The rest will be cake.  Shit cake.

The Flick

Rather than take a standard approach and show how Dungeons and Dragons has affected the gaming industry, The Dungeon Masters takes a look at three unique individuals and their obsession with the game – Elizabeth Reesman from Ocean Springs, Mississippi; Scott Corum from Torrance, California; and Richard Meeks from Tacoma, Washington.  It’s broken up into acts, with each getting more in depth into the lives of the three players.  As the movie goes on, we see a lot more of their lives and how they have developed over the filming period. 

Elizabeth, age 23 – unemployed and divorced, Elizabeth is the first person the documentary introduces you to.  She is a game master (GM or DM) who dresses and subsequently paints herself up as her character, a female Drow Elf.  It took her over two years to get the mix of black, purple, white, blue and silver paint correct.  She also acts much like her Drow Elf character and believes that men don’t have rights.  She has an extremely hard time staying in a relationship and in between playing D & D, she spends most of her time playing World of Warcraft. 

Scott has been gaming for 26 years.  After many failed attempts at several other professions, he landed a part time apartment manager job and decided to become an aspiring author.  He can barely afford the apartment that he, his wife and child live in.  He constantly attempts to create a profession out of his gaming career that fails every time.  He even goes so far as creating a syndicated show from one of his characters. 

Richard is an overweight Army reservist who also doubles as a nudist – yes, a nudist.  He takes his role as a GM very seriously.  He thinks he is a god in game and uses this power to consistently kill off every player each time they get together.  He once killed off a group of player characters that they had been leveling for over seven years.  His consistent need for control eventually causes him to hate the game he loved for so many years. 
  
The approach used in this documentary, although entertaining, is at the very extreme end of fandom and is definitely unrealistic for the average player.  The three individuals eat, sleep and play D&D.  It’s such a huge part of their lives that it becomes a very negative thing.  You’ll see the strain it has on each of their relationships and at times, creates some great shock value.  Despite my love of Dungeons and Dragons, I felt that the people shown throughout this film were incredibly sad individuals.  Hobbies should remain so and not consume the lives of those that play them. 

Special Features and Packaging

The Dungeon Masterscomes as a single disc DVD collection with the following extras:

• Trailer
• Outtakes
• Not Exactly Outtakes

The outtakes focus on some of the more bizarre events in each of the players’ lives, like Scott’s testicular surgery and Richard’s journey to becoming Jewish. They contain some pretty funny material and are definitely worth watching.  “Not Exactly Outtakes” features casting tapes and some suggested further readings on the gaming universe.  The suggested further reading segments are pretty long and feature people just as sad as the players featured in the documentary, each with their own unique stories and reasons why they game.  The casting tapes feature a lot of gamers talking about their characters, weapons, magic and footage of GenCon.  There’s even a clip of a dude trying to sleep – much funnier to watch than you’d think.

Overall

The Dungeon Masters offers a funny, very entertaining and yet slightly depressing look at the worst extremes of Dungeons and Dragons fans.  If you’re intrigued by the massive universe that table top games have created, you’ll love what this documentary has to offer.

ComicsOnline gives The Dungeon Masters on DVD 3.5 out of 5 painted ladies.

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