50 episodes

Fear the Boot is an irreverent, round table discussion of tabletop role playing games. In this weekly show we debate game-related issues, offer advice for improving your game, and poke fun at the hobby. Our cast changes a little from show to show, but we always assemble a group of dynamic individuals with divergent views, guaranteeing you will hear several perspectives on everything we discuss.

Fear the Boot, RPG Podcast FearTheBoot.com

    • Leisure
    • 4.7 • 319 Ratings

Fear the Boot is an irreverent, round table discussion of tabletop role playing games. In this weekly show we debate game-related issues, offer advice for improving your game, and poke fun at the hobby. Our cast changes a little from show to show, but we always assemble a group of dynamic individuals with divergent views, guaranteeing you will hear several perspectives on everything we discuss.

    Episode 620 – juice ain’t worth the squeeze

    Episode 620 – juice ain’t worth the squeeze

    * (0:30) Dan runs a game a bit too literally.







    * (4:12) The intersection of technology and roleplaying in a way that isn’t required by the game.







    * (7:32) Why multimedia doesn’t pay-off the way it does in other forms of storytelling.







    * (13:36) The prep time technology adds, and the stability it takes away.







    * (15:59) The time spent digging up the right asset on-the-spot.







    * (20:52) The physical space taken up by technology. Playing “follow the leader” at a subconscious level.







    Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

    • 33 min
    Episode 619 – a closed setting

    Episode 619 – a closed setting

    * (0:29) Why talk about intelligence? The Why Files episode about Cicada 3301.







    * (9:24) A game takes an unhelpfully long break, only to be replaced by another RPG.







    * (12:44) The lack of a bottomless “buffet of ideas” in a closed setting.







    * (14:24) Use minimal starting information to give you room to work.







    * (18:12) How to run a school (everyone go play Persona 5).







    * (24:48) Create a wide variety of NPCs and give them their own lives.







    * (30:38) Keeping the party together, even if it doesn’t quite make sense.







    * (31:57) PC-specific NPCs, so you know the players are bought it.







    Hosts: Dan, Mary, Wayne

    • 38 min
    Bonus Episode 100 – becoming the curmudgeon

    Bonus Episode 100 – becoming the curmudgeon

    * (0:22) Picking out the point we became curmudgeons and what exactly that means.







    * (4:48) Being too set in our ways.







    * (11:19) The self-destruction that comes with stagnation.







    * (21:32) Wii have a solution.







    * (24:32) Ducking new games while at a convention. Playing The Quiet Year on an airplane.







    * (32:57) The role of pragmatism. Why expand your horizons when no one lets you go there, anyway?







    * (38:43) There’s always going to be something wrong.







    * (41:09) A lesson learned from The Why Files.







    Hosts: Dan, Doug, Wayne

    • 44 min
    Episode 618 – no, low, and mo’ expectations

    Episode 618 – no, low, and mo’ expectations

    * (0:29) Reintroducing Julia’s husband, Mike.







    * (2:24) Lowered expectations, inspired by a post-pandemic world.







    * (7:25) Being a bit more experimental.







    * (13:18) Playing online instead of returning to the table.







    * (19:18) Returning to the table instead of playing online.







    * (23:58) The commonality of not being able to find an active gaming group.







    * (31:54) Not lower expectations—just different ones.







    Hosts: Dan, Mary, Mike, Wayne

    • 39 min
    Episode 617 – the value of questionable

    Episode 617 – the value of questionable

    * (0:29) Thanks to Eric Van Note for Swole Mole!







    * (3:15) The value of terrible GMing.







    * (8:42) Everyone is their own most inept critic. Sojourn Volume 2.







    * (15:28) The worst possible outcome: something being forgettable.







    * (22:20) Asking Doug to grade his own game.







    * (25:35) The value of creating art, simply for the act of creation.







    * (37:04) A few too many contacts in someone’s eyes.







    Hosts: Dan, Doug, Mary, Wayne

    • 38 min
    Episode 616 – affiliated or not

    Episode 616 – affiliated or not

    * (0:29) Dan prefers affiliated groups, Wayne does not.







    * (2:15) Cohesion, identity, and help.







    * (9:35) Affiliations you start with as opposed to those you pick up along the way.







    * (11:56) The party’s direction and motivation. Affiliating with an ideal.







    * (20:23) Affiliations create an obvious pool of NPC relationships.







    * (25:40) External versus internal affiliations, and how they’re not mutually exclusive.







    * (32:06) Taking extreme positions just to highlight the topic.







    Hosts: Dan, Doug, Julia, Wayne

    • 34 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
319 Ratings

319 Ratings

horgar ,

Fear the Brodeur

This was my 5 star RPG podcast for more than a decade. The arrival of Brodeur, his crassness and tangent-driven discussion makes the show unlistenable. As soon as I hear his voice on an episode I just skip the remainder. I get he has issues and stopping him seems impossible but my time is more important to waste on vulgarity, bathroom nonsense, and sexual impropriety. I think in a different context he would be tolerable and maybe even effective, but I’m here for RPG advice, not to provide therapy and listen to explicit uncomfortable commentary.

Loconius ,

Love this show

This is still the podcast I listen to since like forever ago! Such a great show listening to the topics they cover, and if you hit up the back log you can also see how their gaming experiences grow and change as new games are introduced into the game-o-sphere!

Thiago Moreira. . ,

A great show!

Fear the Boot is a gem. A great cast of friends who are knowledgeable and, most important, passionate about the game. Great content, lots of useful information and lots of fun to hear. Most intereting, tunning away from the usual almost exclusive D&D focus.

Although against the will of the creators themselves i totally recomend to listen to all episodes, fromnthe very first one to the most recent (I'm still working on it). It gives a really good perspective of how they develop as casters, and some booters as players and GMs. One of those shows whose content does not get dated. Information on the earliest ones is still as relevant and useful as it was at the release time (well...).

If you love RPGs, this will give you tons of fun. If you know nothing about it, but is curious, great place to start

Go for it!

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