D&D General Best on screen adaptation of D&D

[the Jester]

Let me start by saying that I get the practicalities here. A poll with 500 options is pretty useless. Buuuuuut.....

Those were always just outlier one offs.

Nope! Both Eberron and Spelljammer were entire settings with whole product lines dedicated to them. That's hardly an outlier or one off.

I get that not everyone played SJ or ran through S3, but plenty of people did. Heck, I have run a conversion of S3 in 5e, and I know another group that has also done so. And Spelljammer has reared its head in every edition since 2e so far.

An experiment that wasn't part of what the core of D&D is.

As an aside, I'm not sure who is qualified to put limiters on what the core of D&D is. Let's not gatekeep.

Anyhow, I do agree that most people, upon being introduced to D&D, are shown a fantasy world (though I'd argue that the typical intro is the Realms, which is more Renaissance style than medieval, in my judgment, but that's splitting hairs). But claiming that that defines the core of D&D is like saying, "Most campaigns don't reach above 10th level, so core D&D only includes up to level 10", or perhaps, "Most campaigns never use beholders, so beholders aren't part of core D&D".

But here's the thing. Krull, as I said above, seems to me to be the quintessential D&D adventure movie. You have a party of diverse adventurers, you have various encounters on the way to the evil fortress (that moves by magic!), you have magic weapons (the glaive). The fact that the trappings are spraypainted with science fiction doesn't change it- and it even looks and feels like a strictly fantasy movie unless you squint at it.

I just think that by limiting your poll in the way you did, you've overlooked at least one perfect D&D movie.

I do get that you only have so many options that you can put in, but I think Krull is a far better D&D movie than most of the ones you posted. I think it captures what D&D is far better than many other medieval movies.

Also, as I noted (and in the part you quoted), I had to limit it. Otherwise I'd have over 100 poll options, which would be worthless. A poll is only as good as the scope is defined.

And that's fair. The number of options is already pretty high. I just feel like D&D encompasses so much more than medieval fantasy, from Gothic horror to high political drama, and I don't think the setting or the trappings of the setting are that big of a piece of what makes D&D... D&D.

 

[lowkey13]

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[OB1]

Somehow skipped over the "medieval" qualifier in the OP. And while I agree with @the Jester that D&D is a fantasy RPG (that leans towards Renaissance in it's most popular setting but encompasses a wide swath of fantasy, including modern and sci-fi settings) for the purposes of this thread I'll throw out my revised top 3 on screen adaptations of Medieval Style Fantasy D&D.

1. Game of Thrones (especially seasons 6-8)
2. LOTR/Hobbit (Peter Jackson)
3. Dragonslayer

*Note that I'd put Conan into an Ancient Fantasy setting and Witcher into Renaissance Fantasy

 

[Sacrosanct]

Surprised Narnia has 0 votes. I wouldn't expect it to win, but as far as iconic party based fantasy goes, it's second only to Tolkien in popularity.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

As much as I love the Chronicles of Narnia, are there any documented influences of it on D&D? Maybe the Wand of Frost springs to mind.

Surprised Narnia has 0 votes. I wouldn't expect it to win, but as far as iconic party based fantasy goes, it's second only to Tolkien in popularity.

 

[Greg K]

You might be more likely to find a copy under the title "The Archer and the Sorceress."

I assume it was meant to be a pilot, but it never got the nod.

You assumed correct. "The Archer: Fugitive From the Empire" was a failed pilot in the U.S., It was later released in Europe as a movie under the title, "The Archer and the Sorceress"

Speaking of that pilot, II still wonder how to write up Estra in D&D. She does not wear armor and casts magic. However, other than the guardian that she summoned upon first encountering Toran (see below) and a strong gust of wind (that may or may not have been part of the summoning spell), I don't recall her using magic in combat. Upon first encountering the false Lazar-Sa, later in the episode, she is on horseback and grabbed a spear or javelin which she hurled at him (she might have even been galloping towards him). Then, later in the final battle in the lair of the false Lazar-sa, she fights with a large dagger or short sword.

As for her magic abilities, she demonstrates a few abilities, but did not regularly use magic in combat. As stated above, she summoned a guardian upon first encountering Toran, whose father had killed her mother sometime prior to the episode. The guardian is destroyed and never summoned again during the episode which took place over many days- perhaps weeks. During that encounter, she also summoned a very strong wind in the cave which may or may not have been part of the summoning spell.
Other abilities she demonstrated include the following: Conversing with the spirit of her mother, the former oracle in her sleep (or was it meditation). If I recall, correctly, her mother also spoke to her during the encounter with Toran. Later in the episode, she appeared to have entered the dream of Toran. Finally, she had an amulet or necklace with a horse, snake, and bird. By tapping the appropriate animal on the jewelry, she could summon it. She summoned the horse for riding, a bird for spying, and panther (that she also used for spying and not for combat during the episode).

 

[Tony Vargas]

Finally, she had an amulet or necklace with a horse, snake, and bird. By tapping the appropriate animal on the jewelry, she could summon it. She summoned the horse for riding, a bird for spying, and panther (that she also used for spying and not for combat during the episode).

Frankly that last bit is the only supernatural power I recalled that character demonstrating.

Speaking of that pilot, II still wonder how to write up Estra in D&D.

She in no way resembles the classic class, but, thematically, I always though she seemed like a Druid.

...

Really, there's very little on the poll that's at all true to traditional D&D magic:

Magic is sub-divided into Magey magic and Divine magic, the former does more and is even flashier, the latter can heal.

Magic somes in spells and magic items. Spells are limited by the power of the caster, items can be completely arbitrary.

Spells must be memorized (mages from a book, divine spells are prayed for), are forgotten when cast, and re-memorized later.

Casting requires up to 3 components.

Verbal spells require the caster be able to speak clearly.

Material components are things the caster needs to have and manipulate to cast the spell.

Somatic spells require the caster have his hands free (later only one), and be able to make gestures so complicated and complex that it's impossible to perform them in any sort of armor (later, merely with a chance of spell failure). Divine magic apparently uses simpler gestures, because it can be cast in armor.

Spells do the same thing every time you cast them, maybe with a slider of some kind or a choice of a few options within the spell, but, generally, when you memorize a spell, what it's going to do when cast has been determined in advance.

Whatever the components, casters have to be relatively still & undisturbed to complete a spell. For anywhere from 6 seconds (1 segment) to a minute (round) or more. Later, of course, round were compressed to 6 seconds, and casting times proportionately reduced to almost nothing. Now, they're just 'actions' and prettymuch can't be interrupted.

Not even the D&D-branded ones I've seen, though there are a few on the list I hadn't even heard of.

 

[Sacrosanct]

As much as I love the Chronicles of Narnia, are there any documented influences of it on D&D? Maybe the Wand of Frost springs to mind.

Tolkien and Lewis worked together in how they portrayed good vs evil, or law vs chaos, which was the influence behind the alignment system. Also, rather than a specific thing, the mythology of Lewis was used to inspire a lot of things in D&D. Same mythology Tolkien used (Christian mythology), but Tolkien gets all the credit. Which is odd when you think about it, because both Tolkien and Lewis pulled from the exact same mythology in their respective stories.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

The inter-influencing of Tolkien and Lewis is definitely a thing. That being said, the religious pantheism of D&D maps better to Tolkien (sure, there was Eru Iluvatar as the chiefest and greatest, but it still presents a pantheon with different domains beneath him) than the monotheism of Lewis.

Buuuut, Lewis also presents Narnia as an amalgamation of different cultures and folklore from around the world, much like D&D.

Tolkien and Lewis worked together in how they portrayed good vs evil, or law vs chaos, which was the influence behind the alignment system. Also, rather than a specific thing, the mythology of Lewis was used to inspire a lot of things in D&D. Same mythology Tolkien used (Christian mythology), but Tolkien gets all the credit. Which is odd when you think about it, because both Tolkien and Lewis pulled from the exact same mythology in their respective stories.

 

[lowkey13]

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