Escape to the Movies: Dungeons & Dragons
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
Well, most movie makers are pretty lazy, so making a movie about the D&D universe is to much work, as the story it self is created by the individual Dungeon Master with no assosiation with a general D&D storyline. Blizzard on the other hand has created a large folklore with alot of stories for the movie creators to use. So it is easier for movie-writers to use WoW as a movie, which makes it a more atractive to filmatize.
Honestly, I think the very best media translation of classic D&D, at it's heart and soul, was that one episode of Dexter's Laboratory. It was goofy, funny and just laughs the whole way through and, if you've every played a game of D&D, you know the original is just a bunch of friends making jokes anyway, right?
As for never playing D&D because of an aversion to numbers. I think it's kinda sad to hear anyone say that, really. Not sad like "HA! HA! You can't do math." but sad like "Where are your friends?". For years I played the game just rolling dice and having people tell me what they meant. I still had a great time messing around with my friends and now I run my own games. I really feel like I've earned the title "Dungeon Master". LoL, not that it's really much to brag about, tho.
P.S.
I watched the D&D cartoon when I was a kid as well. Did anyone else ever notice that the character classes were totally off the wall? I remember being, like, 9 and going "Hey! There's no acrobat in D&D and what the heck is a cavalier?"
As for never playing D&D because of an aversion to numbers. I think it's kinda sad to hear anyone say that, really. Not sad like "HA! HA! You can't do math." but sad like "Where are your friends?". For years I played the game just rolling dice and having people tell me what they meant. I still had a great time messing around with my friends and now I run my own games. I really feel like I've earned the title "Dungeon Master". LoL, not that it's really much to brag about, tho.
P.S.
I watched the D&D cartoon when I was a kid as well. Did anyone else ever notice that the character classes were totally off the wall? I remember being, like, 9 and going "Hey! There's no acrobat in D&D and what the heck is a cavalier?"
I too, like you, am crap at doing maths.
I appreciate their utility, but that's as far as it goes for me.
I always found it boring, pointless (in school anyway, I didn't mind using calculations in Chemistry as stuff tended to be way cooler in chemistry) and I just generally abhor the presence of maths anywhere near me when I'm trying to have fun.
There, that's out of the way. Bear in mind, that I think anyone who enjoys mathematics and can work things out in their to be highly up in my esteem. I'm just built for words.
Well, and visuals. Hence my love of movies.
I actually remember that cartoon! It was so awesome! (I was 6 years old, leave me alone! lol)
I was a small child in the early 90s, and in my country there seemed an unwillingness to let go of the 80s culture until around 94, or at least in my family
Loved the review, and I loved Benders' Game.
I appreciate their utility, but that's as far as it goes for me.
I always found it boring, pointless (in school anyway, I didn't mind using calculations in Chemistry as stuff tended to be way cooler in chemistry) and I just generally abhor the presence of maths anywhere near me when I'm trying to have fun.
There, that's out of the way. Bear in mind, that I think anyone who enjoys mathematics and can work things out in their to be highly up in my esteem. I'm just built for words.
Well, and visuals. Hence my love of movies.
I actually remember that cartoon! It was so awesome! (I was 6 years old, leave me alone! lol)
I was a small child in the early 90s, and in my country there seemed an unwillingness to let go of the 80s culture until around 94, or at least in my family
Loved the review, and I loved Benders' Game.
Here's an idea... Set the movie in the forgotten realms setting and call it Dungeons and Dragons: Baldur's Gate.
Cross Genre Appeal Five!!!
Cross Genre Appeal Five!!!
I have to agree with the guy above. Using Salvatore's novels would be an excellent place to start in a D&D movie. I realize the character is now a huge cliche (much like Lord of The Rings itself) but there's a honestly a reason the character is a cliche now.
And for all you nerds out there who started D&D with 3rd and 4th editions, you have no idea how easy the game is to understand compared to its earlier incarnations.
One word. Thac0.
And for all you nerds out there who started D&D with 3rd and 4th editions, you have no idea how easy the game is to understand compared to its earlier incarnations.
One word. Thac0.
You would be surprised how long it can take the non-mathematically inclined to add up the numbers on just three dice. I was advanced in math (because Americans only have one math!) and I sat there staring at it with everyone else before someone else said "Oh yeah. Eleven."Eldan said:
As for the D&D movies, we have no need for such a thing. If you want to experience Dungeons & Dragons, you will play the game. I know that crossing media is all the rage, but how many video games based on movies suck? So why should the movies based on games not suck? It's just not as clean a translation as books or television, and even those don't always work.
But, if you really want to know what it's like to play Dungeons & Dragons, go to any fanfic site and read the lowest rated stuff for any fantasy franchise. Lord of the Rings, for instance. That's what D&D is like.
There are two good D&D movies out, by the way, though they go the direction of spoof comedy; namely, "The Gamers" and "The Gamers: Dorkness Rising", both by Dead Gentlemen Productions.
Several animes also portray the fantasy milieu well, and the rumor is that the original "Record of Lodoss War" was based on the creator's own home D&D campaign.
Honestly, though, I don't believe it is possible to make an honest-to-goodness "Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie". The game is much too open-ended for there to be a coherent, resolved-in-ninety-minutes story to be told. Many of the greatest stories D&D gamers have are not of epic story arcs, but rather of individual battles or other high points. I could tell you dozens of stories of my various characters' hijinks, like the time my wizard telefragged a piscoloth, and many of them would make a great short, but none would make a good feature film.
There are certainly D&D novels which could be adapted to a movie, but then it isn't a D&D movie, but rather a Driz'zt movie, or an Elminster movie, or Mordenkainen's Movie Madness.
Several animes also portray the fantasy milieu well, and the rumor is that the original "Record of Lodoss War" was based on the creator's own home D&D campaign.
Honestly, though, I don't believe it is possible to make an honest-to-goodness "Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie". The game is much too open-ended for there to be a coherent, resolved-in-ninety-minutes story to be told. Many of the greatest stories D&D gamers have are not of epic story arcs, but rather of individual battles or other high points. I could tell you dozens of stories of my various characters' hijinks, like the time my wizard telefragged a piscoloth, and many of them would make a great short, but none would make a good feature film.
There are certainly D&D novels which could be adapted to a movie, but then it isn't a D&D movie, but rather a Driz'zt movie, or an Elminster movie, or Mordenkainen's Movie Madness.
Bob, just to let you know, in an effort to widen their market WoTC has lowered the mastery requirement dramatically with the last two editions of the game. Fewer "moving parts" and a better design structure allow for more Role playing and less Roll playing, keeping the focus on group storytelling with all your friends, even those not so good at math. It's a cheap hobby to get into, costing about as much as a video game and you don't have to buy anything else ever (though most, like myself get addicted to the peripherals like minis or expansion books). Maybe it's a good time to give it a shot.
funny thing about that, see when i was a kid i was told, not by my parance, but by people in my church that D&D was evil. so for most of my life i staid away from it. and the real funny thing is even when i stoped going to church i staid away, it wasn't until, beleave it or not, i started going back to church that i looked into the game. see we had a paster tell us that it a bad idea to just go with what ever people tell u about something. as Christians we need to educate our self about thing that are around us. just i look at D&D and compared it to acult and witchcraft, and u know what. the way spell work in D&D is nothing like how they work in ether case. I'm a youth paster and i not only play D&D but i'm getting ready to run a game here in a few mouths. the only dager is in the person playing becomes obesed and really that's bad with just about any thing. so yeah, i just am sad i missed out on alot of fun becouse of fear. so for those Christians and non-Christians out there i have this to say, educate ur self before u start up some sort of witch-trile.
oh and Bob if u want to get into D&D now is a good time, the new 4th ed doesn't have as much math as other edditions. so just saying.
oh and Bob if u want to get into D&D now is a good time, the new 4th ed doesn't have as much math as other edditions. so just saying.