Game session on film?

[Asmo]

I've said before and will reiterate: I would pay cash money to watch a complete game session run by Piratecat. I suspect that I'm not alone in this regard here at the boards.

I await this opportunity with credit card in hand.

Slightly offtopic, but where is Piratecat nowadays? It´s been months since I saw him on the boards. Is everything ok with him?

Asmo

 

[Rel]

Slightly offtopic, but where is Piratecat nowadays? It´s been months since I saw him on the boards. Is everything ok with him?

Asmo

My understanding is that he's dealing with some personal stuff that has reduced the amount of time he is willing or able to commit to the boards. What I hear through the grapevine is that he's doing ok and I know I'm not alone in wishing him the best.

 

[hexgrid]

As a frame of reference, take The Gamers (a very, very funny short film to me), and REMOVE all of the scenes with the actors in costume, leaving just the table stuff, and think about it.

Then again, Knights of the Dinner Table works on that level, doesn't it?

 

[Henry]

Then again, Knights of the Dinner Table works on that level, doesn't it?

Yeah, but about 8 panels of the good stuff versus an hour of getting to the quivalent of those panels. Even if talking about the comic books, they cut out the things that really go on in a game session that would bore someone -- the going for cheetoes, the diversion to what someone did last week, the jokes that play off of something silly in-game, etc.

On the other hand, something SCRIPTED in the manner that Rel suggests WOULD be an interesting project. Having a scripted game session with lessons on Good DMing techniques to be taught, with an accompanying module?... Hmm, possibilities...

 

[diaglo]

i audiotaped a session a few years back for someone in England looking to do a paper.... iirc.

i was a player not a referee during the session.

it sounded totally boring to me when i played it back. but when i wrote up the session in my journal i took out all the boring stuff.


edit: got an email saying it was received and thanks... but never heard anything more.

 

[Crothian]

My understanding is that he's dealing with some personal stuff that has reduced the amount of time he is willing or able to commit to the boards. What I hear through the grapevine is that he's doing ok and I know I'm not alone in wishing him the best.

add on top of that he's an ENnie judge this year and has quitea few books to read.

 

[jgsugden]

I think it would be interesting to tape a number of game sessions, look for specific examples where something was worthy of discussion (ie; the DM made a mistake on how a rule was to be used, a player abused a rule, a bad room description was given, a DM improvised a rule, etc...) and then collect those in a short film with notes on these events. Sort of a video guide to DMing a game. A lot of people learn better from oral presentations than written words ...

I have seen the same questions pop up over and over and over agaian on these boards. If there were a convenient video that gave new (and experienced) DMs advice on how to handle complex situations, it might be useful.

As an example, many players/DMs have trouble with illusions in D&D. Some have trouble understanding the rules. Many have trouble in describing illusions without giving away the fact that they are illusions. Most have trouble optimizing the usefulness of illusions. A video that explained the rules behind illusions and then showed a few good examples of how illusions can be used in a game would be a useful tool.

 

[Warrior Poet]

A number of years ago my group taped a final "wrap-up" game session to send to another player whose job had moved him to Australia, thus ending our Star Wars (d6) campaign. His character had died (not planned, incidentally; the dice just were not kind) and so our group had a final mission to finish off the bad guys and sort of avenge his character's death. Since he couldn't be there, we taped the game and sent it to him.

I don't recall his exact reaction (he's back in the States now, so I could ask the next time I see him), but I think it equated to: Thanks guys, that was a nice gesture, and I appreciate you trying to include me in the last game. And it was boring as hell.

Yes, the game is very exciting and there's dragons and sword fighting (or storm troopers and blaster fights) and traps and fabulous treasure and narrow escapes and vivid conflict and nefarious villains. And they're ALL IN YOUR HEAD. On film, it's a bunch of folks sitting around a table, rolling small chunks of plastic, scribbling notes, and talking. There'd be occasional breaks in the narrative. Occasional zooms to the layout on the battle mat. I'm putting myself to sleep just writing this.

Warrior Poet

 

[sniffles]

Yeah, I think you've got it right, Warrior Poet. A couple of weeks ago my fiancee and I were photographing a session with our digicam and he decided to turn it to video mode for a few minutes. Watching the video later it was amusing to us because we know all the people present, but it really looked like it wouldn't be much fun for anyone else to view. Roleplaying is definitely not a spectator sport.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

On the other hand, something SCRIPTED in the manner that Rel suggests WOULD be an interesting project. Having a scripted game session with lessons on Good DMing techniques to be taught, with an accompanying module?... Hmm, possibilities...

DMing for Dummies DVD?