May 25, 2010 | David

Two amazing announcements today, May 25: the GOLD Season 1 DVD is available and NOTZK is in production!

GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD: On Sale Now!

Thanks to our generous GOLD DVD Club members and the tireless efforts of the GOLD team members, GOLD Season 1 is now available on a Special Edition DVD, which includes:

- All seven episodes of GOLD Season 1 with re-mastered color and sound
- One of 12 different DVD covers
- Cast/crew and creator commentaries for every episode
- Interview with the cast & crew by GirlGamer’s Cricket Lee
- Special thank-you shout-out to the GOLD DVD Club
- Independent TV preview featuring a host of great current and upcoming shows from around the webseries world
- Randomly selected behind-the-scenes photo and a GOLD CCG Character card
- Exclusive minisode not available anywhere else: “The Palace of the Silver Princess”

All this for only $20 (+shipping). And the best part: all profits from the sale of every DVD go toward the production of GOLD Season 2. Visit www.goldtheseries.com/store to buy yours today.

In conjunction with the DVD launch, we’ve also released a beautiful 11x17 poster of the Gallery DVD cover, featuring all 11 main characters from GOLD. You can get that at www.goldtheseries.com/store as well.

GOLD: Night of the Zombie King is in Production!

While we’re still searching for the right partners to help us make the complex, sprawling beast that is GOLD Season 2, the GOLD team is sick of not having any new episodes to put out on the interwebs. So, we’ve written and are in the process of shooting a 6-part miniseries: “Night of the Zombie King.” NOTZK takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of GOLD, and centers around a character a lot of fans have told us they want to see more of: Jaz, the big, tough leader of the Dangerous Gamers Jonathan visits in GOLD Episode 4.

Set over the course of one night in the lives of five grown-up gamers, NOTZK is a story about RPGs, friendship, growing-up, and the difficulty of reconciling the people we thought we were as kids with the adults we’ve become. In short, it’s “The Big Chill” for nerds. More or less.

NOTZK features James Ellis Lane, Jonathan Nail, Stephanie Thorpe, Maxwell Glick and Brian Majestic. It is in production right now, and we anticipate it will be released in late Summer 2010. For breaking news about GOLD: Night of the Zombie King, keep your eye on the website (www.goldtheseries.com), our facebook page (www.facebook.com/goldtheseries) and follow us on twitter (@GoldtheSeries).

May all your crits be confirmed,

David

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May 07, 2010 | David

Pretty soon it's gonna be hard not to talk about our newest GOLD adventure.

No, this isn’t the post letting you know the GOLD DVD is ready for sale. It’s at the manufacturer right now, and we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready. And it’s not about GOLD Season 2, sadly - we’re still looking for a partner to help us get that made.

But, you see, not making more television set in the GOLD world has been killing us. So, Andrew (GOLD Co-Exec, Goldy). Rick (Richard Wright) and I got together and wrote a new GOLD adventure. GOLD Season 2’s sweeping story, multiple locations and dozens of characters makes it expensive and time-consuming to shoot (which is why we need a partner or two), so we wanted to write a parallel series that would compliment the main GOLD storyline, but be smaller and more self-contained - something we could produce while worked on scaring-up the resources for GS2. 

The result: “GOLD: Night of the Zombie King.” It takes place shortly after the events in GOLD Season 1, and centers around a character a lot of fans have told us they want to see more of: Jaz, the big, tough leader of the Dangerous Gamers Jonathan visits in GOLD Episode 4. It takes place over the course of one night, and I’ve been explaining the story to folks as, “The Big Chill” for rpg nerds.

We begin shooting Night of the Zombie King (NOTZK) at the end of May, and I couldn’t be more excited to be back working with the GOLD team. I just wanted to let you all know about it now, so we could excitedly tweet about it during production, post pictures from the set, etc. As we go along, we’ll be posting more info about the plot, characters, etc.

And, yes, the DVD of Season 1 will be available soon. Very soon. I promise.

-David

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April 06, 2010 | David

Our buddies at CJP Digital (The Temp Life) are looking for background talent for a shoot in downtown LA this Thursday & Friday.

They’re looking for men and women of all types (over the age of 18) to portray attendees of a theater event. You should arrive dressed in semi-formal attire (dresses for women, jackets for men) as would be fitting for a red carpet/premiere event.

Thursday, April 8th: Half day shoot (approximately 4 hours). 10 extras needed, meals and credit provided (no pay).

Friday, April 9th: Half day shoot (approximately 4 hours). 20 extras needed, meals and credit provided (no pay).

Details of the production are currently confidential, however exact call times (daytime shoot) and location (downtown theater district, convenient to 10/110 and 101) will be provided upon confirmation. 

To submit for the project, please contact Jeff Koenig at jkoenig@cjpdigital.com. Previous experience as an actor or background extra helpful but not necessary. If you are available for both days, please note that in your submission. Thanks!

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March 29, 2010 | David

These are the shoes I will be wearing to the 2010 Streamy Awards Ceremony on April 11.*

“What has that to do with me?” you might ask. Well, let me explain:

These are Extremely Limited Edition GOLD the Series Jonathan Drake Specials. You see, that’s Jon Drake’s signature right there on the side of a black and grey canvas high-top sneaker (black is Jon’s color after all - it’s all he ever wears). And on the inside of each shoe? A sweet, sweet jumble of multi-colored d20s. These are beautiful shoes. And only 6 pairs will ever be made. Ever.

One of them could be yours.

Here’s the deal: as you may know, GOLD is nominated for a 2010 Streamy Award for Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series. If we win, we’ll give a pair of these sweet, extremely limited edition shoes to a fan selected randomly from our mailing list.

All you need to do is sign-up for the GOLD mailing list. You can do so on pretty much every page of the GOLD website. If you are not already on that list, get on it before 11:59PM on April 11th. Seriously. Do it now!

And then cross your fingers that GOLD wins. I’ll admit, we’re pretty much the underdog, up against some very steep competition from such wildly popular and amazing shows as The Guild, Easy to Assemble, Back on Topps and Dorm Life. But we’re scrappy. And - I’ll just come right out and say it - we’ve got Richard Wright’s chest hair on our side. No single web show can overcome that!

Watch the Streamy Awards, streaming live over the interwebs on April 11 (details here). And look for the GOLD cast on the red carpet and in the audience. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the shoes. Maybe.

“But, wait,” you say, “that’s one pair for you, and one pair to a fan if you win a Streamy. What about the other four pairs?” Very good question, you. You were totally paying attention. The fate of the other four pairs will hinge upon some other upcoming announcements. Just stay tuned!

- David Nett
Creator, GOLD
Owner of 1 Pair of Extremely Limited Edition GOLD the Series Jonathan Drake Specials, size 10

PS: This giveaway is not officially connected to the Streamy Awards or the IAWTV or sanctioned by them in any way. It’s purely from the folks here at GOLD.

*shoes may be slightly different than they appear here. They have not yet arrived from the manufacturer.

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March 29, 2010 | David

This is it. The GOLD DVD is very nearly done.

As of the end of this week, all of the pieces of the GOLD DVD will be in place. We’ll be putting the discs through several rounds of hard-core quality assurance testing the next two weeks or so, and will probably have to tweak a few things here and there, but as of right now all the bits of the disc are mostly locked, so we can finally talk about what made it in.

Here’s the final breakdown of the GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD:

• 1 professionally replicated DVD (not duplicated - professionally replicated from a glass master)

with:
• All seven original Season 1 Episodes, with completely (painstakingly) re-mastered color and sound (approx. 75 minutes)
• English subtitles
• 2 separate commentary tracks for each episode (1 courtesy of the creators, 1 courtesy of the cast & crew and a liberal amount of beer & wine)
• An interview with the GOLD cast & crew, hosted by GirlGamer’s Cricket Lee
• A special DVD club “thank you” video from the GOLD cast
• A selection of trailers and sneak peeks from the world of independent web television

and
• A DVD Exclusive GOLD Mini-Episode: “Palace of the Silver Princess” - available only on the GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD!

So, assuming you watch all of the episodes with and without commentary (and I know you will), and assuming my math is right (a dicier prospect, for sure) that’s almost four and a half hours of content!

In addition, the Special Edition DVD will come with:

• A special note from creator David Nett
• A behind-the-scenes photo from the set of GOLD
• A GOLD CCG character card
• One of 12 different DVD covers (choose which cover you want at purchase)

The good news: this is a packed disc. We are filling every available bit of space with content. The bad news: we weren’t able to fit everything we wanted to; a handful of potential disc features didn’t make the cut. Honestly, we just plain ran out of space. Once the DVD is released, we’ll be working hard to figure out what to do with those extra bits and bobs. We’ve some ideas. Oh, yes we have.

What’s that? You want to know when the GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD will be available? Well, since we’ve still got to QA the master disc and then manufacture it, we can’t say for certain. We’re hoping to make it available before the end of April, but it may leak into early May. As soon as we have a concrete release date, we will let everyone know. This whole process has taken a lot longer than I anticipated, but I’m so proud of what we’ve done.

Of course, DVDs and posters will be in the mail to eligible GOLD DVD Club members as soon as they are ready - you’ll get yours first!

Thanks again for supporting GOLD, and independent television. The future is ours.

-David Nett
Creator, GOLD

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February 23, 2010 | David

Five new desktop/iPhone wallpapers available in the "Extras" section.

Just messing around with some of the GOLD imagery this weekend, and thought we’d make a few new desktop images. You can find them in the Extras section.Hope you enjoy them!

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February 04, 2010 | David

Session 8, in which the party finds some proof, splits up, gets back together, and must decided on their future.

The GOLD Gamer Recap: I (David, creator of GOLD, the Series) am currently running a Pathfinder game with six of the GOLD cast & crew. I’m taking them through a Pathfinder converted version of the classic D&D super-module T1-4, “The Temple of Elemental Evil,” thoroughly grounded in the original, but with lots of customization (including the incorporation of Michael Curtis’s Fane of St. Toad). This recap is just a summary of what happens during each session, for your amusement, and will be posted irregularly.

Characters:

• Gabriel Lightfoot - Human Paladin 3
  played by Andrew Deutsch (GOLD EP, DP & Director)
• Valen Greymoon - Elvish Ranger 3
  played by Nathan Mobley (Tim Calloway)
• Blars Granitdok - Dwarven Cleric 3
  played by Chad Schnaible (GOLD producer, sound guy)
• Ark Wong - Human Monk 2
  played by Justin Waggle (Peter Foote) -
  NOTE: Ark Wong was played by Rick Robinson (Richard Wright) this session, as Justin was unavailable.
• Shecky Greenblatt - Gnomish Sorcerer 2
  played by Gary Karp (Charles Subar)
• Schlomo Rubenstein - Human Fighter 2
  played by James Xavier (Sam St. Croix)

After being healed somewhat, the party resumed searching Lareth’s room. While no additional treasure was found, in his writing desk the group found a stack of letters and personal notes - some unfinished notes written by Lareth, some letters from someone who signed his name “A,” and some ledgers. The ledgers seems to be an accounting of goods and gold stolen during bandit raids, as well as lists of numbers next to races (with some comments) next to indicators such as “fire” “air” “earth” “water” and “greater.” The “Fire” group seemed to have the largest numbers. Dates were included as well. The party deduced this was an accounting of new recruits Lareth had been sending to the Temple - if these ledgers were correct, Lareth had been sending dozens of new recruits per month. Lareth’s correspondence with “A” also included some additional points - “A” was continually asking for more recruits, especially Bugbears, which he seemed to find the perfect combination of cunning and raw brute force. Lareth had written to A about possibly sending his Gnolls “to the fire,” for they and their captain were especially disobedient and untrustworthy. Also found was a draft of a letter where Lareth explained to A that a group of bandits had taken residence above his dungeon - that he’d initially used them as good cover, but that they’d gotten reckless and he was debating sending them “to the fire” before they got caught and potentially revealed his operation as well - he asked “A” for advice (no return letter was found - they assumed this note was never sent).

As the party was debating what this all meant, and how best to return to Hommlet and present this information along with their “proof” of Lt. Paul’s involvement with the Bandits, Valen heard the door at the far end of the hallway being opened, and distant laughter abruptly stop. Valen crept out of the room to listen and have a look - it appeared that a party had discovered the carnage in the long hallway. Valen heard this new group moving slowly toward them with military precision - these were not the simple guards they’d fought before, but something else. He snuck back to Lareth’s room and the party decided to split, half of them moving across the large main room to the guard’s barracks (Gabriel, Valen & Shecky), and half remaining in Lareth’s room with the door closed (Blars, Ark & Schlomo). The hope was to lure the new group into the main room, and then surprise them by attacking from both sides. The new party approached slowly, sending a scout ahead, who spied Gabriel (who had hidden badly). The new group retreated. Gabriel, knowing he ws discovered, decided to use the slaughter which the new group had no doubt found to his advantage, striding out into the large room and using his intimidate skill to call the new group out (playing on the idea that he’d single-handedly slain all of the guards, Lareth and Gremag himself). The new party approached cautiously. Ultimately, Gabriel saw a band of 2 bugbears (one huge and well-armed - clearly the Captain of this hunting party), five humans, and a kobold in sorceror’s robes. The humans and Kobold held back, terrified of Gabriel’s might, but the Bugbear Captain strode into the room, gleefully joining this “champion” in single combat. When Valen started firing arrows into the room, the second bugbear rushed foward, and the kobold wizard cast a darkness spell on the entire room. With Gabriel, Shecky and Valen unable to see anything, the combat quickly turned bad for Gabriel. The door to Lareth’s room flew open and Schlomo rushed to join the fight. Shecky used a light spell to counter the darkness, and the balance of the battle became more even. Eventually this raiding party was destroyed, but not before Gabriel was rendered unconscious, and Schlomo and Shecky took a huge amount of damage. After the battle, the party discovered that this had been a raiding party coming back with spoils - gold, fine cloth, and a magical circlet Shecky pocketed.

Exhausted and out of spells, the party decided to high-tail it out of the dungeon. The followed Lareth’s entrance tunnel, which led to a cave near the road where the party had originally left their horses, three days prior (the horses were gone). The party camped in the woods, healed, and rested. The next morning they set out on foot to Hommlet (2 days’ walk away) they walked all day and camped in the forest as darkness approached.

The party was awakened in the night by the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Ark and Valen scouted to the road, and saw Mayor Grondarian approaching with a contingent of town guards. Gabriel and Schlomo joined the scouts, while Blars and Shecky hung back at camp. As they got closer, the party could see Elmo riding in back, and the halfling Small Paul riding up front near Grondarian. They also saw that the other guards were very young, save one who they recognized as Hommlet’s blacksmith. The four party members near the road stepped out to greet Grondarian, who instantly declared them under arrest for the supposed murder of Lt. Paul and the bulk of his town guards, who had not been seen since the party left Hommlet five days prior. The party agreed, knowing they could exonerate themselves with the evidence once they reached town. However, the confrontation turned slightly violent, and, when asked about Shecky and Blars, Gabriel lied and said they were two miles back toward the Moathouse. Lt. Paul and two others rode off after them, and the other four were hauled onto horses with the guards, bound and stripped of all weapons and gear (but still wearing armor). Blars and Shecky watched from the bushes as they rode away.

Grondarian and the guards rode through the night. During the ride, Elmo (who had put Gabriel on his horse) quietly got the story of what had happened from Gabriel. He cautioned Gabriel that, whatever happened in town, the party should not reveal anything about Lareth or the dungeons below the moathouse. It was during this conversation and the talk about proving Lt. Paul was the bandit leader that Gabriel realized an important oversight: all of the evidence proving their claims was with Blars, back at the camp.

Shecky and Blars watched the rest of their party being ridden away in shackles. They geared-up and decided to walk after them, and make a plan about what to do when they got to Hommlet while on the road.

Grondarian and the prisoners arrived in Hommlet in the late morning. The party were immediately placed in a small cell, locked and guarded by two nervous, newly conscripted town guards. Gabriel had just enough time to tell the whole group to be honest about the events with the bandits but say nothing about Lareth or what occurred in the dungeons below the moathouse, before Grondarian returned with Elmo. He ordered Elmo to grab Schlomo for interrogation. One by one, the party were interrogated - Schlomo telling a wild, incoherent story about bandits and Temple minions, Ark refusing to talk, Valen telling basically the truth (including some things about the dungeons) and Gabriel matching Valen’s story, except leaving out the dungeons. Schlomo and Ark were roughed-up during their interrogations (fortunately, it was by Elmo, who pulled his punches).

On the road, Shecky and Blars, who’d decided to break their companions out of jail when they arrived at town, hid along the side of the road as Small Paul and his group thundered angrily back toward town, empty-handed.

Back at the jail, Grondarian threw the party back into the cell together. As he did so, Small Paul arrived, angrily shouting that he’d been lied-to. Grondarian decided to convene a meeting of the city council, after Paul attempted to beat the prisoners, to get to the bottom of this garbled information. After they’d gone, Elmo brught them a crude meal, along with a note saying they should stay put until midnight. He’d unlock the door. They should meet just inside the treeline nearest the jail. And they were NOT to kill anyone. Ark loosed all four of them from their bonds so they’d be ready for trouble, and they waited.

Blars and Shecky arrived near town well after dark, a couple of hours before midnight. They saw the town was being heavily patrolled by pairs of guards carrying lanterns, none of whom looked familiar. They worked their way around the treeline to the area closest to the jail. As they contemplated their plan, Elmo appeared from the direction of the jail. He handed them off to the Druid Jaroo, who appeared out of nowhere with his huge black bear companion. With little fuss, the bewildered pair was led to the Druid’s grove and told to wait for their friends to arrive.

Back at the jail, the party waited until midnight and tested the door, which they found unlocked. They quietly subdued the only guard and retrieved their gear, again subduing (not killing) the guard they found in that room. They then escaped, heading for the treeline. When they arrived in the treeline, Elmo took them to the Druid’s grove, where they were united with the rest of the party, and joined by Jaroo, Druid of the Grove, and Canon Terjon, leader of the local Church of Cuthbert.

Elmo introduced the three of them as the “Small Council” - while the town council carried out the regular business of Hommlet, the small council was a secret group, sent by the Duke of Verbobonc (acting on behalf of the Kingdom of Furyondy) [Elmo], the Horned Society [Jaroo] and the Church of Cuthbert [Terjon] to monitor the area for a possible re-surgence of the activities of the Temple of Elemental Evil. The party conveyed its story in great detail, showing also the proof (in the form of the lockboxes, cloaks emblazoned with the fiery Elemental Eye, silver keys and letters from Lareth’s desk). The small council was very troubled by all of this. They retreated into Jaroo’s small hut to discuss. After a few minutes, they emerged. Elmo said he’d take the keys and lockboxes back to the Mayor and try to persuade the town council of the truth of the party’s story, in his alter-ego’s simple way. Terjon urged teh party to accompany him and take secret refuge in the oddly large and fortified Church of Cuthbert while they awaited further word from Elmo and the council, as well as the Small Counsil’s leaders (who were to be sent messages via raven). The party agreed, and accompanied Terjon back to the church, where they were given small but comfortable rooms, and use of the Church’s small library to research the Temple.

The party slept the night in the church, awaking the next morning to a day of studying and rest. Canon Terjon showed them around the keep, to the library, church proper, private prayer halls, the training grounds at the center of the keep, kitchens, smithy and your sleeping quarters. The church was small, but well appointed. Cuthbert is a god of voracious appetites - there is food and drink aplenty - and a god of war - all his priests train daily and the armory and smithy are well-stocked. You all rest, eat, read and discuss in the library, learning much about the temple and its history. Elmo arrived to say that the town council had received the proof of Lt. Paul’s banditry, but Grondarian and Small Paul were not wholly convinced. They planned on riding out to the moathouse themselves (after several more days of discussion) to try to get proof of the party’s story. Terjon planned on sending a contingent of clerics and masons immediately to wall-up the dungeons and prevent them from examination by panicky townspeople. Elmo resolved to return the next morning with more information.

The party slept an uneasy night, to be wakened the next morning and asked to join Canon Terjon for breakfast. When they arrived, Terjon was accompanied by Jaroo and Elmo. Elmo had the bad news that Grondarian had decided to send out a search party after the party, and list them as being wanted men with nearby towns and villages. More importantly, though, the Small Council had a request of the party. On behalf of their various benefactors, they wanted the party to travel to Nulb, a seedy town to the East, and then on to the Temple. The task - investigate the temple - find out what manner of evil stirs there, who it was Lareth was recruiting for. If the party can can - stop them, by whatever means. If the party cannot stop them, then report back. In return, after the deed was done, the Duke of Verbobonc, on authority of the King of Furyondy, would make all of them Knights, including a small grant of land and all the honors knighthood conveyed. The three left the party to consider, saying they’d need an answer by noon the following day. After a short discussion, the party separated to think on it, heading to various points in the church grounds. 

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January 28, 2010 | David

Wanna be in a GOLD DVD Special Feature? Of course you do!

Throughout the process of working on GOLD, we’ve been getting a lot of great fan emails, questions and suggestions. Among the most common were variations on “I’m enjoying the show, but can you tell me more about tabletop RPGs?” or, “This is awesome - you guys should make some tabletop RPG how-to videos.”

Well, we don’t have the resources to do a how-to series on top of the series proper (and there are actually a couple of really good how-to videos out there). But I would like to address these common questions in the special features. To that end, we’re making two new videos. Each will be a short collection of video testimonials from the cast, crew, GOLD fans and people in the RPG industry, responding to the following:

Explain tabletop RPG gaming in 25 words or less.
What has RPG gaming meant to you (in 25 words or less)?

Obviously, to do this I need help. I’d love to get (from as many of you as possible) a short video, answering 1 or both of these (each question answered separately). The responses to each should be as short as possible - 20-30 words long. Basically, a video “tweet.” Each video should be a few seconds long at most - I won’t be able to use longer videos. One sentence. Seriously.

The videos don’t need to be stellar quality - the camera and microphone built into your laptop or even your iPhone (or what have you) are fine. Just sit down, make certain you can see yourself in-frame, and record. Higher production values are also welcome, of course ;-) If you can also include a minute or so of your gaming crew actually at play (for b-roll during the montage), that’d be awesome, too. Just get their permission first!

When you’ve got your video, email me at goldtheseries@gmail.com and let me know, and I’ll send back simple instructions for uploading it to our server.

Deadline is Sunday, February 14 (a little more than 2 weeks). I’ll also send a little release form to everyone who shoots me a video, just to cover all my bases. These videos will be used as part of the DVD special features explained above. The completed montages may also be released online (if they turn out to be really cool).

Lemme know if you have any questions. I can’t wait to see what y’all have to say!

-David
Creator, GOLD

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January 17, 2010 | David

Wanna take a look at the early drafts of the GOLD Season 1 DVD covers? Yeah, we do, too.

We’re trucking along here at GOLD HQ, working hard on the episodes and the extras (we filmed the extra-special new scene this week). In addition, I’ve been playing a lot with the GOLD graphics - the DVD menus as well as the DVD cover(s) and the poster(s) we’ll be releasing along with the DVD.

While the DVD cover/poster is not finished, I feel like I’m getting pretty close, so I wanted to share them with you. This the the treatment for the “Special Edition” - the DVD version which will be sold through the GOLD website (a “regular” version will also be sold through other sites - initially at least, the Special Edition will be available only directly from us). There will be 12 different covers for the SE edition - people will select the cover they’d like upon purchase.

Anyway, no more writey - more lookey. Click on a thumbnail to open the images in another window:

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January 17, 2010 | David

Thank you for supporting the GOLD Season 1 DVD.

Happy New year, everyone. And Happy GOLD DVD Club inaugural year!

As you know by now, we did it: we met (exceeded) our goal, the DVD is being made, the DVD Club is closed, and its exclusive membership are the coolest people on earth.*

We’re busy getting our schedule together and, while we probably won’t announce a hard release date for a few weeks at least (many years working day jobs in software development has taught me not to do that until you are 100% certain), we’re confident that everyone who pledged at least $25 will have amazing, exclusive DVD Club Edition DVDs in your grubby, grasping hands sometime in the 1st quarter of 2010. For anyone who missed the deadline but still wants a DVD when they are released, you’ll be able to buy it through Goldtheseries.com, and maybe other places, shortly thereafter. I can hardly wait.

Now, some discussion of DVD Extras:

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES!

We’re gonna cram as many special features into the DVD as we can manage and, while we will have at least English subtitles, I do not count that as a Special Feature (I hate when DVDs list “subtitles” as a special feature - that’s not a special feature, it’s just common decency). Some of them will be pretty typical - a gallery of behind-the-scenes photos (some never seen before!), a hilarious commentary track or two, etc., but some will be special indeed. I wanna talk about two of them here:

• Never-before-seen Scene with the American Gamers
  
  A lot of DVDs feature deleted scenes. The fact is, for GOLD, our schedules and budgets were so tight that we really didn’t shoot anything we didn’t use. Sure, a line or two was trimmed here or there, but we really worked so lean there’s nothing notable in the way of footage which was left on the cutting room floor.
  
  However, a lot of cutting happened in the writing phase of GOLD. After I originally outlined the plot of the first GOLD story, I broke it down into episode arcs and realized I’d need 20-25 ten-minute episodes to tell the whole story. I knew I couldn’t afford to do more than six or seven episodes in Season 1, and I didn’t want to stretch the story over three seasons (I knew it’d be hard to fund a second season, and I didn’t even want to speculate on a season 3). So I collapsed what would have been the first two seasons of story into one season, and a lot of plotlines (and characters) were removed or greatly shrunk. (A side note: the Dangerous Gamers from Episode 4 were originally much more important in the world of professional Goblins and Gold, and were the American team’s main rivals in the semi-finals.)
  
  However, I’d already written a lot of stuff that would become seasons 1 and 2 of GOLD. Some of the stuff I was cutting was even good (no one is ever more surprised than me when my stuff is good). So, I found a little self-contained scene that I think is funny, and we’re gonna produce it as a DVD exclusive mini-episode. The scene features Tim, Sam & Charles, and takes place between the Prologue and Episode 1, about a month before the Semi-Final tournament where Jonathan is injured. You’ll get to see Charles again while he’s just the Equipment Manager, Sam back in his original chainmail gauntlet, and get a glimpse of the inside of Tim’s house. Exciting stuff indeed.


• An Interview with the GOLD Cast & Crew
  
  Another cool feature, we think, will be a sort of series-regular cast (and some crew if we can convince them) reunion-style interview, conducted by geek culture reporter Cricket Lee (FanGirl’s Guide, GirlGamer.com, GeekWeek.com). We’re gonna sit around and chat with Cricket and do our level best to be fascinating. There’s a solid chance that one or more of us will break down in tears, and a near-certainty that Rick (Richard Wright) will pick a fight with someone and end up being punched in the face. Now you really want that DVD, doncha?

--

We’ve a few more cool extras planned, but I’ll hold onto those details for another time. Thanks again for supporting the GOLD Season 1 DVD Club. I’ll write again soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, you can post them here, or shoot me an email at . Make certain to mention you’re a DVD club member so I can give you priority treatment.

Later, David
Creator, GOLD

*apart from Lenny Kravitz. That dude is just too cool to be challenged.

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