Escape to the Movies: Dungeons & Dragons
- Thread starter MovieBob
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thank you movie bob, my inner geek is now sated and is curling up on it's mountain of treasure.
Well, the Lady is more or less part of the background (as she should be) so in a movie she'll just be shown here and there. But yeah, something about the Faction War would be interesting, and even then it'll mean TONS of explaining as to who the hell are these people (and other creatures) and why they are fighting.
This brings me to the last, most important point I actually forgot to make in my post - A D&D movie or, hell, a movie about any RPG, just won't work. If it's made specifically for people who'll understand it, it'll mean that it'll have a fairly small budget because nobody will shell out the big bucks for a niche geek movie. If it isn't a niche geek movie and tries to get a broader audience. Well, they already tried that and it sucked. (TWICE!)
This brings me to the last, most important point I actually forgot to make in my post - A D&D movie or, hell, a movie about any RPG, just won't work. If it's made specifically for people who'll understand it, it'll mean that it'll have a fairly small budget because nobody will shell out the big bucks for a niche geek movie. If it isn't a niche geek movie and tries to get a broader audience. Well, they already tried that and it sucked. (TWICE!)
* I agree with the suggestion that a treatment of D&D would do best as a TV series. People have mentioned "Record of Lodoss War" (which is the D&D-est thing I've ever seen) and other TV shows that do the D&D thing pretty well. I haven't seen "Legend of the Seeker," but it sounds like it's along those lines, too. Back when I was a kid, there was a very D&D-esque show called "Wizards and Warriors".
But, as has been pointed out, there are already movies of things that inspired D&D, like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Conan the Barbarian" (with a new, non-Schwartzenegger version supposedly coming out next year). If the WoW movie ever gets made, well, that's based on Warhammer Fantasy, which in turn was inspired by D&D. What I'd like to see is a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser movie... Another influence on D&D, and one that reflects its tradition of treasure-seeking and skullduggery.
If someone were to make an honest-to-goodness, get-across-the-feel-of-the-source-material D&D movie, I think their best bet would be to make a Forgotten Realms movie (though an Eberron movie would look pretty awesome, and a Planescape movie would be fantastic), since that's been consistently the most popular published D&D setting for decades. A setting is not a story, but one could do worse than to adapt an R.A. Salvatore novel set in the Realms.
* If you're in a place where you can't obtain D&D, there are a ton of D&D clones available for free online, using the same rules-sets that older editions of D&D used, but with the serial numbers filed off. These retro-clones play like the original editions. If you really want to play some D&D, you could do worse than to go back to its roots with these. There's Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord, which emulate the old Basic and Expert D&D sets; there's OSRIC, which emulates 1st Edition D&D; and I'm guessing there are probably retro-clones out there that do 2nd Edition, too... Do a Google search or surf DriveThruRPG.
* MovieBob, I'm terrible at math. I have to mentally count on my fingers (well, actually, I count imaginary dots on a die or a domino) in order to do simple math. And I've been running D&D games for over 20 years. It's not really that difficult; it just takes a little getting used to. WotC (who publishes D&D) just came out with D&D Essentials, a.k.a. The [New] Red Box, which is specifically meant to be an easy entry point for 4th Edition D&D. And if D&D is too math-heavy for your tastes (again, something I can sympathize with), there are countless other tabletop roleplaying games you could get into that use simpler systems, systems based on playing cards instead of dice, diceless games, etc. Drop into RPGnet and ask, and you'll get about a thousand suggestions to suit your tastes.
But, as has been pointed out, there are already movies of things that inspired D&D, like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Conan the Barbarian" (with a new, non-Schwartzenegger version supposedly coming out next year). If the WoW movie ever gets made, well, that's based on Warhammer Fantasy, which in turn was inspired by D&D. What I'd like to see is a Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser movie... Another influence on D&D, and one that reflects its tradition of treasure-seeking and skullduggery.
If someone were to make an honest-to-goodness, get-across-the-feel-of-the-source-material D&D movie, I think their best bet would be to make a Forgotten Realms movie (though an Eberron movie would look pretty awesome, and a Planescape movie would be fantastic), since that's been consistently the most popular published D&D setting for decades. A setting is not a story, but one could do worse than to adapt an R.A. Salvatore novel set in the Realms.
* If you're in a place where you can't obtain D&D, there are a ton of D&D clones available for free online, using the same rules-sets that older editions of D&D used, but with the serial numbers filed off. These retro-clones play like the original editions. If you really want to play some D&D, you could do worse than to go back to its roots with these. There's Basic Fantasy and Labyrinth Lord, which emulate the old Basic and Expert D&D sets; there's OSRIC, which emulates 1st Edition D&D; and I'm guessing there are probably retro-clones out there that do 2nd Edition, too... Do a Google search or surf DriveThruRPG.
* MovieBob, I'm terrible at math. I have to mentally count on my fingers (well, actually, I count imaginary dots on a die or a domino) in order to do simple math. And I've been running D&D games for over 20 years. It's not really that difficult; it just takes a little getting used to. WotC (who publishes D&D) just came out with D&D Essentials, a.k.a. The [New] Red Box, which is specifically meant to be an easy entry point for 4th Edition D&D. And if D&D is too math-heavy for your tastes (again, something I can sympathize with), there are countless other tabletop roleplaying games you could get into that use simpler systems, systems based on playing cards instead of dice, diceless games, etc. Drop into RPGnet and ask, and you'll get about a thousand suggestions to suit your tastes.
Dude The Icewind Dale & The Dark Elf trilogies would make rad movies. Suprised nobody has even attempted to do so.
I haven't seen Bender's Game yet, and it's the only Futurama movie I haven't seen yet! Damn, though, I want to see it, I heard it's so good!
Also, Don Bluth and Tyler Perry has the same birthday as the game Super Mario Bros.? That's almost as amazing as my birthday being the same as Shigeru Miyamoto!
Also, Don Bluth and Tyler Perry has the same birthday as the game Super Mario Bros.? That's almost as amazing as my birthday being the same as Shigeru Miyamoto!
AWESOME!
Spining D20. Even more awesome.
The two D&D live actions before the tom hanks one looked actually kind of awesome. Cheesy, but awesome.
Bob, I think you'd have fun with 4E and a SKype game. It couldn't be that hard. I'd DM for ya!
Spining D20. Even more awesome.
The two D&D live actions before the tom hanks one looked actually kind of awesome. Cheesy, but awesome.
Bob, I think you'd have fun with 4E and a SKype game. It couldn't be that hard. I'd DM for ya!
I don't like games with numbers either, it's part of the reason I can't get into Fallout 3 and Oblivion.
Also I would get my head kicked in by wandering super-mutants but still...
Also Bender's Game is the only Futurama Movie I own. I'll probably get the others just for having them all, but I still like it better.
Also I would get my head kicked in by wandering super-mutants but still...
Also Bender's Game is the only Futurama Movie I own. I'll probably get the others just for having them all, but I still like it better.
You know, the Catholic Church called Copernicus a blasphemer for claiming the earth was round. Did that make him any less right?dfphetteplace said:
Your thac0 is 19, their AC is 3Naheal said:
19 - 3 = 16
How is this hard?
The only way it gets kinda complicated is if you keep your bonuses separate, but that's you for not keeping things organized. "My thac0 after all my bonuses is a 15" You don't need to calculate your bonuses every time.
I would love to see a good D&D movie; perhaps picking one of "worlds" that TSR/Wizards of the Coast have created would work. Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Ebberon, would probably be the best ones.
Found out from my mom that many of the "Christian" people she used to work with warned her that D&D was making me a worshiper of satan.
Yeah, the thing is, D&D taught me that actions have consequences, how to work with others, and most importantly, how to actually USE my imagination. All the same things that those people seem to have trouble with now.
Great review. Maybe just make a movie based on the cartoon?
Found out from my mom that many of the "Christian" people she used to work with warned her that D&D was making me a worshiper of satan.
Yeah, the thing is, D&D taught me that actions have consequences, how to work with others, and most importantly, how to actually USE my imagination. All the same things that those people seem to have trouble with now.
Great review. Maybe just make a movie based on the cartoon?
I have only read the AD&D material, but not played it. I assume the reason comes from things like +X weapons, armour and other such items: is a +2 bonus to AC a good thing or not? +2 to AC, without "bonus" mentioned? What if it just says +2 to Thac0? The terminology got a little confusing sometimes, especially when it was not always consistent.Draconalis said:
I never got into Dungeons and Dragons because believe it or not, I hadn't heard about it. Even now that I have, I don't know anyone who plays that kind of games - and not for the lack of people nerdy enough. I guess it just might not have had the same nerdy success in Norway that other stuff like Star Trek did.