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?"

Comments

Re:Reminds me of the early 80s

[huchida]

It was still better than the Dungeons and Dragons movie.

Call of Cthulhu

[Highroller]

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!

ahh, nostalgia

[Phoenix666]

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!

roll playing vs role playing

[Kell_pt]

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. :)