D&D Movie/TV D&D TV Show By John Wick Creator

From Hollywood Reporter — “Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer behind the John Wick franchise, has been tapped to pen and develop a pitch for a live-action series based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe.”

‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Series in the Works With ‘John Wick’ Writer (Exclusive)

Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer behind the John Wick franchise, has been tapped to pen and develop a pitch for a live-action series based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

The article doesn’t say anything more, unfortunately, other than describing what D&D is — “Affectionately referred to by fans as D&D, the game is known for its wars, treasure hunts, campaigns, camaraderie, and reversals of fortune, all in a setting that combines humans, elves, orcs and hundreds of other creatures. The game famously uses multisided dice in gameplay to further the imaginary story and is overseen by a host known as the Dungeon Master.”

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

wotc has been so focused on developing FRFRPlanescapeFRFRFRplanescapeFRFR that they've been developing plotlines largely around ancient mythical brings & individuals or entirely replicable generic wizards/generic fantasy cities. The reason so many d&d shows & movies never happen is likely related to "uhh we aren't making a movie based on drizzt" and the lawyers saying "so writer bob you should use this guy rather than this guy based on him". The witcher has a netflix show yes, but the world that IP operates within is far less generic than medieval europe but with magic. I highly doubt that a d&d tvshow will be set in one of the more unique & cohesively developed worlds like eberron or darksun. While ravenloft has some unique aspects, it's largely gothic horror & wotc has spent a long time trying to strip out or downplay the unique elements to replace them with a vaerunized ravenloft

As an FR fan, I wouldn't mind an FR series, however, I would hope they would do an original cast of characters (rather than, say, Drizzt), and really showcase the world--which would be better accomplished with a series than a movie.

 

[Oofta]

I'd like to see a show where the protagonists are not already super competent heroes, but are rather the equivalent of level 1 PCs. So often we get people that are already super capable or become super capable incredibly quickly because of a training montage. The most recent spider-man showed a little bit of growth, but not much.

Have a wizard that can only cast a handful of spells, then slowly grow more and more powerful. Don't reference the rules directly, but show growth and change that roughly matches PC growth. Oh, and never, ever require "magic dust" as a component.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'd like to see a show where the protagonists are not already super competent heroes, but are rather the equivalent of level 1 PCs. So often we get people that are already super capable or become super capable incredibly quickly because of a training montage. The most recent spider-man showed a little bit of growth, but not much.

Have a wizard that can only cast a handful of spells, then slowly grow more and more powerful. Don't reference the rules directly, but show growth and change that roughly matches PC growth. Oh, and never, ever require "magic dust" as a component.

I'm actually expecting this. It would be a great way for characters to grow over the course of a series. Perhaps the wizard's dream is to cast fireball, but he's just not powerful enough yet, and part of the climax of the season finale, he finally achieves his goal. Have foes that are obviously too powerful for them to defeat show up early on, and as the series goes along, they eventually are able to overcome them...

 

[tetrasodium]

As an FR fan, I wouldn't mind an FR series, however, I would hope they would do an original cast of characters (rather than, say, Drizzt), and really showcase the world--which would be better accomplished with a series than a movie.

The layers upon layers of plot armor & "because the gods" makes "showcase the world" difficult & a tv series doesn't need to pay wotc for a license to showcase generic ~900-1300AD europe version of epcot world showcase. Most people who might watch a d&d tv series have a pretty good idea what to expect from generic historical europe

I'm actually expecting this. It would be a great way for characters to grow over the course of a series. Perhaps the wizard's dream is to cast fireball, but he's just not powerful enough yet, and part of the climax of the season finale, he finally achieves his goal. Have foes that are obviously too powerful for them to defeat show up early on, and as the series goes along, they eventually are able to overcome them...

I agree entirely about the heroes journey type stuff. Even in anime & such where the main character starts monstrously powerful they are just nothing compared to the big threats they need to work up towards.

 

[thomkt]

I'm actually expecting this. It would be a great way for characters to grow over the course of a series. Perhaps the wizard's dream is to cast fireball, but he's just not powerful enough yet, and part of the climax of the season finale, he finally achieves his goal. Have foes that are obviously too powerful for them to defeat show up early on, and as the series goes along, they eventually are able to overcome them...

And it would be awesome if they did tie-ins and posted the characters stats periodically so the gaming wonks could follow their progress.

 

[Azzy]

I think it will most likely be set in the Sword Coast (like just about all the 5e adventures). I just hope that they use new, original characters (include a tiefling character), go light on cameos from the big NPCs (please, no pervert Elminster), and showcase some of the iconic locations, Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Netherese ruins, Mt. Hotenow, etc.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You could make a pretty good animatronic beholder, digitally removing the gubbins and operators behind. A CGI beholder would probably cheaper, but less convincing if it is on screen a lot.

Maybe, but CGI has advanced a LOT in recent years.

For example, let us not forget that every single aspect of the New Lion King movie was CGI.

Now, the movie sucked and the CGI was a terrible choice for the type of movie they were trying to make, but the technology exists to make things like the Beholder look very good. Of course... I'd just spring the extra money to make it animated, that seems like the best medium for DnD in my opinion.

 

[Chaosmancer]

As an FR fan, I wouldn't mind an FR series, however, I would hope they would do an original cast of characters (rather than, say, Drizzt), and really showcase the world--which would be better accomplished with a series than a movie.

Huh... I wonder...

Dragonlance lawsuit was just dropped, and this TV show was just announced. Likely a coincidence but... maybe?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Dragonlance lawsuit was just dropped, and this TV show was just announced. Likely a coincidence but... maybe?

The lawsuit was very specifically about novels. You can read the suit and see.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The lawsuit was very specifically about novels. You can read the suit and see.

Sure, but I can't see WotC giving the go-ahead for Dragonlance in other media whist they where still in a legal dispute with the creators.

Dragonlance would work better on TV than it does in an actual game of D&D.