Chaosmancer
Legend
So reading through this entire thread, and pulling upon other thoughts I've had for a while, this would be my pitch to the producers (not an elevator pitch, I find those too punchy)
The characters aren't heroes on a grand quest, they are mercenaries and the naive one who hired them.
Reasoning: Lord of the Rings is about epic heroes (as is Warcraft, Star Wars ect), Game of Thrones is about political machinations, how do you muscle into that territory? You make it about average people. This team of adventurers isn't particularly good, but they are a tightly honed group with specific skills. And, 75% of all DnD campaigns are about mercs anyways, so it fits. We need the Naive one though, the character who is the audience stand in so we can explain things. This is the character who is going to ask the cynical and effective mercs why sneaking away from the gnoll pack is smarter than talking to them. We need to see inside this group and learn how they work, and they aren't going to be talking to each other about things we know.
We should avoid elves and dwarves, tieflings and gnomes would be awesome, maybe Goliaths. The Human should not be the leader.
Reasoning: Well, other fantasy races are done a lot. Dwarves and Elves are so ubiquitous that you can't say the word fantasy without getting hit in the face with them. Gnomes making crazy inventions has been done, but I think it is always fun. The real subtle punch could be the Tiefling though. It is a dangerous move (a devil! in a movie about magic! Burn them all!) but it taps into a social pressure we are currently facing. Tieflings didn't make any choices to be the way they are, it was the choices of their ancestors which led them to be hated and ostracized, it taps that "I didn't ask to be born this way" feeling, and we don't have to be heavy handed about it.
And yeah, we always want to have the human guy leading the group of "others", but if we want to stand out, the human isn't the leader. Make the Goliath or the Tiefling the leader of the group, the one with the charisma to get these personalities to mesh.
The quest should be simple, with the bad guys being a different group or force. A fetch quest is good, or delivering some missive through dangerous lands. Maybe the naive one needs to go and identify something, or investigate some strange occurrence. Whatever it is, don't make it complicated. And for enemies, I like the idea of Mind Flayers, maybe demons. A powerful mastermind with a lieutenant who dogs the groups steps, turning different forces against them.
Important note: KEEP THE MASTERMIND HIDDEN! We want that reveal when the figure in the shadows steps out and has a squid-face, or maybe we see them the entire time, but in the final confrontation they reveal they were a dragon the entire time. We want to shock the group and the audience when they see just what they are up against. And building dread by keeping the biggest threat out of sight is really effective.
Don't do stupid cliches. Don't have one of the party members betray the group for some material reward, maybe have an epic moment where the lieutenant tries it but gets shot down. We want to identify with the group as a whole, and this is a brotherhood, a fellowship, and it shouldn't be a sack of gold or an ancient text away from imploding.
Let them be epic.
IF we go with a classic 4 or 5 man party, then let the fighter open their intro to the group by effortlessly taking out some bandits. Let the wise-cracking rogue be sitting on the sidelines making fun the entire time, until he pulls the trigger on a hidden crossbow and finishes the last one off with a perfect strike. Let the mage wow us with magic and the cleric call down fury with their prayers (barring the fighter, mage, or cleric being the naive one [never let the rogue be the naive one, they are the cynical expert{Unless they are a cute child like thing/orphan}]). We want to see a competent band who can handle themselves in a world as dangerous as DnD. Then, when we get to the end, and they are feeling overwhelmed, it feels somewhat intense. These are the guys who took on that entire pack of gnolls with barely a sweat, now they are freaking out, this thing must be strong. It is a cheap trick, but most tricks are cheap and they still work.
The rest is just a balancing act, and that is the part where professional move makers make magic.
The characters aren't heroes on a grand quest, they are mercenaries and the naive one who hired them.
Reasoning: Lord of the Rings is about epic heroes (as is Warcraft, Star Wars ect), Game of Thrones is about political machinations, how do you muscle into that territory? You make it about average people. This team of adventurers isn't particularly good, but they are a tightly honed group with specific skills. And, 75% of all DnD campaigns are about mercs anyways, so it fits. We need the Naive one though, the character who is the audience stand in so we can explain things. This is the character who is going to ask the cynical and effective mercs why sneaking away from the gnoll pack is smarter than talking to them. We need to see inside this group and learn how they work, and they aren't going to be talking to each other about things we know.
We should avoid elves and dwarves, tieflings and gnomes would be awesome, maybe Goliaths. The Human should not be the leader.
Reasoning: Well, other fantasy races are done a lot. Dwarves and Elves are so ubiquitous that you can't say the word fantasy without getting hit in the face with them. Gnomes making crazy inventions has been done, but I think it is always fun. The real subtle punch could be the Tiefling though. It is a dangerous move (a devil! in a movie about magic! Burn them all!) but it taps into a social pressure we are currently facing. Tieflings didn't make any choices to be the way they are, it was the choices of their ancestors which led them to be hated and ostracized, it taps that "I didn't ask to be born this way" feeling, and we don't have to be heavy handed about it.
And yeah, we always want to have the human guy leading the group of "others", but if we want to stand out, the human isn't the leader. Make the Goliath or the Tiefling the leader of the group, the one with the charisma to get these personalities to mesh.
The quest should be simple, with the bad guys being a different group or force. A fetch quest is good, or delivering some missive through dangerous lands. Maybe the naive one needs to go and identify something, or investigate some strange occurrence. Whatever it is, don't make it complicated. And for enemies, I like the idea of Mind Flayers, maybe demons. A powerful mastermind with a lieutenant who dogs the groups steps, turning different forces against them.
Important note: KEEP THE MASTERMIND HIDDEN! We want that reveal when the figure in the shadows steps out and has a squid-face, or maybe we see them the entire time, but in the final confrontation they reveal they were a dragon the entire time. We want to shock the group and the audience when they see just what they are up against. And building dread by keeping the biggest threat out of sight is really effective.
Don't do stupid cliches. Don't have one of the party members betray the group for some material reward, maybe have an epic moment where the lieutenant tries it but gets shot down. We want to identify with the group as a whole, and this is a brotherhood, a fellowship, and it shouldn't be a sack of gold or an ancient text away from imploding.
Let them be epic.
IF we go with a classic 4 or 5 man party, then let the fighter open their intro to the group by effortlessly taking out some bandits. Let the wise-cracking rogue be sitting on the sidelines making fun the entire time, until he pulls the trigger on a hidden crossbow and finishes the last one off with a perfect strike. Let the mage wow us with magic and the cleric call down fury with their prayers (barring the fighter, mage, or cleric being the naive one [never let the rogue be the naive one, they are the cynical expert{Unless they are a cute child like thing/orphan}]). We want to see a competent band who can handle themselves in a world as dangerous as DnD. Then, when we get to the end, and they are feeling overwhelmed, it feels somewhat intense. These are the guys who took on that entire pack of gnolls with barely a sweat, now they are freaking out, this thing must be strong. It is a cheap trick, but most tricks are cheap and they still work.
The rest is just a balancing act, and that is the part where professional move makers make magic.
