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Role Playing (Games)

A Dicebag of Dungeons and Dragons Documentaries 178

Posted by michael from the beware-of-gazebos dept.
Jason Scott writes "While we're celebrating 30 years of Dungeons and Dragons, Slashdot readers might as well sit back with their DVD players and enjoy a few documentaries that have recently popped up; all of them done by independent filmmakers, too! Uber Goober: The Movie calls itself 'A Film About Gamers' is a not-taking-itself-too-seriously overview of the life of RPGs and LARPs. Life With the Dice Bag, a 'Documentary about Role Playing Games and the people who play them' looks to take itself a bit more seriously as it covers the last GenCon held in Milwaukee. And finally, who can resist the pull of The Dungeons and Dragons Experience?"
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A Dicebag of Dungeons and Dragons Documentaries More

A Dicebag of Dungeons and Dragons Documentaries

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  • 1d1 Post! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:01PM (#10029050)
    1d1 post!
    • Now that's something, a fp modded UP :)
    • Old GenCon? There's a current one here in Indianapolis right now. They've booked so many rooms in the hotels the football team coming in for a preseason game has to shack up over twenty miles away.
      I thought about going to it because it's only about a twenty-minute drive. Everything I saw online in newsgroups and on TV made it to look like it was RPGs and cards (oh, and the "authentic Batmobile") I do own a lot which were labelled "best of [x]" or have good current ratings in the various computer game mag

  • Are there any girls there? (Score:4, Funny)

    by craenor ( 623901 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:02PM (#10029061) Homepage
    If there are any girls there...I WANT TO DO THEM!!!

  • Roll to select documentary (Score:5, Funny)

    by Infonaut ( 96956 ) <infonaut@gmail.com> on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:03PM (#10029066) Homepage Journal
    1d3.

    If you don't know how to roll a d3, you don't get to watch a documentary. Sorry, house rules.

  • "Dark Dungeons [chick.com]" by Jack Chick


    "Marcie get out of here. YOU'RE DEAD! You don't exist anymore!"
    • Wow, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

    • Seems very forgettable to me.
      • I'm not sure where you're coming from, but its funnier when you know that it isn't satire. Jack Chick produces a slew of these unintentionally hilarious religious comics, and earnest born again christians distribute them to passersby while they try to convert you. I once had a Jehovah's Witness hand me the classic evolution strip "Big Daddy?"
    • Or read a MiSTing of it

      http://www.humpin.org/mst3kdd/ [humpin.org]

    • Re:Of course we can't forget... (Score:5, Funny)

      by _Sprocket_ ( 42527 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @08:21PM (#10029495)
      Scott Kurtz of PvP fame had a nice rant [pvponline.com] on that "work". Embeded in the rant is his own parody [pvponline.com].
    • Dungeons and Dragons... SATAN'S GAME!! [planetadnd.com]
      • Should a Christian play D&D:

        ...The astute reader will have noted that already, some genuine magical terms from real witchcraft and occultism have been introduced. Druids and Bards are both part of the priesthood of ancient pre-Christian Britain. Wizards are of course the classic practitioners of magic, both in reality and in fantasy fiction. We will look at these roles more in depth in a moment.

        Very interesting, seems "real Christians" believe in RL Wizards

    • Good ol' Jack Chick. I remember seeing photocopies of that strip stuck in AD&D manuals in the bookstore I shopped at in my youth. The only thing scarier than the fact that Chick actually thinks this stuff up, is that there's people who buy into it so strongly as to dedicate significant portions of their life to printing it out and distributing it.

      As a sidenote, my second favorite after the Dark Dungeons strip was the one showing how much the devil loved the sitcom bewitched.

    • May cost me some mod points, but here it goes..... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Brian_Ellenberger ( 308720 ) * on Saturday August 21, 2004 @12:32AM (#10030648)
      First of all, let me say that I in no way believe that playing D&D makes anyone go insane/think they are a witch/become a devil worshipper.

      But I do want to try to show a little bit of why some Christians have a problem with D&D. Let's use another example. Maybe this is a little contrived, but say you were passionate about Native American rights. Maybe you are a Native American. And say there is this new RPG called Wild West which a good portion of the game involves killing Native Americans. While its only a game, it is a bit unsettling right?

      The problem that some Christians have with D&D is that a portion of the game involves Pagan Gods and Goddesses. In the case of some classes (ex. Cleric) it involves *praying* to the God/Goddess for spells.

      Now, this isn't a big deal to people who are not believers or even to people who are used to jumping in and out of make believe worlds. But to alot of Christians (and probably Jews and Muslims) who believe that serving foreign gods is about the **worse offense possible**, pretending to serve foreign gods, even in a game, is pretty horrific. This is compounded by the fact that throughout the Old/Hebrew Testament are a ton of stories about the people falling away from God and worshipping foreign gods.

      Also note that fantasy authors such as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are not only OK with conservative Christians, but their works are often sold in Christian bookstores. This is because, while similar to D&D, the fundamental worlds of these two authors are extremely Judeo-Christian monothestic.

      Now I don't want D&D banned, restricted, or otherwise shut down. Any restriction on free speech and expression is vile to me. But in the spirit of better cultural understanding I want more people on Slashdot to know where some of these people are coming from. These aren't just some "crazy nutjobs" but people with genuine beliefs.

      And there are probably alot of believers who are able to separate their beliefs and the game or change the modules to fit their beliefs.

      Brian Ellenberger
      • I noticed that Jack Chick's tract specificly mentioned Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as authors whose works should be burned. See here [fecundity.com]. C.S. Lewis's work was heavily influenced by his religious beliefs.
        • Sorry, I wasn't specifically defending Chick. But please don't confuse him with most Chick with most conservative Christians. I'm in Atlanta in the heart of conservative Christian land and most Christian bookstores carry C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and have no problem with Lewis's books like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe".
      • And I'm all for freedom of religion, but some people need to understand that that road goes both ways.

        I mean if they have such a big problem with religions with multiple gods are they going to ban India next?

        I have personal experience with "this sort of people" who believe that RPGs are the work of satan and should be burned. From when I was in the USA, no surprise. A woman there actually proposed that they should burn some RPG books I had brought with me (I hadn't opened them for the entire time I was th

      • Pagan gods? (Score:3, Informative)

        by ImaLamer ( 260199 )

        The problem that some Christians have with D&D is that a portion of the game involves Pagan Gods and Goddesses. In the case of some classes (ex. Cleric) it involves *praying* to the God/Goddess for spells.

        Can you please point out one Christian holiday that wasn't taked from pagan beliefs?

        Ishtar, Imhotep, Dionysus, all taken and put into their religion and holidays.

        Read here [google.com] here [godkind.org], or here [sabbatarian.com]?

        Really, who doesn't know this stuff here?

      • The problem that some Christians have with D&D is that a portion of the game involves Pagan Gods and Goddesses. In the case of some classes (ex. Cleric) it involves *praying* to the God/Goddess for spells.

        A lot of people can't understand the concept of playing a game pretending to be someone else - so they think there has to be some reality in there somewhere.

        Some time back I borrowed a copy of 2nd ed D&D, and my father thought it was a catalogue for magic snake oil sold by cranks, and could not c

      • The problem that some Christians have with D&D is that a portion of the game involves Pagan Gods and Goddesses. In the case of some classes (ex. Cleric) it involves *praying* to the God/Goddess for spells.

        Now, this isn't a big deal to people who are not believers or even to people who are used to jumping in and out of make believe worlds.

        So what's a miracle then? You know, when people go and pray to their god for their spouse/child/self to be healed? When they go to visit Lourdes or any other no

  • Reminds me of the early 80s (Score:5, Informative)

    by Infonaut ( 96956 ) <infonaut@gmail.com> on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:06PM (#10029089) Homepage Journal
    when role players had to deal with crap like this [imdb.com]:

  • "beware-of-gazebos dept." (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kozz ( 7764 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:08PM (#10029101)

    FYI this is a reference to a well-known account of a paladin and his dangerous run-in with a gazebo [fantaseum.com].

    Short, but funny read.

  • Life with the Dice Bag... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mongoose Disciple ( 722373 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:10PM (#10029114)
    A friend of mine knows the guy making this, and I got to see a not-quite-done-with-editing version of it a while ago.

    It's an entertaining watch if you're a gamer, if at times in a oh-my-god-is-THAT-what-we-seem-like-to-normal-peop le train wreck kind of sense.

  • My 18 Charisma... (Score:5, Funny)

    by RexRhino ( 769423 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:22PM (#10029191)
    ...gives me a +3 Informative moderation bonus on Slashdot.

    I hope I make this lame joke before all the other Slashdotters beat me in initiative and post it first!
    • ...gives me a +3 Informative moderation bonus on Slashdot.



      Actually that'd be a +4...


      -dameron

      • Yes but he has a body order max Charisma bonus +3 until he showers.
      • ...gives me a +3 Informative moderation bonus on Slashdot.
        Actually that'd be a +4...

        That's true; plus, it's not a "moderation bonus". It's a +4 Charisma bonus to his moderation check; such Charisma bonuses typically result in a +X Funny rating. Ratings of +X Informative are typically caused by Intelligence bonuses, while ratings of +X Insightful are typically caused by Wisdom bonuses. Oddly, when making a moderation check, a poster can choose to rely on any one of his Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom
    • ...hoping to make a +5 funny comment with The Onion's "Bill Gates Grants Self 18 Dexterity, 20 Charisma" ... You know, topical Gates bashing. (Even if Funny mods don't grant karma.)

      So I write out the comment, click preview. Perfect!

      Now to add the link...only to find out The Onion moved it to their Premium section.

  • PVPonline (Score:2, Funny)

    by sqrt(2) ( 786011 )
    PvPonline on LARPing [pvponline.com]

  • Uber Goober (Score:5, Informative)

    by yar ( 170650 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:23PM (#10029198)
    I enjoyed the movie... saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse [drafthouse.com] in Austin, TX about a month ago. The show sold out and there was a long line of people waiting to get in in case some ticket holders were no-shows. ^_^ Much of the show was filmed in or around Austin (the filmmaker was at the University of Texas). Steve Jackson was in attendance, and there was a funny exchange at the show- apparently, he had been invited to be in the documentary, but he said that it sounded horribly boring and wanted nothing to do with it. The crew of the movie kept that email around for angry inspiration, and they also mentioned it in the credits. ^_^ (SJ was in the bathroom at the time, so missed those, though...)

    It takes an interesting look at miniature gamers, roleplayers, and LARPers, how they feel about each other, how random people on Sixth Street (Austin party/bar street) feel about D&D... One of the funnier bits was that they were filming on 6th between midnight and 2AM, getting people's thoughts. One of the questions they asked passer-bys was, "Which would you prefer, a basketball player, a something-I-forget, or a D&D playing girl?" The guys chose the D&D player , "because she would be freaky." ^_^

  • original rules (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TheQwe ( 795209 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:28PM (#10029231) Homepage
    ...I (or rather my dad) has the original rulebooks, priced at $10 and illustrated with cheesy line drawings. It's come a long way.

  • What about the movie? Oh no, anything but that... (Score:3, Informative)

    by pjrc ( 134994 ) <paul@pjrc.com> on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:44PM (#10029326) Homepage Journal
    Too bad the official movie [imdb.com] sucked so bad. Better not mention *THAT*

    Just exercising my slashdot-posting pessimism. Mod me down for detracting from the glory of D&D by bringing up this blemish on its good name.

  • Is this story appropriate for Slashdot? (Score:5, Funny)

    by WIAKywbfatw ( 307557 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:47PM (#10029338) Journal
    [Rolls D20...]

    Why, yes it is!

    It even passed the Slashdot editor "have-to-tag-something-on-the-end-of-the-story-to- make-it-look-like-I'm-doing-something" saving throw!

  • Call of Cthulhu (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Highroller ( 655558 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:54PM (#10029370)
    One of the earliest non-fantasy roleplaying games was Chaosium's "Call of Cthulhu." This is a fantastic game that seems to always be under the radar. If you like horror and detective fiction, where you actually use mind and intuition more than your magic items, I highly recommend it. It's premise is based on the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and presupposes alien "gods" and supernatural forces lie beneath the surface of reality. I highly recommend this to anybody out there!
    • Nope, one of the earliest non-fantasy RPGs was BootHill.. and then there was that post-apocalyptic one, that I've forgotten the name of.

      Both these are mentioned in the AD&D GMs handbook.

      Also, Traveller has been around for donkey's years, well before CoC.

      CoC is good, and well different, but only play it if you don't mind losing all the time, instead of winning the day :)
      • If you want a good generic system - try this

        http://loewald.com/foresight/

        Once upon a time I used it - if you want fantasy/magic/religion etc find a copy of hindsight

        • A Good generic system is Fudge [fudgerpg.com]

          And it used to be free and open, but I see the copyrights have been 'acquired', so I'm not sure what the status of the project is anymore.

          Anyway, they say its still free, so try it.

      • If you don't like fantasy - how about a dose of reality gaming with Macho Women with Guns?

        Batwing Bimbo's rock... :)

        • MWWG: oh yes, fantastic game. Magic perfume was my favourite. always needed reapplying IIRC.

          Batwing Bimbo's rock... :) .... and Renegade Nuns kick ass :)

          • I had a character in a convention game a few years back called Bubbles ("'coz you can't have a bath without Bubbles" was her character defining quote - oh along with "this may sound stupid, but..."), her IQ was probably a fraction of her bust size and in the first session of the game no one was prepared to allow her a firearm - so they gave her a torch.

            During the first few missions she conducted herself with courage, and noticed that anything she shone her tourch at died horribly.

            At the start of the secon

    • For a modern twist on the Cthulhu mythos - check out Delta Green, I believe the d20 varient is on the way shortly (it may already be out in the states) and is by John Tynes. If you enjoy Cthulhu - check out pretty much anything written by John Tynes, he is a roleplaying god.

  • RPG column... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Short Circuit ( 52384 ) * <mikemol@gmail.com> on Friday August 20, 2004 @07:59PM (#10029396) Homepage Journal
    I've been writing a column about role playing games. (See my sig.) It's been running for about four months, even if it only exists in my blog. :)

    I'm also looking for people interested in trying an idea I had for an email-based D&D game. Check out the FAQ [brew-masters.com] for it.
  • Nothing will ever beat what is, in my opinion, THE D&D movie. http://www.deadgentlemen.com/gamers/media.html
  • I'm still waiting to see the release of Dave Arneson's _Dragons In The Basement_ which we got a preview of back in GenCon 2000. That's 4 years ago, and still no word on it. There was talk the Sci-Fi channel might pick it up.

    Bruce

  • It's a safe bet ... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    that these are not date films

  • Missing option... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Abraxis ( 180472 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @08:09PM (#10029446)
    The Gamers [deadgentlemen.com]

    Oh wait, this isn't a poll...

    Seriously though, if you're lucky enough to be at GenCon this week, you can stop and say hi to the film's creators (and see the premier of their newest movie).

  • All I can say is... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Zorilla ( 791636 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @08:12PM (#10029451)
    ...Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt! [milkandcookies.com]

  • who's still playing the old Basic edition? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Just curious. It's still my favorite version of the game. The 1981 Basic & Expert books are simple and well laid-out, though the Rules Cyclopedia has merit too (and incidentally it's the only edition that's has all the rules in one book).
    In any event, I still love Basic D&D because it has just enough rules (guidelines really, they're not all hard-and-fast) to run a game and give a foundation to customize to one's liking. The original rules from 1974 were pretty loose and open-ended like that too.

  • NWCon 2.5 (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Since this thread is about Dungeons & Dragons, I thought it would be a good opportunity to plug NWCon 2.5, a worldwide virtual convention for those interested in NeverWinter Nights, a D&D Computer Role-Playing Game

    Similar to a real-world convention, NWCon 2.5 will also have conferences taking place both in IRC and In-Game.

    NWCon 2.5 will be taking place September 25 & 26. Visit http://www.NeverWinterConnections.com [neverwinte...ctions.com] for more information.

  • And who can forget... (Score:4, Funny)

    by JoeCommodore ( 567479 ) <larry@portcommodore.com> on Friday August 20, 2004 @08:45PM (#10029604) Homepage
    SwordTag 2: the Movie
    (A promo video by the now makers of the now defunct LARP SwordTag.

    As for gaming movies, I can reccomend:

    Death Race 2000

    America 3000

    Hawk the Slayer

    Lord of the Rings (Bakshi)

    Beastmaster

    Ator: The Fighting Eagle

    Conan & Red Sonja Flicks (starring our fave Governator)

    Krull

    Ice Pirates

    Cloak & Dagger

    Masterminds

    Escape from New York

    That's a good start. :-) Don't forget the popcorn!

  • Who? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Xeth ( 614132 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @09:58PM (#10030002) Journal
    "And finally, who can resist the pull of The Dungeons and Dragons Experience?"

    Women?

  • Don't forget the NPR program earlier this week (Score:3, Informative)

    by dreadlocks ( 637491 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @10:12PM (#10030066)
    NPR just had a program on DnD on Wed or thurs this week.

    check out:

    http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=38585 60 [npr.org]

    I hope the link still works when I post, as it has a space in the URL in the preview pane ..

  • ahh, nostalgia (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Phoenix666 ( 184391 ) on Friday August 20, 2004 @10:29PM (#10030150)
    networked gaming is fine and all, but there was just something magical about D&D. the imagination is still the best form of entertainment there is. pre-packaged experience is not all it's cracked up to be.

    lord landon, here's to you, my tight-wad paladin pal!
  • that Windows has a higher TCO, and Linux has a higher THAC0.
  • At 3:30 BST (that's 1 hr 35 mins from time of this posting), the BBC will broadcast a documentary about D&D [bbc.co.uk]

    Realplayer still needed, but downloadable from the Beeb.

  • I'm often dumbfounded at people picking D&D as an example of an RPG. D&D is what I like to call a "roll playing game", as opposed to a "role playing game". As it's often played, it sticks down to rolling dice, having combats and running through stock adventures and carefully (sometimes) designed dungeons. Combat mechanics are very important, because that's what most of the game is about. On the other hand, you'll find that other less combat-oriented RPGs involve a lot more "role playing", that is, t

    • In Australia we have a strong tradition of 'Freeforming', which is kinda like LARPing - although we define LARPing as using rubber swords (as per the current PvP strip). Freeforms will generally have 10+ PCs at any given time, costuming is encouraged, challenge resolution is often determined by a referee as opposed to a rules challenge (as with MET or similar systems) and are generally considered 'systemless'.

      The largest freeform I'm aware of having been run at an Australian convention was an Egyptian free

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