Stefan Pokorny- Artist, Humanitarian, D&D Enthusiast, and knight in cheap sun glasses…
Some people aspire to change the world. Stefan Pokorny aspired to create a new one, unlike anything seen in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons, and in the process, changed the game itself.
Most of us old school gamers remember playing D&D at a friend’s house, with our faces buried in play books while creating quests with nothing more than a handful of dice, a notebook, and our imaginations. It was an incredible world of trolls, dragons, wizards, and wars where anything and everything could happen! It was, and still is, a game that could be played anywhere and it’s only limits were the player’s creativity. Nearly twenty years ago an aspiring artist out of New York City decided to take his passion for art, sculpture, and D&D and start a company whose sole purpose was to create hand crafted, high quality dungeon replicas for players to take their role playing to the next level. Other game systems had been created, but nothing could compare to the quality and structure that Stefan and his team offered. It was an absolute hit.
From the resulting success of the dungeon game sets, Stefan’s company, Dwarven Forge, was able to create other gaming sets that set an industry standard. Here in director Josh Bishop’s documentary, fans get a behind the scenes look at creating and making Stefan’s biggest and most expensive gaming set to date, Valoria, a whole new city designed for players to adventure through, rather than staying in the dungeon realms. The gamble has paid off in more ways than one.
The movie takes you not only through the creating of Dwarven Forge and Valoria, but also through Stefan’s troubled past and his journey from obscurity to internationally respected and renown D&D gaming system pioneer. It’s a new look at the of world D&D with cameos from Luke Gygax, Frank Mentzer, and Tim Kask throwing their support and a bit of admonishment. It was creatively shot with great visuals, a storyline that flows seamlessly between Stefan’s personal and business life, and has a fantastic music score. An 8 out of 10.
Official Movie Trailer can be seen here
For more information about Dwarven Forge, The Dwarvenaut movie, or Stefan himself, lease visit their home page here