Are we on the cusp of a Tabletop Hollywood moment?

[bloodtide]

I'd love to see the explanation for how RPG novelizations work...

They work fine. A novel is just a story that name drops people, places and things from the RPG. It is exactly what a TV show or movie would do.

Any D&D novel is basically just a fantasy novel name drops people, places and things from the RPG. But is it "really" a "game" novel? Or is it just a novel. When you read a Drizzt novel is that character the pure heart and soul of all of D&D and represent the whole game? Or is he just a fictional character?

Note the before the novel, The Crystal Shard, Drizzts is not in any D&D rulebooks. When they get around to making a Drizzt movie/tv show it will be based off the NOVELS not anything to do with the GAME (but sure WotC will take credit).

What would a Blades in the Dark movie look like? Just make an "Ocean's" type movie but slap "Blades in the Dark" on the title?

Would a Bubblegumshoe TV show just be a Scooby Do cartoon, but slap "Bubblegumshoe" over it?

 

[Reynard]

What would a Blades in the Dark movie look like? Just make an "Ocean's" type movie but slap "Blades in the Dark" on the title?

It's interesting you bring up Blades, because although it doesn't have a singular plot to it, it has a very strong identity, setting, theme and asthetic. It's prime for a movie. It's sister games -- Scum and Villainy and Band of Blades -- are like that too, except they actually do have baked in plots.

Lots of newer games have very strong central themes and even baked in plots, and lots of older games have extended metaplots and well established NPCs. It actually shows a pretty shallow knowledge of the TTRPG world outside D&D to say there aren't stories in RPGs.

 

[Reynard]

Nobody is saying these things cant make good stories and be successful. Though, becoming the new comic book culture is an impossible bar for TTRPGs. Not even comic books can do it more than once (DC continually fails).

Well, as long as we are going to demand that tabletop based movies and TV must be bigger than the MCU for them to be a success, I guess you're right.

 

[payn]

Well, as long as we are going to demand that tabletop based movies and TV must be bigger than the MCU for them to be a success, I guess you're right.

That...was the OP...

 

[bloodtide]

It's interesting you bring up Blades, because although it doesn't have a singular plot to it, it has a very strong identity, setting, theme and asthetic. It's prime for a movie. It's sister games -- Scum and Villainy and Band of Blades -- are like that too, except they actually do have baked in plots.

Lots of newer games have very strong central themes and even baked in plots, and lots of older games have extended metaplots and well established NPCs. It actually shows a pretty shallow knowledge of the TTRPG world outside D&D to say there aren't stories in RPGs.

Right, but do you see the problem: What WOULD be a Blades in the Dark TV show(they are trying to make one) look like? Just take a plot from Leverage or The Wire and make the setting a 'dark' Sherlock Holmes set...and slap BinD on it, and your done?

So, when you are talking "NPCs and Plots" are you talking about what is in the game rulebooks? Because most game rulebooks don't have all that much fluff detail. How many core game rulebooks have "extended metaplots and well established NPCs"

I've never seen close to a novels worth of "very strong central themes and even baked in plots, and lots of older games have extended metaplots and well established NPCs" in the game rulebook. What is a "new" game rule book example with a backed in plot("you must do this plot to play the game?") and what is an example of an old game rule book with a well established NPCs?

 

[Reynard]

What is a "new" game rule book example with a backed in plot("you must do this plot to play the game?")

Band of Blades

and what is an example of an old game rule book with a well established NPCs?

Shadowrun

 

[Reynard]

That...was the OP...

I forgot, we are in the era of The Perpetually Excluded Middle.

 

[payn]

I forgot, we are in the era of The Perpetually Excluded Middle.

Actually, its the moving goal post era.

 

[ART!]

or even from popular boardgames, like Root

It's not hard to imagine a Root animated series. Or Mouseguard, for that matter.

 

[overgeeked]

It's not hard to imagine a Root animated series. Or Mouseguard, for that matter.

There was a Redwall cartoon after all.