D&D Movie/TV D&D Movie - Wild Speculation and Poll

[hopeless]

Could always use the original starting sequence of the Neverwinter MMO where your PCs wake up on the beach are located by a guard who helps them reach an encampment where they find replacement gear as a group they make their way to the city limits to pass on an urgent message from the encampment so they can receive much needed reinforcements.
Cue having to fight their way through fields of the dead rising until they reach another encampment this one with two other powerful former adventurers who seek their help as they finish banishing a fallen dracolich back into the netherworld it was summoned from.
Badly hurt they receive healing but need some curatives only available in the city.
Now they have to reach the main bridge entrance into the city itself and standing before them an undead Ogre.
Defeating that but with losses the survivors reach the city passing on the message.
We learn after some of the fallen PCs were revived and are recovering in a hospital bed along with the one who received a wasting disease curse during the fight to prevent the dracolich being freed.
Its at this point the head of the guard in Neverwinter Sargent Knox approaches the PCs and asks for their help.
This is for the sequel movie of course.
Would that be enough?

 

[Charlaquin]

The Princess Bride doesn't have stakes. No one is sitting on the edge of their seats worried about the characters. It's a comedy - people enjoy it because it makes them laugh, not for the adrenaline rush.

They could certainly do a D&D movie that aims to be funny rather than exciting, but I think that would be putting the cart before the horse. You should do it (ant least somewhat) straight before sending it up.

It’s a comedy, yes, but there are absolutely tense moments.

 

[ART!]

I suspect/hope that the mention made of Guardians of the Galaxy by the filmmakers is not just about the amount of humor. GOTG is also about a "found family", which I'm sure most D&D players can relate to (in-game and out-of-game). Those movies also have a sense of scale and stakes, from the poignant and personal to the epic, greater world. They also have a very D&D-esque variety of characters - different "races", backgrounds, (sometimes very at-odds) motivations, etc. It's a really good template for a D&D movie AFAIC.

 

[payn]

I suspect/hope that the mention made of Guardians of the Galaxy by the filmmakers is not just about the amount of humor. GOTG is also about a "found family", which I'm sure most D&D players can relate to (in-game and out-of-game). Those movies also have a sense of scale and stakes, from the poignant and personal to the epic, greater world. They also have a very D&D-esque variety of characters - different "races", backgrounds, (sometimes very at-odds) motivations, etc. It's a really good template for a D&D movie AFAIC.

One reason I feel good about it is the writer/directors have done a couple of ensemble movies with this tone. Granted not on the epic fantasy level, but they know how to write a fun and well paced movie that revolves around a small group of characters.

 

[Undrave]

so they are going to just go ahead and blackface Pine and Grant?

They've changed the depictions of Drow recently. Drizzt is more of a pale grey-ish lilac now.

 

[steeldragons]

EXPECT it is set in Forgotten Realms...because WotC branding blahness.
HOPE for Serious Fantasy/Action Comedy. EXPECT Action Comedy/Lighthearted fantasy or "fourth wall/out of game discussion" nonsense.
HOPE for no framing or in world narrator. EXPECT game table or sucked into the game or other disappointing hokiness.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I only hope for an entertaining movie, however they pull that off.

Regarding framing devices: I don't think so, unless you count an opening narration as framing, but not for any reason I saw upthread. Framing devices are used to get the audience into the right mindset to enjoy the story for what it is. By controlling expectations, you have an easier time meeting them, and someone's enjoyment of a movie is strongly affected by how well it gives them what they thought they were getting.

But in the case of a DnD movie, they also need to establish the setting. It's not enough to have a helicopter shot of the city - they need to explain what the Realms are to people, since that's not even something all DnD players really know. That's gonna mean opening narration is a must. And it's pretty easy to set the tone while doing that, and a waste of time to do a narration and a framing device. So I'd be surprised if they go with anything other than an opening narration.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I only hope for an entertaining movie, however they pull that off.

Unfortunately, this movie faces a big obstacle in that "hope for an entertaining movie". There are too many different versions of that hope already. I think just this thread alone covers at least four different ways people hope it is entertaining, but they are mostly incompatible, so I expect it to disappoint at least half the game's fanbase.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The only way that people actually playing dnd will work is if it's like the cartoon or the Guardians of The Flame series, where the players are magically forced into the bodies of their PCs.

The only way to do that and have it not be too stupid to even bother going to see is to be serious about it and actually explore ideas of identity, free will, etc, like GoTF did, or fully make it a silly cartoon movie.

Just make a good fantasy movie set in a dnd world.

 

[OB1]

@jmartkdr2 def agree on the importance of the opening narration for the film. Like the text crawl in a Star Wars film, this should give a quick glimpse into the universe and set the stakes for the film, and the easier to understand the better (get the plans to the Rebels to save the Galaxy, everyone can understand the why of this even if they don't understand the world). That could be done either by a DM at a real table as we swoop into the world, or by a disembodied voice as we sweep over the world and down to the characters (as a bonus, let's start in the middle of an action scene here).

@Enevhar Aldarion for myself, while there are things that I would like to see, there are also countless other options that I don't hope for or have even imagined, but which could still make for a great film. Pelor knows prior to each and every Star Wars film I had a strong ideas about what I wanted from them, and almost always got something that I wasn't expecting but still greatly enjoyed.

@Paul Farquhar not sure how you think The Princess Bride doesn't have stakes. All good stories, whether Comedy, Drama, Action or Farce require them to be a compelling narrative. In fact, the stakes get so serious for the Frame of this film that we get a break in the action to go back to the Frame because the character is so upset by what is happening in the book story.