Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons is a popular game based solely through imagination. The Dungeon Master helps to guide the players through the adventure, while the board helps to show the placement of the characters in the world.
A few days ago my friends dressed up and played the game, well, they began to play. It took an hour and a half to pick the characters, and they spent another half hour in a bar fight. That was only before I left. These games can take years to complete, and players can continuously adjust and update their characters.
A few of my favourite shows have done incredible Dungeons and Dragons episodes. Freaks and Geeks, Community and The IT Crowd all do wonderful episodes that showcase the game.
Freaks and Geeks
After Daniel (James Franco), one of the cool guys, a ‘freak,’ fails a test and is caught pulling the fire alarm, he is forced to join the Audio Visual Club. At first he does not respond well to the punishment, but as he spends more time with the geeks – Sam (John Francis Daley), Neal (Samm Levine), Bill (Martin Starr), Harris (Stephen Lea Sheppard) and Gordon (Jerry Messing) – they invite him to their Dungeons and Dragons game.
It is the perfect introduction to the game, as the boys go into the rules and characters. It is not fully explained but it is a good sample of how the game is played. It also shows why people play and enjoy the game – hanging out with your friends, cracking jokes, eating junk food and becoming someone else.
This was the final episode of the show, which only lasted one season. It is the perfect way to cap off the show, bridging the gap between the freaks and the geeks.
The IT Crowd
This episode called “Jen the Fredo” focus’ on Jen’s (Katherine Parkinson) recent promotion to Entertainment Manager. This post is normally given to a man because of the requirements, to literally entertain frat boy businessmen.
After her first venture fails – seeing The Vagina Monologues” elicited sexist comments that got them kicked out – she forces the men to play Dungeons and Dragons with Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Roy (Chris O’Dowd).
Moss creates a soundtrack to perfect suit every moment of the game while voicing the characters. Moss shines in this scene as he coaches Roy through his difficult breakup and forces him to get over it. This is also a great episode to show why people enjoy this game, it may be based in a fantasy world but it can help translate into real life.
This is one of my favourite episodes of the show, everyone is very strong and the script is hilarious. It is the perfect season premiere to help remind viewers why this show is so wonderful.
Community
Community featured a whole episode on this popular role playing game – Adanced Dungeons and Dragons. My favourite Troy (Donald Glover) line of the episode is feature in the clip above, “Shouldn’t there be a board or some pieces or something to Jenga?”
The study group – Annie (Alison Brie), Abed (Danny Pudi), Jeff (Joel McHale), Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) – play Dungeons and Dragons in order to save Fat Neil’s (Charley Koontz) life. The controversy comes when Pierce (Chevy Chase) is uninvited. This causes him to steal Fat Neil’s fictional sword and run off into the woods. With the group now having something to work for, they band together to kill Pierce and retrieve the sword.
This episode is one of the strongest from season two. They have great montage scenes and the battle between the group and Pierce is entertaining. Also, Ken Jeong as Chang is hilarious.
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And, if you are writing on other sites, I’d like to
Dungeons and Dragons | To Be Continued. I do have a couple of questions for you if it’s allright. Could it be only me or does it seem like a few of the comments come across like they are written by brain dead folks?
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