* (0:22) The villain as the dark inverse of the hero.
* (9:20) A big CGI fight at the end that seems visually out of continuity.
* (16:06) Zombies and Lovecraft.
* (20:37) The freedom to like or dislike, and how little that says about you as a person.
* (23:33) Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, and Disney.
* (26:59) Let’s not be too reductive.
* (34:26) Maybe we’ve just been around too long and seen too many stories.
* (37:15) Elves with short hair.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:24) Brodeur recommends a manicure and pedicure to Dan.
* (5:58) Dan, Wayne, and their muscle tension.
* (11:24) A straight-razor shave and the thrill of death.
* (15:56) Fandoms that (at least temporarily) put people off from the product they love.
* (28:08) On anime.
* (31:37) The need to be inviting within gaming, since it’s a social hobby.
* (37:56) Gratuitous violence and opinion as identity.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne
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* (0:28) Brodeur flees to Oregon.
* (4:08) Failure comes to East Texas University.
* (7:26) Dividing the blame between the players and Game Master.
* (11:40) Player silence and passivity.
* (17:30) Things lost for lack of time.
* (19:34) Substance use, depression, and the option of just narrating the ending.
* (26:32) Was there a post-mortem with the players? Not judging a whole campaign by its ending.
* (30:09) If the players don’t know how to answer, ask a more specific question.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:33) Wayne gives a shoutout to Gaming with Gage + Friends (but not Brodeur).
* (1:53) Wayne ends a D&D campaign without a boss fight.
* (3:11) The mutual theft of ideas between video games and tabletop roleplaying games.
* (8:00) Considering all the ways a story can end.
* (13:18) Another example from a D&D game.
* (21:06) Post-campaign, no-boss epilogues. Player freedom in shaping the ending.
* (28:02) Redefining the game in a character-centric way.
* (32:33) Allowing other solutions to small problems and other endings to the game.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne
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* (0:29) Brodeur’s post-Gen-Con review. (I know, we’re right on top of the latest news.) A shoutout to Imagining Games, Acheron Books, and RogueOperative.
* (8:02) Customizing modules for your players and characters.
* (11:48) Modules as a framework, not a full script.
* (18:26) Know the module well enough that you can deconstruct it into its components.
* (24:37) An imaginary scenario using a well-known story as a module, adjusted to an obviously unique character.
* (36:44) How the whole context of a pre-written scenario can be changed by just swapping proper nouns.
* (42:32) Separating story-writing from story-telling.
* (43:31) Some great example modules include Chris Hussey’s The Wolverines Take the Highway to the Danger Zone for Savage Worlds and Gooey Cube’s Red Star Rising campaign for D&D 5th edition.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne
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* (0:29) A listener, James, gets us talking about integrating player-character backstories into your game. It starts with the players giving you something to work with.
* (3:01) Sitting for too long on too much information, or mining the backstory abusively.
* (7:43) Finding the possible connections between backstories.
* (11:08) Let’s do it live! Dan sets up a D&D game with Wayne as his player. Building story by eliminating coincidences and undefined areas.
* (19:22) Wayne sets up a Skies of Glass game with Brodeur as his player. Remembering that NPCs have their own lives that still go on, even when the PC isn’t around.
* (30:02) What’s the “therefore” there for? Continuing thoughts that seemed otherwise complete.
* (31:42) Integrating character backgrounds into a story that’s already written. Even the most fleshed-out plot still has gaps that can be filled with player-made content.
* (37:59) Too little, too much, or no background at all.
* (42:35) Punting Mary’s insight, because it deserves its own episode.
* (44:32) Paying attention to backgrounds for what should be important in your game, because it’s important to that player.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne
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* (0:29) How awful can a few years be? (Spoilers: Multiple things got worse since this recording!)
* (3:49) An experiment in unequal levels of preparation and participation.
* (8:34) Not all players will bring the same level of contribution, nor do all games encourage it.
* (14:32) Pattern versus incidence.
* (18:52) Reasons to not just sit it out.
* (20:43) Why using past experiences of what was to infer what ought to be may not be the best approach.
* (25:11) Setting expectations for the division of labor.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Julia, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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* (0:24) Releasing episodes out of order.
* (1:24) The little convention that could, despite how hard life tried to stop it.
* (6:59) All of the hurdles that weren’t COVID.
* (14:00) The obstacles that came up during the convention.
* (24:24) In spite of everything arrayed against it, the con went really well.
* (31:42) Thanking Eric Van Note for the picture of Gnarl, which you can see here. You can contact him for your own commission at: vannoteillustration@gmail.com
* (33:50) Wishing we’d had more time to talk to people and paced ourselves better.
* (39:11) A request, an idea, and a placeholder. June 15th, 16th, and 17th are the tentative dates for Fear the Con 2023.
* (43:46) A big “thank you” to our community!
Hosts: Brodeur, Caleb, Dan, Wayne
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* (0:29) Interrogating Mary on her gaming history.
* (1:33) The last few days before Fear the Con!
* (4:54) The distinct moral perspective of a child.
* (7:39) Leif responds to our show on vertical creativity.
* (13:58) A thought exercise on who should win the 51/49 preference: players or GMs.
* (15:41) Wayne and Dan’s answers.
* (18:09) Mary’s answer.
* (21:12) Brodeur’s answer.
* (26:15) Dan’s retort about the assumed-risk of the Game Master.
* (30:51) The courtesy inherent in having a group with multiple GMs.
Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Mary, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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* (0:29) A difficult GM learns a lesson from an Uno game.
* (4:10) Navigating the internal conflict between “roleplaying” and “game”.
* (11:20) The need for control that ultimately comes from fear.
* (16:45) Giving the players their wins.
* (23:34) The ugly math about how many people aren’t that good at a given task.
* (29:32) The importance of having rapport before doing this.
* (32:29) Saying, “yes,” while camouflaging the railroad.
Hosts: Brodeur, Caleb, Dan, Julia
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts |
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