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Author Topic: The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax  (Read 5306 times)

DKChannelBoredom

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« on: June 25, 2014, 06:00:09 AM »
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/720223857/the-great-kingdom

"A feature length documentary uncovering the true tale of the rise and fall of the creators Dungeons & Dragons."

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"The AMERICAN DREAM can become the AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, if you’re not careful." - Mary Gygax, 1985

Anyone? The marked for looking waayyy back in hobby seems booming right now. Geezer, will you be in it?
Running: Call of Cthulhu
Playing: Mainly boardgames
Quote from: Cranewings;410955
Cocain is more popular than rp so there is bound to be some crossover.

DKChannelBoredom

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #1 on: June 25, 2014, 06:04:50 AM »
Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;761239
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/720223857/the-great-kingdom

"A feature length documentary uncovering the true tale of the rise and fall of the creators Dungeons & Dragons."



Anyone? The marked for looking waayyy back in hobby seems booming right now. Geezer, will you be in it?


[EDIT] and any of you know anything about the D&D movie project, that these guys were part of previously?
Running: Call of Cthulhu
Playing: Mainly boardgames
Quote from: Cranewings;410955
Cocain is more popular than rp so there is bound to be some crossover.

Gronan of Simmerya

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2014, 07:06:19 AM »
There's a brief shot of me in the trailer.
You should go to GaryCon.  Period.

The rules can't cure stupid, and the rules can't cure asshole.

JRT

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2014, 07:42:08 AM »
I have two concerns.

First, I do worry what the spin will be of the documentary--it sounds a bit like they're playing up the tragedy angle of Gary and Dave as fallen icons.  Gail Gygax had told me that she was not asked to be interviewed for it, which is a little weird since she was a part of that era.  I'm curious who at the TSR era will be interviewed and how that will skew any perspective, but that's a risk for any documentary.  

But more importantly, I am more concerned because this is a Kickstarter asking for funds when a few of the in people charge of this project, including Andrew Pascal and (I believe) James Sprattley, have apparently abandoned their other Kickstarter, the D&D Documentary one.  I'm really hesitant to contribute to a Kickstarter when it appears that they've left another one that they are still legally obligated to see to fulfillment.  There doesn't appear to any communication from their camp about this previous project, and based on the communications from the former partner, I can't really trust to contribute to this Kickstarter unless their involvement with the other one gets cleared up.
Just some background on myself

http://www.clashofechoes.com/jrt-interview/

Omega

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2014, 08:17:57 AM »
Quote from: Old Geezer;761244
There's a brief shot of me in the trailer.


The guy with the broom? :D

So is this the same documentary as from a month or so ago that had some issues? Or something new? Alot of the footage looks like its from the other project?

Randy

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2014, 09:02:19 AM »
I'd rather have a book on the last five or so years of TSR. Like, where was all the money going? Why did they support so many competing lines? That type of shit.
He screams and screams and pounds his head Against the wall until wailing phantom firetrucks Paces across his vision. Pain, pain is all he wants. And hate, yes hate. We shall never forget and never forgive. And never ever fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and bullets. ~ James O'Barr

ggroy

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2014, 09:18:36 AM »
Quote from: Randaconda;761262
I'd rather have a book on the last five or so years of TSR. Like, where was all the money going? Why did they support so many competing lines? That type of shit.


Even better would be unabridged copies of the original ledgers from that time period.  :)

Omega

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2014, 09:26:06 AM »
Quote from: Randaconda;761262
I'd rather have a book on the last five or so years of TSR. Like, where was all the money going? Why did they support so many competing lines? That type of shit.

The money was going into the Blumes and Loraine's pockets for a while. The Blumes were spending money on all sorts of non-gaming stuff. A fleet of cars, putting several relatives on the payroll, the loom factory or somesuch and overprinting something, possibly several somethings. One of Loraine's first acts was to jack her own salary 10k. (Dont know if that was annual or what.) She was pulling royalties on every Buck Rogers product made, including the coffetable reprint of the comics she had done. Also TSR blew alot of cash on lawsuits.  

As for why so many lines? That is what the players wanted. Diversity to suit their interest. WOTC learned this one ASAP when they tried to stifle it and others took up the slack from them. Also one of the reasons for so many different systems for each game was part of Gary's design philosophy. He believed that each game needed mechanics tailored to the setting. And he liked to design or encourage others to.

Got both of those from both a brief talk with Gary and from various interviews he had done.

Randy

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2014, 09:27:15 AM »
Quote from: ggroy;761263
Even better would be unabridged copies of the original ledgers from that time period.  :)


Yes!
He screams and screams and pounds his head Against the wall until wailing phantom firetrucks Paces across his vision. Pain, pain is all he wants. And hate, yes hate. We shall never forget and never forgive. And never ever fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and bullets. ~ James O'Barr

Randy

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2014, 09:28:41 AM »
Quote from: Omega;761264
The money was going into the Blumes and Loraine's pockets for a while. The Blumes were spending money on all sorts of non-gaming stuff. A fleet of cars, putting several relatives on the payroll, the loom factory or somesuch and overprinting something, possibly several somethings. One of Loraine's first acts was to jack her own salary 10k. (Dont know if that was annual or what.) She was pulling royalties on every Buck Rogers product made, including the coffetable reprint of the comics she had done. Also TSR blew alot of cash on lawsuits.  

As for why so many lines? That is what the players wanted. Diversity to suit their interest. WOTC learned this one ASAP when they tried to stifle it and others took up the slack from them. Also one of the reasons for so many different systems for each game was part of Gary's design philosophy. He believed that each game needed mechanics tailored to the setting. And he liked to design or encourage others to.

Got both of those from both a brief talk with Gary and from various interviews he had done.


Thanks. I heard, so take this with a grain of salt, that many of the nice box sets they put out in the 90s cost more than what they were selling them for.
He screams and screams and pounds his head Against the wall until wailing phantom firetrucks Paces across his vision. Pain, pain is all he wants. And hate, yes hate. We shall never forget and never forgive. And never ever fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and bullets. ~ James O'Barr

Bobloblah

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2014, 09:49:21 AM »
Quote from: Randaconda;761266
Thanks. I heard, so take this with a grain of salt, that many of the nice box sets they put out in the 90s cost more than what they were selling them for.
That was from Ryan Dancey, who should, in theory, know the truth about that. WotC assigned him to look over TSR's financials after the acquisition and diagnose what went wrong.
Best,
Bobloblah

Asking questions about the fictional game space and receiving feedback that directly guides the flow of play IS the game. - Exploderwizard

Randy

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #11 on: June 25, 2014, 09:55:28 AM »
Quote from: Bobloblah;761273
That was from Ryan Dancey, who should, in theory, know the truth about that. WotC assigned him to look over TSR's financials after the acquisition and diagnose what went wrong.


Yeah, I remember the Dancey letter after WotC took over, but I'm not sure he can be taken at his word.

"players didn't want the confusing Planescape."

THIS PLAYER DID!!!!one! *runs off sobbing*
He screams and screams and pounds his head Against the wall until wailing phantom firetrucks Paces across his vision. Pain, pain is all he wants. And hate, yes hate. We shall never forget and never forgive. And never ever fear. Fear is for the enemy. Fear and bullets. ~ James O'Barr

Omega

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #12 on: June 25, 2014, 10:13:40 AM »
Quote from: Randaconda;761266
Thanks. I heard, so take this with a grain of salt, that many of the nice box sets they put out in the 90s cost more than what they were selling them for.


The ones with the DVDs in them might have been.

The boxed sets were big and damn hardy too. Those werent cheap posterboard like Games Workshop used. But unless TSR was taking a hellish gouging from the printers. It seems unlikely the boxes were underselling by much, if at all. But the better boxes might have actually tipped it.

But there were some ledger doctoring going on at TSR so I wouldnt take anything at face value.

We will never know.

thedungeondelver

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #13 on: June 25, 2014, 10:56:09 AM »
I had a bit of input into the film :)
THE DELVERS DUNGEON


Mcbobbo sums it up nicely.

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Bobloblah

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The Great Kingdom - Rise and Fall of Gary Gygax
« Reply #14 on: June 25, 2014, 10:56:47 AM »
Quote from: Randaconda;761276
Yeah, I remember the Dancey letter after WotC took over, but I'm not sure he can be taken at his word.

Yeah, that's why I say "should." There are several aspects of the story I find hard to credit, but who knows? Stranger things have happened.
Best,
Bobloblah

Asking questions about the fictional game space and receiving feedback that directly guides the flow of play IS the game. - Exploderwizard