It's F*cking Tough to be Reasonable (Ep. 130 - Carlos Maza/Suikoden 2)

If you were to form a band of adventurers, what role would you want to serve -- fighter or healer? My guest this week is Carlos Maza, who knows how to put up a verbal fight as the host of insightful explainer videos for Vox.com. But off camera, the role in which he's most at home is that of caretaker, looking after others and supporting the well being of those around him. But as he's found, that doesn't always leave time for taking care of himself.
 

This Week's Recommendation: The Adventure Zone

Big thanks to Carlos for joining me for this very nerdy conversation. We didn't even have a chance to talk about our mutual enthusiasm for Dungeons and Dragons, but fear not -- for my recommendation this week, check out the podcast The Adventure Zone. Originally started as a one-off goof, the show was an instant hit and has grown into a sprawling emotional years-long epic.

The Adventure Zone cast consists of three brothers and their dad playing D&D, role-playing adventures in a fantasy land, and bonding as a family in real life. Over the last three years of game play, it's expanded to include LGBT characters and some truly touching romances.

When they began the show, the McElroy family had no idea they'd make more than one episode, but here it is, wildly popular and spawning live shows, comic books, cosplay, and animated tribute videos. They just set out with a rough idea and not much of a plan -- proof that sometimes no plan is the best plan.

And speaking of D&D, keep an eye on the Sewers of Paris feed for a special bonus episode going up on September 8th. It's the audio recording of a live show that I just hosted with a bunch of amazing Seattle performers, called Dungeons and Drag Queens. A lot of people helped make the show possible -- including this week's guest, Carlos Maza. He helped us test the game before we performed it before a live audience.

The Dungeons and Drag Queens special drop into the Sewers of Paris feed tomorrow, right after this episode, and if you like it -- great! If not, we'll be back with a regular episode next week.

Clips of Stuff We Talked About

 

Music

Parisian Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/