RPGs at the movies II: The Gamers series (plus Gamers: The Movie)

Back in the day (2002), Matt Vancil wrote an produced a low low low budget film ($1000 budget) about a groups of role-players called The Gamers. It became a phenomenon and has led to a series of popular sequels. All are direct-to-video. Are they worth it? Also, I talk a look at another movie about role-players, called Gamers, released in 2006, and not related to The Gamers

THE GAMERS (2002)

This is the story of a group of fantasy role players enjoying their weekly game in their dormitory at college. As they play the film jumps into the game to show the events happening to the characters. They wander through a generic RPG adventure to defeat a villain known as "the Shadow." I'll stop with the plot description here (though the ending is a bit of a surprise) because this film is not about story. It is a send up of how stereotypical gamers approach play. It did fill a niche in entertainment for the RPG community. I wish I had thought of it first.

The thief has high skills so he tries outrageous ideas to test his mettle: pick pocketing a person's underwear and backstabbing someone using his high stealth to bring a ballista  (a huge crossbow used in siege attack on castles, it is so big it weighs in at over 100 pounds). Meanwhile, the party is more interested in how much ale they can drink rather than the adventure that presents itself.

I saw this in a game store when it first came out. The group loved it, laughing at the gags. Me, I was not laughing (except the ballista part) because this was a film about what I hate about most role playing groups. The players did not take it seriously, they do stupid things during game play, and they could care less about immersion, instead it is all about rolling the dice and kicking ass like some kind of video game. To me it was all about making fun of all the crap I hate from bad gaming. Others though laughed their asses off. Maybe I was a bit harsh on this piece of parody but I thought those kind of players were bad enough in real life, I did not enjoy watching them being glorified on the small screen. I know I am the odd man out here because of the universal enthusiasm for the video from those all around me.

THE GAMERS: DORKNESS RISING (2006)

"Crap, a sequel to The Gamers," I thought when I heard this was out. My wife bought it and she made me watch it. I was ready for some more of the same as the first film and was just trying to get through it for my wife who liked it a lot.

Dammit, I liked it too.

The "sort of" sequel to the first, written and directed again by Matt Vancil, was heads and tales above the previous film. While the first was about stereotypes and gags from games, this was about a group of people and their interrelationships.  Sure, it still had some of the gags, but they were not the focus.

The story was about a game master and his varied crew of players, a varied bunch (you had the munchkinizer who tries to "beat" the game, an new player who is a girl and cars more about story than rules and has to prove herself, a player who's characters always dies but has a good attitude- until he loses it, and a male player who plays a female character and appears as both a female in the "in game" scenes as well as his male self in the woman's costumes.

The main themes of the game are role playing versus roll playing, seen as constant bickering between the muchkinizer; the female player who has to prove herself and becomes a strong ally (and romantic interest) for the GM; and the idea that a role play adventure can tell a good story and not just be hack and slash as he struggles with writing a module for publication.

The acting is much stronger. Carol Roscoe, who plays Daphne the female gamer, is a great addition and the attraction between her and the GM (Kevin Lodge) is excellent and low key as they try and keep their attraction from the others. Brian Lewis as Cass, the power gamer, is a bit over the top but works because in the film he is the antagonist, not the many monsters and villains seen in game.

Not bad, Dead Gentlemen.

THE GAMERS: HAND OF FATE (2013)

The third film was financed by a Kickstarter project (which is why my wife proudly shows off her name, Sandie "Warkitteh" Phillips, in the credits) , and was shot mostly at GenCon (the biggest game convention around) and had an actual card game based on the one in the movie produced by game company AEG.

I think some fans of the previous films may not have been as happy with this film if they are in the RPG's rule, CCG's drool camp. While Dorkness Rising was all about role playing, this one focuses its main story line on a card game championship. It puts many of the characters from the second movie into supporting story lines, while taking the bad boy from Dorkness Rising (Cass, played by Brian Lewis) as the main character.

Cass is a game player but meets a pretty and confident woman named Natalie (Trin Miller) and wants to date her. She is a part of a tournament for a collectible card game, and though Cass is not a fan, he buys in to get near her. He approaches the game like he does RPGs as if it is just a bunch of mechanics to exploit, but she loves the stories. Cass' friend coaches him and he eventually makes his way to the championship.

The dance of attraction between Natalie and Cass works and they make a nice on screen couple (Vancil seems to get how to write believable romance). However, even though Cass is winning and she is obviously attracted to him, she does not like that he is only playing the game to win her, much like he only plays games to win. Instead, she wants him to understand and live the story of the game that she loves so much, and to not treat her like a prize.

The villain this time is a group of players who have found a loophole in the rules and are dominating the tournament with the purpose of ruining the story that has been built up over the years. Of course Cass is in the position to be the savior once he embraces the story of the game. His dedication to the story and his powerful tactical skills win the day, and having accepted Natalie as a person and not a prize, ends the film with a hint of their future.

Other plots are interesting. One of the gang hates that a Pokemon like character knocked his favorite anime off the air and goes a little nuts, eventually kidnapping a guy dressed as the character and going Reservoir Dogs on him. Also, Daphne and Lodge are in love and have a little gamer on the way. While these subplots were nice, they were somewhat a distraction from the main plot for me, which is why I like the shorter edit of the film, as it is more concise and flows really well.

The big surprise here is Brian Lewis as Cass. His character was kind of a jerk in the second film who redeemed himself in the end, but here the character's bad traits are more sympathetic and fleshed out showing off a more emotionally complex interior. I found myself rooting for him early. Lewis is good, reminding me a bit of Jason Lee and his edgy but likable characters in Kevin Smith films like Chasing Amy.

I recommend this film (the shorter version especially).

THE GAMERS: HUMANS AND HOUSEHOLDS (2014)

The next film in the series is coming. This time it is about a bunch of fantasy characters as they take time from adventuring to play their own role play game. In the game they play the part of poeple living in the modern world. Some episodes have been released, but I have not seen them yet. I mention it because it sounds like an idea from a one-panel comic in the First Edition Dungeon Master's Guide on page 111:

Good idea, finally executed after all this time!

GAMERS: THE MOVIE, AKA GAMERS (2006)

This is another film called Gamers, written and directed by Chris Folino. It was his writer/director debut and is a well made, well written film. Somehow, it is not well known in the RPG community, and it should be. Its very good.

This is a comedy about a group of four role play gamers that have been playing one continuous game weekly for so long they are about to set a world record. However, they are also kind of a stunted bunch, each in jobs they hate, and each having not quite grown up because they like their lives as is. However, when confronted by this dubious record, they face the truth of their lives.

Now, this is not a slap at RPGs. Sure, the characters are stunted, but they are not victims of a game. They are victims of themselves. They could just have easily been a group of young biker enthusiasts who used the hobby as an excuse to not fully join the real world. It is not a Mazes and Monsters demonizing a game.

The direction, writing and acting are pretty damn good. Folino is obviously a role player, as can be seen in the authenticity of the story. The script won award for Best Screenplay at the 2006 Melbourne Underground Film Festival. Folino was a film student and then worked for years in the video game, film and TV industry in production and acting. He self produced it for $60,000 dollars financed on his credit cards and shot it in six days. The rapid shoot does not show on screen, which tells you something about his directing talent.

He also had a series of guest cameos including William (The Greatest American Hero) Katt as a boss who used to play RPGs but now likes playing the Madden Football video game because "you can suck, but you can't die." John Heard and Beverly D'Angelo play one of the character's swinger parents, and Kelly LeBrock plays a MILF.

The best acting comes from Kevin Kirkpatrick as Gordon. He is not happy where he is in life, and when faced with a bit of immature betrayal in the group decides to grow up and save the day. He is consistently in the moment and owns this role, keeping him real and likable. The actor has a few more credits under his belt, including the TV show Greek on ABC Family, and guest appearances on some other shows including a personal favorite, Modern Family (which really needs to have a D&D episode with Phil and the kids).

RPGs at the movies: Dungeons and Dragons on screen

They made a movie out of this? WTF?

A new Dungeons and Dragons film will be coming to theaters... someday. In the midst of a movie licensing mania for Hasbro (owners of Wizards of the Coast and Parker Brothers) that has brought us the board game to motion picture Battleship, the horror film based on Ouija, the soon to be made Monopoly movie, and the future adaptation of Risk???

In order to be a success to Hasbro, D&D revenues need to be very high, much higher than other competitors. If they do not make enough management will demote it to a lesser property and there goes the high quality we expect. Already Wizards is disadvantaged as none of the money generated from video games counts towards D&D's annual gross. A movie would be a big influx of cash, and is part of the plan for the game.

However, licensing issues are hampering development. Back in 2000, Warner Brothers released a movie called Dungeons and Dragons to universal failure. There have been two made for TV sequels. Courtney Solomon, who produced the trio of films, says he still has the rights to make another film. Hasbro disagrees, saying that Solomon's deal ran out because TV movies did not count as sequels as they had no theatrical release. Solomon disagrees, saying his contract just specifies sequels with no mention of the need for them to be theatrical. Hasbro says that in the film industry it is understood that theatrical film sequels are theatrical releases. As yet, almost a year after the trial, I still cannot find if this has been settled.

Hasbro wants the rights back to sell it for big money to Universal Pictures who wants to do a multi-picture project, while Warner Bros. is looking to revive the franchise and bring it back to the theaters. Solomon's Sweetpea Entertainment bought the film rights for cheap back in the 90s when TSR was in financial straights and was desperate for any money they could grab, and Warner Bros. bought Sweetpea.

Time will tell who wins this. In the end, will movie goer's win? The three movies so far have not been the big hits everyone wanted, so this next movie will hopefully buck the trend.

UPDATE! The lawsuit is settled. Movie on the way. See my post about it.

LOOKING BACK: D&D I, II and III

Dungeons and Dragons (2000)

This is no game? This is no good!

Dungeons and Dragons (2000) was a failure. The story of two rouges (Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans) who are thrust into a plot to stop an arch-mage Profion (Jeremy Irons) from overacting using a macguffin to control dragons and take over the kingdom. Along the way they team up with an apprentice wizard (Zoe McLellan) and the most stereotypical D&D dwarf you will ever see (Lee Arenberg). They face off against Profion's henchman Damodar (Bruce Payne). Later, a ranger (Kristen Wilson) joins the group for no other reason than to say to fanboys "look, a ranger!" Finally someone dies, the bad guy gets the macguffin, and the heroes save the day while a bunch of poorly rendered CGI dragons fight each other (ror even worse CGI, watch the first scene where the dragon is killed, it is as bad as CGI could be).

A movie starts on the page, they say. The script has poorly written characters, especially the bad guys who are so cookie cutter. Throw in some cringe-worthy "for the fanboys" dialog, such as calling the wizard a "low level mage," and you have a disaster. The writer failed to understand what a D&D movie should be (see below for some of my ideas on what a D&D movie should be). 

Also, where are the clerics. Everyone is amazed when Tom Baker (the former Doctor Who star) has a cameo as an elf who can heal, and everyone is so amazed he can heal. In D&D healing is everywhere, heck you can buy it in bottles.

Acting is bad all around (a sign of poor direction by Courtney Soloman because I have seen some of these actors do better), though Justin Whalin tries hard with what he has to work with. Jeremy Irons seems to know the movie is bad and decides to make the most over the top performance of his career because of it. Irons is a terrific subtle actor, so you cannot help but laugh with him in the final scenes as he chews the scenery on purpose. The worst of the worst acting comes from Thora Birch as the Empress. She sleepwalks through every scene  When you get her lameness and Irons' overacting in the same scene, it just makes both look more extreme. Contrast this with her terrific and award winning performance in American Beauty the same year. She is frankly un-watchable here. 

If you have not seen this film, even if you are the most die hard D&D or fantasy fan, do not bother. If you like to laugh at cheesy B-movies though, at least you will get some chuckles from a viewing. Try drinking some grain alcohol first.*

Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005)

Run away!

Five years on and the first direct to cable sequel hits our TVs. Surprisingly, this one is not bad. While not good enough to have been a successful theatrical release, being a TV movie we do not expect greatness, this movie turns out kind of fun. Just remember to lower your expectations a little.

The script is decent, except for having to shoe horn the villain Damodar (Bruce Payne) into this film, thus connecting it to the previous failure. Acting and directing are better. Though it is low budget you expect that from a TV movie, so no big deal. Acting is good all around in a party made of a fighter (Mark Dymond), elven wizard (Lucy Gaskill), barbarian (a kick ass woman played by Ellie Chidzey), a cleric (Steven Elder, who does not fare well against an ice dragon... ooops, spoilers), and a rogue (Tim Stern). They are all interesting characters who each have their moment to shine, and also have fun and interesting interactions with each other, especially the respect earned between the barbarian and rogue. 

Rounding out the cast is Clemency Burton-Hill (actress and a highly renowned political journalist in the United Kingdom). She is good as the wife of the fighter who gets infected by an evil magical sickness, and Roy Marsden brings some gravitas to the part of the leader of the Mage's Council. 

The writers got the roles right, letting them do iconic class functions while not making it too much of a fanboy wank time, which is a hard feat. There are a couple of shout outs for the fans, however, such as referencing an adventure into the Barrier Peaks, and the cleric worships the Greyhawk god Obad-Hai (two Greyhawk references? But this is Izmir, a made up world. Why not just make it in Greyhawk?). Also, magic items abound from a gem of true seeing and ring of the ram, among others.

In this one the heroes join up to stop Damodar from waking up a dragon and destroying Izmir. Why? Because he is angry at the people who did him wrong a century before who are all dead. I guess their kids could do. The gang battle illusions, decipher puzzles, disarm traps and have some well choreographed fights. I especially liked the surprise appearance of a lich. 

While nowhere Lord of the Rings good, there is not much to point out that is really bad. If you have 90 minutes, I say watch it. Its a far better TV movie than anything Lifetime shows.

Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Vile Darkness (2012)

Even the poster sucks.

Short review: A thousand times worse than the first film.

Longer review: I will try and be polite here: The writing sucks, with a plot that does not hold together, a bunch of "heroes" that are very unlikable (even the lead character who is supposed to be a paladin or something), and the dialog is worse than most porn films. The direction (by Gerry Lively who did the previous better film) is inept, and the set design and costuming are atrocious. All the actors phone in performances (led by unknowns Jack Derges and Charlotte Hunter). The leads were supposed to be love interests, they had no chemistry at all, and the sex scene makes sex look boring. 

While it has a mind flayer at the end, which is too cool for school to put in a movie, I did not make it that far, stopping about two-thirds of the way through.  As for fanboy shout outs to D&D, I did not see any, but then again I did beat my head against a rock after seeing this thing to try and forget it. What a waste of time. Do not even consider watching. At least the first movie could be laughed at; this has no funny moments to make it on the level of even a B-movie. It was, as advertised, 90 minutes of vile darkness.

BTW: Did I mention it sucked? No redeeming qualities here, folks.

THE FUTURE

Whoever gets to make the next D&D film, here are a few hints:

Forget that it is a movie based on a game. License Forgotten Realms, and make a Forgotten Realms movie. Faerun is full of cultures and history that rivals Tolkien in its depths, and is the most popular campaign setting in role playing. Sure, D&D is a game but thinking of this as a "game movie" will poison the well. 

Drizzt. Yes!

Possibly base it around known characters in the Forgotten Realms story line. Imagine Drizzt Do'Urden and his big cat on the big screen. Film is all about characters and plot, and Drizzt has it in buckets.

Hire someone who has written for D&D novels to work on the screenplay. They know what makes a good D&D story. R.A. Salvatore would be excellent; he did write a pilot script for a Forgotten Realms television series, and his novels rock, and he also created Drizzt.

Have I mentioned Drizzt yet? No? Okay then: DRIZZT!!!

Finally, do not dumb it down to make room for more action. Watch Lord of the Rings again, there were many times there was no action, just character development, and audiences liked it. Put another way: fantasy does not mean "for kids."

Do this and I think we have a hit, though I doubt they will do it right.

* Kids, if you are underage DO NOT DRINK the grain alcohol. Leave it to college kids.

FLGS still the place to be

Onyx Path, the licensees for the old and new World of Darkness games, is making some interesting new product, even some for the old World of Darkness. If you want them though, do not look to your friendly local game store (FLGS); they have taken the road less traveled, becoming a PDF/POD only publisher (they do have a retailer option for buying books to get them in store, though there are few details about how this operates to an outsider, and I cannot see many stores getting on board without going through a distributor). There are rumors that the revived Chaosium may take a similar strategy, that is just a rumor for now, but is indicative of how electronic publishing is making inroads into the RPG industry.

You tell 'em!

The question: Is it sustainable?

Not having a presence in FLGS is, IMHO, a death sentence for an RPG company, albeit a slow one. While sales might be good for now (Onyx Path seems to be doing well), they must be selling to the large base of current players. Over time they will lose some of the current flock, but where will the new consumers come from?

The FLGS has always been a cornerstone to the gaming hobby by bringing new players into games. Not only for RPGs, but board games, war games and miniatures. It is a place to see the latest games, talk to other players, and even join a gaming group or tournament.

Word of mouth has always been the best marketing device. Forbes Magazine noted that "according to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising."(1) Thus is what a game store is all about, face to face community. Sure, you can market to "friends" on Facebook and other social media, but having a person you know recommend something to you in person is way more effective.

My FLGS in Tempe, AZ

The owners/workers at these stores are also good for word of mouth, but I do not expect them to recommend something they do not stock. In fact, I personally would rather get something from them I will enjoy over something I have to order, even if the price is a little higher. It is about supporting a friend who supports their friends.

Now, I always hear the argument, "but it is working for books. E-books are selling well." Sure, but books are not something you do together, as gaming is. If you want to play, you go to where the action is: the FLGS.

Already, some FLGS owners have expressed a little animosity to Kickstarter for taking away a large amount of possible sales for the product when it eventually (if ever) hits their store. It will be interesting to see what the future brings in the online vs. FLGS model.

1. "Why Word Of Mouth Marketing Is The Most Important Social Media" by Kimberly A. Whitler, Forbes Magazine CMO Network 17 July 2014.

Player's shields? WTF?

The GM's evil lair.

Along time ago, in a marketing department far far away...

I will tell you right up front, I really do not care much for game master screens. For me, role-playing is a social event, and putting a shield between the GM and the player interrupts the sociability. It got a little better when landscaped shields came on the scene, and even better when Pinnacle Inc. made their GM screens really short. For me, all I want is something to block the dice I roll and notes on statuses in combat, and to get miniatures ready for the next ambush. The tables are the added bonus.

Tell me the truth. You want one.

When the Dungeon Master screens for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1e hit the shelves in 1979, they sold fast. After that, AD&D was always four to six players and the top of the DM's head poking over the screen as he rolls dice and manically laughs. To be fully seen you had to stand up, and when I played AD&D the only reason to stand up was to get a new can of Mountain Dew. So popular was the product that TSR Hobbies released screens for B/X D&D, AD&D 2e, Mystara, and Spelljammer. Today the product is alive and well, and for many different games, not just D&D.

That's when the brain trusts in marketing decided to take the next step, creating module AC7: Master Player's Screen in 1985. Finally, everyone can be just the top of his head bobbing above the screen. It had a few useful tables, but it was just so so wrong otherwise. Why? To hide players dice rolls? To hide their character sheet? Talk about sociability disappearing, you never could make eye contact unless two of you were going for the Mountain Dew.

The product was short lived.  No others were made, but I cannot help looking back and laughing at it.

Horrific news!

KULT IS COMING BACK

First edition. Looks like a heavy metal album.

I was very pleased to come across an announcement I have been wanting to hear for a number of years. Last night I was on RPGnet's No Fun Forums* and a thread caught my eye, "New version of Kult coming." After spitting out my dinner with shock, I cleaned up the table and found the web page for the new Kult.

The new version will have a new rule system (should be good as I did not like the original system), and the world will be updated from the 1990's to today (Smartphones and Prius' oh my!). A Kickstarter is planned for the fall with the book's release set for 2016,

If you do not know, Kult is a game of horror imported from Sweden. It is in a world based on Gnostic beliefs and the kabbalah (and is actually well researched). The blurb from the first edition sums up the setting: "Kult is a contemporary horror role-playing game. It takes place here and now, in the reality of today. But reality is not what we think. Around us the world is dark and dangerous and nothing is what it seems to be. Our reality is an illusion, created to keep us captive. We are imprisoned since ages past by a dictatorial creator. The true world, invisible to us, is ruled by creatures who dominate behind the false facades, our prison wardens and tortures."

Actual scene from Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. with H.P. Hatecraft

As I describe it: "Kult makes Call of Cthulhu look like Scooby-Doo."** A warning though. This game takes no prisoners and is meant for mature people that can handle extremely gruesome scenes, and sometimes sexually deviant material. Kids, you will have to sneak it for yourselves.***

CHAOSIUM RETURNS

As you have heard by now, Greg Stafford and Randy Peterson have returned to take the reigns at Chaosium and restore the company to its former glory. As I have written, there is a glut of Cthulhu in the market, but there is always room for the original (they should cancel some of their licensees to strengthen the brand, IMHO).

Shannon Applecline, author of the excellent Designers and Dragons, a history of the RPG industry, has an interview with Greg Stafford about the future of Chaosium.

*My name for it, IMHO. It is the best site for RPG reviews, and the columns are very good, but I tread lightly in the forums. As the joke goes, "How do you avoid getting banned in the RPGnet forums? Don't post there."

**This is not to say Cthulhu is not a great game, but they are two different kinds of horror, with Kult possibly being too much for some audiences. Heck, I'll play both and be happy.

*** Kids, don't sneak the book for yourselves, it really is not appropriate. Also, respect your parents and sit in the corner and be quiet, Daddy needs some scotch.

Little people: Random thoughts on WizKids minis

Getting my wallet out...

I am bit late getting into the D&D/Pathfinder plastic painted miniatures. I never bought any during the Wizards run of them, and my first set I began to buy on a regular basis was the Pathfinder Battles: Legends of Golarion. These were to augment my Pathfinder Bestiary Box Set of cardboard figure flats, one of the best deals for enhancing your fantasy combat. There are several more boxes of these flats, one for each bestiary book, and special pawn sets dedicated to Paizo's adventure paths giving you special creatures and NPCs you will meet in the campaigns.

I also have bought a bunch of the We Be Goblins singles for some future massive goblin attack it is calling for, and the Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes, boxes 1-3 (actually, I ordered box 1 from Paizo's web store and am waiting and waiting. I have never found Paizo to be the fastest shipper around. It was sold out everywhere else, so what could I do? There is a store on Amazon selling a new box for seventy dollars, three times retail, and wants fourteen bucks shipping for a one-third pound box. Rip off!).  I just bought my first Dungeons Deep box, the new Pathfinder release I am really jazzed about. My wife also has two special boxes, the White Dragon Evolution and the Red Dragon Evolution sets. She does love dragons.

Drizzt is a bad mother- shut your mouth!

From the new D&D miniatures I have the Icons of the Realms Starter Set with its six figures, and a bunch of boxes of the Icons of the Realms: Tyranny of the Dragons set (though I never did get my Mindflayer- damn you random packing).

For a complete look at all the sets, with rarity and photos, check out the Pre-Painted Plastic Mini's Gallery. It even has future releases on it and checklists for collecting. It has the new D&D and Pathfinder sets produced by Wizkids. It also lists other sets, like D&D Attack Wing, Mage Knight and the Star Trek games.

I am very excited about the new Pathfinder set. Dungeons Deep has several figs usable in other genres, mainly horror. The Mi-go, Elder Thing and Yithian are perfect for Call of Cthulhu, as is the gibbering mouther mouth horror, which though not Cthulhu, fits in well. There is also a Chupacabra that is useful for Conspiracy X or Delta Green. It also includes a few dungeon dressing items: bubbling cauldron, burning brazier*, iron maiden, and a sarcophagus. Also, there is a mimic in that classic "the chest is gonna eat you" pose, along with a matching closed chest to fool everyone. I will be buying these up over the next couple of months.

Mi-go, you go, we all go.

One of the things I love about these minis is they are pre-painted, because I am a pretty middling painter. Recently the output is looking pretty good. The Pathfinder Battles Iconics Heroes boxes are all really good. Excellent detail and very good paint jobs. My first box of Dungeons Deep all the figs look fantastic, especially the very cool Clockwork Golum. I would say most of the figures are above average to very good.

Then, out of nowhere, some of them are just okay, and their is no rhyme or reason why this one figure here and another way over there succumb to this. I know WizKids, who produces the minis for both games, uses computer sculpting so detail should be good. I am not sure how they get painted, and maybe that is where it falls apart. Luckily, there are way more good than bad.

I wish that WizKids would make a horror set, with creatures and types of human heroes both 1920s and modern. Maybe they could license Call of Cthulhu. I am not holding my breath though. Only fantasy seems to get the mini loving.

* Back in high school I was part of the RPG club, and once a week we would stay after school and play in a classroom while the hosting teacher did her weekly grade and attendance paperwork. One day our DM described the room contained a "burning brassiere." The teacher looked up and said, "that's a brazier. Unless they just walked into a women's lib meeting in the '60s."

History lesson: a review of Designers & Dragons

If you love something you want to learn the history of it. When I bought by first Police album (Synchronicity back in 1983) I knew nothing of them except that Every Breath You Take was dominating the radio and MTV. I dropped the needle on the LP and was hooked. I did not stop there: I hit the record stores, bought previous albums, and even picked up a book about the band because I wanted to know more about them.

The same goes for the role play gaming hobby. If you love to play you just should enjoy learning where the game came from, or if you are an older player like me, relive the past and fill in the many holes in your memory of it.

You want this. Period.

Designers & Dragons by Shannon Applecline is the four books for you, in either trade paperback or e-book. Published by Evil Hat (the FATE people), it covers RPGs from their emergence from war gaming in the 60s all the way to now. This is the second edition and is greatly expanded. The first edition was a single volume, a mere three hundred pages. The second edition is far expanded, becoming a four volume set, one for each of the four decades of the RPG industry: the 70s, 80s, 90s and the '00s (I think it is pronounced "oughts"). The entire series is four times the size of the original, clocking in at 1200 pages (according to the description of the print edition on Amazon; I read the Kindle versions and there is no real page count). Being a niche project of such a large size, a big thanks should go out to all the RPG fans on who backed this project on Kickstarter or it might not have happened..

The book is well researched, with Mr. Applecline interviewing many of the actual people involved, as well as letting people from the companies in question review sections for accuracy. He scoured other books about the industry and sifted through piles of gaming magazines, many long out of print, and any other source he could get.  The result is astonishing.

Each decade tells the story of the major, and some minor, players in the RPG industry, and their influence on it. It takes each company all the way through their history even of it ends after the decade of the book, which is better than breaking up the company histories into different volumes. For example, TSR's history is contained in the '70s, but the story of TSR continues until its demise in the 1990's (to be truthful, the TSR section really begins in the late '60 with an overview of the war gaming crowd that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson came from).

The title is apropos. It is about designers and their dragons. Very few old school companies are still around, defeated by dragons of bad business moves, lawsuits, even weariness claiming its victims. The survivors often show the scars of battle.

Oldest School, baby!

There are stories about the personalities. The writer treats the subjects respectfully, never painting people as villains or heroes, but not whitewashing the controversies and conflicts.

The books are breezy to read, in an easy going style. It is defiantly not a dry, college textbook. It kept me reading because every page there is interesting facts that made me, a guy who thought he knew a lot about this subject, learn something new.

Applecline ends with appendices that include a series of "10 Things You Didn't Know About..." for each era. They analyze the trends that dominated the era. You'll revisit the rise of the splat book, the moral crusades against role playing, and how designers and players felt about how the game was to be played, which has changed over time. To cap it off, Greg "Chaosium" Stafford writes the introduction and comes across as both a designer and fan.

Since history is being made all the time, and new facts from yesteryear are uncovered, Mr. Applecline wants to keep the facts up to date, and has a column on RPGnet about it (in fact, the column was the genesis of the project), though it has not been updated for a while. and has just updated it with a look at the recent history of Chaosium.

To wrap it up, I give this book five out of five long swords. I highly recommend it.