D&D General Which D&D World Would Make the Best TV Show

[Vaalingrade]

Are you sure you aren't mixing up CSI (Crime Scene Investigations) with NCIS? The former had crime scene investigators carrying guns and arresting perps. CSIs usually come in after the police have secured the crime scene. In CSI, they were doing both.

Nope, NCIS has Abby and Ducky back at the lab.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Eberron, because it is close enough to modern to be relatable to a general audience while retaining plenty of fantasy elements. Plus, it's literally built on the back of pulp fiction stuff, which remains highly popular today.

I also voted Nentir Vale, mostly for a reason I think a lot of people here will overlook: it has, by intent and by accident, no baggage. There's no massive expectations that it be any one specific thing. No enormous history of specific elements. It's highly playable, and thus highly writeable, and it's not going to get torches and pitchforks mobs with every other decision. The freedom to make the show one wants to make rather than the one the persnickety fans demand would be a huge boon.

Finally, something you didn't mention but which would be amazing: Iomandra. It's practically tailor-made for an episodic format, what with the zillions of islands. The nautical/pirate theme is also popular, and dragons are always in style.

Those are my votes. Dark Sun would never make it outside of "prestige" TV and even there it's a bit much what with the genocide. Many of the others are either too niche, too weird (Planescape, Gamma World), too historied and thus massively overloaded with fan expectations (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk), or too full of racialized implications (Kara Tur, Al Qadim, Maztica) to work.

If I picked a fourth, it would be Spelljammer, as it has similar benefits to Iomandra. If pressed to pick a fifth, Dragonlance; although it has a ton of expectations, it's also got the core novels and the "play these novel sourced characters" element that could be used to justify a "War of the Lance" TV show that could work out okay. It would still labor under a mountain of fan expectations but they would have that core narrative to guide them.

I genuinely do not think any of the others would be viable.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Exactly how much NCIS have you watched in the past two decades? Later seasons of the show are like a Jeff John's comic for how self-referential they are.

I am terrified to imagine him shoehorning the Justice Society of America into NCIS.

But in any case, the NCIS family and Chicago _____ family didn't start off lore-heavy. Their success was built on episodic stories. The lore is mostly due to throwing the cast bones in lieu of meeting their full demands for raises.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dark Sun would never make it outside of "prestige" TV and even there it's a bit much what with the genocide.

Hold on, I've got HBO on the other line and they'd like to talk to you.

 

[Charlaquin]

Eberron by a wide margin. Like…a huge margin.

Followed by Dragonlance and then FR.

Objectively correct answer

 

[Charlaquin]

I can't help but feel thar a live action Eberron would not quite live up to the book art and vibe. Whereas with Dragonlance, I feel there is room to improve and build in live action.

I don’t disagree, but live action wasn’t specified in the premise

 

[Charlaquin]

Icons is the wrong term then. It was the setting superpowers that you were supposed to have a relationship too. Maybe I’m thinking about a different game - it has been a long time since I looked at it

You may be thinking of 13th Age

 

[Zardnaar]

Hold on, I've got HBO on the other line and they'd like to talk to you.

Well despite all the online complaining all the problem elements in Darksun are in Gane of Thrones.

And guess what the most successful fantasy show is atm.

Alot of evidence audiences are also sick of generic play it safe fare.

 

[Parmandur]

I don’t disagree, but live action wasn’t specified in the premise

Yeah, I think the way I was reading it when I initially posted was, first, assuming live action like The Witcher or Game of Thrones, and secondly following that, considering the practicality of translation to live action TV within the confines of the resources used to make, at maximum, The Wheel of Time or The Rings of Power.

I could see a live action TV show doing a fairly straightforward adaptation of the Drago Lance Chronicles convincingly with Witcher/Wheel of Time level budgets and resources. With Eberron I would be concerned wither the Setting or the show would suffer from the strain (in live action). Basically, interpreting the "strongest" question in terms of how easy it would be to pull off almost as well as how cool it would be if pulled off.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Without a stupidly high budget those two and maybe Darksun might make more sense as animated.

Not really. It’s no more than a sci fi show. There are hundreds of hours of sci-fi TV in space. There’s nothing about either that demands constant special effects. It’s magical Star Trek or magical DS9 or magical any number of urban futuristic shows.