On Aug 15, 6:42 am, WJ Walton <
rpgadvoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (Cut and pasted from The Escapist Blog -
www.theescapist.com/blog)
>
> Michael Tresca at the Examiner has broken the news about the upcoming
> film on the life of Gary Gygax, and if you haven't already heard, here
> are the juiciest bits - George Strayton (scriptwriter for the Hercules
> and Xena TV shows and an animated Dragonlance feature) will be doing
> the writing, the budget is set at $150 million, the plot will switch
> between details of Gygax's life and the fantasy realm of Dungeons &
> Dragons, and the lead will be played by a "huge star." (So it looks
> like at least part of the casting is already complete.)
>
> There have been rumblings in RPG blogs and forums about the
> feasibility of such a project - will it have any public appeal at all,
> how well could such a film do at the box office, and could it ever
> hope to recoup its budget - and I'm sure some excellent points have
> been made on both sides of the argument.
>
> But I'd like to leave those arguments where they are, and talk about
> the actual content of the movie. This film could have a lot of
> potential to help the roleplaying hobby, and I'm hoping that at least
> four areas will get some attention.
>
> Here's what I'm hoping this Gygax biopic will do:
>
> - Give a bit of time to the negative backlash against the game in the
> early 80s through the 90s. This is a big opportunity to set the record
> straight on a lot of the misconceptions that people had about the
> game, and I hope they take it. It would be helpful not only to the
> hobby, but to helping everyone improve their critical thinking skills.
>
> - Demonstrate how the game is played. Many people still have a big
> misunderstanding in this area, and a simple demonstration of how the
> DM and players interact to create a story would help a lot. Sure, it
> will be fun to see big and loud fantasy scenes explode across the
> screen, but I'm hoping that it will be made clear who is really making
> those things happen - the DM and the players - and how they're doing
> it.
>
> - Show how much fun it is. This may be a given, or it may not. Since
> the focus is on the early days of <i>D&D</i>, there may be some
> temptation to portray all of the players as stuffy science nerds who
> show no outward signs of enjoying themselves. What I'm hoping for here
> would be the exact opposite, obviously.
>
> - Demonstrate what Gygax started, not just what he created. After D&D
> became popular, a few other RPGs sprang up to appeal to fans of other
> genres, and then the hobby exploded with new games through the 80s and
> 90s and into the new millennium - from small press affairs of blotchy
> photocopied rulebooks to full-color hardcover tomes to the self-
> publishing PDF revolution. The influence on video games, celebrities
> inspired by the RPG hobby, the Vampire television series, references
> to D&D on shows like Freaks & Geeks and Community - Gygax provided the
> spark, but to really do justice to his accomplishment, they should
> show how far the fire really spread.
>
> Almost eleven years ago, many of us were hoping that the Dungeons &
> Dragons movie would help inspire a renewed interest in the roleplaying
> hobby... and were sadly disappointed. Here's hoping that won't happen
> again.
I an hopeful as well, the hobby needs a boost and this could be it.
The Gentleman in charge has a gaming Interest as well as entertainment
credentials this may make the difference.
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