Movies: Now for Gamers by Gamers

In the second issue of their customer newsletter, The Strategic Review, the upstart gaming company TSR claimed that the inspiration for the company was the "satisfaction in creating and/or publishing a good set of game rules." Brian Blume put a great deal of emphasis on the fact that TSR was a company of gamers who would make games for other gamers. In other words, TSR was a company that produced games "for gamers by gamers."

It was a battle cry that the company was compelled to make due to two things. First, the rapid rise of success TSR experienced was making some people, who are particularly "precious" about their interests, question whether TSR was "genuine" or "corporate." Second, TSR had set itself apart from a good deal of the gaming hobby. TSR's roleplaying game D&D would have long term negative affects on the wargaming industry, as it existed in the late 70s, and TSR quickly set their own gaming convention GenCon against the industry standard Origins convention. There is a long editorial in the April 1976 issue where Gary Gygax responds to Don Greenwood, the New Products Manager for Avalon Hill (one of the sponsors of Origins) at the time, who claimed that Origins was "the national convention."

TSR was a company establishing its identity and place in the world of gaming and it wanted to make sure that its audience new that TSR was a company "for gamers by gamers." In the 1980s, a computer game company by the name of Interplay also used this battle cry in the promotion of its products.

Members of a niche audience, in this case gamers, have a desire that the products designed for and destributed to them are made by members of the niche audience. This may sound like an exclusionary attitude, and in some ways it is, but it is also a good defense mechanism. After all, is it fair to ask a gamer to only be able to purchase "games by people who disdain gamers but what their disposible income?" I think not. Often those who are best able to make a product for a desired audience are those who have an appreciation for the product in the first place, Joss Whedon's run on the X-men comes to mind as a perfect example of a for x by x synergy.

I have been keeping track of one upcoming product "for gamers by gamers" and was alerted to another just the other day. There was one difference this time, both of the products are upcoming movies. That's right, some gamers have decided to make movies "for gamers and by gamers."

The first of these film projects is the Midnight Chronicles which is being funded by Fantasy Flight Games, the people who designed the world in which the film(s) will take place. The Midnight setting is a game world Fantasy Flight Games designed for use with the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. The setting is a typical Tolkeinesque setting, with one significant alteration. In Midnight the bad guys won the big war and the setting is about what happens after "the Dark Lord" has been victorious. What isn't emphasized enough in the film clips/discussion is the reason the Dark Lord won, which is what I think actually makes the setting an interesting adaptation of the cliche. The Dark Lord's victory was secured when the "heroes of the age" sided with him instead of battling against him. The what if of the setting isn't just, "what if Sauron won?" The question is actually, "what if Aragorn, Boromir, and Gandalf sided with Sauron?"

The Fantasy Flight project is already deep into production, and has produced both a short and long trailer. By the discussions on the site, it appears that the hopes are more to make the Midnight Chronicles into a SciFi channel original series than into a single movie. The film(s) are being shot on HD and are being entirely produced by Fantasy Flight Games.

The second project, which I am equally excited though more worried about (more on that below), is the news that a movie inspired by the Brave New World roleplaying game is on the way. Reactor 88 Studios, a group of independent filmmakers in the Chicago area, have begun work on the project. The work is still in the early stages, but Brave New World is a roleplaying game with a devoted audience. Brave New World was a superhero roleplaying game created by Matt Forbeck which featured a dystopian present day America. The tag line for the game was "superpowered gaming in a fascist America." The setting was dark, but no completely hopeless. The game itself featured "functional" mechanics, unless you wanted to know exactly how much your superstrong character could lift, and one of the best innovations in the history of gaming, website's devoted to the milieu's resistance. Brave New World was in many ways a precursor to the modern Alternate Reality Game, in that it attempted to use existing communications media to further immerse gamers into the world environment. The game faced tough competition in the Hero Games dominated superhero rpg market, in addition to other pressures from a changing rpg marketplace.

I am excited about both of these projects because they are inspired by the hobby that I love. Both these projects have the potential to increase exposure, in a positive non-creepy way, to the roleplaying hobby and demonstrate the creative and inventive natures of those who participate in the hobby. I just worry about quality.

When it comes to game design, by gamers for gamers is a good philosophy. I don't know if the same maxim holds true for different entertainment media. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons the game shouldn't forget that Courtney Solomon claimed to be a fan/player of the game when he was promoting his Dungeons and Dragons movie. Integrity and a respect for the target audience are certainly necessities for quality in a gamer targeted movie project, but so is talent. In fact, directorial/creator talent is the single most important attribute necessary in the production of entertainment. So far the Midnight project looks like it is being done by people who are proficient at what they are doing, though some of the acting is suspect. I worry more about the Reactor 88 project, only because I have yet to see what their work looks like. I am limited by what I have seen of their website, which I hope isn't an omen of what their film will be like. To be fair, it is highly possible to be a talented filmmaker who only has limited web-programming skills so it isn't the best criterion with which to judge.

Gamers can be a forgiving, if hard to access, audience. Sales of the rough, ragged, and sometimes insulting "The Gamers" were enough to warrant a sequel and special edition. Though I prefered Gamers the Movie, if only because it was directed by a classmate of my wife's who I know is a real gamer. Gamers the Movie featured rendered environments and special effects that dwarf The Gamers and a score by Battlestar Galactica's own Bear McCreary, that and the fact that the Sound Editor, Wes Kobernick, plays in the Eberron game I DM. Speaking of USC student films, if you ever get a chance to see Fist of Iron Chef go immediately. It may be one of the single best student films ever made, that and it was a selection for 2005 Taipei Film Festival.

Cool Animated Gifs

Supermarket of the Stars

"Success Is The New Failure". Illeana Douglas gives up her Hollywood career to work in a local Supermarket. However as word gets around that Supermarket employment is the new fashion statment other celebrities start to materialize. Co-starring Jeff Goldblum, Jane Lynch, Ed Begley Jr and if you look hard enough Gene Wilder.

Illeana Douglas has created a series of short videos where she plays herself having decided to quit acting and work in a supermarket. Justine Bateman, Jerry Mathers, and others, co-star. The cameos are the best: whom can you recognize? Find the first video below:



The Daily Reel has a great story that includes a story about Zeitbyte (another video hosting service).

Transformers Trailer

For Gen-X...'nuff said.+

All He Has Is the Power Cosmic!

But somehow...it is enough!

Fantastic 4 Teaser Trailer

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A Glimpse Into My Home Library

I was reading science fiction author Chris Roberson's blog (Roberson's Interminable Ramble) the other day and he provided a link to Lou Anders' website. I am currently reading a collection of pop culture essays edited by Anders, so I clicked on over to the Anders' neighborhood. While browsing the site, I noticed an interesting inset on the sidebar of Anders' site which displayed some random books from Lou Anders' library. I knew I had to have a similar offering on my site as soon as possible.

I have been listing things that I am reading/watching/playing in my left sidebar for some time, but I don't update it as often as I should and it is usually sadly out of date. Case in point, up until I change the entry later today, this site says I am "reading" Darkly Dreaming Dexter. This is false. I finished reading the book some time ago, but haven't updated the site to include one of the books I am currently reading. Everyone who stops by this blog to see what I have to say deserves better than this, so I have decided to add a listing of random books from my library on the left sidebar. This will be in addition to the too rarely updated windows with peeks into what I am reading/playing/watching.

The feature is made possible by the Library Thing service. Library Thing is a combination of a database and a social networking site. It's like MySpace for bibliophiles. Instead of having a page that features one song you like and a video clip, you can amaze the world with your collection of literary wonders. Well...you can at least meet people online who share similar tastes in books, which leads me to some of the best things about the site. I earlier mentioned how much I like the Pandora online radio service because it makes musical recommendations based on your musical tastes. Library Thing has two similar functions, a book recommender and a book un-recommender. Unlike Pandora, these recommendations aren't based on an algorithm and the tags/decriptors of an elite reviewing staff, rather the recommendations are based on the selections and tags created by users of the site. Also unlike Pandora where you can listen to music online, you have to buy the book if you want to read it. This is only a small drawback which can easily be overcome by the social networking aspect of Library Thing. Is there a user with a high degree of similarity to you? You can email/post a message to that user asking why they like/dislike a particular book you are interested in reading.

It's a cool site with cool functions. Now if I can only get the discipline to enter more books...

Even if I can't, the "random books from" function already has a decent number of books from which to choose.

Chess Continues to Be Snubbed by Toy Hall of Fame

The National Toy Hall of Fame, founded in 1998, has let another year pass without inducting Chess into the Hall. Many experts considered Chess to be a shoe in for initial inauguration, which didn't happen, but who could have guessed that after 8 years of inductees that Chess would be left to wait another year for consideration?

2006 saw the induction of the Easy-Bake® Oven and the Lionel® Train Set. Worthy entries to be sure, but alas no Chess. Experts close to this reporter have shared that Chess's exclusion may be due to concerns regarding Chess's moral character. Incidents like that "One Night in Bangkok" and Chess's active participation in Cold War battles were mentioned as possible reasons for exclusion.

I would like to note that Chess was not even among the considered nominees for the prestigious Toy Hall in 2006. The 2006 nominees were: Atari® Game System, Big Wheel, Easy-Bake® Oven, Lite-Brite, Fisher-Price® Little People, Hot Wheels®, Lionel® Trains, Operation Skill Game, PEZ® Candy Dispenser, Rubber Duck, Skateboard, and Twister®.

Some anti-Chess activists have commented that Chess is a boardgame and not a toy and should thus be excluded from the Hall, but considering that prior inductees include Monopoly®, Checkers, and Candy Land®, this is complete rubbish. Let's see...a game invented by a flat tax advocate which lived its early years as an Econ class instruction tool, a game Chess could sue for trademark infringement, and the quintessential strategyless track game are included but Chess isn't?

One need not even mention the controversial induction of the Cardboard Box which is in all actuality a nomination for children's imagination (though that deserves a place in the Hall).



Please make sure to nominate Chess in the upcoming year. If the elites won't do it, it is time for We the People to do our part.