roleplaying game.

* (16:59) An imagined internal-consistency is sometimes more fun than an intended one.

* (22:17) The burden of your own expectations.

* (28:29) When contradictions aren’t actually contradictions. The Law of Non-Contradiction.

* (35:16) The emotion of Muscle March.

* (36:22) The ideas that mistakes allow us to explore.

Hosts: Dan, Julia, Mary, Wayne

Episode 609 – the best mechanics
by Dan Repperger

* (0:31) The Kickstarter for Fear the Con 2023 is live!

* (1:04) The new fiction podcast, Bite Size Tales.

* (3:09) Game mechanics we’re particularly fond of.

* (4:54) Rerolls and other roll-modifying mechanics.

* (10:13) A close relationship between skills and attributes.

* (15:46) Life paths in character creation.

* (24:48) Using all the dice.

* (30:12) Injury instead of a simple health pool.

* (38:08) Lots of randomness.

* (40:31) Building something bigger than your character.

* (44:13) Double-edged character traits.

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

Episode 608 – bringing a world to life
by Dan Repperger

* (0:28) The Kickstarter for Fear the Con 2023 is live!

* (1:12) Things a Game Master has done to make a world seem a little more alive (with credit to JoshB for the topic).

* (5:46) Plot hooks, substories, and unanswered questions about my character.

* (9:16) Allowing characters to have goals, ambitions, and projects.

* (13:32) Giving me things I can trust that won’t betray me or become a vulnerability.

* (19:52) Investing the players in world-building that matters.

* (29:25) Don’t constantly veto your players.

* (31:55) Digging through enough specifics may reveal a general truth you can use.

Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

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