D&D: A Documentary versus The Great Kingdom: Update

I’m truly beginning to wonder if I stirred up a hornets’ nest. I’m not some ego maniac like some RPG folks who thinks anyone really reads this blog. I wouldn’t expect it because I barely blog. But coincidences are happening.

Before I get started, I want to thank Andrew Pascal, one of the producers of The Great Game, and former producer of D&D: A Documentary. With this blog, I really was making an offhand comment about the oddity of the situation and how something had been gnawing at me for a while, and he was kind enough to respond.

On with the show…

In my email to Andrew, I proposed what I figured was the reason for the situation:

“My guess is that in the process of doing the groundwork of interviewing all of those people, some of them several times or follow-ups or whatever, a story started to emerge. And not just the story of how D&D came about (Mr. Peterson's tome does that in spades), but a more personal tale of the men involved and the rise and fall of..well...an idea, I suppose. And that story was far more gripping and appealing and exciting for you to tell than simply a kind of record of What Happened.”

Mr. Pascal responded with broad confirmation. It was creative direction that led to the separation, driven by a desire to tell the story of the creators more than an overall history of The Game. It should also be noted that he expressed that what to do for folks like me who gave to the Kickstarter for D&D: A Documentary has remained foremost in their minds.

So while it didn't explore much detail of the need for separation, nor did it offer for anything more than the digital download, I did get a response.

Now the coincidence. Within 5 days of the previous blog post, I received a Kickstarter update from the D&D: A Documentary project. It’s not unheard of, I mean, we got updates in January (26th), April (18th), May (22nd), and June (6th) - four so far in the almost 6 full months of 2014. But now we got two in one month…and this one was titled “An important update” and includes a bit more detailed discussion of this very topic (as well as a possible short preview at GenCon)!

Either way (coincidence or new readers), one of the things most interesting about this update is that it included a reference to the complaint filed in New York involving these two films (or more accurately, the producers of the films) – as JRT references in the comments of the previous post. Now I suspect I know why very little details is being provided..."I can't comment while legal action is pending."

Read it...it's very, very interesting and appears to be a kind of legal representation of what I was feeling. That is – it basically alleges that the producers who left D&D: A Documentary continued to use the “assets” of that project to kick start…yeah, I said it…the new project, The Great Kingdom.

Now, let us return to the reasons for the creative differences – a desire to tell a different story. From that legal document, here’s the original subject of D&D: A Documentary, as submitted to the United States Copyright Office for preregistration:

“An analytical look at Dungeons & Dragons, a role-playing game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (TSR), its history, effects and appeal. Subjects will include (but not limited to): - Early history of Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, et al - Creation of TSR - Legal battles between Gary and Dave - Legal battles between Gary and TSR - The influence of the role-playing and D&D on modern gaming and culture. - Interviews with celebrities, historians and cultural experts on their experience of D&D.”

That’s a really broad scope. It leaves a lot of room to turn and tack as information is gathered. Now at some point there was a desire to break out of this constraint to make a different movie. What kind? Well, here’s the United States Copyright Office preregistration for The Great Kingdom:

“The Great Kingdom is the story of families, blood and personal bond, affected by the success of the game, a game that brought joy to millions but heartbreak to its creators. In 1969, Gary Gygax, a family man and game designer with an entrepreneurial mind meets Dave Arneson, another brilliant game designer from Minneapolis/St. Paul. Their collaboration over the next few years would change the gaming world and themselves. This is the story of the people behind the creation of the epic role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. The history of how Dungeons & Dragons was created has been told in many forms. The Great Kingdom will look to explore the personalities behind the game and the families and gaming groups they engendered. From humble beginnings, in the heart of America, a brand new game was created. A game that would have far-reaching effects and would lay down the foundation for the for modern-day RPG video games. What happens to these individuals as they whether through the success, the betrayals, the excess, the downfalls and eventual redemptions all happens within The Great Kingdom."

Now, like I said in the first post and in my email to Andrew, I can see where something like this might happen. Start out making one film to tell story X and then, in compiling the research and doing the legwork, realize that you really want to tell story Y.

But here’s where things get dicey for me (look, more gaming puns!). There’s a way to do this. You finish the one you started…then you go and make your other movie. I mean, it seems different enough, right? You’re not going to lose anything by finishing the one you started, right? Unless…

What could you lose?

First and foremost in my mind is attention…that’s what you could lose; attention from the people you need to interview, attention from people who will want to see it, attention from people who you might need to help fund it with something like a Kickstarter project to, say, finish the film. How would you do that if there’s a slightly-different-but-not-different-enough film already out there – one in which you were a principle player?

So I think when this wasn’t going in the “new” direction the producers of The Great Game wanted (or didn’t focus creatively in the areas they desired), they knew they had to strike while they could. They had to in order to keep interest in all of those various camps alive and working for them - because a second film coming out at a later date without enough to distinguish it from the first film would be a death knell.

I have a terrible feeling that Andrew is not going to be as nice to me as he was the last time we ran into each other. I hope it does not prove true. It would be a shame. I don’t know him well enough to hold any animosity towards him, or James Sprattley for that matter. They’ve always seemed like nice enough folks when I’ve run into them in the past. I hope the fact that I don’t think they handled this very well doesn’t burn that bridge.

Besides, I'm still open to both sides of this little tempest in a teapot. I'd love to hear Mr. Savini's (of Westpaw films) perspective as well or some further details from The Great Game producers as to why this was really the right way to handle this situation...

Oh…and Rich….you want to get really meta? We need to create a game about the small independent film industry and how it leads to these kinds of implosions using these D&D films as a model. Then we need to have creative differences and publish similar-but-different rules sets…and then sue each other.

D&D: A Documentary versus The Great Kingdom

So..

At GaryCon a few years ago, I noticed some gentlemen trying to get in the front door, struggling with a bunch of what looked to be video equipment.  Being a smoker at the time and, thus, being out front taking a break, I set down my cigarette and tried to help by holding a door open and ushering the luggage cart through. In the process, I queried them as to the purpose of the video equipment. This was my first introduction to D&D: A Documentary.

I spoke with the young men a few times in passing over the next few days; nothing serious, ust asking how there endeavors were going, learning how tough it was at the convention to get a quiet spot and time to interview the old guard. I still have the business card they handed me that day.  I bought in on the spot. OK, not literally, but figuratively. I did, later, contribute money through kickstarter.

I watched the kickstarter updates without much excitement, to be honest. I had already received my copy of Playing at the World and read it cover to cover a while ago. I was content to simply wait for the finished product so I could see it, finally.

Then, a short time ago, I started to see things pop up on Facebook, Google +, and even at GaryCon, about The Great Kingkdom. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself, “two D&D movies. That’s interesting. Maybe these The Great Kingdom guys should talk to the D&D: A Documentary guys.” Only, they had…because they are the same guys. Well, apparently all but one.

You see, the gentleman for whom I first held the door at GaryCon, lo those many years ago, along with one or two of the other producers of D&D: A Documentary have apparently left that production to instead take up The Great Kingdom production…new Kickstarter and all.

So this is the D&D: A Documentary update on received in April of this year:

“In January of this year it became clear that a competing film is being made by a production company owned by the executive producers of this film. This was a surprise to everyone and it raised questions and confusion.”

Yeah…it sure did raise questions.

OK…so this is probably a good time to clear something up. I know the risks in kickstarters. I understand that I was not really buying anything (although, as I said, I did get the book…and it’s awesome, IMHO); I understand that the folks involved could have just taken the money and walked away. This is not a complaint about anything like that. In fact, I’m not all that upset. And yet, something is kinda eating at me.

Here’s the way the" Risks and challenges" section of the kickstarter of The Great Kingdom starts:

"Some of you may know James and myself from a different D&D documentary project that was started on Kickstarter a couple of years ago. As projects like this go and part of the nature of filmmaking, there were creative differences that opened our eyes to another perspective of the story and ultimately led to our new direction and separation from the previous project."

OK…so there were “creative differences”. I get it. I’m not cold-hearted. But here’s how that same section continues:

“So, to those who helped support the previous documentary, James and I would like to offer a digital, downloadable copy of THE GREAT KINGDOM for FREE. It's our small way of thanking you for your support and patience. All you need to do is email us and there will be a copy waiting for you when the film is done.”

Wait. Maybe this is what is bothering me. I’m not kidding that I’m realizing this as I’m writing it…this is not snark, this is honesty. I want more.

Even though it is spelled out that financially The Great Kingdom “started from scratch”, why I do feel like I helped them because of all of the connections and open doors and interviews and, possibly, stories they got from D&D: A Documentary work? Heavens, I have to kind of believe given the amount and kind of information I’ve seen to this point that The Great Kingdom really only exists as a concept because of what they learned on a project I helped fund that they walked away from!

Here’s my list of demands ( :) )

1)  I want a physical copy, dammit. Come on man…just make a DVD and ship it to me. I know it can’t cost that much. Hell, I might even give you the cost of production once it’s done.

2) I want the real scoop. That’s right, come clean with the dirty little story. Yeah, I know there’s probably legal action. Tough…tell me what happened.

There…that’s it. Easy.

BTW…I owe a write-up of GaryCon VI. Maybe by GenCon!

Body Recovery in DCC

I was persuing the DCC Rules sub-forum over at the Goodman Games Forums and I saw a thread there on "Recovering the Body". For those not familiar with the ins and outs of DCC, there is a rule that goes someting like this: If a character goes down in battle, if after siad battle allies can get to the body and roll it over, the character gets to make a Luck check and, if successful, actually not be dead. There are, of course, some pretty serious consequences to surviving in this manner - you lose a point of Strength, Agility, or Stamina and you're at -4 to all rolls for the next hour (6 turns) due to being groggy. You're also only at 1 HP unless some healing can be applied.

As is pretty usual on the DCC forums, answers were wide ranging and usually helpful/positive. One even suggested you could open the next game session with the character(s) in Hell looking for a way to get out. This got me to thinking...what about a Recovering the Body table?

The first thougiht was how fun it would be if instead of being in hell, the character brought a little piece of hell back with them.

The second thing I thought was that I wouldn't want another roll. So the table is based on the difference between the target number of the roll, and the actual roll. This also has the benefit of being applicable whether you like the Roll-Under-Your-Luck check or the Roll-Over-Target check.

So this was my first pass at the table:

But then I realized that it was a bit haphazard, and it didn't incorporate any of the current rules for Recovering the Body - like loss of Stamina or Strength, or grogginess. So I did a little editing and came up with this:

So there's the first and second pass. I'd love to hear your input. Hit me with your best shot, I'm sure my ego can recover....

Tickets....Get your Tickets...

Yesterday, the goods arrived.

Four day badges for each of us, and all the tickets for the games we were lucky enough to reserve. If you can't tell, the kids and I like to play DCC.

GaryCon V - Day 5

The last day is tough. I have to say goodbye to a lot of folks I’d rather hang out with, at the very least, for just a little bit longer. I have to pack up everything and load the car…including all the crap my kids have brought. While all that is going on, the kids still want to play.

This year, Mark Clover was running a minis battle on Sunday morning. We chased the kids out of bed early, got everything packed in the car, then returned to the convention to kill some things.

It was a fairly simple game and the kids have played in similar events at Chicago Game Day at GamesPlus.

So now I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures of the kids and I playing…because, really, what is more rewarding that showing kids getting into gaming? SIGPUP!

It was a fun game, though I was exhausted. When time ran out, we counted ships and figures and we were within a point or two of each other…so we called it a draw.

After, we said a few more thanks and a few more goodbyes, and then it was the long 50 minutes drive home. Heh.

And just for the heck of it, some other miscellaneous pictures of kids at play…

By the way...in that last picture, the young man on the left in the black shirt (who is a bit blurry in the picture) is the one who joined in our Night of The Walking Wet game the night before!

Only 8 more months until we, I hope, all gather in Lake Geneva again. I'll have to fill the time by starting to plan for GenCon 2013!

GaryCon V - Day 4, Part 2

Night of the Walking Wet…the very embodiment of GaryCon…

First, a little background…So way back in year two, we started a game off grid. That is, this game was not on any schedule or anything. To be honest, it was so long ago that I’m having trouble remembering how I got into this game.

What I do know is this: Tavis Allison, of Autarch/Adventurer, Conqueror, King/Several Other Things fame, invited a bunch of us to play in a game on Saturday night. He was going to run a bunch of us through an old Judges Guild adventure that appeared in The Dungeoneer magazine way back in the late 70’s. In fact, this adventure was old enough to actually predate Judges Guild, although that company later picked up the publishing of The Dungeoneer. Written by Paul Jaquays, Randy Cox, and Tamara Wieland, Night of the Walking Wet is a sprawling adventure covering a large area around an old Castle/Keep.

Of course, I agreed.

So a few of us met up around 8PM on that Saturday night, years ago, and made up characters. There were a ton of us. The guidelines were: 35,000 EXP…the class you chose gave you your level; 2 magic items of…I forget the exact value, but I remember this: you could make up your own as long as you and Tavis worked out the specifics; Gold of an amount consistent with our levels (that ranged between 5^th and 7^th as I recall)…it was enough to get yourself some magic armor and a magic weapon, just nothing to crazy…

This gave us some of the longest lasting memes and enjoyable in-jokes. A couple of great examples from those very early character creation moments came from Mark Clover and David Temperado.

David, who some of you may know as diaglo on various forums, decided he wanted to be a “kind of whirling dervish” fighter. No, that’s not quite right…he was really a dancer. I’m not kidding…to the point that one of his magic items was a fold-up stage/theater (think folding boat, but with a dressing room) so that he always had a place to perform. He also had a hireling, a dwarf named Bentley. Bentley was equipped with a shield that had a kind of Light spell cast on it so he could provide a spotlight or strobe light during performances. All of Dan the Whirling Dervish Man’s fighting moves were described, and often acted out, as dance moves.

Mark, I think, took the award for most creative. He created a Halfling named Tiptoe Taggins..OK…not that creative. But the magic items/effects were fantastic. First, he has something called the Noncha Lance. This is a weapon’s power really isn’t damage. When he hits, he automatically distracts the target from attacking anyone else. He also has a pouch of never-ending coppers. Each time he reaches into the pouch, he can pull out..I forget the number, say two…copper pieces. He can do this forever as long as he puts one back in (if not, it goes through a reset process where he can’t use it for a day). So he takes two out, and puts one back…then does it again…and again…

But the real kicker is Tiptoe’s Curse…The Curse of Fourteen. Whenever Tiptoe is part of a group (of, in reality, two or more people), he is always counted last and the counter will always count Tiptoe as the fourteenth member. So if Tiptoe is in an army of 10,000 attacking a castle, and someone on the wall is counting the enemy, it would go something like, “Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-eight…Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine…Fourteen. Not a threat, Sir!” Likewise, if Tiptoe and a friend need a room for the night, they will be paying the incredulous innkeeper the fee to sleep fourteen.

Believe it or not, besides being the source of tons of jokes, this has come up in play several times. There were other comical things from that first year, but these are the ones that have lasted the longest and had the greatest impact. And, most importantly, the ones I remember right now.

The rules were D&D…the original. In fact, Tavis has this really cool bound edition of the little brown books – very neat and very handy. But it also included house rules (I’ll get to in a moment), smatterings of AD&D and other editions…for example, we could choose our magic items from the DMG…and the aforementioned free-form-consult-the-DM approach.

The most interesting and perhaps most difficult for us to grasp, was the fact that none of us knew our hit points. I don’t recall where Tavis got this (chime in if you’re reading, Tavis!) but it is pretty cool. Basically, you have three boxes that represent Mental, Spiritual, and Physical. When you get hit, the DM rolls the damage. Then you start rolling to see how many hit points you have. You start with the first box, which is…just a sec, let me get out my character…Mental. You roll your character’s hit die and write it in the box. Then you compare that to the damage roll and if the hit points for Mental are higher, you subtract them and what you have left is your remaining Mental hit points. If not, then you subtract your Mental hit points from the damage total, and roll to see how many Spiritual hit points you have.

So let’s say my character, Bishop Innish, is battling a hobgoblin and the little bugger gets in a great shot. Tavis would roll for, say, five (5) hit points of damage. I would then roll for the good Bishop’s Mental hit points. Let’s say I roll a three (3). I put a “3” in the Mental hit point box and then cross it off. It’s less than the five (5) I have to absorb, so now I roll again to see how many Spiritual hit points I have. Innish is lucky today, and I roll a five (5). So I write a “5” in the Spiritual hit point box, then I cross it out and put a “3” just below it. My Spiritual hit points were able to absorb the remaining two (2) damage (the original five minus the three my Mental hit points covered) and I have a little left over.

Interestingly, I still don’t know how many hit points I have. I do know that I’m down to my last three of Spiritual…and if those get taken, I have to roll for Physical hit points…and I could get a one…and then... Well, it could have happened in that example. If my first roll had been a two (2) and the second had also been a two (2), I would have only one (1) hit point left of the original five (5) damage that was rolled. If I rolled a one (1) for Physical hit points, I’d be unconscious.

When you get healed back up to “full” hit points, the process begins anew. That is, if you get hit again you have to start rolling. It’s a really cool system that I’m not doing near the justice it deserves.

That first session we set another precedent….we played until 3 or 4 in the morning. This has become so ingrained that this year, the fourth session, Tavis announced that due to real life scheduling issues, we were going to have to cut it short at somewhere between 2 and 3 in the morning.

For the most part, this year started like the others. I happened to walk by Tavis’ room on the way to the game, and found the door open and Tavis gathering his stuff….with a bum leg. So I helped him gather his things and off we went. This year, we had an assigned table! So we got Tavis settled and waited for folks to gather.

Unfortunately, the assigned table was in one of the main areas and it was LOUD. We also knew from experience that this room for all intents and purposes shuts down around 1 AM. Cleaning folks go through, tables are moved around as necessary, and at some point the doors to the banquet room are locked. So soon after we gathered, Tavis sent us one a search for a better situation.

As luck would have it, there were tables in the lobby that were open. While there were folks playing at other nearby tables, the vibe in the lobby in the evening tends to be a little less noisy (until we get going). We also know from experience that it pretty much clears out by 12:30 or 1:00 AM. And there is no time limit since it’s the lobby of the hotel.

Successful on our mission, we went back and gathered Tavis and his stuff and got him situated upstairs, complete with extra chairs to keep his foot up. Before we got started, we had to pay homage to one of our crew who could not attend…and so Dan the Whirling Dervish Man got a Jazz Hands salute from those of us who could attend.

Then it was off to the races. Well, kind of. One of the big problems about playing a single session a year apart from the last is keeping track of things. One of the casualties is my mapping. For the life of me, I could not make heads or tails of the various maps I had in my pack of papers.

We did finally get it all figured out, and delved into the dungeons below the castle. Therein we barely escaped with our lives in defeating one of the major evil characters. The loot was good and for the first time I can recall we actually had issues dividing the treasure up – some of the items were that good.

I’m rushing to complete this because I’ve been letting it sit for far too long…and I don’t want to give away any spoilers regarding the adventure. I know it is an obscure one, but this day and age anything is available.

One of the funny little highlights was when we got some new young blood in the group. Earlier in our game, there had been a huge game of Werewolf (I think that was what it was) being played behind us; there had to be at least 20 kids involved. At some point it broke up and a few of the kids were wandering around the lobby checking out what people were playing…and we were about all that was left. One of the young men asked us what we were playing. When we told him we offered him a seat at the table. He asked how long we would go…it was about 11 PM…and we told him we would be going until about 2 AM. He leapt at the chance…so we gave him a character and let him join in. By the time we ended he was all about planning for next year.

So there we were, after two in the morning putting away dice and snacks and pencils and maps, trying to collect emails and names so maybe this year we can keep in touch (progress…this year I actually sent out an email to everyone!). It truly is one of my favorite parts of GaryCon…and while I understand there will be years to come when Tavis won’t be able to be the superman he can be and we will have to miss a year, I look forward to each opportunity.

Come to think of it, as of now, I have two regular games at GaryCon, both of which started as off-grid, ad hoc games; both of which I look forward to next year as much as any other aspect of GaryCon.

It's July....what of it?

As before, things just seem to get in the way. I can deal with it...so can you...