It is indeed the long awaited, much anticipated, frequently masturbated, and now antiquated Episode 200. Promised well over a year ago, this episode is doing everything it is able to do to not live up to the hype that has been created around its existence or non-existence. Enjoy.
Or not.
Either way, leave Chris alone about it. He’s suffered enough… okay, who am I kidding. He was made to suffer. It’s his lot in life.
* (0:30) Who Stuart is and what he’s been up to lately. His blog, Strange Magic, and his micro-RPG, Weird West. His Deviant Art profile can be found here.
* (2:00) Stuart’s participation in the one-page dungeon design competition. The mental exercise of paring content down to just what’s really needed. The virtue of succinctness in the face of bloated games.
* (7:36) A case study on micro-RPGs, using Weird West as our example. Knights of Cydonia.
* (10:18) Craft time on Fear the Boot! You can follow along by looking at the online folding guide or viewing a video of Dan making one.
* (15:45) Capturing a character in just ten traits, taking up an area smaller than a standard playing card.
* (19:38) The choice to exclude a detailed setting and an explanation of what an RPG is. The increasing exposure people have to the concepts of RPGs. The use of implied setting to make the game bigger than the text itself.
* (29:33) The business aspects of selling a small book for a low price. The advantages of being your own artist. The IndieGoGo campaign for Stuart’s Weird West minis.
* (35:13) What Stuart’s playing apart from the games he’s written.
* (41:41) A micro-RPG in the hands of a brand new player or GM.
* (43:31) What the phrase “old school” means to Stuart and why he feels it applies to his game. The G.I. Joe old school PSA parody (fair warning: there’s some strong language). Discussion about the usefulness of vernacular labels.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, John, Wayne
Guests: Stuart Robertson
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Fear the Boot is joining up with Kicked in the Dicebags to promote some great charities Derek is running at Fear the Con this year. All the links you need are below!
Information on the forums: http://www.feartheboot.com/
Gamers Outreach: http://gamersoutreach.org/
If people want to write their own letter, please address it to “Dear Soldier” and place it in an unsealed blank envelope. I have to request an address at the time of sending the letters, so I have no idea who it will go to right now. People can also use the website to send packages as well.
(From much hunt and peck) – simplified instructions:
1. Read the information here: http://anysoldier.com/
2. Read the information here: http://anysoldier.com/faq.cfm
3. Go to this page and select someone from the left (The capital letters designate branch) and read their requests: http://anysoldier.
4. Once you find someone who you wish to donate to, click the link on the main side of the page to request the address.
5. Use the info from steps 1 and 2 to put together a package of requested items or send a letter.
They have suggestions about where to find things the soldiers want on this page (http://anysoldier.com/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
First, a note on what this is:
My kids love games. My family has a weekly board/card game night that myself, my wife, and my kids all take part in. On top of that, my kids have, with some help from parents, organized a gaming group that has a regular rotation and gives everyone a chance to get together and share new games with friends. As a result, they’ve played a lot of games.
Recently, the idea came up of the kids starting a game review column. This is the first installment. Hopefully it will be helpful for those of you out there searching for good games to play with your own clans. The first installment of what I hope will be an ongoing series is Oz Fluxx.
* (0:40) If you’re coming to Fear the Con V, please note the wandering nature of the street the con center is on.
* (1:54) Much love for Anime Eggroll! If you’re in the St. Louis area and looking for a good anime shop, we give them our highest recommendation.
* (2:29) An upcoming crossover show and what it doesn’t mean.
* (3:16) The frightening disease known as Chris’ Revenge.
* (5:51) The results of the Power 16 III semi-finals. The last round has now commenced. Results will be read during our Fear the Con recording, so get your votes in now!
* (11:42) Offering a new player the right amount of help to get them into a roleplaying game without overwhelming, intimidating, or annoying them. Allowing changes along the way. How long to hold back before you let them suffer the same consequences as an experienced character.
Hosts: Dan, Karla, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:28) Fear the Con V‘s tourism events will begin the evening of Sunday, April 29th. If you’d like to join the communication hub, please send your name, cell phone number, and arrival time (if applicable) to TOFtBCH@feartheboot.com.
* (2:49) An update from John on the status of Bloodmoon Goblins.
* (3:43) The more obscure movies we’re interested in seeing during 2012. We mentioned several things during the episode which you can find here: Dark Shadows, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Snow White and the Huntsman, and finally Vanilla and Shovel Face. The other movie Chad mentioned was Django Unchained, which only has fan-made trailers at this point.
* (18:48) Movie ratings. Why so many movies end up PG-13 and our wish it wasn’t so.
* (27:33) A call to get your gas on at Chris’ expense!
* (34:05) Adapting an existing intellectual property (video game, TV show, movie, novel, etc) into a roleplaying game. Discerning what the game would be about, without trying to act out the story the IP already told. When the players don’t know the IP. Building or adapting a rules system. The episode of Dr. Who Dan refers to is Snakedance.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, John, Pat
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:43) Three charities at Fear the Con V for Gamers Outreach. There will be a raffle for an iPad, letters to the troops, and a Pathfinder Society tournament. You can find more details or ask questions in this thread.
* (4:30) Second round results from the Power 16 III. You can vote on the third round here. Third round voting ends at 6:00pm Central time on Tuesday, April 17th.
* (7:37) The People of Fear the Boot vs Johann. Let the record show the defendant stands accused of the class A felony of being a Juggalo. Defendant appeared in person to enter a plea of “not guilty”. A pre-trial hearing was conducted by the court, after which the defendant was assigned legal counsel and held over for trial at a later date.
* (12:38) Impressions among the hosts from the character creation session for the Stone Keep campaign. The differences between our approaches to starting a campaign and how we each make them work.
* (23:14) How dead-end games can jade players on character creation. Whether character creation itself is an enjoyable task.
* (29:48) Why we no longer trust casinos that operate outside of state oversight.
* (31:46) Setting bloat. Elements that are useless to building your own story. When too much detail is provided, leaving no room for creativity. Organizing setting material. Facing down an intimidating stack of setting and history books that have piled up over the long life of an RPG.
Hosts: Chris, Dan, Johann, Pat
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:05) Caribbean or Caribbean? Dan’s dream of killing a legally protected cryptid.
* (3:45) We try to start talking about video games that horribly disappointed us, but somehow end up talking about Juggalos. How do they work?
* (12:25) Video games that went horribly off the ranch via plot, character development, or setting. While it gets cut-off in this video, the “urine rocket” begins around 8:45. The speed run of Morrowind can be seen here.
* (30:04) TV shows with crappy endings. Our hatred of the “cycle of apocalypse and rebirth” theme, particularly in sci-fi.
* (33:13) Games we didn’t or couldn’t finish.
* (38:59) The ending that disappointed Wayne the most. The beauty of emulators and save states. As a slight correction, it was not the final fight against Sephiroth Dan couldn’t beat but rather one of Sephiroth’s previous end-game boss forms (“safer”, I believe).
* (44:52) What truly worries Dan about traveling.
Hosts: Chad, Dan, John, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
* (0:29) First round results from the Power 16 III. You can vote on the second round here. Second round voting ends at 6:00pm Central time on Tuesday, April 3rd.
* (6:32) A (hopefully unnecessary) disclaimer.
* (7:06) Dan’s impeccable moral clarity regarding urban fantasy. I’ll let you guess who writes these show notes!
* (20:51) Faith in a roleplaying game. The importance of creating expectations about what it can do, how it works, and how it will be measured. The advantages of using mechanics or pure RP. The role of the GM in interpreting a character’s faith. Separating faith from sacrament. Dealing with religious views that exclude competing truth-claims, particularly when held by a player at the table.
* (1:04:17) Faith in games that don’t overtly deal with the supernatural.
Hosts: Chad, Chris, Dan, Pat, Wayne
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In episode 261, I made passing reference to a commentary by Ryan Dancey about the content of RPG products, specifically with an eye to new players. At the time I didn’t recall where it was from, but after the show’s release I tracked it down to private communication. I sent Ryan an apology, as quoting private conversations (even when unintentional) does not fit within the ethical framework of this show. Being the great guy that he is, he not only laughed it off but was gracious enough to allow me to post the entirety of his comments. So with my thanks to Mr. Dancey, here ya go!
I think that most of the time someone in our industry tries to do an “intro” product, they’re really much more likely to be making a “switch from another TRPG” or a “play a TRPG again like you haven’t since you were a kid” product.
A product like Mouseguard, for example, has intro product potential but the way it is presented in terms of being a book, at a certain price, with a certain set of assumptions about the creative experiences of the potential players and GMs, would have a very hard time succeeding at bringing new players into the hobby.
A product like the Pathfinder Beginner Box is a bit closer to the mark, and I have hopes that it will work as intended. I fear for its size, complexity and price though.
Things I learned while watching kids struggle to self-teach themselves TRPGs from behind one-way mirrors:
1: They’re not patient. They can’t easily connect information that comes at them from several different pages of a book, plus a chart or graph, plus a character sheet. They are so excited to “just play” that you can’t get them settled enough to process the complexity of most TRPG products. More than 2 sources of information is overwhelming. They’ll just tend to remember the last 2 things you showed them and forget the rest.
2: They already know how to roleplay. You tell them “you’re a knight going out to fight monsters”, and they get it. They’ll happy speak in character and try to live up to their idea of what such a character would do. Unfortunately, most game systems are more about saying “no” than saying “yes”, so their creative spark gets damped real quick. Rather than giving them a way to process an adventure as a game with rules, the rules actually become a barrier between their innate sense of storytelling and the adventure they’re trying to have.
3: Some kids need to be given a space to act that is protected. In other words, you need to establish a way for each kid to speak and be heard without being overwhelmed by the noisiest, pushiest members of the bunch. Some kids need to be given “permission” to do what they want to do. They’re looking for an adult to validate their decision so they don’t “do the wrong thing”. An encouraging attitude that reinforces that they’re doing just fine helps them overcome the fear of looking stupid, or acting “wrongly”. And some kids need to be pulled aside and given a stern talk about sharing, being polite, and respecting others, and they may need to have a few “time outs” issued along the way to reinforce that those words will be enforced.
4: Death is a Big Scary Thing. It’s much, much better to have characters “fall down” or “be knocked out” rather than die. Some kids will get paralyzed and have trouble participating because they self-identify with their characters very strongly and don’t like the emotions they have when they, or their friends “die”. Make sure they know that “running away” is sometimes the right thing to do, and don’t let the other kids make that feel like being a “coward”. Also don’t surprise them with catastrophe. A failed save out of the blue that results in Bad Things is really jarring. It’s much better to give them a framing statement like “that door looks mighty dangerous, it might be trapped”, so that they’re prepared for the potential that something could happen that will hurt their characters. If you don’t do this, some kids will react by treating everything in the virtual environment like a bomb with a hair trigger.
So what happens when you take an experienced game designer who is:
A: Used to asking players to integrate material from a matrix of sources
B: Paid to create mechanics that manipulate the virtual world
C: Expecting that each player will assert themselves when they want to act
D: Using shock tactics, random violence, and surprise against the playersYou get a designer making a game that isn’t going to work as an introduction to the hobby. Why would we expect anything else; all the other products they’re paid to work on and passionate about do A-D. What you need is a designer (ideally a design team) willing to approach the task with a very open mind, to be humble about watching kids test their work, learn from what they see and hear, and incorporate that into iterations of the design which are then tested again, and so on. They need to learn about developmental psychology and how different ages understand and process different things. And they need to see that the success of their work can’t be judged by what random internet reviewer says on RPG.NETor ENWorld, but instead on the basis of how effective the product is at taking a kid who doesn’t know how to play a TRPG and converting that kid into one who does, and who seeks out additional TRPG gameplay experiences.
RyanD
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