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Cartoon Based on D20 Modern Setting

Posted by Zonk on from the i-want-my-dnd-tv dept.

Despite rumblings of a new Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, the first Wizards of the Coast setting that will see production as a television show is apparently Urban Arcana. UA is one of the canned settings offered by Wizards of the Coast in its d20 Modern roleplaying game. Despite this announcement, it's not going to be in front of your eyes for some time. From the article: "...the Sci-Fi Channel and Fox Television Studios are developing a television series based on the Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast D20 MODERN campaign suppliment URBAN ARCANA for the '06-'07 season."

12 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. After these messages... by TheCamper · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mute the commercials with my +4 JVC remote of silence!

  2. Well by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I never played Urban Arcana. For my modern day fix, I prefer Shadowrun. More room for craziness, and I never liked the D20 system anyways.

    1. Re:Well by BDZ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have to agree. I much prefer to play Shadowrun. Also, I think the Shadowrun setting would make for a very interesting show if done right, but then that's always what it comes down to: "if done right." Sadly, "done right" is a rarity.

  3. Poke who? by secolactico · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Another game to tv cartoon? Should we expect a thinly veiled infomercial?

    Have you seen the Yu-Gi-Oh cartoon? All that it's missing is the price and a phone number to call.

    Still, I'd prefer that to the old He-Man cartoons, where at the end they'll hammer a "moral of the story" on you.

    --
    No sig
    1. Re:Poke who? by Golias · · Score: 2, Informative

      The He-Man cartoon was also a thinly-veiled commercial for He-Man toys.

      The "moral" segments at the end were added because FCC regulations require that a certain percentage of Saturday morning airtime be dedicated to "educational" broadcasting.

      By adding a 2-minute "lesson" to the end of cartoons, the networks manage to avoid having to give up the occasional full half-hour slot to educational programming.

      (It's also the reason ABC came up with "Schoolhouse Rock"... it's all about complying with the FCC at the bare minumum requirement without slowing down the marketing train for sugar-laced breakfast cerial.)

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  4. Forget Reality TV... by Plaid+Phantom · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm waiting for a show based off Monopoly.

    --
    All comments are properties and trademarks of the voices in my head. Not like I'm gonna claim them.
  5. Monopoly? Feh... by Thedalek · · Score: 2, Funny

    Me, I'm waiting for the cartoon based on Breakeys.

    --
    Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
  6. Monopoly by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    In fact, in 1990 there was a bad game show based on Monopoly.

  7. Re:Not the first d20 based TV series by BDZ · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have to admit that I try to.

  8. "Traditionalists" indeed. by 2Flower · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So let me get this straight -- we're going to get a d20 Modern cartoon package, and the D&D MMORPG is going to be based on Ebberon and promises a world of magic and science... ...and yet WotC rejects nearly complete modules Bioware was trying to sell for Neverwinter Nights because they aren't "traditional faerun" enough.

    Go figure. Wish they'd make up their minds.

  9. That actually makes sense. by Arivia · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's see...
    UA cartoon: There's plenty of room in that framework.
    Eberron: See http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=145400&c id=12182177 for why Eberron was possibly the only option for a D&D MMORPG.
    Bioware: A proven track record for trampling all over Realmslore.(7 games/expansions. How many broke Realmslore? 6. SoU had the stupidity that was stingers in Anauroch. For some reason, I'm thinking Tales of the Sword Coast broke something, but I can't remember anything exactly, so for now, it's the one that didn't.) The Realms community is one of the most vocal pen-and-paper roleplaying game communities out there, and definitely the most vocal of the groups that WotC is still dealing with. And WotC needs to keep them happy-or they will not only lose a community, but they'll lose the people that keep that product line straight(Boyd, Greenwood, Costa, Krashos). And they care about continuity in everything. WotC is heading more towards giving them stuff to be happy about then the other direction, as they get more of a net benefit from that, actually. And that community enjoys Realms based computer games-to some degree. At the same time, they're compiling a list of what they did wrong. This is different from just straight persistent fandomism-because it matters to their games-it's kind of hard to run a game in Saradush, for example, if Throne of Bhaal blasted it to the ground...So, if this group will scream and cry if Bioware tramples over the Realms again, then they had better make sure Bioware doesn't trample over the Realms in what they're doing. It wouldn't surprise me if they got Boyd or Greenwood to check over the modules before giving them a go or stop signal. It doesn't make creating Realms games impossible, it just makes it a bit harder. Hell, there are still unresolved hooks from 1e(if only Troy Denning hadn't slain the Sleeping Lords-that would make for an excellent computer game!).

    Oh, and I'll respond to any parts of either this or the post I linked to, if you've questions or criticisms.

    --
    The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
  10. Re:Not the first d20 based TV series by softspokenrevolution · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's not the d20 system you fool.