A recent number of films and TV shows showcase the archetype of the gamer. However, most of these depict stereotypical traits, reducing the character of the gamer to a caricature to be mocked and laughed at. There has not been a film or television show that depicts gamers in a less stereotypical fashion until now.
Gamers: Dorkness Rising is an independent film, developed by a film company called Dead Gentlemen Productions, which specializes in comedy. They are tabletop gamers, who revere the excitement and absurdity of playing role-playing games. They took their experiences, and turned them into a short film that accurately showcases the humor and insanity that go on in a tabletop game. The film, which was made by gamers for gamers, attained cult status in the tabletop community. This prompted them to make a feature-length film.
Dorkness Rising introduces the characters after their defeat in an adventuring campaign. Cass (Brian Lewis) represents the power-gamer who is focused and finding more ways ultimately “cheat” the system and beat the game. Flynn (Scott C. Brown) is the gamer who seems to see his characters die easily in gruesome deaths. Gary (Christian Doyle) is more interested in experimental interaction, which results in half of the non-player character population dead, and Lodge (Nathan Rice) is the game-master, who tries to keep the focus of his players on the story, while trying to prevent them from killing, burning, and pillaging the entire game-world.
The defeat of their characters frustrates the gamers to the point that they no longer want to play the campaign. However, Cass convinces his fellow party members that they should stick it out and finish this campaign. As the movie progresses, it reveals that the campaign is being written by Lodge. He repeatedly encounters writing blocks, due to his colleagues avoiding the storyline, and never finishing the game. The game-master hopes to actually finish writing his adventure module so it can be published and sold.
In the next attempt to complete the adventure, a new character is introduced: the girl gamer. Joanna (Carol Roscoe) is an ex-girlfriend of Cass who is brought along to become the fourth adventurer, in hopes of giving the party an advantage in completing the adventure, without the whole group dying. Fortunately, this is done tastefully. Instead of having the female gamer clueless, the character actually learns the rules of game and grows as a player, finding ways to exploit the rules, and contribute to the survival of the group.
There are numerous events in the film that are humorous because of the hilarity and ridiculous consequences that result in the actions taken by the players’ characters, which would almost never be accepted in the real world. Examples of this are Flynn’s bard successfully seducing his fellow female sorceress, played by Gary (who also forgets that he is playing as a female character) in front of a king in the castle hall. Later on, the sorceress blasts a peasant with a magic overkill spell because she (he) is bored. The film makes fun of events that happen in the game-world, such as the bard repeatedly dying, to losing experience points due to poor role-playing. The story seamlessly transfers from the real world to the fantasy, and the humor is well supported by the relationships of the characters and the great comedic timing of the actors. However, Dorkness Rising falters a bit in the middle of the story, and there are a few plot holes. Overall though, it accurately describes the tabletop gaming experience without resorting to exaggeration and mockery.
Some of the humor and lines may fly past people who have never played a tabletop role-playing game before. This movie describes tabletop gamers and their experiences. It shows how tabletop gaming is about having fun and laughing at the humorous reactions while playing the game. The “Dorkness” is truly strong with this film.