Are we on the cusp of a Tabletop Hollywood moment?

[RivetGeekWil]

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?

You do know that there is an entire profession of people working in entertainment whose job it is to come up with this stuff, right?

 

[RivetGeekWil]

Band of Blades

Shadowrun

Not to mention the entirety of WoD and it's various NPCs.
Heavy Gear and it's iconic NPCS (and Heavy Gear was turned into an animated series, albeit not a very good one)
Tribe 8 for both metaplot and very well-defined NPCs (I'd actually commit various crimes if it meant a Tribe 8 series would become reality).

 

[Ryujin]

Not to mention the entirety of WoD and it's various NPCs.
Heavy Gear and it's iconic NPCS (and Heavy Gear was turned into an animated series, albeit not a very good one)
Tribe 8 for both metaplot and very well-defined NPCs (I'd actually commit various crimes if it meant a Tribe 8 series would become reality).

They already tried the WoD thing. "True Blood" was better.

 

[payn]

They already tried the WoD thing. "True Blood" was better.

and even True Blood wasnt very good.

 

[RivetGeekWil]

They already tried the WoD thing. "True Blood" was better.

Because, you know, once you've made one adaptation of a property you're prohibited from ever trying to do it again. Kindred the Embraced was over 25 years ago.

 

[Ryujin]

Because, you know, once you've made one adaptation of a property you're prohibited from ever trying to do it again. Kindred the Embraced was over 25 years ago.

No, because it's the sort of thing that doesn't need to be tied to a tabletop property in order to be successful.

 

[bloodtide]

You do know that there is an entire profession of people working in entertainment whose job it is to come up with this stuff, right?

I mean , if your telling me that there are game rules books with 100,000 or so words all about a single NPC who is the heart and soul and physical embodiment of the whole game. ..... Well, I have never seen that. So I will have to just believe you.

So sure if there is a novel in a game book, you can turn that into a show or movie....the same way if some random person writes any novel and just puts "from this RPG" on the cover.

Though it's still not really a show/movie about the "game".

 

[RivetGeekWil]

No, because it's the sort of thing that doesn't need to be tied to a tabletop property in order to be successful.

By that measure, True Blood didn't need to be based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries to be successful. Or the Lord of the Rings movies based on the Lord of the Rings. This is patently nonsense.

I mean , if your telling me that there are game rules books with 100,000 or so words all about a single NPC who is the heart and soul and physical embodiment of the whole game. ..... Well, I have never seen that. So I will have to just believe you.

So sure if there is a novel in a game book, you can turn that into a show or movie....the same way if some random person writes any novel and just puts "from this RPG" on the cover.

Though it's still not really a show/movie about the "game".

This is nonsense too. It would be a show or movie about the property, of which the game was the original expression of. And of which there are scores of screenwriters who would be able to create characters and storylines within the genre, theme, aesthetics, etc. of the property because that's their job.

 

[Ryujin]

By that measure, True Blood didn't need to be based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries to be successful. Or the Lord of the Rings movies based on the Lord of the Rings. This is patently nonsense.

Given the choice of a relatively unknown tabletop property or a best selling novel series, in the same genre, which is Hollywood more likely to option? Which is more likely to be successful, based on the built-in audience?

 

[MGibster]

No. The big problem is that Tabletop games don't have a "story".

Have you never played the original Ravenloft module from 1983? It contains a complete story along with characters and even set design! Even without a narrative, settings like Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Planescape, etc., etc. can be used as bibles for television series or for movies. When Timothy Zahn was writing the Thrawn triology in the 90s, George Lucas supposedly referred him to the many products produced for the Star Wars RPG by West End Games. Even today, there are parts of Star Wars that got their start with products procued by WEG rather than Lucas or from any particular Star Wars book or comic. ( The Imperial Security Bureau first appeared in a WEG source book in the late 80s or early 90s long before it appeared in Andor.)

I'm not arguing that we're going to have a comic book with RPGs. But there is nearly a 50 year wealth of background material to be mined from D&D alone.