20 More Questions For “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”
As promised, here is another helping of questions and possibly even answers for The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. And remember, while you’re reading these, should a question pop into your mind, feel free to email us! We’ll continue do this once a month until the DVD is there to answer all questions. All right, here we go with the Second Twenty Questions . . .
Q) Will the music include a theme song, like many other movies do during the credits?
A) The music will all be instrumental and choral, and will not have a pop song. We have a choir, but not a band. Trust me, though, the choir will be much better. Think Carmina Burana.
Q) If Nathan Rice is playing a different character than Newmoon but this is in the same universe, won’t people think he’s the same guy anyway?
A) Not really. He no longer has the pointy ears, and he lost that 40 lbs. of shrubbery he called a beard, so he looks completely different. However, he actually plays three roles in the movie, only two of which are obvious. See if you can spot the third.
Q) In the original Twenty Questions, you said there were some D&D magical items used in the movie. What are they?
A) I’m afraid the Spoiler Clause is still in effect, but I guess I can let one slip. The party acquires a Staff of Resurrection, which helps explain how some of the party can die and not die, as it were.
Q) I picked up the packet with the Goodman Games preview module at GenCon last year, but it doesn’t have the full module. When is the rest of it coming out?
A) There is no answer on that as of yet. It will most likely come out after the movie.
Q) Did I see an undead turkey in the Making-Of video? What’s up with that?
A) Yes, you saw an undead turkey. It is, quite possibly, the wrongest thing we’ve ever put on film … er, high def.
Q) I read that there were pirates in this movie, and they were fighting the Purple Ninja. How do they fit into a fantasy world? Is this not a D&D movie?
A) This is not a D&D movie. The characters are playing Dungeons & Dragons, but the world they play in is not part of an established world. Well, it is. It’s set in the world of Fartherall, the same world as The Gamers” was set in. The pirates are also from a game world, albeit a different one.
Q) Zombies, pirates, ninjas—are there any aliens in this movie?
A) No. Aliens would remove believability from the film.
Q) Why isn’t this movie a sequel to The Gamers?
A) We kind of painted ourselves into a corner at the end of The Gamers, considering that all the players were killed. The Gamers: Dorkness Rising features an entirely new cast, with a cameo from the sole surviving member of the cast of The Gamers. So instead of continuing the story of the characters from The Gamers (which, again, would be slightly impossible), we get to follow a new group with new characters, agendas, and styles of play. In The Gamers we never got into the players themselves. In The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, we go outside the game room and see the lives of the players as well.
Q) Why isn’t this movie a sequel to Highlander 2?
A) I have given your email address to a local mental institution.
Q) Since this movie wrapped almost a year ago, how come it’s not out yet?
A) This gets asked a lot. There are really three stages of filming: pre-production, production, and post-production. Essentially, this boils down to planning, filming, and then sewing it all together. Post includes special effects, music, audio mixing, and the biggest time-muncher of all … distribution deals. If this movie had been made the same as The Gamers, it would indeed have been available a year ago. However, if Dead Gentlemen doesn’t grow, we die. To keep making movies, we need to appeal to a much greater audience, and so we have to find our way through the labyrinth of the Business World with the strongest product possible. Hence the delay. But the wait will be worth it, as in the end you will have a much better movie for it.
Q) Is that Nodwick I saw on the GenCon ad last year?
A) It was indeed! Nodwick is the only officially non-DG character in this movie, and he serves his traditional role as the pack-bearer, played by none other than our own Steve Wolbrecht.
Q) If there are scenes cut, will they be available as outtakes on the DVD?
A) Absolutely. We’re going to have as much extra material on the DVD as possible. The Making-Of documentary that screened at Gen Con 2005 will be on the disc. Other possibilities include cut scenes, outtakes, commentary tracks, trailers, and Easter eggs. Ultimately, the decision is up to the distributor, whoever that turns out to be, but the material will be there to go on the disc. Let us know what you want to see on the DVD. Maybe we’ll steal your bonus material ideas.
Q) Where did you film that incredible throne room I saw on Dead Gentlemen Presents?
A) That was filmed at the Temple of the Knights Pythias in Tacoma, Washington. You won’t find the Temple from the outside. It was really surreal—on the outside, it looks like any other normal, downtown building, but once you climb a stairwell, behold! You emerge into this beautiful, breathtaking room. We were sold on the location in about three seconds.
Q) How about showing a sneak peek scene on Dead Gentlemen Presents?
A) Sounds good to me. I’m sure there’s some lawyery reason why we can’t, though. We’ll see, though—keep checking back.
Q) Was that an Orc-B-Gone chainsaw at the end of the Making-Of?
A) Good eye! Munchkin weapons and treasures do show up in this movie, with the blessing of Steve Jackson games. The Orc-B-Gone is one; there are three others. Any guesses?
Q) Are there any cameos from “real” actors, I mean, like movie stars?
A) As Bruce Campbell once said, being a good actor and being a movie star are two entirely different things. We made an attempt to get Bruce Campbell to play our King, to no success whatsoever. However, we do have a handful of gaming industry celebrities playing roles in the film—including Monte Cook, whose review of The Gamers in his “Line of Sight” website column helped our little movie find its audience.
Q) Are there any fantastic creatures in this movie or are they all humanoids?
A) We’re still low budget, so expect goblins, zombies, etc.—all humanoids. However, these creatures look pretty cool, and aren’t specific to any game. We have wonderful effects makeup artists who make a little go a long way. Plus, we haven’t tried to get all artsy in their design—the goblins look like how gamers expect them to look, the zombies look like zombies should look in a game, and so forth. So while we can’t do dragons or giants yet (though there is a giant something in the movie; guess away), we can avoid such mood breakers as hunchbacked orcs, badly rotoscoped orcs, wanna-be-orcs-by-another-name, etc. And, you know? Despite big budgets, orcs in many other game-movies have really been treated badly, haven’t they? No wonder they’re always pissed.
Q) Is this a parody of Lord of the Rings?
A) No. We did several teaser posters based on popular fantasy and sci-fi genre movies, and the classic Frodo “One Ring” poster was one of them. That’s the extent of our Lord of the Rings humor.
Q) Is that a wig Nathan is wearing as the paladin?
A) In an incredible casting coup, Nathan’s immortal doopleganger (not doppleganger) from beyond the Seventh Dimension arrived on set the day we began to shoot the fantasy world and offered to fill in for him. This allowed us to use live steel in the battle as he was capable of dodging and parrying all blows. Plus, it gave Nathan the added advantage of sitting in a comfortable chair and sipping martinis while everybody else was crammed in a dank dungeon, and still getting top billing for it! And yes, that was the doopleganger’s real hair … nah, I’m just messing with you. Nathan wore a wig. He’s balder than the guardian of Bifrost. (Extra points for whoever gets that.)
Q) Will there be a Gamers III?
A) That’s the question, isn’t it? It all depends on how successful The Gamers: Dorkness Rising turns out to be. Even if it is, a third Gamers movie is entirely up in the air. There have been a few ideas thrown around, but DG also wants to branch out and explore other ideas without losing our fanbase. We will be doing some more Gamers-like material for our podcasts and other shows such as Culture on a Stick, but another gamers-themed script requires a great idea, a great demand (such as fans buying lots of DVDs), and then a great script (bother Matt Vancil, his email is … oh darn, out of space).
That’s it for the Second Round of 20 Questions. Come back again in roughly a month and we will have 20 more. Keep those questions coming! We’re always happy to answer them and very eager to hear what our fans care most about.