A "Secrets of Blackmoor" Review
This
site is clearly not a review site, but occasionally I come across
something truly special and I like to celebrate it. Chris Graves and
Griffith ("Griff")
Mon
Morgan III have released
their
documentary film
titled
SECRETS OF
BLACKMOOR: THE
TRUE HISTORY OF DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
on
Vimeo. SECRETS
is a documentary on the history and origins of DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS
but, in many ways, is also
a
documentary on the evolution of role-playing games. And
I think it's important to add that this is also the first
volume.
Filming
of the second volume has just started.
The
short review (TL;DR) is this:
If you have any
interest in role-playing games,
let alone their creation and evolution, this documentary is
phenomenal and well-worth your time. Seriously, I cannot recommend it
enough. You can find it on Vimeo at
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/secretsofblackmoor
and the film's official website is at
https://www.secretsofblackmoor.com/
Rent
it or buy it. Your choice. But watch it!
The
rest of this review will go into
some detail about the film and also talk about why I find it so
fascinating.
My Background
I
got into role-playing games, like a lot of kids, when I was 8 or 9
years old (so around 1982-83). Interestingly, I never played
D&D
as a kid. I have a memory of being shown the rulebooks for
ADVANCED
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
and I found them daunting. Big complex-looking hardcovers that really
didn't speak to me at all. I was also
big
into comics and not that into fantasy of any sort at that time. What
got me into role-playing was not D&D;
instead, it was another product from the same company, namely MARVEL
SUPER HEROES: THE HEROIC ROLE-PLAYING GAME.
That
led to games like FASA's STAR
TREK: THE ROLE PLAYING GAME.
I played a lot of these games as a teenager and really enjoyed them.
Like comics and science fiction in general, they were a perfect
escape from some pretty rough times.
And
then, like a lot of young adults, I fell out of them in my late teens
and early twenties.
D&D,
or rather that style of fantasy gaming, didn't come until much
later. How much later? Well, more like 2010
when I first came across DUNGEON
CRAWL CLASSICS.
That sparked an interest in fantasy role-playing and, through a
pretty circuitous route, eventually D&D.
This eventually led me to tracking down the original publications,
published in 1974, and co-written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
I
say this for three
reasons.
-
I
don't have a particular pedigree with D&D.
I came to it very late in life, especially compared to most of its
fans. I certainly don't have any particular childhood affinity to
one version of the game over others
(what is known colloquially as "edition wars"; I have no
interest in that).
-
I'm
not in any particular "camp" (usually defined as fans of
Gary Gygax versus
fans
of Dave Arenson). By coming to D&D
so late, I missed all of that. And, of course, both men have died so
I really have no horse in this race.
-
The
SECRETS OF
BLACKMOOR
film is directly in my "wheelhouse" because it was
released at the same time I've been separately exploring the origins
of the game. For
me,
it's a case of perfect timing.
What Do You Want To Do?
So
what is it about the film that I find so compelling? It's a
combination of a number of things.
The History and Development of Role-Playing
The
history of role-playing games is part of it. All role-playing games
are a comparatively new and the
evolution of role-playing is a very modern development. I think David
Wesely in the film says
it best, "...you just can't seem to describe
the game by just writing
down all the rules. You actually have to have somebody talk you
through what it looks like when people are playing it so they get a
feel for the social interaction on a level that's very hard to
describe as just simple flat statements."
The
film proceeds to discuss not only wargaming, but how Charles Totten's
STRATEGOS: THE AMERICAN GAME OF WAR
(1880) tied so many of the Twin City gamers together. The
film then
develops the importance of the impartial referee. As Greg
Scott notes in the film, "as the
referee becomes more and more important, you have the kernel of the
role-playing game. That's where role-playing games come from, because
you don't have role-playing games without a referee."
In
fact, Wesely's role is
critical
to how role-playing games develop. Some of the most informative and
most amusing parts of the documentary is when Weseley and his players
describe the develop of
BRAUNSTEIN,
a wargame set in the fictional German town of Braunstein.
BRAUNSTEIN
combines elements of wargaming and
STRATEGOS
'N' (Weseley's
variation on Totten's rules, especially the involvement of a powerful
but impartial referee).
This is a part of the history of role-playing that I knew nothing
about.
Early
in the film, Griff notes that
"t
he referee invents a
fantasy and describes everything about it to the players...The
referee asks you, 'What do you want to do?'
The story has begun and now it's up to you to decide, what do you
want to do?...This pattern repeats endlessly, building a shared
imaginary experience."
What
do you want to do?
That is, I think, a
key factor in what makes a role-playing role-playing.
Is it the only thing? No, I don't think so. Can it be more than that?
Sure. Can it be less
than that? That is an interesting question. Part of what I'm groping
at here, something that the film really explores, is just what
is role-playing? As
Griff notes
in the film,
"what is even more confounding about the play-style is that you
can
play a role-playing game without any rules at all, but you can't
play a role-playing game without the play method that is employed by
all of these games."
This
notion of just what makes a role-playing game a role-playing game is
a huge and fascinating part of the film. It
is well-framed and well-presented in the film itself and leaves
plenty of room for reflection.
History of the Players
Role-playing
is a shared experience. One of the things the film does is bring the
players, especially those players from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis
and Saint Paul (Minnesota),
to the forefront. Often
we focus on who created a thing, especially in the formal sense of
celebrity, fame, author
credits, and
so on and
lose focus on all the other human beings who played key roles. It's
a great credit to both Chris and Griff that they sought out so many
people to interview and record.
When watching the film in this light, I think the viewer really gets
the sense of how important everyone was.
All
of these people
were
incubators and share credit on the creation and evolution of
role-playing. To put it
another way, if these
players hadn't been there, would role-playing even exist?
As
I've noted, both Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson have died (Gygax
in 2008 and Arneson in in 2009). As a result, the film focuses on
interviews with friends and family of both men (notably Malia
Weinhagen, Dave Arneson's
daughter; John, Arneson's dad; David Wesely, creator
of the Braunstein RPG; David
Megarry, creator of
DUNGEON!;
Bob Meyer; Greg Svenson; Rob
Kuntz; Ross Maker;
Gail Gaylord; Peter
Gaylord; Jeff Berry; and on
and on). The
comments from Malia and John are especially poignant.
I would argue that one of the most important things that the film
does is give these folks an opportunity to have
their memories, thoughts, and
feelings about role-playing recorded
for posterity.
The Conflict Between Gygax and Arneson
The
least
compelling part of it, at least for me, was the conflict between Gary
Gygax and Dave Arneson,
though this is not a large
part of the film's story.
That said, I do think the
comments from Barbara Keyes-Jenkins, Dave Arneson's accountant, are
important and relevant. To be
clear, I find the conflict immensely sad, in the same way I find the
conflicts between Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and Steve
Ditko sad.
Why?
Falling
outs between people do happen (I've had my fair share), but when
it comes to the falling out
between creative
co-creators,
it leaves a
lot of "what ifs?"
In the case of Arneson and Gygax, what if the falling out
hadn't
happened? What would the evolution of
D&D
look like? Would
ADVANCED
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS have
even been published? What
if D&D
had focused on developing and publishing game tools rather than hard
and fast rules? A
whole trajectory of the game,
both wonderful and different, might
have occurred.
Conclusion
SECRETS
OF BLACKMOOR is a remarkable and wonderful film. It is
educational in the best sense of the word and I am extremely pleased
that the film was made and I had the opportunity to watch it. I can't
wait for volume 2!
Do
yourself a favour and see it. You won't regret it.
Epilogue
I'll
leave it with this: Griff,
in a
podcast
interview discussing the film,
noted the following letter that he received from John Arneson, Dave's
dad. It reads in part, "Congratulations for a job well done.
The efforts, planning, time, and resources required were tremendous.
Malia Weinhagen's, David Wesely's, and
Greg Svenson's insight and
input for the production added to the success of the endeavour. I was
surprised and pleased to see
and hear about the Hartford
House, where I believe
DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS was
conceived. The recognition of Dave Arneson, his talent and
creativity, is long overdue. He is, indeed, the father of
role-playing and has authored many articles about board games, rules,
and procedures. Again, I thank you and appreciate the work of a
multitude of people who made the documentary possible. My thanks to
all."
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