Tag Archives: the gamers

Diversity is more than skin colour and sexual orientation

This is a translation of my guest post for the Bücherstadt Kurier’s event „#kunterbunt: a feast for diversity„. You can read it in German on their page here: Diversität ist mehr als Hautfarbe und sexuelle Orientierung.

Illustration: Worteweberin Annika

It is a fact that we need even more representation of great female characters and people of all ethnicity and sexual orientation. We are all aware of this and that is something I would only like to mention here to a limited extent.
If you like, you can read about why we need superheroines and how few all-female teams exist in my superheroine nerd week.
Instead, I want to draw attention to something that I take for granted, but that is still unthinkable in our media culture:
The positive representation of people who are different from the norm.

A while ago I wrote on my blog about the cancellation of a few tv shows and what I suspect behind them, as they all had something in common: they were different.
In the series there were great female characters (Agent Carter :'( , Girlboss), a colorful, queer mixture of characters (Sense8, Shadowhunters), overweight teenagers who felt comfortable with their pounds (Huge), unusual narrative styles (Galavant), and and and…
Nevertheless, they came to an abrupt end.
Even favourites of the public like Lucifer stood briefly before their demise and I suspect the ratio of 6 women to 3 ½ men, plays a not insignificant role here.

So what’s the big deal about telling those stories?

Why must a story about someone in a wheelchair always be a tragicomedy (The Intouchables, Me Before You)? Why do people who don’t conform to the norm always need a makeover to feel better (The devil wears Prada and tons of other „chick flicks“ – and why are they even called chick flicks if there are men who like to watch them too?)? Why can’t stories about realistic people simply be told, as it is already the case in various (mostly self published) books (like e.g. in The Supermamas)?

I like to look at other projects of actors and actresses that I liked in a series or a film. Recently I „binged“ Gotham and informed myself about the actor Anthony Carrigan. I noticed that his appearance in the series is not cosmetic, but that he suffers from Alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that has caused him to lose all facial hair (hair, beard, eyebrows and eyelashes). I didn’t even notice that he has no eyebrows and eyelashes, well, not conscious until I actually paid attention to it …
What I’m getting at is: I saw an interview with him on YouTube, and the basic statement didn’t leave me alone:
When he still had hair, he was typecasted for the „Pretty Boy“ role, without hair he is offered fewer and almost only bad-guy roles. An offer of a romantic leading role would surprise him positively.
And my wheels start turning right here. Why? What’s so bad about not giving such roles to a great actor just because he lacks facial hair?
Without thinking about it for long, I could think of several settings where it could work – and none of them would be on the sickness or Nazi track.
As a member of the metal and nerd scene it is simply incomprehensible to me that no scripts are written that would make such a role possible for him – and my fingers are itching to let the plot bunnies come closer, which are already staring at me from afar. After all, people who have the same hobby meet there and (superficially) it’s all about that and not about what someone looks like.
To get a complete picture, I looked at the series The Forgotten (also discontinued), in which Carrigan played the role of the charming semi-playboy (aka the „Pretty Boy“). At that time still with fuzzy hair and a subtle beard. And again and again I found myself wondering: Would the character also work without hair? Part of me says no, because the character is designed for this very pattern. The other part, who knows the bald, kind-hearted metalheads and short-haired/thinning IT guys in real life, says: of course, if the role is played authentically, it doesn’t matter if it’s with no hair.
Another aspect I paid attention to when looking was due to his own statement that he had become a better actor by accepting his illness. And I have to agree to that. His presence as Tyler Davies has absolutely nothing of the brilliance he brings to roles like Gotham’s Victor Zsasz or Barry’s NoHo Hank. Somehow you can tell that he was not feeling well.

At this point, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that you rarely find bald heroes. Luke Cage and Capheus from Sense8 are probably the better known examples besides Kojak and the Kriminalist (criminalist – a German crime show).

For women, of course, it’s completely different. The only bald women I remember in recent years were mostly cancer patients and only Miss Rosa from Orange is the New Black had gotten a reasonable (pretty cool) characterization outside her illness.
And that’s just wasted potential. In every direction…

But even with hair you can quickly get cast into questionable roles. Also famous for Gotham, Robin Lord Taylor has made his mark with his magnificent portrayal of Oswald „Penguin“ Cobblepot. The character is considered a gay icon by fans (I myself see him more as asexual/demiromantic, but that’s another topic), is allowed to appear eccentrically in a fur-covered coat and with elaborately styled hair and has a fascinating depth. Feels like a knighthood for the queer actor. However, some stages in his career suggest otherwise. In various police dramas his characters were accused of assaulting women and homosexuals.
The cynical part of me suspects that he got these roles because of his light eyes and (usually) blond hair. You know, the (other) Nazi cliché…

I find it a shame that mainstream media repeatedly insist on the same clichés and thus discourage other important projects that dare to take steps in modern directions from early on. I am thankful to all self-publishers who publish books in which an outsider has the title role. I especially think of the fairy tale adaptations of the Märchenspinnerei, where the otherwise hushed up topics of bullying, suicide, abuse, PTSD and much more are dealt with. Or the countless web comics, which also cover such topics (Strong Female Protagonist, Namesake, …) or web series like The Gamers, which offer a platform to the nerds of this world.

We need more of that. More in bookshelves and series.
Life isn’t perfect, so we should stop chasing after these illusions.
Life puts you in a wheelchair, makes you lose your hair or makes it grow in uncomfortable places. It makes you skinny or round as a ball, makes you feel good, or makes you need mental care. No matter in which variant it hits you, above all it makes you who you are and that should also be granted to fictional characters.

Because imperfect characters are way more fun.

Pia Zarsteck/Bücherstadt Kurier

Anne

P.S. No plot bunnies were harmed in the creation of this article. They have kept a sufficient distance.

P.P.S. One bunny attacked and evolved into the story „Die Teufelsmauer“ (The Devil’s Wall): *click*

P.P.P.S. And the Second one became „Dünenzauber“ (Dune Magic):
*click*

Back and Forth

The old year ended, the new has begun and as I didn’t feel like writing two posts, you get a combined look back and ahead.

2017 has been a year of firsts

  • The first time I’ve become part of a RPG group, where I wasn’t just a visitor.
  • My first own Blog-thing (Fairy Tale Summer)
  • The first time I had Guest Authors on my Blog
  • My first time visiting Vienna and Budapest
  • My first time at the Connichi.
  • I had my first ever Tonsillitis.
  • My first time at a book fair (BuchBerlin)
  • My first proper publication (Wintermond)
  • The first time I organized the writing of a story with more than one other authoress. (Adventskalender 2017)
  • The first time I really felt like an authoress.

and maybe some other things I can’t remember right now.

I’ve also met a lot of incredible people through Blogging and the Nornennetz that I’m very grateful to and for.

What else did I do?

  • I helped translate Gamers: The Series 0 and The Shadow Menace by Zombie Orhpeus Entertainment & Dead Gentlemen Production
  • I started working on The Queens Wish.
  • I participated in several Blog Parades, some concerning writing, others about books.
  • I send in three stories for anthologies (one mentioned above, two don’t have a result yet, but one is the English version of an old story).
  • Two more of my stories were published through the Bücherstadt Kurier.
  • I revisited Prague and Kassel.

and so forth …

What does this year hold in store?

  • I’ll be attending the Leipziger Buchmesse for the first time, I’ve already gotten accredited as Blogger.
  • I hope to finish re-working an old Project and publishing it – infos on the progress can me found under the Hashtag #AKWP 😉
  • I hope to finish at least one bigger project and potentially publish.
  • I hope to get positive feedback from the stories I sent in.
  • I want to do another Fairy Tale Summer, though not in Summer.
  • I want to do another Nerd-Week, probably in the week from Free Comicbook Day to Gratis Comic Tag.
  • I want to write more regularly.
  • I want to keep at reading the books that are waiting for my on my to-read pile and try not to buy that many new ones …

I’m not sure if I’ll be travelling that much this year, but I guess I’ll concentrate on exploring Germany again.

But the one thing I have to consider most this year:

Do I keep blogging in English or do I change to permanently bilingual or even German entirely?
I haven’t gotten much feedback from English readers and with something published in German and me being part of a German network makes it kind of hard to only write in English … but both are quite exhausting …
I’ll have to think on this a little more – feedback appreciated.

Well everyone:

Happy New Year! May all your plans and wishes come true!

PoiSonPaiNter

Adventskalender: Türchen #9

Read in English

Die Fabrik

“Die Fabrik. Komm mit.” Mit langen Schritten lief Nicholas vorweg über den Marktplatz. Katrin beeilte sich, hinterherzukommen. Das Portal war ihr ein wenig unheimlich. Schließlich konnte man nicht wissen, ob man versehentlich hineingezogen würde, und wo man dann auf der anderen Seite herauskäme. Besser, sie machte einen Bogen drum herum, was ihr einen fragenden Blick von Nicholas bescherte, bevor er die Fabriktür öffnete. Sie antwortete mit einem Schulterzucken und trat ein.
Für den Moment wähnte sie sich im Kindergarten. Die kleinen Wichtel wuselten durch die Halle. Sie verteilten Listen an verschiedene Stationen, an denen scheinbar normale Menschen standen und arbeiteten. Es roch nach Holz und Kleber. An unzähligen Tischen wurde gehämmert, gebohrt, geschraubt und geschliffen. Eine Nähmaschine ratterte. Kommandos wurden durch den Raum geworfen. Rechter Hand waren bunte Kartons gestapelt. Die Aufdrucke kamen ihr bekannt vor – Bausteine, Puppen, Puzzle, Autos – alles, was man unter Weihnachtsbäumen alljährlich finden konnte. Ein Wichtel war dabei, einen Karton zu wählen und zum anderen Ende der Halle zu tragen. Eine Arbeiterin nahm ihn in Empfang und inspizierte den Inhalt. Das Auto schien ein paar Macken zu haben. Sie griff sich einen Schraubenzieher und begann mit der Reparatur.
“Aber”, Katrin wandte sich Nicholas zu, “wird das Spielzeug nicht selbst hergestellt?”
Er lächelte entschuldigend. “Das wäre unwirtschaftlich. Wir bessern die B-Ware aus. Ist dann quasi wie neu.”
“B-Ware?”
“Warum nicht? Peter aus deiner Gruppe hat doch nichts davon gemerkt, dass der Traktor ausgebessert war.”
Sie erinnerte sich tatsächlich an die begeisterten Berichte von seinem Geschenk. Trotzdem. Es war irgendwie unweihnachtsmannmäßig. “Aber …”
“Natürlich machen wir auch Einzelanfertigungen. Wenn wir für Wünsche absolut keine B-Ware auftreiben können. Oder eine Puppe in dem gewünschten Kleid nicht verfügbar ist. Aber in der Regel nicht mehr als fünfzig im Jahr.”
“Fünfzig?”
“Ganz schön viel, nicht wahr? Unsere Arbeiter sind höchst effizient. Ich würde dir gerne mehr zeigen. Aber du siehst ja, hier ist viel los.”
Katrin warf einen Blick durch die Halle. “Ja. Das sehe ich.”
“Komm!”
“Aber …” Vielleicht ließ sich herausfinden, ob Lucy aus ihrer Kindergartengruppe die heiß ersehnte Puppe mit Tütü bekommen würde, von der sie jetzt schon dauernd sprach. Dann könnte Katrin sie in ihrer Hoffnung bestärken. Wo sie ja schon mal hier war.

„Das ist vermutlich eine alberne Frage, aber sind die Arbeiter normale Menschen?“, fragte sie stattdessen.
Nicholas lachte auf. „Ja, das sind sie. Ganz normale Menschen“, bestätigte er und fügte nach einer kleinen Pause in der er sie ansah, etwas leiser hinzu: „So wie du.“
„Und wie finden sie hierher oder habt ihr einen Vertrag mit dem Arbeitsamt für besonders verschwiegene Mitarbeiter?“, hakte Katrin nun neugierig nach.
„Die meisten finden uns, sie suchen etwas und landen hier, so wie Carlos zum Beispiel. Manchmal stellen wir aber auch wirklich Stellenanzeigen ein, so kam zum Beispiel Claudia zu uns. Die Bewerbungsgespräche führen wir aber zunächst außerhalb des Dorfs und erst wenn wir uns sicher sind, dass der potentielle Mitarbeiter zu uns passt, bringen wir ihn oder sie her zum Probearbeiten“, erklärte er schmunzelnd.
“Und wie finanziert ihr das alles? Eure Arbeiter müssen ja auch von irgendetwas leben?”, fuhr Katrin fort.
“Ein Teil kommt vom Verkauf überschüssiger Spielzeuge. Da wir nicht genau wissen können, was sich die Kinder jedes Jahr wünschen, bauen wir einen Regelsatz aus den beliebtesten Sachen, manchmal ist das zu viel, weil sich andere Sachen gewünscht werden, und den Überschuss stellen wir dann in einem Online-Shop zum Verkauf”, erklärte Nicholas der erstaunten Katrin.
“Das heißt, man kann echtes Spielzeug vom Weihnachtsmann online kaufen?”
“Genau”, bestätigte Nicholas mit einem Grinsen.
“Und der andere Teil?”
“Der kommt tatsächlich aus Steuern. Einer Art Weihnachtssteuer, die gezahlt wird, sobald jemand einen Weihnachtsmann oder etwas damit verbundenes irgendwo verwendet. Zum Beispiel, wenn ein neuer Weihnachtsfilm gedreht wird, geht ein Teil der Steuerabgaben aus der Produktion und den Einnahmen an uns. Wir bekommen auch einen Teil der Bezahlung der Mall Santas in Amerika und anderen, die sich entsprechend verkleiden und dafür bezahlt werden. Oder beim Verkauf von Weihnachtsmann-Kostümen oder oder oder. Es ist erstaunlich wie viel dadurch zusammenkommt, wir können fast das ganze Jahr mit den Einnahmen aus der Weihnachtszeit wirtschaften.”
“Wow, das ist ja wirklich wie ein kleines Unternehmen…”
“Natürlich. Wir machen zwar Kindern eine Freude, aber wie du schon sagst: Von irgendwas müssen wir ja auch leben”, schloss Nicholas mit einem Lächeln und reichte ihr seinen Arm. “Und jetzt die Bibliothek. Was meinst du?”
Das klang ganz wunderbar. Mit einem leisen Seufzer folgte sie ihm hinaus.

Behind the Scenes

Eine kleine Fabrikführung mit der zweiten Hälfte von Paula Roose Kapitel gibt es heute. Hier mussten wir noch ein paar Sachen ergänzen, über die ich mir zwar im Vorfeld Gedanken gemacht habe, aber es irgendwie nicht in den Weltenbau geschrieben habe…denn, Wie finanziert sich eigentlich das Weihnachtsdorf? Den Absatz hab ich dann noch schnell ergänzt und aus den Helfern in der Fabrik wurden dann auch richtige Arbeiter, ich wollte einfach keine Weihnachtselfen… ich weiß nicht warum, aber es könnte eventuell Newmoon’s Schuld sein… und die unzähliger Klischee-Weihnachtselfen-Dingsies…

PoiSonPaiNter

© Für Geschichte und Charaktere liegen bei mir. Verwendung oder Weitergabe nicht ohne meine Zustimmung.
~~~~~~~ ❄ ~~~~~~~ ❄ ~~~~~~~ ❄ ~~~~~~~ ❄ ~~~~~~~ ❄ ~~~~~~~
Lies auf Deutsch

I’m sorry so far there is no translation of this door

PoiSonPaiNter

© For the story by me. Do not use or repost either without my permission.

Reading Together #19

As I told you on Twitter will my entry for this weeks #LoveWritingChallenge be published on Thursday. It’s just easier for me to do it that way…
Instead I give you this post, as I want to talk about my newest read. 😉
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.

What is Reading Together?

Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.
For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.
Without any further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

As I saw the package on Sunday I knew I had to put away Irving’s essay collection and start with this: PWNED by Matt Vancil.
PWNED is part of the Gamers universe by Dead Gentlemen Productions (DGP) and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE) and Matt Vancil is one of the masterminds behind it and JourneyQuest (and more). It tells the story of a young man that tries to win back his girlfriend from the clutches of the MMORPG Fatherall Online by entering the world himself. But as one knows from The Gamers: Nothing is as it seems.
As it’s hard to put down and easy to read am I already on page: 105
 

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

English:

TIP: Grouping with other players is a great way to earn experience points!

German:

TIP: Sich mit anderen Spielern zu verbinden, ist ein guter Weg Erfahrungspunkte zu sammeln!

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

For those that don’t want to read the Gamers post a short summary:

The respective stories [of the three Gamers movies] follow[s] a group of table top gamers (one in the first one, one for part two and three) and their campaigns, but instead of just talking the audience through what the characters are doing, the actors also take up the roles of their characters and show what is happening during the game, sometimes narrating or commenting it with gaming terms (Attack names, “Critical Hit”, etc.).

PWNED tells a Gamers story that never made it on screen. It takes place alongside the third movie, but before the upcoming series. The characters from the „2nd generation“ (Lodge, Cass and Leo) are the side characters in this one. When I saw it amongst the add-ons after the Orcish Dictionary campaign I just thought it sounded interesting to read this story rather than seeing it.
The more you get into the Gamers universe, the larger it becomes and with the upcoming Hopjockey-novels (also by Vancil) it’ll be clear HOW MUCH, everything DGP and ZOE created over the years is connected. I’m quite excited for this, but for now I’m thoroughly enjoying this one.
It’s a bit strange to read the switch between gamer and character, but it’s well done and you still know when the perspective is no longer the one looking at it from the outside. As in all of his (their) work you really know that it’s done by a gamer who loves what he’s doing. It reflects in the chosen words, the descriptions, the little things added to the story (like tips for new gamers at the start of every chapter). It’s just great to have something like this, combined with great characters.
I’m really curious how this story will play into the overall story arc and if there will be a connection to The Shadow! The Shadow? The Shadow… 😉

4. Is it important for you to inspire other people (e.g. your children, friends, colleagues, family, etc.) to read?

Uhm….good question…I think it is. At least it always feels great when someone reads something I enjoyed and even better if they enjoy it as well. But I wouldn’t push others into reading. When I gush about something and they decide to check it out, well, that’s definitely a win. 😉

Additional thoughts

As it’s sunny today I went to get some ice cream after work, but they also served waffles, which made for the more appropriate dish for continued reading. 😀
As far as I know is this story only available in English and it is pretty much a gaming-genre read, but maybe there is someone out there who hasn’t heard of it yet and thinks it sounds interesting enough to check out?
By the way: If you like stuff by DGP (& ZOE): They have a Kickstarter running for a new series of Demon Hunter’s.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

What’cha Watching Wednesday: The Gamers-Special

Instead of my usual What’cha Watching Wednesday I’d like to focus on a certain project of Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE) and Dead Gentlemen Productions (DGP) that I re-watched since the last instalment (The other stuff will be included in the next official one).

A Paint drawing of a television with the titlle "What'cha watching wednesday" on the screen

What is the WWW generally about?

Every fourth Wednesday evening I will publish a post in which I collected the thoughts I had throughout the week(s) while watching the latest or any episode of a series or maybe even a movie.

Depending on how my time allows it, the comment will also be for those that I watched that day.

You’re warned: There will be Spoilers.

Introduction

All the stuff listed below are „Fan supported“ and „Creator distributed“, which means they were financed by fans through e.g. Kickstarter campaigns. There is no TV channel/network or huge sponsors behind it and the fans‘ praises and complains are heard directly by the people involved – not that there is much to complain about…
People can also be directly involved, depending on their pledge-levels in the campaigns. They can become extras, producer for a day, chat with the cast/crew and other stuff. During the productions people are also allowed to announce a „Red Card“ – that they acquired during the campaigns – that sends an actor or other part of the production into a 5-min time out when they said or did something offensive. 😉

Anyway, let’s take a look at

The Gamers Saga

When I first watched JourneyQuest I soon discovered The Gamers: Dorkness Rising and was easily taken into it, before I realized it’s part of a larger story, but let me start at the beginning …

In 2002 a group of independent film makers got together to create something very special, a story about gamers, with gamers, for gamers that turned into a whole saga consisting of so far three feature films (The Gamers, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising and The Gamers: Hands of Fate) and an in progress series.
The respective stories follow a group of table top gamers (one in the first one, one for part two and three) and their campaigns, but instead of just talking the audience through what the characters are doing, the actors also take up the roles of their characters and show what is happening during the game, sometimes narrating or commenting it with gaming terms (Attack names, „Critical Hit“, etc.).

If you ever participated in a table top round, be it D&D, Pathfinder, DSA (Das Schwarze Auge)/TDE (The Dark Eye), Shadowrun or one of the many other RPGs, you’ll soon be engrossed in this universe. The characters act natural, the jokes are funny and the more you get involved, the more fascinating it gets. You can also see the increase in production value and lessons learned from previous endeavours. It’s great to follow the paths they took (this pun was not intended, but worth keeping, as the game they play is – based on? – Pathfinder) to create this saga and certainly worth many, many re-watches.

But let me tell you a bit about the stories of the different parts…

The Gamers

In the first part the group of gamers plays its way through a campaign with unusual methods, like thief Nimble sneak-attacking/backstabbing someone with a ballista, the Mage of the group being replaced by another one that is accepted on the spot and all the while annoying their poor dorm mate that just wants to study. In the course of their quest to defeat The Shadow! The Shadow? The Shadow… the gamers ultimately lead their characters through a portal into their own/our world, where the characters end up slaying them (their players).

It’s basic, it’s simply, it has quite a few stereotypes, but it’s still not over the top and quite enjoyable and of course the begin of something special. 😉

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising

Part two follows a new group of gamers lead by Lodge, who just wants his friends to finish a run for once, so he can turn it into a new module for the game. After some failed attempts they decide to add more players to the group, which are Joanna a newbie gamer and a NPC-character Lodge himself plays. With some difficulty (Gary wasting Level 4 spells on frying innocent NPCs and constantly forgetting that he’s actually playing a female; Leo’s bard that keeps dying, when he isn’t seducing random NPCs) they manage to beat the campaign that Lodge has designed. Though as the reward Joanna chooses for their quest enrages one of the gamers (Cass, Joanna’s Ex and the I-beat-every-game-there-is min/max wannabe-leader of the group) he storms off and leaves the group, while the rest remain dumbfounded.
Alas the others do not share his view and quite like the decision and want to know how the story continues, supporting Joanna and her way of gaming.
When Lodge finally releases his campaign Cass returns and reluctantly congratulates him and asks if he can return to the group, which the former accepts, but still leaves him standing, so Cass can apologize to Joanna.

This one went deeper than the first one, we learned more about the characters involved and got to like them. I really do enjoy Garys way of solving problems in-game, they are just absolutely hilarious at times and always totally chaotic. Even if I like all the gamers, he is kind of my favourite…
I really enjoyed the resolution of the „gamer girl“ sub-plot. The way they supported Joanna was just incredible and I like the characters even more for it. This part basically made me fall in love with the saga – though JourneyQuest is still a tiny bit above it. 😉

The Gamers: Hands of Fate

Part three takes a different turn. As life gets in the way of their actual gaming the members of the party started other adventures (Joanna and Lodge became a couple, Gary and Leo are busy with work), but here especially Cass learns the hard way that some games aren’t as stupid as they look from afar. Leo hosts a Card Gaming competition in his shop and Cass mocks it, but wants to immediately hook up with the only female gamer, who flat out rejects him and tells him the only chance he has to get a date with her is, if he gets her queen on the throne. Naturally Cass accepts the challenge and lets Leo guide him into the game „Romance of the 9 Kingdoms„; a story line based, user influenced card game; and ends up hijacking Lodge and Joannas trip to GenCon to include their whole group so he can participate in the tournament that would decide the fate of the story line within the game. Throughout Casses games we learn that the characters within the nine kingdoms have a mind of their own and slowly but surely become aware of what is happening to them. With some funny side stories (Joanna over-reacting over a ring she found in Lodges pocket, Gary exacting revenge on a mascot of a TV show that caused the cancellation of one of his favourite shows and Leo just trying to keep his people in check – and stumbling across a murder that is told in a novel where I’m not entirely sure if it’s tie-in, but sounds amazing…) the story culminates into an interesting, but foreseeable ending – at least on the card game story line – that I don’t want to spoil here. 😉
Finally a year after the Con the group manages to game again and continue their quest in the dungeon of The Shadow! The Shadow? The Shadow… yes, the same one.
In a cruel turn of events the gamers are transported into the realm of the game, while their characters appear in their world.

With the additional gaming world and the focus on the card game this part feels different than the previous one. It’s kind of strange for me to watch as well, as Cass is the most annoying character of the group, but I like how his ego gets a damper after the whole ordeal. I just really enjoyed the character development this Season – even if Joanna was the difficult one this time around. It’s also great to see that most of it was actually filmed at a con – even if I’m not entirely sure if it was the real GenCon and or the „fake“ ZOE Con, I lost track of what stuff was used from where [Edit thanks to Andi Dopieralski, see comments]- and it makes me want to attend an American con even more (we do have some Comic Con mock ups by now in Germany, but I don’t think they are anywhere close to the originals, I’ll find out in October).

Well, and this is where everything changes…

The Gamers: The Series – Season 0

It begins with a short that shows the old characters introducing themselves to the new ones which sets up the events of future Cross Over story lines (The Gamers was produced by DGP, the other two by ZOE).
The series 0 (zero not O) itself shows what happened to the original characters that got stuck in our world (at least they will as soon as the last part is released).

It’s a nice change of pace as the characters are narrating their fates that are visually shown. I already liked Nimble in the original movie (hello, ballista?), but his short made me like him even more, elven archer New Moon just has the most ridiculous short and I’m not entirely sure if I completely understood the one for the mage Magellan … The one for warrior Rogar is yet to be released, so I can’t say anything about it.

I’m really looking forward to the continuation of the series, where both stories connect …

So if you liked what you read – and maybe watched – so far, make sure to check out the Kickstarter DGP is running right now to fund the first episode of The Gamers: The Series! It will be a 45 min long episode that starts setting up the path that leads to The Gamers 4 (another path joke, I’m sorry … kinda …): The Gamers: Episode 1.

Natural One/Humans & Households

These two are also part of the Gamers universe, but more like add-ons than necessary to understand the whole plot.

Natural One takes Gary and Leo to Canada so Garys (possible) future brother-in-law can face his „Trial of Initiation“ in order to be allowed to marry Gary’s sister Monica. This time the game they play is set in a Cyberrun universe, but the concept is the same.

It is possible that this story is a prequel to ZOEs show Rude Mechanical, but I haven’t gotten around to actually watch it to make sure.

Humans & Households goes the other way round and shows a group of fantasy-gamers play a mundane game set in our world, where they have to survive crossing a street full of cars and house guardians (a very cute dog) and the simple fact that everything sounds too good to be true („The key is in the letter box“ – „It’s a trap!“).

While they’re fun, they’re not as great as the other parts as they’re too focused on being stand alone, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking them out as well. 😉
H&H is especially funny considering that they basically show how weird gamers act in a given situation (see trap-dialogue) and their kill-first-ask-questions-later mentality.

What were you watching?

What episodes (or movies) did you enjoy/dislike throughout the week/month?
Anything you’d recommend checking out?
Let me know in the comments below!

Final Words

I hope you enjoyed this little look into the universe of The Gamers and maybe you find it in yourself to help them continue to make this incredible show. I certainly did. 😉

Now I’m off to translate a few more minutes of Attacking the Darkness between sneezing, coughing and trumpeting (aka loudly blowing my nose).
Yay, for the Festival-flu…

PoiSonPaiNter