Fear the Boot

* (0:28) Right place, wrong room. * (1:23) Playing the hatred between two player-characters. * (6:18) You aren't a victim of your character. * (10:04) Enemy Mine and Hell in the Pacific. * (14:34) Programming a path to peace. * (20:01) Giving the conflict boundaries without erasing its relevance. * (31:36) Not all wounds have to be healed. Metering conflict in the meta-game. * (39:57) Someone can't cook. * (46:22) Accepting defeat to keep the conflict from derailing the game. * (48:04) Having a final fallback for when it all goes wrong. * (56:00) Fear the Boot and Gamers Table Destiny 2 clan. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (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

* (0:28) Creating life from lifelessness. Rapidly replacing a player-character that's died. * (10:35) Making a character that's already tied to the party. * (13:05) An introduction that helps the moment. * (14:28) Accepting the unanswered questions. * (18:48) Helping nurture the character concept into the game. * (21:19) Adjusting the plot to make the character meaningful in the moment. * (24:50) Chad's murder mystery. The flow of character growth. * (31:01) How the murder creates the growth. * (38:21) Guilt vs evil. * (41:59) Two knives to the throat, a red herring, and following the law. * (52:51) Fear the Boot's Patreon and Discord. You can also now find our show on Spotify (regular show, actual play). Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:47) Derek Knutsen's Kickstarter for Flower of Heaven. * (0:57) The Kickstarter for GamersTable, Season 2. * (1:25) Explaining what we mean and don't mean by "recycling." * (5:51) Reasons not to recycle. * (9:17) How the What's Really Going On document helps. Separating the game from the experience. * (15:13) Embracing the passage of time. * (18:57) Dan's own Mandela Effect. * (24:31) Parallels to playing in a licensed setting. * (26:47) Running the same campaign for the same players. * (35:47) Picking a campaign to rerun. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:41) Derek Knutsen's Kickstarter for Flower of Heaven. * (1:27) The Kickstarter for GamersTable, Season 2. * (2:51) Defining C.A.R. NPCs with a few examples. * (11:42) Why GMs accept unacceptable behavior. * (21:34) Minding how an NPC is setup and used. * (27:35) Advice for players. * (35:24) Advice for GMs. * (45:39) Being cognizant of your character's nature. * (50:56) Good versus good. * (52:48) How video games might be helping. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:27) Never old news! A club eats a mammoth. Or not. * (3:13) Unintentionally scaring your players out of a course of action. * (8:50) Players scaring themselves. * (20:23) The distinction between railroading and GM expectations. * (22:33) Determining why the players are reticent and addressing that. * (36:13) Motivation to overcome fear. * (42:37) Hiding the source of danger. Richard Pryor games. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) The wonderful, illusory door. * (5:21) A warning to stop here. Hijacking Lasers and Feelings. * (10:50) Dark improv on a minimal pitch. * (15:20) The role of the alternates. * (18:39) The start of the game. * (25:02) Hijacking the party and hijacking the game. * (39:06) An NPC becomes the real game. * (43:55) Counting down. * (48:08) The missing Ruben. Significance and urgency. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:17) Thanking the people that made the convention happen. * (3:35) Mikey Mason's performance can be picked up here. * (4:37) Our thanks to St. Charles Nissan. * (5:29) Heather Phillips does an awesome job on a Masakari for Dan (pic 1, pic 2, pic 3). You can find her portfolio and contact info on Facebook. * (7:46) Brodeur figures out how to defeat Wayne's dice magic. * (11:25) Scooby Doo meets Army of Darkness. * (17:47) InSpectres and Lasers and Feelings. * (28:31) A Harry Potter game. * (34:49) Exiles. * (39:01) Hitting pretty close to the slot length. * (50:51) D&D 5th edition, and spending your energy well. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:30) Setting a boundary on the topic. * (2:16) Keeping an NPC fair. * (6:07) Tactical vs compassionate vs in-character. * (14:01) Enemy fear and greed. * (33:30) When the enemy's reality changes. The shock of success. * (40:24) Playing favorites. Hosts: Aisha, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) Fear the Boot's Patreon site. * (2:05) Dan's dream comes true! * (4:49) Relationships between characters. Some examples to set it up. * (10:07) The difficulty of engineering relationships. * (17:51) Build common ground. Remember what really matters. Accept reality. * (23:59) Experiencing the backgrounds—not just writing them. * (26:05) The relevance of the players. * (44:39) Show me your war face! Hosts: Chad, Dan, Julia, Wayne

* (0:28) Welcoming Stu and Kimi from Happy Jack's family of podcasts. * (0:49) Fear the Boot tries to pick out a sponsor. * (3:03) Playing yourself in a roleplaying game. Stu did it in college. * (8:22) The "show me" test and its relationship to the dice. * (16:01) Creating the character stats. Overestimating and underestimating. Level-setting. * (19:56) Avoiding the outliers. Why point-buy systems may be fair but inaccurate. * (23:32) Determining everyone's role in character creation. The time traveler's cheat sheet. * (32:05) Handling the transition. Dealing with family and friends. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Kimi, Stu NOTE: You can see the visit Chris and Dan made to Happy Jack's on YouTube or via MP3.

* (0:23) A love letter to an under-served demographic. * (1:43) Surviving without a gaming group. * (11:59) What if podcasting had existed earlier? * (16:39) Wayne and his apes. Monkeys in outer space. * (22:33) Things we never needed to know about Star Trek. * (29:19) Back to the love letter. Sorta. Nope, we're talking about Drow and Wemics. * (33:16) The love letter for real this time. Koko the gorilla addresses humanity. * (45:58) The Oxford comma, idears, and counting syllables. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Julia, Wayne

* (0:28) Fear the Con and its Con Planner site. * (1:08) A D&D game gets us talking about pets. * (3:45) How animals affect storytelling and group dynamics. * (9:02) Pets as PCs versus NPCs. Picking two thematic traits. * (21:19) Passing the pet to the right. * (31:19) Adding a third trait. * (36:10) The animal adventure. * (45:27) Finding the animal's voice through gameplay with another player. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Eric, Wayne

* (0:28) Fear the Con and its Con Planner site. The mixer is on June 21st, with the con itself on June 22nd and 23rd. * (1:12) Chad is running a D&D 5th Edition game. The shorthand version of spell components. * (6:46) Introducing a new player to RPGs. * (13:39) The group template (and its longer form) versus the pregame questionnaire. The Sword of Damocles. * (25:04) An Epoch of Rysos game that had a similarly diverse—yet equally cohesive—group. * (32:21) Short chapters, told out of sequence. * (42:43) Dissecting why the non-sequiturs work. Rory's Story Cubes. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Eric

* (0:52) Google searches on some podcasts, and a prank with Brandi that didn't happen. * (3:26) Letting players develop parts of the setting mid-game, including the NPCs. * (8:04) Fat Tony and Lovin'. * (16:59) How players can decide when it's appropriate to mess with something. * (24:30) Letting player investment drive truth. Tommy Wiseau tries out for the Joker. * (28:04) Walking back contradictions or problems created by player ideas. * (34:42) The legend of Pops. John Henry and the Johnny Cash song about him. Davy Crockett. * (51:01) Setting development as opposed to narrative control. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Eric, Wayne

* (0:52) Wayne visits Brodeur at Miniature Market (their Facebook page). * (5:21) Prologue games. Taking them seriously while recognizing their disposability. * (15:20) A shared history that's played instead of just written. * (18:57) How a prologue identifies issues, and what to do when one is found. * (24:46) The value of the missing middle. * (31:22) Finding your voice. * (35:49) Expecting too much from a prologue game. * (42:16) Bridging the prologue to the intended starting point of the first game. * (49:24) The important differences between a prologue and a flashback. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) There and Back Again Kickstarter. * (0:51) Simplification of Fear the Boot's Patreon. * (5:17) How can a wonderful dream become a nightmare? * (9:57) What We Do in the Shadows. * (12:49) Players that pad a a situation. * (16:41) Allowing for deliberation. Power-gaming through roleplay. * (25:14) Strategies for discouraging trap cards. * (35:35) The motivation for these contingencies. Hosts: Aisha, Chad, Dan, Eric

* (0:29) Welcoming Jason Brick to the show. Baby Shoes, Flash, Sojourn 1, and Sojourn 2. * (3:04) Setting up today's topic. Jason's Kickstarter for There and Back Again. * (5:41) Harkening back to The Gamer Traveler. Daniel Perez' current website. * (8:36) How real experiences affect your roleplaying games. Some examples from security work and drug use. * (19:36) The way things look, the way people get hurt. * (37:36) Spaaaaaaaace Camp! Also, Kuala Lumpur, architecture, and names. * (45:49) Intentionally bringing real experiences into your game. Hosts: Dan, Chad, Jason, Wayne

* (0:41) Welcoming Eric from GamersTable. Almost crashing Brodeur's place of work. * (1:23) GM Impostor Syndrome. The Dunning-Kruger Effect. * (6:35) Some help with that feeling of intimidation. * (10:02) How we suck. Failing fast. * (21:57) Effectively communicating criticism. * (32:53) To thine own self be true. * (44:52) Nobody's perfect. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Eric, Wayne

* (0:27) What we're looking forward to in 2018. * (1:02) Roleplaying games and related material. * (8:08) Video games. We somehow failed to mention the upcoming Battletech game. * (29:36) Upcoming movies. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:50) Wayne takes his entire party prisoner in a Necessary Evil game. * (2:03) Setting some boundaries on the discussion. Giving the concept of "agency" a clear definition. * (8:19) Keeping it fair and purposeful. * (14:16) Understanding the subconscious, social transaction. * (24:02) The relationship between failure, agency, and story. * (35:31) Gnarl ties it all together. * (40:43) Knowing why it happened. Hosts: Chad, Dan, Wayne

This was a short episode I cut a while back when life got in the way of our regularly-scheduled recordings. I've got a full-length one we did a bit later, which I'll be releasing immediately after this one—meaning, in a matter of minutes or hours. * (1:06) Backing off my own ideas to let truths about the player-characters decide where the game will go. * (4:45) Reminding players about their characters. * (9:01) Who the PCs are as individuals. Hosts: Dan

* (0:28) 1d4Con on April 13th - 15th, 2018. * (2:16) Brodeur GTFO. * (4:42) Some comments on Salt in Wounds. Fear the Boot's Discord server. * (9:43) Keeping a game fresh during someone's hiatus, without moving the game forward or leaving it on pause. * (18:02) Converging story-lines. * (20:03) Exploring the same story and setting from other perspectives. * (22:49) The difficulty of integrating a new person midstream. * (26:12) Ending the new campaign in a place that dovetails with the original one. * (29:07) Muscling through the shift. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan

* (0:49) Fear the Con and its Con Planner site. All our love to Fred. * (2:47) The Salt in Wounds game setting, and why it intrigues Brodeur. * (14:40) Unpacking the human psychology of why we like dark things, starting with some examples from Dan's life. Resident Evil VII and Alien Isolation. Revenge stories. * (22:40) When these impulses manifest at the meta-game level. The traitor mechanic in many board games. * (28:09) Feeling bad for the Tarrasque. Butchering a dragon. * (38:36) The anatomy of what attracts us to evil, and why it can improve us morally. Midnight by Fantasy Flight. The Invitation. * (46:08) The banality of evil. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:41) A look back at the Big Board. * (3:37) Lesson prep for a church and how it demonstrates a social concept that applies to gaming. * (7:17) Performance by one versus content by all. * (15:14) Recognizing what's important to another person. * (25:01) Whose benefit is the game for? Setting the right level of control. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan

* (0:28) Fear the Con's site is ready. * (1:13) Our emails have been fixed, including the confirmation for forum signup. * (8:56) The planned ending for a session of the Actual Play goes awry. * (14:59) Being fair to your players. The song that inspired the intended scene. * (21:23) Reinventing the end. * (22:02) Giving your players the freedom to surprise you. * (32:16) Changing up instead of panicking or doubling-down. * (37:50) Planning for the unexpected by looking at what something brings to the game, not how an event might turn out. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan

* (0:37) Non-player characters that can be used to guide the party. * (2:04) Tying the NPC to the group while avoiding them becoming a GMPC. * (8:14) Needing them all the time is a sign something has gone wrong. Keeping them within their own character limits. * (15:36) The ways to avoid overshadowing the party with a guiding NPC. * (25:44) Not giving an NPC a planned future since the story isn't about them. * (31:19) Too far on the back-burner. * (34:12) Giving the NPCs consistency, usefulness, and the same depth as any other character. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Julia

* (1:16) Thanks to Sgt. Dan and Mumswear for the shirts. * (2:33) Thanks to Mark Larson for the Crown Royal bags. * (5:19) A shout-out to Andrew Martin. * (7:33) Brodeur's two episodes on running a game store can be found here and here. Miniature Market's website. * (12:49) A non-gamer opens a game store. * (19:01) Building an FLGS from scratch. * (26:17) Consolidating overhead expenses. * (30:34) Separate spaces for pay and play. * (33:38) The flow of the store. * (42:27) Integrating a store and website. * (45:38) The gateways to success no one thinks of. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) Brodeur thanks John Wells, Mark Lawson, and Sgt. Dan for help with Crown Royal bags. * (2:33) Dan gets a copy of Battletech's Alpha Strike rules. * (4:25) A shift—or new fad—in tabletop roleplaying games: consuming play instead of participating in it. * (12:32) New technologies allowing a new market, misinterpreted as a change in an existing market. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan

Caring Bridge Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Annie's Hope direct GoFundMe donations

* (0:18) The Caring Bridge site for Pat. * (1:50) An update on Pat. (As of the episode release, the information is a bit outdated. Pat is now home on hospice care.) * (2:47) Whether to continue a game when a player passes. * (7:31) Keeping mementos from those we've lost. * (13:10) Moving on after loss. * (19:18) More mementos we've kept. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) The father-daughter podcast, Reading Radio. * (1:57) Brodeur beats the negative association with reading. * (8:35) Wayne doesn't have access to a computer and decides to go retro. * (12:31) The lingering value of the old way of doing things. * (22:11) The flexibility of a three-ring binder. * (24:18) Plot powerful. * (31:43) The appeal of tangibility. Online ordering for Crown Royal bags. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

* (0:28) Event signup for Fear the Con 11 is now open. Additional shots at the stretch goals will be coming up in the next few months. * (2:13) Brodeur's love for minis. The Toy Soldiers video game. Jim McClure's Satanic Panic. The Army Painter Quickshade dip. * (10:21) Drawing inspiration from visual sources, tropes, and other sources. * (22:41) Daphne vs Velma. * (23:28) Replacing a character mid-game with one that isn't socially integrated with the group. * (31:25) Giving the character room to have a new voice while still being compatible with the group. * (39:11) Bringing in a geographically distant character. Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne

* (0:36) Chad's patience. * (1:33) This show will reference episode 13 of the Skies of Glass Actual Play. * (2:41) Characters finding hope in hopelessness. * (6:34)  The mixed morality of a group of player-characters. * (15:14) Joe's innocence and the loss of it. * (29:19) The moment it all changed, and the unexpected poetry of it. * (38:52) Gaming being more like writing than acting. Dan's appearance on the Connections radio show. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:29) Dan was a guest on The Greatest Show. You can see the video here or grab an audio version here. * (0:53) Dan was also a guest on the Connections radio show, talking about RPG culture. You can find that episode here. We hope you'll listen to the whole thing, but if you just want to hear Dan's part, that's at about 38:40. * (3:23) Fear the Boot now has a Discord server. * (4:56) Using the same things that motivate us in an RPG to help us improve our lives. Bullet journals. The Bullet Journal RPG can be found here. * (8:13) Breaking down large, daunting tasks. Making small tasks more rewarding. * (16:20) Assigning value to a specific task. * (21:25) Not all affirming things make good goals. * (23:58) Creating accountability. * (27:33) Milestone goals that allow you to take a break. * (30:49) Other gamification tools: Habitica, Darebee, and Duolingo. * (33:35) Using this approach to unlearn negative habits. * (41:50) A bit more about The Greatest Show. Also, The Specter Show and PRO Chess League podcasts. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, DJ

* (0:29) Brodeur turns a negative episode into a regular one. * (4:52) An end to a long-running D&D campaign. * (6:34) An unexpected finish. Microscope. * (10:20) Balancing player agency against story coherence. * (17:04) Confinement forcing creativity. * (21:30) The signs it was a successful ending. * (25:59) How Brodeur will end the next leg of his campaign. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne

* (0:23) Introducing Beth and Adam. * (1:27) Dan will be on the Connections radio show on Wednesday, November 8th, from 10:30pm - 11:00pm Eastern time. You can find how to tune-in here. * (4:00) Whatever this con is called, it's occurring on June 22nd and 23rd, 2018. If the Wing Night funds, that will be on June 21st. * (12:03) Admission to the convention is free. Whether it happens or not is purely up to the Kickstarter, which we hope you'll back! * (18:21) Taking Bob's place. * (21:26) The con's location. The random gnoll sketch Dan was given by a vendor last year. * (23:46) Ending a convention with heat exhaustion. Hosts: Adam, Beth, Dan

* (0:28) Charles has too little British for Brodeur and too little beef for Wayne. * (3:34) The flash fiction anthology, FLASH!, which you can grab from Amazon. * (4:54) The Lairdbalor. * (6:22) More properly introducing Charles. * (9:38) Corsana: The Phalanx Syndicate. * (12:43) Using an RPG to play-test a story. * (16:47) The relationship between forms of creativity. * (25:35) Intimidating the players by knowing your setting too well. * (43:15) The value of seemingly irrelevant conversation. Two things to give depth to a flat character. * (54:57) Get in on the Fear the Con 11 Kickstarter! Hosts: Brodeur, Dan, Wayne Guests: Charles Wellington

* (1:02) FLASH!, an anthology that includes Dan and several booters. You can get a copy on Amazon. * (2:20) Dan was a guest on The Greatest Show. You can see the video here or grab an audio version here. * (3:32) Playing characters that suck at their jobs. * (16:20) Portraying inter-factional politics in a roleplaying game. The Skies of Glass Actual Play. * (18:33) Defining who the factions are and what they want. * (20:31) Setting the constraints of the political game. Rules, reality, or requisites.  Silent Memories. * (28:55) Avoiding the politics of pleasing a single person. * (33:57) Outsourcing the factions to other GMs. * (35:08) Revealing the politics to the player-characters. * (37:12) The outsider's perspective. * (45:11) The insider's perspective. * (48:58) Players who need to feel they're making the morally correct choice. Hosts: Chad, Dan, and Wayne

* (0:32) Making up reasons for why Wayne couldn't make it. * (1:45) Brodeur and the Marilith: A Dramatic Reading, coming soon. * (3:29) Trying to win over the group when you have a different plan. Just charge in! * (8:32) Playing the social dynamics around the table. * (19:24) Handling the issue character-to-character, whether through RP or in-game abilities. * (30:14) When the other plan is genuinely bad. * (36:55) Winning over the Game Master. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan

* (0:29) Wayne goes to Washington D.C. * (1:48) Monotonal cities. The public service of preempting nerd rage. * (4:59) The setting has its own story. The Delmar Divide. * (16:47) Whether a city was planned, and how. Heavy zoning versus integrated spaces. * (24:30) The role of geography, trade, and time. * (39:11) Brodeur explains how to survive an apocalypse. Nine meals from anarchy. Hosts: Brodeur, Chad, Dan, Wayne