* (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) Characters who cannot stand the sight of open water.

Hosts: Dan, Julia, Mary, Wayne

* (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 building game. Rebuild 3 demands FTB-9000 compliance!

* (14:38) Dan wants to play ourselves. The End of the World.

* (18:08) Mary wants to play multiple characters.

* (22:25) Doug wants to play Greek mythology.

* (26:00) Wayne wants to play a Sliders game with plenty of alternate history.

* (28:50) Dan wants to play Battletech (plus Mechwarrior).

* (30:17) Mary wants to play a group of paladins (with strong nods to David Eddings’ The Elenium).

* (35:37) Doug wants to play assistants to Cold War spies.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) The bucket list of games we want to run.

* (1:31) Doug’s long-term campaign.

* (3:10) Wayne’s Fallout: St. Louis game.

* (7:03) Dan’s Battletech: Silver Scorpions game. A Fabian war.

* (9:37) Mary’s Castle Ravenloft / Curse of Strahd game.

* (12:41) Doug’s western game.

* (14:58) Wayne’s campaign based on The Quiet Year. Decuma and Home.

* (18:57) Dan’s Hunter game. Dayshift, watchable on Netflix. Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation.

* (22:39) Mary’s Mummy game. Spirit of the Century.

* (25:40) Doug’s Midgard campaign.

* (26:51) Whatever Wayne backed last on Kickstarter. Right now, that’s Planet of the Apes.

* (29:47) Dan’s Battletech: Solaris VII game.

* (33:36) Mary’s Oregon Trail (with dragons).

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 lack of clear and connected outcomes.

* (19:50) Mixing new and veteran players.

* (26:13) Expanding intra-party roleplaying.

* (28:39) Asking why someone wanted to make the jump.

* (35:06) Trying to translate one medium into another.

Hosts: Caleb, Dan, Doug, Mary

* (0:29) What is your goal for the first session of a game?

* (2:10) Who are these characters really?

* (6:08) When the person 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.

* (25:30) The flexibility in session one. Using the first game as a test of session zero.

* (33:43) Testing the waters as the Game Master.

* (37:09) Using rules and rolls a bit more than you otherwise would.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 preppers.

* (16:08) Dan’s crystal entanglement.

* (19:45) Wayne’s crystal invasion.

* (24:57) Doug’s crystal gift.

* (27:05) A whole lot of tests, quandaries, and Faustian deals.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) Fear the Con has funded and the sign-up site is live! 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 Zen in the Art of Writing.

* (5:16) The tyranny of compromise.

* (9:54) Wanting the GM to build the world instead of “yes-and” player input.

* (15:43) Why Wayne discarded some ideas he was excited about.

* (19:06) The passion for sharing stories.

* (22:06) Watching players engage with obstacles and NPCs.

* (26:06) Hopeful or despondent?

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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.

* (14:42) What if the characters are the backup? Or maybe they’re starting to get a reputation.

* (17:41) Not letting it become a chip on the GM’s shoulder. Players that hamstring themselves.

* (23:45) The assistance not being what the players expected.

* (27:54) Falling back to the mature answer.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (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 growth.

* (18:57) Taking a hobby, off-topic skill, or development path. Keeping your character in continuity.

* (23:11) Practicing a character.

* (29:43) Developing your idea in other creative media, but consider leaving a gap before the game begins.

* (35:35) The last few days of the Fear the Con 2024 Kickstarter!

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

Today’s ingredient: The dead are consuming the living. Why and how? Let’s find out!

Fear the Con 2024’s Kickstarter can be found here.

Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

* (0:29) In defense of technology at the gaming table. Caleb’s setup with Owlbear Rodeo.

* (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 into the game.

* (17:54) Digital storage and organization. The wonder of CTRL-F.

* (25:21) Minimalization of the gaming experience.

* (30:01) Dodging some issues by allowing only one person to have technology. The visual obstruction created by laptops and such.

* (41:01) Getting digital audio to work for you.

* (45:00) Balancing it all out. Advantages, disadvantages, familiarity, and the passage of time.

Hosts: Caleb, Dan, Mary, Wayne