* (1:40) Be sure to check out the two Gen Con podcasts we participated in: Chris and Wayne on the Pulp Gamer Media Network live recording and Dan’s talk with the Amorphous Blobcast.

* (3:07) Cape Rust did a very kind review of our show in addition to great articles he’s written on gaming in the military (part 1 and part 2), LARPing (part 1 and part 2), and other subjects for Geek Life.

* (4:04) The Gamer Image Game.  Does your geek self-image line up with how you actually spend your time and money?  And if not, why not?

* (18:07) Why Pat and Dan have no sympathy for people with hard to pronounce names.

* (19:10) Puzzles and riddles in roleplaying games.  How to design, integrate, and present them to the players while avoiding the common sources of frustration.

Hosts: Dan, Johann, Pat, Wayne

* (3:44) The value of art, entertainment, and ideas on the internet.  Why free may not always be the best price.  Tracy’s plan for nurturing new authors in this environment.  As a side note, Wayne’s serial fiction is being released weekly on the Skies of Glass website.

* (14:34) Tracy’s experience of co-authoring with his wife.  The importance of a continual feedback loop in the creative process.  The struggles of writing and the joys of having written.

* (19:43) The Dragonlance movie.  Watching other people take over your creative properties, and the “original bad deal” that gets you published.

* (25:17) Whether Tracy ever plans to do anything more that’s directly in the RPG market.  His new book series, starting with Song of the Dragon.

* (29:20) What’s up with the dragons?  That question leads into a discussion on the monomyth, cognitive dissonance, and the human penchant for narrative.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Guest: Tracy Hickman

Don’t forget to get signed up for the special offer of Dragon’s Bard using the discount code found here!  This offer is only open through September 15th.

First, I want to thank Cape Rust for the very generous review of our show posted over on Geek Life!  Check out that article and his other stuff when you get a chance.  Among topics he’s tackled is a great series on gaming life in the military (part 1 and part 2).

Second, the dates for Fear the Con 4 have been locked in.  Wing Night is on Thursday, March 17th, 2011.  The con itself will be on Friday, March 18th and Saturday, March 19th.  Much more follow, and I look forward to seeing you there!

* (3:41) The story of how Tracy’s wife and a missed ride got him into gaming.

* (8:25) The current trend in complexity and execution of roleplaying games.  Be sure to check out both X-treme Dungeon Mastery and Killer Breakfast.

* (27:41) Raising his son in the hobby, and the experience of co-writing X-treme Dungeon Mastery with him.

* (30:56) The strangest places he’s seen his own material, and the unique relationship between an author and reader.

* (36:52) The impact of social networking and new media on the publishing industry.  Be sure to check out Dragon’s Bard, and if you want the discount he’s offering our listeners, you’ll need to take the coupon code from here and place your order right here.  The revised deadline for orders is September 15th, so be sure to get yours in soon!

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Guest: Tracy Hickman

We hope you’ll join us for the second half of the interview next week in which we talk more about new media, Dragonlance (including the movie), community building, Tracy’s upcoming projects, and more!

From Gen Con 2010, the cast of The Guild shows their love: Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Sandeep Parikh, and Robin Thorson.

* (1:48) Gen Con coverage is available on our blog.  Quite a few videos are already out, and more are still being prepped for release over the coming days.

* (2:29) Dealing with unexpected player actions that aren’t covered by the rules.  Designing a meaningful outcome that’s fair to the player without breaking the game.

* (18:00) Handling travel in a roleplaying game.  Taking advantage of time and distance to keep the game interesting without bogging down the pace.  Whether to use random encounter charts, and if so, how to get the most out of them.  We’d like to thank Josheva for sending this one in!

Hosts: Chris, Dan, Johann, Pat, Wayne

First, I’d like to thank the TOFTBCHes. Those guys do an incredible amount of work making reservations, putting together the contact lists, and sending out the text messages that make the events possible. They put in a lot of hard work, and I am in their debt for the service they provide to the community.

I’d like to thank the community for being such excellent, supportive individuals. Not only did a good number of people turn out to our events, but I was yet again amazed at the quality of people that comprise this community.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank Tim and a second donor (I believe wanted to remain anonymous) for generously giving us tickets to True Dungeon. It was an absolutely incredible experience that has to be seen to be fully appreciated. I wish we could have filmed some of the puzzles and monsters, but they don’t allow cameras in there.

It was a great con, and I look forward to posting the rest of the interviews and then making early reservations for Fear the Con 4.

WARNING: Possibly NSFW language.

Of course, I didn’t exactly give them enough time to do it justice. It’s my camera, ha!

WARNING: Video contains NSFW language.

1. What does TOFTBCH stand for?

It’s an abbreviation for “The Official Fear the Boot Communication Hub”.

2. What is the TOFTBCH network?

When at Gen Con, many people find they have empty spots in their schedule or maybe just preferring being around friends than strangers.  Or maybe they came pretty much alone and are looking for a welcoming group they can fall right in with and immediately make some new friends.  The TOFTBCH network was created to fill that need.

A group of outstanding volunteers take the cell phone numbers of anyone interested in joining the network.  When someone wants to kick off a game or social event, they simply inform one of the TOFTBCHes who will then blast it out to everyone on the network.  If you can make it, great.  If not, you’re still free to join us at later events.

3. How do I use the TOFTBCH network?

You can create an account for free on Con Planner, after which you can create an attendee for the Gen Con 2010 event.  If you go that route, be sure to provide your cell phone number in your account profile so they know how to reach you.  Alternately, you can send a private message via the forum to ZeikeCopperEyes, Necronomitron, or Aaron Stack, providing them with your name and cell phone number.

During the convention, if you want to run an event, just let them know so they can pass it along to the network.  If you want to attend an event, just wait for the message and stop by wherever we’re gathered.

4. What sorts of things do you do?

Pretty much anything you would expect: pick-up games, grabbing meals, going out for drinks, checking out the main convention hall, or just enjoying the company of good folks.

5. Is it too late to get signed up?

No, there’s still a little time!  I don’t know exactly what their plans are, but I’m sure they’ll be updating the list for at least a little while longer.  If you want to sign up, do it today!

* (1:53) Canadian police cracking down on G20 protesters bust an Amtgard LARPer and give us a new idea for a weapon.  You can read the article on The Globe and Mail.

* (9:02) Chris has the opportunity to do a news story on gaming and finds out he just might be a LARPophobe. You can watch the bit he did for D&D’s 30th anniversary here.

* (18:56) Playing characters that are socially excluded from the game’s setting due to race, species, religion, legal status, etc.  How to use them to make a game feel more believable without letting them completely gum up the narrative.

* (51:22)  What we have in mind for episode 200 and why it may take a while to produce.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Is this the case?

There are those that say that story is independent of the rules. We as gamers bring the story to the table. There’s a lot to be said for that. I know that, no matter the game, I bring the same killer storytelling to the game table.

Can rules be a deterrent to storytelling?

Frankly, yes. Want proof? Look no further than 4th edition’s Character Builder. Don’t get me wrong, Character Builder is a wonderful tool. Yet at the same time, I find that Character Builder is not the most conducive to house rules.

Many rules systems have a mechanic like feats that show extra-special abilities characters can do. They’re faster, they have new powers, they’re great with a sword, etc. etc. If the ability is not listed on the character sheet, do we even try it? Probably not. Yet it may be more dramatic to the story of the game if you can at least try things not on the character sheet (within reason, of course!).

For example, let’s say that you’re playing a rogue. Your rogue is running from a local thug who is out for blood, and the alley dead-ends just ahead. There’s nowhere to run. As the thug comes in, the rogue jumps against the wall, bounces off and does a mid-air flip, landing on his feet on the other side. He’s then able to attack the thug.

Now, in this scenario, we could look up a bunch of rules and find that there isn’t a specific rule covering this. Perhaps you, as the player, were also recently frustrated when you discovered there were no rules for fighting on a tightrope.

Rules can not cover every possibility. They can serve as guidelines. We, as gamers, can easily be drawn into the idea that if the Rules As Written (RAW) doesn’t offer an option, then it can’t be done. Yet this is a restriction on creativity and storytelling. The game suffers in the process.

My advice is to find the rules you want to use, and then approach them in broad strokes. Sometimes, a simple skill check or ability check is all you need. Our rogue from up above may have made an Acrobatics or Dexterity check to pull off that amazing flip. The DM sets an appropriate target number. If the player makes it, then you’ve got Hollywood action in your game.

Allow for the player to be creative and loosen up on the rules. It will allow everyone to have more fun and be a creative boon to your world.

* (1:11) The TOFTBCH network is still open for sign-ups and available for anyone with some free time during the con.

* (2:49) Getting Pat to talk.

* (8:38) Pat on GM favoritism.

* (18:15) Adaptions into roleplaying games.

* (31:00) Getting cheated out of results.

* (41:34) No one takes Wayne’s characters seriously.

* (52:08) Mispronouncing words and other geek hypocrisy.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:11) Wayne’s Skies of Glass fiction.

* (5:06) There’s no point without progress?

* (22:20) Revitalizing your old ideas.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (5:49) Where’s my support group?

* (11:21) Gen Con 2010 draws near.  Be sure to get signed up for the TOFTBCH network and join in on the fun!

* (14:00) Cigars and the Kellums that send them.

* (15:47) Class-based versus class-less RPG systems.

* (35:16) Familiars, pets, and other animal NPCs.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:47) A big thanks to the companies that supported Raina’s Wings with prizes.  You can find the list of those folks here.

* (3:08) Hat day on Fear the Boot…?

* (5:05) Chris finds a gaming group using a flyer and a website.

* (20:33) Representing characters with epic backgrounds within a balanced party or rules system.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

I’d also like to take the time to highlight the RPG companies that sponsored this event with prize support. They’ve demonstrated their interest in supporting this cause, and I hope you’ll consider them when making your future RPG purchases.  I will list them below in alphabetical order.

1. Arc Dream – This publisher produces the critically-acclaimed roleplaying games Monsters and Other Childish Things, Wild Talents: Roleplaying in a World Gone Mad, and the classic World War II superhero game GODLIKE: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire. They also work with Pagan Publishing to develop for the award-winning Delta Green game line and Cthulhu mythos magazine The Unspeakable Oath.
2. Bards and Sages – RPG publisher, writing resource, and writing competition sponsor, Bards and Sages supported our efforts by donating copies of the exceptionally modular and flexible Karma Roleplaying System.
3. Crafty Games – Crafty joined the fray by offering copies of the sleek, mix-and-max Fantasy Craft system for developing highly customized fantasy settings and campaigns.
4. DriveThruRPG – Your one-stop-shop for RPG downloads for an incredible variety of games, DriveThruRPG was extremely supportive of the charity drive, fixing us up with products from many of the publishers listed here.
5. Fat Dragon Games – Producers of great fantasy terrain and building models, Fat Dragon offered free copies of their DRAGONSHIRE: Deluxe Edition product featuring an easy-to-make collection of roads, bridges, and buildings to enhance your tabletop game.
6. Pinnacle Entertainment – Publishers of the well-known Savage Worlds system, Pinnacle put up copies of their Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion, packed with hundreds of items, monsters, and spells to help you flesh out your savaged fantasy campaign.
7. Polymancer Studios – Polymancer weighed in with subscriptions to Polymancer Magazine — an RPG resource packed with columns, articles, ready-to-play adventures, cartoons, and fiction — and the short fiction anthology magazine, Polygraff.
8. Reality Blurs – Last but not at all least, Reality Blurs generously donated copies of their excellent Savage Worlds setting book for Cthulhu campaigns, Realms of Cthulhu.

* (1:42) Using models on the cheap.

* (4:55) RPGs make failure fun!

* (12:31) The difficulty of telling a good gaming story.

* (22:39) An exercise in applying our own advice by adapting characters to keep the party together.  Dave’s picture summary can be found here.

* (48:46) The joys of playing an evil group.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Dave, Pat, Wayne

* (1:16) Wayne visits the Superman festival.

* (6:25) Adventure Week, as brought to you by Dice, Food, and Lodging.

* (12:12) This versus that.

* (13:53) The benefits and problems of remote gaming.  You can find the tools we mentioned here: MapTool, Skype, Ventrilo.  The play-by-post section of our forum can be found here.

* (49:01) Using remote play to supplement a face-to-face game.

* (57:33) The answer to life’s most pressing question.  If you’re interested in following our Twitter nonsense, you can do so here.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, John, Pat, Wayne

20:20

* (1:48) The FtB: Night of Carnage.

* (6:54) Planning for Gen Con 2010.  If you want to join the TOFTBCH network, be sure to sign up here.

* (9:30) Chad was using what…?

* (11:42) Setting your game up for success.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (0:07) Chad’s dad and 24.

* (12:16) The TOFTBCH network is back for Gen Con 2010!  If you want to be involved (and believe me, you do) be sure to sign up here.

* (16:41) Con Planner is now open for use by other conventions!  You can see the list of features in development on the About page.

* (19:10) A bunch of stuff about Dr. Who.  For anyone that’s interested, here’s Haunted St. Louis and Haunted Missouri.

* (41:40) A near miss on an actual RPG topic leads to a discussion about pets and their rare involvement in RPG sessions.  The website I mentioned is Dog Breed Info.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:18) Some minor changes to our website.

* (4:52) Board game meetups.

* (18:03) Why our RPG campaigns keep dying.

* (20:53) Chad’s bravery with D&D, the discrete tasks of GMing, and implied setting.  You can find the d20 SRD here.

* (30:22) The process of selecting the setting, system, and length for a new role playing campaign.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:21) Innovation vs evolution, growing the hobby, and trying new things.  The article mentioned is located here.

* (31:51) Keeping the game alive between sittings, using the principles of an alternate reality game.

Hosts: Chris, Dan, Ed, Pat, Wayne

* (4:10) Raina’s Wings is still going on with prize support provided by Arc Dream, DriveThru, and Polymancer.  Make your donations here, and be sure to either leave a comment with your donation or let Necronomitron know who you are.

* (5:20) Last call on the Blood Bowl league!  You have about 24 hours to get signed up on our forums!

* (5:35) You can find details about FtB: Night of Carnage here.

* (6:40) The state of Fear the Boot’s creative projects.

* (8:36) When the playground is weirder than you remember.  You can find the plot synopsis for The Tin Woodman of Oz here.

* (25:03) Throwing down the gauntlet to Postcards from the Dungeon.

* (25:16) Applying subtlety, peculiarity, and horror to a roleplaying game.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Johann, Pat, Wayne

When people travel to Mexico the most common warning given is not to drink the water.  This is because we are used to much cleaner water that has been heavily filtered.  There are regulations regarding how food is prepared to ensure that everything eaten is safe for consumption.  There are still places in the world where these standards are not followed.  For the most part the citizens there do not have any issues with their food, because they are accustomed to it and have the needed bacteria in their stomachs to handle it.  Travelers, however, are not prepared for the parasites and bacteria contained by the food and water.  The human body can adjust in about 6 months, but until that time it would be unpleasant.

A Time Traveler would be used to the food and water standards of their home time.  If they were to travel into the past these standards would be much lower and thus the food and water would likely cause them similar distress as to what I am feeling when cheating on my diet or travelers experience when they drink the water in Mexico.  It is possible to die from improperly cooked food, but much more likely that these wayward travelers would simply fall ill.

A larger concern would be the diseases that are carried into the past or future timeline.  Much like traveling to less developed countries, a trip through time would require inoculations to ensure that the traveler does not come down with the diseases of the time.  Long extinct diseases could easily wipe out a traveler who is unprepared for them.  There is nothing, however, that can protect the other time from the Traveler.  Viruses and diseases would be a concern both ways.  A Traveler would be at risk of contracting something, but they are equally at risk of releasing a virus that has mutated into a much stronger strain by having been fought for years.  A Time Traveler could very easily release a plague that could cause irreparable damage to the time they are visiting.

These concerns are generally overlooked in Time Travel stories.  I suspect the reasoning is that bathroom trips are not major plot points outside of comedic value, though certainly the traveler wouldn’t find it particularly funny.  The virus outbreak is a particularly difficult concern to deal with so it is generally glossed over.  These are concerns and not necessarily major plot points.  There are easier ways to tell these stories with factory created viruses than to introduce the potentially confusing aspect of time travel.  The easiest way to deal with these concerns is heavy testing of the individuals traveling, a strong round of inoculations, and a period of adjustment to the food preparation methods present in the destination time.

* (9:00) We’re delaying the start of the Blood Bowl league by two weeks.  You can still get signed up here.

* (9:35) Fear the Boot is teaming up with Postcards from the Dungeon.

* (11:45) Chris vs the sprinkler.

* (17:35) TOFTBCHes will be back at Gen Con 2010!  More information coming soon.

* (18:18) A placeholder for future debate on indie games.

* (30:35) Keeping your Game Master energized.

Hosts: Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Guest: Fred Hicks

Throughout history the tides of war have often shifted due to single decisions or unforeseen events.  If these events could be manipulated, a loss could be turned into a victory.  What would happen if both sides were trying to modify these events?  This could lead to a loop where each side constantly undid the work of the other.  It would only take a cycle or two of this before both sides became aware of the other’s temporal meddling.

With a true time war started, escalation would come quickly.  It would start small with weapons from the future being brought back.  Each side would progressively jump farther into the future to get better and better weapons or armor.  If this escalation were allowed to continue it could lead to weapons capable of large scale destruction being deployed; it is more likely though that both sides would realize that future tech could not win the war.

With future tech proving useless both sides might look to the past for their victory.  With teams being sent into the past it would become a high priority to develop technology that could track temporal energies or at least put spies in place to determine where operatives were being sent.  Strategic strikes against location capable of time travel would be launched in the current timeline while missions to the past would be aimed at preventing the enemy from discovering time travel in the first place.

Whether time travel was being used to bring technology back or to make strikes in the past, it would become the ultimate weapon.  Each side would have to be aware that its use would lead to a retaliatory use and that escalation could place the whole time stream in danger.  This has the potential of creating a temporal cold war.  Both sides of the conflict would be watching the other for signs of an attempt to wipe them from time itself and any indication of temporal activity could lead to mutual destruction.

A temporal Cold War is a concept I have yet to see done well in any media.  Enterprise played with the concept throughout their first three seasons, but it was less of a cold war than one side making strategic strikes while the other side tried to stop them.  Time Travel brings with it an inherent risk of convolution, inconsistency, and decisions being made without proper thought, because they can be redone.  With a temporal cold war added to a story, every action taken in time would have to be a balancing act because it would be risking further escalation.  This endless loop of escalation and how to overcome it has great potential when added to a story involving temporal war, and a temporal cold war is a logical extension of that.

* (3:15) Raina’s Wings is continuing as a contest with prize support provided by Arc Dream, DriveThru, and Polymancer.  Make your donations here, and be sure to either leave a comment with your donation or let Necronomitron know who you are.

* (4:24) The Blood Bowl league is still forming, and you can find details on our forums.

* (4:49) Mikey Mason coming soon to a YouTube near you…tube.

* (5:40) Thanking Derek.

* (7:33) Movie trailers, comic book adaptations, and The Prisoner remake.

* (11:26) Fear the Boot’s 2010 film picks.  If you’re interest in the trailers, here are the links: Iron Man 2, Kick-Ass, The Losers, The Expendables, Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, Voyage of the Dawntreader (no trailer yet), Inception, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

* (31:07) Lying to your players.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Guest: Eddy Webb

If you’re interested in learning more about the Gamer Adventures, you can do so here:

http://www.gameradventures.com

And if you want to contact Kim to ask for more information or discuss pricing options, you can do so here:

http://www.gameradventures.com/contact.htm

I mentioned in a previous post that I go on Gamer Adventures for the company of gamers as opposed to the actual games.  As such, I skip the Catan tournament, etc, but still participate in a lot of the social events like the cocktail party and recordings with other podcasters that happen to be around.  Unfortunately, I woke up late and was a bit confused about where everything was (both were 100% my own fault), so I missed all of that.  At least I still get to see everyone at dinner in a few minutes.

Also, I can’t exactly say the time was wasted.  I played Blackjack for a while and turned $60 into $300.  Karla’s very good about limiting what I spend and pocketing winnings as they come in, so I was cashed out before the casino could win anything back.  (Incidentally, I realize gambling is a contentious issue and a terrible addiction for many people.  I’m not encouraging any sort of behavior so much as honestly reciting the events of the trip.)

Looking back, the trip started off a bit cold and dreary, but it really picked up a couple of days in.  I had a blast, and I fully intend to sign up for future trips that Kim organizes.  I already have some people that are considering the cruise next year, and I hope they’ll come.  If you’re still on the fence, keep up with Kim’s site!  The trips available change every-so-often and I believe Don is helping her make a video to better capture the experience.

That leads right into a couple of random points I’d like to close this out on: some cruising tips for people that have never done it before.

First, the cruise staff does an excellent job of creating an environment in which you can have fun.  But they do not create fun as if it were some tangible force.  You need to either be a very self-motivated person — or travel with people that are — to get the most out of the trip.  Karla and I learned early on that cruising is a very social thing, so we always try to get at least one couple we know to go with us.

Second, the beginning and end of the trip are the worst parts.  Just before the cruise, you spend 48 hours feverishly packing, attending to household details, getting things wrapped up at work, and then going through the nightmare of airport and maritime security.  The end of the cruise is the exact same process in reverse: you feverishly repack, go through maritime and airport security, and arrive back home with a ton of dirty laundry and dozens (maybe hundreds) of unread emails and unanswered voice messages.  The trip is worth doing but prepare yourself mentally for the early and late chaos.

Finally, even if you never intend to cruise, you should catch some TV specials on how these floating monsters operate.  The ship we’re on right now is about 1,000 feet in length and would absolutely dwarf the Titanic.  There are around 2,500 passengers and another 1,000+ crew, and the feats of housing, feeding, and entertaining this many people are impressive to say the least.

I’d like to give a big thanks to Kim for taking the time to organize trips for our little subculture, and I’d also like to thank the gamers, islanders, and the ship’s staff for making it such a memorable experience.

For you history buffs, there’s a fort that sits at the entrance of the port.  I was only half paying attention, so I didn’t catch the story behind the place.  But if you’re bored at work, it’s something you can track down on Wikipedia.  I’ll also post a picture of it with this post.

Speaking of excursions, I have a tip for anyone contemplating a cruise.  If the cruise company allows you to book your excursions online, be sure to do so before departing on the trip.  Many of the best activities fill up fast, so it’s your way of guaranteeing a spot without fighting the rush.  Just huddle your traveling partners around the computer one night and consider such things as everyone’s interests, how early you’re willing to get up, and the level of physical activity you can handle.  And if nothing sounds good, don’t be afraid to entertain yourself around the pier.

Our stop today was in Grand Turk, and despite having been on quite a few Caribbean cruises, this was my first time ever seeing this island.  It was an unexpected gem, and while not quite as beautiful as St. John, I will confidently say we had the most fun on this stop.  We took a catamaran out for a two part trip that started with snorkeling along a reef.  The marine life was not as diverse as what I’ve seen in other places, but it was quite concentrated.  Colorful fish were swimming close together, making me regret once again that disposable underwater cameras suck and that I have yet to purchase a professional one.

After snorkeling, we gathered back on the boat and were taken to a beach.  The four of us searched for seashells for Duncan (Pat’s son) and something called “beach glass” that Karla wanted.  Beach glass is just regular bits of glass from bottles or other garbage that ends up in the ocean, but after spending so much time out there, the sand and salt works it into rounded, matte pieces that can be turned into jewelry.  Being a part-time glassworker, Karla wanted us to collect all of the shards we could find.

Upon returning to the pier, we still had a couple of hours before we needed to be back on the ship.  Being right next to a public beach, we continued our search for seashells and beach glass.  The expedition was amazingly fruitful.  Unfortunately, I learned the hard way just how difficult it is to swim with five conch shells, and at one point I got drug along about 20 yards of rocks while sitting in the shallows.  I lost almost all of them, and during the retrieval I ended up face to face with a fairly large crab.  I got the three best ones back and let him have the other two.  We’ll call that even.  I also managed to locate some starfish hiding beneath a rock, which I pried up to show Pat just how fast the creepy things can move.

In addition to a wonderful public beach, the pier had a cluster of well-kept shops and restaurants.  This is definitely a place I’m coming back to on future trips, and given how easy it was to entertain ourselves, I think I may forego organized excursions in favor of the local businesses and personal treasure hunting.

Changing subjects a bit, while going through the things we’ve found throughout the trip we noticed a rather unexpected item.  It appears to be a pottery shard inscribed with symbols that are not from the Roman alphabet.  If anyone’s interested in playing junior archaeologist, you can find a high res image here.  We have no idea what it is.  Might even just be a decorative pattern.

So what’s still ahead on the trip?  Saturday will be spent entirely at sea, which I’m looking forward to.  The total lack of adventure is the best and worst thing about such days, though after today, I could use the rest.  I may also record an episode with Pat, Don Dehm, and anyone else we can grab.  There’s a guy here from Mayfair, so maybe this will become an impromptu interview.  Who knows.

The only thing I can say for sure is that I’ve had some great conversations with Don about the nature of the Pulp Gamer Network and the future of our respective shows.  I’ve come to realize there are some great resources in the network I’ve failed to take advantage of.

Despite being US territory — and the driver seat being located on the left of the car — everyone drives on the left side of the road.  Our guide explained this practice is done because of the mountain roads.  The driver is always on the same side as the ledge, giving them the best view of where the danger begins.

Getting back to Trunk Bay, words do not exist to express the beauty of this place.  If you’ve ever owned a calendar of the world’s best beaches, I can almost guarantee it was in there.   Warm, turquoise water, white sand, and a lot of exotic marine life to see while snorkeling.  It’s the sort of place that can make a bad trip good and a good trip better.  Of all the places I’ve been on Caribbean cruises (this is my fifth) there’s no stop I recommend more than St. John.

I don’t have an underwater camera, but I’ll post a few pictures to give you some idea of what the above-water scenery looks like.  I’m not sure they do it any justice, but lacking the millions it would take to fly you all there, it’s the best I can do.

Dinner was excellent as always, and it raised another example of the quirky behavior that arises on a cruise: most people will aspire to the level of everyone else’s bravery.  When there’s a food item or cocktail on the menu no one has heard of before, if at least one person orders it, usually a second will follow.  For example, last night Don ordered Remy brandy — which none of us had tasted before — so I did the same.  Pat ordered some extremely masculine drink called “Kiss on the Lips” and at least one other person (can’t recall whom) did the same.

After dinner we caught a magic show in the ship’s theater.  While the show itself isn’t worth a whole lot of commentary, it did get me thinking about the nature of onboard entertainment.  During a cruise, you will encounter a host of magicians, singers, musicians, dancers, and comedians.  Cruise entertainers have a reputation of being a real mixed bag, and this reputation is well deserved.  I’ve enjoyed some of the most outstanding performances I’ve ever seen in my life and cringed as someone embarrassed themselves from stage.

The nicety that offsets this truth is the sheer number of performers on the ship at any given time.  If someone isn’t living up to your expectations, simply relocate to another lounge and you’ll likely get something much better.

The previous Gamer Cruise I took had two performers that serve as great case studies in this juxtaposition.  There was a pianist that could put Billy Joel to shame and play any number of songs from memory.  He was comedic and talented, and across two different performances I was able to get him to play November Rain and one of Chopin’s Nocturnes with equal skill.  Then there was some poor woman that sang beneath the level of drunken karaoke.  John G. nicknamed her “Wing” after an episode of South Park which I had to track down out of curiosity after the cruise was over.

We’re in San Juan, Puerto Rico right now, but I’ll get to that in my next entry.  The cruise director is on the intercom talking about options for debarkation when we get back to Miami.  That’s still several days away, and I’m not sure most people want to be thinking about the end of their vacation right now.  It’s a bit of a killjoy.

The following morning we got onto the ship.  In case you’ve never cruised before, I’ll let you in on a little secret: maritime security is just as intrusive and annoying as airport security.  To avoid getting into political issues, I’ll let that comment stand on its own.

There are many things to enjoy about cruising.  You’re on a large boat, filled with lots of fun things to do and fellow guests that are in a great mood.  The food is outstanding, drinks are plentiful, and someone is on staff to take care of every need you have.  The entire environment is designed to enable your enjoyment.

To keep this grounded, I should probably note that cruises are a lot like weddings.  You can’t bring this many variables together on one event and expect perfection, yet often people do.  Things will go wrong.  I’ve run into a small number of rude people, and the drain in our shower doesn’t quite work right.  But when you compare that to the number of things going right (i.e. food, scenery, and company), the trip is more than worth taking.

At dinner Sunday night, I met the other people we’ll be eating with.  I’m at a table of eight, so in addition to my party of four, I’m sitting with Don Dehm (host of Pulp Gamer), his friend Edward, and then Mike and his wife, Laura.  It turns out that in addition to being a board gamer, Mike is an avid LARPer.  He’s invited FtB to join him for a fairly large LARP event in Houston this October, and I’ve invited him to write some guest blog posts on LARPing.

I know that sounded tangential, but it perfectly illustrates what I like about these gamer trips: you already have a lot in common with the friendly people you meet.  There’s no awkward small talk.

After dinner we headed to the casino for a bit.  I don’t gamble large amounts of money, but I’ll happily play a little bit of Craps or Blackjack.  Pat and I did pretty well with Craps, doubling our money before doing the smart thing and cashing out.

Monday morning we had to get up fairly early for our first stop in Nassau.  We chose a pretty easy excursion of just hanging out on a beach near the place I had my first hands-on experience with dolphins several years ago.  To be honest, it wasn’t as fun as my previous trip to the Bahamas.  I was exhausted from two days of traveling and standing in line, so getting up early was rough.  It was also strangely cold.  As I said above, not everything on a cruise will go perfectly.

The following day was spent at sea, heading between Nassau and St. Thomas.  I slept in, had lunch, and watched the sea go by.  It may sound boring, but to me it’s quiet relaxation.  Having a busy and noisy life, I need times like this.  I also showed Pat and Beth the flying fish getting caught up in the ship’s wake and skipping along the water.  We took some pictures around the ship, watched the moon shine over the front of the boat, and caught a movie while sitting out on the main deck.

The first round of the Catan tournament was held in the game room, but I didn’t participate.  I enjoy Catan, but I have no delusion of being good enough at the game to win a tournament where a pretty significant prize is on the line.

Speaking of games, I went through my goodie bag.  I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of Mastermind in there!  That was a favorite game of mine growing up, and I haven’t seen it in years.  It’s only for two players and hardly the most complex game in the world, but it should be fun teaching it to my nephews or niece as they get a bit older.

As I write this, we’re sitting in the port of St. Thomas.  It’s a gorgeous place.  I’m killing a little bit of time before we go snorkeling at Trunk Bay.  I’ll post some pictures and a report in my next entry.  In the meantime, do a Google image search of Trunk Bay.  By my estimation, it’s one of the most incredible places in the world.

* (3:39) If you’re interested in joining our Blood Bowl leagues, you can find details on our forums.

* (6:31) Jonathan and the gamer cop.

* (12:53) RPG holidays.

* (25:27) Developing relationships between PCs and NPCs.

* (53:05) Developing relationships between NPCs and NPCs.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

I’ll come back in later entries to give details on what we’re doing, but I’ll start by explaining what exactly a Gamer Adventure trip is.

Several years ago, travel agent Kim Maita decided to start vacations that were geared toward specific types of gamers.  For example, right now I’m on a cruise for board gamers.  To be more specific, it’s an 8-day, eastern Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Glory, stopping at Nassau, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk.  There are other kinds of trips, both in the nature of the travel and the sorts of games they cater too.  As of this writing, there’s still no RPG trip, which is why I’m on a board gaming one.

There’s a room of the ship dedicated to board game play, everyone gets a bag of free games, and lots of people brought additional stuff to play.  Alex from Mayfair is on hand to chat with people and oversee a Catan tournament which I believe is some sort of semi-final before the national championships.

Whenever I mention these trips, I typically get one of two objections that I’d like to deal with in this intro article.

1. “I can’t afford a trip like this.”  Unfortunately, this may be absolutely true.  The economy is rough all around.  But these vacations may be more affordable than you think.  There are trips of varying cost, so even if you don’t have thousands sitting around, you might be able to get away for hundreds.  And while the sticker price on some trips may be staggering, if you total up what you spend on other trips (for example, a trip to Gen Con: hotel, ticket, gas / plane ticket, food, game purchases, snacks, event tickets, incidental expenses, etc) the price points are surprisingly close.  If you’re in this situation (i.e. you want to go but think you can’t afford it), call Kim.  She’s a travel agent!  This is what she does for a living.  She has many tricks to help get you somewhere nice without breaking your bank.

2. “Why would I want to go on a trip and game?”  The idea of going to a cruise or resort and then locking yourself away in a room to roll dice sounds rather nonsensical to some people.  Others find the idea of playing Catan to the backdrop of the sea wonderful, but this objection doesn’t apply to you folks anyway.  The best response I can give to such people is that I fall in this category as well.  On the last cruise, I played half of one Arkham Horror game.  So far on this cruise, I haven’t touched dice except at the Craps table.  The attraction for me is taking a trip I would probably do anyway, but I’m doing it with people that share common interests.  When we sit down to dinner or while away the peaceful hours on deck, I have an instant connection with these folks.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not being paid to write this, and I’m not trying to sell you something on Kim’s behalf.  In our entire history, Fear the Boot has never accepted money or products in return for plugging anything.  I’m writing this article partially to share my experiences, but also because I want you to have similar experiences of your own.

In other news, I’ll be away from email and the forums for the remainder of the week, but the blog should remain fairly active.  Wayne has some more articles on time travel, I have a video from Chad we’re looking for feedback on, and episode 187 was pre-recorded for release this Wednesday.  There may also be a few Fear the Con videos to post, but internet is expensive and slow onboard, so I won’t be able to process those until after I’m back home next week.  Until then, you’ll only hear from me here!

* (3:48) You can still donate to Raina’s Wings!

* (4:37) Decorating your ultimate geek house.  You can see the mentioned dungeon house here.

* (19:04) Building meaningful PC romance and other relationships in an RPG.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

There is some limited cursing in the videos, so use discretion about when/where you play them.

Also, if you’re not already a member of the Fear the Boot or Fear the Con groups on Facebook, now’s a great chance to fix that!

Also, I promise that more audio and video from our own crew is on the way. It just may be a little slow in coming, because we’re still conducting the after-con tourism events. So stay tuned!

Mikey Mason makes Chris’ dream come true.

I’m really tired, and it’s really late, but expect more videos to follow over the coming days!

* (0:30) Introducing Dave.

* (2:26) A restaurant run by firefighters.

* (7:04) How Dave is the unnamed topic of so many Fear the Boot episodes.

* (14:14) Gaming with your boss.

* (18:06) The relationship between war-gaming and roleplaying.

* (21:44) Adding roleplaying to a war-game.

* (37:42) Using war-games to resolve elements of a roleplaying game.

* (44:22) Managing expectations when approaching a new game.

* (46:58) The subconscious creep of roleplaying into a war-game.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dave, Pat, Wayne

- create an attendee
- pay for your ticket
- create games
- join games
- leave games
- remove games you were running
- remove an attendee that can no longer make it

…then it must be done by tomorrow (Tuesday, March 9th) at 2:00pm Central time.

FYI, people are absolutely welcome to attend the con as walk-ins, join games, create games, etc! They’ll just need to take care of that on location during the con itself. All we’re cutting off is changes made through the registration website.

* (4:18) If you’re coming in on the Wednesday before Fear the Con, we’ll be having an impromptu social gathering at Maryland Yards at 7:00pm, just down the street from the hotel.

* (6:30) Chris and the scooter store.

* (7:22) Keeping emotions in check during a game.

* (31:38) A brief review of Pat and Chris’ “storytelling”.

* (33:00) Preparing to attend and survive a convention.

Hosts: Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

2. Remember that you can print a copy of your con schedule!  Login on Con Planner, pick “Schedules” from the left-hand menu, and then click “Printer Friendly Schedule”.  If you’re running a game, the description will be replaced by a snapshot of the signed-up players.  Just keep in mind that a schedule is only as accurate as the moment it was printed, so print it off as close to departure as you can.

3. New events are still getting added, so if you’ve just been lurking — or you don’t feel comfortable being an alternate — take another look at what’s out there!

If you won’t be at the con, it’s not too late to change your mind!  But if that’s just plain not possible, we’re still planning some video blogging to help get you guys in on the fun.

Chances are, your mother has a Facebook page. Your sister-in-law (yes, the one who never misses an episode of Project Runway) has an iPhone, iPod, iPad and Kindle. And while your grandfather may not be compiling a Linux kernel on his netbook at this exact moment, it’s really only a matter of time.

Technology, historically the demesne of the geek caste, has become a standard element of middle-class life. The relative who needs us to set the clock on her VCR is a dying (if not altogether extinct) breed, and we find ourselves standing at a crossroads. The fact is that access to technology, and the accessibility of that technology, have conspired to make the geek obsolete. We are no longer the socially awkward miracle workers of the office, but are instead the guys with the poor hygiene who know too much about The Simpsons and too little about etiquette. We are returned to our roots as unwanted outcasts, only now our smug sense of superiority is based on nothing at all.

Let’s consider the facts. But first, a word…

It is not my intention to pass judgment on anyone or anything (except where it’s funny to do so). I am not attempting to discuss truth or virtue – rather I am pointing out trends common to subcultures as they evolve. A new movement is, by virtue of being new, rebellious. A movement that is resistant to new developments is conservative. These terms should not be read politically, although there are certainly ramifications in that arena.

Now, if it please the Cos, let us continue!

The term “geek” as we know it did not reach the American Heritage Dictionary until the late 70′s. As late as 1976, the only official use of the word was to describe a carnival freakshow denizen who bit the heads off of live chickens. We’ve come a long way, baby! At some point (and our elder readers might be better able to nail it down) the term ‘geek’ became more-or-less synonymous with ‘nerd’, implying both a gross inability to comport oneself publicwise and possession of a certain degree of intelligence or skill in an unpopular (but not necessarily disapproved of) arena – specifically, technology.

Napster is commonly vilified for its role in the downfall of the music industry, but I believe its major contribution to culture was that virtually everyone wanted in on what it offered enough to get online and figure out what the hell was going on. From that point, the popularity of blogs, online journals and networking sites were pretty much assured, and easy access to those resources has been a key marketing point in the production of new, user-friendly hardware.

One can’t help but notice that, as this evolution in technology has taken place, so too has an evolution in geek culture. While geeks have certainly always been prone to specialization, one finds that people (especially in the 90′s and 00′s) began to see ‘geek’ as too broad a concept; enter the movie geek, music geek and science geek. This evolution coincides, as I mentioned, with the traditional geek medium, technology, becoming more popular – and we began to see people who were not traditional geeks begin to apply the geek moniker to themselves. Young female pop music fans, for example, would sometimes call themselves “Britiney Geeks”. I consider myself something of a “History Geek” and “Lit Geek”. The hipster culture led the charge on “geek chic” as a fashion concept. There were even Sports Geeks for crying out loud!

And perhaps I shouldn’t use the past tense. These terms are still in circulation, and it is perhaps only the traditional usage that has fallen out of favor. Not entirely out of use, but certainly less bound to its original previous moorings. So while the old guard geeks yet live, our language has been more-or-less hijacked. As our interests became more attractive, they were also made more accessible, so while there’s a lot of talk about “geeks” being cool these days, it’s simply not so. Cool adopted “geek” as a term, but it didn’t adopt the people. It seemed like it was going to, because for a time the only people who knew how to upload a video and embed it in a webpage were the same people who had spent their adolescent years assembling motherboards in their parents’ basements – but as that skill becomes disassociated with narrow specialization, those specialized people are made both less special and less necessary. And this has certain, predictable ramifications:

1) Geeks have become more generally conservative.

This is a subjective issue, obviously, and it’s what I didn’t want to sound judgmental. Maybe being conservative is a good thing, maybe it’s not – that’s for you to decide. The point, though, is that conservatism is about, by definition, conserving something, real or perceived, that is slipping away. That’s why it’s so prominent in movements that have entered a decline. On some level (subconsciously for most) geeks have become afraid of the future and afraid of change. We’ve become resistant or even hostile to new ideas. Now you’d be hard-pressed to find a geek who would acknowledge this in himself, because being a geek has traditionally meant that you were enamored of the future. It’s a strange reversal, and a significant, meaningful one.

Geeks rail against file sharing, for example. That’s fine on an individual basis. My point is not that file sharing is good and geeks are bad for opposing it. My point is that geeks created file sharing. You’d be hard pressed to find a geek, even the most rabid hater, who didn’t have and use Napster back in the day. They do exist, of course, but so do duck-billed platypi – and they break just as many helpful rules-of-thumb. So the point is that a change has taken place in the attitude of the culture.

2) Geeks have changed their focus.

While still claiming the label “geek”, we have become notably less concerned with our traditional focus, technology; and more concerned with the peripheral trappings of traditional geekdom – namely video games, comic books, science fiction and convention culture. Being a geek, to us now, means being a hobbyist. Personally, I think that’s unfortunate, but it’s not my call.

Remember, the telephone wasn’t invented by a geek. But phone phreaking was. It’s not that we are the great inventors, but we are the great understanders. We’re the first people to embrace a new development, push it to its limits and come up with new and interesting applications. That is our contribution to society, and it is significant. Or it was.

Now being geeky is less about technical savvy or intelligence, and more about useless trivia and obsession. Granted, there has always been a bit of fanboy-ism in geek culture, but doesn’t it seem that we’ve gone off the deep end? Geeks are no longer considered by the broader community to be bookish or bright, but to be boring, lecturing teetotalers. We are no longer the Kubricks. We are the Whedons.

The major ramification of this loss of focus is that while we cling to a term that is no longer used to describe us, the term itself is losing its association with us. Not only is it not used on us, but it no longer should be. Perhaps it is my own geek conservatism at work, but that makes me a little bit sad. The Britiney Geeks might be phony, but so are we.

3) Geeks are entering a Revitalization Movement.

This is closely tied to my previous two points. In fact, it’s difficult to separate the revitalization of the culture from the changing of focus.

A Revitalization Movement is a concept created by anthropologist Anthony Wallace to describe the process that a culture goes through as it attempts to define itself. This can happen a number of times in a given culture, but for our purposes we are talking about an effort to retrofit a culture’s traditional interests to a new set of ideals in the wake of a great change.

The most famous Revitalization is the Ghost Dance of 1890, where many Native American tribes came together in an attempt to embrace their older customs and shrug off the yoke of European influence. As I’m sure you all know, the Ghost Dance worked out great and they started throwing fire balls at police and a dragon climbed out of Mount Fuji and then ShadowRun happened.

Seriously though, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a popular (and popularly hated) role playing game’s mythos begins with a successful revitalization. I think that spoke very deeply on some level to a people in decline.

So what form is our revitalization taking? Well, there are geeky podcasts like Fear the Boot and others. There are geek-flavored blogs on every topic from politics to gender identity to simple daily life. There are geek archivers like the guys over at x-entertainment.com. There are groups like anonymous over at 4chan and Furries and CosPlayers (oh my!). Each of these groups (and there are many more, of course) embrace some aspect of pre-decline geekdom. It’s no wonder that they detest one another. They’re all participants in a conflict. Each group (without, I think, consciously realizing it) has a stake in being the one to carry the torch. In having a claim to the heritage of geeks.

What I hope you take from this essay, whether you agree with the premise or not, is that we are always a part of something larger. We are always watching history play out. You might, like me, spend most of your time playing video games or you might make lego sculptures or podcast – but there are real fields of study out there that find you (and your people) fascinating and relevant. You can witness the human condition anywhere you go, and that’s got to be worth something!

* (4:04) The new emotion: Muscle March.

* (7:14) Fear the Fruit is still going strong.

* (9:22) The sorts of dice you own and how you carry them.

* (30:13) Doom has been wrought upon our household.

* (31:13) Character creation tips from our newer hosts.

* (49:45) Techniques to help ensure you won’t hate your character later.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

Guest: Matt Vancil

* (2:13) When passing notes during the game goes too far.

* (12:44) Controlling the temptation to eat.

* (23:40) Fear the Fruit reminder!

* (23:57) Losing weight when you already exercise and can’t control what food is around.

* (36:31) Portion control and finding diet food with flavor.

* (49:24) Exercising with a minor physical disability.

* (51:23) The importance of a social support structure.

* (52:47) Reiterating our disclaimer.

* (53:31) How gaming itself can be good for your health.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (2:17) Ira Glass on overcoming creative perfectionism.

* (5:06) Keeping dice in the roleplaying continuity.

* (9:21) Pat’s pickled pigs feet…?

* (10:44) Health advice disclaimer.  You can find the organization Chris is certified with here.

* (15:26) Improving what you eat at the gaming table, with tangents on peer support, calorie counting, and making sustainable changes.

* (39:10) Picking the right exercises for you and integrating them into your life.

* (48:49) Chad’s pep talk and a story about Tex.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

The most common supporting fact used in the argument that Superheroes should kill is that police and soldiers kill.  I would like to point out that killing is a last resort for police, and they are trained to wound.  Every shot fired has to be accounted for and paperwork has to be filed.  In these cases the position comes with jurisdiction and accountability.  Superheroes typically don’t have either of these.  They appoint themselves and by killing would be saying that they know who should live or die.  I do concede, though, that it does not make much sense for a government sanctioned team that is part of the military to not kill unless it is a PR decision.

Would anybody accuse a doctor of being immature?  Doctors take an oath to do no harm, and this concept constantly comes up on TV shows.  Every medical show on the air has dealt with doctors getting a questionable patient and having to make the hard decision of whether or not to save them.  I have never heard anyone call these stories immature for exploring that concept.  Is ER immature because its doctors don’t kill?  If a firefighter were to save the life of a murderer would they then be called immature?  I would argue that these two professions are more closely related to Superhero, because their primary function is to save lives. Still in both cases there is an authority and accountability that Superheroes lack.

While I feel that killing your enemies when you have the power to do otherwise is taking the easy way out, I do enjoy these darker stories as well.  These stories explore concepts that would taint long standing characters.  Superman for example should never kill, but Hyperion can give you those stories while Superman remains untouched.  Killing, though, seems to be a throwaway action for these types of characters.  The slippery slope of who and what have earned death is very rarely explored.  Even rarer is dealing with the psychological turmoil that killing could cause a person.

I personally read just as many stories about heroes that kill as I do about those that don’t.  There is a distinctly different feel between the two, but neither is inherently more mature than the other, and both types have their merits.  Too often titles that call themselves mature focus less on the story and more on the nudity and foul language.  They essentially become shock titles.  Murder is never a requirement for a story to be mature, but it could be a strong component in exploring the psychology of a hero.

* (1:35) Get your health questions to Chris for episode 180!

* (2:09) A big thanks to Totten for the pizza.

* (3:10) DriveThruRPG is running a charity through Doctors Without Borders for medical relief in Haiti.  You can make the donation here and see what RPG products that donation will get you here.

* (6:59) D&D gets banned from prisons.

* (15:02) Fear the Boot fans in prison…?

* (17:17) You are wrong to enjoy certain things.

* (20:26) Overcoming perfectionism as a GM or player.

* (42:12) Fear the Con 3.

* (43:23) Why don’t players trust their GMs more?

Hosts: Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

They’re only running this event through the end of the month, so if you’re interested, be sure to get out there soon!

* (4:07) Fear the Con 3!

* (4:43) Soliciting questions for the upcoming episode on gamer health.

* (7:05) How Chad keeps his incidental GM decisions straight without notes.

* (17:08) Preparing the right amount of notes.

* (18:12) Notes and improv for a game’s opening scene.

* (24:02) Using the conclusion of one session to help kick off the next one.

* (26:18) How notes (or improv) affect the GM’s game style.

* (28:38) Crossing styles.

* (31:52) Getting back to the structure of game notes.

* (35:51) Notes don’t need to be a script.

* (42:10) The notes you take during the game.  You can create a free Wiki here.

* (48:52) The “what’s really going on” document.

* (50:55) An example from our current game.

* (54:45) Notes kept by the players.

* (57:59) Background notes on your own character.

* (1:00:03) Noticing your ruts.

Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:15) Dan’s rant on impassible terrain.

* (7:13) How Pat made Chad and Dan proud with his first MMO.

* (9:19) The GM and player toolbox.

* (11:29) The moment of zen.

* (15:56) Taking a week off.

* (17:47) Useful lists.

* (19:50) The double-edged sword of an internet-ready laptop.

* (22:06) The role of the toolbox in the game.

* (23:35) The players don’t know what you don’t know.

* (27:36) Taking on-going notes.

* (28:23) Preparation prior to the game.

* (30:25) Player character motivations, observations, and side projects.

* (31:47) Borrowing ideas from fiction and real life.

* (34:28) Internal roleplay and contingency plans.

* (38:13) Drawing from the larger community of roleplayers.

* (39:23) Putting yourself in the spotlight and carrying the right attitude.

* (41:22) The cheap and simple supplies.

* (44:05) Tracking the scene.

* (48:20) Tools for helping you get in character and stay in character.

* (53:36) Tracking initiative.

* (56:11) A cheat sheet of player character names.

* (57:13) Players taking notes.

* (1:01:17) Podcasts, blogs, and gaming magazines.

* (1:04:04) A rules cheat sheet.

* (1:07:41) Robertson Games’ dungeon room design contest.

* Dan’s surprise can be found here.  And just in case they changed it, I archived a screenshot of it here.  Journalist + Google image search = pure win.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

* (1:56) Why you don’t want to miss the Wing Night beforehand.

* (2:40) Some highlights for people that aren’t going to the con.  If you want to help promote the con, you can find a Fear the Con 3 flyer here.

* (5:08) Sign-up and find information at http://www.fearthecon.com or http://www.conplanner.com.

* (8:05) Con Planner’s privacy policy.

* (9:15) We’re at a new hotel this year.

* (9:50) Ticketing details.

* (11:57) Fear the Fruit.

* (12:48) A call for Game Masters!

* (15:03) The roommate thread and carpooling thread.

* (16:01) Mikey Mason and the game lending library.

* (17:32) Our vendor will be back.  You can post requests for him here.  You can find Geeky Clean here.

* (19:05) A call to our fellow podcasters.

* (21:38) Come for the con, stay for the caves.

* (1:44) Thanking our secret Santas.  Legos, Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress, Master of the Game, and SPANC.

* (8:40) Swapping games to expose people to new material.

* (10:53) The original Fear the Boot logo.

* (11:36) Setting up this episode and the next one.

* (12:04) Leadership and structure in a roleplaying game party.

* (13:59) How leadership helps the Game Master.

* (14:59) Players that reject any form of authority.

* (19:30) Picking the right player to be in charge.

* (23:42) Keeping leadership from becoming a railroad.

* (27:32) Making an ever-present NPC leader work.

* (35:26) Dealing with the guy that will not tolerate any structure in the party.

* (38:41) When having a boss is too close to real life.

* (42:13) The role of a GM when players are doing sidebar RP.

* (44:34) The GM shouldn’t kill the moment.

* (47:17) How the GM can profit from what he overhears.

* (48:18) Dealing with bored players outside of the RP sidebar.

* (50:55) GMs not being overly helpful.

* (55:35) Intrusion by other player characters.

* (59:53) Player etiquette.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, Pat, Wayne

With time travel all the greatest questions about history could be answered.  Scientist could research and catalog extinct species of plants and animals.  In our world paleontologists have done their best to determine what Dinosaurs looked like and how they behaved.  These are still mostly theories though.  In a world with time travel we would know exactly how dinosaurs looked and be able to study their behavioral patterns.  Quite possibly the most important thing we would learn about Dinosaurs though is exactly how and why they died.

Any event in history that is disputed could be viewed, studied, and documented.  Documentaries could contain actual video of the events they are describing instead of recreations, though the recreations may be more detailed and entertaining than the actual events.  The great mysteries of the world like the original use of Stonehenge or the method used to build the pyramids would move from the category of mystery to a documented process.  The exact location of Atlantis would be added to historical maps.  Suddenly the skills needed to uncover history would drastically change and the need to keep the subjects from realizing that they are being studied would be far more important as they are now living breathing specimens.

Knowledge of most past events would not have a major impact on a society, but knowledge of certain key events could.  Certain events that touch on subjects that we do not discuss here could be viewed and would have dramatic impact on society as details were clarified or collaborated.  It is hard to believe that events of religious significance would not be some of the first to be witnessed.

There would be many temptations to use time travel in seemingly beneficial ways.  Trips to the future could cure diseases or bring back medical technology to save lives.  With the technology already available there would be no need for the research to actually develop it.  Both this and the survivors would change the future that the technology had come from.  If future technology were to be banned in an effort to avoid this, then patients with enough money would be tempted to travel to a time when they could receive better treatment.  Petitions would likely be drawn up to restore extinct species or to perhaps intervene in tragedies throughout history to save lives.  Every tragedy that happens would lead to an immediate call of fixing it just this once.  Even the best intentions, though, can have unexpected consequences.

For these and tactical reasons, if government scientists were the ones to discover time travel it would likely be classified and kept secret.  Only the highest ranking officials would be allowed to know that this technology was available.  These politicians then would be subject to the same temptations of time travel that the general public would be if they only knew of its possibility.  Political campaigns would be much easier if the person in power could see the events of the future and proactively deal with them.  In times of war, leaders would be tempted to view the future battle and change plans based on effectiveness.  In the case of a failed operation they would likely send back communications to themselves of its failure.  While this has the potential of saving lives, it also becomes far more complicated if the other society also has access to time travel technology.  The potential for a time war or an inevitable temporal cold war would grow with each society that discovers time travel.  That possibility and the implications will be the topic of my next blog.

http://www.conplanner.com

http://www.fearthecon.com

So what’s Con Planner?  To help make running FtC a little easier, we decided to build our own convention software.  We’re running it in a limited beta during Fear the Con 3 to see how it works, what features get requested, and what bugs people stumble across. We’ll keep adding onto it between now and the convention, and thereafter, we may open it up so other small convention organizers can use the software to host their cons.

Being a new site, don’t hesitate to tell us about bugs, feature requests, or even things you just find generally annoying.   We already have a long list of new features and improvements we’ll be trickling out, but we’re interested in your ideas as well.

Get out there, create your own games, and sign up for stuff that sounds fun!

Also, if you want to help us promote the con, tell your friends or email them the URL.  If you’re a real trooper and want to go the extra mile, you can find a PDF of the ad flyer here. Tack one up in your local gaming shop, bookstore, homeless shelter, or county jail!

* (2:22) Fear the Boot made it to 175.

* (3:19) Fear the Con 3 online ticketing and sign-up will be live on January 1st.

* (6:06) Chad has a sexy voice?

* (7:16) John’s current gaming situation.  You can find MapTools here.

* (9:48) Why John hates player characters.

* (11:25) A quick gaming story to explain an example.

* (13:32) Why GMs often make better players.

* (18:01) People that refuse to GM even once.

* (25:49) Players that lobby for power without conceding anything to the GM.

* (32:35) TPKs, challenge, and losing characters.

* (36:33) Why John loves PCs, starting with those that latch onto plot elements.

* (39:46) PCs who roleplaying in a meaningful manner.

* (45:53) PCs with connection to the setting help make the game more engaging.

* (48:54) Dan bitches about Chris.

* (57:05) When Dan loves his players most.

* (1:01:36) Upcoming topics for the next couple of shows.

Hosts: Chad, Dan, John, Pat, Wayne

To deal with that, I switched us over to PowerPress. The transition seems to have gone smoothly, but if you notice anything strange on your podcatcher over the next few days, please let me know.

Also, our RSS feed has gotten too large for most aggregators to handle it anymore. iTunes is truncating it and BluBrry won’t even process it. To deal with that, I’ve had to set our feeds to only show the 100 most recent entries. Shouldn’t be a problem unless you’re way back in our catalog of shows. I’m annoyed I had to do this, but the technology isn’t giving me much of a choice.