Review of The Dungeon Masters (2008) by Kevin B — 17 Mar 2011

Having played D&D since I was 14, I feel that this documentary was not only a poor representation of the game as a whole, but also seemed to be a cherry-picking of people with sad and unfortunate life situations. I realize that this is done perhaps in a bid to generate sympathy on their behalves, but the filmmaker utterly fails in doing so. Instead of sympathizing with the failed author's plight of unsold books, his unkempt apartment and seeming neglect of his wife and poor fathering skills made me feel awkwardly angry at him for not being a better father and husband.

Instead of sympathizing with the plight of the "drow" girl who has trouble holding a job in a hurricane devastated Mississippi town, her poor relationship choices and lack of focus make me sigh.

Instead of feeling some sort of connection with the Dungeon Master re-uniting with his players who 'took their ball and went home,' some years ago, their reunion and subsequent repeat of the same thing with a different group made me think that the fifty something year old and all his players had the social problem skills of annoying teenagers.

I really wanted to like this film, but ultimately it is a look into the sad lives of people who just happen to play D&D. As a gamer, I already know some people like this, and choose to have nothing to do with them. I'm sure my experience is not unique, everyone has awkward friends or acquaintances like this who are just a little...off.

Sadly, this film has little to nothing to do with D&D. Perhaps if the film maker had balances a relatively normal individual's life against the sad situations of the film's protagonists I might have felt a bit more involved, but unfortunately the only reason I kept watching is because I thought something meaningful might come towards the end. Unfortunately, it didn't.