D&D Movie/TV Bridgerton Star Regé-Jean Page Joins D&D Movie

Whizbang Dustyboots · Feb 18, 2021

Paul Farquhar said:
And I can't imagine there not being a Movie Edition Starter Set with all the lineages from the movies included. Goliath is already available for free on D&D Beyond and download.

The point of putting the Essentials Kit into Target first was to make it as easy as possible for players to get into the hobby.

"Oh, don't worry, you can find the stuff you want for a free download after you've already dropped $30 on the Players Handbook" is not that.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Feb 18, 2021

doctorbadwolf said:
Eh, whatever they put in (my guess is Firbolg, because they've been a hit every time they've shown up as a PC in a livestream game, and they're very distinctive, and will be totally new to most non players, which is a good thing. Also, seriously, even teenagers right now know Labyrinth, and Ludo reminds most folks I know of Firbolgs)

Honestly, given the zeitgeist...they should have at least one "ugly cute" monster race in there.

Half-orcs, dragonborn and tieflings all fit the bill.

Every extra hurdle that movie-goers have to jump over to emulate what they see on the screen is fewer people converted into regular players and full-time customers.

WotC will want to be able to point folks to a single product to pick up after the movie. Maybe it's a new Starter Set with full races in it. But it'd be a lot easier to have everything in the movie match up with the PHB so that movie-goers don't make an expensive "mistake" and don't end up with all the stuff they saw on the screen.

doctorbadwolf · Feb 18, 2021

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
Half-orcs, dragonborn and tieflings all fit the bill.

Every extra hurdle that movie-goers have to jump over to emulate what they see on the screen is fewer people converted into regular players and full-time customers.

WotC will want to be able to point folks to a single product to pick up after the movie. Maybe it's a new Starter Set with full races in it. But it'd be a lot easier to have everything in the movie match up with the PHB so that movie-goers don't make an expensive "mistake" and don't end up with all the stuff they saw on the screen.

That doesn't actually matter much, because if the movie works, a movie/tv franchise will make more money that the game does. They want to sell merch and movie tickets and ad spots.

You're inventing problems, anyway. It isn't a real hurdle.

Enevhar Aldarion · Feb 18, 2021

doctorbadwolf said:
Honestly, given the zeitgeist...they should have at least one "ugly cute" monster race in there.

Just don't screw up the CGI so badly that it turns out like the first version of Sonic before they had to fix it for that movie. There was no cute to that version at all. lol

Paul Farquhar · Feb 18, 2021

Enevhar Aldarion said:
Just don't screw up the CGI so badly that it turns out like the first version of Sonic before they had to fix it for that movie. There was no cute to that version at all. lol

At least they can fix it. The sonic people deserve a lot of credit for admitting and fixing their mistake.

Firbolg would probably need to be cgi, or have some very clever animatronics. But it could certainly look Groot if done well.

Anyway, so far as the film makers are concerned, all that matters is it looks cool, they don't care if it's in the PHB or not. It's not WotC making the movie.

Oofta · Feb 18, 2021

If they have a tabaxi in the group I'm sure there are probably some CGI experts from Cats looking for work.

Paul Farquhar · Feb 18, 2021

Oofta said:
If they have a tabaxi in the group I'm sure there are probably some CGI experts from Cats looking for work.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Whizbang Dustyboots · Feb 18, 2021

doctorbadwolf said:
You're inventing problems, anyway. It isn't a real hurdle.

I previously worked in marketing for a big videogame company (you know their name). I would be very surprised if this wasn't a conversation they've already had.

Paul Farquhar · Feb 19, 2021

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
I previously worked in marketing for a big videogame company (you know their name). I would be very surprised if this wasn't a conversation they've already had.

The game company isn't making the movie. If the movie's writers, producers and production designers decide a cute firbolg will sell more tickets than and ugly half orc then it will be a firbolg on the movie.

The only conversation Hasbro will have is how to patch the game to match the movie.

Although, in this case, I'm sure they will jump at the chance to drop half orcs, they have been trying to do it since they took over from TSR.

ART! · Feb 19, 2021

Even though Hasbro and Paramount worked out the deal for this movie, I'm honestly not super-confident we'll see D&D 5E merchandise for this movie. We always think companies will see the obvious advantage we see in doing such things, but is it worth their investment? Lots of people play and many, many more know of D&D, the movie will make the latter even moreso, so why spend the money to develop new stuff?

I'm basing this on the comic book industry's lack of interest or inability to coordinate new comic books with new movies based on those comics. There's so much money in movies that the comics and rpgs are incredibly small potatoes.