New D&D movie

fearsomepirate · November 14, 2017, 04:48:39 PM

There is easily enough material in the first DL trilogy to make some good movies. It really depends on what material they go with. Two and a half hours is roughly enough time to gather your party, get into trouble and get chased out of the tree town, meet up with Barbarian Babe and Barbarian Dude, get into a sword fight or two, discover the Mystical Undergound city, get the fuck blasted out of you by a big ol' black dragon, use DA POWAH OF DA ORB to get him back, then go riding back to Not Helm's Deep to stab a dragon in the face and kill the evil cleric.

Depending on the writer, director, and actors, you've got anything from a summer blockbuster to total dog crap on your hands.

Voros · November 14, 2017, 09:17:12 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1007658...a set of adventures meant to force players to closely imitate the exact details of those novels.

Much repeated but not actually true. What 'exact details' are the characters forced to imitate? Characters and NPCs can die, lose major battles, etc. Seems to me most who say this have only read or played the first one or two modules. The modules are flawed but at least criticize them with some accuracy not broad innaccurate generalizations.

Bren · November 14, 2017, 09:27:20 PM

But broad, inaccurate generalizations are so much easier to make.

Armchair Gamer · November 14, 2017, 09:51:43 PM

Quote from: Voros;1007861Much repeated but not actually true. What 'exact details' are the characters forced to imitate? Characters and NPCs can die, lose major battles, etc. Seems to me most who say this have only read or played the first one or two modules. The modules are flawed but at least criticize them with some accuracy not broad innaccurate generalizations.

You do have the 'obscure death' rule for the first half of the series, as well as the 'hordes of draconians on every other path' in DL1, IIRC. I can see those annoying devotees of the sandbox/clockwork "No DM intervention once the scenario is in motion" school(s) of gaming. But the flaws have grown in the telling, given that only 2 of the modules map tightly to the novels.

Voros · November 14, 2017, 10:17:00 PM

The killer Draconians and obscure death rule are certainly terrible but note that even the obscure death rule is presented as optional, it states you can simply replace NPCs with alternates and that the obscure death rule can be skipped. Plus the 3e revision removes both of those elements. And as you say there is a clear effort to increase player agency in the original modules as they advance.

rgrove0172 · November 14, 2017, 11:06:40 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1007658Regardless of whether it was a campaign or not first (and I'd have some serious doubts about just how similar any 'initial DL campaign' was to what we actually saw in print), in terms of what people actually experienced what we saw was a trilogy of novels and a set of adventures meant to force players to closely imitate the exact details of those novels.

And they were a blast to play, no denying that. Compared to most of the modules of the day they were a whole other league.

RPGPundit · November 17, 2017, 05:40:33 AM

Quote from: fearsomepirate;1007820Depending on the writer, director, and actors, you've got anything from a summer blockbuster to total dog crap on your hands.

Here's the thing: fantasy as a genre has been done a lot, lately. In movies and TV. And dragonlance is super-formulaic generic fantasy. It offers nothing new. If it was spectacularly written and directed with a great cast and (especially) great special effects, it would at most be a mediocre hit. That's the best it can aim for. Because people have already watched Lord of the Rings.

Voros · November 17, 2017, 08:36:43 AM

Despite the success of GoT and LoTR there have actually been very few big budget ambitious fantasy films in recent years. Warcraft is the only one that comes to mind and of course that was a flop from all indications. I think fantasy is still a genre producers are leery of, most of the films tend to be B-films even today. Even in TV it is really superheroes and sf that are dominant, not fantasy.

tenbones · November 17, 2017, 12:52:10 PM

Let's be positive! (LOLOLOL)

So... who is gonna start with their casting wishlist?

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Headless · November 17, 2017, 01:02:41 PM

The Rock for Carmen

Idrus Elba for Tanis

tenbones · November 17, 2017, 01:25:30 PM

Quote from: Headless;1008259The Rock for Carmen

Idrus Elba for Tanis

Dragonlance needs this kind of diversity.

Headless · November 17, 2017, 02:46:53 PM

Tom Cruise for Flint. He's old enough and short enough.

fearsomepirate · November 17, 2017, 05:18:57 PM

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Caramon.

Doom · November 17, 2017, 05:32:30 PM

Jared Leto as Raistlin.

Dirk Remmecke · November 17, 2017, 06:02:53 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1008219Here's the thing: fantasy as a genre has been done a lot, lately. In movies and TV. And dragonlance is super-formulaic generic fantasy. It offers nothing new.

But then - the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe is made from super-formulaic generic superhero stories.
It's the actors, the writing (dialog and characters, not plot) that make it work.

(Look at DC for an example that doesn't.)

A D&D movie (DL or not) with the spirit and chemistry of Iron Man, The Avengers, The Guardians of the Galaxy? Incredibly hard to pull off, but possible. And DL has the characters for that type of movie.