D&D Movie/TV Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves could change D&D forever

[Xyxox]

I dunno how much effect movies has on the popularity of RPGs. Otherwise Star Wars and Marvel games would be much bigger than they are.

I think the real deal here is whether this will help monetize D&D more or not. If it does really well at the box office, it opens up merchandise lines well outside of the standard TTRPG fare and can increase the monetization majorly.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think the real deal here is whether this will help monetize D&D more or not. If it does really well at the box office, it opens up merchandise lines well outside of the standard TTRPG fare and can increase the monetization majorly.

Yeah, at the end of the day, this is supposed to be a virtuous cycle where a good movie drives game sales, which expands awareness and enthusiasm for the brand, which means more butts in seats for the next movie.

 

[Parmandur]

I will say that the first Fast and Furious movie was made at a time when Hollywood wasn't so hostile towards making a script that wasn't based on anything already existing. 2001 doesn't feel like it was that long ago, but in terms of how the film landscape has shifted it might as well be 50 years ago.

Actually part of the problem is they don't make movies like Fast and Furious anymore at all. A mid budget action movie - heck mid budget movies of any kind - that isn't some star actor or producer or director's pet project just isn't getting made. It's either small indie movie or big budget action, not much in between. The mid budget is for direct to streaming now I guess.

It's the economics. People stopped going to theaters for stuff like that, when they could comfortably watch HDTV at home. So the theater stopped carrying them, people stopped making them. Happened about 10-12 years ago: Marvel was working on a mid-budget theatrical version of the Runaways around the time the Abengers Assembled, but ran the numbers and figured out it wouldn't make financial sense.

 

[Xyxox]

Yeah, at the end of the day, this is supposed to be a virtuous cycle where a good movie drives game sales, which expands awareness and enthusiasm for the brand, which means more butts in seats for the next movie.

Not just that, action figures of the movies characters, playsets, all sorts of merchandising outside the normal realm of TTRPGs but right in the center of Hasbro's core competencies. A blockbuster movie's toy line alone could outdo revenue and profits from D&D gaming products for the year all by itself!

 

[delericho]

D&D is mostly a game about people's own original characters, and largely about original worlds. Yes, there are the published campaign settings, with their own settings and own worlds. . .but we haven't seen any sign of them doing a Drizzt Do'Urden or Elminster movie, or a Rudolph Van Richten movie, or movies based on famous D&D adventures like Tomb of Horrors, Throne of Bloodstone, or Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

One of the other problems there is that literally everything you've just mentioned is decades old, and much of it really hasn't aged well. And both Drizzt and Elminster have their issues with cultural sensitivity.

 

[wingsandsword]

One of the other problems there is that literally everything you've just mentioned is decades old, and much of it really hasn't aged well. And both Drizzt and Elminster have their issues with cultural sensitivity.

Which is, of course, why the Lord of the Rings movies absolutely flopped at the box office. . .those novels were almost five decades old by the time the films were released and many critics called the books racist.

 

[delericho]

Which is, of course, why the Lord of the Rings movies absolutely flopped at the box office. . .those novels were almost five decades old by the time the films were released and many critics called the books racist.

"Lord of the Rings" was picked up and read by successive generations of readers, and is routinely voted as the best novel of all time (rivaled only by "Pride and Prejudice"). It has a massive ongoing cultural imprint. (Much like D&D as a whole, in fact.)

When was the last time Elminster even appeared in a starring role? And amongst current D&D players, what percentage could even tell you what "Throne of Bloodstone" or the Barrier Peaks even are, never mind having visited them?

Drizzt has rather more traction, but even he seems to be markedly diminished since the mess that was the Sundering.

 

[Parmandur]

Not everything ages equally. Some stuff, like Lord of the Rings or Pride & Prejudice, ages like fine wine. Other stuff ages like dry bread. Other stuff is somewhere in between.

 

[Zardnaar]

Seems clear to me. Any fantasy film not fimed in NZ won't do well!! (Ducks).

I had big doubts to the D&D movies success before the OGL debacle. Generic fantasy movie with generic past use by date actor who wasn't a high draw to begin with and a March release date.

Star Wars RPG hasn't really been done well in recent decades and hasn't has that continuity D&D has. Three very different games with another 5 "editions".

D&D doesn't really have any quality stand out characters anymore and Drizzt is long past his use by date.

 

[wingsandsword]

When was the last time Elminster even appeared in a starring role? And amongst current D&D players, what percentage could even tell you what "Throne of Bloodstone" or the Barrier Peaks even are, never mind having visited them?

Which is why, of course, Marvel started the Marvel Cinematic Universe with widely known, universally beloved longtime pop culture icon Iron Man. . .and when people went to see Infinity War and Endgame, they all knew Thanos so well from his many prior comic book appearances the audience knew so closely and were so familiar with.