D&D General What *is* D&D? (mild movie spoilers)

[Paul Farquhar]

Note that not being interested in learning a particular new thing (watching a soccer movie) doesn't mean you're not learning other new things

Very true*, but the posts I was responding to expressed an aversion to trying new things in general, not just one in particular.


*I did decline to join my partner on a hot air balloon ride.

 

[ilgatto]

Ignoring the debate regarding if RoP is actually Tolkien, it's certainly Tolkienish. Low magic. Medieval tech, classic races (dwarf, elf, orc, hobbit) in their traditional roles. You could, with enough adjustments, make a D&D movie using those exact elements.

Heh. I was going to argue that TRoP is actually more like what one could expect from a high-fantasy movie - and therefore, perhaps even a D&D movie - but I thought better of it for many reasons.

Personally, I'm glad they went the opposite and embraced the more gonzo elements and made it feel different than something like RoP.

I've wondered what a "D&D movie" should look like and I can't really come to a conclusion. I mean, there's so many things one can consider D&D that the whole thing is probably a matter of taste. I suppose one could even argue that the first D&D movie is actually very much D&D because of its attempt to tell a heroic and fantastic story ... and then failing.

As far as the D&D movie is concerned, I've always thought it was gonna be a Marvel-esque collection of video clips one after the other, with some clever dialogue and monsters and things D&D in it instead of superheroes. Hollywood and the streamers have become quite good at this these days and that, combined with the CGI of today, made me hope that it would be an enjoyable experience. Judging by what I've heard and read so far, it seems that the movie is quite good at what it does, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing it.

 

[DND_Reborn]

@DND_Reborn I'm quoting you because this almost perfectly sums up what I loved about the movie and how I like to play D&D (other than not including trolls, those are excellent monsters). I've always been drawn to the more gonzo elements of D&D (dating back to '88) and am personally happy with the direction of the brand. Not trying to change your opinion, nor would I want to! There is too little time in the day to engage with content you don't enjoy (which is why I stopped watching HoD after 3 episodes, it made me miserable).

I know such things appeal to a lot of D&D players. But I don't think you can say the movie represents what D&D is, but it certainly is what D&D can be if that is what you want. As I said in my first post, it is one of the most marvelous qualities of the game--it can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

 

[Minato]

Ignoring the debate regarding if RoP is actually Tolkien, it's certainly Tolkienish. Low magic. Medieval tech, classic races (dwarf, elf, orc, hobbit) in their traditional roles. You could, with enough adjustments, make a D&D movie using those exact elements. Personally, I'm glad they went the opposite and embraced the more gonzo elements and made it feel different than something like RoP.

Honestly the special effects of this movie just aren't that high budget. They do have a dwarf, and he is on screen for basically as long as the Tabaxi. The Dragonborn and the Aaracokra are part of longer scenes. None of them look convincing enough that they would have done well as main partymembers. To say nothing of the effect they use for the Halfling, infinitely worse then a movie that was made a full 2 decades prior. The arena puzzle is the kind of special effect they were just capable of doing well, I don't think people should be taking it as such a statement of what D&D ought to be by the creators rather then the moviemakers playing to their strengths.

And does it really matter that Simon is half elf sorcerer rather then full elf wizard? His ears aren't any different from Galadriels.

 

[ad_hoc]

Simon's power was innate, a product of his lineage, and inhibited by his lack of confidence (Charisma) and apparent wild magic. Sorcerer feels appropriate, especially since he didn't seem the kind to study books and instead winged it by natural talent.

Oh yeah I get that they went sorcerer.

They could have done the same arc as a wizard though and he relied heavily on components, items, and knowledge/lore of magic and magic items.

 

[Hussar]

I know such things appeal to a lot of D&D players. But I don't think you can say the movie represents what D&D is, but it certainly is what D&D can be if that is what you want. As I said in my first post, it is one of the most marvelous qualities of the game--it can be a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

I think what’s getting the most push back is that the DnD movie represents a change in what DnD means. As if in the past DnD was one thing and now it is different.

I really disagree with that. DnD has always been gonzo weird. It didn’t have to be, of course. Any table could do what it wanted. But the gonzo was always there.

But that doesn’t fit with the”kids these days” narrative that gets heavily pushed to resist what is seen as changes in the game. So gonzo weird gets painted as “not really DnD” in order to try to make a particular style of DnD the “true DnD”.

 

[JohnSnow]

I think what’s getting the most push back is that the DnD movie represents a change in what DnD means. As if in the past DnD was one thing and now it is different.

I really disagree with that. DnD has always been gonzo weird. It didn’t have to be, of course. Any table could do what it wanted. But the gonzo was always there.

But that doesn’t fit with the”kids these days” narrative that gets heavily pushed to resist what is seen as changes in the game. So gonzo weird gets painted as “not really DnD” in order to try to make a particular style of DnD the “true DnD”.

And I don't even know that the movie is that gonzo/weird.

The characters mostly travel by horse, there's a balloon but no airships, no long-distance teleportation, very few magic items, and the only flight is due to either the Druid's Wildshape or one highjacked Aarokocra. Like, it's awesome and whacky, but it's not that gonzo.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Of course, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Perhaps I saw a joke when there wasn't one?

I think you may have interpreted an analogy intended to make a point as if it were a general aversion to learning. I don't think DND_Reborn meant the football analogy as a statement of general principle, just an illustration of how their lack of interest in this movie is not intended as an attack on other people's interest in it.

(FTR: I say "their" because "they" has a centuries-long history as the English pronoun for indeterminate gender, despite what your grade school teacher may have told you, but I am 90% certain DND-Reborn is male.)

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

snip

Most people will go through their whole lives and never see actual magic or a Beholder or a Dragon or a Mimic etc.

Those who live in a major city will of course see more stuff. Even the peasants because that's where all the action is. Snip

[Tangent]

In gameworlds as I build them, people who live in a major city are by far the LEAST likely to run into deadly monsters like beholders, dragons, vampires, etc. The whole point of the armies of civilization is to keep those things far far away.

The people who are most likely to get eaten by a vampire if they step outside after dark, or turned into a toad by a hag, or eaten by a carnivorous psionic ape--those are the people who live on the frontier. (Which BTW acts as a population sink--most people on the frontier aren't descended primarily from the frontiersmen of 100 years ago but from people who failed economically at city/suburban life in one way or another and were forced to move to the frontier to make ends meet. Third sons, disgraced apprentices, etc. It's good, historically-sound logic AND good gaming backstory.)

P.S. On Earth it went the other way--cities were population sinks due to poor sanitation and disease. But the principle of population flowing "downhill" is sound.

[/Tangent]

 

[cbwjm]

I will say, when I watched the movie last night, it did feel very much DnD. If I hadn't known anything about the movie going in, I think I would have found it instantly recognisable.