MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising" (2008)

Oh, c'mon. I think after last week, it's more than time for us to cover a good Dungeons & Dragons movie, isn't it?

...also after the actual Dungeons & Dragons movie that sucked harder than the vacuum of space.
Gamers: The Dorkness Rising is actually the second move in the Gamers series, brought to us by the Dead Gentlemen Productions. You can check out their official site here and their YouTube channel, where they do all sorts of stuff related to not just their productions, but to tabletop RPGing in general.

No, for the record, this review isn't sponsored. I'm just a fan. A lot of their stuff is really very cool and I enjoy it immensely as I do The Dorkness Rising. Without any further ado, let's get into it!

"Roll for initiative!"

The Dorkness Rising tells the story of put upon Dungeon Master Kevin Lodge (Nathan Rice) who has a problem that so, so many DMs have when it comes to running adventures - namely, his players can't get through it! This comes from a combination of his PCs being a bunch of murder hobos who have much more interest in banging barmaids, setting random villagers on fire with magic intended to kill demons, and generally just screwing about and then complaining when Lodge throws them into a dreaded Total Party Kill, and Lodge being a DM who loves to work on the Railroad all the live-long day.

Lodge's party consists of : Cass (Brian S. Lewis) - the traditional minmaxer with a pathological need to win any game that he's faced with, Leo (Scott C. Brown) - the owner of the game shop that the group plays at as well as being a more grounding influence on the group, particularly in the later film Gamers: The Hands of Fate (a story or another day), and Gary (Christian Doyle) - a completely insane wildman who does the aforementioned setting random villagers on fire.

When the group goes through another TPK, they all want to try again (well, less try and more "feel obligated to not let a module beat them"). While Lodge is reluctant, Gary brings up a problem they have in the party - there are only three players. To circumvent this, Cass brings in Joanna (Carol Roscoe) and Lodge ends up picking up a DM PC. Thus, we have the beginning of a new adventure for the monk Brother Silence (Cass), the bard Flynn (Leo), the wild mage Luster (Gary, as well as being played as a woman by actress Jennifer Page), the noble fighter Daphne (Joanna), an the paladin Sir Osric (Lodge). Will they succeed on their quest to recover the Mask of Death? Or will the party be defeated yet again?

"We are just poor, lost circus performers...is there a village nearby?"

You'll die laughing before you find out.

The movie shifts between the world of reality, where the players play the game and interact and the world of the game itself where the actors are all dressed as their characters. It isn't a full-on crossover where the game world bleeds into reality (at least not yet, but the sequels have other plans), but it is very much exactly what you'd expect - a game about gamers gaming. And it works pretty damn well for it.

Dorkness Rising has it's tongue firmly in its cheek, poking fun at gamers and the tabletop community in general while being written and starring gamers as well. It is, by far, the best Dungeons & Dragons movie I have ever seen. Granted, that isn't exactly a difficult bar to clear given the other attempts that we've seen thus far (and will see more of later), but I am more than willing to give credit where credit is due and credit is definitely due to Dorkness Rising.

They actually went out of their way to get permission from several actual game companions (in particular Wizards of the Coast and Steve Jackson Games) so that they could use actual gaming products within the movie, adding to the authenticity.

The comedy here is top-notch, the film containing what is in my opinion one of the best timed jokes of all time (you'll know it when you see it, believe me). While it does draw on a lot of Dungeons & Dragons and tabletop RPG tropes, it never feels like they rely too much of it and pretty much all of it feels organic. It's almost as if we were getting a window into a real gaming groups interpersonal conflict and gaming sessions instead of seeing actors playing things out.

"Use the Force, Silence!"

Dorkness Rising definitely gets a recommendation from MadCap. If you want to watch it, you check out for free on The Fantasy Network. If you have Amazon Prime, it's there as well. Or you can buy a copy from the Dead Gentlemen themselves through their website and support them making a The Gamers 4 or JourneyQuest or the myriad of other projects they have going on.

However you get it, enjoy it. I know I did.

Gamers: The Dorkness Rising is brought to us by Dead Gentlemen Productions.

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