Reviewed: The Dungeons & Dragons Experience
I got an interesting piece of email a while back from a fellow by the name of Jesse Spiro. Mr. Spiro is a film-maker responsible for the documentary The Dungeons & Dragons Experience. In short, he asked if I'd link to his web-page. I jokingly suggested that if he wanted a link, he'd better pony up a copy of his movie.
Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later, my joking "extortion" resulted in me receiving a copy of said film! The Dungeons & Dragons Experience is an hour-long documentary about the game, a few folks who play the game, and some of the people responsible for creating the game. I have to say that brought a smile to my face when I realized that the movie's opening narrative (ably provided by John Hedigan) is, word for word, from the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. Well done!
The movie largely ignores the history of TSR, and instead focuses exclusively on Dungeons & Dragons. The narrative tells of D&D's start as an offshoot of fantasy wargaming, and briefly touches on the history of wargames in general. The movie mentions the infamous James Dallas Eggbert "D&D suicide" story which created a furor of anti-D&D hysteria, and is quick to point out the true facts behind the case.
Interspersed with the narrative pieces are vignettes taken from a few gaming groups (one of which is the "house group" run by Stefan Pokorny, master sculptor for Dwarven Forge). These clips are alternately the most insightful and the most embarrassing, because they raise the question "Do we sound that over-the-top at the table? Do we chew the scenery that badly?" The answer is yes, we as gamers probably do.
In addition to watching the players and Dungeon Masters game, the film-maker speaks to the various gamers on a one-to-one basis and we get to see some of the motivation that drives people to game. It is, of course, no great secret. People game for the same reason some people collect stamps, build model train sets, fly kites, bicycle competitively or engage in any other hobby: for the fun of it. But nonetheless it's interesting and refreshing to hear the perspective of other gamers on why they do what they do, and why they play their characters the way they do.
Also included are interviews with some of D&D's more famous personalities (not the least of whom interviewed is Gary Gygax). I found Tracy Hickman's attitude towards D&D - that it should be some sort of moral teaching tool - more than a little annoying, but that isn't the fault of the film maker. Indeed if nothing else I appreciate the insight into Mr. Hickman's (misguided) views about the nature of the game itself. Dungeons & Dragons artist Larry Elmore speaks briefly on his own personal "Dungeons & Dragons Experience". Gary Gygax of course lends no small bit of his wisdom to the interviews, discussing both his own personal gaming "history" (including his first "role-playing" experience with school chums, a cops-and-robbers let's pretend affair that was detailed enough to feature homemade play money, costume jewelry to be heisted, press badges and more) and his own impact on the industry. Additionally, sculptor Sandra Garrity talks about taking the fantastic and making it real (at least in miniature).
Also briefly touched on also is the live action role play phenomenon (LARP as it's called) and how the development of D&D has impacted that offshoot of the role-playing hobby.
The technical aspects of the film are competent, but nothing to write home about. Sometimes the camera work is a bit off-center, leaving the subject to the left or right of the frame when it at least appears as though they should have been centered. There are never many slip-ups in lighting. The sound however varies in quality from very good to extremely poor. Unfortunately the poor sound crops up during at least one interview, which makes me wonder if the camera rig used wasn't in fact an "all-in-one" unit rather than a separate audio/video package with boom.
Still, the content rises above the technical problems and the overall quality can be said to be "good" on the average. The disk has two "extras" (additional interviews with G. Gygax) and is broken in to chapters. It's clear that the producers either out-sourced the DVD mastering to a low budget company or did it themselves; the disks are obviously bulk retail blank DVDs (this being revealed by the pinkish-purple sublimated dye rather than a "professional" silvered surface and the adhesive rather than silk-screened disk label) and some older players may not recognize the disks Although my trusty RCA refused to play the disk, my disposable $30 Memorex DVD player read the disk with no trouble at all. The disk is packaged in an opaque black "amray" style case.
It's an amazing amount of "good stuff" crammed in to a single hour, and the movie merits a second (or even third) viewing after the first to catch some of the things that might have been missed the first time around.
I give this feature an 8/10. Well done, Mr. Spiro and crew!