Slashdot Mirror
A Dicebag of Dungeons and Dragons Documentaries
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?"
1d1 post!
If there are any girls there...I WANT TO DO THEM!!!
If you don't know how to roll a d3, you don't get to watch a documentary. Sorry, house rules.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Get your Unix fortune now!
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Oh man you beat me to it! Let's be friends!
(Friends with benefits!)
FYI this is a reference to a well-known account of a paladin and his dangerous run-in with a gazebo.
Short, but funny read.
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
... then take 1d100 damage and roll your constitution against a TN of 20 to save vs. death.
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.
p le train wreck kind of sense.
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-peo
I cast "magic missile" at the darkness!
...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!
PvPonline on LARPing
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
I enjoyed the movie... saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse 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." ^_^
...I (or rather my dad) has the original rulebooks, priced at $10 and illustrated with cheesy line drawings. It's come a long way.
Sitting here at the nVidia hosted lan. Saw Ed Greenwood (creator of Forgoten Relms) a little while ago. Geek heven.
Whisker
=^o^=
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.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
larping hitting the under-mainstream
Ignorance kills, complacency kills, hatred kills, but usually not the ones guilty of them.
[Rolls D20...]
- make-it-look-like-I'm-doing-something" saving throw!
Why, yes it is!
It even passed the Slashdot editor "have-to-tag-something-on-the-end-of-the-story-to
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Good old D&D.
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!
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 for it.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
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
that these are not date films
The Gamers
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).
...Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
...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.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
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.
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 for more information.
Couple of days ago - appropriately enough the test of the post was "I don't get it".
Yep, linky here.
(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!
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
What in the name of fuck is that ASCII drawing supposed to be?
Who is the 800000th user?
Slightly OT for the discussion, but oh well.
Too bad the official movie sucked so bad. Better not mention *THAT*
At least the DVD version included a demo for Baldur's Gate 2, IMHO one of the best adaptations of the D&D ruleset to date and still a favorite RPG of mine. NWN just never seemed to measure up for me for some reason...
There's a new OGL game coming out at GENCON called Castles & Crusades (by Troll Lord Games) that's supposed to be very close to the old Basic D&D, except the mechanics are somewhat cleaned up and modernized (no more THAC0, etc.) Gary Gygax is even going to use it as a framework to publish his Castle Zagyg supermodule! (it should have been called Castle Greyhawk, but due to legal issues, trademarks and all that...)
so what does the torrent link to?
Hmm - looks like a guy standing, hand raised upwards. Beside him on the ground is a large sword. The logic behind the whole thing eludes me though.
It's in Indianapolis this year (same as last year). Two years ago it was in Milwaukee...
Women?
If your theory is different from practice, then your theory is wrong.
check out:
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=38585 60
I hope the link still works when I post, as it has a space in the URL in the preview pane ..
...they get to the Shadowrun documentaries.
When I was in school, we had names for all these Dungeons and Dragons people - NERDS. A bunch of dice rolling, pencil scribblers who had millions of inside jokes no one else ever thought were funny. Girls made fun of them, guys beat them up, and I swear a few of them were dealt with permanently (if you know what I mean). They needed to spend less money on Monster Manuals and more money on Oxy. All I can say is, anyone who still wastes their time on this garbage as an adult is a sad, sad case.
M
Former Captain of the Odenton Gophers Chess Team
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!
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
that Windows has a higher TCO, and Linux has a higher THAC0.
If you aren't one, you probably shouldn't be here.
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. C.S. Lewis's work was heavily influenced by his religious beliefs.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
would Call of Cthulhu be considered non-fantasy.
...the moment when you exactly know that the next throw will be a critical-failure ... hail to my holy armor of spiritual ignorance
"Nae Kin! Nae Quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna be fooled again!"
Read the poor man's closing words before you mod him into oblivion, please?
Being highbrow doesn't deserve to be punished (even on Slashdot ^_^)
Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.
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 there). And for the record those were Traveller books and didn't contain religion of any kind.
Furthermore I also spend a lot of time there in a really Christian family. However they were some pretty intelligent people as well as generally well behaved so they never even hinted that stuff like RPGs could be bad for you. (I spend a lot of time with the son of that family playing Doom which I recon would get previously mentioned book burners panties in a knot too.)
I sure respect the opinions of of intelligent people no matter their believes. I won't respect the opinions of morons; but I will be contended with laughing behind their backs. When such morons start invading my freedom with their ideas because "they want to make the world better" and "protect me" then I will start hitting them with the Clue-Bat (tm) until they get a clue or at least stop with their nonsense.
And it's every person on the Earths duty to do the same unless we want to be run over by the vocal minorities. Be them racist bigots, hate mongerers or just fundamentalists (of any religion).
You do realise that Jack Chick specifically states that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis books should be burned as they're anti-Christian, right?
The guy is a total nutjob.
These arent the jedi's you are looki..... Oh, wait, wrong thread!
At 3:30 BST (that's 1 hr 35 mins from time of this posting), the BBC will broadcast a documentary about D&D
Realplayer still needed, but downloadable from the Beeb.
i know you've already been branded as a troll, but man, that was beautiful.
and mods, please read the whole post before you decide how to moderate it...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
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, taking someone's role and doing more than some axe-swinging or spellcasting. :)
Take the example of Vampire: The Masquerade, where you have large political plots with a hint of demency (Malkavian anyone?), backstabbing, moral qualms (humanity) besides the odd physical action.
Take Legend of the 5 Rings, where every action is under the shadow of samurai honour and acting according to that mentality is role playing challenge (which is also why most people can't play it).
Not to belittle D&Ders, but unless you have an experienced GM who pushes campaigns into something more than a hack&slash fest, you're probably still missing a ROLE playing experience.
"I don't mind God, it's his fan club I can't stand!" E8
pretending to serve foreign gods, even in a game, is pretty horrific
Relax, have a smoke.
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
I don't know which is funnier. The fact that he made a "first post!" topic with "1d1 post!", or the amazing ability he has to roll a one-sided die.
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".
It's also the nine year anniversary of the recording of the smash indie hit, GYGAX!
I'll burn my RPG, Tolkien, Lewis, Moore, etc. books under only one condition: if they are used as kindling under the feet of those who want them burned. They can deliver my books back to their own devils all personal-like. Turnabout is fair play.
Because the D&D movie DID indeed suck. It sucked so bad that you don't watch it like a regular movie, you sit down on the couch and have to expect a terrible movie, and you enjoy it because of the fact that it's so terrible.
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?
I didn't think there was anything in D&D about killing Christians, so I don't think that's a fair analogy! And whilst these people seem to think that paganism and the occult are evil, in D&D you tend to play on the side of "Good", battling against "Evil". So I don't think that it is reasonably to have any issues with D&D because of this.
I can understand that Christians may dislike the fact that it portrays religions and Gods other than Christianity. But even though I may understand that this is the reason, that doesn't mean I think it is valid or reasonable; personally I think the world would be a much better place if people were tolerant of each others' religions, rather than branding them as evil.
I can understand that a Christian might choose not to play D&D because of this (although even then, I don't think it follows, as you say people can separate their true beliefs from playing something which is fantasy), but it's another thing entirely to force your religion upon others, and suggest that they are wrong to play.
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
The Singularity is closer than you think
Quant
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 here, or here?
Really, who doesn't know this stuff here?
Get your Unix fortune now!
Of course, if you really want to be pretentious and cool (like me), then you need to play Nobilis, a diceless resource-management game where you take on the roles of what are basically gods. It's even written by a woman, and looks great sitting on your coffee table.
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 conceive of the idea that it was a game.
Stangely enough it was strict baptists that introduced me to roleplaying in the first place.
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 non-rational solution?I understand that the first commandment of the Jewish/Christian faith is "Thou shalt worship no other god before me", but really.
The world would be a much happier place if panentheism was much readily accepted.
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
If you don't like fantasy - how about a dose of reality gaming with Macho Women with Guns?
Batwing Bimbo's rock... :)
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
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.
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
Being an atheist, I hate having to lecture Christians on their religious beliefs, but Narnia should be as unacceptable as Greyhawk.
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
The people in the Chronicles of Narnia worship a Lion God named Aslan. This is no different than making "I am who am" be represented by a Golden Calf.
I know this is gonna sound crazy, but, get this, the lion... represents... Jebus.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling