I have personally been playing games since I was a kid. One of my earliest memories is sitting on my father's lap and tossing the dice for his various monsters as they attacked his party of friends in a Dungeons and Dragons game. I have played hundreds of sessions of D&D in my life, have delved into Whitewolf games and puttered around with the Cortex system and Pathfinder. Some of my best memories are sitting around a gaming table weaving a story and throwing dice with a group of friends. I've got back stories filling my brain for the countless characters, and still smile as I think back to various gaming experiences.
How many of you remember a moment when your rogue snuck off down the wall of the keep and attempted to scale it, only to fall and get himself tangled in a tree? Or perhaps your shaman used his spiritual magic to outwit a tribe of kobolds? Then there was that time that your friend decided to try and fuse his spirit with the mystical portal energies and ended up some weird spirit world hybrid thing?
Sure, the above are my experiences, but that doesn't make them unique. Just about anyone who has sat around a table and played a table top rpg has a story to tell. The video below is just an example of the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Listen as renknowned fantasy author RA Salvatore tells one of his favorite gaming memories.
Dear reader,I love gaming, just as Salvatore says above. Gaming is one of my favorite activities, and it's the love of gaming that has led me to my appreciation for the works of Zombie Orpheus Entertainment and their partners Dead Gentlemen Productions. So sit back and allow me to craft for you the tale of how I discovered one of the most entertaining films I've ever had the pleasure to watch.
A few years ago, while attending Skagit Valley College in Washington, my friends and I had an every other week "heckle night." Similar to how Scott Johnson and company do on the Film Sack podcast, we picked a movie on Netflix, streamed it and then heckled the hell out of it. So, when I sat down to initially watch "Dorkness Rising" I was expecting a campy and incredibly lame experience. My every intention was to heckle it to death. What resulted was all of us laughing, but not heckling. We all truly enjoyed the film. A majority of the people watching the film that evening, were involved in a Whitewolf game that met on the off week for our film group. This was the first movie that really spoke to us as table top gamers.
Most of the time when anything in pop culture speaks of table top gaming it's with derision. You see a bunch of pimply faced kids living in their mom's basement, swilling down Mountain Dew, chomping on Cheetos and never every seeing a girl. As a long time gamer I can tell you this is an absolute fallacy, that angers me in every instance. I was pleasantly surprised to see how "Dorkness Rising" presented gaming.
Dorkness Rising, and it's predecessor, present a real to life version of what gaming is to a lot of people. The conflicts, the excitement and the enjoyment are all there. The thrill of accomplishment and the sting of defeat. The real life "gameplay" scenes are interwoven with "Lord of the Rings-esque" scenes in the fantasy world. These scenes are overlain with commentary from the players, the occasional sound of a dice being thrown. It was hilarious. Sure, these guys and even the girl who join them, (that's right! A girl! gasp... TROPE DESTROYED!) are nerds. However they are nerds presented in a positive light, for the most part. There are a few scenes that are ultra-nerd moments. For example the scene where the "Power Gamer" is sitting in a meditative pose spouting stats of monsters.
Dorkness Rising is pure fun. There are random scenes of ridiculousness, but they don't detract from the story. They add to it by showing a bit more about the characters that you grow to care about during the course of the film.
All of this has been a lead up to the introduction of The Gamers 3 - Hands of Fate. Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, in company with Dead Gentlemen Productions is looking to make another feature length film. But they need the help of the community, they've placed a campaign on Kickstarter.
In an interview with writer Matt Vancil, of Dead Gentlemen Productions, he makes mention to amazing shows such as Firefly that were cancelled due to network politics. ZOE and DGP are small studios that produce fan supported content. Their motto is "no networks, no cancellations." This film won't get made without the support of the community, and so as a fan and member of that community I put this out to another amazing community with similar values. Please take a look at their Kickstarter Page. I am not here to beg for donations, I'm simply here to spread the word!
In other news: Because of their model of entertainment, all of ZOE's stuff is up on YouTube or their website. The original low-budget "The Gamers," the feature length "The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising," and their awesome collection of web series (including Journey Quest and Rude Mechanical.) I encourage you to take a look, you won't be disappointed.
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