D&D Movie/TV New D&D movie details? Vecna?!

[Salthorae]

Speaking of Critical Role.... the first thing I thought of when I saw "hand of vecna" and "character with ties to the forgotten realms" was Arkhan the Cruel

It is interesting the amount of details called out in this article.

Palarandusk is an interesting dragon to use. He's seen a big swath of FR history, from before Nethirl all the way to the 14th century DR and he lives near Waterdeep.

 

[Alzrius]

I'm honestly amazed they're apparently going to put a drow character onscreen, and as a villain no less.

Feathers will be ruffled, to say the least...

 

[Tonguez]

I do wonder about their source. Those are some very specific details. Going with a drow as the main villain...bold choice there, if accurate.

There's a lot to unpack, and (again, if true) I feel like it might be a lot to throw at new audiences:

Sure, as a counterpoint, one could point to Guardians of the Galaxy, but that movie happened after the MCU had earned the goodwill of moviegoers.

None of those elements are particularly outlandish,

• Faerun - generic fantasy setting No# 43
• The Eye of Vecna - ghoulish artifact (like that other giant eye in a well known movie)
• Vecna - a powerful dead scorceror (like in that other well klnown movie)
• A gold dragon - spends most of movie invisible or in human form, cool transformation scene later in movie
• Gnomes - midget comedic releif
• Drow - we’ve seen Dark Elf villains in Thor, so the plebs know what to expect
• Torm, Tyr, Ilmater - background details for a group of cool armoured Knights/Paladins
• Half-dragons - big monstrous tank for the party
• Tieflings - a sexy devil girl villain

Most of those things we’ve seen in other fantasy movies before, but for some reason DnD movies just fail to capture the allure of other fantasy movies, although other than Lord of the Rings and Narnia, what are the the big fantasy epics of the past decade or so?

So if I can hazard a guess at a synopsis: a party of angsty fighter, midget comic releif, monstrous tank and mysterious masked ‘ninja’ are on a quest to recover a ghoulish artifact associated with a death god before Malekith, Kurse and hot devil girl use it for badness. The heroes are assisted by an elite band of Knights Paladin lead by a powerful elder warrior with a wonderous secret...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There's a lot to unpack, and (again, if true) I feel like it might be a lot to throw at new audiences:

Not so much IMO.

• Faerun - a setting, it has to have one.
• The Eye of Vecna - a MacGuffin, most stories have one.
• Vecna - goes with the MacGuffin
• A gold dragon (that also, apparently preferred to act invisibly and silently) - a mentor, common enough Gandalf with scales
• Gnomes - comic relief sidekick, also not in LotR
• Drow - I would have avoided these, but we will see. Gotta have baddies anyway
• Torm, Tyr, Ilmater - gods are part of the setting, and one of the protagonists will probably be a cleric
• Half-dragons, Tieflings - there will be good guys and bad guys, and it wouldn't be D&D if everyone was human, and these are not in LotR. Probably Dragonborn rather than an actual half dragon.

 

[Coroc]

Vecna is weird in the sense of being a Greyhawk deity in the Forgotten Realms, but to be honest, Greyhawk keeps feeling like the next Setting to be devoured by the Forgotten Realms (well Greyhawk or Nentir Vale/Nerath Setting).

Is there so much left to steal in the greyhawk setting? Maybe some of the not so PC, not honoring the Zeitgeist, stuff?

 

[gyor]

Is there so much left to steal in the greyhawk setting? Maybe some of the not so PC, not honoring the Zeitgeist, stuff?

Territory. FR ate Gloomwrought and now Letherna from the Nentir Vale setting, so it's not impossible.

 

[gyor]

Not so much IMO.

• Faerun - a setting, it has to have one.
• The Eye of Vecna - a MacGuffin, most stories have one.
• Vecna - goes with the MacGuffin
• A gold dragon (that also, apparently preferred to act invisibly and silently) - a mentor, common enough Gandalf with scales
• Gnomes - comic relief sidekick, also not in LotR
• Drow - I would have avoided these, but we will see. Gotta have baddies anyway
• Torm, Tyr, Ilmater - gods are part of the setting, and one of the protagonists will probably be a cleric
• Half-dragons, Tieflings - there will be good guys and bad guys, and it wouldn't be D&D if everyone was human, and these are not in LotR. Probably Dragonborn rather than an actual half dragon.

The one thing is how odd pairing the Eye of Vecna in a setting where Venca isn't worshipped, Venca is a Greyhawk God, not FR, so now they have to explain why Venca's body parts are appearing on Toril.

 

[Nagol]

"We'll also note that the new Dungeons & Dragons movie seems to be much more willing to incorporate lore from the source material, which was a major reason the 2000 Dungeons & Dragons movie flopped among D&D fans."

I've never heard that cited as a reason by anyone I know, but I guess?

Bad sciript, bad direction, and bad acting were stronger contributors IMHO.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The one thing is how odd pairing the Eye of Vecna in a setting where Venca isn't worshipped, Venca is a Greyhawk God, not FR, so now they have to explain why Venca's body parts are appearing on Toril.

I suspect Vecna will be a powerful lich, not a deity, in the movie.

It's a movie, it will ignore "canon" (which doesn't exist anyway).

And the Eye of Vecna was in the 1st edition DMG, and it didn't have any kind of "Greyhawk Only" flag on it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

That is my fear, the mass media titles and possible conflicts with the canon.

 

[Bohandas]

I do wonder about their source. Those are some very specific details. Going with a drow as the main villain...bold choice there, if accurate.

There's a lot to unpack, and (again, if true) I feel like it might be a lot to throw at new audiences:

• Faerun
• The Eye of Vecna
• Vecna
• A gold dragon (that also, apparently preferred to act invisibly and silently)
• Gnomes
• Drow
• Torm
• Tyr
• Ilmater
• Half-dragons
• Tieflings

Ugh! They're mixing Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms? They better be mixing in Spelljammer or Planescape too to explain the matter!

I suppose two contrary settings is at least better than no setting at all, which is what we've been getting.

That said, why the hell can't they just take a friggin out of print adventure like Great Modron March or Firestorm Peak or The Doomgrinder or Dark Queen of Krynn and convert that plot directly into a movie

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe Vecna is acting in Faerun, or even in other worlds. A spelljammer in the epilogue of the movie would be cool as teaser for the sequel.

 

[bedir than]

Why are people acting like this is the first time the Hand or Vecna himself has left Oerth?

 

[Parmandur]

The one thing is how odd pairing the Eye of Vecna in a setting where Venca isn't worshipped, Venca is a Greyhawk God, not FR, so now they have to explain why Venca's body parts are appearing on Toril.

The Hand and Eye are already in the DMG, and can appear anywhere. We've already seen the Hand in Descent into Avernus, which tied into Vecna

Spoiler

ascending into godhood on Exandria.

 

[Undrave]

Not surprised they're including Dragonborns and Tieflings, those are races owned by WOTC, that want to give them exposure and get that brand recognition. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more WOTC original races as extras.

I'm honestly amazed they're apparently going to put a drow character onscreen, and as a villain no less.

Feathers will be ruffled, to say the least...

I can see them going charcoal grey and not full on black. Also, British accents, like all evil empire types.

Probably cast a person of color as one of the hero to counterbalance it.

That is my fear, the mass media titles and possible conflicts with the canon.

What canon? There is no canon, canon doesn't matter where there's a movie to be made. It's how Hollywood operates.

It's how the MCU works: let the comics experiment, pick the best ideas and ignore the bits that didn't work. It'll be the same here. Vecna isn't native to the Realms? Who cares! He's a cool villain with a neat gimmick for a movie!

 

[MockingBird]

I dont really understand why using drow as villains is a risky thing. It's a fantasy movie with fantasy races. Absolutely has no tie into the real world.

Mixing settings isn't a big deal. The majority of movie goers will not have a clue any way. It's just another generic middle earth.

In my opinion I think this will be more successful if it goes straight to a streaming service. Like that Will Smith flick. That movie wasnt horrible by any means but I dont think it would have faired well at the box office.

Following the Guardians of the Galaxy formula is the way to go and not try to fit the D&D mold too rigidly.

 

[Tonguez]

I dont really understand why using drow as villains is a risky thing. It's a fantasy movie with fantasy races. Absolutely has no tie into the real world.

Mixing settings isn't a big deal. The majority of movie goers will not have a clue any way. It's just another generic middle earth.

In my opinion I think this will be more successful if it goes straight to a streaming service. Like that Will Smith flick. That movie wasnt horrible by any means but I dont think it would have faired well at the box office.

Following the Guardians of the Galaxy formula is the way to go and not try to fit the D&D mold too rigidly.

Yeah, I’m kinda surprised that WotC hasn’t gone the streaming route or even a series given the success of Game of Thrones and the relative dearth of great big screen Fantasy movies.

I think a well written series would be worth a watch

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If the drows as villains may be politically incorrect then they are replaced with the cyberpapacy from TORG, or the Castillan inquisitors from 7th Sea.

* The are some comments about the first episodes of the Witcher and they say it is nice. I guess this may be good for D&D as an indirect advertising.

* Maybe you can't remember it because you are younger than me, but after the first Star Wars movie there were for the 80's some serie B space-opera movies, very bad, what tried to test fortune in the genre. Not only Galactica Battlestar, but others. I guess after Game of Thrones others want to try in the genre.

If I say Xena you will remember that serie with Lucy Lawless as main character, and 20 years after XFs help to produce fantasy titles, but to get a true smashing-hit you have to make a good work, and not only fantasy, but also with other genres as romance, comedy or drama. Fantasy productions can't be only FXs, in the same way cinema studios tried to produce their own cartoon movies, but they weren't so successful as Disney's ones.

Let's use as example Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles. The first movie was a blockbuster, but the second with the same director and formula wasn't so good. Where was the error?

* Publishing novels are cheaper and fast than producing movies or teleserie. I am afraid I am lost because I don't remember new novels published after the sundering event.

 

[teitan]

Vecna is ALSO a Forgotten Realms villain anyway. There is even an AD&D adventure with Vecna plus Acererak is in the Realms too. D&D is a multiverse.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I’m kinda surprised that WotC hasn’t gone the streaming route or even a series given the success of Game of Thrones and the relative dearth of great big screen Fantasy movies.

I think a well written series would be worth a watch

They have the Magic: the Gathering series coming to Netflix (not to mention Transformers et al), wouldn't be hugely surprising to see a D&D show down the line.