D&D General Movie plots for your D&D game

[rgoodbb]

What have been the most successful plots you have filched from the movies and made into your own great D&D games/sessions/combats/campaigns?

I am currently thinking of a 2-shot inspired by the movie New Dragon Gate Inn.

 

[jgsugden]

One thing I advise people to study when building their D&D campaign is Veronica Mars. Each season progresses through a series of eventful misleads until resolving the mystery at the very end. You'll bounce back and forth between several potential villains until the final reveal resolves the answer - only to have a post reveal gut punch during the victory lap that can propel you into a new story. Figuring out how to weave these misleads together and lay them out over time can really make a low level game hum (though misinformation begins to get tricky after levels 6 as more and more divination magics become available).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It was a play before it was a movie, but I ran a whole campaign back in 2e spun off from the basic premise of Hamlet.

 

[Ryder]

I changed a Tomb of Annihilation subplot from the Fort Bellarian / Liara Porter explore mission. Now became an assassination mission of insane colonel Kurtz in the heart of the jungle darkness. A la Apocalypse Now

 

[Weiley31]

Not such much movies, but more like lines and stuff from video games. Like I'm totally jacking Mega Man Zero 3's "I am the Messiah" followed by evil laughter for one of my BBEGs before the fight begins.

 

[jayoungr]

The first original adventure I ever ran was based on The Man Who Knew Too Much.

 

[Eltab]

If your group likes character interaction, Persuasion, and Intimidate, set up the scenario from The Sting. (Play tune The Entertainer before you start the session as a subliminal clue.)

 

[rgoodbb]

I changed a Tomb of Annihilation subplot from the Fort Bellarian / Liara Porter explore mission. Now became an assassination mission of insane colonel Kurtz in the heart of the jungle darkness. A la Apocalypse Now

I too have based a 3-shot jungle river-boat (-junk) adventure from the essence of Apocalypse Now. I enjoyed DM'ing that one a lot.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I prefer to steal from books (especially older ones), since it is less likely my players have read the book than seen the movie. If I include a movie reference it's usually as a joke.

I have stolen ideas from these books:

The Mysterious Island (Verne)
The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle (Lofting)
Treasure Island (Stevenson) (surprisingly none of my players had read this and had only seen the Muppet version)
Various Conan stories (Howard)
Dunwich Horror, Mountains of Madness (Lovecraft)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (original author unknown)

 

[Shiroiken]

I prefer to steal from books (especially older ones), since it is less likely my players have read the book than seen the movie. If I include a movie reference it's usually as a joke.

I do the same. Whenever I steal more than just a base concept, I try to keep it something obscure. If the players figure it out too quickly, it often ruins the adventure.