By Vada-Lyn Clark, Staff Writer
Your party enters the theater ready to buy tickets and snacks, but as soon as you walk through the doors, you realize this is no ordinary Friday night.
Creatures – some human and some you’ve never seen or heard of before – roam around the lobby. At the tables, people are engaged in an intense game of adventure. A man shouts out winning raffle ticket numbers. Other movie-goers like you simply stare at this scene of fantasy and excitement. What have you gotten yourself into?
Local comic and game store Super Galactic Games N Comics will be hosting several events during the long-awaited premiere of the Dungeons and Dragons film at RC Theaters in Kill Devil Hills. The table-top roleplaying game involving fantasy and fun, where players create their own stories and adventures, has recently been repopularized by the hit Netflix show “Stranger Things.”
Now, Hollywood takes its shot in the theatrical film “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which opens Friday, March 31.
When arriving at the theater that night, a slew of special events will be taking place. One notable event is the “Dungeons and Dragons” one-shot – a D&D campaign wrapped up in one game session. It will be run by Dudley Machen, local Dungeon Master and employee of Super Galactic in his “Journeymen’s Guild” campaign, which is held at Super Galactic every Thursday.
“We’ll be running this adventure with a very limited group size so that I can have more one-on-one time with each player and give more roleplay time,” Machen said. “That way, those that are spectating will have more of a show to enjoy, while those that are playing will be able to enjoy the interaction a little bit more.”
Machen has been a Dungeon Master – one who controls and runs the game – for 21 years. In this, he’s been “gifted a fun and broad community.”
“The fact that we have a great community down here that is growing itself, both in youth and in the adult members and crossing generations, which is creating a shared hobby that spans religions, political affiliations, classes, social statuses and ages, is just an awesome thing to me,” Machen said.
People from all walks of life and all ages can join in on the “D&D” fun in various ways, from playing to Dungeon Mastering to even employing their art skills to create beautiful pieces.
Super Galactic hires local artists, mostly through social media discovery, to design unique movie posters for each premiere the shop hosts.
This “Dungeons and Dragons” poster was created and designed by D&D player and First Flight junior Loki Drake.
“As soon as I would get home from school, I would work on it for eight hours. I would say it took me about a week to finish,” Drake said.
Drake’s design is unique among the other artists’ previous poster designs, as Drake added personal characters to the artwork.
“If you look in the background, I added Scotch, my D&D character. I just thought I’d include a goblin to add more of the D&D aesthetic,” Drake said.
Goblins are common creatures in this fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons. Just about any fantasy creature that you can think of is present in the D&D universe. This makes for even more movie theater fun, so fans going to the movie premiere are encouraged to dress their best.
“We have a costume contest and I’m really excited about that one. There will be people dressed up and geeking out with all of their D&D apparel,” Super Galactic store owner Jerred Francisco said.
Various raffles will occur during the premiere, one of which is the classic wheel spin where small prizes will be awarded. A more valuable prize will also be up for grabs.
“There’s a surprise giveaway,” Francisco said. “Another business here on the beach will be giving us something to give away to one of the movie theater patrons with us that night.”
For dungeons, dragons, a costume contest, raffles, giveaways, a locally sourced movie poster and movie theater fun, join Super Galactic Games N Comics on Friday, March 31, before the 7:20 p.m. showing at RC Theaters in Kill Devil Hills.
Before the event, fans are encouraged to stop by Super Galactic Games N Comics in Kitty Hawk to pick up a combo deal: $13 for a movie poster and movie ticket.
“We’re all here to have a good time and that’s what I want: for everybody to come down, laugh and enjoy themselves,” Machen said.
Drake takes artist’s commissions and can be reached at Jazzygr8drake@gmail.com
Sophomore Vada-Lyn Clark can be reached at ClarkVa4797@daretolearn.org.
