If you made a DND movie...

Sodalis

First Post
Hey all,

I was just wondering how crappy the movie was and then remembered taht everyone had a litle to add saying that "the movie would have been better if..."

So here's what i want to know (forgetting that it had already come out)- if you wrote the story/ screenplay/ produced the movie, what would be the story?

Or you can just describe one scene that you thought would be very exciting to watch- especially in a DND setting- with all the magic items and powers and such.

Be as graphic as you like, and dont leave out the imagination....
 
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In the perfect D&D movie, you would not notice that it was based upon a game. It would simply be a good fantasymovie. A good movie stands on it's own merits, and has a good story. It being D&D has little or nothing to do with that.
 

Here is what I have thought about-

the first scene:
an elf is running. The camera is very close up to see the face of the elf and maybe the shoulders (think the Fugitive, or Robin hood) and the camera pans out to show that he is running through the woods. You hear a loud roar in the background, and a shadow swoops in the forground.

the elf finally finally gets to a clearing where he thinks he is safe and takes a deep breath and slows down. he is constantly looking behind him to see if he was followed. He walks forward and steps into a shadowy grassy area. You hear his breathing, but it is overshadowd by a louder, more monstrous brething. the sound stops except for the breathing, and the elf slowly turns his head to the camera. You ear a loud roar as before, except now it is loud and piercing. The elf quickly draws his bow and aims, but the camera zooms into his eyes as it fades into a look of hopelessness.

dungeon scene:
this scene is extremely dark, and damp with little light to go by. The only light is the torch the characters are carrying,a nd it only illuminates about ten feet (so them and the surrounding walls). They walk the length of a passage way, strewn with broken gargoyle statues.

For the first couple of them, they are edgy and smash as they pas it. It is just stone. But as they ease up, one moves ever so slightly, causing a pebble fall to the ground. The char notices and brings the torch up. It is motionless.

As they stare into it, they notice that the eyes are glassy, but pay not attention to it. They look forward, and as they take a step, the gargoyle pounces on the one holding the torch causing him to drop it into a shallow pool. th elight is even dimmer, but still there.

The sound of swords being drawn echoes in the hallway as a screeching sound pierces the player's ears. Silence ensues, ad a char, armor ravaged, walks over to pick up the torch. His face is bleeding and he is breathing heavily. As he lifts up the torch, you notice that the gargoyle has clung onto the ceiling,a nd the char has no idea it is there.

He then pounces on the char, but an arrow flies out of the darkness and hits him in mid air. He falls to the ground beside the fighter who quickly turns and hits him with said weapon. The group walks up to it and stares at it for a second, seeing that it is bleeding and dying. Its eyes glassy, but begging for mercy. the fighter raises his weapon, and brings it down with a thunderous "boom" right into the camera.

At that moment, the scene goes dark, and swaps to something else happening somewhere else...maybe a happy bright garssland where peple are farming...
 

you guys are no fun....

humor me will ya?

and besides, I didnt ask "what do you think is the perfect DND movie?"

but "if you made a dnd (or fantasy) movie, what would be in it?"

thanks a bunch
 
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What would be in my D&D movie? Hmmm...

* A dragon, or maybe I should say THE Dragon. That is, I'd make one dragon the main antagonist in the film. If there are other dragons, we'd see why this one is the main man - maybe show him killing or establishing dominance over others.

* If I included monsters like the beholder, I'd make them major villains also, lieutenants of the dragon. I'd also show all their abilities at some point, and show that they're pretty smart, too.

* As a director, I'd tell the actors to take the job seriously (this is highly dependant on giving them a well-written script, of course). Pull back the ones that are overacting, and give a kick in the butt to the ones that are simply walking through the role.

* At least one Lich.

* Strange landscapes and societies - too many fantasy films use a faux-medieval-Europe setting that just looks so generic and cheesy I couldn't care less what happens in them.

* The interior of a wizard's tower.

* At least two major swordfights along the lines of Darth Maul's fights with Qui-Gonn Jinn and Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan.

* At least one major magic duel, like in Big Trouble in Little China.

That's all I could come up with right now.
 

I think many of the elements of a good D&D movie are similar to the criteria for a good introductory D&D adventure like Sunless Citadel: it needs a dungeon, it needs a dragon (if only a baby one), it needs traps, it needs magic, and it needs lots of good hack-n-slash action. That's what it needs to be a D&D movie.

It doesn't need massive CGI effects shots. It doesn't need sneering villains. It doesn't need black-ghetto thieves. It doesn't need weird lipstick on men and silly outfits.
 

I would use an old school module that people would actually recognize as such, like Hall of the Fire Giant King.

That way, when the characters on screen are walking down a hall, we know where they are and picture our PCs there.

PS
 

I'd keep it simple. Local village raided by orcs and a group of adventurers who were off exploring the or practicing come back and see the village on fire. Then they seek revenge against the orcs. Just a nice little story that doesn't trip on itself in the telling. You can add in magic, other races, and quirking characters as is needed, but not because its what is wanted.
 

Crothian said:
I'd keep it simple. Local village raided by orcs and a group of adventurers who were off exploring the or practicing come back and see the village on fire. Then they seek revenge against the orcs. Just a nice little story that doesn't trip on itself in the telling. You can add in magic, other races, and quirking characters as is needed, but not because its what is wanted.

It's interesting to see this proposed. I'm not bashing it, but there are strengths to this strategy, but weaknesses also.

The strengths are that it's easily done, and it draws on a lot of source material - specifically Westerns like The Magnificent Seven and The Wild Bunch, and Kurosawa films (and Kurosawa was very influenced by films like Westerns).

The weaknesses are: there isn't much spectacle in this, and there have been films like this done in the fantasy genre, and few have ever been very successful, in any sense. Plus, many TV shows draw on this method, since it is relatively cheap to do - the film could end up looking like a "very special episode" of Beastmaster.

I think LotR was what was needed in fantasy films - a huge event film, with lots of spectacle. Star Wars did the same for science fiction, but a number of other films with lots of spectacle - or at least arresting visuals - came along around the same time and helped cement scifi's hold on cinema - Close Encounters of the Third Kind (released November 1977, same year as SW) and Alien are the two I can think of off the top of my head. I think fantasy needs at least one or two more big spectacle films to come along (and be successful) to build on LotR's foundation.

Not really arguing, just musing...
 
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