Back in the 1970s, a legend known as Gary Gygax created a landmark game that took the world by storm. This game was Dungeons & Dragons, the pen-and-paper role-playing game in which players take the parts of either adventurers or the malevolent ‘Dungeon Master‘ to form interactive stories full to the brim with dice-rolling, silly wizard voices and potentially friendship-destroying disputes. The game set in place a collection of rules and gameplay ideas so perfect that they remain the basis for the SKYRIMs and MASS EFFECTs of today. In essence, Gygax was Prometheus, giving the fire of creation to humanity (he also had the same birthday as me).
Anyway, for some reason a bunch of nutters then decided it would be a great idea to abandon the kitchen tables, don fur cloaks, take up foam arms and venture out into fields to physically whack each other whilst yelling things like ‘my supreme potion of life heals me for 30 hit points!’. This insane but admittedly (and ashamedly) fun-looking practice is known as live action role-play (LARP) and received widespread exposure through its prominence in the brilliant 2008 comedy ROLE MODELS.
The wonderfully-titled KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM is taking the LARP movie genre one step further by following four LARPers (Peter Dinklage, Ryan Kwanten, Steve Zahn and Summer Glau) as they unwittingly summon forth actual dark magic and must put their adventuring skills to test against hellish demons (I’m sure most LARPers would in fact relish such an opportunity).
In true pen-and-paper fashion, promotional posters for the film have been released in the form of ‘character sheets’, a D&D staple that allows players to record the progress of their characters, keeping track of their skills, spells and any Screaming Swords Of Spiraling Doom they may have picked up from the crumpled body of a dead lich (it’s a kind of undead sorcerer). There is a sheet for each of the film’s four major characters, each looking gloriously retro. Check them out:
KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM is directed by Joe Lynch. It releases in selected cinemas on 24th January.
chrisdvanne
Jan 22, 2014 at 11:14 am
Ryan Kwanten, Steve Zahn, Peter Dinklage, and Summer Glau lead a stellar ensemble, and you really couldn’t ask for more than that.