Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast

Episode 498 – player response to GM error

October 23, 2018 05:05 - 53 minutes - 25.1 MB

* (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. […]

Bonus Episode 80 – nostalgia

October 16, 2018 05:05 - 52 minutes - 24.7 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 497 – game explainers

October 04, 2018 05:05 - 56 minutes - 26.6 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 496 – mind of a machine

September 19, 2018 22:06 - 25.9 MB

* (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 […]

Bonus Episode 79 – cuirass

September 06, 2018 06:04 - 58 minutes - 27.2 MB

* (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

Episode 495 – benched characters

August 29, 2018 05:05 - 46 minutes - 21.9 MB

* (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. […]

Episode 494 – Genesis

August 16, 2018 05:05 - 54 minutes - 25.4 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 493 – recycling campaigns

August 07, 2018 05:05 - 41 minutes - 19.7 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 492 – challenge and response NPCs

July 31, 2018 05:05 - 56 minutes - 26.6 MB

* (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) […]

Episode 491 – scared away

July 19, 2018 05:05 - 51 minutes - 24.3 MB

* (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. […]

Episode 490 – not the real game

July 12, 2018 07:18 - 1 hour - 29.8 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 489 – Fear the Con 11 round-up

July 06, 2018 05:05 - 56 minutes - 26.3 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 488 – fair-play NPCs

July 03, 2018 05:05 - 5 MB

* (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

Episode 487 – building relationships

June 19, 2018 00:02 - 45 minutes - 21.6 MB

* (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 […]

Episode 486 – playing yourself

June 07, 2018 05:05 - 46 minutes - 22 MB

* (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 […]

Bonus Episode 78 – a love letter

June 04, 2018 05:05 - 53 minutes - 25 MB

* (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 […]