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Saturday, December 10, 2011

Darkon Real Life Dungeons and Dragons Documentary Film Review

I didn't know whether to laugh at these guys or run off to Baltimore, Maryland to join them.  A really intriguing film to watch.  Fantasy role players (ie Dungeons and Dragons, etc) will appreciate this film.   Members of Darkon are real life fantasy role players. They are all grown adults.  They participate in  full contact combat, medieval-knight style combat (padded weapons are used) in order  to advance the interest of their respective nations, which exist entirely on fictitious maps.


While members of Darkon live normal, working lives during the day, their time off consists of weekends of diplomatic negotiations, trading fantasy currency, and waging war.  All the while they speak to each other in a melodramatic tone that reminds me of a Lord of the Rings movie (which I'm sure they've all seen a thousand times)

I loved how the film completely respects the players of Darkon.  There is no ridicule, though there is a touch of irony. The film is a documentary intermingled with dramatic fiction that plays out the very fantasy the nations of Darkon are living out.


I loved this film and the passion of Darkon players.  Their sincerity, while sometimes disturbing, also shows a level of creative thinking that most of us grown-ups lose in our early twenties.


Check it out sometime. You'll see what I mean.


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