If you made a DND movie...

[Harlequin]

...

I'd boil it down to what I feel is the essence of D&D-

Has to be some in-jokes. How about this scene: our intrepid heros come upon a towering statue of an evil diety. He holds in his outstretched hands the symbol of his terrible power: a 20-sided polyhedron. However, I'd go easy on the "gamespeak".. I think characters discussing what class they are or what level of power this or that spell is would sound really hokey.

Thats why DnD Movies will never work
Humour and Fantasy is cliche
It is the same old Xena/Hercules dare i say it 'CRAP'

Thats why LOTR was so successful
It was a SERIOUS attempt at a Fantasy flick and trying to bring
some true Realism and Heroism to it...just like the books

Same reason why the First Conan was so good and the sequals 'sucked' the first took itself seriously , the later tried to bring in humour and cartoonish, kiddish, wide eyed fantasy that most people just really laugh at and dont relate to...kind of like the new Star Wars Movies [I LOVE the first three] the new ones just seem too cartoonish to me (i guess thats another debate)

Anyway another Book id love to see done but i think would not be attempted due to its difficulty on getting it done right for the big screen would be the first Robin Hobb Trilogy 'Assassin Trilogy'
also im half way into the second book of her 'Liveship Trader's Trilogy' and they would be fantastic as well but i think even harder to get to the big screen properly...

A guy can only dream


Harlequin

 

[Mordax_sighs]

I wouldn't be too interested in a D&D movie. I didn't see the one they really made...

Nah.

I want to see Thomas Covenant: the SF miniseries (like they did with Dune). I want to see the Bloodguard, the Fire Lions, the Ur-Viles, Covenant shattering the Staff of Law, and I would *especially* like to see the Sunbane.

See, when FotR opened up, and they started talking about rings and showed Sauron kicking butt, all I could think was: "It could be worse. He doesn't have white gold."

Of course, this'll never happen in the U.S. - test audiences would walk out on a movie with a protagonist like that.

 

[Urklore]

I'd base my movie on the Keep of the Borderlands. Back to our roots baby, everyone has gone to the keep at least once in their years of gamimg. Everyone could relate to the movie as their PCs have gone through said adventure.

 

[LostSoul]

The movie opens up with four adventurers clearing away the brush hiding a dungeon opening. We don't know them yet or what they are doing.

The rogue scouts ahead and reports that there are some guards. They decide what to do and throw in a couple lines of exposition. Then there is a fight.

The movie tells us who the characters are and what they are doing in the dungeon as they move through it; they have at least one rest scene.

Fights, traps, magic.

Somebody dies.

They head deeper and deeper into the dungeon, where they meet the evil dragon menace.

All this through the eyes of the characters, lurking through a dark and deadly dungeon.

 

[njorgard]

My DnD movie...

Like someone else said, I would try to keep it as simple as possible. The movie would have a serious tone to it (none of that slapsticky Zena/Hercules crap!!!). It would almost have to be a low magic kind of adventure as, again - like someone else here said - high powered magic does not translate well into a big screen production (the only movies where I have seen powerful magic being presented in a pseudo-successful manner are LoTR and Willow).

My approach would be similar to the Brotherhood of the Wolf (I highly encourage anyone in these boards who hasn't seen it to do so). However, instead of presenting you with two very interesting characters who are total badasses and work off each other I would present four (icluding a priest and a wizard). I would change the mythical beast ravaging the countryside to a dragon, and the cult would be a cadre of demon worshipers who have somehow subdued the dragon (maybe through the use of an ancient talisman which the priest has been trying to locate and destroy for his entire life). The wizard's power would reside not on the power of his magic but on his vast amount of knowledge of all sorts of things (sort of like Gandalf). The priest would be a shamanistic figure very much like the one in Brotherhood of the Wolf, except with a more european flavor to it (maybe an overly quiet and mysterious templar). The other two characters would be the aragorn-like ranger badass and perhaps a halfling thief who is incredibly resourceful and definately more than what he seems. I think this would work just fine...

 

[Victim]

I don't see why people are hung up about onscreen magic. Spiderman looked pretty good. X-men didn't have that bad of effects. The new style martial arts movies show some spell like effects too. They just make a different explanation for the unnatural effects and abilities.

Haste could be done. Matrix or The One have lots of things that are almost exactly like haste. The matrix also does a blur type effect too. And Wall of Force.

Fireballs wouldn't be hard - normal action movies have been doing explosions for a long time.

Jump, Expeditious Retreat, Mage Hand, Telekinesis, and Suggestion are all Jedi tricks. I bet that modern CGI would do killer lightning too.

Etherealness was in FotR - kind of. Invisibility definitely was.

CTHD had Fly, for almost all intents and purposes.

Shape changing things have been done before, IIRC, so Polymorphing is in.

And I don't see how a dragon would be portrayed without magic. The whole breath weapon thing, remember. Plus the fact that they fly, so flashy magic will almost have to be used by the heroes.

Finally, a DnD movie can't be movie mostly for DnD players.

 

[Droogie]

Re: ...

Thats why DnD Movies will never work
Humour and Fantasy is cliche
It is the same old Xena/Hercules dare i say it 'CRAP'

Thats why LOTR was so successful
It was a SERIOUS attempt at a Fantasy flick and trying to bring
some true Realism and Heroism to it...just like the books


Harlequin

Harley, I totally agree with you. I do feel that the only sword/sorcery fantasy flicks that work are the ones that take the subject matter seriously: LotR, Dragonslayer, Excalibur. Filmakers who treat fantasy like a kids fairy tale almost always get it wrong.

But you misunderstood my comment about in-jokes. I never meant to imply that there would be campy silliness or slapstick in my film. An in-joke is just that- inside. Its subtle, just under the radar, only uderstood by those in the know. Moviegoers would see this ugly statue holding aloft a stone or a gem with 20 sides and think nothing of it. D&D players would see the almighty 20-sider and smile.

But I agree. You can do this type of fantasy in two ways. Silly (Xena/Hercules, Princess Bride), or serious.

Nothing in between (Willow, D&D the Movie).

 

[Droogie]

It's not that the setting is so bad, exactly, it's just that filmmakers always seem to make it too much like medieval Europe, or at least like what they think medieval Europe was like, which seems to be that it was like a Renaissance Fair everywhere. I want floating cities and mountains carved into statues and 300 ft. tall trees with cities in the branches.

Ok, I grok you. However, I wouldn't wanna stray TOO far from that old-europe feel, because I feel its the D&D default mode - a staple. Floating cities are all well and good, but I probably wouldn't put one in my movie, since I prefer a more down to earth "low fantasy" feel.

But hey. You have your movie and I have mine. whoever gets the oscar wins.

 

[Harlequin]

Re: Re: ...

But you misunderstood my comment about in-jokes. I never meant to imply that there would be campy silliness or slapstick in my film. An in-joke is just that- inside. Its subtle, just under the radar, only uderstood by those in the know. Moviegoers would see this ugly statue holding aloft a stone or a gem with 20 sides and think nothing of it. D&D players would see the almighty 20-sider and smile.

It would have to be very subtle...
Like if you blinked youfd miss it...or youd need a few viewings before you caught the in joke...

Sorry for flying off the handle but ive almost had enough of Fantasy and Comedy being mixed together in a film...

Too examples which spring to mind are 'A Knight's Tale' and 'Black Knight'....S H H E E E S H S ! ! !

When will these film makers realise it doesnt work...

You are right, the only Fantasy flicks that are successful are the ones that take themselves seriously and dare i say it try and make the Fantasy look 'Realistic'

Speaking of the Renaisance and Traditional Medieval Setttings for Fantasy films anyone know whats happening with Arnie and his 'Crusader' flick?

What about King Conan?

Both seem to be cool films and treated more seriously...


Harlequin

 

[Klaus]

First error in the DnD movie: If you have a low budget, DON'T spread it around trying to make 300 dragons. Make ONE dragon that's really kick-ass.

Second: if you're basing your movie on existing material, DON'T come up with unnecessary new stuff.

Third: DO use your existing material for all it's worth. Example: Slap make-up on the evil fighter and say he's a hobgoblin ("a cruel race with a long tradition in warfare"), instead of giving him blue lipstick.

Fourth: Search for the best/affordable in several areas. For example: go with the studio that does the make-up for Buffy/Angel. They already know how to make several creatures reminiscent of DnD races/monsters. The Biker Demons in this season's Buffy premiere were very reminiscent of goblins/bugbears.

Fifth: Don't create a hero tha outshines the other. DnD has alwasy been about cooperation, so let's show some cooperation.

Imagine what great movie would be made out of "Forge of Fury"? You get your dungeon, your dragon (who does NOT breathe fire!) in a unique setting (that underground lake would be eerie!), your low-level cannon fodder (orcs in the adventure, but you can substitute them for goblins/hobgoblins/bugbear)...