Gamer Geek Heaven!

I recently recieved a DVD I had ordered from Amazon.com in the mail, and ever since, I have been in Gamer Geek Heaven! The DVD was, of course, "Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God", which first appeared on the Sci-Fi Channel late last year. I had only seen the last 45 minutes or so of the movie, as I could never seem to get to the TV when the movie was actually starting, and this was my chance to see the entire thing.

Let's start this out right: The movie is AWESOME. If you had a camera capable of peering into a bunch of people playing D&D and capturing what was actually going on in the game on that camera, this would be the kind of movie that would result. The story follows the Kingdom of Izmir (Once pronounced Izz-meer and now apparently called Ish-meer 100 years later) that appeared in the first movie. The only returning character from the first movie is Damodar, the fighter henchman of the first movie's villainous mage, Profion. Profion cursed Damodar with undeath should Damodar ever fail him, and for the last 100 years, Damodar has been some kind of undead creature.

But Damodar, being the baddy of this film, has plans. Plans to take his revenge on the people of Izmir, the descendents of those who caused his fall from grace in the first movie. He finds and retrieves the Orb of Valazhure, the evil dragon God of Death and Decay, who had been forced into stasis 3000 years ago. With the orb removed from the stasis field it had been kept in, the Dragon God is beginning to awaken, and if the orb is destroyed, Valazhure will get a great deal of his Godly power back, which will be a bad thing for Izmir.

Facing off against the power of Damodar and Valazhure are the five champions of Izmir: Barek, a fighter and former captain of Izmir's Royal Guard, Lux, the beautiful barbarian warrior, Dorian, a priest of Obad-hai, God of Nature, Ormaline, an elven mage, and Nim, a rogue. Also fighting on the side of good are the mages of Izmir, led by the archmage Oberon. While Barek and his companions seek the Orb, Oberon and the mages try to find out how the Orb can be placed back into stasis. And then there is Melora, a minor mage and wife of Barek, who has been cursed with a wasting ailment that will eventually turn her into an undead creature by Damodar, but who will end up being the only one who can save Izmir from the wrath of Valazhure.

This movie is 5000 times better than the original movie, and this time, it isn't being played for laughs, though there is some humor in the interactions of the characters. The plans of the villain are appropriately vast and epic, and the special effects were well done.

But mostly, this is a film for real D&D geekazoids like me. Players of the game will have a blast figuring out which spells are being cast (I especially liked the Lizardman shaman casting Regeneration on Damodar's arm. Damodar even looks like he's in agony as his arm regrows from the stump.), and seeing various magic items in action, such as Ormaline's Ring of Smiting (which she gets from a goblin shaman's hut during the adventure) and Staff of Lightning, and Nim's Gem of True Seeing (which he picks up while fighting the Lich). The monsters were also well done, such as the Magmen, the Lich and the Dragons.

Even better, of course, is the two specials included on the DVD, one a more or less standard "making of" featurette, and the second an interview with E. Gary Gygax, creator of the D&D game. The best part of the first is the man from Wizards of the Coast (current publisher of the D&D game) who tells us that they included the magic item, "The Vorpal Sword" simply because it was cool, and then turns to the camera and says, "And no, I didn't get laid when I was in High School." It was such a geekly moment that I nearly fell off the bed laughing.

The Gygax interview was equally good, though I was scared of his left eyebrow. The right one was all combed in the right direction, but the left one looked it belonged on a mad mage, all funky and shooting in three different directions. I have yet to see the third special, which is a commentary on the film. But I plan to rectify that as soon as possible.