Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;817395That sounds like a terrible movie.

Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;817476You would be correct. What makes for good gaming makes for a terrible film, movie, comic, or novel.

Very likely the case, but it is what DnD uniquely brings to the entertainment table.  It will, at least, showcase what the brand actually brings to fantasy.  

Fantasy flicks have a terrible track record.  For the bare handful of Game of Throneses there are a mountainful of John Carters, and so, odds are another DnD would be the latter.  

And if it is near predestined to be not so good, at least it can give a big screen viewing of the game's central activity.

Quote from: Old One Eye;817499Very likely the case, but it is what DnD uniquely brings to the entertainment table.  It will, at least, showcase what the brand actually brings to fantasy.  

Fantasy flicks have a terrible track record.  For the bare handful of Game of Throneses there are a mountainful of John Carters, and so, odds are another DnD would be the latter.  

And if it is near predestined to be not so good, at least it can give a big screen viewing of the game's central activity.

The problem is that games and movies are entertaining for different reasons. D&D like the way you described is fun because YOU are the characters, YOU are pitting your wits against the dungeon, YOU lost a PC if you fucked up.

In a movie it's just watching a bunch of nobodies die over and over like a bad B grade horror movie.

As a movie it would need a story to captivate the imagination, like a campaign.

Yeah, but Cube was pretty cool.

You need some nifty hooks, good writing...

Quote from: Old One Eye;817392It is a good thing that no DnD movies are on the horizon, they would only cheapen the brand.  Were one to be made, it would be just one more lame fantasy movie like hordes of others that we already have.

The DnD movie that needs to be made will not be regardess of who owns the rights.  It should be pure DnD dungeon crawl without any care for plot.  It should be a party of 4-5 main characters with 4-5 retainers going through tunnels and caves, figuring their way past traps and monsters in their quest for sweet loot.  Action scenes and special effects being important, not plot and character development.  And they should all die in the dungeon ending in TPK and end with the question of who next is brave enough to enter.

A DnD movie should showcase the dungeon as the main 'character' and the only plot to explore it for the loot.  And that movie will never be made.

I'd rather see a film version of the D&D cartoon.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;817395That sounds like a terrible movie.

It really depends. Imagine if the 5 people trapped in the Dungeon were Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylon Moran, Bill Bailey, and Tamsin Grieg. And ignore the whole "no character development" BS; thats not even remotely true of any good D&D game. I'd watch the hell out of that.


Or, alternately, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Lee, Christopher Walken, Cate Blanchett, and Mr. T as the dwarf.

Quote from: TristramEvans;817532I'd rather see a film version of the D&D cartoon.

The group that did the live action segment "Choices" that was included with the D&D Cartoon series DVD was working on a live action adaption of Treasure of Tardos. I still have the behind the scenes video. I knew the producer back then as I was lining up funding to help get it done. But things never panned out and he moved on to other projects. Havent heard from him since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWkFeEmO_i4

Their choice for Eric was spot on.

Quote from: Omega;817551The group that did the live action segment "Choices" that was included with the D&D Cartoon series DVD was working on a live action adaption of Treasure of Tardos. I still have the behind the scenes video. I knew the producer back then as I was lining up funding to help get it done. But things never panned out and he moved on to other projects. Havent heard from him since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWkFeEmO_i4

Their choice for Eric was spot on.

Good stuff. Would be nice to see that project come through

Okay, things I think absolutely have to be in a Dungeons & Dragons movie.  dungeons, dragons, wizards, warriors, elves, dwarves, and orcs of some variety.

If you absolutely can't do the players around the table with a back and forth between the settings or the players being sucked into the fantasy world, you're stuck with doing a straight up map fantasy movie.

I'd suggest the scope be low key and gritty rather than epic.  I would want to see some actual dungeon crawling with traps and monsters and listening at doors and I would want a sense of claustrophobia to it.  Who knew all of Middle Earth's mountains were hollow vacuformed props.  Actually I think I'd go with elemental evil as the thematic villain.  A sense of weight and darkness to the whole thing.  Arcane runes scratched into everything.

So what's the plot?  Well let's take a page from Firefly, a group of misfits with their own agendas.  The dungeon is there, it's been there a long time and occasionally desperate people head into it looking for wealth and occasionally, some of them come back with riches but not as many as don't.

The paladin wants to find out what ancient evil lies beyond the surface ruins to destroy it.  The wizard is looking for ancient knowledge.  The dwarf wants treasure.  The fighter is looking beyond hope to find a lost parent or sibling.  And they go in, and they fight goblins and skeletons and trolls and berserkers and shriekers and ropers and even a dragon without ever glimpsing the source of the evil.  It's a diabolical almost-wonderland down there but at times there are faint echoes of evil laughter and eerie music in the background. And when they return to town with riches and knowledge and glory and the rescued sibling, they soon turn around and go back because it holds them and they can't let it go and as we fade into darkness as our heroes walk back towards the gateway we hear faint evil laughter and a bit of eerie music.

Quote from: Will;817511Yeah, but Cube was pretty cool.

You need some nifty hooks, good writing...

Cube is exactly what has made me want the DnD delve movie for the past decade or however long.

Also, in the back of my head I keep thinking you could draw in some parallels and fear element of Vietnamese Củ Chi tunnels, the underground city of Derinkuyu in Anatolia, the spelunking horror movie The Descent, and so on.

A mix of humor, adventure, and horror... I think you could do something interesting.

I mean, hell, there's a movie out recently about dystopian future shapeshifting mazes... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790864/

Quote from: Old One Eye;817392A DnD movie should showcase the dungeon as the main 'character' and the only plot to explore it for the loot.  And that movie will never be made.

I never thought DnD makes a good basis for a movie as its a rules system and a handful of formulas like this one. But what about if they were based around published campaigns or classic adventures, and adhered to these DnD specific ones? What about a Tomb of Horrors movie? G/D/Q series?

As Will mentioned, the Cube story line is kind of an inverse dungeon; "escape from X" is nothing new. Also, the "collection of gold diggers get their comeuppance" one is usable.

For something like the classic adventure route, Id rather see something more serialized on TV, with an ensemble cast. Some characters die. Others have to leave for extended training but return later. You could also have episodes that mix dungeon time, training time, and massive story arc stuff.

A TV series based around GDQ could be doable.

I suppose another question is how to distinguish a D&D movie from any other fantasy movie.

Having wizards operate like D&D wizards would be one step -- in most fantasy movies wizard magic doesn't operate anything like D&D. Possibly also the D&D Cleric.

I'd have a bunch of adventurers in a tavern, each telling stories about the horrible things they saw "down there" and the grisly fates their companions met. Feature vignettes with mindflayers, beholders, oozes, lurkers, etc. Finish it up with the one guy who saw a dragon, though no one else believes him. Have one of the first stories be basically a retelling of the Bargle/Aleena adventure from the Red Box.

Bear in mind that a D&D movie can be done properly because it has been done in the form of the Record of Lodoss War animated series in Japan. That is based directly on transcribed BX D&D adventures.

Personally I'd have liked to have seen more D&D movies from the 2nd D&D movie crew as they seemed to have the right grasp that time of what to do. Without WOTC meddling. And part of the first ones failure was WOTC's fault.

Quote from: TristramEvans;817662I'd have a bunch of adventurers in a tavern, each telling stories about the horrible things they saw "down there" and the grisly fates their companions met. Feature vignettes with mindflayers, beholders, oozes, lurkers, etc. Finish it up with the one guy who saw a dragon, though no one else believes him. Have one of the first stories be basically a retelling of the Bargle/Aleena adventure from the Red Box.

You know, with really good actors, script, and director, you could probably pull that off with a very modest budget and make a great movie.