I run a middle school D&D Club with another facilitator. Because of the sheer size of the club, we split them in half in groups of 6-8. This week, the other facilitator won't be able to make it, so I've decided to opt for a D&D related activity instead. I have some back up plans in mind, but since we're so close to winter break, I was thinking it would be nice for them to chill out and maybe watch a movie or something. I'm trying to think of some nice kid friendly D&D inspired shows or movies. Right now I'm leaning towards The Dragon Prince but any suggestions would be nice.
So do you need General fantasy or strictly inspired by D&D?
Because of my age, i am likely to suggest old Classics like "The last unicorn" or "Disney's The Sword in the Stone." for general fantasy. As for D&D movies in particular, most of them aren't kid oriented.
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He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player. The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call To rise up in triumph should we all unite The spark for change is yours to ignite." Kalandra - The State of the World
Not sure of their ages but Honour Among Thieves is a fantastic film that I highly recommend. You could also get retro and show them the 80s D&D cartoon which is available on YouTube
There's the old 80's cartoon. Though you might need to re-watch it. I don't remember it well enough to say if its OK by contemporary standards, but I think it would be fine.
As a bonus, the kids would start getting the easter eggs they've been plating, like using the party in honor among thieves, and in art in some of the new books.
Onwards is great and really doesn’t get the love it deserved because it came out during Covid lockdowns and didn’t get a cinema release. It’s a lot of fun and there’s so many great D&D references
I suppose general fantasy works! Old classics definitely fit the vibe I'm looking for thank you.
The 70s/80s era fantasy animations if you're ok with some minor trauma (the character building kind). They're middle schoolers, so they'll probably handle it better.
Rankin Bass version of The Hobbit (1977)/Return of the King (1980) (avoid the Bakshi Lord of the Rings movie, its a different animal and aimed at adults)
The Last Unicorn (1982)
Flight of the Dragons (1982)
Labyrinth (1986)
The actual DnD Cartoon. (I forget what year)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (1975) Not animated, technically just medieval, but its good for an end of the night movie. If they aren't quoting this movie for the next month, then I will lose all hope. Its not DnD inspired, DnD is inspired by it!
Stuff for the maybe pile:
Gulliver's Travel (1977) (which would make for a fun mini campaign idea where the players get to be giants in a land full of tiny people)
Black Cauldron (1985) yup nothing horribly unspeakable going on here...........
Never Ending Story (1984) (probably give someone nightmares, and a couple existential melt downs)
Dark Crystal (1982) (this one will definitely give someone nightmares)
Princess Bride (1987) not high fantasy, but always worth mentioning
Stuff I wanna mention, just because of childhood trauma:
Willow (1988)
Little Nemo (1989)
Pirates of Dark Water (??)
Also wanna mention Record of Lodoss war, as its probably the second biggest influence on DnD after Tolkien. But I don't know if thats something that'll get approved since it can pretty bloody. Also Slayers (1995-2010) peak fantasy comedy, because this is what most DnD parties are actually like. (Hyper Optimized Spell caster, Himbo warrior, Edge Lord multiclass, and the Crusader who was supposed to be the party healer, but ending up learning mostly attack spells. Theres even a Gold Dragon disguised as a human, because ADVENTURE!!!)
My total list is a bit larger, but way too weird for most people. Like Legend (young tom cruise), Page Master, and of course the myriad Loin Cloth movies. If they're into Stranger things, you might be able to get away with Goonies, which also has one of the first iconic Artificers. And then Wolf Walkers, but thats not all that DnD adjacent.
And if you're out of ideas...... you can Never go wrong with Puss in Boots: Last Wish. The Story is so solid, and so well rounded, no one is gonna care its not directly DnD. But just for the record, it could just as well be an RPG campaign with how the story flows.
As much as I love Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it does have some language I’d be reluctant to put in front of a middle school class. If you’re already questioning whether Honor Among Thieves is acceptable, I’d just cross this right off the list.
As a side note, unrelated to the kids, if by some weird chance you've never heard of these....... two fantasy anime worth recommending, because these are actually top tier fantasy stories.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2023/2026): Hero's party defeats the evil demon king, the world is saved, and everyone goes their separate ways. Now years later, the Elf mage regrets not getting to know her friends better, and starts a journey to reconnect with her past. Definitely something the older crowd would love, as its less high adventure and more character focused on how people influence things around them.
Delicious in Dungeon (2024): For anyone whoever asked "I wonder if I could cook that?". For the 2 people here who know what Wizardry is, this is from that branch of fantasy games with the monsters and dungeon delving. Its also a master class in world building. Even watching highlights is enough to learn several useful concepts in how to think about a world, and improve scenarios by bringing world details into it.
Pop culture has mostly lost interest in fantasy, so its gotten harder to find a solid high fantasy story outside the RPG space. And its even worse when you're dealing with anime. So these two gems I would still highly recommend looking into, even if its just analysis of its world building, because we're in constant need of things that help teach better fantasy storytelling. And yes... I started buying cook books just to get better monster cuisine ideas. I regret nothing!!!!
The Letter for the King on Netflix (USA) is a heroes journey tale in a fantasy realm. The reviews are middling, but I think that's because adults wanted something for adults. The plot is simple.
For a YA theme I might look at Cursed on Netflix (USA). It's a pre-telling of King Arthur with low fantasy vibes
Merlin, the BBC Series, is another pre-telling of King Arthur with teen drama tones, light comedy.
Not sure of their ages but Honour Among Thieves is a fantastic film that I highly recommend. You could also get retro and show them the 80s D&D cartoon which is available on YouTube
Yeah. Honor Among Thieves is great and I would definitely recommend it. I was always surprise that Honor Among Thieves performed poorly at the box office, but I guess it was just released at a bad time.
Honor Among Thieves is a full 2 hour movie though, so I don't know if OP would have enough time to finish it in one session of a middle school D&D club. At least when I was in middle school a few years ago, we would only have 40 minutes of club time daily. But OP could always watch part of the movie during one club meeting and then continue the movie in a future session.
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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!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explainHERE.
Can't go wrong with the animated version of The Hobbit.
I want to recommend the anime Record of Lodoss War, but it's been long enough since I've seen it that I can't remember whether or not it had any nudity or kid-unfriendly violence in it. It's based on someone's actual D&D campaign.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Not sure of their ages but Honour Among Thieves is a fantastic film that I highly recommend. You could also get retro and show them the 80s D&D cartoon which is available on YouTube
Yeah. Honor Among Thieves is great and I would definitely recommend it. I was always surprise that Honor Among Thieves performed poorly at the box office, but I guess it was just released at a bad time.
Honor Among Thieves is a full 2 hour movie though, so I don't know if OP would have enough time to finish it in one session of a middle school D&D club. At least when I was in middle school a few years ago, we would only have 40 minutes of club time daily. But OP could always watch part of the movie during one club meeting and then continue the movie in a future session.
It's almost like Hasbro did the thing than broke DND's chokehold on the TTRPG industry at the time of the movie's release or something.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
Not sure of their ages but Honour Among Thieves is a fantastic film that I highly recommend. You could also get retro and show them the 80s D&D cartoon which is available on YouTube
Yeah. Honor Among Thieves is great and I would definitely recommend it. I was always surprise that Honor Among Thieves performed poorly at the box office, but I guess it was just released at a bad time.
Honor Among Thieves is a full 2 hour movie though, so I don't know if OP would have enough time to finish it in one session of a middle school D&D club. At least when I was in middle school a few years ago, we would only have 40 minutes of club time daily. But OP could always watch part of the movie during one club meeting and then continue the movie in a future session.
It's almost like Hasbro did the thing than broke DND's chokehold on the TTRPG industry at the time of the movie's release or something.
I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of the movie's audience were not D&D players and never heard or cared anything about what controversies were happening in the tabletop gaming world, just like the majority of the audience for the live action Transformers movies never played with Transformers toys. The issues that Honor Among Thieves had in the box office were due to marketing and competition from other films that were also in theaters at the time.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Not sure of their ages but Honour Among Thieves is a fantastic film that I highly recommend. You could also get retro and show them the 80s D&D cartoon which is available on YouTube
Yeah. Honor Among Thieves is great and I would definitely recommend it. I was always surprise that Honor Among Thieves performed poorly at the box office, but I guess it was just released at a bad time.
Honor Among Thieves is a full 2 hour movie though, so I don't know if OP would have enough time to finish it in one session of a middle school D&D club. At least when I was in middle school a few years ago, we would only have 40 minutes of club time daily. But OP could always watch part of the movie during one club meeting and then continue the movie in a future session.
It's almost like Hasbro did the thing than broke DND's chokehold on the TTRPG industry at the time of the movie's release or something.
I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of the movie's audience were not D&D players and never heard or cared anything about what controversies were happening in the tabletop gaming world, just like the majority of the audience for the live action Transformers movies never played with Transformers toys. The issues that Honor Among Thieves had in the box office were due to marketing and competition from other films that were also in theaters at the time.
That was one of those things where people who were really emotionally affected by it tend to grossly overestimate how much other people cared or even knew about it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
pronouns: he/she/they
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I run a middle school D&D Club with another facilitator. Because of the sheer size of the club, we split them in half in groups of 6-8. This week, the other facilitator won't be able to make it, so I've decided to opt for a D&D related activity instead. I have some back up plans in mind, but since we're so close to winter break, I was thinking it would be nice for them to chill out and maybe watch a movie or something. I'm trying to think of some nice kid friendly D&D inspired shows or movies. Right now I'm leaning towards The Dragon Prince but any suggestions would be nice.
So do you need General fantasy or strictly inspired by D&D?
Because of my age, i am likely to suggest old Classics like "The last unicorn" or "Disney's The Sword in the Stone." for general fantasy. As for D&D movies in particular, most of them aren't kid oriented.
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player.
The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call
To rise up in triumph should we all unite
The spark for change is yours to ignite."
Kalandra - The State of the World
Not sure of their ages but Honour Among Thieves is a fantastic film that I highly recommend. You could also get retro and show them the 80s D&D cartoon which is available on YouTube
I was thinking about that! It's PG-13 so I'll have to ask Admin if that's something I'd need to send out a permission slip for.
I suppose general fantasy works! Old classics definitely fit the vibe I'm looking for thank you.
There's the old 80's cartoon. Though you might need to re-watch it. I don't remember it well enough to say if its OK by contemporary standards, but I think it would be fine.
As a bonus, the kids would start getting the easter eggs they've been plating, like using the party in honor among thieves, and in art in some of the new books.
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ModeratorPixar’s Onward is PG and absolutely D&D-inspired. It’s available on Disney+.
You might find some other fun activities here, too:
https://ymiclassroom.com/lesson-plans/dd/
Need help with D&D Beyond? Come ask in the official D&D server on Discord: https://discord.gg/dnd
I didn't know that about Onward. Just did a little research on it - very cool.
Onwards is great and really doesn’t get the love it deserved because it came out during Covid lockdowns and didn’t get a cinema release. It’s a lot of fun and there’s so many great D&D references
Oh my gosh! I love these resources thank you so much!
Labyrinth and The Gamers spring to mind... Also Of Dice and Men...
The 70s/80s era fantasy animations if you're ok with some minor trauma (the character building kind). They're middle schoolers, so they'll probably handle it better.
Rankin Bass version of The Hobbit (1977)/Return of the King (1980) (avoid the Bakshi Lord of the Rings movie, its a different animal and aimed at adults)
The Last Unicorn (1982)
Flight of the Dragons (1982)
Labyrinth (1986)
The actual DnD Cartoon. (I forget what year)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (1975) Not animated, technically just medieval, but its good for an end of the night movie. If they aren't quoting this movie for the next month, then I will lose all hope. Its not DnD inspired, DnD is inspired by it!
Stuff for the maybe pile:
Gulliver's Travel (1977) (which would make for a fun mini campaign idea where the players get to be giants in a land full of tiny people)
Black Cauldron (1985) yup nothing horribly unspeakable going on here...........
Never Ending Story (1984) (probably give someone nightmares, and a couple existential melt downs)
Dark Crystal (1982) (this one will definitely give someone nightmares)
Princess Bride (1987) not high fantasy, but always worth mentioning
Stuff I wanna mention, just because of childhood trauma:
Willow (1988)
Little Nemo (1989)
Pirates of Dark Water (??)
Also wanna mention Record of Lodoss war, as its probably the second biggest influence on DnD after Tolkien. But I don't know if thats something that'll get approved since it can pretty bloody. Also Slayers (1995-2010) peak fantasy comedy, because this is what most DnD parties are actually like. (Hyper Optimized Spell caster, Himbo warrior, Edge Lord multiclass, and the Crusader who was supposed to be the party healer, but ending up learning mostly attack spells. Theres even a Gold Dragon disguised as a human, because ADVENTURE!!!)
My total list is a bit larger, but way too weird for most people. Like Legend (young tom cruise), Page Master, and of course the myriad Loin Cloth movies. If they're into Stranger things, you might be able to get away with Goonies, which also has one of the first iconic Artificers. And then Wolf Walkers, but thats not all that DnD adjacent.
And if you're out of ideas...... you can Never go wrong with Puss in Boots: Last Wish. The Story is so solid, and so well rounded, no one is gonna care its not directly DnD. But just for the record, it could just as well be an RPG campaign with how the story flows.
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ModeratorAs much as I love Monty Python and the Holy Grail, it does have some language I’d be reluctant to put in front of a middle school class. If you’re already questioning whether Honor Among Thieves is acceptable, I’d just cross this right off the list.
Need help with D&D Beyond? Come ask in the official D&D server on Discord: https://discord.gg/dnd
As a side note, unrelated to the kids, if by some weird chance you've never heard of these....... two fantasy anime worth recommending, because these are actually top tier fantasy stories.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2023/2026): Hero's party defeats the evil demon king, the world is saved, and everyone goes their separate ways. Now years later, the Elf mage regrets not getting to know her friends better, and starts a journey to reconnect with her past. Definitely something the older crowd would love, as its less high adventure and more character focused on how people influence things around them.
Delicious in Dungeon (2024): For anyone whoever asked "I wonder if I could cook that?". For the 2 people here who know what Wizardry is, this is from that branch of fantasy games with the monsters and dungeon delving. Its also a master class in world building. Even watching highlights is enough to learn several useful concepts in how to think about a world, and improve scenarios by bringing world details into it.
Pop culture has mostly lost interest in fantasy, so its gotten harder to find a solid high fantasy story outside the RPG space. And its even worse when you're dealing with anime. So these two gems I would still highly recommend looking into, even if its just analysis of its world building, because we're in constant need of things that help teach better fantasy storytelling. And yes... I started buying cook books just to get better monster cuisine ideas. I regret nothing!!!!
Definitely Middle Age, not YA
The Letter for the King on Netflix (USA) is a heroes journey tale in a fantasy realm. The reviews are middling, but I think that's because adults wanted something for adults. The plot is simple.
For a YA theme I might look at Cursed on Netflix (USA). It's a pre-telling of King Arthur with low fantasy vibes
Merlin, the BBC Series, is another pre-telling of King Arthur with teen drama tones, light comedy.
Read my D&D thoughts at FullMoonStorytelling.com
Yeah. Honor Among Thieves is great and I would definitely recommend it. I was always surprise that Honor Among Thieves performed poorly at the box office, but I guess it was just released at a bad time.
Honor Among Thieves is a full 2 hour movie though, so I don't know if OP would have enough time to finish it in one session of a middle school D&D club. At least when I was in middle school a few years ago, we would only have 40 minutes of club time daily. But OP could always watch part of the movie during one club meeting and then continue the movie in a future session.
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!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Can't go wrong with the animated version of The Hobbit.
I want to recommend the anime Record of Lodoss War, but it's been long enough since I've seen it that I can't remember whether or not it had any nudity or kid-unfriendly violence in it. It's based on someone's actual D&D campaign.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's almost like Hasbro did the thing than broke DND's chokehold on the TTRPG industry at the time of the movie's release or something.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
I can guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of the movie's audience were not D&D players and never heard or cared anything about what controversies were happening in the tabletop gaming world, just like the majority of the audience for the live action Transformers movies never played with Transformers toys. The issues that Honor Among Thieves had in the box office were due to marketing and competition from other films that were also in theaters at the time.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
That was one of those things where people who were really emotionally affected by it tend to grossly overestimate how much other people cared or even knew about it.
pronouns: he/she/they