Fear the Boot
by Fear the Boot
Fear the Boot is an irreverent, round table discussion of tabletop role playing games. In this weekly show we debate game-related issues, offer advice for improving your game, and poke fun at the hobby. Our cast changes a little from show to show, but we always assemble a group of dynamic individuals with divergent views, guaranteeing you will hear several perspectives on everything we discuss.
Episodes
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Bonus Episode 104 - WPC 1: random traits
* (0:24) A joke to an AI becomes a show topic. * (2:48) Characters born in a cursed forest, without sunlight. * (7:48) Characters who compulsively collect…feathers…? * (13:18) Characters who accidentally caused a rebellion. * (19:29) Characters with an unusual knowledge of fungi. * (25:03)...
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Episode 628 - player bucket list
* (0:29) Switching to a bucket list of what we want to play. * (1:30) Wayne wants to play Dresden Files. * (4:13) Dan still wants to play an Injustice game. * (6:11) Mary wants to play a necromancer. * (9:05) Doug wants to play Stargate (or something like it). * (10:18) Wayne wants a settlement...
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Episode 627 – GM bucket list
* (0:29) The bucket list of games we want to run. * (1:31) Doug’s long-term campaign. * (3:10) Wayne’s : St. Louis game. * (7:03) Dan’s Battletech: Silver Scorpions game. A . * (9:37) Mary’s Castle Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd game. * (12:41) Doug’s western game. * (14:58) Wayne’s campaign based…
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Episode 626 - video games to tabletop
* (0:30) An old Apple //c computer and early computer RPGs. * (4:16) Transitioning from video games into tabletop RPGs. * (9:44) The expectations players bring from a video game to pen-and-paper games. * (12:41) The tyranny of choice brought on by a lack of a character-driven path. * (18:05) A…
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Episode 625 - profiting from session one
* (0:29) What is your goal for the first session of a game? * (2:10) Who are these characters really? * (6:08) When who you wanted to be isn’t who you became. * (11:34) A buffet of NPCs. * (16:14) Keeping the first session low pressure and shorter length. * (20:33) The social leader of the group.…
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Bonus Episode 103 – WGM 3: clockwork crystals
* (0:23) Prompts and prepositions. The clockwork circus is coming to town! * (1:40) Wayne’s circus in space. * (4:13) Mary’s circus on the frontier. * (7:53) Doug’s carnival of nightmares. * (8:41) Dan’s carnival of hope. * (13:10) Celestial crystals that grant power. * (14:05) Mary’s crystal...
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Episode 624 - back to what you enjoy
* (0:29) Fear the Con has funded and ! We hope to see you Thursday, June 20th to Saturday, June 22nd. * (1:58) Getting back to what you love, inspired by Ray Bradbury’s . * (5:16) The tyranny of compromise. * (9:54) Wanting the GM to build the world instead of “yes-and” player input. * (15:43)…
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Episode 623 - too big to fail
* (0:29) Wayne has a problem: the Wardens from Dresden Files. Coming up with too many excuses for why powerful organizations don’t care about the characters’ problems. * (7:14) Session Zero can help…or maybe not. * (10:29) There’s always someone bigger, and maybe your allies lack what you need. *...
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Episode 622 – bringing your PC to life
* (0:30) What steps do we take to bring a character to life? * (1:49) Ask what’s important. * (6:53) Seeing the good and bad in a single trait. * (8:06) Doug’s personality triangle model. * (10:54) Demonstrating character quirks. * (16:34) Making characters that both have and express personal...
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Bonus Episode 102 – WGM 2: dead consuming the living
Today’s ingredient: The dead are consuming the living. Why and how? Let’s find out! Fear the Con 2024’s Kickstarter . Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne
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Episode 621 – juice is worth the squeeze
* (0:29) In defense of technology at the gaming table. Caleb’s setup with . * (5:13) Dan’s Lion King sing-a-long and Wayne’s Ghostbusters game. * (6:27) The deeper pool of online players, including AIs. Remoting in a missing player for an in-person game. * (14:04) Working distance and distraction...
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Bonus Episode 101 - WGM 1: dead air
I decided to skip over the Iron GM and go for a Tungsten GM. The ingredient? All broadcasts cease because something won’t let them get through. What’s the game plot? Also, the Fear the Con 2024 Kickstarter is ! Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne
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Episode 620 – juice ain’t worth the squeeze
* (0:30) Dan runs a game a bit too literally. * (4:12) The intersection of technology and roleplaying in a way that isn’t required by the game. * (7:32) Why multimedia doesn’t pay-off the way it does in other forms of storytelling. * (13:36) The prep time technology adds, and the stability it…
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Epoch of Rysos, Episode 8
Digging through the lives of a family trapped in a gilded cage.
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Episode 619 - a closed setting
* (0:29) Why talk about intelligence? episode about Cicada 3301. * (9:24) A game takes an unhelpfully long break, only to be replaced by another RPG. * (12:44) The lack of a bottomless “buffet of ideas” in a closed setting. * (14:24) Use minimal starting information to give you room to work. *...
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Bonus Episode 100 – becoming the curmudgeon
* (0:22) Picking out the point we became curmudgeons and what exactly that means. * (4:48) Being too set in our ways. * (11:19) The self-destruction that comes with stagnation. * (21:32) Wii have a solution. * (24:32) Ducking new games while at a convention. Playing on an airplane. * (32:57) The...
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Episode 617 - the value of questionable
* (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. . * (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…
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Episode 616 - affiliated or not
* (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…
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Episode 615 - inspecting InSpectres
* (0:28) An update on the . * (4:48) The (at least temporarily back in print!) and our . * (8:09) Why play InSpectres as an interlude to the main campaign? Apparently only Dan has heard of . * (12:58) Plus an extra player. * (16:10) The, “yes and,” style of gaming. * (21:31) Assisting new players...
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Episode 614 - session X.5
* (0:28) Things are getting set for ! An intro to RPGs game is . * (2:03) A shared Minecraft server. You can find more information . * (5:52) Realigning your game with a mid-campaign session zero. Special thanks to . * (8:46) Making the case to have one. * (12:59) Remembering the times we did…
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Episode 613 - the eleventh dollar
* (0:29) Julia ruins everything. * (1:35) Things are getting set for ! An intro to RPGs game is . You can also announce your games . * (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...
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Episode 612 - running the unknown
* (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...
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Episode 611 - paid GMing
Show links… * * * Hosts: Chris, DJ, Gage, Wayne
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Episode 610 - the value of chaos
* (0:29) The 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...
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Episode 609 – the best mechanics
* (0:31) The is live! * (1:04) The new fiction podcast, . * (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…
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Episode 608 - bringing a world to life
* (0:28) The 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)...
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Episode 607 - maybe a misunderstanding
* (0:28) The new fiction podcast, . * (1:43) Dan re-reads the D&D 2nd Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide. Wayne watches . The inspiration D&D’s creators drew from . * (6:38) The rather disjointed rules of early RPGs. * (8:23) The heavy crunch of early RPGs that might be as much unearned reputation as...
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Bonus Episode 99 - AI creativity
* (0:36) An odd tangent on names. * (3:39) A conversation about AI art. Some parameters we’re putting on this episode. AI art . * (8:08) An admittedly non-technical overview of how AI generally creates its work. . * (17:43) AI creations as a starting point instead of the final product. Why the…
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Episode 606 - contexting the OGL
* (0:30) Giving a remote episode a try. We have a fix for Dan’s audio that should improve the quality on our next remote show. * (1:42) Catching up with Brodeur and DJ, who was on to talk about . * (4:43) Putting some parameters on the topic. * (9:42) Does Wizards of the Coast hate you? Envy…
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Episode 605 - dosing out setting
* (0:44) Friday night chit-chat each week, starting at 8pm Central. * (2:18) Fear the Con 2023 dates have been reserved with the hotel for June 16th and 17th of 2023, with the Wing Night on June 15th. * (3:37) Wayne preps his players for a Savage Worlds: Alpha Flight game. * (8:18) Learning…
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Bonus Episode 98 – tired tropes
* (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,...
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Bonus Episode 97 - manis, pedis, and fandoms
* (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…
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Episode 604 – crapping on an ending
* (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...
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Episode 603 - ending without a boss fight
* (0:33) Wayne gives a shoutout to (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. *...
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Episode 602 - personalizing a module
* (0:29) Brodeur’s post-Gen-Con review. (I know, we’re right on top of the latest news.) A shoutout to , , 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...
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Episode 601 - leveraging PC backgrounds
* (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...
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Episode 600 - passivity and dysfunction
* (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...
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Bonus Episode 96 - Fear the Con 2022 report
* (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…
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Episode 599 - splitting the difference
* (0:29) Interrogating Mary on her gaming history. * (1:33) The last few days before ! * (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)…
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Episode 598 - the Uno metaphor
* (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...
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Episode 597 - the game you aren't running
* (0:29) appears to have catering, but we could still use more GMs! * (5:21) Laundering identities. * (7:03) Game Masters getting fixated on things that aren’t important to the game they’re running. * (12:00) A lack of flexibility. The . * (19:36) GM distress when the party solves something too...
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Episode 596 – an invited intruder
* (0:29) A new show type on the horizon: phone the Boot, or something similarly clever. * (2:04) Kids’ games at . Our episode on gaming with children . * (4:15) Brodeur goes on and . * (6:17) Brodeur gets invited to crash someone else’s game as a guest GM. * (10:02) The whole situation is…
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Episode 595 – death and consequences
* (0:29) A shoutout and thanks to WashingCon! * (1:09) Fear the Con is coming up in mid-June. * (2:25) Wayne annihilates his player-characters in a Legion of Liberty game, and they love it. Our episode on action economy. * (10:22) The perspective that comes from getting your butt kicked. *…
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Episode 594 - horizontal creativity
* (0:29) June 16th, 17th, and 18th for ! You can see Mikey Mason’s material . * (2:40) Reviewing the idea of horizontal and vertical creativity. * (4:56) Horizontal creativity doesn’t mean the player has to get lazy. In fact, it may mean the GM is getting lazy. * (12:35) How horizontal creativity...
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Episode 593 - vertical creativity
* (0:29) – Bordeur, Dan, and Julia will be at this weekend: March 26th and 27th, 2022. * (2:23) – Defining how we’ll be using “vertical” and “horizontal” creativity over the next two shows. * (5:45) – The laziness that often accompanies horizontal thinking. * (8:08) – Creativity within seemingly...
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Episode 592 - de-escalation
* (0:44) Get signed up for ! * (1:02) Brodeur is now on TikTok for some reason. . Do what you will. * (5:45) Welcoming Jason back to the show. * (6:31) There I Was…When Nothing Happened. The Kickstarter . * (11:26) Why “winning the fight” may not be a winning strategy. * (17:24) Seeing another…
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Episode 591 - weathering weather
* (0:28) The teeth on the dog go click, click, click. * (1:30) Brodeur discovers New Game+ mode in video games. * (10:23) Weather and environmental effects in an RPG. * (13:09) Weather as a reflection of some other truth in the setting. * (14:53) Setting the mood and adding immersion. * (19:21)...
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Bonus Episode 95 – Bedtime Stories 8
* (0:18) Time to set the mood for bedtime. * (5:06) Wayne, Boxman, and the latex room. * (14:32) Watching sports for all the wrong reasons. Brodeur joins TikTok. God forgive us all. * (16:57) Wayne pulls a plane, and Brodeur brings the pain. * (26:22) Kids versus bikes. Bikes win. * (28:54) Kids...
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Episode 590 - game recordings
* (0:28) The site for is now live! * (2:07) Monday Morning Quarterbacking your own games ( for anyone that doesn’t know that phrase). * (3:36) Getting past being your own worst critic. * (8:17) and . * (12:57) Using game recordings to prepare for the next session. * (17:01) Approaching your...
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Episode 589 – just inexperienced
* (0:29) A fond farewell to Chad. * (4:50) Keeping the perspective that we all started somewhere. * (7:34) The amount of good advice every human being ignores; sometimes experience is the only effective teacher. * (12:49) The less you’re willing to step up, the more you ought to be patient. *...
About this show
Fear the Boot is an irreverent, round table discussion of tabletop role playing games. In this weekly show we debate game-related issues, offer advice for improving your game, and poke fun at the hobby. Our cast changes a little from show to show, but we always assemble a group of dynamic individuals with divergent views, guaranteeing you will hear several perspectives on everything we discuss.
Hosted by
Fear the Boot
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