D&D Movie/TV D&D movie and series not in the same universe

[LuisCarlos17f]

I would like to know if the uchronies or parallel worlds are official in the canon of the D&D Multiverse.

Xena, the warrior princess, is a good example too high budgets aren't totally necessary for a fantasy action-live production.

Maybe there are in the same "universe" but the plots aren't linked at all.

Greyhawk could be adapted into a production, with the iconic characters from 3rd Ed.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I've never played in Eberron or consider myself a fan, particularly, but that is a property I would love to see in a well-funded series. The setting seems tailor-made for longer-form storytelling, as opposed to tentpole movies.

Yeah I reallly think that it is the one setting that would be perfect for bringing to life on screen.

The whole thing where there is a goblin nation and a "monster" nation, the amount of fan-theory bait you could easily, passibely, put into the show, the various factions with very easy to latch onto characters and aesthetic, like...it's perfect.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah I reallly think that it is the one setting that would be perfect for bringing to life on screen.

The whole thing where there is a goblin nation and a "monster" nation, the amount of fan-theory bait you could easily, passibely, put into the show, the various factions with very easy to latch onto characters and aesthetic, like...it's perfect.

I'd watch it.

 

[bedir than]

I've never played in Eberron or consider myself a fan, particularly, but that is a property I would love to see in a well-funded series. The setting seems tailor-made for longer-form storytelling, as opposed to tentpole movies.

For Eberron adjacent TV check out Shadow and Bone or Carnival Row

 

[Parmandur]

For Eberron adjacent TV check out Shadow and Bone or Carnival Row

Shadow and Bone is pretty good proof of concept that an Eberron show could work.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

From a branding standpoint, Eberron should definitely be later on, around the same time as Ravenloft, Planescape and Spelljammer.

One of its great strengths is that you can tell easily pulp adventures, detective adventures or post-war and Cold War stories. But none of those are the core D&D experience. (Yes, yes, you can do those in the Forgotten Realms, but they're not the typical D&D game or campaign there.)

If Hasbro is intent on establishing what D&D is for the mass audience, they should start with the most standard experiences first. Introduce the public to chocolate, vanilla and strawberry before breaking out the balsamic vinaigrette blueberry and dark chocolate ghost pepper ice creams.

Doing it the other way around risks audience confusion: "Why the hell doesn't Elminster just take the train?"

 

[Parmandur]

From a branding standpoint, Eberron should definitely be later on, around the same time as Ravenloft, Planescape and Spelljammer.

One of its great strengths is that you can tell pulp adventures, detective adventures or post-war and Cold War stories. But none of those are the core D&D experience (yes, yes, you can do those in the Forgotten Realms, but they're not the typical D&D game or campaign there).

If Hasbro is intent on establishing what D&D is for the mass audience, they should start with the most standard experiences first. Introduce the public to chocolate, vanilla and strawberry before breaking out the balsamic vinaigrette blueberry and dark chocolate ghost pepper ice creams.

Doing it the other way around risks audience confusion: "Why the hell doesn't Elminster just take the train?"

I dunno if this bit of speculation has anything to do with the TV on hand at all...but one of the tidbits from the First World that the D&D team has started introducing in various books specifically calls out famous dungeons as something that can have Echoes across worlds (per Fizban's). A show exploring some classic funhouse dungeon, like White Plune Mountain, could be a wild ride.

 

[Steel_Wind]

If you could do DragonLance -- I think you would to at least consider doing that at the top of your list. Is is the best and most-popular story that TSR and WotC has ever told. The things that made it not a great setting (doesn't work for generic all that well) and railroady to play -- are exactly the things which make it a very good story to tell on a screen. The length of the tale is what makes it better for streaming than a major movie, too.

Last I checked, the Dragons aspect of DL seems to sell well and has cultural cachet, too.

That said, I'm not sure it's selling D&D as much as it is selling DragonLance. And perhaps they don't want to do that? It's also relatively expensive to do, too, as compared to other stories they might prefer to tell?

I know that if I am Paramount+, for my money, I'm going to want to license the NY Time Bestselling series that tries to be on the same scale as the Lord of the Rings. I think I would have an easier time getting that greenlit.

I guess we will know soon enough.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Here we can agree an adaptation of Dragonlance should be produced, but here the key is if they are ready enough.

A miniserie of an action-live story based in Dark Sun could be possible, but the artistic design would need a lot of work.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

If it was Dragonlance, there is an absolutely 0% chance that Hickman and Weis wouldn't be telling literally everyone, now that the existence of the show has been announced. So I think we can rule out Dragonlance from that. Either they'd be sulking about how they "had no input", or extremely excited to be involved. Even if they weren't allowed to name the show directly there'd be something, because both of them are extremely loud about this kind of thing.

Last I checked, the Dragons aspect of DL seems to sell well and has cultural cachet, too.

Not really the latter. The books are basically not read by people under 45. This is very easy to see if you go essentially anywhere on the internet where fantasy novels are discussed.

Shadow and Bone is pretty good proof of concept that an Eberron show could work.

It's also proof that an Eberron show wouldn't necessarily be seen as a D&D show, and Shadow & Bone is succeeding in large part because it's an incredibly popular YA with a huge under-30 audience who actively made huge efforts to make it succeed, as well as having a showrunner who is extremely invested in the property but not precious about it (a rare commodity). I think Eberron would be a harder sell, especially as to the average normie, who may be confused as to how this is a "D&D" show.

I mean, Paramount may be willing to bring an HBO-sized budget.

$15-20m a show on the first season an untested property? I don't think Paramount are quite that desperate (Amazon, maybe). I'd guess $8-10m would be a more likely range, given how they budget their SF shows. And HotD is fairly efficient rather than extravagant, so it'd be very hard to compete with them on "epic" and "dragons".

"Universe" in TV terms doesn't mean "universe" in the geek sense. It just means it's its own set of characters and settings.

The show could easily be set in Waterdeep or Phandalin, which I think is a better bet than Krynn.

I think this is the most likely scenario. Not a huge fan of the FR these days but I would very much expect WotC would prefer to keep the focus on one setting, rather than immediately buzzing off to other ones.