Warner Bros D&D movie not such a dead cert; PLUS Ultimate Campaign Preview

[h=3]Dungeons & Dragons News[/h]

• 2nd Edition [podcast] -- "In this episode, we look back at the creation of 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons—and who better to enlighten us than R&D's Steve Winter! We ask Steve to share his stories behind 2E's development, including what classes were selected, the philosophy of campaign settings, and the ankheg's mysterious name change."
• Epic Campain: Storm Over Neverwinter by Aaron Williams -- "In this episode of the season, the party braves the Storm Over Neverwinter: "One of the "Little Rats" street urchins leads our heroes to another band of dark-cloaked people..."
• The Cargo that Bites Back by Ed Greenwood -- "Caravan wagons en route from A to B can be full of food, textiles, furniture, books—and far more surprising cargoes."

[h=3]Warner Bros D&D Movie Not Such A Dead Cert[/h]
It turns out that that Warner Bros D&D movie reported on earlier in the week isn't quite as clear-cut as it appeared. According to Deadline, Hasbro says it has the rights, and has a project with Universal. "Not so fast, says Hasbro, which claims that it owns the rights to D&D, and that the toymaker company has set up the project at Universal to be developed as a directing vehicle by Chris Morgan, the scribe behind the last five films in The Fast And The Furious franchise (including the upcoming Fast 6) and 47 Ronin."

[h=3]Pathfinder RPG News[/h]

• Part three of the Ultimate Campaign preview series by Jason Bulmahn is posted. "This week, we are taking a look at Chapter 3, which is absolutely packed with new systems for GMs to use in their game. Each one of these sections is designed around one theme and they are easily added to any existing campaign when the story calls for that particular theme." The chapter contains 15 subsystems - including alignment shifting, making contacts, developing relationships, and retraining.T

[h=3]Boardgaming News[/h]

• Everybody wants a deck building game. Even Privateer Press is getting in on the hottest trend in gaming with High Command, a deck building game set in their Warmachine universe. For 2 - 4 players the game is expected to retail for about $45.
• Announced earlier this year, The Key and the Gate deluxe expansion for Fantasy Flight's Call of Cthulhu card game. Head to your FLGS to grab it. In the meantime, you can check out the card list.

 

[darjr]

Fast and the furious??? Could that mean that a particular actor known to have played D&D be involved?

 

[delericho]

It turns out that that Warner Bros D&D movie reported on earlier in the week isn't quite as clear-cut as it appeared. According to Deadline, Hasbro says it has the rights, and has a project with Universal. "Not so fast, says Hasbro, which claims that it owns the rights to D&D, and that the toymaker company has set up the project at Universal to be developed as a directing vehicle by Chris Morgan, the scribe behind the last five films in The Fast And The Furious franchise (including the upcoming Fast 6) and 47 Ronin."

Fascinating. On the one hand, getting the rights back from Courtney Solomon is probably the best possible thing for a D&D movie. On the other hand, if both he and Hasbro are claiming ownership, that sounds like prime reason for any D&D movie to fall into development hell.

Also, the idea of it being developed by the writer of the "Fast & Furious" sequels doesn't exactly fill me with much more confidence any more than CS being involved.

 

[GX.Sigma]

As far as I know, Hasbro's dead wrong about owning the rights. But I really hope they win the legal battle (or just buy the rights back).

Based on Hasbro's (and that director's) track record of movies, it'll be terrible, but very good-looking and successful enough on the international market for a few sequels. I guess that's the best we can realistically hope for.

 

[delericho]

Based on Hasbro's (and that director's) track record of movies, it'll be terrible, but very good-looking and successful enough on the international market for a few sequels. I guess that's the best we can realistically hope for.

Well... I'm reminded of the success of Bioware with D&D video games - while they were an up-and-coming studio, the D&D name got them lots of sales. They produced good games, and that allowed them to springboard on to bigger and better things. The same could, in theory, be done with a movie - give it to an up-and-coming team, let them do a good job with it, and... well, it just might work. The next Peter Jackson has to come from somewhere.