Information D&D Documentary to Explore 'the Most Influential Game in History'

[Grunker]

Tags: AD&D; D&D; Dungeons & Dragons; Gary Gygax; P&P; Tabletop; TSR

Some dudes at Westpaw Films and Iconoscope Films and director Anthony Savini have gathered to make a documentary about one the most used RPG tabletop systems for cRPGs, Dungeons & Dragons. So says an article on Wired:

How did a geeky hobby involving dice, graph paper, and a bowl of Cheetos roll a natural 20 to become the killer game of its era?

How did its shock waves roll into the realm of videogames, influencing a generation of computer programmers who would come to rule Silicon Valley?

How did the game, which has earned the praises of writers, actors, musicians, and others in the creative economy, go on to influence everything from teaching pedagogy to the treatment for PTSD? You could even argue that were it not for this game, we wouldn’t have “lite” role-playing activities like Facebook and online dating.​

How did Gary Gygax invent Facebook and online dating? We sure can't wait to find out!

There's also this video to whet your appetite:

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The documentary is slated for a 2013 release.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

One day in the future, when post-humans play with programmed picoware foglets displaying 60hz mattergames, hipsters of the genre too will recreate the ancient 'Mass Effect Videogame' from obscure university datpak libraries and discuss its visionary merits over synthesized nuwine (unwind with nuwine, the posters would say, the n and u letters criss-crossing in faint harp sighs).

 

[Infinitron]

One day in the future, when post-humans play with programmed picoware foglets displaying 60hz mattergames, hipsters of the genre too will recreate the ancient 'Mass Effect Videogame' from obscure university datpak libraries and discuss its visionary merits over synthesized nuwine (unwind with nuwine, the posters would say, the n and u letters criss-crossing in faint harp sighs).

Write a book, man.

 

[Weierstraß]

Wouldn't it be better if a D&D documentary explored D&D instead?

 

[thesheeep]

A text adventure would offer more for the reader.

 

[thesheeep]

They should explore how the game went downhill after 3.5, but I do have a feeling they will do the exact opposite.

 

[Alex_Steel]

Fasten your seatbelts! The D&D Next hype-machine begins!

 

[Cosmo]

Ridiculous how an awful lot of US "documentaries" consist of throwing a litany of empty, bombastic words like "revolution", "new era", and so on...
Usually it just boils down to watching a procession of overenthusiastic buffoons trying to backup those claims with bullshit rationalizations and panegyrics. And they don't have to try too hard because, curiously, they never get questioned or challenged by their interviewer.

It's high time some people learnt the difference between documentaries and advertisement.

 

[getter77]

Yeah, I'd like to see a more analytical piece in a practical sense on the likes of D&D, The Dark Eye, and various other P&P outfits that have managed to keep at it in a substantial way...at least for a time. More engagement, less hype.

 

[CappenVarra]

One day in the future, when post-humans play with programmed picoware foglets displaying 60hz mattergames, hipsters of the genre too will recreate the ancient 'Mass Effect Videogame' from obscure university datpak libraries and discuss its visionary merits over synthesized nuwine (unwind with nuwine, the posters would say, the n and u letters criss-crossing in faint harp sighs).

Write a book, man.

How do we know he hasn't already written some? ... Will buy Kindle edition, link plz!

 

[kazgar]

One day in the future, when post-humans play with programmed picoware foglets displaying 60hz mattergames, hipsters of the genre too will recreate the ancient 'Mass Effect Videogame' from obscure university datpak libraries and discuss its visionary merits over synthesized nuwine (unwind with nuwine, the posters would say, the n and u letters criss-crossing in faint harp sighs).

Write a book, man.

How do we know he hasn't already written some? ... Will buy Kindle edition, link plz!

sgc_meltdown is r.a. salvatore?

That. Explains. Everything.

 

[l3loodAngel]

How did Gary Gygax invent Facebook and online dating?

So Gygax did change the nature of the man. I knew it was possible!

 

[Murk]

One day in the future, when post-humans play with programmed picoware foglets displaying 60hz mattergames, hipsters of the genre too will recreate the ancient 'Mass Effect Videogame' from obscure university datpak libraries and discuss its visionary merits over synthesized nuwine (unwind with nuwine, the posters would say, the n and u letters criss-crossing in faint harp sighs).

copying this and claiming to have come up with it

Sensationalism of the game aside, I wouldn't mind a nice historical wrap up. I think I enjoy thinking about and tooling about D&D more than I enjoy playing it, which is not to say that I don't enjoy playing it.