D&D General Watch the Baldur's Gate 3 Cast Play 'What We Do In The Shadow-Cursed Lands'

At MGM Comic Con in London (where the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide made its world debut), WotC's Jeremy Crawford ran a live Dungeons & Dragons adventure on stage for the cast of Baldur's Gate 3.

Neil Newbon played Astarion, the Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue; Samantha Béart played Karlach, the Tiefling Barbarian; Theo Solomon played Wyll, the Fiendish Warlock; and Devora Wilde played Lae'zel, the Githyanki Fighter.

The adventure was called What We Do in The Shadow-Cursed Lands, and features the 2024 D&D rules.

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[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I learned during the Kickstarter that became Legend of Vox Machina, a single episode - with the players voicing their own characters - would have been $750-800k USD. The KS exploded, and they kept expanding it. It ended up with, I believe, over $12M -- which was enough to get Amazon to bankroll and get behind it.

So I don't think it's 'being allergic to the idea' as much as financials. Especially if you also go back and look at the history of the original D&D cartoon show in the 80s. The reason He-Man, GI Joe, and Transformers succeeded on tv were because they had active toy lines - or in GI Joe's case, active comic books - available to make money

It doesn't help that those cartoon shows were actually animated as little as possible. If they could have gotten away with still shots of the back of the Masters of the Universe discussing Eternian politics, they would have.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The game was based on early 5E lore (Volo's Guide To Monsters/Mordenkainen's Tome Of Foes etc) which has now been expunged from 'official' D&D.

I don't recall Volo's or Tome of Foes having a section on "all NPCs want to have sex with your PCs five minutes after meeting them."

 

[dbm]

WotC seem to be keen on multi-media leveraging of the D&D brand so they need to do something with their IP in a different media at some point…

 

[AK_Ambrian]

Lae'zel plushies.

 

[FoolishFrost]

You know, a cartoon, lower decks style, would do VERY well with these voice actors.

Just saying.

I mean, the market is already tested and primed on multiple threads. They would just have to be willing to embrace the cringe.

 

[Mort]

Unless Larian Studios got involved with the writing, which I don't think they would, I don't think it would be the same unfortunately. Baldur's Gate 3's plot points, character developments and lore have aspects which I don't think WotC is comfortable doing anymore. The game was based on early 5E lore (Volo's Guide To Monsters/Mordenkainen's Tome Of Foes etc) which has now been expunged from 'official' D&D.

Not sure where you're getting that from?

Phandelver and Below was put out by WoTC just last year. The plot points and developments are quite similar and

Spoiler

the adventure leans into body horror as much or more than BG3.

 

[Seramus]

Do NOT get her wet, and do NOT feed her after midnight!

 

[MarkB]

You know, a cartoon, lower decks style, would do VERY well with these voice actors.

Just saying.

I mean, the market is already tested and primed on multiple threads. They would just have to be willing to embrace the cringe.

What would the premise be? The current one-offs by WotC slot nicely into some downtime between adventures with the main character, but these characters don't come together until the events of the game, and split off in various directions afterwards (if they survive).

So, you'd probably need to either do some kind of "ten years later" reunion of certain versions of these characters, or you'd need to place an entire series within the timeline of the main game, without just being a retread of the same events. That's going to be awkward to do either way.

 

[FoolishFrost]

Or... just ignore all that, and have them meet up and run like the dysfunctional trainwreck they are? You're applying logic to comedic buggery.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Do NOT get her wet, and do NOT feed her after midnight!

There's a joke in there somewhere I can't quite put my finger on.