GrimDark Telly Programme

[Michael Stockin]

I watched this on Amazon Prime last night, not too bad.
Interesting about Finland.
I felt it tried too hard to define GrimDark, which in turn has lead me to ponder about defining Oldhammer.

 

[Fighelm]

I watched this on Amazon Prime last night, not too bad.
Interesting about Finland.
I felt it tried too hard to define GrimDark, which in turn has lead me to ponder about defining Oldhammer.

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Yeah, Scandis deep dive into grimdark. Watched it for the Blanche interview a few weeks back on @Erics suggestion...And can't get past Napoleon Dynamite, he seems to force the 'debate', too scripted rather than natural when interviewing. Just my slant.

 

[Brother Meredith]

The “documentary” is available via YouTube too, echo @Fighelm ’s comments about the presenter. Really trying too hard to appear cool whilst hanging out with the “nerds”… The interview with John was nice, but rather brief after all the build up. Kinda disappointing.

 

[willlucv]

This sort of poking fun at people like wargamers seems a bit old hat in 2026. The poster boys/girls for the modern approach to this sort of thing are really people like Mira Manga and Arbitor Ian who discuss the modern setting/novelisations on YouTube but are completely at ease with themselves and obviously invested in gaming and the setting (whilst avoiding taking it all too seriously).

I felt it tried too hard to define GrimDark, which in turn has lead me to ponder about defining Oldhammer.

Yeah for me Grim Dark simply describes that pessimistic future setting where things have gone backwards/scientific reason is abandoned in favour of religious dogma/pointless wars/racial intolerance (if I was being cynical I'd say that's already started to happen). It contrasts with positive views of the future where things are better or at least adventurous and exciting (e.g. the original Star Wars setting). But yes it doesn't and shouldn't have a precise definition, it is whatever you want it to be.

Grim Dark always seems very deliberately absurd and over the top, very much like many of the settings in things like Judge Dredd/2000AD (especially Nemesis and ABC Warriors).

I quite like the fairly loosely defined setting in Rogue Trader where its also basically anything you want it to be as a means of using whatever miniatures you have in a sci fi setting.

Same with Oldhammer, my miniature collection could be for Fighting Fantasy as much as Warhammer.

 

[Eric]

This sort of poking fun at people like wargamers seems a bit old hat in 2026. The poster boys/girls for the modern approach to this sort of thing are really people like Mira Manga and Arbitor Ian who discuss the modern setting/novelisations on YouTube but are completely at ease with themselves and obviously invested in gaming and the setting (whilst avoiding taking it all too seriously).

I quite enjoyed this book - The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons And Growing Up Strange - it's quite light hearted and a bit of a nostalgia trip or old gamers. Granted he still returns to the "real world" at the end, which is why your opening reminded me of it (ie he's still a bit disdainful of his you'll self). Still well worth a read. If I ever finish my re-reading of LOTR I might re read my copy.

Grim Dark always seems very deliberately absurd and over the top, very much like many of the settings in things like Judge Dredd/2000AD (especially Nemesis and ABC Warriors).

I think these bits are quite key to British "grim dark", there is an aspect of very British dark humour (which you see in things like 2000AD) that to an extent seems to be a little over shadowed in more modern "grim dark", or at least the impression I'm given by things like Trench Crusade and so forth (but I must confess to not being overly familiar with them).

I quite like the fairly loosely defined setting in Rogue Trader where its also basically anything you want it to be as a means of using whatever miniatures you have in a sci fi setting.

Very much so. I love that aspect of Rogue Trader. Scenarios such as a single squad of marines crashed on a planet say and having to fight their way through low tech orcs or something to an extraction point. Great stuff.

The interview with John was nice, but rather brief after all the build up. Kinda disappointing.

Yes I felt they could have done a lot more there. Still it's always nice to hear John's thoughts.

 

[ManicMan]

Come Back Edward Woodward! We need you!
Seriously, though it might not be his main field of war gaming, he has more then enough interest that he could do a great job looking at and talking with gamers.