Slashdot Mirror
D&D Movie on The Way
A lot of people have been sending the story at Wired about Dungeons and Dragons, the movie. There's a strong emphasis on how the movie will be based on the rules systems, which seems strange to me. I'm not sure how to visually represent a number system for people - but we'll see. It should be out in October of 2000.
(Personally, my favourite AD&D memories were of seriously strange things. I came up with Duodimension Others, which turns anything two dimensional. I had a pad of A4 boulders, which came in handy, especially with antimagical creatures. Another fond memory was the pump-action Wand of Wonder, with an automatic setting. Lastly, there was the modified Unseen Servent, which could cast 3 spells a day - one to generate another Unseen Servent, one to Create Tower, and one to Create Astral Gateway. Anyone spell "Infinite Loop"?)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
If you want to see a Dungeons-&-Dragons-like show with some actual plot and no Yoda-oid floating deus-ex-machina, may I recommend the anime series Slayers?
... same thing), magic shops, trolls, dragons, dragon gods ... what else do you want? :)
Wizards, fighters, goblins, incantations, elves, demons (well, mazoku
I was in Prague when they were doing filming there. The scenerey is awesome in Prague, very medieval and grandious. Prague is like Disneyland for real, statues everywher - guilded with gold. Castles and towers that have withstood the test of time. Prague is an excellent backdrop for D&D - I know I loved D&D and I get the shivers just thinking of how beautiful and majestic Prague is.
I can't say much for the movie itself. It's unclear whether it will be as good as the scenery around it.
Joseph Elwell.
As far as I know, AD&D elves are always tall (presumably modelled after Tolkein elves). Certainly the two in our current campain are over 6' tall, and I don't recall having short elves in any previous campaigns.
I have to say I'm dreading the movie. I'm one of those that believes is virtually impossible to do fantasy well on film (as opposed to SF, which is easy), and as fantasy goes, AD&D is pretty much at the top of the pile. I'll go and see it anyway, but I'm not expecting much from it. It can't possibly live up to what I see in my mind anyway...
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
D&D, and rpgs in general, don't have a set plot... So how do you make a movie out of it? Pick out parts of the world based on the rules of the game and then write the plot? Interesting..
I think I would be more excited about a Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms movie... Those seetings have some stories and characters that I would love to see done (well) on screen.
But how do you make a plot from the Players handbook... I guess you could use the examples from the book...
Scene 1:
Rothgar is pummeled by several orcs to demonstarte pummeling rules.
Scene 2:
Borkfast carefully dons his armor and shoulders his pack to help explain encumbrance...
Who knows... I'll go see it as soon as it comes out... even if it's dumb as dirt.. Come on, its D&D!!!
/* CDM */
Okay, this is sure to be a huge success, just like the Final Fantasy Movie. There's an obvious trend here, towards movies slavishly following games... So when are we going to have "Angband: The Movie"?
I can see it now:
Our hero, a heroic @ symbol, has against all odds fought his way down to the 40th level of the evil dungeon, with its random maps. After killing countless evil beings such as yellow-capital-T's (Troll Priests) and the malignant capital-D's (Ancient Dragons), holding 23 items, no matter how large, he is ready to challenge the ultimate evil: Level 41!
This would make a perfect series, too. Endless possibilities, *great* special effects, and whatnot. (3D-rendered ASCII! Just like The Matrix!) I can't wait until "Angband II: Level 50 is in sight"!
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
They're going to base this on the rules system? I thought movies were supposed to attempt at least a suspension of disbelief.
Our heroes will have no skills. Chain mail will ward off arrows better than rigid leather. Rangers can slay dozens of foes in a ten second time period (but only if they're humanoid). An unprotected thief can take the full force of dragon fire face first and leave if the dice roll right. Warriors can take dozens of full-on full-force sword hits before they finally succumb to a lack of HPs, but he still won't bleed.
And if they also follow the typical and recommended (ala official adventures) economic structures, then we'll have a bizarre economy based on one-ounce gold coins in plentiful supply, dungeons with more gold laying around than all the gold ever mined during the Alaskan gold rush, and these dungeons are always just outside of town. And let's not talk about social structures or I'll have to mentions barons ruling entire kingdoms and kings ruling mere cities.
I fully understand that "realism" is a filthy word that will get you kicked out of GenCon for uttering it, but at least movies should make some sort of sense.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned