Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-12-02, 01:27 AM
So ... I recently re-watched Jim Henson's Labyrinth again. I have now seen it more than a dozen times. This time around, I watched the whole thing thinking about which parts could be adapted to D&D and which couldn't.
NOTE: When I say D&D, I mostly mean old-school D&D such as BECMI, but I have also taken into account other incarnations such as Third and Fifth edition. You will find that, no matter what edition you prefer, the following blurb will have something for you.
ANOTHER NOTE: Since Labyrinth was essentially a David Bowie worshiping platform, any D&D game played in the universe would have to have a David Bowie soundtrack, so as to preserve the spirit. This is essential.
Some people with fantastical abilities, often members of exotic sapient species, explore labyrinths and dungeons - exploring, getting lost, solving puzzles, finding relics, interacting with locals, and fighting off monsters. The overarching concepts of D&D mesh well with Labyrinth. The potential problems are in the details.
I am assuming that a game wouldn't follow the plot of the movie, even remotely, but would instead simply take place in the universe. The characters would be "muppets". Inhabitants of the Labyrinth. Perhaps they would be goblins, stealing children. Maybe they would be nomadic wanderers, much like the default adventurers of D&D. There would need to be either homebrewed muppet races, or very quick rules for creating muppets. If we are playing BECMI, or another game where races and classes are one and the same, muppet classes would work perfectly.
One thing that I thought would work very well with D&D was the combat system. Hear me out. Hit points can mean whatever the group wants. In this case, they could almost entirely represent luck, fatigue, and determination. The blow that brings someone down to negative hit points doesn't mean a stab to the chest cavity or similar. Instead, it means the blade is knocked out of their hand, or they collapse with fatigue, or their foe's sword is suddenly pressed against their throat. This could be taken further in the Labyrinth universe. An attack roll could just as easily be a biting remark as a flurry of blows with a sword.
I have more notes coming soon, as well as some solid content.
NOTE: When I say D&D, I mostly mean old-school D&D such as BECMI, but I have also taken into account other incarnations such as Third and Fifth edition. You will find that, no matter what edition you prefer, the following blurb will have something for you.
ANOTHER NOTE: Since Labyrinth was essentially a David Bowie worshiping platform, any D&D game played in the universe would have to have a David Bowie soundtrack, so as to preserve the spirit. This is essential.
Some people with fantastical abilities, often members of exotic sapient species, explore labyrinths and dungeons - exploring, getting lost, solving puzzles, finding relics, interacting with locals, and fighting off monsters. The overarching concepts of D&D mesh well with Labyrinth. The potential problems are in the details.
I am assuming that a game wouldn't follow the plot of the movie, even remotely, but would instead simply take place in the universe. The characters would be "muppets". Inhabitants of the Labyrinth. Perhaps they would be goblins, stealing children. Maybe they would be nomadic wanderers, much like the default adventurers of D&D. There would need to be either homebrewed muppet races, or very quick rules for creating muppets. If we are playing BECMI, or another game where races and classes are one and the same, muppet classes would work perfectly.
One thing that I thought would work very well with D&D was the combat system. Hear me out. Hit points can mean whatever the group wants. In this case, they could almost entirely represent luck, fatigue, and determination. The blow that brings someone down to negative hit points doesn't mean a stab to the chest cavity or similar. Instead, it means the blade is knocked out of their hand, or they collapse with fatigue, or their foe's sword is suddenly pressed against their throat. This could be taken further in the Labyrinth universe. An attack roll could just as easily be a biting remark as a flurry of blows with a sword.
I have more notes coming soon, as well as some solid content.