I don't know if I'd necessarily want to see a direct sequel, but I'd be happy if the team behind the camera and story did another one in a couple of years, I guess the plan would be to do "maybe somewhere else" as a setting if box office was encouraging, but I'm reading in this thread that it doesn't look like it is.
Personally, I would rather they didn’t do a direct sequel with the same party - this was a delightful party and a lot of fun to watch, but they all had their major conflicts resolved. They had a satisfying end to their campaign - a new party could take up the mantle and stop the next Red Wizards threat.
Xenk, as a DM PC, could easily return in a similar role - using a DM PC to tie together different campaigns is a long-standing D&D staple, and he’s the only character whose conflict really still exists.
I don't know if I'd necessarily want to see a direct sequel, but I'd be happy if the team behind the camera and story did another one in a couple of years, I guess the plan would be to do "maybe somewhere else" as a setting if box office was encouraging, but I'm reading in this thread that it doesn't look like it is.
Personally, I would rather they didn’t do a direct sequel with the same party - this was a delightful party and a lot of fun to watch, but they all had their major conflicts resolved. They had a satisfying end to their campaign - a new party could take up the mantle and stop the next Red Wizards threat.
Xenk, as a DM PC, could easily return in a similar role - using a DM PC to tie together different campaigns is a long-standing D&D staple, and he’s the only character whose conflict really still exists.
To me, this seems like the model. A different party somewhere else, also dealing with Thay. Sass Tam is Thanos. Xenk is nick fury. The model is already there.
I don't know if I'd necessarily want to see a direct sequel, but I'd be happy if the team behind the camera and story did another one in a couple of years, I guess the plan would be to do "maybe somewhere else" as a setting if box office was encouraging, but I'm reading in this thread that it doesn't look like it is.
Personally, I would rather they didn’t do a direct sequel with the same party - this was a delightful party and a lot of fun to watch, but they all had their major conflicts resolved. They had a satisfying end to their campaign - a new party could take up the mantle and stop the next Red Wizards threat.
Xenk, as a DM PC, could easily return in a similar role - using a DM PC to tie together different campaigns is a long-standing D&D staple, and he’s the only character whose conflict really still exists.
To me, this seems like the model. A different party somewhere else, also dealing with Thay. Sass Tam is Thanos. Xenk is nick fury. The model is already there.
Yeah I mean different party, by "team behind the camera" I might writers, directors etc. And again, I can't remember where I saw it, but I think I remember a comment saying a follow up movie could be set in another D&D world.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I just watched the movie and I loved it. :) They used the right blend of humor and action and still managed to make it feel like it was a real D&D party.
I know some people don't feel the same way as me, but how everyone feels about this is all subjective. If enough people like the thing, then that's probably for a reason.
This completely feels like D&D. The laughs, the chaos, the Plan As Plan Bs Plan Cs and Plan Ds. The Mimic, the Displacer Beasts, the Intellect Devourers, and the messed up Speak With Dead are all commonly used elements of games.
Oh, I forgot to mention the Ancient Red Dragon that attacked the party. If dragons aren't a symbol of Dungeons & Dragons, then I honestly don't know what to say.
I liked how it started sort of meta with a character's extensive back story in front of a group of adjudicators who really want to get things going along....
Yeah, I really enjoyed the whole opening sequence of events. What makes it even better is that an adventure about breaking into the very same prison the characters are in is available on D&D Beyond for free.
I don't know if I'd necessarily want to see a direct sequel, but I'd be happy if the team behind the camera and story did another one in a couple of years, I guess the plan would be to do "maybe somewhere else" as a setting if box office was encouraging, but I'm reading in this thread that it doesn't look like it is.
Personally, I would rather they didn’t do a direct sequel with the same party - this was a delightful party and a lot of fun to watch, but they all had their major conflicts resolved. They had a satisfying end to their campaign - a new party could take up the mantle and stop the next Red Wizards threat.
Xenk, as a DM PC, could easily return in a similar role - using a DM PC to tie together different campaigns is a long-standing D&D staple, and he’s the only character whose conflict really still exists.
Yes, I agree that these heroes' adventure has been finished, and reviving their story is unnecessary. As for Xenk, I will definitely be considering trying to find a way to work him into my campaign.
I don't know if I'd necessarily want to see a direct sequel, but I'd be happy if the team behind the camera and story did another one in a couple of years, I guess the plan would be to do "maybe somewhere else" as a setting if box office was encouraging, but I'm reading in this thread that it doesn't look like it is.
Personally, I would rather they didn’t do a direct sequel with the same party - this was a delightful party and a lot of fun to watch, but they all had their major conflicts resolved. They had a satisfying end to their campaign - a new party could take up the mantle and stop the next Red Wizards threat.
Xenk, as a DM PC, could easily return in a similar role - using a DM PC to tie together different campaigns is a long-standing D&D staple, and he’s the only character whose conflict really still exists.
To me, this seems like the model. A different party somewhere else, also dealing with Thay. Sass Tam is Thanos. Xenk is nick fury. The model is already there.
Yeah I mean different party, by "team behind the camera" I might writers, directors etc. And again, I can't remember where I saw it, but I think I remember a comment saying a follow up movie could be set in another D&D world.
I’d love it in a different world. My thought going in had been putting it in the FR is going to make it pretty generic fantasy, which it kind of was. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was great. But if they’d put it in Dark Sun, or Ravinca or Eberron, it might have really stood out as something different. The problem there gets to be the world building, do enough to make it different and you bog down the story.
I’d love it in a different world. My thought going in had been putting it in the FR is going to make it pretty generic fantasy, which it kind of was. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was great. But if they’d put it in Dark Sun, or Ravinca or Eberron, it might have really stood out as something different. The problem there gets to be the world building, do enough to make it different and you bog down the story.
Dark Sun is off-putting, Ravnica is from a completely different game and doesn’t fit with the general vibe people expect from D&D, and Eberron, while a great campaign setting, is more technologically advanced than the casual non-D&D-player expects out of the game, making it less accessible to a general audience.
Forgotten Realms is a bit generic, but that is exactly what makes it perfect for a D&D movie - it is accessible, familiar to both players and non-players alike, and gives off the vibes that one expects when they think “D&D.” If you’re trying to make something which players will appreciate and non-players will understand, you simply cannot do better than FR.
I’d love it in a different world. My thought going in had been putting it in the FR is going to make it pretty generic fantasy, which it kind of was. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was great. But if they’d put it in Dark Sun, or Ravinca or Eberron, it might have really stood out as something different. The problem there gets to be the world building, do enough to make it different and you bog down the story.
Dark Sun is off-putting, Ravnica is from a completely different game and doesn’t fit with the general vibe people expect from D&D, and Eberron, while a great campaign setting, is more technologically advanced than the casual non-D&D-player expects out of the game, making it less accessible to a general audience.
Forgotten Realms is a bit generic, but that is exactly what makes it perfect for a D&D movie - it is accessible, familiar to both players and non-players alike, and gives off the vibes that one expects when they think “D&D.” If you’re trying to make something which players will appreciate and non-players will understand, you simply cannot do better than FR.
That’s all true (though while Dark Sun might be off putting, Mad Max made buckets of money). But the idea of them being different from what people expect is my point. You put it in FR, and it comes across as just another fantasy movie. People have seen them before, and they’re all pretty much the same. But make it, I dunno, a noir detective story in eberron, and that gets their attention. It shows off how different the game can be, and that it doesn’t have to be elves and halflings on an epic quest to save the world from some ancient evil. I mean, that’s been the plot of 95% of fantasy since Tolkien. A band of unlikely heroes has been done. That’s one of the reasons, imo, game of thrones did so well. Yeah, there was an ancient evil, and one or two scenes with elf-adjacent creatures, but they kind of hid it for a while, so it seemed new and fresh. Not that it matters too much, looks like it’s at a hair more than 130M globally. It will probably make back the 145M production costs, but isn’t likely to turn a profit when you account for marketing. Another movie seems like a hard sell, which is a shame.
That’s all true (though while Dark Sun might be off putting, Mad Max made buckets of money).
Genre-mashing is very risky from a Hollywood perspective, especially when the two genres in question are already seen as risky in the first place
Dark Sun might work as a pitch to Netflix, but it's never going to be on the big screen
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
That’s all true (though while Dark Sun might be off putting, Mad Max made buckets of money).
Genre-mashing is very risky from a Hollywood perspective, especially when the two genres in question are already seen as risky in the first place
Dark Sun might work as a pitch to Netflix, but it's never going to be on the big screen
True. Especially since they’re not going to have a dark Sun setting to sell along with it. Still, there are published worlds that would let them break out of the traditional fantasy mold. But you’re right about the inherent risk there.
Still can't find the article where I found "different worlds" as a possibility for a sequel, but I think one way they could (if it were greenlit, acknowledging the box office numbers may not help those odds) do it, and it there were two years out, also tie into the alleged Vecna products we may be getting with the edition revision, is the sequel would start with the FR and the Thay threat, but ultimately winds up on another plane contending with Vecna.
Also, speaking of Thay and Vecna just want to re-ask something I asked about in my earlier comment:
One thing that sorta pulled me out of the movie, did the artwork depicting the Red Wizards always have a sort of aesthetic evocative of let's call it the "Stranger Things look" or is that D&D just sort of adapting to popular imagination.
I could also see whatever TV/streaming production deal in place possibly going an anthology route, capturing/adapting the tropes of "one shots" only to have it turn out that there is some sort of unified thing going on and the show's basically an elaborate "West Marches". That could allow multiple locations if not multiple settings.
Still can't find the article where I found "different worlds" as a possibility for a sequel, but I think one way they could (if it were greenlit, acknowledging the box office numbers may not help those odds) do it, and it there were two years out, also tie into the alleged Vecna products we may be getting with the edition revision, is the sequel would start with the FR and the Thay threat, but ultimately winds up on another plane contending with Vecna.
Also, speaking of Thay and Vecna just want to re-ask something I asked about in my earlier comment:
One thing that sorta pulled me out of the movie, did the artwork depicting the Red Wizards always have a sort of aesthetic evocative of let's call it the "Stranger Things look" or is that D&D just sort of adapting to popular imagination.
I have no idea what "Stranger Things look" means cause I don't care for Stranger Things at all, but I went to the Forgotten Realms wiki and found some Red Wizards of Thay art from different editions, sources etc
4e Red Wizards
A red wizard on the cover of Dreams of the Red Wizards.
Just saw it for a second time and my God I thought it was EVEN BETTER than the first time I saw it, because last week I was in fear of being disappointed, but this time I knew the movie is an absolute blast. I would love to see the same party again, but I can see how a new "campaign" might be a better fit in every way. And while the movie didn't make ends meet on its own, Hasbro movies are there to sell the merch (and in this case Player's Handbooks) and in that department it is probably making a killing if the G.I. Joe movies are any indication.
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DM for life by choice, biggest fan of D&D specifically.
The plot is free of any glaring holes - which is more than can be said of most movies
It's genuinely funny
It's admirably loyal to it's source material, without being straight-jacketed by it, while also
Being loose enough on the 'game mechanics' that non-players can watch it and understand it
Frankly, I think it's perfect. Not the perfect movie - but perfect for the type of movie it is.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
The D&D movie I would have liked to see would have been completely different. I would have made a movie about a group of friends getting together to play D&D one last time to complete a long running campaign. Before they go off to college, or get married, (or whatever) and the group has to disband permanently. We would delve into an epic story of their characters going up against a BBEG... but go back to the beginning of their characters origins and see how they leveled up over time. See the various quests that led their characters to the battle with the BBEG. The movie would mostly play out in the fantasy world, but would flash to the "real" world on occasion where we could see the players play the game, and maybe even get into a standard D&D rules argument. This way we would actually understand this is a D&D movie and see how the game is played a little bit. But the real focus would be to get into the epic fantasy storyline. The "heart" of the movie would be about the friendships of the players (in real life and in the fantasy world) and the fact that they realize their gaming group and long-running campaign is coming to an end. I think this would have separated a D&D movie from all the other fantasy stuff out there and made it much more memorable.
Umm, isn’t kind of what D&D: HAT was, with the exception of the irl player flashbacks? A group of friends (they were a band of thieves in their background) against a BBEG (Thay Wizard) with flashbacks of their backstories and their friendship that evolves through the movie.
No, not at all the same thing. Not even close. That's like comparing Top Gun to the Iron Eagle movie. Not the same movie at all. Also the Thay Wizard was not a BBEG... that's just a random villain. Who the wizard works for is the BBEG.
Just saw it for a second time and my God I thought it was EVEN BETTER than the first time I saw it, because last week I was in fear of being disappointed, but this time I knew the movie is an absolute blast. I would love to see the same party again, but I can see how a new "campaign" might be a better fit in every way. And while the movie didn't make ends meet on its own, Hasbro movies are there to sell the merch (and in this case Player's Handbooks) and in that department it is probably making a killing if the G.I. Joe movies are any indication.
I cannot see anyone watching this movie and running out to play D&D for the first time. Wishful thinking at best. Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the info that Hasbro is making a killing from G.I. Joe movies. GI Joe toys are sold almost exclusively to people over 40 years of age. Kids aren't playing with G.I. Joe action figures anymore.
In case you haven't heard Hasbro has layed off 20% of the workforce in 2023... mainly from the toy divisions like Transformers, Nerf, MLP, and G.I. Joe that are tanking in profits!
I cannot see anyone watching this movie and running out to play D&D for the first time
I can actually confirm that since the movie released, we've had a noticeable uptick in people coming into the newcomers channel of the discord server asking about getting started with D&D, either for the first time ever or fifth edition for the first time. It's very much having that effect.
Making the movie be about a random group of actual D&D players would've been a horrible mess. I honestly think the movie was executed marvelously well. Was it a cinematic masterpiece that will be remembered for decades to come? No. But it does faithfully portray the kind of tom****ery a typical D&D party gets up to, shows a ragtag band of nitwits managing to Save the Realm through pluck, luck, and stubborn, and has enough nods to the tabletop game to satisfy players while not being incomprehensible to non-players. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and consider it a fine execution of D&D as a movie.
Side note, since this is a spoilers thread: I thoroughly appreciated the growth of Edgin in the wake of the final battle. He admits earlier in the movie (if to the wrong daughter) that he was chasing the Tablet of Reawakening not to resurrect his daughter's mother, but to resurrect his wife. That seemed like a distinction without meaning at the time, just semantic wordplay...but then Holga dies to a Red Wizard's blade and the choice becomes very, very real - Edgin could choose to save the Tablet and resurrect his wife...or he could use it to resurrect the woman who was in every way that counted Kira's mother.
Sure it wasn't particularly subtle, but not everything in a movie had to be, and frankly that scene was the epitome of D&D in a way. Does the bard complete his backstory quest, the fierce longing that spurred him to adventure in the first place? Or does he choose the allies he's made since, the woman his daughter needs rather than the woman he needs, and choose the future and his friends over his backstory? Is he a changed man, a better man, or still the bitter broken person he was back when this all started?
It was a perfectly satisfying moment and it made the end of the movie all the more enjoyable. Very well done from the team who made it.
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Personally, I would rather they didn’t do a direct sequel with the same party - this was a delightful party and a lot of fun to watch, but they all had their major conflicts resolved. They had a satisfying end to their campaign - a new party could take up the mantle and stop the next Red Wizards threat.
Xenk, as a DM PC, could easily return in a similar role - using a DM PC to tie together different campaigns is a long-standing D&D staple, and he’s the only character whose conflict really still exists.
To me, this seems like the model. A different party somewhere else, also dealing with Thay. Sass Tam is Thanos. Xenk is nick fury. The model is already there.
Yeah I mean different party, by "team behind the camera" I might writers, directors etc. And again, I can't remember where I saw it, but I think I remember a comment saying a follow up movie could be set in another D&D world.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Oh, I forgot to mention the Ancient Red Dragon that attacked the party. If dragons aren't a symbol of Dungeons & Dragons, then I honestly don't know what to say.
Yeah, I really enjoyed the whole opening sequence of events. What makes it even better is that an adventure about breaking into the very same prison the characters are in is available on D&D Beyond for free.
Yes, I agree that these heroes' adventure has been finished, and reviving their story is unnecessary. As for Xenk, I will definitely be considering trying to find a way to work him into my campaign.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
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HERE.If any of the "players" from the first movie come back, it should be a cameo as a level 20 shopkeeper.
I’d love it in a different world. My thought going in had been putting it in the FR is going to make it pretty generic fantasy, which it kind of was. Don’t get me wrong, I thought it was great. But if they’d put it in Dark Sun, or Ravinca or Eberron, it might have really stood out as something different. The problem there gets to be the world building, do enough to make it different and you bog down the story.
Dark Sun is off-putting, Ravnica is from a completely different game and doesn’t fit with the general vibe people expect from D&D, and Eberron, while a great campaign setting, is more technologically advanced than the casual non-D&D-player expects out of the game, making it less accessible to a general audience.
Forgotten Realms is a bit generic, but that is exactly what makes it perfect for a D&D movie - it is accessible, familiar to both players and non-players alike, and gives off the vibes that one expects when they think “D&D.” If you’re trying to make something which players will appreciate and non-players will understand, you simply cannot do better than FR.
That’s all true (though while Dark Sun might be off putting, Mad Max made buckets of money).
But the idea of them being different from what people expect is my point. You put it in FR, and it comes across as just another fantasy movie. People have seen them before, and they’re all pretty much the same. But make it, I dunno, a noir detective story in eberron, and that gets their attention. It shows off how different the game can be, and that it doesn’t have to be elves and halflings on an epic quest to save the world from some ancient evil. I mean, that’s been the plot of 95% of fantasy since Tolkien. A band of unlikely heroes has been done.
That’s one of the reasons, imo, game of thrones did so well. Yeah, there was an ancient evil, and one or two scenes with elf-adjacent creatures, but they kind of hid it for a while, so it seemed new and fresh.
Not that it matters too much, looks like it’s at a hair more than 130M globally. It will probably make back the 145M production costs, but isn’t likely to turn a profit when you account for marketing. Another movie seems like a hard sell, which is a shame.
Genre-mashing is very risky from a Hollywood perspective, especially when the two genres in question are already seen as risky in the first place
Dark Sun might work as a pitch to Netflix, but it's never going to be on the big screen
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
True. Especially since they’re not going to have a dark Sun setting to sell along with it. Still, there are published worlds that would let them break out of the traditional fantasy mold. But you’re right about the inherent risk there.
Still can't find the article where I found "different worlds" as a possibility for a sequel, but I think one way they could (if it were greenlit, acknowledging the box office numbers may not help those odds) do it, and it there were two years out, also tie into the alleged Vecna products we may be getting with the edition revision, is the sequel would start with the FR and the Thay threat, but ultimately winds up on another plane contending with Vecna.
Also, speaking of Thay and Vecna just want to re-ask something I asked about in my earlier comment:
I could also see whatever TV/streaming production deal in place possibly going an anthology route, capturing/adapting the tropes of "one shots" only to have it turn out that there is some sort of unified thing going on and the show's basically an elaborate "West Marches". That could allow multiple locations if not multiple settings.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I have no idea what "Stranger Things look" means cause I don't care for Stranger Things at all, but I went to the Forgotten Realms wiki and found some Red Wizards of Thay art from different editions, sources etc
The Concept art for the Red Wizards in Tyranny of Dragons comes the closest to what's seen in the movie, sorry that I have to link it, but whenever I try to embed it, it comes out tiny. <.<
Just saw it for a second time and my God I thought it was EVEN BETTER than the first time I saw it, because last week I was in fear of being disappointed, but this time I knew the movie is an absolute blast. I would love to see the same party again, but I can see how a new "campaign" might be a better fit in every way. And while the movie didn't make ends meet on its own, Hasbro movies are there to sell the merch (and in this case Player's Handbooks) and in that department it is probably making a killing if the G.I. Joe movies are any indication.
DM for life by choice, biggest fan of D&D specifically.
I didn't see it yet but I will see it soon
Then this thread likely spoiled the whole movie for you.
Well, I finally watched it. To my mind:
Frankly, I think it's perfect. Not the perfect movie - but perfect for the type of movie it is.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
No, not at all the same thing. Not even close. That's like comparing Top Gun to the Iron Eagle movie. Not the same movie at all. Also the Thay Wizard was not a BBEG... that's just a random villain. Who the wizard works for is the BBEG.
I cannot see anyone watching this movie and running out to play D&D for the first time. Wishful thinking at best. Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the info that Hasbro is making a killing from G.I. Joe movies. GI Joe toys are sold almost exclusively to people over 40 years of age. Kids aren't playing with G.I. Joe action figures anymore.
In case you haven't heard Hasbro has layed off 20% of the workforce in 2023... mainly from the toy divisions like Transformers, Nerf, MLP, and G.I. Joe that are tanking in profits!
I can actually confirm that since the movie released, we've had a noticeable uptick in people coming into the newcomers channel of the discord server asking about getting started with D&D, either for the first time ever or fifth edition for the first time. It's very much having that effect.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
Making the movie be about a random group of actual D&D players would've been a horrible mess. I honestly think the movie was executed marvelously well. Was it a cinematic masterpiece that will be remembered for decades to come? No. But it does faithfully portray the kind of tom****ery a typical D&D party gets up to, shows a ragtag band of nitwits managing to Save the Realm through pluck, luck, and stubborn, and has enough nods to the tabletop game to satisfy players while not being incomprehensible to non-players. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and consider it a fine execution of D&D as a movie.
Side note, since this is a spoilers thread: I thoroughly appreciated the growth of Edgin in the wake of the final battle. He admits earlier in the movie (if to the wrong daughter) that he was chasing the Tablet of Reawakening not to resurrect his daughter's mother, but to resurrect his wife. That seemed like a distinction without meaning at the time, just semantic wordplay...but then Holga dies to a Red Wizard's blade and the choice becomes very, very real - Edgin could choose to save the Tablet and resurrect his wife...or he could use it to resurrect the woman who was in every way that counted Kira's mother.
Sure it wasn't particularly subtle, but not everything in a movie had to be, and frankly that scene was the epitome of D&D in a way. Does the bard complete his backstory quest, the fierce longing that spurred him to adventure in the first place? Or does he choose the allies he's made since, the woman his daughter needs rather than the woman he needs, and choose the future and his friends over his backstory? Is he a changed man, a better man, or still the bitter broken person he was back when this all started?
It was a perfectly satisfying moment and it made the end of the movie all the more enjoyable. Very well done from the team who made it.
Please do not contact or message me.