temp-gts-ks-header6

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 11, 2016

Dead Gentlemen Productions & Zombie Orpheus Entertainment announce the Kickstarter for their new joint project The Gamers: Episode 1 – The Shadow Menace.

BELLINGHAM, WA – On July 5th, 2016, Dead Gentlemen Productions (DGP) in joint partnership with Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE) launched their Kickstarter campaign for The Gamers: Episode 1 – The Shadow Menace. This crowdfunding project, with a goal of $170,000, aims to create a 45 minute pilot episode of a new series developed for the web as well as wider, mainstream platforms.

What is The Gamers? Fifteen years ago, Dead Gentlemen Productions introduced the world to Matt Vancil’s comedy about tabletop roleplaying gaming where the heroes were ordinary people playing that particularly famous tabletop RPG. The film cut back and forth between the players playing the game around the table and the imaginary counterparts they played in their fantasy world of the game.

At the end of The Gamers, fantasy stereotypes Rogar, Nimble, Newmoon, and Magellan accidentally stepped through a portal into our world, where they defeated their own players. They’ve been stuck here ever since, without direction or purpose. Until now.

A new gaming group has uncovered the group’s old character sheets and the original gamemaster’s campaign notes. Now, the new players will set out to finish the story of the original Gamers, encountering minions of The Shadow who have infiltrated our world while searching for a way to get back home.

The Shadow Menace features the returning talents of Nathan Rice (Newmoon), Justin McGregor (Magellan), Phil M. Price (Nimble), and Matt Shimkus (Rogar), and adds a new group of players:  Anna Clausen (Megan), Jay Irwin (Zach), and Maggie Ferguson-Wagstaffe (Charlie). Two more characters remain to be cast. The Shadow Menace will also feature a special appearance from Russell Hodgkinson (Z-Nation) as The Professor.

“We are excited and inspired to return to the world of tabletop roleplaying games in the same vein that garnered our audience in the first place,” said Don Early, Executive Producer. “I’ve always wanted to know what happened to those characters stuck in our world at the end of the first Gamers movie. Now we get to find out.”

“This is a chance to create some really great comedy, highlighting some classic gaming experiences,” added Ben Dobyns, writer and showrunner of The Gamers: Episode 1 – The Shadow Menace. “Nnot only that, but we begin to tie all of The Gamers movies together towards an epic finale, joining old cast and new.”

The creators maintain that while this series can stand entirely on its own for new fans to enjoy, it is also the next part of the Gamers meta-story, a saga that DGP and ZOE have been telling for fifteen years. This series runs concurrently with the events of The Gamers: Hands of Fate and leads directly into The Gamers 4, which will conclude the adventures of Joanna, Lodge, Cass, Gary, and Leo.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deadgentlemen/the-gamers-episode-1/

View the Kickstarter video here:

View the short film The Gamers: To Be Continued which unites the characters from The Gamers with the characters from The Gamers: Hands of Fate here:

Dead Gentlemen Productions began in 1999 with the production of Demon Hunters. Based on that film’s success, we went on to shoot a sequel, Dead Camper Lake, and followed up with The Gamers, Revamping Doyle, House Rulez, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, Demon Hunters: Orientation Video, two editions of the Demon Hunters RPG, and a Demon Hunters online comic.

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment was founded in 2010, producing three seasons of JourneyQuest, The Gamers: Hands of Fate, Humans & Households, Natural 1, Dark Dungeons, Attacking the Darkness, Strowlers and annual performances of The Gamers Live at Gen Con Indy.

The shortened Kickstarter ends Friday, July 29th, 2016.