Press Release for Dungeons and Dragons: On & Ever Onward

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dungeons and Dragons: On & Ever Onwards

Art, role-playing games, and historical preservation unite in an exhibit at the Soho Gallery of Digital Art

New York ­- Jan. 4, 2012 – Dungeons and Dragons: On & Ever Onward is a snapshot of the contemporary NYC scene at the intersection of roleplaying games, the art world, and the conservation of Dungeons & Dragons’ legacy. Curator Timothy Hutchings has assembled a retrospective of digital works from two exhibits he was involved with that helped illuminate this scene, The Cursed Chateau at the Indianapolis MOCA  and Doomslangers at the Allegra LaViola gallery, as well as a selection of images from the Play-Generated Maps and Documents Archive (PlaGMaDA) that demonstrate the roots of the connection between playing D&D and making art.

Artists whose work is featured in the exhibit include Casey Jex Smith, Ryan Browning, Sean McCarthy, Rebecca Schiffman, Josh Jordan, Jeffrey Brown, Giovanni Garcia-Fenech, Chris Bors, Owen Rundquist, Andrew Guenther Jason Phillips, Ketta Ioannidou, Fiona MacNeill, Kitty Clark, Erol Otus, Steve Zeiser, Matt Brinkman, Chris Coy, and others.

The show also presents new works by two of these artists, Ryan Browning and Erol Otus, that reflect the ongoing collaborations between gamers and artists arising from this scene. The panel discussion on “Dungeons & Dragons in Contemporary Art” during the Doomslangers run in NYC began the conversation that led to Ryan’s venture outside the world of fine arts to contribute the illustrations for the Adventurer Conqueror King role-playing game which are included in the exhibit.  Adventurer Conqueror King’s publisher, Autarch, will also be partnering with Erol Otus and the North Texas RPG Convention to release his fantastically illustrated adventure “Island Town” this summer.

Adventuring Parties LLC will be throwing gaming events at the gallery from 7-11 pm on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The opening night party on 1/4 combines a wine and cheese reception for the artists with a beer and Doritos fundraiser for the Tower of Gygax. Inaugurated by Eberron author Keith Baker as a way to celebrate Gary Gygax’s legacy following his passing in 2008, the Tower of Gygax has become one of Gen Con’s most popular events, introducing thousands of gamers to the joys of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Tavis Allison, one of the event’s volunteer DMs since the beginning, is proud to bring the event to NYC for the first time. Thanks to Manhattan’s Compleat Strategist, proceeds from the sale of dice at the event will support the Tower’s fan-driven work on the great Gygaxian project of bringing role-playing games to the world.

The party on 1/5 celebrates Autarch’s deal with Game Salute to bring the Adventurer Conqueror King System into retail stores following its successful crowdfunding effort on Kickstarter – helped in no small measure by ACKS’ stunning cover, an oil painting by Ryan Browning, and the video animation thereof by Timothy Hutchings. Both of these works will be on view in the exhibit. During Thursday’s celebration at the gallery, Adventuring Parties will be introducing guests to Erol Otus’s forthcoming Island Town adventure, which will be one of the first releases to use the Adventurer Conqueror King compatibility logo. The night will conclude with a performance by D20 Burlesque.

“Dungeons and Dragons: On & Ever Onward” marks the beginning of an exciting year for the NYC art and gaming scene. On March 15-19, the 319 Scholes gallery will present “Big Reality,” curated by Brian Droitcouer and building on his important survey of art and role-playing games in last year’s Rhizome piece of the same name. Curator and PlaGMaDA founder Timothy Hutchings is also preparing a new line of books documenting the intersection of art, RPGs, and gaming history, which will be announced later this year.

About Adventuring Parties LLC (http://www.adventuringparties.com):

Adventuring Parties is a different kind of role-playing game company, dedicated to providing services and experiences rather than products. Founder Tavis Allison got started by donating a gaming-themed birthday party to the PTA auction at his son’s public school, and runs a weekly after-school class introducing NYC elementary school students to RPGs. Since then Adventuring Parties has expanded to offer bachelor parties in states from Pennsylvania to Texas, public outreach gaming events like the Arneson Memorial Gameday, and promotional events like the launch party for the digital release of IDW’s D&D comics on comiXology.

About d20 Burlesque (http://www.d20burlesque.com):

D20 Burlesque is a critically acclaimed burlesque show catering to the gamer community in the New York City area.  Their monthly event at the Parkside Lounge is regularly selected as one of Time Out New York’s top 5 nightlife events. You haven’t lived until you have seen the dance of the giant twenty-sided dice.

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Doing a press release always strikes me as hopelessly archaic. Then I ask people to, you know, give press coverage to something I’m doing and am caught flat-footed when they want to know what it should say.

I have a post full of practical and theoretical advice about how to run D&D as a party game and use it to raise money for a good cause that I wanted to get out today. Unfortunately I have to pick up my son and then go do those things instead of writing about them. I guess it’s good that I thought it through beforehand if only for my own benefit, but I can’t help but feel that the reason joesky hasn’t posted in a while is that he is walking cross-country to come kick my ass for unpaid taxes.