Have you ever stumbled upon a character in a game that felt like she was crafted just for you? That's what happened to Sandeep & Omar at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, where they encountered Neeha, an Indian auntie with a flair for fiber arts in the board game Arch Ravels. This episode takes you through the vibrant alleys of a board game convention, where cultural diversity isn't just present—it's weaved into the very fabric of play. Join us in echoing the excitement and novelty of finding our roots reflected in the cardboard and dice of tabletop gaming.
The symphony of creativity doesn't end there, as Aalok Mehta strikes a harmonious blend of Eastern and Western musical traditions for "DesiQuest". Imagine the resonant power of the Natya Shastra's rasas mingling with the vibrant energy of chakras to craft a soundtrack that not only sets the scene but tells its own emotional tale. And if you're curious about the fusion of superhero antics and South Indian classical music, wait until you hear the backstory of Laddoo Auntie's theme, an anthem for South Asian representation that's as layered as it is empowering.
Finally, we shift our focus to the competitive arena of thumb wrestling with James Brent Isaacs and delve into the art of narrative crafting characters in RPGs with Gabe Hicks and Elise Rezendes. The insights and anecdotes shared by these guests are as gripping as a thumb lock, and as richly textured as the characters they help create. And as we wrap up, we don't shy away from the heavier topics, discussing how DesiQuest opens up dialogues about masculinity and culture among Indian tech workers. This patchwork of stories, full of humor, heart, and a good dose of thumb warfare, is just a play button away.
Arch Ravels: https://xyzgamelabs.com/archravels/
Aalok Metha: https://www.instagram.com/aaloksmehta/?hl=en
James Brent Isaacs: https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbrentisaacs
Mythic Grove Productions, The Session Zero System: https://www.mythicgroveproductions.com/
Elise Rezendes: https://www.instagram.com/eliserezendes/
Gabe Hicks: https://www.gabejamesgames.com/
Dispel Dice - https://dispeldice.com/
Geek Therapeutics: https://geektherapeutics.com/
Producer: Anand Shah & Kaylin Mahoney
Technical Director & Sound Designer: Delvan Neville
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
Editor: Sean Meagher
Music by Harshal Sisodia, Jasvir Singh & Maulik Zaveri
#funny #podcast #comedy #desi #abcd #indian #desiquest
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/effinfunny
Sign up for the ABCD Email List: https://mailchi.mp/effinfunnyproductions/abcd
Join the conversation on Discord: https://discord.gg/effinfunny-783006672439345154
Have you ever stumbled upon a character in a game that felt like she was crafted just for you? That's what happened to Sandeep & Omar at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, where they encountered Neeha, an Indian auntie with a flair for fiber arts in the board game Arch Ravels. This episode takes you through the vibrant alleys of a board game convention, where cultural diversity isn't just present—it's weaved into the very fabric of play. Join us in echoing the excitement and novelty of finding our roots reflected in the cardboard and dice of tabletop gaming.
The symphony of creativity doesn't end there, as Aalok Mehta strikes a harmonious blend of Eastern and Western musical traditions for "DesiQuest". Imagine the resonant power of the Natya Shastra's rasas mingling with the vibrant energy of chakras to craft a soundtrack that not only sets the scene but tells its own emotional tale. And if you're curious about the fusion of superhero antics and South Indian classical music, wait until you hear the backstory of Laddoo Auntie's theme, an anthem for South Asian representation that's as layered as it is empowering.
Finally, we shift our focus to the competitive arena of thumb wrestling with James Brent Isaacs and delve into the art of narrative crafting characters in RPGs with Gabe Hicks and Elise Rezendes. The insights and anecdotes shared by these guests are as gripping as a thumb lock, and as richly textured as the characters they help create. And as we wrap up, we don't shy away from the heavier topics, discussing how DesiQuest opens up dialogues about masculinity and culture among Indian tech workers. This patchwork of stories, full of humor, heart, and a good dose of thumb warfare, is just a play button away.
Arch Ravels: https://xyzgamelabs.com/archravels/
Aalok Metha: https://www.instagram.com/aaloksmehta/?hl=en
James Brent Isaacs: https://www.youtube.com/user/jamesbrentisaacs
Mythic Grove Productions, The Session Zero System: https://www.mythicgroveproductions.com/
Elise Rezendes: https://www.instagram.com/eliserezendes/
Gabe Hicks: https://www.gabejamesgames.com/
Dispel Dice - https://dispeldice.com/
Geek Therapeutics: https://geektherapeutics.com/
Producer: Anand Shah & Kaylin Mahoney
Technical Director & Sound Designer: Delvan Neville
Executive Producers: Sandeep Parikh & Anand Shah
Editor: Sean Meagher
Music by Harshal Sisodia, Jasvir Singh & Maulik Zaveri
#funny #podcast #comedy #desi #abcd #indian #desiquest
Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/effinfunny
Sign up for the ABCD Email List: https://mailchi.mp/effinfunnyproductions/abcd
Join the conversation on Discord: https://discord.gg/effinfunny-783006672439345154
Hello friends, this is Omar from ABCD podcast, the podcast you're listening to right now, so you'd probably know that. Hello, how's it going? Before we hop into season two of ABCD, which is so exciting? Thank you for getting us to season two. Before we do that, we actually have a special surprise for you. We have a bonus episode that we have not released until right now. This is an episode we recorded out at PAX unplugged in Philadelphia. This is so cool because this is actually our first like remote on the street episode. With that in mind, some of the audio isn't like perfect. You might hear like some like peas popping, you might hear a little bit of wind. We recorded on the convention floor, we recorded in hotel lobbies, we even recorded it in the airport. So you know Buckle in for that. But we are so, so, so happy to share this bonus episode with you, and after that we are so excited to kick off season two of ABCD. All right, but enough stalling, let's get to our PAX unplugged episode. Enjoy.
Sandeep Parikh:Hello, welcome to a special edition of the ABCD podcast. We're on a little bit of a hiatus right now, but but we're also at PAX unplugged. So we thought, hey, let's do us a special show. And we've got you, omar. Hi, it's me, omar. Oh, my god, it is him, it's really him. It's not me doing a really great impression of him. And then we also have a special guest, my cousin Chethan.
Chethan:Yeah, I'm stoked to be here. It's my first board game convention.
Sandeep Parikh:I was gonna say it's your first board game convention. Can you tell us? You just walked on the floor five minutes ago what are your initial impressions of being at a PAX Unplugged in a board game convention?
Chethan:Well, there are a lot of awesome. There's a lot of awesome nerd energy going around. There's a ton of Games, including one that has an Indian auntie, which sounds pretty exciting.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, let's explore that game. Should we talk to the people about that game right now? Let's do it, okay, oh my gosh, okay. So, omar, we saw we were beckoned over to this booth at PAX Because there's an Indian auntie right at the top of this billboard, yeah, and who's like? You know, it was like a cartoon character and it's apparently she's a player character in this board game, yeah, called Arch Ravels, so we had to come check it out, right? I mean, when do you ever see that?
Omar Najam:Never, I've never seen an Auntie on a Board game. I know honestly like that's right. Yeah, well, true.
Sandeep Parikh:I've never played with an auntie. I'm playing a board game, yeah, so much less being an. I don't play as an auntie. We have to find out. How do we play as an auntie, and is she? And what are superpowers? Passive aggression, just plain aggression. I don't know. Let's find out. So we're here with the director of communication. Sorry, remind me your name again. My name is.
Lauren Nepomuceno:Lauren, lauren, Neopmuceno-S hales.
Sandeep Parikh:So please tell us about Neeha, who is in a sari, who's got iron as cast iron kettles in the background and Apparently she's a knitter like. Tell us about this.
Lauren Nepomuceno:Neeha is a very important character. She has each character in our travels has special abilities. Hers is the color specialist, so she is able to dye fabric using spices From India. So that is her Contribution. So her ability is she's able to shop to and craft one ignoring the color patterns on the board. So that's her special power, because she could dye the fabric, she could dye the yarn. So she is literally living outside of the pattern, outside of the box.
Sandeep Parikh:She also able to bargain everyone else down.
Lauren Nepomuceno:There is no bargaining. It is, although there could be house rules. You know, who knows?
Sandeep Parikh:At home, I'm telling you my house, my rule. Yeah, the whole thing is like I'll take it for two and no, no more.
Lauren Nepomuceno:Yeah, absolutely there are. There are. I've heard of house rules where people do batter At the bazaar here, but that's not necessarily the case. And what's so important about Neeha and why we love her, is that as much as it's important to represent different cultures in games, it's really important to represent different cultures in fiber arts. So multicultural influences in fiber arts and Respecting that and showing homage to that is so important.
Sandeep Parikh:So that's what we have Well why don't you give us a little overview of the game itself? Because it's a podcast. If you look at see it Like, this is a game where you're like building yarn Characters, right like so this is a yarn resource management game.
Lauren Nepomuceno:So if you crafters knitters out there, have too much yarn in your stash. This is you'll. You'll understand that that's some yarn Going off in the stash. Basically, you shop for yarn, you follow these color patterns at the bottom of your board and by completing these patterns you could complete projects that everyone is competing for. So this is the project board. So someone requested two blankets for winters coming and we're all fighting to complete two blankets to get these 20 points for winters coming. We got the game designer here, Adam (McCrimmon).
Adam McCrimmon:Yes, Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
Sandeep Parikh:We were beckoned over by the call of Neeha.
Adam McCrimmon:We saw, we were like.
Sandeep Parikh:I was like you know, mama G, like what are you doing on a billboard? Like I got to come over and check it out.
Adam McCrimmon:So she's choosing her colors.
Sandeep Parikh:This game, like what, like what was the inspiration?
Adam McCrimmon:Yeah, so years ago, when we were repping our very first game robot lab we were I met another, another fan of board games and her and I were talking, and she was a crafter and she was talking about how, in the crafting, you always have so much yarn you don't know what to do with it. You're always getting new yarn because it's beautiful and you love it, and it just felt like a really fun, cozy world to be in. Yeah, and the the gamer in me, the set collection and the resource management of like yarn right, I need a certain amount, I need certain colors, I need certain combinations it started clicking in my brain of like oh yeah, I want to do that. That sounds fun. That sounds like a cool puzzle to play.
Adam McCrimmon:So we we designed the game back originally in like 2018, and when I first designed the game, it was mostly cards. The game is a mostly card game, and it was we had locked, we had locked design, we had finished testing, we were on our way to Kickstarter. So we were doing all the production work for Kickstarter, and I woke up Late at night in July I can't remember what day it was like two in the morning, though, and I woke up and was like man, there's something about it that doesn't feel right. And that night I drafted out a concept of redesigning the game to be Bits and pieces and tiles and all those things.
Adam McCrimmon:You're crafting exactly that was exactly the nugget that I felt and went oh, I have to redesign.
Sandeep Parikh:Oh, yeah, absolutely, our head of production over there, jordan he.
Adam McCrimmon:The next morning he woke up to an email, a spreadsheet and a bunch of drafts on paper Pictures from me, like this is the new concept for where we're going with Arch Ravels. Yeah, and he went dude, we locked design. We're going to Kickstarter in two months, what? And I was like right, but search your feelings. You know this to be true. Yeah and the first time we put it together and we just use like bits from the game crafter and just prototyped it out With a tactile feel of moving the bits and getting the pieces like that.
Adam McCrimmon:It sealed it for us.
Omar Najam:Yeah, I mean, is there anything? Is there not anything more Auntie energy than last minute changes?
Aalok Mehta:Changing up. You know I'm birthday.
Chethan:Yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, this needs more spices. We're just going to put it in to the ladoo and you're gonna deal with it.
Aalok Mehta:Yeah, totally and.
Sandeep Parikh:I love that man.
Adam McCrimmon:Very cool and then from there we were off to the races and, you know, the Kickstarter performed really well. People came out really a lot of support for this. You know we, a lot of love, went into this to make it real for crafters. We actually, you know, we have crafting consultants that helped us with this to make sure we have the terminology right, the artwork Right. You know, we really wanted to make sure that whether you are a crocheter or a knitter, it appeals to you either way and you feel represented.
Adam McCrimmon:And then you know, on the subject of representation, our company motto is invent new gamers, and we believe that that includes it has to be a very wide umbrella. Yeah, everybody is welcome in that. So, if you've noticed, but for every one of the player boards in there, double-sided and we have, you know, people that represent the wide variety of gamers on our boards Including with the expansion coming out next year, it'll actually up the player count to six you get two new player types that we didn't have before, two new crafting specialties, and on those boards as well, you're like we continue that trend through because we really think it's super important that, no matter who you are when you come to gaming, you can see yourself reflected in what you're playing.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, yeah, I want to play this with a group of aunties. Like I push my auntie, let's go, it's your turn. I'm excited for that.
Adam McCrimmon:That'd be cool the first year that this came out. We did an event at a local yarn shop in Indianapolis in conjunction with Gen Con that year and it was 20 Grammas yeah, it was 20 grannies and they were excited. They were like, oh, we're gonna play a game about knitting and a few of them had a little trouble with the rules, but a few of them were really cutthroat those grannies, oh man.
Lauren Nepomuceno:You can't see what I'm working on.
Adam McCrimmon:Oh, you're going for that one, I'm doing it next. It was, it was very cutthroat.
Sandeep Parikh:Oh, that's great, Great television. You guys should have shot that.
Adam McCrimmon:that's amazing to watch yeah so wait and then you can like actually craft these, yeah, so you know this is a crafting game and wanted to feel good for the crafting audience. So in the original game we included a crochet pattern. It's a very much a beginner pattern. If you've never crocheted before, it's super simple to follow. You may have to look up some of the acronyms online, sure, but it makes this adorable little octopus. No way. Yeah, and this was actually inspired by a fan. The first time that we showed Arch Ravels they were so smitten with the octopus on the side on the top of the box that later that day they came back and they gave me an octopus no way. This is the original.
Sandeep Parikh:Like the five dollars taped to the wall for the first money you made you got your first octopus.
Chethan:Yeah.
Adam McCrimmon:You know what we're gonna. We want to include it in the game. Yeah, everyone who gets the game to have a chance to make something. It's so stinking cute.
Sandeep Parikh:It's like a little hat for your hand.
Omar Najam:I mean it's so cute, yeah, yeah I mean I, I love that so much because Playing games is great, it's the dream, so we all love, yeah, but it is at times like that, so sometimes as far as it'll go, yeah, curiosity kind of stops there, exactly, exactly. I love that you're taking one step further, like did you enjoy this art form? Now go play the game, go do it. Play the game, go do exactly.
Adam McCrimmon:Yeah, and then we're gonna continue that trend. So this was a very simple one. We put in Arch Ravels, right. But next year we have not only the expansion, Arch Ravels: Magic Socks. Gnomes have moved into the yarn bazarr, they will trade you a magical sock for any human made item. It gives you two new players as well. But then we're also releasing a series of theme packs. Okay, these allow you to re-theme the game you're playing from being the traditional hat, bear, mitten, scarf and blanket right to items in that theme. So we've got an enchanted theme where everything is like fantasy themed great. We've got cuddles, dinos and cryptids. Yeah, everything is a cuddly animal, a dinosaur or a cryptid. Each one of those is going to come with a advanced crochet pattern that it lets you make the adorable stuffies you can see over our booth incredible.
Sandeep Parikh:This is so cool. I'm so glad we stumbled onto this.
Omar Najam:Beckoned by auntie.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, you know it's funny is like I have a little four-year-old and we're looking at Waldorf schools. I don't know you know if you know about Waldorf schools, but they're really big into knitting like as a part of like the curriculum they teach these kids how to knit. So I'm just opening that up to you as a potential market for your game. These Waldorf schools, and that's probably a thing I Want to know.
Adam McCrimmon:I want to make a, my first ravel. Oh yeah, like something for kids. It's like the beginnings of learning. Hey, if I make it, you inspired it.
Sandeep Parikh:Oh, we're live now, baby. Hello check, hello check.
Aalok Mehta:Hello check, hello check, hello, hello.
Sandeep Parikh:You should do it like you know when our parents were on the phone with India and, like my parents, I don't know if you have this phenomenon, but when you're on the phone with India, you're just screaming into the phone and then, even after reception got better over the years, they still had to.
Aalok Mehta:Yeah this is not a sure habit. I still do that. It's generational. It's like trauma like. I haven't even broken the cycle yet. My kids do it too, okay.
Sandeep Parikh:Let me, let's let me introduce who you're listening to right now. This is Aalok Mehta, who did the music. He was one one half of the Original composition team that did the music for DesiQ uest. We ran into him because he is a East coaster. He lives in New York now, but you know originally from from Philly, the Philly area. Yeah, yeah, we had a whole conversation earlier off pod, but Quest love would not say that you were from the Philly area, correct?
Aalok Mehta:No, no, no, none of The Roots would say I'm from Philly, because I'm actually from Cherry Hill, which is over the bridge, even though geographically I grew up closer to where the Eagles, Flyers and Sixers play. That a lot of people who claim they're from Philadelphia, but that's for a different podcast.
Omar Najam:I think folks, if you're listening and you're like, but The Roots wouldn't really say that they did.
Sandeep Parikh:They did in fact say that to you.
Aalok Mehta:Yes, Cherry Hill ain't Philly. I think it was the yeah yeah.
Omar Najam:Amazing.
Aalok Mehta:So, speaking of musicians, you did the music for Desi Quest I did. I did myself and John Piscatello, who is amazing, incredible, talented composer. The two of us collaborated on it and it really was a true kind of mix of East and West and orchestral and folk and Indian, classical and Cinematic and fantasy and all those great things that I've been wanting to do. So I'm super grateful to be part of this team and be a cog in, you know, in the wheel of this first Historical. People has used historical a lot lately. It's everything's historical.
Adam McCrimmon:But it is, but it is cool, it's really it's very.
Aalok Mehta:You know, I'm super grateful to be part of this team.
Sandeep Parikh:It's very awesome so yeah, you, you took like a I don't want to say scientific or maybe scientific, but like or a historical approach To creating the music for DesiQuest, which I think is super unique. Can you speak to the? You know the ragas and like how you know your sure process for creating the music for each of the characters?
Aalok Mehta:Sure, sure. So I've always wanted a project to sort of kind of beta test these philosophical ideas I've had about Indian music and how. You know that it's actually not my idea, but the roots of a lot of Indian art comes from this ancient text called the Natya Shastra, which is a it's one of the Upanishads, when I like the you know the, the Vedic text, and it Is basically a manual on acting, on art, on dance, on everything, and they have these nine sort of variables called the rasas, which are different emotions and each character. For me, in DesiQ uest, I sort of Assigned certain rasas, that which later in Indian classical music became what's known as raga, which is sort of a loosely translated into like a system or a melodic framework by which to create music.
Aalok Mehta:And so we kind of like JP and I both and him coming from the Western background, who had knowledge of different modes as well, we kind of decided okay, you know Murkha should be this sort of A lot of. It was from you know the. You know what I got from Sandeep and you know the. The briefs you guys gave are very specific in terms of Describing the essence of a character. So we kind of just went. You know, I decided to approach it like, okay, you gave me enough, and then I sort of, you know, interfaced it with these nine rasas and you know, loose inspiration.
Sandeep Parikh:I want to get like an example, like a specific example where like so obviously Ash you like went for like sexy probably.
Aalok Mehta:It was like was like "too sexy on. It was like too sexy, like they're sexy, and then it's like too sexy.
Sandeep Parikh:That's. Two of the nine are sexy and too sexy.
Aalok Mehta:And like Murkha was, like too too sexy and Murkha was like too sexy, like it's like too sexy, like it's like it's a little bit more like you know just like yeah, like it was like a different chakra from which we emote the too sexy you know. It was like more like yeah you have to study Kundalini yoga in LA to kind of really get Murkha.
Chethan:No.
Aalok Mehta:But yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:Because you told me that there was like a graph or a table that you like it's like created for each of the characters or something like that. Like, I'm not gonna give up secret sauce, the chat masala.
Aalok Mehta:Oh no, but you want, you want us to okay, if you don't want to, you know of course.
Aalok Mehta:No, we, we, we definitely. Yeah, part of the workflow with John and I was kind of like sharing all of our sort of creative ideas and we, you know, yeah, we sort of came up with a spreadsheet that had certain kind of thematic melodic ideas Based on the different characters, and then once we got into it, it was really just kind of a point of departure and then, you know, we Scored, like you know, like any job, and you know it sounds very philosophical, but it did help to kind of index certain character traits With certain melodic ideas. If that makes sense, I think it's super cool.
Sandeep Parikh:What do you think?
Aalok Mehta:is it?
Sandeep Parikh:too sexy, it's very sexy.
Omar Najam:Okay, so we talk a lot on our show about like with chakras and chakra check-ins, and a lot of that is like where, what's the driving force? You know, what energy do you lead into this? So, for you, in music composition and thinking about music, what do you think is your guiding? Like the part of your mind or your soul that Keeps you creating music? That is the clear, like music is the clarifying element of this for you.
Sandeep Parikh:Oh, Wow, what chakra does it spawn from?
Aalok Mehta:Yeah, Wow, I didn't know we were getting this intimate guys. This is, this is too sexy. Yeah, you know, DesiQuest is kind of like root into hara, into no.
Adam McCrimmon:Yeah.
Aalok Mehta:I mean, listen, you guys are, you know it's, it's, I would say there's the range of Storylines and characters within DesiQuest, that kind of explores all these realms. I mean there's certain things that are, you know, it never gets too dark, like it's always within the framework of entertaining, buoyancy and fun. So we didn't want to make it like too dark. But there's moments like where we get into it, like with the battle themes and the jungle theme and the mountain theme, like we I specifically had Raga's that you know we wanted to use as our, as our point of departure, that were kind of darker and more angsty and kind of had a little bit unrest to it, but then a lot of, like, you know, just a sprightly stuff.
Aalok Mehta:And Sitara, Anjali stuff is very Bollywood fun, you know, but there's still an element you know of, of Romance and you know, within that and then, with Murkha, we really wanted to have a certain warmth and sort of a Creative, almost like maternal quality at times. That was very like soothing, you know, but also kind of scientific. So you know we would add synths and layers, that kind of, you know, made sense for that. And Ash was like a very much like a Traveller longing. I wanted to go like Lydian mode ragyamen 70s Pink Floyd B side kind of vibe you know, and you know we had.
Sandeep Parikh:You play the melody to Wizard of Oz If you play Ash's melody to Wizard of Oz.
Omar Najam:No, no, if you play the Ash's, Ash's melody to Wizard of Oz you.
Sandeep Parikh:It aligns up perfectly. You see god. Yeah, yeah, you do you become fully realized and you ascend, you achieve samadhi.
Aalok Mehta:That's season seven.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, can you speak to. Because DesiQuest is really a cult.
Aalok Mehta:I think that's the hope. what I just you know, if we're gonna succeed, we need to be a cult.
Sandeep Parikh:I mean that's where we need to get.
Omar Najam:I think it folks, you can support this at DesiQuest. com.
Sandeep Parikh:Go to patreon. com/desiquest and subscribe to our cult and that would be great our leadership training module, which will be released posthumously. So this is kind of your first introduction into TTRPG. Yeah, can you speak to that a little bit? Oh yeah.
Aalok Mehta:Yeah. So I mean, what a cool way to get into it, like I kind of just by default of you know, having to be involved in with this had to learn a little bit and Very cool and and probably more accessible, given that you know these are brown people kind of playing brown characters, and so I thought you know that kind of For somebody who wasn't maybe drawn to it prior to DesiQuest, you know that's really, I think a lot more people Probably get into it. I think this could be a catalyst for you know more Desis he's just getting into RPGs. I think that's the hope for sure.
Omar Najam:In terms of like inspirations and thinking about themes in general. If you could assign Laddoo Auntie any existing like vigilante or superhero theme, what would it be? What do you feel from Laddoo Auntie?
Aalok Mehta:I would say so, For me Laddoo Auntie and I hope we kind of encapsulated that in the music was like I was thinking, sort of very kind of like Almost like lazy languid, slow, unassuming auntie who then all of a sudden will pull out a rolling pin and chase you and be like spastic and like Yoda in Attack of the Clones, is very unassuming. And then all of a sudden does this crazy Count Dooku fight and then back to limping away. So I approached Laddoo Auntie kind of like that I wanted the Laddoo Auntie to have this, uh, appa rency of very unassuming and then all of a sudden, you know, and so I think we we tried to accomplish that a little.
Aalok Mehta:And then I also wanted to make Laddoo Auntie kind of have a south Indian, uh musical component, because Rekha being a south Indian, I don't know I just thought there would be an excuse to have a carnatic classical like the Indian classical from the south. So we hired a south Indian classical violinist to do these kind of intense sections in the Laddoo Auntie theme. So yeah, hopefully, if you listen to it when we release the soundtrack, you know, you can kind of track that a little. So hopefully it's there. We did go for that. What?
Sandeep Parikh:TTRPG show. Does I mean it's crazy. Hiring south Asian classical violinist is amazing. Um, I mean, really, you and JP brought so many of your resources and talents around you into the show. It's like we're so thankful for that. Um, I want to speak to also because the show is. This show is ABCD and just speaking to the like, the sort of the American born, Desi experience Can you in, uh, in 30 seconds or less?
Adam McCrimmon:I'm just kidding.
Sandeep Parikh:Or just just, I guess you know, because you're not just a composer and not that that's a just, but also an actor. You're on the show, The Chosen, you know, you're uh, you told me you're doing a movie that just came out Like just being an artist, a south Asian artist, like can you speak to that journey a little bit Like you know, how did it kind of begin for you and and where are you at now?
Aalok Mehta:Oh, wow, wow, I mean in 30 seconds or less. So I think, growing up, specifically, I know you guys are called ABCD, you know this podcast, but you know, growing up, having been exposed to, you, know Philly and, uh, you know Western music and Indian music like it's you couldn't escape kind of the 70s Bollywood, 80s Bollywood of your parents. But I also grew up playing in rock bands and I studied harmonium as a kid. Oh, wow. So I learned Indian music was like my. My first instrument was a harmonium, so kind of, and then I went on to keyboard. But I always had that sort of Indian training in how I approached the keyboard and how I approached music. So it was, um, yeah, I mean I would say it's. You know it was less sort of a plan than more, it was more kind of just you know the way it was a form of art.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, and were your parents cool with that?
Aalok Mehta:Yeah, my parents were actually very supportive, so I was kind of lucky. But yeah, no, I actually I remember going to the U2 concert in 87 with my yeah, basically, I was like I saw my.
Aalok Mehta:I went with my brother, tagged along with my older brother and a bunch of people, and I was like, oh, this is cool, Like a lot of people together at a rock concert. And then and then I studied Sitar in college and went to India to study music and and just felt like this kind of calling for Indian music, and so I started off as a musician first and then my brother made a movie called American Chai, which was like a indie film where I got to be in it and play a musician.
Sandeep Parikh:It's like the OG, you know, like American Indian, american show movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Aalok Mehta:Yeah, we were one of the first. It was like us. And then there's American Desi yeah With Kal and Rizwan and a bunch of people, and then there was like one or two other movies. But yeah, it was at the time it was kind of like a lot of us, our hero's journey, our mythic kind of coming of age story.
Aalok Mehta:Was was. That was like you know, that generational thing where you know we wanted to be artists and our parents are kind of navigating, being, you know, immigrants and all that, and it's it really is lovely. Now here we are with like Desi Quest, like you know, 23 years later, and it's like mainstream more, you know, and I think it's it's really exciting for me to kind of come full circle with that and be involved in like an Indian first again, you know, and I got to be in Bombay Dreams also as an actor. That was the first Broadway show and I guess it's dawning on me now right in this moment like how cool this is, you're the guy.
Chethan:It's really. It's really, You're the connected tissue.
Aalok Mehta:No, well, no, I mean I'm, you know, I just want to be. You know some part of this like it's really cool, it's, it's definitely. Yeah, I mean you know they say like, if you can think of anything else to do, like don't be an artist, don't be an actor, because you know it is. It does take a certain amount of masochism to do what we do, you know like it is crazy.
Aalok Mehta:So for me, I mean it's like I wish I had like a, an answer to that that was, you know, intellectual. It's more kind of just like you know, I really can't do anything, I really suck at everything else. You know, and I can sort of get by on Desi projects, you know in what I do.
Sandeep Parikh:Well, thanks for bringing all your non-suckery to the show DesiQuest. I mean, I think you can. You can hear the love and attention and detail in the show, in the soundtrack, and it just adds that extra level, the extra dimension of authenticity and and and you know just the uniqueness that I think you just don't get out of, out of shows like this usually.
Adam McCrimmon:It's like I'm sexy, I'm sexy.
Aalok Mehta:Hashtag I'm sexy.
Omar Najam:Our lawyers are saying verify that hashtag before you. Last question for you. Let's let's put the spotlight on you, let's really shine this. If you had a theme as a person, what would your theme be to celebrate in the show? Well, I've been in the show lots of times where, like, this is what I appreciate about you, know the other person and this is what I appreciate about myself. So, for you, what are the aspects and characteristics that you would highlight musically?
Aalok Mehta:Oh, wow, that's that's, that's tough, that's tough. I guess it depends on you know what version of me is a part of the story and in what context. But yeah, I mean I would say you know I would. I would hope that whatever music that I am sort of kind of, whatever platform or framework of music from which I'm operating, would be sort of like tolerant enough, improvisational and, you know, still following the structure, but also open to like change and you know whatever is needed in the moment. You know not too fixed, not to. You know probably kind of like a little bit like maybe the Laddoo theme, you know like it's just like. You know a little bit. You know minimal and then spastic and you know kind of everything in between.
Sandeep Parikh:Real quick as a final, last question what is the? What kind of D&D character would you want to be in the world of?
Aalok Mehta:DesiQuest. Oh wow, would you and we could have you look at it. Yeah, I think it would be interesting. Wow, wow, okay, this is cool. This is cool, maybe, like, maybe like one of those, like like "The Druncle like that, like that like that uncle at an Indian wedding who's like you love, but is also a little embarrassing.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, yeah, Like you're like excited that he's there for the first two hours, and then you're like don't hang out with him after 9pm.
Omar Najam:Exactly, Exactly. We don't call a Druncle to a second location Like who's going to take him home?
Aalok Mehta:You know, has he had his meds?
Omar Najam:You have to try this whiskey, not with you, we don't what class would Druncle be. Maybe help him out with the class, oh, oh, I mean honestly, I want to say barbarian, I want to say barbarian.
Sandeep Parikh:Laddoo Auntie and Druncle two barbarians in a pod, yeah a hundred percent yeah.
Aalok Mehta:But I'd want to be Druncle Ji you know the J-I so like there's respect Like self-appointed Druncle Ji or like same as that guy Drunkle, you know, or?
Chethan:something.
Omar Najam:Okay, so there's a multi-class with maybe a sorcerer there.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, or a monkey, awesome. Thank you so much for joining us.
Aalok Mehta:Thank you, thank you Omar, thank you Sandeep. You guys are awesome.
Omar Najam:DesiQuest is awesome and it is just too sexy to be a part of this Too sexy and, for context, we are screaming too sexy in a hotel lobby right now. Alright, everyone, we are joined by James Brent Isaacs, international Thumb Wrestling Champion. Is that correct?
James Brent Isaacs:Yes, yes, 2013 World Thumb Wrestling Champion.
Omar Najam:And can you give us some context as to what a thumb wrestling champion, what that means?
James Brent Isaacs:Yes, it means you go to England and represent your country and thumb wrestle. That's it. That's amazing.
Sandeep Parikh:We're in England. Do they hold these championships? Is it always in the same place?
James Brent Isaacs:Yeah, it's in Suffolk, which is in Lowstaff in the UK, so it's about an hour and a half north of London. And yeah, I was the first American to ever compete and then the first American to ever win, and I think I set the world record for fastest pin in, like my second match or first match somewhere around there.
Sandeep Parikh:So this is going to be a drubbing, but not just a drubbing. You're going to teach me some technique as well. Okay, great, great, great. I'm so excited Because I sort of I'll be honest I fancy myself a very good thumb wrestler. Does everyone do it? I think I'm good. I always used to joke that like, oh, if there was professional thumb wrestling or professional wiffle ball, those are the two things that I think I would do really well, and I guess I'm about to find out whether I'm even remotely close to self-describing myself being really actually good at thumb wrestling or not.
James Brent Isaacs:We will, yes, we will find out All right.
Sandeep Parikh:So how do we do this? All right basic rules.
James Brent Isaacs:Here we're going to go very simple Elbows free. Don't need to keep them down or anything. It's just a very simple one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war to start and then you have to win by pinning the other person and saying one, two, three, four, I win the thumb war.
Sandeep Parikh:And you say that as fast as you can, and then that's it. I just want to put your thumb down for a second. I just want to describe that I'm not in my thumb weight class. I don't know if that's a thing, but there should be, because, like I think, my thumb is about one third of your thumb.
James Brent Isaacs:It's quite all right. It's all about technique.
Sandeep Parikh:Okay, all right, great, great. So one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war.
James Brent Isaacs:Oh wow, he's already done better than most.
Sandeep Parikh:Come on, let's go.
James Brent Isaacs:One, two, three, four.
Sandeep Parikh:I'm in the thumb war no you got out, you got out, it's so it the reach yeah.
James Brent Isaacs:You really want to win. This is nice. One, two, three, four on the thumb war oh, it was good, though it was good Okay.
Sandeep Parikh:How can you get better? Okay, get me better. Thanks for watching ESPN. I feel, even that I made an attack at all, I feel good about.
James Brent Isaacs:Oh yeah, absolutely yeah you definitely be proud of yourself, so you have a lot of potential.
Sandeep Parikh:Thank you.
James Brent Isaacs:I'm going to give you a few tricks. Yeah, practice a little bit.
Sandeep Parikh:I'm so excited You'll be able to compete.
James Brent Isaacs:So essentially what's happening here are two things for my technique. So the first is everyone in the thumb wrestle usually just tries to overpower their person, right, so knowing that they're going to lunge forward, right, instead of like going back or trying to like go at the same time, I dart at an angle, okay.
Sandeep Parikh:That allows me to then hook at the base. That was like your first move.
James Brent Isaacs:Yeah, yeah so here I'm at the bottom of your thumb, so I'm at the hole you have no range of motion at that point.
Aalok Mehta:Yeah, yeah, it's actually a classical Indian text about thumb wrestling.
Sandeep Parikh:In the Upanishads.
James Brent Isaacs:Amazing, so nine times out of 10, you do this simple move, you get them really quickly.
Sandeep Parikh:Can I try it? I want to try it. Yeah, absolutely so. It's like you dart, and then you go here, pull down as hard as you can, yeah, and I can't.
James Brent Isaacs:There's nothing. I don't have space, I don't have strength.
Adam McCrimmon:There's like it's all the whole range of mobility is done. Crazy, okay, cool.
James Brent Isaacs:Now the second technique here is if you actually do get pinned, yeah, so it's pretty easy. So actually we'll switch. Pin me, okay, right, so you're holding on as hard as you can, as hard as you can, all right, I can't break that, I can't force myself out of that, that's great.
James Brent Isaacs:All right, keep going as hard as you can Cool. So instead of pressing against you and your power, I'm just using yours. So instead of pressing upwards, I press down with you, and that allows me to slide out the back. I love that. Okay, and that's it.
Sandeep Parikh:Is there a move that I can make to prevent you from doing that, or not really?
James Brent Isaacs:No, not really At this point, it's just about wanting it. If they're really holding down tight, it's going to be harder.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, but for the most part, just keeping calm, remembering to press down and then go out Because they have to say the things yeah, you have some time, right, right.
James Brent Isaacs:So this is more offensive and then this is more defensive. Yeah, so I got you just pretty simple, like that. Okay, that's it. I love it. He learns quick folks. He learns quick.
Sandeep Parikh:Okay, I'm ready 2024, baby 2024.
James Brent Isaacs:The first Indian-American representative. I mean, I got my coach. I will back you the entire way, Sounds. I will be your Yoda.
Omar Najam:And if you win, the British have to give us back everything.
Aalok Mehta:The Kohinoor.
Sandeep Parikh:The Kohinoor's, ours At ThumbCon.
Omar Najam:Thank you, tiger Monkey himself. That was amazing.
Chethan:That was awesome. Tell us your name.
James Brent Isaacs:James Brent Isaacs, aka Tiger Monkey, world Thumb Wrestling Champion 2013.
Sandeep Parikh:Is that your Thumb Wrestling name? That was my Thumb Wrestling name, tiger Monkey. Yeah, how did you come to that name? I?
James Brent Isaacs:was a pounce like a tiger, but I'm agile like a monkey.
Sandeep Parikh:Okay, I love it. That's awesome. Do you have a name for me? Can I be anointed a name for you?
James Brent Isaacs:Oh, I can't do that on the spot.
Aalok Mehta:No, no, no, no, no no.
Sandeep Parikh:That's not that's. I can't do that. Or like what isn't there, like in football, is like Megatron, and then there's Minitron, so it's like kitty, kitty, baby monkey, I don't know Kitty, baby monkey is close.
James Brent Isaacs:We'll work on it. We'll work on it. We want it like Tiggie Mononoke.
Sandeep Parikh:I like Tiggy Mononoke, I'm coming for you. 2024 Suffolk Prepare to suffer Suffolk.
Omar Najam:Hey gang, it's me again. Before we hop into the next segment, I wanted to do an official introduction because we were rushing around the convention floor and bumped into our friends Elise Rizendes and Gabe Hicks over at the Mythic Grove Productions booth and we wanted to sneak in and chat with them about their "ession zero system, which is amazing. So you're about to hear us play through the session zero system, which is a system where you essentially get to form relationships in your games, form identities in your games, build out character, build out the world, get a sense of where your narrative is going, all before you start the first second of your first session. So we're about to hop into that. But since we were running around, we didn't really like officially do a proper introduction, so I just wanted to knock that out. Make sure you understand that. So here is our interview with Elise Rezendes and Gabe Hicks as they escort us into a cool secret room at the Mythic Grove Productions booth at Pax U.
Omar Najam:Oh, alright, we're here with our oh yeah, oh yeah, okay, sorry, sorry about that. Okay, sorry about that. We're going. Okay, we're being led. Oh, we're in trouble.
Sandeep Parikh:Where are?
Gabe Hicks:we going, where are you?
Sandeep Parikh:I'm actually. Oh my god, wait, is there room full of boxes and corpses? What's happening in here? No, no, they're done. I got rid of them. We're recording right now. We're recording. Wait, there's another room. Why is there another?
Elise Rezendes:room. Is this the sex?
Gabe Hicks:room. What's happening? No, no, legally no.
Elise Rezendes:If my lawyer asks you were never here.
Gabe Hicks:Got it, got it okay. Legally we can't say that there was.
Chethan:Yeah yeah this is crazy.
Sandeep Parikh:There's chairs and everything, oh my god, is that lava lamp?
Elise Rezendes:We all took a little HEPA on that air filter. If anybody needs some tea, what Beautiful yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:Amazing. Covid is not allowed in this room.
Omar Najam:This is incredible. We are here with our good friends Gabe and Elise. How you both doing.
Elise Rezendes:Tired as hell. So fucking good, so fucking tired. Okay, I see that you guys are reclined, oops.
Omar Najam:We are here in the Speakeasy room, here at the Session Zero System booth Mythic Grove booth.
Gabe Hicks:It was a Mythic Grove booth, but here.
Omar Najam:Thank you very much. Sandeep was like you do it and I was like this is a bad interview.
Gabe Hicks:We're here at the Mythic Grove booth that has the Session Zero system for sale.
Elise Rezendes:It's a PAX exclusive. Why am I?
Omar Najam:on the show when you could have Gabe handle this, because they needed someone cute.
Sandeep Parikh:They're so pretty, we needed the glasses.
Gabe Hicks:I have glasses, oh okay, well nevermind then..
Elise Rezendes:And I have the haircut.
Sandeep Parikh:Do you have an array of glasses collection like Omar does? I don't think you do.
Omar Najam:Yes, you do, yeah, do you can't prove otherwise.
Gabe Hicks:Do you guys want to have the glasses off?
Omar Najam:It's audio.
Gabe Hicks:That's called being blind and losing your things. Well, I had the pleasure of playing this a little while ago for testing it out. What did you think? I loved it.
Omar Najam:I mean, this was like last year, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, and I had a great time. It was of all the sort of like pre- and there's you know not many that I've seen folks roll out with to be like, hey, let's take this character building seriously, let's take like diving deep into your character's background seriously.
Gabe Hicks:You want to build a character right now. Yeah, hey, did you know that your?
Elise Rezendes:name's in the book. I didn't know that what.
Omar Najam:This is the first time I'm finding out about this. I didn't know that.
Sandeep Parikh:No big deal. You're credited on the game. Did you know this, Sandeep? No!?
Elise Rezendes:Why would I know that? I know, we told everybody but you.
Aalok Mehta:Yes, that's so funny.
Elise Rezendes:No, you were one of the groups that did some of the first kickstarting. Yeah, yeah, play testing. It was amazing.
Omar Najam:Oh my god what a dream! Okay, well, let's do this yes, let's do our part.
Gabe Hicks:Draw your so there are three steps to it. There is legacy, bond, catalyst. Legacy is where you are coming from and part of your origin. Yes, bond is someone that is relevant to your story, someone that we can include in this world, and catalyst is what set you on this adventure to become who you are. So let's start with your legacy.
Omar Najam:Go ahead and pull. Okay, here we go.
Sandeep Parikh:Go Right here from the top Should this be the character that you play at our game.
Omar Najam:Made in two hours Mindful, mindful, gorgeous art.
Elise Rezendes:So here are the things that I want you to pay attention to when we're asking these. This path represents the many ways in which your character's story can begin, what people and places they hail from. A person can become who they are because of, or in spite of their origins, so pay attention to that. When I read for you Okay, mindful, you were raised to respect and live in harmony with nature's power. What secret did you learn from your upbringing that others may not know about this region? What did it take to adjust to the more metropolitan world around you, and what do you cherish most from home?
Omar Najam:Oh my gosh, okay, off the top of my mind. A secret that I'm aware of is that, where I'm from, if you are quiet and patient enough, you hear the trees speak to one another. They whisper, adjusting to the metropolitan area. Those trees don't talk. They're blocks apart, but they don't speak with one another. They don't even speak to themselves, and so the thing I miss the most from home, I think, is that breeze blowing through that carries the words from one tree to another.
Sandeep Parikh:Well.
Aalok Mehta:I'm already crying.
Sandeep Parikh:That's a huge GM gift.
Omar Najam:Well, then let's go into your bond, then, okay, perfect, I'm going to set this card right here. Please Keep an eye. Okay, here we go. We're on bond now and I've got elder Beautiful art again.
Elise Rezendes:Dakota Curry did all our art. They did an incredible job. This path provides archetypes to represent the different kinds of people that may have had the most lasting impact. This can be an impact for good or for ill, oh okay. You can just as easily have been changed by someone being in your life from next door or worlds away. Oh wow. They may play a pivotal role in your story, but are you even a footnote in theirs? Perhaps not yet Pay attention to when we ask you to talk about your elder, a person of great authority, with the ear of many. How did you first catch their eye? What happened to show them your untapped potential and importance? How did they choose to invest in you, and has your opinion of them changed with time?
Omar Najam:Oh, interesting. Let's get complex with this, if that's all right.
Gabe Hicks:Yeah please.
Omar Najam:Okay, since my original question for legacy had to do with getting to a metropolitan area, I'm going to say that this is a person who is maybe within the government, like a local council member who I caught their eye when I was volunteering at a local community garden and they, unbeknownst to me, kind of latched on, were like this will be someone who I'm going to like tutor, but also I'm using them to be like look how good I am with like the youth capitalizing on that ingenue and I very much picked up on that and had a distaste for it. But as time is going on, I'm starting to question my own gut instinct of but underneath, underneath all the gross politic, is there actually a core of good that this person started off, maybe where I'm at? And I'm starting to question that. I'm starting to question my assumption of this is not a good person.
Elise Rezendes:Okay, we're going to move on to the catalyst next. Now, this one's a little bit different. This one has two options a constructive and a destructive option, because not every rogue needs a tragic backstory. So I'm going to read you two options and you're going to pick the one you like.
Gabe Hicks:Oh, my God, they're making Barry the life of faces right now.
Omar Najam:That's so true. Here we go. I've got number 16, incredible art of this statue, this giant head that's weeping, a place hidden, a realm revitalized.
Elise Rezendes:So a place hidden, done so to protect the secret from getting out and endangering others, or a realm revitalized? With enough time, almost any wound can be healed. Do either of those off the top of your head feel like they fit better with the story that you're creating here? Oh my gosh.
Omar Najam:I would say we had the dichotomy of the countryside, the trees whispering metropolitan. No, the trees don't whisper, but now and the individuals here rotten to the core. But as time is going on and I'm getting to know people, I'm starting to wonder is that not just a construct that can crumble easily? Is the metropolitan itself not built upon the land of whispering trees?
Elise Rezendes:So you're going more realm revitalized, yeah Great. So then your questions are by what force was this land first damaged and what has been done in the aiding of its mending? How much time did it take to do such work? Who's championed this endeavor? What lesson was learned in those lands, and at what cost? Now that they're being mended, oh my goodness.
Omar Najam:Okay, let's say that the foundation of the metropolitan was like someone who wanted to build an oligarchy, wanted power, wasn't comfortable with magic being a natural entity and wanted to be more in the social construct of it, so built a city, said that I'll protect you from beasts, creatures on the outside, dangerous sickness. Let's come together, let's build walls to trap ourselves in so I can rule this. And in trying to bring back what was there before, it's starting to physically crack the buildings. These like community gardens, like the roots that are growing, and that's starting to be the fray of how much do we destroy what's here to bring back what was before? How much should burn? But also, maybe these are people's lives. I now have to weigh. But how much do I respect the while? Not maybe the original philosophy, but the effect that has helped people? Is there a harmony that we could reach?
Elise Rezendes:And two things can be true at the same time. There is one loss already, there can be another. You then, as your character, would weigh both.
Omar Najam:Yes, you're right, folks, we did this with three cards. That's wild.
Gabe Hicks:Here's my favorite part After everyone has their three cards, you go on to the amalgam phase. We've already built our individual backstories. This is the phase where you now interconnect them. So if I was also playing with you, I would have a legacy, a bond and a catalyst, and then each player would choose to tie one of theirs to someone else's. I drew a bond card because I was curious and I got guide and literally, hearing you talk, I almost feel like my guide is one of the people who was leading that destruction of building the walls, keeping it away, which may be that affected why my character is so internalized. I don't want to deal with that. I don't want to touch magic. Maybe that influences my character, not even being interested at all, because that's what I was raised to believe, that's what I was guided to believe, and you and I have that relation without even knowing it.
Elise Rezendes:And then all of this gets tied up into a bow. If I was your storyteller, I now have places that exist in the world. I have NPCs that are now mine to move and breathe in the world around us, and I have events that are either unfolding, have unfolded, or the ramifications of which we continue to play out. Those are mine to make the world build on. If this was a preexisting module we were playing, these are archetypal enough that you could fit them to an already prewritten story. Or if we're building I'm a homebrew storyteller. I really like doing it like theater of the mind and imagination.
Elise Rezendes:Together we could build all of these worlds out together, and you are now invested in the places in this world, the people that inhabit them and the events that are going to be unshaping over the rest of our story.
Sandeep Parikh:Okay roll initiative.
Omar Najam:This is gorgeous Folks, this is amazing, and there's so much more in that.
Elise Rezendes:That is literally like one third of the thing. There's a lot more in here about safety tools and about adding homebrew rules. What is a session zero? For people who are really new? It takes it through all of it. It's a multi-tool that you want to be able to have on you. You won't need every tool every time. I keep saying salt to taste. You don't need it all at once, but you will have it when you need it for the story that you're playing.
Sandeep Parikh:I think, from the perspective of someone who's relatively new to D&D and who is hungover and barely caffeinated, that was, first of all, just a whirlwind to experience. I always marvel at Omar when he does this shit, but I'm like what the fuck, dude? That wasn't written.
Adam McCrimmon:you guys I don't think you understand.
Sandeep Parikh:Omar was just like yeah, that was incredible. It's so clear that how it sparks the creativity you really do set tinder to the kindling of what's already within in such a constructive way. That would have been so useful to me coming into D&D really not knowing anything. For me as a comedian too, my go-to is like what's the silly? Haha, what's going?
Sandeep Parikh:to get me last because that's where I'm comfortable. But then I get into a place very quickly, even within a one-shot. I'll get into a place where I'm like, oh, there's no substance in this character. He makes puns about pretzels.
Adam McCrimmon:That's pretty much all I add you guys.
Sandeep Parikh:Then someone's like but what are you fighting for? I'm like fuck pretzels. I'm fighting for more pretzels.
Elise Rezendes:But if you have this, this is going to be a one-shot. All of a sudden it's like all right, so the trees are now starting to take over this town that you're in, and you have to fight a war within yourself to figure out what is worth protecting. Is it the things going back or are you protecting things that exist now? There's a duality in that we could play through a four-hour charity campaign and you'd be able to motivate something because you care about the world-building that we just did.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, yeah, it levels up the quality of the game. This is one run.
Gabe Hicks:There are 20 prompts in each category 60 prompts total.
Elise Rezendes:How did you?
Sandeep Parikh:guys think of this. I love running one-shots.
Gabe Hicks:Some people come with two paragraphs of back story. Some people come with 19 paragraphs of back story. It's really hard to make them all feel like they have an equal involvement in it, especially when you ask new players what do you want to be, if they're like I don't know, "Wizard with a knife?, they don't know what the possibilities are. But when you're able to ask someone questions, then they feel like they can involve themselves and opt in. It's not just that they have to think of what they are, they get to enjoy who they are and make it as part of a game and a discussion.
Elise Rezendes:I had a really long-term campaign that I was running for a home game. One of the first versions of this that I sort of ran for my player about four years ago was we had a new group of players that were like, ah, combat. Then I was like, oh my stuff, it's about the shopping episode. Then it was like, oh, role play. It was the evolution of people getting more comfortable with the system.
Elise Rezendes:We got to a point where my ranger was like I know I want to multi-class, but I truly don't know if my ranger is going to go with the gods and become a paladin or if they're going to lean more into being a Robin Hood hero and being with the thieves. Cause I can't decide. I said, well, let's role play it. I built a place, a person and an event. We role played through both of them. They went to the paladin side of things. They talked to folks. It was like, ah, all right.
Elise Rezendes:Then I had this thiefling kid. Be like hey, you can go join your shiny order on top of the city. That system works for some people. Let me bring you to the real world. That's not all glitter and glam. Let me bring you into the shit where people are being abandoned by the system and we're trying to fix it from the inside. You can go do that, but we're doing the real work here and people need you here. My player was like, oh, I die for this kid. He wasn't in my life 30 minutes ago and now I'm a thief. I am, I'm right here right now. So we Both had different tools that we wanted to bring. We've been using these kinds of things. We wanted to bring them into a collection because a lot of games say create your backstory, figure out how your party met and figure out where you begin the adventure. That's a lot of world building to do if you've never done this before. So we wanted to collect all the things that we use and put them together in a game.
Omar Najam:This is just good. This is just good. I've had the pleasure of chatting about games with you both, and the fact that now other people get to take those conversations and have it in a form that they can use, that's just great man.
Gabe Hicks:It's wild seeing someone have no idea what it is and then, in two minutes, buy all of it that we have. And it's wild because they're like they don't ask how much it costs, they're just like no, I need it, I'll take seven. Yeah, basically, it's just mind blowing.
Elise Rezendes:My favorite thing has been someone will run a demo. We've got two demo booths running all weekend and people will play a game and they'll go out back into PAX and they'll grab people, bring them back to the booth and be like, hey, I brought my friends, don't worry, I got this. Okay, here's the whole thing, and then they run through the game and I've never experienced anything like that.
Sandeep Parikh:That makes so much sense to me because I have a four year old. I've been introducing him to story, dice and stuff like that and then, by virtue of that, my extended family is kind of like what are you guys doing? And I'm like, oh, we should play D&D with my cousins that are 55 years old and they're like what, and I think they would be so into it and this would be such a great gateway into. I have a book for you as well, quickly developing. Okay, amazing. I have another weird use case for this. Yep, because at first again, low caffeine not enough caffeine for me and I was like a little dazed. I was like I thought at first he was supposed to answer from his own real life backstories some of these questions Like so I was like, oh, I wonder what his memory is a kid and I was like this would be such a great dating tool for like answer these as real questions for your life, Like who is the elder in your life? Tell us about an ally of yours.
Elise Rezendes:An accomplice in your actual real life.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, yeah, okay, let's do it.
Elise Rezendes:An accomplice whose goals and desires are aligned with your own. What event made you realize the two of you were on the same side? When did you first come to their aid and they yours? What have you faced together thus far, and what do you admire most about the other in your real life? An actual ally.
Sandeep Parikh:I'm gonna go with Anand Shah, who is my business partner, with EffinFunny. Like we first met across the table, he came up from the executive side of the studio world and I was like the creative, like always high, trying to pitch ideas. Guys, don't look at me, why did you?
Gabe Hicks:look only at me. I was like do you have any weed on you?
Sandeep Parikh:That's what I was like that was the begging. Is what you saw my eyes, no, no.
Elise Rezendes:To our lawyers? The answer is no. The answer is no, our lawyer.
Sandeep Parikh:They could hear the wink on the podcast. Well, they can now, but yeah, I think it's him. And what was the last question, the last?
Elise Rezendes:question is what do you admire most about the other?
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, his absolute tenacity and that his heart is like so compassed in the right place, it's so mission focused. It's so about like he keeps pointing me back towards the why instead of the like the shiny object that my ADHD brain wants All the things he's like, why. Why are we doing this? What are we fighting for?
Elise Rezendes:And that just keeps me moored and going in the right direction, pulling that needle towards the front.
Sandeep Parikh:So there you go.
Elise Rezendes:Look at that.
Sandeep Parikh:Look at that.
Elise Rezendes:Yeah lovely, A session zero game and a dating game.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, a dating tool, a therapeutic tool, Amazing, Hilariously though.
Elise Rezendes:I do love. I'm really excited for all the ways that people are gonna play the game, the way that we didn't design it.
Adam McCrimmon:I love like there are no rules.
Elise Rezendes:As written. There's a spot in the very end of the book that just says like your imagination is as untenable and boundless as you will let it Like, get funky with it. I want you to break the game and play it the way that you want. We want you to go like drive it like a stolen car, get weird right, because it's just Maybe not like that.
Gabe Hicks:Drive it like a car that you borrowed. You paid money for this. Use it how you would like.
Chethan:No, no, commit Grand Theft Auto.
Elise Rezendes:Amazing. It's gonna be exciting. So we've got a couple more hours of PAX unplugged. We are gonna be fulfilling the Kickstarter for our backers before the end of the year, which is very exciting, and then it is gonna be available in probably spring or summer of 2024. Amazing.
Omar Najam:Everywhere.
Elise Rezendes:Support your local game stores. Everywhere you're friendly with, the game stores are.
Omar Najam:Thank you both so much for chatting with us. Thanks for taking the time.
Sandeep Parikh:All right, I think.
Elise Rezendes:Oh, we're now from the Speak Easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think a second date is an order.
Sandeep Parikh:I think I'm done. We're gonna do a section where just a bunch of games are laid out, and I was drawn to this game, omar, yesterday, and wanted to bring you here because to me it looked like Carrom. So me and my cousin Chethan, we were like yo, is this just like Carrom?
Chethan:I'm like what is this.
Sandeep Parikh:So, for those who don't know, tell them what Carrom is Chethan. What is Carrom?
Chethan:It's a game that hurts your fingers. Yes, yes. That uncles and aunties tend to love. Yes, and to be honest, I kind of forget how to play Carrom. I just have like a positive association.
Sandeep Parikh:It's kind of like pool, there's like holes in the corners and in the sides. And you are literally flinging. Instead of a cue ball, you're flinging these like checkers pieces that are heavy. They hurt, and I think, the uncles and aunties really enjoy the pain they inflict upon their little nephews, their little niblings.
Chethan:It's also true. I think that they know how to flick them in a way that doesn't hurt them, but it's something that hasn't been passed down. Yeah, generation, yeah, they don't want you to learn For me, it hurts for you. Yeah, yeah exactly.
Sandeep Parikh:So this game was fun, so we learned it. It's called Crokinole, ok. Ok, I turned that into a verb meaning kind of asshole. So stopping such a Crokinole is something I continually said so maybe we'll carry that forward, I don't know.
Sandeep Parikh:But the point is that there's this hole in the center, right, yeah, it's like shuffleboard, ok, if, for those of you who are familiar with the bar game, shuffleboard, it's got this like little. There's like a little sand, you can see, yeah, this is sand, and so that helps it slide, and so we each have a quadrant, ok, and we're all aiming to try to slide it into this hole. Now there are some like nuances to the rules. We go in a turn-based way, it's two on two. Me and you, omar, are on the same team, we're the green team. Oh, OK.
Sandeep Parikh:We're going against you, Varum and Chethan. Ok, you, Varum and Chethan, are my cousins and we're going to kick their asses. Are you good with that? Let's do it. Yeah, OK, great.
Chethan:Oh.
Sandeep Parikh:Not bad. Yeah, that's OK. Ok, don't get it, that's a miss. Whoa, whoa, oh, oh, oh, you can't fly, dude. Oh, also, nice play, keep them up. That was absolutely perfect.
Chethan:He's my cousin, so he has to help me.
Lauren Nepomuceno:No, that's OK.
Chethan:Are you kidding me?
Sandeep Parikh:No, that was a good play.
Omar Najam:Oh, I knocked my piece out because that was the hard.
Sandeep Parikh:But you took his out too, so we'll take it.
Chethan:Yeah, nicely done. Oh, that was beautifully done. Oh, that's the most embarrassing. Oh, there you go.
Omar Najam:There you go, great play. Wow, that was so good. This is the last round, right yeah?
Sandeep Parikh:Oh, ok, knocked mine out, knocked his out.
Omar Najam:And they hit it Whiffed, whiffed.
Sandeep Parikh:Wow, I missed completely. See and look at how the board has changed. Oh no.
Chethan:You helped them, you helped them. This is a hard game.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, it's tougher than you think. Ok, if I missed the center, yeah, and I hit, and not only do I lose this piece, but any other piece that I hit of ours, I also lose.
Adam McCrimmon:Oh yeah, so I have to be very careful to just hit the center.
Sandeep Parikh:Oh, ok, I'm not going to hit any of our pieces. Well, that's not easy.
Chethan:It is no longer anyone's game. It is now our game.
Adam McCrimmon:Yeah, wow, that's a great game.
Sandeep Parikh:Great game Crokinole.
Omar Najam:And we're recording.
Sandeep Parikh:Who baby? Wow, wow. What a time, what an adventure. We are now back in.
Adam McCrimmon:Dallas.
Sandeep Parikh:Texas on a six hour layover on our way back from Pax Unplugged on our way to LA it was cool to end on the show Like, basically you and I had to bounce because we were on the same flight and we had to like, right after our Desi Quest live show. We were like had to kind of high tail it out of there. We tried to get cheesesteaks.
Omar Najam:We did. We rushed the cheesesteaks and we ran through the rain.
Sandeep Parikh:We ran through the rain. We went through three to three different spots in the Reading Terminal and no cheesesteaks.
Omar Najam:No cheesesteaks, they're all closed. The next time.
Sandeep Parikh:Next time. But we had to run out and it was cool to like at least for me. I feel like it was like wild to end. It was like a culmination of the whole weekend. Yeah, and that insane, joyful, super fun one shot.
Omar Najam:It was just the absolute best. Before that we got to hang out with our friends at Dispel Dice yeah, and get our hands on some red Fancy looking dice.
Sandeep Parikh:In credible dice yeah, I got some Murkha, dice I never knew I was going to be a dice guy. Yeah, I'm learning this about myself. Look at that. I'm not a collector in any way really. I'm still very cheap, and so the idea it feels extravagant to like really fall in love with dice, like you just like I got some really fancy dice Now I got some really fancy dice. And those are really really pretty pretty good dice.
Omar Najam:What's the name of my thing? It was like you got deep spice nine. Deep spice nine.
Sandeep Parikh:I knew it was a pun Spice, deep spice nine. What did you get?
Omar Najam:I got I forget the name of it, but it's a it's if a bunch of cogs fell into dice as they were being made Right.
Sandeep Parikh:Cause we asked. I'm sorry I'm blanking on her name now.
Omar Najam:We're in cat yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:Yes, we asked them like what would be best for Murkha? Yes, and she immediately knew exactly the dice.
Omar Najam:They're so beautiful. We got to also play, as you heard. Check out some. A game about yarn, yes, where you get to play as an auntie.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, I got to thumb wrestle.
Adam McCrimmon:I'm going to take that those lessons about thumb wrestling away from the rest of my life.
Sandeep Parikh:That will be influential for the rest of my life. I love thumb wrestling and so now, like a part of me really does want to try to become a thumb, wrestler champion. you should be Like. I really want to do like a Rocky montage training thing with with your buddy.
Adam McCrimmon:Brent. With James Brent Isaacs. Yes!
Sandeep Parikh:That would be so awesome. It might happen. It might happen. There might be a kickstarter. You're a scrapper Sandeep. I need you.
Chethan:I need you, I need you, I need you.
Sandeep Parikh:I got to work these thumbs out, man. Yeah, what a wild time. That was so fun. What else did we do? We saw a parade, yeah.
Omar Najam:We saw Christmas parade. We went to a Christmas village Yep. We saw fight break out and we saw brawl.
Sandeep Parikh:We saw brawl and the best part of the brawl.
Omar Najam:Yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:Was that we were with some friends who are from Philly or Cherry.
James Brent Isaacs:Hill actually you heard from Aalok, which is another great interview right.
Sandeep Parikh:And then the whole time he was like welcome to Philly. He was like yeah, and I was like the best part was we were around the ice skating rink, like at this magical, beautiful city hall. Yeah, it's like the parade just went through, there's like spiced apple cider everywhere and then just this big brawl. I don't know why I'm laughing, but there was this big brawl all of a sudden breaking out. Why I'm laughing is because I was like, oh, don't worry, there's security there. But the security was a part of the brawl. They We're just also upset and brawling.
Sandeep Parikh:And then Aalok was like welcome to Philly, but what a time. I mean, like I'm just taking away this like incredibly full heart feeling of the viscerally feeling the impact that DesiQuest is having on people.
Chethan:Yeah.
Omar Najam:That's the thing is like afterwards we had to get hustled out of the hall we were in because so many people were just coming up to chat with us and hang out and just and we had to get a plane to catch, but otherwise I wanted to revel in that. It was so wonderful. It is overwhelming in the best way. Yeah, yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:There's something about seeing like a 23 year old Indian kid who's like in college, like you see a version of yourself, and yeah, and they're like talking about how, how, moved they are and how they feel like, so like unlocked in a way yeah. I think one of the kids said he was like, I feel like creatively unlocked. No wait that way my cousin that said that. That he said he felt creative. some kids. He's still a kid to me, he's like four years younger than me, but he's still a kid he was, like I feel, creatively unlocked.
Chethan:Yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:I was like, yeah, hell, yeah. But then there was that other 23 year old kid that was in our. You weren't there. It was in a panel with me and Anjali just talking about how you know, how seen he felt and I was like, oh man, this is what we're doing, this for this is amazing.
Omar Najam:It is just absolutely wild, and for us too. We had a friend who, you know, works with nerdy therapeutics.
Sandeep Parikh:Geek Therapeutics, yeah.
Omar Najam:And I wanted to just keep it ambiguous and be like nerd therapy and I was like we can just say the name.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, I know we should. Such a cool mission.
Omar Najam:And we were kind of getting to hear about how also, like a lot of Desi Quest is being used to discuss, like masculinity and Desi culture.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah. Which I didn't even think about. We're going to have to have them on the pod because that was such a cool conversation talking about yes, exactly.
Aalok Mehta:Yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:Folks from India coming over here, working in tech and using D&D to sort of unlock creativity for them. And yeah, and it sounds like Desi Quest is the conduit.
Adam McCrimmon:That's what they're sending them to like as required viewing.
Sandeep Parikh:It's just amazing, it's crazy it's only been out. The show's been out for two and a half weeks, or three weeks or something.
Omar Najam:Unbelievable yeah.
Sandeep Parikh:And I thank you everybody for listening and for being on this journey with us.
Omar Najam:Thank you, and to the sounds of Dallas airport, waking up.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah.
Omar Najam:We wish you well everyone.
Sandeep Parikh:Yeah, we'll talk to you later.
Omar Najam:Hi, you ready yeah.
Adam McCrimmon:Hey, this is Adam from XYZ game labs. May your Chakras be al igned and your smothered in chutney. Yeah, all right, thank you.