“We have a lot to learn from the Elves” 18-year old pretty Drama student.
“I went tae see Lord o’ the Rings on Acid. Pure magic“ – A Glaswegian Ned on his conversion to D&D.
“I command thee- Be Silent!” – GM to his table of players as they celebrate killing his beloved Troll.
For those who haven’t seen it, the best Scottish Gaming Movie ever has been released on DVD- Gamerz. I call it the best since the only Scottish RPG depiction on TV was that one episode of “Taggart” where Jardine played the dwarf and Taggart told the Orc “You’re nicked!”. I first saw ‘Gamerz’ years ago in the surreal, sun drenched GenCon SoCal 2004, and its taken a while to make its way to DVD. But its still well worth watching.
It’s the fun and amusing story of one young Glaswegian GM (Ralph) going to Glasgow Uni and wresting control of the single game from the existing DM to pursue his obsessive, homebrew campaign world and GM alter egos. It’s the days of AD&D and like all of us at that age Ralph perhaps identifies way too much with his characters and game but then so do his players. It’s a story of gaming, obsession, love, rivalry and low level insanity. Its filled with gaming tropes, ‘wegie landmarks and First buses, Scottish vernacular, car burnings, batterings and gaming holidays. There is a small element of dorky gamers in cloaks, steam tunnels and hot-elf chicks in corsets but overall its an affectionate look at our hobby in all its obsessive geekiness, and whoever wrote this knew the pain of character death.
I love the bits of this movie I recognise from coming up through the Scottish Uni Gaming scene. There is the whole group chasing after the one goth girl . The one girl being the Queen Bee, more than slightly delusional and overly dramatic and jealous of other girls. Then there is the University societys and bitter power struggles over who gets to be GM/Presidente. The Business Studies/posh gamer, the dropout gamer, and even the Ned/scally gamer.
And then there is Ralphs room with the old square-grid maps, boxed sets, shelves of green Fighting Fantasy books and painted dragon and orc miniatures. The desk filled with paint pots and paint brushes and spot lights for mini-painting. That was my room, except I had 10 times the books, boxed sets and shelf space.
Well worth renting or buying, especially if you ever went to a Scottish (or any) University Gaming society. Also worth it just to see the list of thanks – a surreal mix of gaming societies and sex shops – everyone from Mistresses Lilith and Shiva to Static Games. And no Dragons or Gerbils were harmed in this production.
Overall this movie is surprisingly well made for its low Indie budget and the rotoscoped fantasy scenes quite dramatic. 4 out of 5 for Style.
While the plot and acting are not Oscar worthy, its memorable and charming film that will make your inner gamer both cringe and smile. The fact so much is recognisable to those who gamed at university earns it a Substance of 3
