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.