Are we on the cusp of a Tabletop Hollywood moment?

[Reynard]

Critical Role's Vox Machina animated series wasn't just a great Kickstarter success, it is a legitimately good show that has been picked up for additional seasons. The D&D movie appears to have potential to be really fun and be successful. Cavill, ousted from his Superman role and unhappy with The Witcher, chose Warhammer 40K as a follow up.

I wonder if we aren't on the cusp of a similar "takeover" of Hollywood by tabletop game properties as comics did 15 or so years ago (depending on what you count as the start of that).

Personally, I can't think of a more Netflix anime ready property than Shadowrun, or a more feature film ready property than Delta Green. Deadlands has premium streaming TV written all over it, and Eberron absolutely begs for a Clone Wars style and scale show.

 

[Haplo781]

Delta Green is screaming for a premium cable adaptation.

It's hard to show the ongoing toll to one's mental health exacted by battling the unnatural in 120 minutes.

 

[Ryujin]

Shadowrun and Cyberpunk have been prime for the picking for a couple of decades, but they haven't been picked up. Hollywood has a tendency to only latch on to stuff that's in the zeitgeist when it's on the downward slope of popularity, so I think it will be a few years yet before it really hits its stride with the real mass market types.

 

[Malmuria]

I don't know...I feel it's still the other way around. Meaning, that ttrpgs still look to make games around IP or influences from other media, whether it's Bladerunner or Dark Souls or Doctor Who (or even from popular boardgames, like Root and Gloomhaven). Even if the dnd movie is a success, will the characters and premise become as iconic as other fantasy franchises that started out as novels? It would have to be a pretty memorable movie.

 

[Reynard]

Shadowrun and Cyberpunk have been prime for the picking for a couple of decades, but they haven't been picked up. Hollywood has a tendency to only latch on to stuff that's in the zeitgeist when it's on the downward slope of popularity, so I think it will be a few years yet before it really hits its stride with the real mass market types.

Have you seen Edgerunners? I know it is technically more tied to the video game but the relationship is intentionally very close.

 

[Ryujin]

Have you seen Edgerunners? I know it is technically more tied to the video game but the relationship is intentionally very close.

Yes, I have. As you say, that is based on the video game. It's also out of Japan, not Hollywood, which has a much higher acceptance of the cyberpunk genre via manga/anime.

 

[Haplo781]

I don't know...I feel it's still the other way around. Meaning, that ttrpgs still look to make games around IP or influences from other media, whether it's Bladerunner or Dark Souls or Doctor Who (or even from popular boardgames, like Root and Gloomhaven). Even if the dnd movie is a success, will the characters and premise become as iconic as other fantasy franchises that started out as novels? It would have to be a pretty memorable movie.

The Gloomhaven RPG is from the same designer and publisher as the board game, so I don't know if it's an adaptation so much as an extension the IP.

 

[Reynard]

I might have been unclear: I am not saying this is happening now. I am saying ti is potentially happening. Saying "there's been decades of opportunity to license x, y or z is totally irrelevant. What I am saying is that we might be at the beginning of a new thing. If Cavill's 40K thing works, for example, knowing how production companies follow one another when they smell money, I would not be surprised if properties start getting gobbled up and cinematic universes start getting announced.

 

[payn]

Popular? Sure. Comic book level? No.

 

[Reynard]

Popular? Sure. Comic book level? No.

Why not?