Dorkess Rising Music Video "Playing D&D"

A music video of SJ Tucker's "Playing D&D" complete with clips from the film Dorkness Rising and some non-movie music video footage with some veterans of Dead Gentlemen. 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.  Here's hoping all of your V-Day dreams come true.  Should you need any help on your seduction technique, check out how my all time favorite Bard does it in the film Dorkness Rising.

Skip to the 3 minute mark to see him work his magic.

JourneyQuest Episode 7

The adventure continues!

JourneyQuest Episode 6

Episode 6 of season 1 entitled 'Bardic Immunity' has been released.  The episode focuses on the Bard that has been following the party in order to records their Epic Quest for the ages!

JourneyQuest Episode 5

One of the best episodes to date!  Spell mishaps, unconventional wizard duals, a new clever solutions to classic riddles, funny tattoos, corporeal intelligent undead, and ninjas all await you!

JourneyQuest Episode 4

Episode 4 "Ancient Magicks" is out.  Prepare for foul orcs, unquenchable flame, powerful swords, wizard's duels, and milk!

JourneyQuest Episode Three!

The Journey continues with lessons in Orcish grammer and what not to do when reaching the end of a dungeon!

Journeyquest Episodes 1&2

The wait is over, JourneyQuest episodes 1 AND 2 have been released!

Episode 1: Onward



Episode 2: Sod the Quest



Episode 3 will be released October 5th with a new episode coming every week until the end of Season 1. At that point they are hoping to have a season 2, but it all depends on the popularity of the show so get the word out, people!

JourneyQuest Trailer!

At last the good people over at Dead Gentlemen, the Makers of The Gamers and The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, have released the trailer for their upcoming web series, JourneyQuest!  Here is the summery:

Following a group of dysfunctional adventurers on a quest to discover and destroy the mythical Sword of Fighting, JOURNEYQUEST is a comedic adventure through the fantasy world of Fartherall, where intellectual orcs, incompetent wizards, and holy zombies form the living (and not-so-living) backdrop to an epic story of unrequited love, burning passions, and severely reluctant heroism.

And running away. Lots of running away …

Folks, I give you my personal guarantee, this will be amazing and you will definitely want to check it out! 

Why Couldn't the Dungeons and Dragons Movies Have Been This Good?

This isn't going to be a review, so you can just fault me for false advertising right now.  No, instead this is more of a lament, for something that should have been great, but fell on its face.  

I'm speaking of the Dungeons and Dragons Movies, of course.  

The first D&D movie had promise... if you didn't look too close.  It had established actors, most notably Jeremy Irons, and it had a fairly large budget of $45 million when it was made in 2000.  Despite that the movie was simply awful.  Gary Gygax even dissed the movie in the gamer documentary Uber Goober.

What can I say about this film?  Not much that is good, that's for damn sure.  It's almost painful to watch from start to finish.  I'm actually getting angry just thinking about it.  The plot is awful, the characters are terrible, the acting is worse, the direction is a joke, and the special effects suck for the most part.  

None of that is the worst part, though.  The worst part is that the film was named Dungeons and Dragons.  For years studios have believed that fantasy movies, and specifically D&D could not be made into a successful movie.  Right around the time that this movie was made some changed their minds and greenlit a bunch of fantasy movies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.  While those two franchises soared to record box office numbers D&D grossed a whopping 15.2 million dollars domestically and 33 million world wide.  So the real tragedy is that this film seemed to confirm studio suspicions about the lack of viability of a D&D movie when the reality is that the movie just sucked because of the people put in charge of making it, most notably wirter/director Courtney Solomon.

Despite the first movie sucking lama balls a second movie was made.  This was not a big Hollywood production, but rather a made for TV film.  Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God was better the the original, which is kind of surprising, but still not very good... which is less surprising. 

The film was billed as a sequel to the first film, though nothing is the same save Bruce Payne and the name of his character, Damodar.  The film is better in that, unlike its predessor, it is the Dungeon and Dragons film.  There are numerous references from in the game including a cleric of Obad-Hai, a mage who uses standard D&D spells like Lightning Bolt and Teleport, the fighter wielding a Vorpal Sword, and a sleezy theif who specializes in finding and disarming traps.  Even with all this the film is at best a one time watch for hard core D&D fans who can appreciate all these things.  It lacked the budget of the first one, and did as much as one might expect with a total budget of 12 million dollars.  

That having been said, I'd like to see what the Dead Gentlemen could do with a 12 million dollar budget!  Their masterpiece, The Gamers 2: Dorness Rising was made on a miniscule budget and is more of a D&D movie than either of the official titiles. 

You might think that they should just scrap the idea of making a live action movie and try for an animated one.  It would certainly be cheaper and easier to produce.  Oh wait, they tried that too with Scourge of Worlds.  SoW is a little known of project that was a straight to video interactive adventure that fell flat on its face.  How could this also be a failure?  How hard it is to make a great fantasy animation video?  

Hmmm....

Wow... I guess it can be done. 

Online Videos

There are some pretty great gamer related videos online. Here are some of the best I've come across, in no particular order.


1. D&D Choices

This was a submission for the D&D film contest a few years ago. It really should have won. This video is a live action version of the old D&D cartoon from the 80s, but with a more serious tone than the carefree children's cartoon ever took. Enjoy!

2. D&D Cartoon Intro

Speaking of the D&D cartoon here is the intro from that. I know it's kind of silly, but I loved that show as a kid.

3. Legend of Drizzt

This is a fan made video centering around R. A. Salvatore's much beloved character Drizzt Do'Urden. This was obviously a labor of love for the creators.

4. The Dead Ale Wives meet 8-bit Theater

The Dead Ale Wives, a comedy troupe from the 80s and 90s became gamer legends when they did this "warning" to parents about the deadly game DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. Combine that with the graphics from the original Final Fantasy game made popular once again by the 8-bit theater online comic and you have a winning video.

5. Dorkness Rising Teaser Trailer

Those of you who read my review of Dorkness Rising know who much I love it. While I was (im)patiently waiting for the film with many others the Dead Gentlemen released this teaser trailer that has NOTHING to do with the film. It is still a very funny parody of the Lord of the Rings and more than worthy of being included on this list.

6. Knights of the Dinner Table Animation

I love the Knights of the Dinner table comic. Here is an animated video featuring all your favoites from the knights. The people that did this video did several others including animiating the now famous Gazzebo strip. See them all here.

Gamer Movie Review: The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising

Film: The Gamers 2: Dorness Rising
Year: 2008
Production Company: Dead Gentlemen Productions
Writer: Matt Vancil
Director: Matt Vancil
Staring: Nathan Rice, Brian Lewis, Carol Roscoe, Christian Doyle, Scott Brown, Jen Page


At last we have come to Dead Gentlemen Productions most recent film. This film has a larger budget, as well as larger ambitions than all previous DG films. I waited impatiently for many others while DG struggled to find a distributor so they could release the film.

This film was worth the wait.

Simply put this is DG's masterpiece. The Mona Lisa of Gaming movies. It outstrips even its predecessor, the original Gamers, in all respects. The story is very solid here is a mostly spoiler free plot summary...

Lodge is a struggling writer with a problem. He has written an adventure, but it is unfinished. To finish writing it he needs his gaming group to get through it, something they had been unable to do. After a few failed attempts Lodge decides to shake things up by introducing two new characters. One played by himself (Yes, the dreaded GMPC!) and one played by (Gasp!) a girl!. With these changes the group sets off again in an attempt to succeed where they have previously failed. They face goblins, demons, peasants, and chickens on their way!

That's as detailed as I want to get because I don't want to ruin the film for anyone who hasn't seen it.

This film truly is Gamer subculture on parade. If you pay close attention to such gaming favorites as Munchkin, Nodwick, and Knights of the Dinner Table. There is even an ode to the much beloved creator of Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax.

True gamers will fall in love with this movie almost instantly... but what about non-gamers? The original gamer film gave insight into our hobby to those on the outside, but it didn't really stand up for them as a true film. For example, if one of them watched the original Gamers with no gamer there to explain things they would have been quickly lost and shut off the movie. Matt Vancil, the writer of both Gamer film understands that. So what does he do? He introduces a new player to the table. Any non-gamers watching the film learn along with her. This makes the movie so accessible to the non-gamer crowd that I know some people who have never slung dice in their life, but love the movie and bought it. This is a master stroke by Vancil to open his product up to people beyond the niche audience that forms DG's base.

The rest of the writing in this film is just as good. These are not one dimensional characters we see in this film. Yes, experienced gamers will see some gamer sterotypes, the rules lawyer, for example. But that isn't the only side of the characters that on display. We see them both at, and away from, the gaming table. We are given a view into their lives, hopes, and ambitions. I've written previously that Vancil has a lot of potential as a writer and director, here we see that potential realized. The quality of work is really beyond anything I would have thought possible a few years ago.

The acting is similarly much improved. Once again it is Nathan Rice who is the star of this movie, but the difference is that he doesn't have to carry the film. The others actors in the film are capable of keeping up with, and playing off of, Rice. And the end result is beautiful to behold. All the main cast are solid and have their great moments throughout the film. Flynn, played by Scott C. Brown always gets the most laughs. Brown does a great job, Flynn has some of the best lines, and the plot around the Bard is nothing short of hilarious. Honorable mentions should go out to the team of Christian Doyle and Jen page who share the character of Luster. With the combination of their comedic timing and so very clever writing Luster is a character will quoted for many years to come.

As for the rest of the film, music, scenery, costumes, etc, they are all excellent. The scenery especially really blew me away at times. The inn at Westhaven was one set in particular that I knew a little bit about ahead of time. Writer/Director Matt Vancil built the set for the inn in his garage, but you would never know it. That is how immersive the sets are in this film. It really makes me wonder what Dead Gentlemen Productions could achieve with a normal film's budget.

Overall Rating: 9/10 - This is one of my faovite movies, and is a must see for any and all Gamers!


Here is the trailer for Dorkness Rising... Enjoy!

Gamer Movie Review: The Gamers

Film: The Gamers
Year: 2002
Production Company: Dead Gentlemen Productions
Writer: Matt Vancil
Director: Matt Vancil
Staring: Nathan Rice, Matt Cameron, Chris Duppenthaler, Justin MacGregor, Emily Olson, Phil M. Price


The Gamers was the first film I purchased from Dead Gentlemen. I saw an add in the now deceased Dragon Magazine and it looked like something I would like. The add had a quote from Monte Cooke that claimed that The Gamers was the real D&D movie, so how could I pass it up? I ordered it from the DG website (they no longer run their own store but Paizo does it, and they do a great job) and eagerly waited.

When the movie arrived I immediately ripped open the packaging, barely sparing a thought for the cover, the plot summary on the back, or any of the special features of the DVD. Instead I delved straight into the film.

They had me right from the opening credits.

Classic fantasy sounding music played and the each of the five players character sheets were displayed. Newmoon the Elf, Nimble the Thief, Rogar the Barbarian, and Ambrose the Mage. Oh and Mark the Red, last of the Bloodfire berserkers! Almost forgot about him. I was baffled over what stat GLE was but in the commentary Monte Cooke asks and is told that the stat is Guile.

The movie opens with the gaming group standing around chatting about D&D related stuff like Lord of the Rings and Drizzt. Unfortunately their dorm mate Paula has a test the next day and isn't very understanding of their loud behavior she comes out to berate them. After being yelled at the group decides to retire to their game room and get started. From this point on the movie jumps back and forth between the real world and the game world inside the imagination of the players.

In the game world we see our four... I mean five heroes at an inn outside Dragonsmead where they receive a note from King The Reasonably Just. The King explains in his letter that the Princess has been kidnapped by THE SHADOW (I feel this name should always be capitalized you'll see why when you see the movie). The remainder of the movie contains the exploits of the four... uh... five adventures as they attempt to defeat the shadow and rescue the princess.

I'm going to try not to gush about this movie, but you should know that I am hardly an objective observer as I LOVE this movie.

This movie is rush around the edges, still being one of the earliest movies made by Dead Gentlemen. The budget of the film was a paltry $500, but the Dead Gentlemen were none the less able to make movie magic. The movie is flat out hilarious to any gamer. From start to finish they are able to satirize gaming and all of its idiosyncrasies as only gamers can. Their love of gaming and understanding the great parts of it that keep us all coming back for more is the key to the film's success. As Monte Cook said, this is the true D&D movie. It captures the game and the people that play it so much better than either of the poorly made D&D films could.

The music (Gamer Theme by Steve Wolbrecht in particular), scenery, and acting are all better in this film than DG's Demon Hunters series. The filmmakers are able to use a lot of wilderness scenes for the party's adventures. The actors are well chosen, with the possible exception of Matt Cameron who is pretty flat as the Gamemaster. The costumes and props are good, especially given the small budget. Matt Vancil's script is excellent and is paced very well. In addition Vancil also directed this movie, and did a phenomenal job. Unfortunately this is not a feature length film. It runs just 48 minutes, which is disappointing.

However, the film's main weakness is its lack of relevance to people outside its target audience. Non-gamers generally will not get most of the jokes presented in the film. That having been said, the jokes that poke fun at the most mainstream gamer geek stereotypes will be recognized by almost everyone and will retain their punch.

Also this film presents a great look into what it is that we do as gamers. I showed this film to my girlfriend who "didn't get it." After seeing the film she has an idea of what it is I do when I go out to game every Thursday. This ability to form a bridge to the non gaming community really helps people not only understand what we do but want to get involved themselves. Many people have started playing because they saw this film.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - This film is essential to any Gamer's DVD collection!


Here is the trailer for the film! You won't find it at the video store but you will find it over at Paizo!

Gamer Movie Review: Demon Hunters 2: Dead Camper Lake

Film: Demon Hunters 2: Dead Camper Lake
Year: 2004
Production Company: Dead Gentlemen
Writer: Matt Vancil
Director: Don Early
Staring: Steve Wolbrecht, Nathan Rice, and Don Early





I eagerly awaited my signed copy of Demon Hunters 2 in the mail. It arrived on time and signed by one of the Dead Gentlemen as promised (Thanks Steve Wolbrecht!). After a few false starts (see previous review) I watched the first Demon Hunters film. I was not what you would call pleasantly surprised. Frankly I was actually disappointed. I wasn't expecting much from the first film, but I was expecting more than I got. Suddenly my desire to see Demon Hunters 2 had vanished. I decided to wait and forgot all about the DVD for about a week. But I was reorganizing (cleaning my god awful mess) when I came across the DVD. I decided to put it in while I was cleaning in an attempt to distract me from my work.

It worked a little too well.

Before I knew it I was doing much more movie watching than cleaning. I was pleasantly surprised, though my girlfriend was not when she saw the place was still a disaster.

This film is much improved over its predecessor on nearly all fronts. Let me give you an idea of the plot.

Gabriel and Chris escape what is left of Pacific Northwest University and head for Dead Camper Lake. A "Border Town" as Gabriel calls it, Dead Camper Lake lies on the border between Earth and Hell. Though they go there seeking refuge they get caught up in an adventure where the fate of the very world is at stake. Purple Ninjas, Christmas Trees, and Miracle Whip Mayonnaise all put in an appearance. The result being that general hilarity ensues.

The sets for the film aren't all that much better than the first Demon Hunters film. That is to say, once again the Dead Gentlemen had to take what they could get and use what was available. In the first film that meant Pacific Northwest University and in this film it meant a campground. Being that this movie, like its predecessor, was made on little to no budget the sets pretty much fit in with the feel of the rest of the film.

The acting is improved somewhat over the first film. Nathan Rice, who plays Gabriel, really carries this film. He has talent, that is obvious from the moment he appears on screen. Steve Wolbrecht does well in his role as the somewhat pathetic everyman character, Chris. Wolbrecht even has an unexpected musical number during the film when he performs "The Demon Hunter Blues." The song is funny and at the same time does a great job of recapping the plot of the first two movies.

Don Early resumes his role as Silent Jim, but his biggest contribution to the film is as Director. The direction of the film is vastly superior to the first film. I know DG plans on making a third Demon Hunters film and if they do I hope to see Early at the helm.

Now I did like this film, but it was far from perfect. Some of the acting in this film is downright terrible. Mostly I'm talking about Chris Duppenthaler who plays Gabriel's rival Ichabod. As far as I know this was his first film, however, and he improves greatly in each subsequent film he is in.

In addition to some sub par acting the cliffhanger like ending stinks for any fan of the series as the film was released in 2004 and though there are plans for a sequel no ground has been broken on the project as of yet.

Overall Rating: 6/10 - A giant step up from the first Demon Hunters film!


I really look forward to the third Demon Hunters film. Now that the Dead Gentlemen are an established troupe with a committed cult following I think a third film could far exceed anything they could have hoped to accomplish when they filmed the first Demon Hunters film.

For your viewing pleasure here is the song "Demon Hunter Blues" by Steve Wolbrecht!

Gamer Movie Review: Demon Hunters

Film: Demon Hunters
Year: 1999
Production Company: Dead Gentlemen
Writer: Matt Vancil
Director: Ben Dobyns
Staring: Steve Wolbrecht, Nathan Rice, and Don Early


When I bought Demon Hunters 2: Dead Camper Lake I was aware that the first Demon Hunter film was included on the disk. This would have been a red flag, but the people over at Dead Gentlemen are too up front to let someone buy their product with any misconceptions. Their site included a warning that both the Demon Hunters films were made on little to no budget with consumer grade equipment. I had no objections to this, having seen many films with massive budgets and the latest high tech equipment that sucked (I'm looking at you Transformers 2!) .

So it was that I began the first Demon Hunters film... and then fell asleep. So I started it again... and fell asleep again. The third time was the charm however and I finally made it through the film.

Where to begin?

Let's start with a plot synopsis. The film is set at Pacific Northwest University where Chris (Played by Steve Wolbrecht), a humble and ordinary accounting major, attends school. Little do Chris and the other students of the University know that below the school's library an ancient Demon sleeps a vile demon, Duamerthrax the Indestructible. One Thousand Years has passed since Duamerthrax was imprisoned, and the demon is freed to maim and spread discord at Pacific Northwest. The only thing stopping the Demon from breaking totally free of his bonds and going off into an unsuspecting world is Chris, and a band of Demon Hunters from the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch. The Brotherhood chapter is led by Gabriel (Played by Nathan Rice). Together the Demon Hunters and Chris battle the Demon and try to destroy him once and for all.

This movie was made on no budget by college kids who catered to the only audience they ever expected, other members of their University. I can't say how well the inside jokes held up to their target audience, not having attended Pacific Northwest University where the movie was set and filmed. But like most inside jokes, they just aren't very entertaining to those on the outside.

It is for these reasons that the movie falls flat, and why it was hard for me to make it through it. The sets, actors, and what you might be able to call special effects are not up to snuff, even for a B rated flick you would pick up at the video store on a boring weekday night.

But in the midst of this sub par film you can see flashes of genius. True genius that just needs time to develop and room to grow. Matt Vancil's righting shows promise and some very witty comedy. Actor Nathan Rice who plays Gabriel shows raw talent and great comedic timing.

Though I regard Demon Hunters as a failure as a stand alone film it was the stepping stone necessary for Dead Gentlemen's later productions. Just as professional athletes take their lumps in lesser leagues before making their mark on the big stage, this movie was a necessary stepping stone for these filmmakers.

Overall Rating: 4/10 - Only true Dead Gentlemen fans should bother with this film

Dead Gentlemen

Dead Gentlemen Productions is a company of friends who got together during college. United by their love of film making they created the film Demon Hunters in 1999 while still attending college. They went on to create the squeal, Demon Hunters 2: Dead Camper Lake, as well as The Gamers and The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising.

I purchased all four of the films and will be reviewing them in my upcoming posts!

So stay tuned, and in the mean time you can check out the website for Dead Gentlemen Productions here.